I probably sound like a bit of a stuck record at this point but I think it’s hard to understate just how much of a killer music device the iPad is. My hat goes off to Smule for really leading the way. They totally get it.

I can’t wait until 2015 when this music revolution is in full swing and my son is playing with all these apps. I wonder if he’ll still learn to play piano in the classical way I did?

“Audio blogging sites Gorilla vs. Bear and Weekly Tape Deck have launched a record label, Forest Family Records. The label will product limited runs of 7″, 10″ and 12″ vinyl as well as cassettes.”

CD’s are dead, long live digital! But there’s no doubt in my mind that physical formats will still play an important (but different) role in music. Especially when a whole generation of kids, who never really even knew what cassettes and vinyl were, decide to acquire some of that ‘post-digital’ cool factor.

For the record, I said it on the panel I was on at SXSW a few weeks ago, but I’m still waiting for the first cassette only exclusive by a major artist.

I just stumbled across this really great keynote from Clay Shirky a couple of years ago (via Seth Godin). He’s talking about the Cognitive Surplus, or put more simply, the amazing things you can do when you stop spending your spare time simply watching TV or consuming media. Definitely recommended viewing. I’ve posted before about my good friend Henrik Berggren, he’s a guy who definitely knows what he wants to do with his Cognitive Surplus. What do you do with yours?

There’s another poignant part at the end of this talk. It’s interesting to think about how we have a whole generation that will grow up just assuming that media isn’t a one way street. For them it’s as much about producing and sharing as it is about consuming. And I think that will have an important impact on the music business in the future too, as production and participation in music starts to become much more important for a mass-market that was previously content on just consuming it.

Just been watching the BBC documentary Synth Britannia and now digging through old footage of synths and samplers. Amazing how complicated this all looked in the late 1960’s.

On the end of an era

“I think records were just a little bubble through time and those who made a living from them for a while were lucky. There is no reason why anyone should have made so much money from selling records except that everything was right for this period of time. I always knew it would run out sooner or later. It couldn’t last, and now it’s running out. I don’t particularly care that it is and like the way things are going. The record age was just a blip. It was a bit like if you had a source of whale blubber in the 1840s and it could be used as fuel. Before gas came along, if you traded in whale blubber, you were the richest man on Earth. Then gas came along and you’d be stuck with your whale blubber. Sorry mate – history’s moving along. Recorded music equals whale blubber. Eventually, something else will replace it.”

I’ve posted parts of this quote before. But Tom Robinson just reminded me of it by retweeting a link to the piece in The Guardian. Brian Eno has some smart things to say, you should read the full article.

This doesn’t really warrant a whole 3min 30sec demonstration but it’s cool nonetheless. Thinking it would be more useful if it was wider, magnetic and could replace the white board in a school music room.

Really enjoyed this 20 minute documentary on the Amen break. Touches on copyright and culture issues surrounding sampling & remixing. Argues that this break has now become part of our music/cultural subconcious.

When I first started DJ-ing it was predominantly hip-hop, beats and drum’n'bass so the Amen break became pretty much a staple. Amazing to think about it’s history and how it’s played such an important role in the music I’ve enjoyed for so many years - from NWA to Squarepusher and many shades in between.

I still don’t get tired of it. A very quick search on SoundCloud pulls up quite a few tracks using the Amen break.

Snowcrash  by  Social Engineer