No Chorus, No Problem

Generally, music follows a structure. A song will have some verses, a chorus, a bridge, then more chorus. That key and repeating part of the song is usually what sticks the most. Now, enter this video from David Bennett that goes over famous songs without a chorus. The chorus is also a big way in which we identify a song. There are so many “I didn’t know what song this was until the chorus” situations that have crossed my mind over the years. However, Bennett talks about specific songs that are mega-hits. None of them have a chorus. But a…

Campnite

In “I definitely didn’t have this on my 2022 BINGO card” news, is this weird acquisition. Fortnite’s maker Epic Games has gone ahead and purchased the music website/service platform Bandcamp. Todd Spangler at Variety has more. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. “Fair and open platforms are critical to the future of the creator economy,” Epic Games, best known as the company behind battle-royale game “Fortnite,” said in announcing the pact. “Epic and Bandcamp share a mission of building the most artist-friendly platform that enables creators to keep the majority of their hard-earned money.” Variety Bandcamp has been a go-to…

Doo-Wop With The Sickness

In a world where people are pretty gifted, leave it to the YouTube channel There I Ruined It to take a hard-hitting Disturbed song and completely change it. The channel posted this gem last week showcasing Disturbed’s hit song Down With The Sickness and morphed it into a doo-wop 50’s style song. It’s really good and this person is immensely talented. So have a listen for yourself and good luck getting this version out of your head.

Listening Together

If you’re an Apple Music subscriber, like I am, it’s painfully apparent that Apple lacks some core social features. Their “Replay” feature pales in comparison to Spotify’s “Wrapped” year-end review. In addition, there is no way to collaborate on a playlist with friends. A new app, Caset, looks to change that. Billed as a “mixtapes for the new era”, Caset is an app that lets you create playlists with friends. Anyone you share the playlist with can add tracks too. Even better is you can give a tapback-style reaction to tracks, allowing a simple feedback mechanism to exist. Mixtapes represent…

His Name Was Robert Paulson

The past few weeks have been a culling of well-loved celebs. At the too-young age of 74, Meat Loaf passed away. He was in a ton of movies and wrote epic-level, theatric songs & albums. Born Marvin Lee Aday, the rock musician’s career spanned six decades across the music and film industries. He was beloved by fans and soared to unlikely rock stardom with theatrical, dark-hearted anthems and an iconic long-haired look.  NBC News His best-known album, Bat Out of Hell, is one of the biggest-selling albums in US history. Talk about staying power. That album came out in 1977 and can…

CDs Bounce Back

Leave it to the constant march of time to give CDs a nostalgic resurgence. News out of Pitchfork, like it’s 1999, shows that 2021 was the first time CD’s have increased in sales in 17 years. Madison Bloom has the scoop: The top-10 CD sales list also includes Taylor Swift’s Evermore (213,000 units sold), BTS’ Map of the Soul: 7 (210,000) and Be (187,000), Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour (195,000), and others. 2021 marked the first year that CD sales saw a gain since 2004, when revenue from the format was exponentially higher than it is today. Last month, vinyl saw its biggest sales week since at least 1991, with roughly 2.11…

SONOS to Ditch Glue

SONOS makes really good speakers. They hook into a number of music services, come in a few different configurations, and (to me) sound great. They’ve had their ups and downs, especially after a short-lived policy of bricking perfectly-good speakers when customers were upgrading. They’ve now announced that speakers coming in 2023 will be more repairable and use less energy. They call it their “Design for Disassembly” program. This includes changes like swapping out adhesives for fasteners, which can make it easier for consumers to take apart Sonos products for repair. But the program is intended to “make it easier to repair,…

Benn Jordan Reveals the Streaming Music Grift

Benn Jordan, known for writing music under the name The Flashbulb, has uploaded a 20-minute video to YouTube in which he goes over how he’s been scammed. And not by some ordinary person, but by a reputable NYT reporter. At first, this video seems quite long for viewing. But Jordan goes into many details on how New York Times reporter Ian Urbina has allegedly scammed him. Jordan says he was solicited to write original music in exchange for potential exposure. We know exactly what exposure is worth: zero. The video is a full takedown of Urbina’s position wherein he allegedly…

Spotify releases blended playlists; makes this Apple Music subscriber sad

Spotify once again makes me wish Apple would get more into the core features of what makes listening to music so great: shared experiences. Today they announced Spotify Blend, a “blended playlist” feature where two people can combine their tastes into one auto-generated playlist. This is very cool stuff. Apple Music does nothing like this. You can’t share a playlist others can contribute to, let alone combine two people’s music preferences into a singular list. Apple can’t even be bothered to compete with Spotify Wrapped. This feature that makes me jealous every December. Here’s what the Blend feature will do:…