music
grrlscientist | April 15, 2010tags: Rick Rolling NYC's A Train, music, a cappella, NYC Life, New York City, A Train, travel, cultural observation, cities, University of Oregon, On The Rocks, The Green Room, Never Going to Give You Up, streaming video
Watching this video of a group of West Coast guys singing a cappella on the A train made me want to cry because I miss NYC, its subways and all the fun people I experienced while riding the A train. I would like to suggest to these guys to try rick rolling the A train between 59th and 125th street instead so they aren't interrupted by the conductor and people having to climb…
cagapakis | April 14, 2010As you can probably imagine, there are a lot of very interesting things that pop up when you have a google alert for "synthetic biology." Here is today's special find: a short dubstep song about synthetic biology by Dysoniq, featuring a voice talking about computer chips for your brain from this video, an interesting hour-long BBC presentation about intelligent robots (thanks again, Google!).
Synthetic BiologybyDysoniq
jdupuis | April 12, 2010A nice interview with Jimi Hendrix's sister Janie on the Bravewords.com site. It's talking about the latest collection of unreleased Hendrix material to hit the stores, Valleys Of Neptune.
Janie Hendrix: "He's probably laughing."
BraveWords.com: Yeah, he must be laughing, going, "how can I be ruling the rock world..."
Janie Hendrix: "40 years after my death. 'Yes, all right!' Well, it's interesting because, yes, he did have the talent and it seems like he kind of knew in some ways that he didn't have a whole lot of time left here to create what he needed to create, so here we have decades of…
revere | April 10, 2010This song was written by Florence Reece in 1930 - 1931 during the bloody campaign to organize workers in Harlan County, KY. They were fighting for safer working conditions. Mine safety has improved since then, mainly because of the mine workers union, but workers in many mines, like the Upper Big Branch in Montcoal, WV have no union. If they complain about safety, they are out of a job. In this area and in the West Virginia legislature, Big Coal is still king.
Natalie Merchant:
grrlscientist | April 4, 2010tags: Self Playing Harmonica, music, music video, DIY, computer printer, harmonica, vacuum cleaner, Instructibles, Stupid Inventions, streaming video
There are lots of different types of Self-Playing Instruments, but the folks at Stupid Inventions wanted to create something new so they decided to build the Self Playing Harmonica. Made from an old printer and a vacuum cleaner, the Self-Playing Harmonica will play different songs based on the image you print.
You can learn more about this and find step-by-step instructions for constructing your own self-playing harmonica at Instructibles.
aardvarchaeology | April 2, 2010
As mentioned before I was a big Depeche Mode fan during my teens. Here's a cool cover from the 1998 tribute CD For the Masses.
In other news, a group of Swedish skeptics have started what may be the first dedicated skeptical podcast in Swedish: Skeptikerpodden. Good stuff, check it out.
And Simon Singh has won a major partial victory in the libel case!
jdupuis | March 29, 2010Another list of songs I really love, this time leaning a bit on the heavy side.
I by Black Sabbath (performed by Heaven & Hell). This is one of my favourite Dio-era Sabbath songs, from the underrated Dehumanizer album (Dio/Sabb box set). This sizzling live version is performed by the reformed Dio-era version of the band which is playing and recording under the name Heaven & Hell.
30 Days in the Hole by Gov't Mule. An old Humble Pie song, I like the Gov't Mule version an awful lot, especially the live version on their Live...With a Little Help from Our Friends CD.
Dreaming Neon…
terrasig | March 28, 2010Something about Sunday mornings leads me to really enjoy listening to folk and other acoustic music. These guys ended up being electric, though.
The Byrds were a Los Angeles-based group that grew out of the folk music scene in 1964. The original line-up was Jim McGuinn, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, Gene Clark and Michael Clarke. The distinctive sound of the band came from the electric 12-string Rickenbacker guitar of McGuinn - in fact, all three guitarists played 12-strings.
