Today, while cleaning my desktop, I came across the the list I compiled back then… and I’m still of the opinion that it encompasses a great variety of exemplary bands and earth-shattering music.

I’ve copy-pasted the list below. Take a peek.

(Thanks, Termie!)

whalebones
the faceless
and textures
and gojira
sleep
little boots
alaska in winter

crystal castles
animal collective
holy fuck

wallpaper
(t-rex)

hymie’s basement

hot chip
ratatat

el perro del mar

taken by trees
fujiya & miyagi

blonde redhead
neutral milk hotel

http://www.edbangerrecords.com/

melt banana
railcars

john cale

silver mt zion
guide by voices
low

the other side of the sky

the notwist (nook album)
figurines

tom vek

broken social scene
calvin harris

the moi non plus

mgmt

caribou
maserati

gui boratto

If you’ve never heard of him, you might want to start by watching his TED talk on spaghetti sauce:

His latest book is called Outliers… and, having just read it, I can wholeheartedly recommend it too.

Well, the closed beta is now over – and I can breathe again.

If you want to try out the Record DAW before it is commercially available, head to http://www.recordyou.com/ and join the open beta program. (I have two invites, if you need one.)

It’s a nifty piece of software, that much I can tell.

–

Now playing: Alexisonfire’s new album “Old Crows Young Cardinals”.

Back when I was still a long-haired grunge rocker, Alice In Chains was one of the very few bands that inspired me to write better songs, riffs, harmonies, and lyrics. And, now, more than two decades after AIC was formed, they still manage to make me feel the same.

(Props to bastardo for pointing to the new song.)

• http://shewolfiscoming.com/
• http://www.youtube.com/shewolfhunter
• http://twitter.com/shewolfiscoming

I’m eager to see how this evolves. (Can you spot any other related sites?)

I wonder if she has really dyed her hair black now.

http://www.myspace.com/sestinaband

Having looped these over and over again I am forced to make a heartfelt recommendation. This is something you will want to hear. And, if you’re anything like me, you’ll spend the rest of the day with a joyful glee on your face.

To begin with, I was confident that both of the seemingly opposing sides have it right. Internet activists propose that inherent nature of digital communication is such that it cannot be governed from above – unless the users so choose. On the other hand, professional songwriters and music producers deservedly feel that they should be in control of how the content they produce is utilized.

I came up with the following premise:

“Listening is free, but for using the content you should ask for permission.”

To me, this is how things seem to be currently, anyhow. It is easy to get your hands onto music if the only thing you want to do is listen to it. That is, if you don’t need a physical copy, don’t care for the album covers, or don’t want to run a file sharing system.

This kind of premise also helps us see the challenge clearly. In the Walkman era, there was a proper income tied to products that were targeted to people who only wanted to listen to music. Now, in a world which would follow the suggested premise, this kind of income is approaching… zero. Nada.

Ouch.

But we knew this already.

Thankfully, the premise has a positive side also. If somebody wants to use the musical content in some other way than just for personal pleasure, there (presumably) exists a form of governance that makes sure the producers and songwriters are getting paid for their work.

This kind of premise I’m currently happy to live by. It’s not too puzzling, and it seems realistic.

If my memory serves me correctly, this is the first time any of my works are featured publicly/properly in games. Yay! Go, Rengames!

The game itself can be played here or here. Or search for other potential game sites here.

EDIT: The game seems to be spreading through the web with a nice rapid pace. It has been viewed/loaded more than 60,000 times in a few days. Nice.

At first glance, Record seems reminiscent of ACID – only supercharged. Also I’d sense Record to be a bit more lightweight than Ableton’s Live. It’s a great niche, and I’m somewhat intrigued to see how Propellerhead will be able to deliver on the given promises.