Your Wednesday Morning Serving of WTF

Beamz by Flo 2 Minute Commercial from Static Free Films.com on Vimeo.

"All the fun of making music without all that making music!"

Thanks to my "friend" Isaac for bringing this to my attention.

Kraft-twerk

Oops: Steve Aoki Caught Using Kracked Software

Stoneyroads broke the story today that Steve Aoki got caught using pirated software in his newest promo video.  In the video, you can clearly see a copy of Lennar Digital's Sylenth 1 synth marked with the words TEAM ARCADE, a well-known kracking group.  Aoki is not only the 11th highest paid DJ in the world, he is also the son of the owner of the Benihana's restaurant chain.  Tsk tsk.

The Funniest Thing You'll See All Day

So, in case you hadn't heard, Nine Inch Nails released another track from their upcoming "Hesitation Marks" album.  Many fans were taken surprise by the song's unusually upbeat sound, and this being the internet, you can believe the hyperbole about how "horrible" it was on full tilt.  So here's a video having a bit of fun with that.  Happy Thursday.

Breaking Bad Theme Played on Meth Lab Equiptment

It's Monday morning, so chances are, you're already fed up with everyone at work talking about last night's Breaking Bad premier.  So just to add to that aggravation, here is a cover of the Breaking Bad theme song put together by musician Andrew Huang performed only on pieces of equipment one might find in a meth lab.  Very nicely done!  Reminds me of something Diego Stocco might do.

[via Andrew Huang on YouTube]

Happy Wednesday!

One thing I've learned after many decades as an avid music fan is that no matter how annoying you think a song is, rest assured, someone somewhere is working on something even more annoying.

Someone posted this on my Facebook.  Now it's YOUR problem.

[via Tay Allyn on YouTube]

Warning: Do Not Install New iLok Software

If you've read this blog for any length of time, you know I am vehemently apposed to dongled software.  I won't buy it... I won't even review dongled products here.  Punishing your legitimate users for supporting your product is the wrong way to go about fighting piracy.

Well, now there's another reason to be leary of software that uses dongles as reported on the Gearslutz forum by user Simon Morrison:

"Do NOT synchronize your iLok(s)!

iLok (PACE) performed a database update this weekend that *invalidated* a significant number of VALID permanent licenses. 

This issue affects thousands of users.

If you install the latest iLok software, and/or synchronize your iLok(s), you risk losing permanent licenses - they will be converted to "Temporary". 

Software with "Temporary" licenses will NOT AUTHORIZE, and CANNOT BE USED! 

DO NOT INSTALL THE LATEST SOFTWARE. 

DO NOT SYNCHRONIZE ANY OF YOUR iLOKS.

Licenses from the following companies are known to be affected:
• Abbey Road
• Antares
• Avid (Pro Tools)
• Celemony (Melodyne)
• Eventide
• Flux
• McDSP
• Slate Digital
• Sonnox
• SoundToys
• Waves

iLok (PACE) is aware of this issue."

A Bluegrass Cover of Daft Punk? Why Not?

[via CBSnews]

A "Real World" TR-808?

MR-808 - mechanic drum robot from Sonic Robots on Vimeo.

"Let's get physical: MR-808 is the first drum robot that reproduces the drum sounds of the 80s - in the real world.
The robot installation MR-808 is a replica of the famous 1980s electronic drum machine TR-808 – with robots playing the drum sounds! I (Moritz Simon Geist) have been playing electronic music for several years now, and at some place I was bored of the electronic music production process. With binary logic, everything is possible.
So I decided to go back to the roots of sound generation – the physical sound generation – but combine it with the electronic music structure we like so much.
I liked the idea so much, that I couldn’t stop building my own drum robots, and ended up replacing all the electronic sounds of a whole drum computer, placed in a 3,3 x 1,7m² case. I am very proud to present the “MR-808” – a mechanic replica of the famous 1980s electronic drum machine TR-808!
Read on: sonicrobots.com/mr808-eng/"

[via Moogfest]

Space Oddity - in Space

Chris Hadfield has been the Commander on the International Space Station, and has captivated YouTube viewers with his fascinating videos that demonstrate how even the most seemingly mundane tasks take on odd, new twists in the zero-g environment.

Unfortunately for us, (but fortunately for his family), Commander Hadfield is going home, so as a send-off, he's recorded a nice version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" with the Space Station and the spectacular views it affords as a backdrop.

So keep in mind, no matter how bad-ass you think you are, you've never recorded a song and music video in frigging SPACE like Commander Chris Hadfield.

Post Modern Brilliance

Who would've imagined a world where someone would make a catchy pop tune out of news clips within days of the news airing?  I can't stop watching this...

Hannah Peel Covers OMD's "Electricity" on Music Box

Hannah Peel has released an EP of 80's covers all performed on a music box that she found in her grandmothers attic via sampling.

[via BoingBoing]

Here You Go...

"Tom, you asshole, why did you put me through that?" Well, look at it this way, no matter what happens to you today, it can only get better from here.

