In honour of the release of version 3.0 of WordPress, the ubiquitous blogging-platform-slash-cms used, I have switched to the new default theme ‘twenty-ten’.
Not sure how long I’ll stick with it but it’s here for now. I’ll post more of this boring, techy stuff at www.chrismackie.co.uk, if you’re interested. If not, the next post will be along whenever it gets written.
I’ve been helping out a bit with the website for thisisnotanexit records. They describe their sounds as ‘New Wave / Post punk / Techno’. If any of those labels are of interest to you, I would recommend you head over to their website for more info/sounds/videos.
See here:
I must say I was sceptical about Spotify‘s mobile service. One factor was certainly cost (£10 per month). But battery life on my Nokia 5800 was another.
Happily, I’ve found the service to be well worth the money and also not too much of a strain on my poor battery – as long as you accept daily charging as a reality. Streaming is possible but only where a 3G mobile signal is present. Therefore, as others have stated, I’ve found the most effective way to use Spotify Mobile is to sync my phone to create offline playlists, so that playback is be unaffected by breaks in 3G signal. If you’re commuting between Glasgow and Edinburgh (or similar), this is a definite consideration.
What concerns me more is the low level of royalties that are passed on to the songwriters. The Guardian reported that one million plays on Spotify had earned Lady Gaga a total of $167.
Clearly this is a legal service, in that the record companies have signed up to Spotify but whether it is morally right that royalties are so low is another question entirely…
Posted this note on Facebook but I thought I should also put it on here:
Here’s a nice Sunday afternoon activity for you.
Put on your slippers, it’s time to have a snoop round your mp3 player
INSTRUCTIONS
Here’s what came out of mine:
1. Shy FX & DJ Ash – One in the jungle mix (1995)
2. The Walls – With or without you (U2 cover)
3. Bob Mould – Lost Zoloft
4. Alex Harvey – Silhouette and Shadow
5. Grimethorpe Colliery Band – Floral Dance
6. The Meters – The Handclapping Song
7. Lionel Richie – All Night Long
8. Beastie Boys – Sure Shot
9. The Beach Boys – I Know there’s an answer
10. Optimo Exotica Mix
11. Zero 7 – Warm Sound
12. Husker Du – Up in the Air
13. King Tubby – Sound Boy Massacre
14. Psychic TV – BB
15. Flying Matchstick Men – If you want to
Try it. What came out of your ipod?
I promised this a while ago. It’s a dub version of The Shadows’ 1961 hit, FBI. I was reminded of this after seeing Cliff Richard on the telly the other night talking about his forthcoming reunion tour with his famous backing band. Despite being influenced quite heavily by Hank & co, I won’t be rushing out to buy a ticket (however my mother might 
Here’s some tv footage of the original
Incidently, this was also one of the first tunes I learned to play on the guitar.
My friend Mark (aka Telekom) had one of his tracks included on a recent electronic music compilation, released on Twoism records. It’s rather good, imho. Follow this link to buy/download:
An old song updated with beafed up beats in 2007. This was one of my first ever electronic compositions, if my memory serves me right. Originally, I used the software Fruityloops (must have been circa 2001) and Ableton Live was used for the update.
Started this track when I was travelling to London a few years ago. Didn’t really start to make any sense until I added the static sound in the background. This was produced in Linux using the command cat /dev/mem | oggenc -rq 1 – -o computerthink.ogg
Now you’re thrilled to bits, you can listen to the track, as it were:
Time for some more original music. Been working on this tune for a loooong time. Started this is Reason way back and finally got it together in Ableton recently (i.e. this year). BTW, my work-rate is only going to slow down…
Anyway, this is a scratchy techno track, influenced by the sound of morse code (no, seriously). And you should download it before I ruin it with this description:
A recent performance of a very old song indeed. I think I have old recordings to go with this song… somewhere.
