A hip-hop student of the older-than-old-school radio jock Marley Marl, New York-proud Pete Rock has built a solid career on equally sturdy rhymes and decent beats that skate the line between thug rap and backpacker hip-hop. If Nas wasn't so militant or if Wu Tang were consolidated into one person, the result would be very Pete.
He's from upstate New York, but he fits right in here in Austin, Texas with his could-be-from-the-south songwriter style. This is a live shot of AA Bondy at the Creekside Lounge on Wednesday. There was a drunk heckler in the crowd who claimed he was "feelin' it" but his sincerity was questionable. Other fans (like myself) kept our comments to ourselves and quietly enjoyed his heartfelt performance, which was nice mellow break from all the chaos and "butt rock" blaring nearby on 6th street.
We've selected AA Bondy for our Best of SXSW feature, … Read more
Hunting down dastardly captcha hackers and spyware slimeballs is busy work, even for a man as talented as Power Downloader. Power doesn't have a lot of free time, so it's hard to remember to check all the Web sites that are important to him. His solution: instead of surfing a list of bookmarks, Power Downloader uses RSS feeds and FeedDemon to make the news and podcasts come to him.
FeedDemon is one of the best programs for managing your RSS collection. The interface is slick and easy to personalize, which is important since Power wasn't too impressed … Read more
Radiohead's groundbreaking promotion for the album In Rainbows was "insincere" and smacked of a "bait and switch," according to Trent Reznor, leader of the group Nine Inch Nails.
Reznor made the comments during an interview with the Australia Broadcasting Corporation earlier this week.
"I think the way [Radiohead] parlayed it into a marketing gimmick has certainly been shrewd," Reznor said. "But if you look at what they did, it was very much a bait and switch, to get you to pay for a MySpace quality stream as a way to promote a … Read more
U.K. phone network O2 announced today that it has partnered exclusively with online music vendor Napster to provide a la carte, over-the-air music downloads to O2 customers, direct to their mobile phones. Napster's entire 5 million-track catalog will be available for download from this weekend and includes listings from every major record label.
While many O2 customers enjoy free handsets, those who spent the 269-pound premium (about $545) to buy the O2-exclusive iPhone will not be able to use this service, however. U.K. Apple devotees will have to wait for over-the-air music downloads.
Songs will be accessed … Read more
Here's a live shot of Yeasayer at Emo's IV in Austin, Texas late Thursday night (early Friday morning). This is just one of many showcases they're playing this week and despite having an on-the-fly "SWSW style sound check," they sounded amazing.
We've selected them for our Best of SXSW feature, which will feature all of the best (of the best) bands we see this week. For now enjoy our free playlists and SXSW 2008 Pre-Party. Here's the Download Music review of Yeasayer:
"In the pre-Vampire Weekend era (i.e., last month), indie … Read more
Here's a live shot of Cut Copy at The Mohawk in Austin, Texas today for the Rhapsody day party. They get the dance party started early with their 2:30 P.M. set. They're a lot of buzz about them on the streets (literally) and their set was so good that we've selected them for our Best of SXSW feature, which will feature all of the great bands we see this week. For now check out our free playlists and SXSW 2008 Pre-Party. Here's the Download Music review of Cut Copy:
"Hipster bands have a … Read more
Here's a live shot of The Most Serene Republic at Emo's in Austin, Texas today (March 13th) for the Arts and Crafts Records day party. They rocked the early set at 12:30 P.M. and were so good that we've selected them for our Best of SXSW feature (coming soon), which will feature all of the great bands we see this week. For now check out our free playlists and SXSW 2008 Pre-Party. Here's the Download Music review of The Most Serene Republic:
"Even by Ontario standards, the latest from the Arts & Crafts … Read more
"Popular" earned Nada Surf heavy MTV airplay in the '90s, but the alterna-rockers have actually been recording their best stuff in the last several years for Seattle's Barsuk label. New '08 album "Lucky" again showcases jangly, clever indie pop that's deliciously infectious and an absolute delight.
Here's a live shot of These New Puritans at Emo's in Austin, Texas today (March 12th) for the Terrorbird day party. They were so good that we have selected them for our Best of SXSW feature (coming soon), which will feature all of the great bands we see this week. For now check out our free playlists and SXSW 2008 Pre-Party. Here's the Download Music review of These New Puritans:
"In '08, the Arctic Monkeys are practically pensioners. Time for a new round of smart-aleck young Brits! These New Puritans smartly fit the bill of Latest … Read more
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