Posts Tagged ‘music’
Image from BBC!
And you thought your neighbor’s lights were over the top…check out these displays from around the world!
Jezebel determines once and for all the WORST Christmas song ever.
NPR and David Sedaris bring you a treat for those long family car trips – some Santaland Diaries!
Avoid the crazy holiday store rush with these DIY gifts.
What Christmas is complete without a gift wrapped cat?
Music is wonderful. Free things are awesome. Free music? That’s wonderfully awesome.
Jail? Not so much (or so I’ve heard).
That’s why we’ve compiled a list of websites you can visit to download free music legally.
1. iTunes- Every week, iTunes puts up a new song you can download for free! Just go to www.apple.com/itunes, scroll to the bottom and you’ll find “Free Single of the Week” under iTunes store.
2. Amazon- Amazon has large collection of free songs and albums that’s constantly being updated.
3. Spinner- AOL’s Spinner.com has a free music download every single day.
If you know other good sites with free music, share some of your favorites!
If you are interested in the contemporary music scene, this week’s Grammy Awards ceremony was a feast.
It had mega-performances (eggs! sparkles! muppets! fire!) with a few awards sprinkled in. The television viewing audience was apparently pleased, awarding the show its highest ratings in seven years!
But even with all of that popularity, the popular kids (recording industry darlings) didn’t necessarily go home winners on Sunday night.
Two categories really shook the Grammys audience to the core. First, Justin Bieber, the almighty, did not win Best New Artist!
That field was crowded with some great artists and some indie favorites, but the win by Esperanza Spalding has this ashamed music lover scurrying to Wikipedia. Little did I know, the Bieber fans had beat me to the punch, and kind of trashed the place.
And then the Grammys plot thickened when the BIG AWARD of the night was announced: Album of the Year. Up against the likes of Eminem, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Lady Antebellum, the indie critic favorite Arcade Fire (of Montreal) just kind of swooped in and surprised everyone (even announcer Barbra Streisand) by winning for their album “The Suburbs.”
And then, the Internets exploded with the question: WHO?
It didn’t take long for the [super-cool] blogging service Tumblr to find a space for a Who Is Arcade Fire? blog, devoted entirely to tweets, Facebook posts, and other irreverent, angry, or confused people just wanting to know who just won the Grammys top honor.
But, the show ended, and that was that.
Except, there was one more really cool thing that happened! Cee-Lo Green performed that popular hit (The Song Otherwise Known As ‘Forget You’), but to spice things up, he played a really glitzy piano and wore feathers and sparkles, and then duet-ed a bit with Gwyneth Paltrow.
There were actually a number of entertaining performances that night (see New York Magazine count them down so you know which ones to YouTube) but I can’t in good conscience not post the video. So, enjoy!
See a full list of Grammy nominees and winners here and let us know if you’re OK with Justin Bieber going home disappointed or if you appreciated Lady Gaga’s sp-EGG-tacular entrance!
Sometimes we at US Democrazy watch so much news that it feels like our brains have turned to mashed potatoes (the way our editor smells, he must have garlic mashed potatoes for his brains).
Thankfully we have a good friends in the the Gregory Brothers. The Gregory boys are the masterminds behind the Auto-Tune the News series that is a current viral web sensation.
These guys mash up the news for us giving our beleaguered brains a rest.
We at US Democrazy often think… why waste all that energy READING something when you can WATCH it instead? Thus our weekly film festival was born!
Each Monday we will collect a selection of interesting/curious/and/or important videos gleaned from the web and post them here for your amusement.
And, oh… don’t forget to to submit your favorites for future Film Festivals! …read more.
Today, we at USDemocrazy have decided to take a break from bonuses and Obama and AIG and the economy… and well, you know, all the bad stuff going on. Instead, we’re talking music!
In case you hadn’t heard, this week, Austin, Texas is descended upon by music industry big-wigs and little-wigs, independent musicians from all genres, music journalists, and music junkies for the South by Southwest music festival. If you don’t know what that is, you really ought to. The whole industry has its eye on the eighty-plus stages in Austin featuring hundreds of pretty sweet performances.
But, if you can’t go, or have been too into “the news” to have paid much attention, you’re in luck! There’s a ton of people who would love to tell you about it!
Our favorite place to go is NPR, who are in their element at the music festival, broadcasting select performances on – gasp – the radio! But, if you’re glued to your computer as most of us are, they have great live webcasts from the best shows, including chats with people at the show and photos from the show. It’s like you’re there… but not.
In a recession, spending money on music (we at USDemocrazy are all for legality, and we actually purchase our music!) might seem like a frivolous expense that can be eliminated. But these days, it’s nice to have your money go to something you can actually enjoy, rather than to some slimy Wall Street exec. (OK, so we can’t entirely erase those bonuses from our minds.)
If you’re going to be able to make it mentally (let alone financially) through this economic bust, you might need a little escape from all this money business to take in a show, buy a new album, or discover a new artist. But a lot of people don’t know where to start. Here’s a hint: start by paying attention to South by Southwest. There’s something for everyone — even those finicky bluegrass fans. (The Travelin’ McCourys are a great place to start, if you’re into that kind of music.)
Indulge in a little new music. It’ll make you feel good! And if it’s the top trend on Twitter, it has to be worth talking about!
