Harmonix: They Put a Guitar Hero in Every House
The News Review:
- Harmonix: They Put a Guitar Hero in Every House
- Sound of 2008: Foals
- Three generations of a Prague musical family talk to Radio Prague
- HT DISH: What a Year It Turned ut to Be
- Digital album packaging should improve in ‘08
- The New New Thing: Same As It Ever Was
- Arizona Reporter Newswire » This Week in Arizona Music Concerts (Dec….
Harmonix: They Put a Guitar Hero in Every House
Newsweek – Dec 31, 2007
When it comes to music games however the founders of the Cambridge Mass. -based Harmonix have already secured their place in the pantheon. Their work on Guitar Hero I and II which invigorated the music-videogame category in the United States would have been enough. But in November the company again reinvented the genre with Rock Band pairing a faux drum kit and a karaoke microphone with a mock guitar for the ultimate ersatz group. “ur original mission statement was to bring the joy of music making to everyone out there in the world who may not necessarily have all the experience that comes from having learned a real musical instrument” says Egozy a talented clarinetist. “We had no idea that it would become this huge. “The two met in the early ’90s as graduate students in the computer-music department of MIT’s renowned Media Lab with Yamaha and Sega serving as corporate sponsors of the division’s efforts.
Sound of 2008: Foals
BBC News – Dec 31, 2007
xford indie band Foals kick off the coverage at number five on the list. ne act from the top five will be revealed every day until Friday when the winner and full top 10 will be announced. “We play guitar in a different way from pretty much any other mainstream indie band” declares Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis. “We have a piano which is used in a different way to how most other bands would use it… It has gained them a devoted fanbase a top 40 single and a tour supporting Bloc Party arguably their closest musical relations among major bands. Foals also claim not to know how to play guitar chords do not know what the single notes they do play are called and have influences that lie far outside the mainstream. “Many indie bands would have been brought up listening to The Jam” Yannis says. “And we were brought up listening to folk music or world music and then getting into all this post-rock stuff. Foals believe their backgrounds and their unconventional recording techniques make them more inventive than most groups. “We make music that tries to be progressive in some small way” Yannis says.
Three generations of a Prague musical family talk to Radio Prague
radio.cz – Dec 31, 2007
That was one of our favouritepieces which I copied from the record. It was quite a lot of work and ofcourse our band couldn?t just play it because it was simply toodifficult!? [Music]. You were playing in a band at the time. This was actually during theGerman occupation. LUBMIR: ?That?s right. I was playing piano and guitar partly. Weplayed some gigs ? not for dancing though as dancing was prohibited atthat time.
HT DISH: What a Year It Turned ut to Be
CMT.com – Dec 31, 2007
)Let’s end the year with Kid Rock who for the second year in a row spent the holidayswith soldiers overseas on a massive US tour that took him to seven different countries for 13 shows in five days. God protectthe soldiers and thanks for Kid Rock for giving them music and smiles. Country Music Hall of Famer Porter Wagonersuccumbed to cancer on ct. Has he been gone two months? The 80-year-old Missouri native never failed to spreadhis lips in a smile when he walked onstage wearing one of his rhinestone-studded outfits… His honky-tonk Western-style music fit the Texas clubs and dancehalls where he made most of his appearances. Brad and Kimberly Williams-Paisley became parents of William Huckleberry Paisley in February. The best guitar playeron the road Brad became a genuine superstar in ‘07 filling venues winning awards and recording 5th Gear one ofthe most cleverly- written albums on the shelf. After seven tries my friend finally was named CMA male vocalist of the year– the award he wanted. It was great having Garth Brooks around again. nly Garth could release a single and a weeklater celebrate it with a No.
Digital album packaging should improve in ‘08
Canada.com – Dec 31, 2007
inc–>Digital album packaging should improve in ‘08Antony BrunoReutersPublished: Monday December 31 2007Early examples of this are two games developed for the iPod — “Musicka” created by the developers of the original music rhythm game “PaRappa the Rapper” and “Phase” created by “Rock Band” and original “Guitar Hero” developer Harmonix. Both are rhythm-based games that let users “play” along to the songs on their device by pressing buttons at the right time. The point is that if these game companies can do it there is no reason why labels can’t offer (or commission) their own iPod plug-in that will import better album art liner notes and lyrics directly from the label or artist and ported into iTunes and the iPod. In the year ahead look for several efforts from both camps as digital music distribution becomes more important to the music industry as well as a point of increasing competition among service providers… It has gone from sprawling center spreads adorning vinyl LPs to stamp-sized thumbnails accompanying MP3 files. But as digital becomes the predominant format look for album art to evolve. The early groundwork for this already has been laid. Last spring Warner Music Group (WMG) added interactive booklets based on Apple’s Quicktime software to about 75 albums sold on iTunes providing photos and links to more multimedia content.
The New New Thing: Same As It Ever Was
Newsweek – Dec 31, 2007
But artistically? Marshall McLuhan’s once new insight that the medium is itself the message helps us understand the influence of technology on personal and social behavior but is it really applicable to works of art? A computer-generated image is still an image and a poem written with Microsoft Word is still a poem?just as acrylic paint is still paint. “The Quarterlife” is still a coming-to-grips-with-coming-of-age story like “Great Expectations” or “Romeo and Juliet. ” In music thousands of years of innovations from the drum to the tempered scale to the electric guitar to the synthesizer to the digital sampler have changed its sound and vastly multiplied its possibilities. But now that we can digitally reproduce any sound and generate sounds as yet unheard?some of them perhaps listenable?aren’t we running out of fresh micropitches tones textures and rhythms? That is without chips implanted in our brains. Maybe that’s the new new thing: a nexus of art high tech and neurosurgery. If this is a world you want to live in I hope you get there.
Arizona Reporter Newswire » This Week in Arizona Music Concerts (Dec….
Arizona Reporter – Dec 31, 2007
Riopelle’s music reflects a genuine lyrical honesty with heavy doses of rhythm and blues rock and country flavored with a unique mix of jazz and reggae sounds. Riopelle is an artist whose work both in the studio and on the stage has always refused to be categorized. His natural ability to draw from different contemporary styles creates the Riopelle sound… a mixture of Ani Defranco Fiona Apple and Tracy Chapman. This accompanied by her Latin influenced breakneck style of guitar playing. With a voice like vanilla coffee bold but smooth Leila Lopez has a Spanish Bossa Nova style with influence from Santana to the Gypsy Kings and Joni Mitchell. ” – The Aztec Press.
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