Archive for the 'Music' Category

My first video, Nick’s Birthday Party

Published
by
Tim
on April 20, 2008
in General, Music and Tech
. 0 Comments

On Friday night we had a party to celebrate Nick’s 23rd birthday. We invited a couple people over and ended up having a great time with our first party of the spring weather. Anyone who knows me knows I like to take pictures and document big events. I like to be able to look back and reflect on the fun times in my life and keep those memories fresh. I recently read at Lifehacker something to try to better document some of our parties. Basically the idea consists of setting up a webcam that captures an image every few seconds. Then the next day, you paste them all together in a movie and you can watch the previous night in a short time span. It gives it a very cool stop motion look to the evening. I decided Nick’s birthday party was a good trial celebration and set my webcam and laptop up in the corner of the room to record. After messing around with the video today and setting it to music, I must say I am VERY pleased with the end result.

High Quality WMV download link

First a quick note on the song. As soon as I saw the “look” of the video during a test run the night before I knew what song I would use if this was successful. One of my favorite songs from last year is “All Your Friends” by LCD Soundsystem. The rhythm is perfect for the type of video that was produced, and the theme of the song hits home. If you listen to or read the lyrics they might be a little confusing, but what I get from it is that later in life, looking back you’ll mostly remember the good times with your friends and not much else, even if some of the stuff you did with your friends was pretty stupid. It’s a theme that really struck a cord with me.

I wouldn’t trade one stupid decision
For another five years of lies
You drop the first ten years just as fast as you can
And the next ten people who are trying to be polite
When you’re blowing eighty-five days in the middle of France
Yeah, I know it gets tired only where are your friends tonight?

Sorry to get sidetracked on the song. Anyway, I can watch the video a few times and still notice something new that makes me smile since there is so much going on. One thing that might change if I keep doing this, is this no one knew that the camera was recording, so everything goes on unrelated to the camera. We might be able to perform some pretty cool captures if people know its recording every 4 seconds. Also we’ve talked about setting up a second one somewhere else to capture even more, but I think the placement of this one got a much as possibly ( you can even see corn hole action outside at one point). Let me know what you think in the comments.

New Radio Station

Published
by
Tim
on January 21, 2008
in Local and Music
. 1 Comment

So there is a new radio station in town (Columbus) that many Columbus area TV viewers or drivers may have seen advertisements for. Its located at 106.7 and is also on the web. It is my new favorite FM station. One of the reasons it is so great is because of its music selection. The station provides a great mix of good established alternative rock from the 90s (Third Eye Blind, Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, Blink 182, Counting Crows, Beastie Boys) combined with current new rock. I grew up listening to KROQ in LA, which is one of the most well known FM stations. They had this same type of mix and I was never able to find it again after moving to Ohio. Until now. And that could very much be because Clear Channel owns KROQ as well as this new station  106.7 and KROQ are both owned by evil overlording companies (thanks commenter).

A second reason 106.7 is great, is because they mix up the commercial layout. Instead of getting 45-50 minutes of “non stop hits” followed by an extended commercial break, they’ll play about 3-5 songs, followed by 1-3 30 second commercials. So far, I totally love this new method. To go along with that, they have very few DJ interruptions except for maybe a traffic or weather update, or a quick “This is 106.7″. So you’ll never go more than 2 minutes without hearing a song, which is awesome. I’m somewhat curious if over the course of an hour I’ll hear the same amount of commercials, just spread out differently, or if they can charge a higher premium to their advertisers, since the listener is a lot more likely to stick around to a radio station that only has a 30 to 90 second interruption, instead of a 10 minute break. It’d be a very interesting marketing study to read.

Usually when I’m in the car I’m listening to 1 of 3 things. My ipod/Cd player, 1460 or other talk radio, or music on some FM station. Over the past week or so, 106.7 has dominated that third option, and I don’t see it changing very soon.

Top 5 of 2006 - Albums

Published
by
Tim
on January 3, 2007
in General and Music
. 1 Comment

I’ve been meaning to make this post for a while and just haven’t gotten around to it. I figure that we’re now creeping into 2007, I should probably put it together. Thus I present to you in no order or importance, my favorite albums of 2006. As a point of reference for my tastes, some of my favorite bands include, Incubus, Weezer, Death Cab for Cutie, Explosions in the Sky and Red Hot Chili Peppers. see more at my last.fm profile

Girl Talk - Night Ripper
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I’m sure most people are familiar with “mashups” that, at a basic level are usually 2 or more songs mixed together to form a new song that usually contains the same beat, rhythm or just sound good together. One of the more popular mashups of recent is Green Day’s - Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Oasis’ - Wonderwall. Well, Night Ripper is an album full of mashups that all combine together to form what ends up being one long 40 minute jam. It’s great for parties because there are over 100 different song samples used and almost anyone will recognize something (plus it contains zero country samples :P )

Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
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Band of Horses is an indie-rock band who has put out an amazing album. If you’re a fan of bands like Built to Spill, The Flaming Lips, or The Shins, Band of Horses should please you as I consider them a combination of all three of those sounds. The Funeral is my favorite track on this album and one of the songs I’ve listened to the most this past year. Give it a listen and if you like it, check out the rest of the album.

TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
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TV on the Radio is kind of hard to describe. They mix such a wide variety of sound in such an individual way I really can’t explain it. At times it can sound like hip-hop, but others it might be indie-rock or even punk or electronic. The best way I may have seen to describe it might be art-rock. This album really creates a unique sound that is very enjoyable.

Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
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I’m not a huge fan of hip-hop or rap in general, but every so often a song comes out that I can stand. Maybe it’s just my tastes changing or maturing, but Hell Hath No Fury is full of tracks that I can enjoy over and over again. Mr. Me Too, Wamp Wamp, and Hello New World are my favorites off this album.

The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
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If I were to add another 3 or 4 bands to my list of favorites at the beginning of this post, The Decemberists would definitely be on there. The Crane Wife is more of what this band rocks at which is storytelling indy-pop, with an accordion! I was a little worried at first, fearing The Decemberists had reached their peak with their previous album Picaresque, especially after signing onto a major label, but this album maintains everything good about their sound.

Well there you have it. 5 of my favorites from this year. I apologize if the recaps of the albums sound a little unusual or vague, but its hard for me to sometimes describe why I like something. A few other albums that I enjoy but didn’t include on this list from 2006 are:

Tapes n’ Tapes - The Loon
Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
Ratatat - Classics
Moneen - The Red Tree
Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
Lupe Fiasco - Food and Liquor
Phoenix - It’s Never Been Like That
Incubus - Light Grenades

I hope to be able to put together a top 5 movies of 2006 list before leaving for Arizona Saturday morning. But if my past goal settings for this blog are of any sign, I won’t make it.