Artifacting » music

2010 SXSW Music Torrent & Radio

hubs — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:20:32 +0000

Here is the torrent containing all the MP3 files publicly available from bands that will be showcasing at this years South By Southwest Music & Media Conference. This torrent currently contains 646 songs at 3.35GB (but might be updated).

Links to torrents for previous years can be found on The (Unofficial) Home of SXSW Torrents website.

If you’re not interested in downloading/seeding but still want to listen to the music try this streaming SXSW 2010 Music Player

Billy Mays Is A Sad Robot – Part II

hubs — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:34:11 +0000

I’ve said it before but I think this really proves it. Billy Mays really is a sad robot. The video below was created by John Boswell, the same guy who puts together all of those great Symphony Of Science Videos that have been going around the internet lately.

If you really fell in love with this, feel free to download the track here: Billy Mays-The Auto Tune Infomercial Ballad

Nickelback Is Cock Rock

hubs — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:05:25 +0000

Nickel back has already gotten way more time than they actually deserve on this blog, but I just couldn’t resist this one. Also, while you’re clicking on stupid Nickelback links you might as well check this one out www.isnickelbacktheworstbandever.com

2009: My Year In Music

hubs — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 05:00:14 +0000

According to last.fm these are the bands that I listened to most during 2009. There was only one band that was also on last years list: Ween.

Below is a wave graph of the top artists that I listened to over the last year (click for a larger image). It’s a great way to visualize the trends in my listening habits throughout the year. And it sure is purty.

Below is a list of my most listened to songs of 2009

Some of the best live shows I’ve seen this year include:
Tool / Widespread Panic
Jojo’s Mardi Gras Band
Bishop Allen

Last.fm is the service I use to track my listening habits. I’m always trying to discover new music so please go ahead and friend me over at last.fm.

I’m Dreaming Of A Chiptune Christmas

hubs — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:48:58 +0000

If you are anything like me (which you aren’t), you easily tire of the same old department store Christmas music. To kick myself out of a Nat King Cole induced coma I decided to put together the most complete collection of all 8-bit Chistmas music the internets has to offer. This one goes out to you gamers, nostalgia lovers, gimmick freaks, and good old fashioned Nat King Cole haters.

8-Bit Christmas – $3 or listen free below
The 8 Bits Of Christmas – Free (download)
Holy 8bit Night – 2,000 Yen on Japanese Amazon
8-Bit Jesus – Free (download)
8 Bit Collective Advent Calendar 2008 – Free, at the 8bit collective
8 Bit Collective Advent Calendar 2009 – Free but is only on day three. At the end of the holiday season all the days will be collected on their site.
Merry Pixmas – Free (download)
Kasio Kristmas – $8.99 from Amazon
A C64 Christmas – Free (download)
A Very 8-Bit Christmas – Free (download)
Another Very 8-Bit Christmas – Free (download)
A Very 8-Bit Christmas 3 – Free (download)
A Very 8-Bit Christmas 4 – Free (download)

These may not be a strictly “8-bit” albums but they have enough chiptune on them I thought they were close enough to include:
Christmasasaurus Vol 1 – Free (download)
Christmasasaurus Vol 2 – Free (download)
Christmasasaurus Vol 3 – Free (download)
Christmasasaurus Vol 4 – Is currently being put together.

12/16/09 UPDATE: Her are a few new other compilations I’ve found since originally publishing:
It’s A Chiptune Holiday – $8.99 from 8 Bit Weapon
Happy Holidays from Foundation 9 – Not sure how to get a hold of this one yet.
Holiday EP – By Animal Style, I’m not sure where to find this one either.

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I’m About To Whip Somebody’s Ass

hubs — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:42:18 +0000

As far as I now, this song comes from a man named Ray. Ray has a daughter who was stressed out about her job. So he wrote this song to cheer up his daughter and for the benefit of “all employees under stress”. Ray has shared it on the internet and I’m sharing it with you.

A bunch of Ze Frank minions have created a ton of remixes of the song to pay Ray back for the happiness he brought.

“Now you might not be able to sing that out loud, but you can hum it to yourself, and you know what the words are, and let it give you some strength to get through the next few moments on your job.”

Goldberg Variations Variations

hubs — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 23:54:33 +0000

Artist, John Menick, has created an album entitled “Goldberg Variations Variations or Music for Insomniacs”. The work simultaneously plays ten different synchronized recordings of of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Goldberg Variations BMV 988“. All of the ten recordings are synced at the first note. But, because of the varying tempos of each of the ten different recordings, they quickly fall out of step with each other and dissolve into a beautiful chaos and eventually end with the quiet, final notes of the slowest paced recording of the Variation.

The CD contains all thirty of the Bach’s Variations, including the Aria and Aria da Capo. Below, you can listen to the first track.

Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 Aria

B Flat

hubs — Tue, 12 May 2009 23:37:15 +0000

Play any of these together, some or all. Start them at any time, in any order. Mix them with the individual volume sliders. Then sit back and get washed over by the B flat ambiance.

This all taken from a collaborative music and spoken word project called Bp 2.0 conceived by Darren Solomon from Science for Girls.

Crying Over Auto Tune Part II

hubs — Tue, 05 May 2009 18:00:01 +0000

A couple weeks back I posted about an auto-tuned crying baby. Well DJ /Rupture was given a track put together by DJ Champion call “Baako” witch mixes the auto-tuned crybaby from my previous post over a relentlessly simple loop. DJ /Rupture says,

Arnold Zea gave this to me. He got it in Ghana, telling me, “I remember two guys in the studio listening to this music and talking about it as music for body exercise.” It is 12 minutes long and features a baby crying through full Auto-Tune (and cheap reverb). There’s more, but I’m not gonna spoil it here. The sound makes you stop and listen. Oh yeah, it’s over a one-bar hiplife loop.

I think it’s pretty horrible. Have a listen: DJ Champion – Baako

On the other end of the spectrum, Matt Smith, has created his own sample of an auto-tuned crying baby and turned it into an absolutely wonderful song that will get stuck in your gooey grey matter all day. As of yet, there is just a sample but give it a listen: Matt Smith – Untitled

I can’t make a post like this without mentioning Buzz Clifford’s “Baby Sittin’ Boogie”. This song may be considered the original baby-sound song. The song peaked at #6 on Billboards Hot 100 in 1961 and eventually sold over 1 million copies. I think it’s terrible.

I would have to say my favorite baby-sound song is Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody”

UPDATE:
Another African DJ, Lwamondo Production, has used the same baby crying sample from above for his remix called Baby Cryin.

It’s All In The Ending

hubs — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:47:19 +0000

I really dug the video for Mat & Kim’s song “Lessons Learned” (great song to boot). Not since The Prodigy’s “Slap My Bitch Up” has the last 10 seconds of a music video made such an indelible impact on me. There is a decent interview with them on Pitchfork about the video.

I posted both of the videos below. It’s important to watch the last ten seconds of each video. It should also be noted that both videos are NSFW.

Smack My Bitch Up by The Prodigy

Lessons Learned by Matt & Kim – This one is in HD so watch it full-screen