Category: music

• Muxtape / Non-interface interface excellence in ixd, music, web · May 8, 22:55

  Muxtape has blown up — just a matter of time, I guess — but I hope this doesn’t mean that they’ll add a bunch of “features” to it. It’s basically two things — the homepage where you pick a mix, and the player where you listen — and it doesn’t need much more. Really! Please! [...]

• Music / Lightning Bolt explodes 12 Galaxies in flickr, music, san francisco, visual · Apr 18, 21:14

  A few years ago, it would have been surprising to see a San Francisco indie crowd move its feet around in a dance-style motion at a live show. Last week, Lightning Bolt got people moving at 12 Galaxies; it wasn’t exactly “dancing” but (from my vantage point in the balcony), it appeared kinetic — lots [...]

• Design / The Beatles & collaboration in music, web · Dec 7, 22:01

  A lot of collaborative work goes on at Cooper (where I work). Designers team up to understand a problem, or to envision a better way of solving it. Sometimes, we collaborate with clients to figure out what’s possible and where possibility and desirability meet. In any case, it’s hard to trace back any particular idea [...]

• Music / Sad anniverary for the quiet Beatle in music · Nov 29, 22:47

  Today is the fifth anniversary of George Harrison’s death, as I found out when NPR ran a sweet tribute to him this evening. Back when such things mattered, George was my favorite Beatle. Why do such things not matter anymore? I mean, really, is there any question that is more revealing than “Who is your [...]

• Music / Peggy Honeywell at Mollusk in flickr, music, san francisco, street art, visual · Sep 12, 15:23

  Being car-less keeps me (mostly) around the southeastern neighborhoods of San Francisco, but every once in a while I’ll venture out to the frontiers. Last Friday, we went out to Mollusk, the arty surf shop on 46th-ish Avenue and Irving, (i.e. WAY Outer Sunset), for an art opening and a performance by Peggy [...]

• Music / Bob Dylan - Ten of Swords in music · Jul 11, 14:46

  Last weekend, my friend Greg invited me over to listen to his copy of Ten of Swords, the classic 20-side Dylan bootleg. It contains a comprehensive — no, exhaustive — selection of live shows, alternate takes, and demoes from Dylan’s most groundbreaking years — 1961-1966. The highlight is the infamous Manchester show from 1966; it’s [...]

• Silver Jews / 27 goes into 50,000 in music, the ancient past · May 19, 20:36

  In the Silver Jews song “Trains Across the Sea,” there’s a line that goes: “In 27 years, I’ve drunk 50,000 beers, and they just wash against me like the sea into a pier.” That’s 5+ beers a day from birth until your 28th birthday. If you start at 16, you’re drinking a 12-pack a [...]

• Music / Sasha v Stephin in music · May 18, 16:43

  Stephin Merritt doesn’t like hip-hop, which is fine, but he made the mistake of assembling a playlist for the NYT that included no black artists, thereby awakening playlist affirmative action policeman, Sasha Frere-Jones. Actually, SF-J has had issues with Merritt since 2004, but now he’s throwing down and calling Merritt a “rockist cracker.” Not to [...]

• Dust it off / XTC, Skylarking in dust it off, music, tip · Dec 9, 02:56

  Here’s my question: How did this become the “Dear God” album, considering at least half the songs on it are as good or better? Damn you, Sarah McLachlan. I hadn’t listened to it since maybe 1995, when Ted and I played the shit out of it. We both loved the Beatles, and I had a [...]

• Dust it off / Sleater-Kinney, All Hands on the Bad One in dust it off, music, tip · Dec 8, 03:21

  Most of my records, CDs and tapes sit idly in crates and on shelves, so here’s what I’m going to do: Every so often, I’m going to dust one off and see what it sounds like. Dredge the archive, and take a good long listen to something I haven’t heard in 2+ years.
  Tonight, I [...]

• Music / Konono #1 lights it up in music, reviews, san francisco · Nov 7, 22:48

  Last night, Konono #1 played the Palace of Fine Arts. Before the show, I was a little worried that their scruffy, off-kilter sound may get washed-out by the fancy sound-system of the PoFA, and that they may end up sounding like lame-ass Ashkenaz-style “world music.”
  But from the first moment, they totally ruled, and their signature [...]

• Music / Oakland blown up by Japanther. in music, san francisco · Jun 30, 12:50

  A bunch of us journeyed to Oakland to watch Japanther kill em all at a house party. 50 people + 12′x12′ living room + 40’s & Crown Royal = sweat & mayhem = just another Monday night in Oakland. Also on the bill: XBXRX (wore matching orange leotards, broke the stage), I Hate You When [...]