The early Duran Duran videos which demonstrated the staying power — for good or bad — of MTV are hitting the digital downloaded services. The band announced it a few days ago, but it took Billboard until now to give a rat’s ass.
And I understand the sentiment.
The videos announced for download are the same ones available on the Greatest DVD. The added "bonuses" for iTunes are also the same easter eggs available on said DVD.
Capitol is evidently gearing this reissue campaign to the casual Duranies who liked the band at one point, still like them on some level but couldn’t care less about the minutiae for its career.
I already have the DVD, and there’s no way I’m going to buy video downloads with DRM. I may as well just decrypt my DVD if I wanted that kind of portability. Which I don’t, since I don’t live a lifestyle to require an iPod.
I’ll be interested in this kind of news when such video rarities as "Lonely In Your Nightmare", "Nightboat", "Do You Believe in Shame?" (cool video, sucky song) or anything by Arcadia gets reissued.
We’re entering the final third of 2006, and I’ve started to think about what I’ve heard in the past eight months to include on the year-end favorite list.
On the whole, 2006 hasn’t been that much more exiciting than 2005, but the brighter moments of this year stand out far more than last year.
The best album I heard in 2005 was originally released in 1982. (That would be Entertainment! by Gang of Four.) But the keepers of 2006 have far more staying power.
Still, I did manage to discover some albums in 2006 I wished I heard when they were first released. Although they can’t technically be included in a "best of 2006", there’s room to mention them with the "favorites of 2006".
The first half of my list is set, but there are still some open slots that the coming fall release season might fill.
m-flo is releasing a new single, titled "Love Song", on Nov. 6, so says Bounce.com. Continuing its series of post-Lisa collaborations, m-flo is working this time around with Bonnie Pink.
Bonnie Pink and Verbal collaborated a while back, so bringing Taku into the mix isn’t unimaginable. And if m-flo can make it work with Dragon Ash, it should be interesting to see what happens with Doping Panda.
A remix of "lotta love" featuring Minmi rounds out the single.
I’m usually a big fanboy when it comes to the works of Wayne Horvitz and Robin Holcomb. But I’ve been spinning the latest releases from both composers, and I just don’t feel it.
Horvitz released Whispers, Hymns and a Murmur on John Zorn’s Tzadik label back in February, while his first recording with his new ensemble Gravitas Quartet followed in June. Holcomb released John Brown’s Body also in June and also on Tzadik.
I considered this avalanche of releases a boon, until I listened to all three discs.
Every few years, there’s some big world music hit that manages to make a blip with non-world music listeners. Usually, Ry Cooder is involved, and invetiably, it gets released on Nonesuch.
In the late ’90s, it was the Buena Vista Social Club. In the late ’80s, it was Le Mystère de Voix Bulgares.
Do a Google News search on music service, and you’ll see a bunch of stories about unlikely companies starting up music services to compete with iTunes.
(Because I know I immediately think of music when I hear the name Samsung.)
But Billboard.biz posted a story about a new music service launched by NPR. The story itself requires a subscription, but a press release is available.
Now there’s a brand that can be leveraged into a music service. I gave up on radio decades ago, but when I’m forced to tune into the airwaves — usually when I’m driving a really shitty rental car — it goes straight to public radio. I’m not sure whether I’d actually patronize an NPR music service, but if something had to tear me away from eMusic, that could be it.
Vola & the Oriental Machine is set to release a single, "Hane no Hikari", on Oct. 25, so says Bounce.com.
Kayo from Polysics makes a guest appearance on the track, which Bounce describes as "smelling good" (well, that’s what the kanji translator tells me.) The three-track single also includes "Kanu Neko", which has a bizarre but pleasing middle verse that is reportedly unforgettable.
The single continues to employ the new wave sound of the band’s debut mini-album, Waiting for My Food.