A review of Lambchop’s OH (Ohio) (2008) Despite the recording industry’s continuing contraction (not unlike the financial system’s), the world is full of beautiful music that’s worth hearing. One result of the long tail economy has been that there’s so … [read more]
The New York Times, in its fascinating blog “Measure for Measure,” currently has a great piece by Suzanne Vega about how her song, “Tom’s Diner,” played a key role in the development of the MP3. The engineers at Fraunhofer Institut … [read more]
The New Software Era I know this is a generalization, but I think that the world of software is finally changing. For years now, we’ve heard about systems that provide enough abstraction, enough of a “toolkit” user interface so that … [read more]
A review of Ben Harper’s Lifeline (2007) Ben Harper plays a stylish blend of rock, reggae and old-style r’n’b, like a subtler, less flashy version of Lenny Kravitz. These are well-crafted, well-rehearsed songs, recorded in just seven days in a … [read more]
There’s an industry-wide SharePoint skills shortage. Nobody can currently meet their human resource needs: customers, systems integrators, independent software vendors, even Microsoft itself is short of talent. Such is the plight caused by a product that has been unexpectedly successful, … [read more]
I don’t know why I hadn’t discovered this before. ‘Discovered’ may not be a particularly good word, actually. Of course, I knew about it. I just chose not to use it until now. I’m talking about my MP3 player’s ‘random … [read more]
De-Phazz is a revolving cast of singers and performers around German jazz/electronica producer Pit Baumgartner. For more than 10 years, De-Phazz has released an interesting and unique blend of jazz, German cabaret music, electronica, hip hop, reggae/dancehall and r’n’b. Baumgartner … [read more]
Staying with the theme of how country music could be, here’s a favourite record by Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez. Taylor is a singer-songwriter who emerged as a writer of hit songs in the 60s (‘Angel of the Morning’ and … [read more]