How Indie am I?

As I mentioned before, I have been into good ol' Alternative Rock lately, (and I do recognize that indie and alt.rock are of course not same thing) as I am a white male in my early 30ies with an apparent and strong tendency of nostalgizing everything. Then I found this link (below) in Giac's blog. Doing the test and the results I got just proves what I wrote a while a go, even if I am a tad bit dissappointed in scoring only 60%, 6% less than Mr. Interflug, but I guess that this is my punishment from loving some good bloody beef every once in a while.

You Are 60% Indie

You're pretty indie, but you don't make a fuss letting everyone know. You just do what you like. You enjoy many types of things - from trendy to bizarre.

How Indie Are You?

Drummer wanted! Now wait a minute…

Today I just happened to notice this ad on the Finnish musicians’ www-discussion board http://muusikoiden.net/ and I just can’t stop wondering what these guys really sound like and what do they need a drummer for anyway? And they seem to be based in the suburban heaven/hell of Espoo, of all the places.

We are a Rock Band looking for a drummer who wants to join and play with us........

We are between 20 to 24 years of age.You dont have to be an expert as long as you can play along.If anyone is intrested please contact us. Mani: anarmie*@*hotmail.com

I am not an expert, in fact I cannot play drums for shit, but I am thinking of volunteering to help them out. What kind of a drummer are they looking for anyway? Like a death metal/grind core-guy to jam with the guitar player in the back or a someone who’s more into traditional Indian music or maybe into some vintage ‘70s Bollywood funk? Or maybe someone interested in programming some nice teutonic Euro-disco dancebeats on a laptop with the singer? Note also that the guy who posted the ad uses a rather fitting nickname "Confusion1".

This must be an awesome band in any case!

No, but in all seriousness, someone please help these guys out!

Stiggity on air!

NUFF SAID! You will now go and watch this video

Stiggy's getting cribby wit it.

Neat flick even with such a low budget.

Sell All That Guitar Shit And Buy A Sequencer!

I have recently discovered my old electric guitar and all my guitar pedals (as well as some new old ones from the ’Bay) after many years and started playing guitar again. Incidentally I have started listening good old guitar-stuff like Dinosaur Jr., Pixies, Pavement, Sonic Youth and all those ‘alternative rock’ bands from early 90s again. My girlfriend thinks I am regressing back the me of fifteen years ago and she might have a point there.

However, today Giac sent me an email with the title “sell all that guitar shit and buy a sequencer!” with a link to Youtube.com – and to the video of Prodigy’s ‘Out of Space” . A totally great track that I used to love and I still do. But now I am all confused. I have been there before, what I am supposed to do? I already have a sampler and a sequencer (come on, who doesn’t?) both of which I have used to make my (mostly electronic) music for more that several years now.

But am I really going backwards or not? If I am in a self-repeating loop - and many people seem to believe that pop-culture trends move around in circles at increasing speed - logically and chronologically the next thing for me would be to start listening to techno again, preferably Detroit techno, and what would be better than Underground Resistance.

But hey, in August there will be Flow 2006 festival in Kallio, Helsinki, basically in my ‘hood, and performing there will be ‘Underground Resistance [U.R.] presents Galaxy 2 Galaxy & Los Hermanos (USA)’. Is this destiny or what?

But maybe even better that that is that there is also going to be "Happy Mondays DJ Set featuring Bez (UK)", if I decide to move even further backwards in time.

Countless conveniences of owning a Mac laptop.

I guess it is already quite obvious that all of us Kriton boys love our Macs and iPods. Well, as any Apple-gear whore I have been considering upgrading my old Powerbook to a lovely new Macbook since the day they came out. However, one thing holding me back has been the alarming reports about some new Macbooks being bit too hot for themselves sometimes. So, here is a blog/report telling you everything you need to know about the issue:
“Cooking Breakfast On A Macbook”.

1. Get a Macbook and turn it over so the screens over the edge of your desk/counter
2. Run your favorite process intensive program to get it to heat up
3 Some tinfoil on uper left part of the laptops underside (the hottest part of the macbook
4. Put your cup of coffee on the power supply to keep it warm
5. Cook your egg on the tinfoil, it will take longer than normal
6. Enjoy your breakfast.”

Yeah, there is even a video there.

“2005 Was The Year In Which Hip-Hop Moved Even More Squarely Into The Mainstream“

Continuing on where we left last time on the theme of hip-hop and consumer brands; American Brandstand has again published the TOP20 list of the brands that have been receiving most mentions in r&b and hip-hop tracks appearing on the Billboard charts in 2005.

The top ten brands mentioned in r&b and hip-hop tracks in 2005 were: Mercedes, Nike, Cadillac, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Hennessy, Chevrolet, Louis Vuitton, Crystal and AK-47.

