Julia Roberts, Harrison Ford, Kevin Spacey, Edward Norton, Penélope Cruz, Robert Redford and Ian Somerhalder all join forces to give nature a voice. Watch the films and take action at
http://natureisspeaking.org
Julia Roberts in her greatest ever role – Mother Nature
Canada’s Best Record Show Is Back In Toronto – Sunday March 29
Well, here we go again. The best record show in all of Canada has announced the date for the Spring Show. Set your calendars and save your money for Sunday, March 29th at The Estonian House, 958 Broadview Avenue. It’ll go from 11:00am-4:00pm and you’ll want to get there early for the best deals. It costs $5 to get in, but check out the contest I run daily on Twitter – I’m giving a 4-pack of tickets away daily until the show.
The best of Toronto’s vinyl, CD and music memorabilia vendors will be there with music from every genre, and yes that includes rock, soul, metal, jazz, punk, R&B, electronic, new waves, 50s, 60s, and everything in between.
This time, they even have some dealers setting up from the East Coast of Canada. Yes, they’re driving in because the show is that good.
Over 55 tables chock full of albums, spreading the message that vinyl and music is here to stay.
Anne Lennox on the internet’s reaction to her incredible 2015 Grammy performance
Your Grammys performance broke the Internet but it was so simple—no fireworks, just you on the stage.
Don’t you think that’s basically what a performer has always been doing? To me, it’s what I’ve done—I’ve used costumes, I’ve used lighting.
Why do you think the public reacted to it the way that they did?
I don’t know, I can’t tell you that. It’s like the Roman Empire: you get the thumbs up and everybody loves you. Everybody is a critic nowadays and if they feel like they don’t like you, they can steam into you with such abuse. So it’s a schizophrenic experience. I was surprised. I didn’t know until I went out to dinner that night that people were talking about it. So many people were saying, “You were exploding on Twitter.” And I was like, “Really?” I just did what I did and I never know how people are going to take it. Sometimes people love you, sometimes they hate you.
The online peanut gallery, even when it’s being praiseful, makes you nervous.
We really are in a divisive place with the Internet. I’m reticent to allow it to affect me because you start to feel like that’s the last thing you’ve done and then everything else is pitted against that last one. Thank you very much to everyone who seemed to appreciate it, I’m delighted, but I can’t live in that schizoid place where I get approval and disapproval.
Via Vogue
What Goes Into Making a Record Store Day Release ‘Official’
From Diffuser:
The “unofficial” misnomer disrespects the amazing releases that could only happen on Record Store Day. I refer to the U2 12″ with new songs, the Foo Fighters covers album, live EPs recorded at record stores, Jaco Pastorius’ early recordings, the Buck Owens coloring book, all sorts of insanity from the Flaming Lips, The Grey Album (just kidding, but that seriously needs to happen), resurrected psych and classic hip-hop gems, Heatmiser cassettes — not to mention the releases that made you drool and the incredible titles that will be announced.
We have always wanted unique releases, and our ideas about what makes something stand out has evolved. For example, Ryan Adams’ ongoing inexpensive 7″ series means a label better have a very good reason for releasing a 7″ for $12-$15. Sundazed earned that right with rare music and excellent mastering and pressing. A mid-tier rock artist’s 7″ on black vinyl containing two currently available songs no longer excites people, so we always ask if they can find an unreleased track for the B-side.
Price is a concern as well. Sometimes we think box sets are too expensive so we request that they be simplified to bring the cost down. We usually find middle ground, but there was one cassette this year that everyone felt was far too expensive. It will be released on a different day so those who want it will be able to get it. We don’t like to actually veto titles.
Demand for colored vinyl has changed, too. It used to be a big RSD draw. Now that “every day is Record Store Day” and we have a pile of exclusive or nearly exclusive colored vinyl every Tuesday, it’s a little less special.
Music videos pull in audiences more than ever with tech tricks
From Smashd:
For music videos, viewer and video are no longer forced to exist in different worlds.
A small group of innovators is embracing the versatility of the Internet. By using new technologies during production and dissemination, they’re bringing fans into the fold with interactive music videos. Done right, the work of this vanguard is the best there is.
“The things that excite me the most are the things where people are saying: We don’t need to be beholden to a 16 inch by 9 inch box because that’s the shape of TVs,” said Steven Gottlieb, a 20-year veteran of the music video business and editor of Videostatic.com, a website that covers music video news in great detail. “Music videos don’t need to be linear. They don’t need to fit inside one little box. If the goal is purely to introduce more people to a song, to an artist, and to let them understand it better, then [the video] can really be anything.”
