THE FUTURE DOES NOT COMPUTE

Being an avid music listener and sometimes a self proclaimed trendsetter I am always scouring the blogosphere for that next best thing. I realized I must be lacking in that department, as this story only came into my periphery 3 years too late. But nevertheless, I am glad to share this with everyone. Music blog Stereogum has been teaming up with Australian music producer and mashup artist team9, to produce yearly mashup albums of the best tracks from that respective year and a few oldies. As they like to describe them, these ‘bastard pop’ albums are a real treat; free downloadable quality music. Here is a retrospective look at the last 4 years:

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MySplice 4: 2009 Mashed Up
1 stererogum & team9 – “Pina Horchata”
2 stererogum & team9 – “Twilight In The Afterlife”
3 stererogum & team9 – “Riders Sleep Alone”
4 stererogum & team9 – “Cross Eyed People”
5 stererogum & team9 – “Phoenix Get Cured”
6 stererogum & team9 – “Crystalised In The Sky”
7 stererogum & team9 – “Missy’s Girls”
8 stererogum & team9 – “Without A Love Story”
9 stererogum & team9 – “Chilled Monkey”
10 stererogum & team9 – “Grizzly Feeling”
11 stererogum & team9 – “Girls Of Convenience”
12 stererogum & team9 – “22 Nights With Lily”
13 stererogum & team9 – “Surprise Gift”

Download the tracks here: Zip File

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MySplice 3: 2008 Mashed Up
1 “Britney Gets Bloc-ed” (Britney Spears “Womanizer” vs Bloc Party “Mercury”)
2 “B.F. Meets T.I.” (Ben Folds Feat. Regina Spektor “You Don’t Know Me” vs T.I. “U Don’t Know Me”)
3 “Good After Time” (Lykke Li “I’m Good I’m Gone” vs Cyndi Lauper “Time After Time”)
4 “Albert And Katy Sitting In A Tree” (Albert Hammond Jr. “GFC” vs Katy Perry “I Kissed A Girl”)
5 “Debbie Does Montreal” (Blondie “Call me” vs of Montreal “Id Engager”)
6 “Bang On A Milli” (Lil Wayne “A Milli” vs The Breeders “Bang On”)
7 “Lockdown Shelter” (Kanye West “Love Lockdown” Vs. The Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter”)
8 “Disturbed Youth” (Rihanna “Disturbia” vs Beck “Youthless”)
9 “Killer Mirror” (The Killers “Human” vs Arcade Fire “Black Mirror”)
10 “Crystal Holiday” (Crystal Castles “Magic Spells” vs Naughty By Nature “Holiday”)
11 “The Sound Of Roses” (Human Highway “The Sound” vs Guns N’ Roses “Paradise City” vs Stone Roses “Waterfall” vs Extreme “More than Words”)

Download the tracks here: Zip File

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MySplice 2: 2007 Mashed Up
1 “It’s A Sweet Ghost Party” – (Band Of Horses vs. Guns N’ Roses vs. 2 Live Crew)
2 “M.I.A.-Team” – (M.I.A. vs. The A-Team Theme)
3 “Smalltown Apology” – (One Republic vs. Bronski Beat)
4 “Roc Knife” – (Jay-Z vs. Grizzly Bear)
5 “A Forest Prayer” – (Bloc Party vs. The Cure)
6 “Loose Dancing” – (Bangers & Cash vs. The Bee Gees)
7 “My Man My Bomb” – (Feist vs. New Young Pony Club)
8 “Smokey Fire” – (Arcade Fire vs. Smokey Robinson vs. The Gunsmoke Theme)
9 “Countdown To Girls” – (Europe vs. Sean Kingston vs. Calvin Harris)
10 “Ratatat Under Ether” – (Ratatat vs. PJ Harvey)

Download the tracks here: Zip File

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MySplice: 2006 Mashed Up
1 “Swan Together” (Thom Yorke vs. The Beatles)
2 “Lets Make Love And Listen To Junior Boys” (CSS vs. Junior Boys)
3 “Daddy And The Thief” (Wolfmother vs. Gnarls Barkley)
4 “Cold War Fiasco” (Cold War Kids vs. Lupe Fiasco vs. Lily Allen)
5 “Silent Saints” (The Knife vs. U2 & Green Day vs. Spank Rock)
6 “Big School” (Hot Chip vs. Peter Gabriel)
7 “When Will My Cheated Heart” (Yeah Yeah Yeahs vs. Diana Ross)
8 “Flaming Clipse” (Flaming Lips vs. Clipse)
9 “Roscoe Eyes” (Midlake vs. Jimi Hendrix)
10 “Young Cats” (Peter Bjorn And John vs. The Cure)

Download the tracks here: Zip File

Sources:
http://stereogum.com/
http://www.team9.net/

Enjoy.

