The music for the massively popular video game, Tetris, actually has a name – “Korobeiniki”, and based on a poem of the same name by Nikolay Nekrasov, which was first printed in the Sovremennik magazine in 1861. Its increasing tempo and the associated dance style led to it quickly becoming a popular Russian folk song.
Why Peter Buck From R.E.M. Doesn’t Go Online
Sometimes, as R.E.M. guys did, taking that break and unplugging and getting back to your life and recalibrating yourself is so valuable. Because everything is so in-your-face and 24-7, it’s hard to do that.
Peter Buck: I try not to go online — I literally do not know how to turn the television on, ’cause there are, like, four of those zappers. I don’t listen to the radio — I listen to either CDs or an iPod in my car. I don’t read newspapers. My circle of friends, we might be pissed off about whatever asshole move Trump or his people is pulling, but it’s not a big part of my life. But still, all this shit, it is. It seeps in.
We were in Baja and driving through mountains, so you wouldn’t see another car for like an hour, and then we’d stay in some so roach motel in a town of like 1,000 people and wander around. I don’t know — there’s a place where I live in my head that sometimes, I’ve got to make that literal and disappear out there in the real world. And, I gotta say, I feel 100 percent better after it.
The day [of ] the [Las Vegas] shooting, I woke up, and that just was so insane to me. And then I got a phone call that Tom Petty’s dead. Ten minutes later, Chris Martin called me — I was going to go see Coldplay [in Portland]. And he goes, “You want to play ‘Free Fallin'” tonight?” and I said, “Yeah, sure.” I got out my guitar and played the record and figured it out. I was playing a Tom Petty song for a couple of hours.
You know, I hadn’t been in front of 20,000 people in years. We walk onstage, there’s a moment of silence. And then we played “Free Fallin’,” and I just kind of broke down, you know?
And it was everything else — there’s a bunch of other stuff like that going on in my life. I was just . . . [makes noise of being at loss for words] Just had trouble getting a handle on it. So we got in the car and got the fuck out.
By the time I got back, after three weeks, I met Joseph Arthur in Todos Santos and we wrote this group of songs, played them at a bar there, and then we drove to Los Angeles and played them at his [art] opening. It felt like, okay, I’m bringing something living out of this death and sadness. I guess that’s what my life has always been about — life’s sad, and being able to touch some of that in your heart or your soul or whatever it is, and bring it out in some way. I don’t know if it makes the world a better place, or makes me a better or happier person. It worked, whatever it was.
MTV’s ‘120 Minutes’ Rewind: The Sugarcubes go under the ‘120 X-Ray’ Back In 1989
Björk, Siggy and Einar of The Sugarcubes go under the 120 X-Ray on MTV’s 120 Minutes with Dave Kendall in 1989, to discuss their new album “Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week!”, and working with director Óskar Jónasson.
When You Have a Cochlear Impant, You Experience Music VERY Differently. Here’s How
For those who are deaf, music is not just about sound. At age 20, Rachel Kolb received cochlear implants that gave her partial hearing. In virtual reality, experience how music felt for her, before and after.
When I got a cochlear implant seven years ago, after being profoundly deaf for my entire life, hearing friends and acquaintances started asking me the same few questions: Had I heard music yet? Did I like it? What did it sound like?
I was 20 years old then. Aside from the amplified noises I’d heard through my hearing aids, which sounded more like murmurs distorted by thick insulation swaddling, I had never heard music, not really. But that did not mean I wasn’t in some way musical. I played piano and guitar as a child, and I remember enjoying the feel of my hands picking out the piano keys in rhythm, as well as the rich vibrations of the guitar soundboard against my chest. I would tap out a beat to many other daily tasks, too.
For several years, I became privately obsessed with marching in rhythm when walking around the block, counting out my steps like a metronome: One, two. One, two. Watching visual rhythms, from the flow of water to clapping hands and the rich expression of sign language, fascinated me. But in the hearing world, those experiences often didn’t count as music. And I gathered that my inability to hear music, at least in the view the people I knew, seemed unthinkable.
“So you can’t hear the beautiful music right now?” I remember someone asking me when I was an undergraduate. We sat in a restaurant where, presumably, some ambient melody played in the background. When I said no, she replied, “Wow, that makes me feel sad.”
Sad. This is how some hearing people reacted to my imagined lifetime without music. Did it mean that some part of my existence was unalterably sad, too? I resisted this response. My life was already beautiful and rich without music, just different. And even if listening to music did not yet feel like a core part of my identity, I could be curious.
This Guy Is Building A New Instrument Called The Subcontrabassoon From His Own Original Design
Robert Bobo, a contrabassoon player, is designing and building an original “Subcontrabassoon” – a unique instrument of his own invention. Similar to the subcontrabass saxophone, the subcontrabass tuba and the Tubax, Bobo is creating his instrument to play at full octave range lower than his existing instrument.
In choosing the low range of the subcontrabassoon, I was driven by a desire not to make a quasi-subcontrabassoon, but a true subcontrabassoon capable of playing a full octave below the contrabassoon. This left B? or A as the two possible lowest notes. I chose A over B? mostly as a way of future-proofing the design
He is currently raising funds to through his website in order to truly realize his vision.
Photo Gallery: Broken Social Scene with Portugal The Man at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage
All photos taken by Mini’s Memories. You can contact her at minismemories@hotmail.com
Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets Announces Europe And UK Tour
Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, the supergroup he formed to perform early Pink Floyd material, have announced their debut tour across Europe and the U.K. No word yet on other dates, but here’s hoping he comes to North America.
Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets Tour 2018
9/02: Stockholm Circus, Sweden
9/03: Copenhagen Forum Black Box, Denmark
9/04: Rostock Moya, Germany
9/06: Amsterdam Carre, Netherlands
9/08: Antwerp Stadsschouwburg, Belgium
9/09: Luxembourg Den Atelier, Luxembourg
9/10: Paris Olympia, France
9/11: Dusseldorf Mitsubishi Elektrikhalle, Germany
9/13: Hamburg Laeiszhalle, Germany
9/15: Stuttgart Beethovensaal, Germany
9/16: Berlin Tempodrom, Germany
9/17: Lepzeig Haus Auensee, Germany
9/19: Vienna Stadhalle F, Austria
9/20: Milan Tetro Arcimboldi, Itlay
9/21: Zurich Samsung Hall, Switzerland
9/23: Portsmouth Guildhall, UK
9/24: London Roundhouse, UK
9/25: Birmingham Symphony Hall, UK
9/27: Manchester O2 Apollo, UK
9/28: Glasgow SEC Armadillo, UK
9/29: Nottingham Royal Concert Hall, UK
How Brad Pitt Stepped In When Gwyneth Paltrow Was Harassed By Harvey Weinstein
Earlier this week on Howard Stern’s show, Gwyneth Paltrow recounted her experiences with Harvey Weinstein, and how Brad Pitt stepped in.
Shawn Mendes Watches Fan Covers On YouTube
On this episode of “You Sang My Song,” Shawn Mendes watches YouTube fan covers of his songs “In My Blood,” “Treat You Better,” Stitches,” “Lost in Japan,” “Mercy,” and “Holding Me Back.” Fans react to Shawn watching their music. Shawn Mendes’ self-titled album is available now.