My new favorite song ever for the
My new favorite song ever for the next 20 minutes is Smiley Faces by Gnarls Barkley (album @ Amazon). Can’t get enough. Thanks to Greg for turning me on to the GB.
Advertise here with Carbon Ads
This site is made possible by member support. ❤️
Big thanks to Arcustech for hosting the site and offering amazing tech support.
When you buy through links on kottke.org, I may earn an affiliate commission. Thanks for supporting the site!
kottke.org. home of fine hypertext products since 1998.
kottke.org posts about music
What’s playing
Long ago, I signed up on last.fm and downloaded the AudioScrobbler plugin for iTunes, which plugin listens to what I’m playing in iTunes and sends a report of it the last.fm web site. Then I promptly forgot about it. A year and a half later, it’s compiled quite a musical dossier on me: 10,300+ tracks listened to (that’s about 18 per day), my most listened to track is A Dream by Cut Copy, and my 10 most listened to artists are Ladytron, Boards of Canada, Fischerspooner, Bloc Party, John Digweed, Daft Punk, Royksopp, Pixies, Radiohead, and Sigur Ros.
Even longer ago, I used the dearly departed Kung-Tunes to place a list of my recently played music on kottke.org. Thanks to the last.fm API and a gently modified version of this PHP script, that list is back; you can find it on the front page of kottke.org.
Cloud Cult
Cloud Cult has been Pitchforked, Clap Your Hands Say Yeahed by Gothamist, and is already the last next big thing, but that’s not going to stop me from recommending them to you. Here’s their latest album (which was instantly good and still so after a week), befriend them on MySpace, or download a few free mp3s. Minnesota represent!
You can use iTunes and a little
You can use iTunes and a little AppleScript to make custom ringtones for Mail.app. I could have it play When Doves Cry everytime I get email from Anil.
Brandon Flowers expresses his love for Bruce
Brandon Flowers expresses his love for Bruce Springsteen and then announces that The Killers are recording “one of the best albums in the past 20 years”. (via gf)
New Yorker music critic Alex Ross has
New Yorker music critic Alex Ross has compiled a chronolocial 100-song playlist/tour of mostly classical/instrumental music for the 20th century. Starts with Stravinsky & Gershwin and ends with Bjork.
Following up on why HAL sings “Daisy,
Following up on why HAL sings “Daisy, Daisy” in 2001: A Space Odyssey”, Lee Hartsfeld found a 1961 record with the Bell Labs recording on it at a junk shop for $10.
Old 70s song about the subway from
Old 70s song about the subway from Sesame Street. This went totally over my head as a kid, but as a NYC resident, it’s awesome. On the subway. Subway!
Why does HAL sing “Daisy, Daisy” in 2001: A Space Odyssey?
In 1962, Arthur C. Clarke was touring Bell Labs when he heard a demonstration of a song sung by an IBM 704 computer programmed by physicist John L. Kelly. The song, the first ever performed by a computer, was called “Daisy Bell”, more commonly known as “Bicycle Built for Two” or “Daisy, Daisy”. When Clarke collaborated with Stanley Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey, they had HAL sing it while Dave powered him down.
A clip of a 1963 synthesized computer speech demonstration by Bell Labs featuring “Daisy Bell” was included on an album for the First Philadelphia Computer Music Festival. You can listen to it (it’s the last track) and the rest of the album at vintagecomputermusic.com. (via mark)
Update: A reader just reminded me that HAL may have been so named because each letter is off by one from IBM, although Arthur C. Clarke denies this. (thx, justin)
Smashing Pumpkins are (going to be) recording
Smashing Pumpkins are (going to be) recording a new album. (via 6f6)
A fan site on MySpace for the
A fan site on MySpace for the hot UK band Arctic Monkeys reportedly sold for $2000+, although it’s unclear (because they took the auction page down) if eBay allowed the transaction to go through. Mena, how much for Ready Steadman Go?
John Hodgman comments on the first few “
John Hodgman comments on the first few “shuffled” tracks of his mp3 collection.
The Guardian on spam poetry. I featured
The Guardian on spam poetry. I featured the work of noted spam poet Gary Milano ([email protected]) a couple of years ago. See also Outside the Inbox, a compilation of songs inspired by spam subject lines.
Update: And The Words of Albert Spamus.
Olympic snowboarders competed while listening to their
Olympic snowboarders competed while listening to their iPods. The goal? Effortless concentration. “It enables you to focus on what you’re doing without actually focusing, if that makes any sense. You’re not over-thinking, and that’s the best way to perform the harder tricks and maneuvers.”
Unknown (relatively speaking) indie rock bands are
Unknown (relatively speaking) indie rock bands are turning down large sums of money from GM for licensing their music for Hummer ads. “It had to be the worst product you could give a song to. It was a really easy decision. How could we go on after soundtracking Hummer? It’s just so evil.” (via rw)
The fashion industry doesn’t try to control
The fashion industry doesn’t try to control its creativity the way that the music and film industries do. “The fashion world recognizes that creativity cannot be bridled and controlled and that obsessive quests to do so will only diminish its vitality. Other content industries would do well to heed this wisdom.”
Presenting the Bible’s Book of Genesis in
Presenting the Bible’s Book of Genesis in rap songs. For instance, the song for Genesis 21 — which tells the story of Isaac and Ishmael — is Big Poppa by Notorious B.I.G.
The Song Tapper: “search for music by
The Song Tapper: “search for music by tapping the rhythm of the song’s melody”. This works amazingly well.
Neat counter and waterfall of purchased albums
Neat counter and waterfall of purchased albums as Apple counts down to 1 billion songs purchased on the iTunes Music Store. (thx, scott)
Dorian Lynskey “[charted] the branches and connections
Dorian Lynskey “[charted] the branches and connections of 100 years of music using the London Underground map”, much like Simon Patterson’s The Great Bear. (gs)
Some of the worst selling DVDs on
Some of the worst selling DVDs on Amazon. Looks like the Hammy the Hamster DVD series isn’t doing so well. See also books and music. (thx, josh)
Andreas Pavel was the inventor of the
Andreas Pavel was the inventor of the portable music player (aka Walkman). “I was in the woods in St. Moritz, in the mountains. The snow was falling down. I pressed the button, and suddenly we were floating. It was an incredible feeling, to realize that I now had the means to multiply the aesthetic potential of any situation.”
Scratch the World with cars as records
Scratch the World with cars as records and pedestrians as crossfaders.
On the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth,
On the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, a fun essay about Mozart as a hacker.
Fan-produced video for William Shatner’s cover of
Fan-produced video for William Shatner’s cover of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. (thx, renee)
iTunes Jukebox is “a cartridge-based physical interface
iTunes Jukebox is “a cartridge-based physical interface to iTunes”. “Electronically enhanced” jewelcases can be arranged in a small tower that interfaces with iTunes to play music off of whatever CD case you put into the tower.
“Fans are fascinated by the drugs-and-drink-fuelled excesses
“Fans are fascinated by the drugs-and-drink-fuelled excesses of rock stars such as Pete Doherty - but they don’t see the heavy personal toll it takes, writes Caroline Butler, who spent years with an alcoholic star”. (via tmn)
Stay Connected