One of my favourite go-to questions when doing the SiriusXM show is to ask about the recording and the studio used. The Wikisinger sings the same song in different environments experimenting with natural reverb, early reflections and short delays. One of the scenes is recorded in an anechoic chamber without any sound reflections.
Lead Acts With the Shortest Names to Top the Hot 100
Among lead acts, here’s an updated list of those that have kept it the shortest and sweetest at No. 1 on the Hot 100 for all-time, counting total characters in an artist’s name (including punctuation, so, sorry, acts like T.I., B.o.B and a-ha). OMI joins eight other acts in trailing only M and U2 for the quirky honor:
Artist, Title, Year Reached No. 1
M, “Pop Muzik,” 1979 (one character)
U2, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “With or Without You,” 1987 (two characters)
OMI, “Cheerleader,” 2015 (three characters)
D4L, “Laffy Taffy,” 2006
Mya, “Lady Marmalade,” 2001 (with Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim & P!nk)
Joe, “Stutter,” 2001 (featuring Mystikal)
TLC, “Unpretty,” “No Scrubs,” 1999; “Waterfalls,” “Creep,” 1995
SWV, “Weak,” 1993
EMF, “Unbelievable,” 1991
Via Billboard
Reggae hits that have crossed over to the Billboard’s Hot 100’s top spot
OMI’s “Cheerleader” crowns the Billboard Hot 100, rising 2-1. The buoyant reggae/pop song replaces Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again,” featuring Charlie Puth, after 12 weeks, leaving the latter song tied for the longest run at No. 1 ever for a rap single.
“Cheerleader” joins the elite club of reggae hits that have crossed over to the Hot 100’s top spot. Notable others:
Johnny Nash, “I Can See Clearly Now” (No. 1, four weeks, 1972)
Eric Clapton, “I Shot the Sheriff” (one week, 1974) (written by Bob Marley)
Two by UB40: “Red Red Wine” (one week, 1988) and “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (seven weeks, 1993)
Ini Kamoze,” Here Comes the Hotstepper,” (two weeks, 1994)
Two by Shaggy: “It Wasn’t Me” (two weeks) and “Angel” (one week), both in 2001
Sean Paul, “Get Busy” (three weeks, 2003)
Sean Kingston, “Beautiful Girls” (four weeks, 2007)
And, MAGIC!, “Rude” (six weeks, 2014) … making it back-to-back summers that a reggae hit has splashed its way to the top of the Hot 100
Via Billboard
Documentary Profiling Looney Toons Director And Animator Chuck Jones Will Make You Run Back To The Cartoons
If you grew up watching Looney Tunes, then you know Chuck Jones, one of all-time masters of visual comedy. In “Chuck Jones – The Evolution of an Artist”, filmmaker Tony Zhou of Every Frame a Painting profiles the legendary director and animator of those still-hilarious Looney Toons and Merry Melodies cartoons.
Star Wars Throwback: Mark Hamill’s family visits him at work in 1982
In 1982, Mark Hamill’s wife Marilou and son Nathan visited the set of Return of the Jedi. Lovely. See more at StarWars.com.
The Beatles Isolated Vocals From Getting Better, When I’m 64, Being For the Benefit of Mr Kite, Sgt Peppers Reprise
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by The Beatles. Released on June 1, 1967, it was an immediate commercial and critical success, spending 27 weeks at the top of the albums chart in the United Kingdom and 15 weeks at number one in the United States. Time magazine declared it “a historic departure in the progress of music” and the New Statesman praised its elevation of pop to the level of fine art. It won four Grammy Awards in 1968, including Album of the Year, the first rock LP to receive this honour.
https://youtu.be/P9jlJzWFSQI
https://youtu.be/3hZjOVZUhDo
https://youtu.be/lYUOrcHnIAk
https://youtu.be/FjtwRRqzKv0
Toronto’s Sonic Boom Will Create 7-Inch Picture Disc Of Anything You Want
Toronto record store Sonic Boom and Andy March of Monotype Audio Disk Cutting (and also cassette label Craft Singles and local band Crosss) has set up a lathe record cutter in store and will create a 7-inch picture disc of absolutely anything you want.
The mono discs can hold up to seven minutes of audio per side and turn at 33 rpm. March is even able to add any image you want right onto the record. Single cuttings go for a measly $14.99 (about $12 USD), and March is willing to go up to orders of 50, with pricing varying by order size. The audio reportedly sounds great, and as you can see above, they look fantastic.
The cuttings occur live on the Sonic Boom floor from 10 a.m. to midnight Friday through Sunday. You can walk right in and place an order, or email monotypeaudio@gmail.com.
Via CoS
The Teletubbies, Stripped of Color, Frolic to Their Favorite Joy Division Tune
This is obviously what we can call a natural progression in The Teletubbies, from their classic scenes of the baby in the sun to dancing around with Joy Division.
Pandora, Spotify, I HeartRadio Dominate As Online Listening Grows
Webcast Metrics has released its monthly digital audio Top 20 Ranker for March 2015. The Ranker is a listing of the top-performing digital audio stations and networks measured by the Webcast Metrics audience measurement platform.
Webcast Metrics uses a proprietary platform to track audience data and convert it to audience metrics that can be easily understood by stations, publishers and advertisers. Audience rankings are done on the basis of “Average Active Sessions”, with “Session Starts” and “Average Time Spent Listening” also displayed. Average Active Sessions (AAS) is defined as “Total Listening Hours (TLH) divided by hours in the reported time period.” TLH is defined as the total number of hours that the station/publisher has streamed during sessions with duration of at least one minute in total within the reported time period. Session Starts (SS) is defined as “the number of different requests for streams (i.e., stream requests) with a duration of at least one minute in total within the reported time period.” Average Time Spent Listening (ATSL) is defined as “the average number of hours for each session with a duration of at least one minute in total within the reported time period. Calculated as total time spent listening divided by active sessions.”
Rankers are divided into “Domestic” and “All Streams.” The “Domestic” Ranker quantifies listening done inside the U.S. based on log-based information provided by the station, this report is not MRC accredited. The “All Streams” Ranker merely verifies the quantity of streams without qualifying where they are being consumed, and is MRC accredited.
Via Triton Digital