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Simon Phipps's personal commentary

All Songs Considered

I just subscribed to a new podcast series on iTMS US. Turns out that NPR is pushing a podcast series of full, live concerts. Well worth sampling - I just listened to one of the Neko Case concets.

Labels: iTunes, Music

posted at 12:08 AM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |

Amazon to Apple: Stop the Lock-In

The war has started between the two As - Apple and Amazon. I just gave Amazon MP3 a try and it works splendidly.

They are selling current chart music in the US at 89¢ per track (cheaper albums too), and delivering it directly into iTunes in MP3 format. And just to add insult to injury, they let me test the service with a free track from "The Apples in Stereo", as if to ask why iTMS is still in mono and offering less for more.

A very welcome challenge timed just around the point when lots of us are asking whether Apple has turned out to me one of the bad guys instead of just exploiting them. Let's hope it's the competitive force that finally wipes out DRM.

Labels: Amazon, iTunes, Music

posted at 3:42 PM (UK) | Comment? (2 so far) | links to this post | |

A Fine Frenzy

Just a quick alert for those of you using iTunes US - the free track this week is really good. It's A Fine Frenzy - You Picked Me and will appeal to Feist fans among others. Go for it!

[Updated: I got the link wrong before, sorry.]

Labels: iTunes, Music

posted at 11:09 PM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |

Genoud in Honolulu

I've stopped in Honolulu on my way to JavaOne, pretty much because I could (I am using an air ticket where stops are free, and the hotel here is less than half the price the one in San Francisco is gouging out of me). I spent the day walking from Waikiki towards the town, and quickly came to the conclusion that Waikiki is not designed for a fat fortysomething married guy travelling alone. While I was walking though I did get the chance to listen to one of the new albums I've bought.

The album in question is 'Aqua' by Moncef Genoud. Yes, hardly a name that's rattling around the charts. This is another one where I got a free track from iTunes and went back for the album. It's great jazz, deliciously syncopated and melodic, with the sort of rhythms and melodies that remind me of Brubeck and Take Five. Putting it on repeat, it was all I could go not to hum along with it as I was wandering around Ala Moana shopping centre, realising that almost all the stores sell designer clothing for people other than me.

It was the title track that first hooked me, with its descending minor-key melody that runs as a motif through the whole album. Genoud improvises beautifully on piano, and he has sax and drums supporting effectively (I miss having sleeve notes). All ten tracks are long, around 8 minutes, and the confection lasted easily with only one track skipped (10) until after sunset for me in a walk on the beach watching the waves lit by the lights on the promenade. Just as bouncy Venus Hum was a good soundtrack for a Saturday morning walking towards Bondi from Sydney CBD, so Genoud provided a great soundtrack for a day even more alone in dense crowds in Honolulu.

Labels: iTunes, Music, travel

posted at 11:05 PM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |

Mais Um Lamento

I've not mentioned the iTunes US free tracks for quite a while, in the main because they have lately been so unmemorable that I've forgotten them within moments of hearing them. However, this week's 'Discovery Download' is very good, and since it's by a Brazilian singer it's topical too. The track Mais Um Lamento ("one more regret") by Céu is laid back, sultry and very Brazilian (even if it stretched my Portuguese to the limit!). If you've a US iTunes account go get it before it expires next Monday.

Labels: iTunes, Music

posted at 8:27 PM (UK) | Comment? (1 so far) | links to this post | |

Kate Walsh

It's been a while since I've liked one of the free tracks that iTunes is giving it's UK users, but this week's track - Talk of the Town, by Kate Walsh - is pretty good, if you like female singer-songwriter-guitarist stuff (which by now you may be working out that I do - although not exclusively, James!) Worth downloading and liberating to CD.

Update Apr-9: Well, another new talent you heard here first, folks! She hit the number one spot in the iTunes UK chart this weekend - check out the clipping on her blog. I just hope she'll be performing some place near where I am soon. The more I listen to this, the more hauntingly gorgeous I find it, and the way she just beat the system and cut out all those people-hating music middle-men bodes well for the future of music. More on today's blog.

Labels: iTunes, Music, UK

posted at 8:50 PM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |