Monday, November 27, 2006

Finally! -- Gilles Peterson Podcast

I was complaining about it a week ago, and I was telling you about Gilles's new website earlier today, and while browsing this very website I found it: The Gilles Peterson podcast. Incredible! As far as I heard till now, in the first episode he is sharing some thoughts and discoveries, he is chatting about Brownswood recordings, the new label he has set up (and after Talkin' Loud in the 80s and 90s his second), and--of course--he is playing great music.

Definitely a must (the xml link to subscribe to it is still missing though)!

Furthermore, you can also find all 6 episodes of the Gilles in Brasil Podcast I told you about earlier without having to access the creepy sponsor website.

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Ah yeah, and the Gilles Peterson (Henrik Schwarz, Jazzanova, and Ben Westbeech) Berlin gig on Dec 14 is gonna take place in the Bohannon Club in Mitte.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

The Roots Touring Europe - Questlove's Video Diary

"Tell me what music artists you like, and I'll tell you who you are."

In my eyes--and ears--it's a very significant fact to know the "musical profile" of somebody. It carries a precision that pretends to carry objectivity--although it's in fact merely of subjective character.

NB: That's why I consider last.fm, a service to automatically share your playlists, to be a lot more private, but also more honest, than social platforms like myspace, facebook, etc.

Anyways, you do know by now that I admire Gilles Peterson (who by the way just launched his new website), but also Questlove from the Roots is one of the guys that cannot do anything wrong.
The Roots are currently touring Europe, and Questlove is furnishing his tourblog with a gorgeous video diary. Especially his adventurous chase of the Pussycat Dolls in the Cologne hotel lobby is an interesting piece of art.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Paris Can's Professional 1 and 2 (a link by Steven) plus New Simpsons Movie Trailer

Astonishing, funny, tricky, skillful, less commercial than the DC basketball ad, extremely cool, and--very importantly--from Paris...
Without further ado, check out Paris can's professional one and two (see also below-- you can skip the first minute).



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Plus, I already told you about the Simpsons movie. As I saw on NUMBlog today, there is a new and nicer trailer out:

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

well-formed-data.net -- Sharing is Caring

It's late but I have to tell you about this:
Mo has officially launched his blog well-formed-data.net.
On this platform he will share "thoughts, discoveries and experiments" as well as "information or reviews of things [he] discover[s]. Sharing is caring!"
He is working on the future of the internet, or better, on the--oh so important--aspect of information visualization, and, believe you me, he's got some gorgeous ideas up his sleeve.
I already told you about some older work of his, but also this new gadget on the visualization of web-feed information is not only extremely smart but also beautiful.
That's why well-formed-data.net will be in my steady link list on the right-- g'night.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Gilles Peterson in Brasil Podcast

Honestly for years now I have been waiting for a podcast of BBC's Worldwideshow that is hosted by the ambassador of acoustic pleasure, Gilles Peterson (I already told you about him and his amazing radio show a while ago-- btw, it recently changed airtime and can now be heard live on Thursday mornings from 2-4am London Time).

Unfortunately, BBC hasn't yet managed to set up a podcast, but I recently discovered that some (supposedly not even) Brazilian drink named Brahma has recently sponsored a six episode podcast series of "Gilles Peterson in Brasil" which can be downloaded from the website (also via iTunes).
Check out especially the gorgeous TicTac Improvisation in episode 6 and the introduction movie on the website...
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Addendum 19 11 06: Good news for all readers in Tokyo and Berlin-- Gilles is gonna play Berlin on December 14, and Tokyo on New Year's Eve, December 31. All tour dates can be found at http://www.myspace.com/gillespeterson

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Defari Interview: "Rap is Grown Man Sport"

"Straight outta the City of Angels to Trier, Germany..."
Defari from the Dilated Peoples posse talks about his influences, his new album "Street Music", his new project "The Likwit Junkies" (together with DJ Babu), and the importance of live shows.
Check out the very sympathetic interview (skillfully conducted by the YNC) that can be found on this page (you gotta click "Video 1: Interview anschauen")
Rap definitely is grown man sport...

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Googling, the Jerry Blossom Anthem, and Your Musical Skills

Part 1: What was the verb again for "googling yourself"? I forgot-- but that's exactly what I did.
Interestingly, the first entry that doesn't refer to this blog leads to a website by the School of Music at the University of Leeds, England, that contains the transcription of a tiny tune called Jerry Blossom.
It turns out it's an adorable ditty with 2 stanzas à 8 bars.
Since it's dead easy to play, I am awaiting your recordings. Maybe someday I will upload my classical guitar version...


Part 2: To get more neuroscientific-- I recently read on Science Blogs, Channel Brain and Behavior (feed) about this easy and fun procedure to test your musical skills. It takes about 6 minutes to finish and afterwards you can compare your results with those of others on this post.

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Test of Musical Skills Part 2: Can somebody please explain to me what "Change sides down the middle Allemand" means?

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Old Posts Revisited - Pandora and Google Suggest

More than a year ago, I mentioned Pandora and google suggest in a post.
Just as an update: Pandora has become completely free of charge (back then one could listen for 5 hours, if I remember correctly), and at least for me the choice of music based on the Music Genome Project is working well.
A light version of google suggest, in turn, has been integrated as the default search engine into Mozilla Firefox 2.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Stewie Griffin for American President

Now that the marathon for US-American presidency has begun, I am proposing Stewie Griffin, the incredibly well designed baby character from The Family Guy, as a possible successor of George W. Bush.
After, in my eyes, a mediocre start in the first season, Family Guy has risen to become one of the funniest and most biting (cartoon) series on TV. It relies on the same concept as The Simpsons by portraying the everyday life of a 'normal' white family. The Griffin's home, however, can be precisely localized in the north-eastern part of the USA (ie. the fictional town of Quahog). Coincidently, this appears to be the region of the country where the Democrats recruit their politicians, pointing to a possible candidature of Stewie-- although his political orientation is rather unclear/undemocratic.
In case you have too much time, you can watch Family Guy episodes online at allfg.org. Watch out especially for guest appearances by George W. Bush like this one, this georgeous (sic!) one, or this one.

Month's Senseless Post: Fridge w/o Light

I can't think of anything meaningful to post right now, so just this:

I am the one who possesses the world's only fridge without a light-- and by that I mean by construction and not just because it's broken...
It's just the thing Albino Neutrino would buy to torture dancer/singer Leo Sayer, as can be seen in this blog entry.