Geek Mix

From Wikipedia: "The word geek is a slang term, noting individuals as "a peculiar or otherwise odd person, especially one who is perceived to be overly obsessed with one or more things including those of intellectuality, electronics, gaming, etc."

Geek stuff seems to be 'in' right now, which is fine by me. I've been one for years, and a little social acceptance isn't a horrible thing, although I honestly don't care one way or the other. I'm also an unabashed Star Wars fan, and today's release of the Clone Wars is as good an excuse as any to geek out today.

30 Century Man (Scott Walker) - The Jigsaw Seen
Bleached Bone Fields - We'll Write
Do You Believe In Magic? - The Format
Fly Me To the Moon - Frank Sinatra
It Is Pitch Dark - MC Frontalot
Man on the Moon - R.E.M.
Paranoid Android - Radiohead
Sci-Fi Kid - Blitzen Trapper
Skullcrusher Mountain - Jonathan Coulton
Subterranean Homesick Alien - Radiohead
Sunshine Superman - Donovan
White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane

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New Vide: House of Cards

Another one of my more recent favorite songs just was turned into a video. This time, it's House of Cards, from Radiohead's latest, In Rainbows. It's pretty cool, they're using some neat 3-D imagery there.

..

House of Cards - Radiohead

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Evolution of... Zero 7

Zero 7 has been a favorite of mine ever since I first discovered their work through a free download via Amazon.com with their song Destiny and later through the use of their song In the Waiting Line in the movie Garden State. Zero 7 is the name for two musicians, Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker, although they frequently collaborate with a number of other musicians for their work. Their first song was a remix of Radiohead's Climbing Up the Walls, which was a b-side for Karma Police. This led to several collaborations and soon, an EP called EP1, when they first used the name Zero 7, in 1999.

Climbing Up the Walls (Zero 7 Remix) - Radiohead

Two years later, the duo released their first album, Simple Things, a down-tempo album that would eventually become a gold record. On the album, they collaborated with Mozez, Sia Furler, and Sophie Barker. Simple Things brought the band out into the limelight, with a number of critical praises. The album is probably my favorite of the group, with it's low-key sound and number of outstanding songs.

End Theme - Zero 7

2004 marked the band's second album, called When It Falls, where the duo collaborated once again with Mozez, Sia Furler, and Sophie Barker, with Tina Dico joining the ensamble. While the album retained a similar feel to Simple Things, I never got the same feel that I did with their first album.

Speed Dial No. 2 - Zero 7

The Garden, the band's third album, was released last year, with only Sia returning for the album, but with Swedish singer José González joining her for several songs. Henry Binns also contributed vocals to the album. This album was a little more upbeat than the prior two, with a slightly different sound and tone to the whole thing. It was also nominated for a Grammy Award in 2007.

Throw It All Away - Zero 7

Over the past couple of years, Zero 7 has had their music used in a number of television and movie projects, ranging from the Garden State soundtrack to CSI, Veronica Mars, House MD and a couple others. I'm hoping that we'll be seeing more from these guys within the next couple of years, because I can't get enough of their music. The band is currently working on a Ingrid Eto, an insturmental project.

Hype - Buy - Look

Radiohead - In Rainbows

12 days ago, Radiohead shocked a lot of the music blogging community by putting up a short announcement on their website:

Hello everyone.
Well, the new album is finished, and it's coming out in 10 days;
We've called it In Rainbows.
Love from us all.
Jonny

The other shocking thing was the means in which they released it - online, ahead of the physical album (which isn't so much of a shock), but fans could choose whatever price they wanted for the downloads. You could pay nothing, if you wanted, or you could pay whatever amount you felt was proper. Apparently, there's a lot of talk about how this is going to revolutionize the music industry. I don't think that will really have any huge changes in the way that music is distributed, because this seems to be to be a bit of a publicity stunt on the part of the band, and one that's certainly gotten them a lot of attention. To start, Radiohead is one of those artists that has a lot of fans out there already. This is something that can probably work with a group that's already hugely established and with a good fan following.
The other thing is that this isn't something that's commercially viable. There's no set amount, and therefore potentially a disaster. While loyal fans would contribute money towards this album, how about the demographic of people who are somewhat indifferent or haven't really listened to Radiohead? I know I didn't kick in any money - This is the first Radiohead album that I've listened to beginning to end, and while it's not bad, it's not mindblowing. I would feel compelled to kick in money if this was something from one of my favorite bands. In any event, I'm sure that we'll probably see a couple of copies of this sort of thing, a flexible distribution, but I can't see it happening on a huge scale, not when the RIAA sues people left and right over illegal downloads and when corperations need to make money.
The album isn't bad. I can't say that it's going to make me a huge fan of the band, but it's listenable, and a somewhat solid album. However, there really aren't any songs that really stick out for me, they all sort of blend in together in a nice mix.

In Rainbows - Radiohead

Hype - Download/Buy - Look

New Radiohead

I'm not really a big Radiohead fan. Actually, I don't know that I've really listened to a lot of their music. But, news has been spreading like wildfire about their next album, which was announced today to be released in... ten days. That's a really short period of time.

This was posted on Sterogum, via their promotionalists:

There will be no advances, promotional copies, digital streams, media sites, etc of RADIOHEAD'S In Rainbows.

Everyone in the world will be getting the music at the same time: Oct. 10. That includes us. We don't have anything to play anyone in the nine days until the record is available. Everyone at nasty has put his or her order in and just to clarify: you are not being asked to pay for a promo (as some have inquired). you can pay nothing or as much or as little as you want.

There will be no promotional copies of the discbox either, as each discbox is being made to order. Sorry.

And from their official page:

Hello everyone.

Well, the new album is finished, and it's coming out in 10 days;

We've called it In Rainbows.

Love from us all.
Jonny

Interesting. I wonder if it's to combat piracy. I guess we'll see.