watch tHe skies

So i know I’m a little late with talking about last week’s Dragons Den, but it’s been a hectic week and I’ve only just caught up with my Sky+ stuff as I was away for most of the week, and then we had the not that small affair of Ben’s christening, Jen’s 30th and our 5th Wedding anniversary. Consequently I only got round to watching it last night.

So amongst the usual line up of mad inventions, including the cucumber “saver” and yoga for children, there was one that really caught my attention. A patent lawyer and his friends had developed some software for seamlessly mixing dance mp3s. (more…)

Well Arena magazine have revamped their website and have an excellent article by one of their writers on the subject of the beauty of iTunes music store. “I’m never going to buy another album” captures my point of view so well (apart from the meeting pop stars etc., the only famous person that i’ve met is Geoff Capes and he didn’t sing, i would think), that rather than write something similar I’ll just say “I agree” and let you read theirs.

There are a lot of people wondering what Apple will do next. After all it hasn’t released a new iPod model in six months, which is unheard of in recent years. Speculation over the pointless concept of a video nano continues in the absence of any other information.

But the trouble is, where do Apple go from here? They have the market share, an excellent form factor, great styling and a brilliant music management software (iTunes), plus the ability to watch videos if you really have nothing better to watch them on.

I think that the recent introduction of the Apple iPod speaker and the Nike running add-on could be the sign of things to come. The iPod accessory market is enormous and I think that Apple is going for that area of the market. If you take a look at what people use their iPods for, there are three main areas:

Travelling by car - iPod integration is a huge opportunity to tie in to specific brands of vehicle and target their customers. I think that we will see some pretty tight integration coming in to factory fitted head units over the next couple of years. A standard accessory would be a decent dock, maybe in the glove compartment, because once you have all of the track and playlist data on the head unit, you can tuck the iPod away out of the sight of thieves.

Travelling by public transport - Noise cancellation and wireless headphones are the two areas that stand out. However both will take a chunk out of battery life so that is a challenge. Noise cancellation could be a real selling point. After all, using noise cancellation headphones with an iPod adds a big chunk of hardware and additional batteries. Integrating a microphone and the circuitry in to the iPod could be a goer nowadays.

Exercise - Man my gym is full of people wearing their iPods. Whilst the Nike running add-on appeals to many dedicated runners, I think that a heart-rate monitor add-on would have a wider market. An interface unit to Polar products would capture the marketplace, and allow both companies to sell their products in to new customers. It would certainly save me carrying more gadgets than Batman to the gym.

So there you go, my view of the future that is absolutely true until disproven.

And whilst we are on the subject, here is one improvement that I wish they would get on with: zero gaps between tracks. Is it beyond the wit of man to remove the gap between tracks so that continuously segued albums don’t sound rubbish? You either need to rip the CD as one continuous track, or put up with a stutter every five minutes or so. Personally it puts me off listening to mixed albums on my iPod, which is a bit limiting given my love of melodic trance. So come on Apple, sort it out!!

The other day I was sat on my pc building a new playlist on iTunes aimed specifically for listening to in the gym. My aim was to generate a list of tunes that motivate me to put in that little bit of effort.

The kind of tunes that I selected included:

Eye Of The Tiger - Survivor
Take A Look Around - Limp Bizkit
What Time Is Love? - The KLF

Three quite different genres, and yet the playlist keeps me going and stands repeated listenings. It occurred to me that my reasons for selecting each tune were based on any anchors that I have associated with that particular tune. I started to explore what the common themes might be between the tunes.

Eye of the Tiger is an obvious selection. For me, as with many people, this song has an anchor to the Rocky movies, that, aside from being full of people exercising, are about rising to the challenge, insurmountable odds.
When I hear the tune the immediate anchor for me is visually Rocky running up those steps, in fact it seems to link to the “Gonna Fly Now” tune from the films, so in my head, one tune is actually anchoring imagery AND sounds. A very strong anchor indeed, it would appear.

Take a look around is an odd one, it would appear, until you think that it, for me, links to the movie Mission Impossible 2. This movie is 2 hours of action and testosterone, and the immediate anchor when I hear the tune is the bit in the bunker, lots of violence, kung-fu kicks and over the top karate chops. For me this would seem to be about energy.

What time is love? is a straightforward anchor, linking me back to Uni days, pogoing on the dance floor of the friday night Mega at the Student Union, drinking Purple Nasty (beer, cider and blackcurrant), without a care in the world.

So it seems that every time i select a track it is based to some extent on memories or emotions tied to that tune. Not all tunes have attached anchors; there has to be some experience or related happening to anchor a tune, and I think that often you won’t even be able to understand why you like a particular tune - one of my favourite tunes of all time is Radiohead’s “Talk Show Host”. To my knowledge I can’t think of any anchors attached to it, but perhaps there are other sensory anchors that in my current state of mind I can’t get to?