On the recommendation of jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader, Miles Davis, Columbia Records offered The Byrds a…
grrlscientist | March 25, 2010tags: Resonant Chamber, music, music video, film, animation, technology, computer graphics, Animusic, streaming video
This interesting animation is an argument for how a self-playing harp might work. The one thing that would improve its efficiency is to have a "plucker" that is dedicated to each string (as you see on the bass part of this contraption) rather than have each plucker pick at any or all of the strings. What do you think?
You can learn more at Animusic.
aardvarchaeology | March 23, 2010You know the bit in Khalil Gibran where he says that children are arrows and parents bows, not archers? The other day my kids recorded this rendition of the "Handy Manny" theme song, and then Junior edited it in Audacity. The same evening he played his first game of Agricola where he ended up sharing second place with me despite making tea and sandwiches for everyone while playing. He'll be twelve in July...
aardvarchaeology | March 19, 2010
Cosmopolitan popster Mika is a great showman and tours with a great band. The audience at his gig in Stockholm last night was thoroughly charmed by the friendliness and musical mastery on offer. Mika traces his musical ancestry back to acts like the Beatles, Queen, Elton John and George Michael, which would make for a good concert experience even if the front man didn't say a word. But he also entertained us with effortless improvised stage patter -- part of it in Swedish, even though he makes only a single stop here on his tour! Psychedelic animated backdrop projections and dancers in…
oracknows | March 16, 2010Apparently someone at a British hospital thought that this was a good idea.
I beg to differ. Words fail me. It's rare, I know, but occasionally it does happen.
ddobbs | March 16, 2010it doesn't get better than this. The part at about 1.45 where he gets the stick stuck in the strings: Really takes off there.
;
© Extracts from Ariane Michel's film, Les Oiseaux de Céleste.
mikethemadbiologist | March 13, 2010Admittedly, that would be a great name for a band, but, by way of Yves Smith, I came across this hysterical video of zebra finches (it gets really good past the one minute mark):
grrlscientist | March 10, 2010tags: cycles, Invasion of the Teddy Bears, music, animation, Cyriak, offbeat, odd, streaming video
Here's a truly peculiar video for you to watch featuring infinite teddy bears invading a beach. Music and animations by Cyriak, who has quite a following, apparently.
No teddy bears were harmed in the making of this video (not sure about the pigeon's health, though). The software used was adobe after effects.
grrlscientist | March 9, 2010tags: The Frustrated Trumpet Player, prank, music, humor, funny, silly, prank, fucking hilariousstreaming video
This is so silly, but it makes me laugh every time I watch it, so I had to share it with you, too. This video captures a trumpet player who is using his out-of-tune trumpet to prank a band marching past his flat on Norway's National Day, 17 May.
aardvarchaeology | March 8, 2010
Last week was skiing break for my kids. I couldn't find anywhere good to stay in the mountains, so we didn't go off on holiday. Here's what we did for fun instead.
Dinner at the home of a Chinese friend. It was one of those no hablar parties that spouses in multi-ethnic marriages know all about. The food was great and everybody there except me spoke Mandarin - loudly and incessantly. I've never minded much: this time I had brought a book and there was a computer to play with.
Birthday party at the home of an Iranian friend. He used to be a death-metal kid. Now he's a pro-democracy Persian…
terrasig | March 6, 2010I want to get this quick shout-out for local hero, blogger, musician, and all around too-cool Princess Ojiaku before her band, Pink Flag, plays tonight at 10 pm in Durham, NC, at The Broad Street Cafe. From their website, "They're a regular three girl rhumba dancing on the common ground of a love of early post-punk, riot grrl and top 40 of the 1990s." Their name pays homage to the 1977 album by Wire (that also includes the song "Three Girl Rhumba"). I like these kids, paying proper respect to their elders.
Some of you may know Princess from having met her at ScienceOnline2010 in January or…