Casio KX-101 Keyboard Boombox on eBay

I think this might be the most 80's thing I have ever seen in my life...

Info at the listing...

Presented Without Comment

Sexy Men of the Synthesizer

For a long time, everyone's favorite synth blog Matrixsynth has had a dedicated blog category for Synth Babes in appreciation for some of the comely lasses in the electronic music world.  But where's the love for the studly male synth players?  My friend Barry, who I am sure was searching for something totally innocuous when he found it, showed me the Sexy Men of the Synthesizer, a Tumblr dedicated to just that

So, This is a Thing That Happened...

Nine Inch Nails, meet Carley Rae Jespen.

New Post Office Rates Threaten Indie Label's and Musician's Livelihoods

"Cool story, bro" time.  Over the weekend, as I was browsing Facebook, a guy I know who ran a label and sells his own music was complaining about the post office's recent hike in the price of international shipping rates.  Having been to the post office mailing international packages just a couple days prior and not noticing any difference, I asked what was up.  Turns out that although I knew the post office was raising the price of a stamp by 1 cent, somehow an outrageous increase in international shipping had slipped under my radar.

Cut to today and I head to the post office with some international packages.  I ask the clerk what the story is and he informs me that international shipping rates have gone up by an average of about $6 per package.  My jaw hit the floor.  Nearly 60-65% of the merch and CDs I sell online ships to Europe.  I already charged a flat rate of $8 for shipping, which covered small orders fine, but I still paid out of pocket for some of the additional shipping expense just in the hopes that offering a flat shipping rate would encourage larger orders.  Today, I mailed a copy of my recent vinyl release to Germany.  The record retails for about $17. With the increased postal rates, the shipping was an additional $17.50.  This is not okay.

I sympathize with the plights of the USPS.  I know it's a popular thing to complain about, but in the 15 years or so I've run my online store, they've delivered stuff for pretty damn cheap and did so fairly reliably.  A good part of what has hurt the post office is a 2006 law that said they must pre-fund $5.5 billion worth of employee pensions aside.  As the post office is not funded by taxes, their rates have to somehow support this huge amount of money, plus enough to run day to day operations, pay their employees, etc.  Now consider that less people are using the mail than ever.  As less people mail letters and more send emails or texts and as more people pay their bills online versus mailing them, the post office has seen a dramatic drop in volume.  So they're fighting an uphill battle.  I get that.

But this new policy could prove pretty harmful to small businesses, or indeed anyone who can't ship high-cost products or in bulk.  Many of these businesses (especially record labels and musicians) are running on slim profit margins to begin with. So we're now left with the choice of raising shipping costs for our overseas customers and risk losing their business (who wants to buy a CD when the shipping costs as much as the CD itself?), or eating the additional cost and losing around $6 per order in expenses we didn't have before.

Unfortunately, we are a bit over the barrel, as even with the new rates, they're still cheaper than pretty much all other international shipping services when it comes to the shipping of individual items.  But I can't help but feel the post office is insuring their own demise here. For the time being, my solution is going to have to be to raise shipping costs a bit and pray it doesn't scare off customers.  I can't screw my customers by overnight raising my shipping by $6, but I'll increase it somewhere halfway, so I still absorb some of the cost, but not all of it.  Rest assured, I'll be looking for other, cheaper solutions than the USPS for my international shipping.  If the folks at FedEx and UPS were smart, they'd come out with a cheap international shipping option pronto and eat the USPS's lunch.

Lest you think I am cheering for the demise of the US Postal Service, I assure you, that's not the case.  Aside from my own relatively positive experiences with them over the years, the lower prices the Post Office offered kept the prices of private shippers in check.  With them out of the picture, it's hard to avoid the feeling that  FedEx and UPS would take advantage of the lessened competition by raising their international prices further.  The cable industry has been enjoying the spoils of lessened competition for decades.

I do hope that the USPS will reconsider their new policy.  As I said before, I understand the position they are in.  Yet, just jacking the rates for international shipping by such a huge amount out of the blue feels like a lazy fix, and one that doesn't solve the USPS's problems.  In fact, I'd be willing to bet it only exacerbates them.  If you're someone who does a lot of international shipping, I urge you to call and register a complaint with the USPS consumer line at: (253) 214-1800.

OP-1 Styled iPhone Case on eBay

How geeky is THIS?

Info at the listing...

The Effect of Minor vs. Major Keys Illustrated Nicely

Major Scaled #2 : REM - "Recovering My Religion" from major scaled on Vimeo.

Although it's apparently been around for awhile, I first learned about MajorScaledTV's videos yesterday via this post on Gawker.  What they do is feed famous minor-key songs such as the Doors' "Riders on the Storm" and REM's "Losing My Religion" and change them to major keys, presumably making use of Celemony's mind-blowing Melodyne software.  If you're familiar with the original material, the effect is quite unsettling.  And it illustrates very well the difference it makes whether a song is in a minor or major key.  It really is integral to how a song is able to manipulate our emotions, especially in conjunction with the mood of the lyrics.