So the point of all this is that music is an incredibly powerful way to change state. I use it to attempt to get in to an energetic, positive state when I drag my sorry carcass down the gym. I like to listen to Rock when I drive but find that if I do, I drive faster than when I listen to alternative music. I chill out in the bath to some laid back ambient and on a monday morning, as I psyche myself up for another week at work, trance is the order of the day. And I did all of this before I discovered NLP. But I certainly use it more deliberately now I understand the power of music in changing states.

And on a final note, when I hear “Simply The Best” by Tina Turner, all I think of now is David Brent (The Office). So not all anchors are positive!

No not the critically panned box-office flop starring Arnie Schwarzenegger, James Caan and that woman that sung that lovesong with the video in the snow. Whilst I await the release of a new Radiohead album, I note that Thom Yorke’s debut solo release, The Eraser, is released next month.

Whilst this is bound to be a wierd one, it seems to be accompanied by some pretty impressive artwork by Thom himself, carved in to linoleum and representing the apocalypse descending on London town. Head over to Thom’s site for more information on both the artwork and the album. It’s all cryptic of course, but this IS Radiohead remember…

So when will the new Radiohead album be out? Well it was supposed to be out in March this year, but with Thom’s solo release we surely won’t see it until Christmas or 2007 now. Apparently they are performing seven or so new tracks on tour in the US so it looks like 2007 is a cert.

I’ve decided to rename the “Record Of The Week” feature to “Tune Of The Week” seeing as nobody buys records anymore and if they did they would be called Disks. In the MP3 age even CDs are old hat. I’m therefore showing my increasing age and would prefer to seem ageless if only for fun. 

This week sees the return of Nick Bracegirdle aka Chicane. Best selling artist who is known for tracks such as Offshore, Saltwater and Don’t Give Up (with crusty Canadian rocker Bryan Adams), Chicane’s latest track is Stoned In Love featuring an even crustier singer in the form of Tom Jones. With a surprisingly understated performance, Jones’ vocals work brilliantly with the typically cool dance track resulting in an excellent tune that sticks in your head and won’t let go.

It is also accompanied by a typically cool but odd video featuring a bank robbing couple where the man wears a Tom Jones Mask. Most odd. (more…)

I wonder if anyone else is hooked by the wonderful lyrics “checking out my wigwam, checking out my boo, boo, boo”? No, well you soon will be as Wigwam, aka Alison Clarkson (aka Betty Boo) and Alex James (aka Blur bassist).

Apparently the two of them are friends and decided to create this barking mad but infectiously catchy tune which is plaguing my head night and day. In fact today I found myself humming it quietly in a boring meeting. People stared. People pointed. More than normal.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, take a look at the bizarre video shot on a rooftop with the pair performing the tune accompanied by a backing band of animals. Cool, wierd and a surefire number one should it make it to the Radio 1 playlist.

Wigwam was released on monday. Check out their website for more information.
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In these interweb days of downloaded music, it is not very often that you will see me buy an actual CD. Most of my music is downloaded and I tend to just pick out the occasional track. However when I heard the preview podcast on itunes of A&B’s album, I knew it would be worth buying the whole CD.

Above & Beyond are one of the most exciting talents in the global dance music scene today. Their genre-defining productions - often released on their own Anjunabeats label - have become an essential tool for the world’s leading DJ’s and have set the benchmark for the new generation of dance music producers.

Above & Beyond - aka Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness and Paavo Siljamäki - first broke on the scene with their remix of Madonna’s ‘What it Feels Like For A Girl’. Madonna liked the remix so much, that she decided to use it on the video instead of her original ballad. Since then Above & Beyond have added the likes of Dido, Britney and Sarah McLachlan to their remix credits, but it is their solo productions which have really captured the imagination of dance music fans the world over, with many becoming sing-a-long anthems. Above & Beyond have also previously recorded under a number of different aliases including Aalto, Free State, Jono Grant, Nitromethane, Oceanlab, P.O.S and Tranquility Base. (more…)

So Chico is number one again? Who the hell is buying it? If you know someone who has this in their collection, please let me know, perhaps we can publicly out them on this blog?

Today, I’ve enabled comments and discussions on the site. This new software should help me filter out spam, so please don’t bother, go somewhere else.

Ok I know I used to do this a lot more often than I do now but I heard this tune the other day and thought it was worth telling you about.

Sugababes - I bet you look good on the dancefloor

I know, the thought is horrendous, but it’s pretty cool and is a b-side on the “Red Dress Single”. Dare I say better than the Monkey’s version? Yes I dare.

I’ve also managed to get hold of Coldplay’s version of Gravity; the tune written by Chris Martin and given to Embrace. I must say WOW! I mean the Embrace version is great, but Coldplay’s version kicks its @rse. You can find it on the soon to be released 2 disk re-release of X&Y. Well worth picking up. Hopefully it will make its way on to iTunes at some point.
That’s all for now folks, I have a kitchen to rip out!!