How Much Did You Pay For Radiohead's New Album?

You first.

Update: Looks like most people paid $0.00.

Playing The Bagpipes

Yes, I play the pipes. And now I have pictures to prove it. These were taken at a recent WPA indoor competition.





Yes, you may now insert your obligatory kilt jokes here.

Christmas Song Lyrics Are Weird

Radio stations like Warm 106.9 are playing non-stop Christmas songs this month, so I've gotten my fill of holiday tunes. But, I've noticed some songs are rather weird, when you really listen to them.

One example is that festive, merry song, "It's the most wonderful time of the year." The lyrics begin:

It's the most wonderful time of the year
With the kids jingle belling and everyone telling you
"Be of good cheer"
It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Ah, yes - what canonical visions of the holidays! But then things get weird:

There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories
of Christmases long, long ago.

What? Ghost stories? Glories of Christmases long ago? What is this, a song about Blackbeard and stories of plundered treasure? War and strife? What gives, song? I don't think I've ever told someone a ghost story over a Christmas gathering, especially having to do with past glories of some sort.

I must be missing the point...who can enlighten me?

When You're Completely Out Of Song Ideas

Well, then you write a song about an IRC bot that's not really a bot at all. Basshunter's song Boten Anna is just that.

For those who don't know what IRC is, or what bots are in that context, don't worry. I assure you it's extremely geeky and not worth your time to learn about only to appreciate this song.

Jourgensen To Retire 'Ministry', Start Label

Ministry, one of the first and longest-lived industrial bands, will soon produce their final album, followed by frontman Al Jourgensen moving on to managing his new record label.

OK, so he has been at it for 25 years or so. I suppose it's OK to move on to new and different things.

Just so long as you stay in the biz, OK Al?

Free Music!*

*Mostly classical, mostly public domain

In case you weren't aware, Mozart turned 250 a few weeks ago. Salzburg, if not all of Austria or Europe for that matter, has been throwing a lot of festivals, symphonies, and parties for the occasion. And, a Danish web site is offering nine Mozart symphonies for free.

Prefer other composers? Wikipedia's Sound List has a list of public domain music, most of which is classical, in .OGG format (there are converters out there if you want MP3).

What other public domain music have people found?

Extremely Bad Canadian Rap

First Blood is proof that making good rap music is harder than it would first appear.

Moby's New Album Sucks

And what's worse - it sucks that it sucks. After a string of good to great albums, Moby has released a real stinker with Hotel. And what really gets me is that this is probably one of his best-selling albums. Ergh.

I'll get around to writing a full review soon, but in summary:
- It's way too guitar-pop & mainstream-sounding. Gone are the dance anthems. Adios, samples of Spirituals/Gospels. Wait, there's a bit of electronic piano in there...nope, that doesn't save it.
- The lyrics are some of the most un-inspired I've heard in the past 3 years. Examples:

If I could kiss you now\ I'd kiss you now again and again\ I don't know where I begin\ And where you End

Gag!

Come back to us spiders\ Come uncrush my hands\ Let me send beauty rain\ And bring us love again, like you can

What?

Oh, and it's raining\ Raining again\ Oh, and it's raining\ Raining again

*snore*

- Hi post-pubescent angsty style of whiny singing makes for an unimpressive, if not downright irritating sound.
- Gone is the variation between songs that his albums used to have. He sticks with tried and true progressions and verse-chorus structures on most every song, and that gets really old, really fast after you listen to about three of them.

Hotel's 2nd CD is filled with ambient music. This CD is certainly passable. Too bad I have to listen to it right after scalding my ears with the bitter hot dung that is the 1st CD.

Sorry, Moby. I wish I would have liked Hotel. I just can't bring myself to listen to it anymore. It's really that bad.

"Like a train wreck for your ears"

That's how a friend described this sound clip when he sent it around at work. It's an a cappella rendition of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit. Turns out the artist, Dokaka, has a claim to fame for mixing himself humming along with famous tunes. He's got a whole page full of these things.

It's funny at first, but then it gets quite annoying. At the end, I couldn't decide which was worse: this or nails on a chalkboard.

But I'll cut him some slack. He looks quite fly in that yellow cap, don't you think?