The New York-based production company Interlude, for instance, makes it simple for anyone with an Internet connection to make interactive videos. Specializing in a “Choose Your Own Adventure”-style of interaction, Interlude made its biggest splash in late 2013 with a brilliant video for Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.” Produced to coincide with Sony’s release of his massive, 47-discThe Complete Album Collection Volume 1, the video allows viewers to flip through 16 channels on an old analog T.V. and watch news anchors, Danny Brown and the “Property Brothers,” among others, seamlessly mouth Dylan’s words in time with the song. The virtual remote in your hands (or on screen) gives you the power to make the video different every time you watch it.
Spotify’s Pick Hit For SXSW? Years & Years
South by Southwest began as a small music festival with only 700 registrants, where A&R reps from the labels scouted bands with the intent of discovering, and then signing, the cream of the crop. I was there for 16 straight years, until after having the greatest 4 days ever spent in that city – Jesus & Mary Chain, The Black Angels (performing 6 times), and Dave Grohl at the Keynote, that was it for me. I knew when it was time walk away for a few years, but I’ll be back.
Austin’s homegrown festival has since grown into a huge, multi-pronged event: Music, Film, and Interactive, plus offshoots like SXSWedu, SXSports, and SXSW Eco attract different groups of people from all over the place.
For many, it’s still all about the music — arguably more than ever, because in the early days, SXSW was attended by people who see music for a living. Artists can still make their mark in Austin by getting “discovered,” but only if they attract enough buzz from the fans who now comprise the majority of SXSW attendees.
Spotify is helping you discover some SXSW artists right now, before the event gets underway, by polling music fans to find out which artists playing SXSW are receiving a disproportionate amount of buzz from the global music community. Based on the artists people everywhere are reading about, sharing, and listening to, Spotify includes a discovery score for each artist. This reflects how much attention a particular artist is getting from music fans, relative to the artist’s familiarity among the general public. If lots of people around the world are discovering an artist (or are about to discover them), that artist gets a higher discovery score. So, it’s a measure of disproportionate attention — a sign that music fans are really starting to get behind a particular artist.
The following 100 SXSW showcase artists are receiving the most disproportionate attention from music fans around the world right now (playlist below). Italicized artists happen to be playing Spotify House:
- Years & Years
- Christine and the Queens
- Dej Loaf
- Macaco
- O.T. Genasis
- TY DOLLA $IGN
- James Bay
- Marlon Roudette
- Dotan
- Fritz Kalkbrenner
- Jack Garratt
- Aero Chord
- Bleachers
- Seinabo Sey
- Priory
- Klangkarussell
- July Talk
- Kaleo
- Tove Lo
- Catfish and the Bottlemen
- Viet Cong
- Clean Bandit
- Jeremy Loops
- Family of the Year
- Nihils
- Milky Chance
- Rae Sremmurd
- Young Rising Sons
- Ibeyi
- AWOLNATION
- Walking On Cars
- Yumi Zouma
- Cazzette
- Circa Waves
- Snootie Wild
- Meg Mac
- Mystery Skulls
- Tove Styrke
- LANY
- Laura Welsh
- Cheerleader
- Joey Bada$$
- Tkay Maidza
- Gengahr
- Odesza
- Big Data
- Elliphant
- Jess Glynne
- Johnny Stimson
- Mallory Knox
- Run the Jewels
- Natalie Prass
- Mansionair
- Marina and The Diamonds
- The Knocks
- Songhoy Blues
- Brenmar
- Beginners
- Fetty Wap
- Greg Holden
- Ivy Levan
- Whitehorse
- George Maple
- Amason
- Misterwives
- Elle King
- Freedom Fry
- Von Hertzen Brothers
- Andy Shauf
- Razihel
- Kevin Gates
- Matthew E. White
- Black Rivers
- X Ambassadors
- Griz
- Epik High
- Marian Hill
- Makthaverskan
- Austin Basham
- Public Service Broadcasting
- Thylacine
- JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound
- Stromae
- Uz
- Night Terrors of 1927
- Jaill
- The War On Drugs
- Mike Will Made It
- Noveller
- Girlpool
- Haywyre
- Rangleklods
- Laleh
- Caloncho
- Flag Ship
- Courtney Barnett
- KAYTRANADA
- Summer Heart
- Fort Romeau
- Night Riots
Lou Reed’s compositional manuscript with chords and lyrics to “Heroin”
“Heroin” is a song by The Velvet Underground, released on their 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. Written by Lou Reed in 1964, the song, which overtly depicts heroin use and abuse, is one of the band’s most celebrated compositions. Critic Mark Deming writes, “While ‘Heroin’ hardly endorses drug use, it doesn’t clearly condemn it, either, which made it all the more troubling in the eyes of many listeners”.