Watch this great Frontline film that raises many of today’s questions about technology and the internet. How competent are we really as multitasking our daily activities becomes the norm? How do we solve and embrace the growing short attention spans of students? Can virtual worlds and gaming allow us to connect with others or only alienate us further?

(Make sure to start on Chapter One by clicking on the yellow dots on the right)

I found this film very personal and intriguing as it connects to many aspects of my life. As millions of others, I cannot live without being connected at all times. It made me realize how just this morning I wake up and my iPhone is not next to me, I start going crazy looking for it as I have this insatiable need to check my emails and messages. A morning ritual that’s so second nature to me that never existed in my life a few years ago. I hope this documentary is an eye opener for everyone as it was for me. Technology is rapidly evolving and we are too, we just have to embrace it with an open mind and not let it take over.

New York is well known for its plethora of curious and strange characters and this man is no exception. I present to you the Human carpet. I literally bumped onto ‘Georgio’ at a party in Brooklyn. It was a rusty and dirty auditorium annexed to what seemed to be a church or chapel. Hundreds of people exuberantly dressed as brides and grooms for the ‘Winkel and Balktick Wedding’ party. Underneath the bar, a strange figure laid wrapped under a carpet. He was wearing big black eye googles as to disguise his identity. He urged people to stand on him. Party goers had no other option but to do so if they wanted to order a drink as this man was clearly in their way. It quickly dawned on me this was the famous Human Carpet, a rumor and novelty amongst the nightlife of New York. I reached for my camera, the closest friend and snapped away:

The more people who step on the carpet, particularly if they are women in heels, the happier the man is. Some are timid, others are audacious. Some dance on the man. Some step on him while ordering their drinks, completely unaware that a live body is underfoot. Some just stand there, frozen, looking totally freaked out.

The New York Times has a great article on him, giving you a little insight on this strange man from Malta.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/fashion/14carpet.html?_r=1

You can also see the rest of my ‘Wedding of Winkle and Balktick’ party pictures here.

I’ve watched Owl City slowly climb the charts as he blatantly rips off the Postal Service. Owl City is a watered down, stale version of the Postal Service by Minnesota born, Adam Young. In an interview with EW, laptop totting synthpop Adam Young admits his no. 1 single “Fireflies” and the Postal Service in general “are pretty similar,” but at the same time claims he’s “a lot more of a Death Cab fan.” For example, he’d only heard Give Up “a little bit” before people started pointing it out.

EW: A lot of people wish they would put out another album. Is that something you would look forward to hearing?

ADAM YOUNG: I think [Give Up] left everyone asking, “What are they going to do next?” Since no one has done anything quite like it, it’s almost like everyone is naturally saying this is the next step — maybe that’s me, maybe that’s this record.

Ian Cohen of Pitchfork said it best:

But I doubt Ben Gibbard is losing sleep over Owl City’s Adam Young squatting on what is essentially vacated property. Death Cab reportedly cleared $5.4 million in revenue during 2006, basically anyone who’s watched TV in the past three years has heard the Postal Service, and Gibbard is married to the fantasy of every guy this song [Fireflies by Owl City] was ostensibly written for…

Don’t waste your money and bandwidth on this guy. True, there is no new Postal Service anywhere in sight but Owl City should not be your rebound. Judge for youself:

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Sources:

Stereogum
Entertainment Weekly

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So I sit in front of my computer playing around with ideas for my new business card and I’m really debating adding one of those scannable “Quick Response” codes, similar to the ones on prescription drugs and postage. The advantage of doing this, is clients and friends with compatible phones will be able to quickly scan my card and get all my information. No more worrying about loosing business cards or tediously inputing all the information into your address book once every so often. Plus, it looks damn cool. Business cards are boring, lets face it, making them stand out should be your priority, especially being in a creative field. Unfortunately the only phones that currently support this technology are Android based phones, so it would be a very small market. Phone manufacturers and software developers need to step up their game and embrace this technology for the sake of my business card. I think my “Quick Response” coded business card will have to wait until 2011.