Look here (scroll down a bit) for the whole chart with last years’ places and number of times different brands actually were hyped. Nothing surprising there, but American Brandstand also supplies some interesting analysis on the subject:

“2005 was the year in which hip-hop moved even more squarely into the mainstream - Kanye West made the cover of Time in August, and Snoop Dogg played croquet in the pages of Vanity Fair… Hip-hop is rapidly becoming synonymous with youth culture – in a rapidly growing number of global markets. And hip-hop is now influencing the whole of luxury culture in ways that was unimaginable only a few years ago. Mercedes emerged as the top brand of the year, and 50 Cent out-branded the rest to become the top brand-dropping artist. Overall the brands associated with lyrics this year have moved away from the ostentatious bling of 2004 towards brands with a more understated appeal.”

· Mercedes takes back the top position that it enjoyed in 2003 before being eclipsed by Cadillac in 2004. It wins by a huge margin - 37% more mentions, than runner-up Nike at #2.

· In the post-bling environment of hip-hop 2005, the total brand count falls 6%.

· Runner up brands: Nike, Cadillac, Bentley and Rolls Royce

· Runner up artists: Ludacris and The Game

· Fashion brands fell 9%, automotive brands dropped 5%, while the fastest drop is in beverage brands sliding 36%.

· The fastest growing category in 2005 was weaponry. The weapon count jumped 19%. The hottest new entry brand this year is pistol-brand Beretta mentioned by Dem Franchise Boys and The Game, which jumped into the Brandstand chart in 13th place.

· Some heavy-hitters from previous years dropped out this year, including Gucci (5th in 2004), and Lexus (11th in 2004) neither of which were mentioned at all.

Interesting, yes, less bling, guns are on the up, designer fashion and alcohol brands are going down. But wait, there are some problems here, when rappers are talking for example about AK-47, are they really talking about the rifle or…? There is also some pretty strange stuff on the chart, Japanese car brand Datsun for example, as well as certain fashion designers I would not easily associate with hip-hop, such as John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood.

One thing, which does makes me wonder is who actually listens to all the songs and counts these things?

Justin Timberlake is back, Sexy Back.

Since we have only been blogging about dead people here recently, we need to get on with a bit more uplifting vibe. So, let's concentrate on Justin Timberlake. What can you say about him? Even if he started out in Mickey Mouse Club and N*Sync, he also went out with Britney when she was still, well - decide for yourself, as well all those other girls. Then he worked with Timbaland and Snoop and so on and so on. Oh, wait, then there was of course the Janet & the nipple incident...

Anyhow, the dude is about ready to drop a new album and here is a special gift for yo’all and yo’iPods, a new track and the first single from the boy wonder, ‘Sexy Back’. Just grab it quickly while it is still up there.

I have no idea who produced it or any of that but I am happy that he didn’t try to go Baile Funk or Hyphy or whatever. But the track is “kinda dancefloor-friendly” and "European-sounding" and "electronic", no doubt about that. Besides that I will leave it up to you to decide whether it is any good really.

Edit: apparently the track is produced by Timbaland again, he even sings there if you actually bother to listen to the track.

Syd Barrett RIP. Shine On You Crazy Diamond

One more great guy is gone as legendary Syd Barrett died last friday at the age of 60. Although there’s been rumors about Barrett’s death (as well as he being in jail or turned into a vegetable due to excessive LSD intake) since late 1960s when he left Pink Floyd, this time it seems that he is gone for real. The psychedelic weirdness of his persona and complete disappearance from the media over 35 years ago only fed the rumors. Click this for a fascinating article about him from the Rolling Stone Magazine in December 1971.

I was in Amsterdam last friday and I am already starting to regret that I didn’t visit the Pink Floyd themed Umma Gumma Coffeeshop while there. Anyhow, IMO he was the only real cool guy of Pink Floyd and they only went downhill after he left them.

Here’s some essential info on the man:
Barrett co-founded Pink Floyd in 1965 and wrote many of the band's early songs. The group's jazz-infused rock and drug-laced, multimedia "happenings" made them darlings of the London psychedelic scene. The classic "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" album (1967) was largely written by Barrett. He played lead guitar in the band. However, Barrett suffered from mental instability, exacerbated by his use of LSD. He left the group in 1968 to be replaced by boring David Gilmour.

Barrett released two solo albums "The Madcap Laughs" and "Barrett" but he soon withdrew from the music business altogether. An album of previously unreleased material, "Opel," was issued in 1988.

He reverted to his real name, Roger Barrett, and spent much of the rest of his life living quietly in his hometown of Cambridge, England. Moving into his mother's suburban house, he passed the time painting and tending the garden. He was a familiar figure to neighbors, often seen cycling or walking to the corner store, but rarely spoke to the fans and journalists who sought him out over the years.