Malcolm Middleton - Red Travellin' Socks - One Track Mind

I have listened to Malcolm Middleton's "Red Travellin' Socks" 10 times since finding it on One Track Mind yesterday (the track is streaming now and you can download it too!) I can fall in love with all kinds of tracks but there is something about Summer and high energy, up tempo tracks that just changes my attitude and puts me in a great mood.

I checked out Malcolm's site last night - a former member of Arab Strap - his new album Waxing Gibbous was released on June 1; he's an interesting character and he's Scottish too- what's not to like!?

I've got a number of posts up my sleeve about the process of finding new music - more on that another time -but I do recommend One Track Mind. Not quite sure how I came across them - probably twitter - but their approach appeals to how I see music discovery going forward. I like how they've set up their site and the review process is super easy - good execution all round.

---------------- Now playing: Malcolm Middleton - Red Travellin' Socks via One Track Mind

Weepr - Free Beats & Music Maker

I was settling down to write the page for Sexercise when Alex over at Stramash Consulting tweeted about a new music app called weepr.



It's kind of like sitting in a Japanese dentist's waiting room on 'shrooms - not that I've actually experienced that - but - I'm thinking....

It's a lot of fun to play with and the interface is really simple and intuitive; sure there's a hundred things that aren't right with it and certain simple features that would make it a hell of lot easier to use - but who cares - it's free and puts making music into everybody's hands and I'm all for that. As Alex says it need's an audio export function - you can hack your sound card if you want to invest the time - but I suspect Weepr know what they are doing. The easiest way to demonstrate what you have created is to publish their widget - and in doing so you (in this case - me) promote the Weepr brand - cunning.

I imagine they'll have a premium release somewhere down the line which they'll market to those who were curious enough to hand over their email to play with the free version. I seriously doubt that they're going to tempt musicians away from the tools they're already using, but, if they can make it easy for "non-musicians" to enjoy creating with it - and remember - there are a hell of lot more non-musicians than there are musicians - maybe they can create a new market and encourage more people to play with music - and wouldn't that be cool!

Lord, I'm Discouraged - The Hold Steady

I have fallen horribly in love with this song - it happens - the last time was with Handlebars by Flobots and yes I can ride my bike without them – thank you Ms. Balchen! There’s so much to love about this track – the presence of the initial guitar tone, the arrival of the keys but I guess most of all – it’s the Lyric.

[flickr]http://www.flickr.com/photos/shaynekaye/3201389499/[/flickr] From Shayne Kaye on Flickr.

Kelli and I used to comment that a good song needs great music but a great song needs great lyric too. It was a roundabout way of saying that not everybody is a musician – not everybody thinks in melody or can manipulate sound to create a platform - but pretty much everyone can speak, can write, and can string words together. Everyone’s a songwriter and if you ain't got something to say - then best not say anything at all.

It is typically the music of a song that grabs my attention, but it is the lyric that allows me to fall in love. And it’s not necessarily the semantic – the meaning of the lyric – it’s how the whole thing fits together. Listen to Rihanna’s Dream written Umbrella – it won’t win a Nobel for literature but that whole “Ella, Ella” lick just feels so damn good in the track.

Finally there is the guitar solo – and it’s perfect - I suspect that God always had the electric guitar in mind when he was developing anguish.

You can:

Listen to Lord I'm Discouraged on youtube

Visit The Hold Steady's Website

Buy The Album - Stay Positive Other recommended cuts: Magazines and One For The Cutters – good stories all!