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked it #455 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
And now you can sing along:
https://youtu.be/ffr0opfm6I4
Dysonics Releases RAPPR, a Revolutionary 3D Audio Environment for Mac OS X that Brings Headphones to Life
Headphone audio pioneer Dysonics today released RAPPR, an immersive 3D audio environment for headphones. How good? Dysonics’ RondoMotion is being used for the immersive audio section of Björk at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), March 8, 2015 – June 7, 2015.
RAPPR captures the experience of listening to premium speakers in the sweet spot of a room, and delivers that experience to your existing headphones. The result is the cleanest, richest, and most realistic headphone audio possible.
Available for Mac OS X, RAPPR works with all headphones to seamlessly produce exceptional audio for everything you listen to: Spotify, Netflix, iTunes, Hulu, etc.
“Headphones are now the most widely used form listening to media, and yet the core headphone listening experience has changed very little over the years. RAPPR represents a big shift by taking traditional 2-channel headphone audio and really opening it up, making for a much more lifelike and full listening experience,” said Dysonics CTO Robert Dalton.
RAPPR’s simple and intuitive interface lets you toggle between thoughtfully crafted and tested presets to create the best headphone listening experience for all types of content. The 3 main modes are: Music: Takes traditional, flat stereo and outputs spatialized stereo; Movie: Takes traditional, flat stereo and outputs spatialized 3-channel; Surround: Takes traditional stereo & native 5.1 and outputs spatialized 5.1 surround
You can also customize your sound environment. RAPPR’s adjustable sound ring lets you modify the distance between you and your virtual speaker setup, creating endless spatial audio configurations.
Music lovers will experience audiorealism like never before. RAPPR pairs with the RondoMotion sensor, the world’s first wireless motion sensor for headphones. Hearing sound change relative to your head movement (just like it does in a real space) results in a groundbreaking, fully immersive audio experience that ‘puts you there.’
The system also allows you to up-mix all songs, movies, and games to 5.1 surround in real-time. RAPPR also lets you listen to native 5.1 content over headphones with amazing clarity.
And that means you can listen longer. By recreating the natural effect of sound waves in a real room, RAPPR dramatically decreases listener fatigue caused by standard headphone audio.
More music? Count me in.
Choir! Choir! Choir! sings Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”
Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman (AKA “DaBu”) started Choir! Choir! Choir! as a weekly drop in, no-commitment singing event in February 2011. Now happening twice weekly, and open to anyone who likes to sing new arrangements of pop songs, C!C!C! boasts a dedicated and passionate membership of inspired singers from in and around Toronto, Canada. They have performed live with Patti Smith at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Tegan and Sara on the Juno Awards, at TEDx Toronto 2014, and the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival Closing Gala at Roy Thompson Hall.
This week, Choir! Choir! Choir! got together to perform Simple Minds’ Don’t You (Forget About Me), and if you spot closely at around the 3:20 mark, you can clearly see my head.
Yes, I’m reinventing my life time and time again. Call me Choirboy.
Shawn Mendes to Perform Live on YTV’s The Zone
YTV is thrilled to announce that singer and songwriting sensation Shawn Mendes will be performing a concert that will air live on The Zone, to cap off the channel’s most amazing March Break ever. Shawn will be performing on stage at the Pickering Town Centre, in the singer’s hometown of Pickering, Ontario on Friday, March 20.
Beginning at 4 p.m., The Zone will broadcast live hits with Carlos and then from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., The Zone will give viewers VIP access to a live performance from Shawn with songs from his upcoming album, Handwritten (Universal Music Canada), before it’s official release in April. Included in the half-hour special, fans will be treated to a candid, on-stage interview with Shawn and Carlos, in which they will be able to tweet questions to #YTVMendesArmy.
Fans who go to HMV’s Pickering Town Centre location to pre-order Handwritten on the day of the live performance, March 20, 2015, will receive a free wristband to meet Shawn in person later that day. Wristbands will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis to 300 fans. For more details visit HMV Canada’s Facebook page.