Category Archives: Music

Links of the day

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Short and sweet because I’m on the verge of a migraine. I love how Mother Nature bitch slaps me on my day off.

protestpic.jpg

Anime protestors meet real police. I can’t believe I went all weekend without seeing this… Fans used figurines to hold a protest against a distributor in Singapore. Police sent four anti-riot vans. (Reuters/Textfiend)

Inside politics — of youth and age (again!) A look at the fairly sprightly Fine Gael and aging Labour Party. (Harry McGee)

5,800-year-old mass graves from Tell Brak, Syria Evidence of a massacre at one of the oldest known cities. (Anthropology.net)

Antique ivory skull statuettes Creepy yet strangely beautiful. (Boing Boing)

Britney Spears at the VMAs… If you like train wrecks, check out the footage of a totally out of it Britney ‘performing’ her latest single. Thoughtfully contrasted with her “Slave 4 U” stint at a past show. (Rick O’Shea)

Spanish ‘granny’ dissects past and present on blog. María Amelia Lopez is 95 and kicks ass. A great story I wish I’d seen for today’s foreign pages of the Irish Examiner. (International Herald Tribune)

Nightwish

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I was wandering around YouTube earlier and stumbled on the latest Nightwish video, “Amaranth”. I’d forgotten it was out there so I had a look. I really like what Annette Olzon has brought to the band. Her vocals are much more accessible and her style far more grounded than Tarja Turunen’s. That’s not to say you can easily compare the two, because their styles are utterly different. I’ll have to wait until Dark Passion Play comes out before I can make my mind up who I like more, but she’s off to a good start. In the meantime, check out Ms Olzon doing her thing in “Amaranth”:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=GdZn7k5rZLQ[/youtube]

For the sake of comparsion, here’s “Nemo”, featuring Tarja:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=xAKf1gTx7qM[/youtube]

And while I’m at it, here’s “Amaranth” on the piano:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=U8XcMavRrHk[/youtube]

Links of the day

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The Great Wall of China will be gone in 20 years. If the report is accurate it will be a dark, dark time for those who treasure the past. (Anthropology.net)

Breast cancer may be linked to use of deodorants. Worrying if true. (Breakingnews.ie)

Where do all the prayer notes go? Shmuel Rabinowitz leads the team that cleans up hundreds of thousands a year and buries them in Jerusalem. (Reuters)

Breakthrough drug for schizophrenia. It works as well as current medication but with fewer side effects. (AFP)

The music man. Columbia hope Rick Rubin can save the music industry. Rock. (International Herald Tribune)

Hidden trade barriers cost APEC $148bn: World Bank. That’s about 7.5% of the bloc’s trade in 2004. (AFP)

Malaysian taxi drivers issued dress code. Fines await those caught without socks or white shirts. (AP/Taunton Gazette)

This makes me feel better

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From CNet:

The ability to identify the absolute pitch of musical notes, looks to be the product of a small number of genes

Well thank science for that. Here was I thinking I was just useless when it came to identifying notes; now my failures at working out guitar chords just by listening to the song are explained away nicely.

Although perfect pitch appears to be a genetic trait, early exposure to music or musical training appears to influence its development in those with the right DNA.

The study tested 2,213 individuals, recruited via advertisements and a Web site, and 981 of them were categorized as having perfect pitch. The study found that about as many women as men have perfect pitch–47 percent and 53 percent, respectively–and that those with perfect pitch tend to err on the sharp side as they get older.

Serj rocks

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System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian, one of my musical heroes, is gearing up for the release of his solo album in October. As a taster — and as a reaction to what he feels is the “failing democracy” of the United States — he has released this video for the song “The Unthinking Majority”. For a fuller explanation of Tankian’s thinking, visit his website here.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQeRG72E3OM[/youtube]

Paramore

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My band of the moment is Tennessee pop-punk quartet Paramore.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCyGvGEtOwc[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgJ8BZi3vTA[/youtube]

This isn’t the music post I referred to a couple of entries ago… perhaps tomorrow.