Tim Tebow is a terrible QB. Statistically speaking, the man is abysmal. First of all, he doesn’t pass the ball. In the eight games played this season he has thrown a mere 125 times. That’s about 15 throws a game. Compare that with Jay Cutler, the QB for the run-heavy Bears, who throws 30 passes a game. To make this clear, the QB for the team that has running sensation Matt Forte throws more than the QB who’s starting running back is a washed-up Willis McGahee. And then there’s his completion percentage which is 46.9% – which means that of ever two passes he throws, fewer that one are actually caught. Continue reading →
Google’s music-focused press conference yesterday was surprisingly underwhelming. They released Google Music to the public, which many of us have been using in Beta for the last few months. It’s a cloud-based music service to which you can upload up to 20,000 songs for free, and can listen to them everywhere. They’ve also included a store, and a way to share music via Google Plus. Sounds cool, except for the fact that Amazon has a similar product, but upgrades you to unlimited storage space if you buy any mp3 album through them. And Apple just rolled out iTunes Match, which allows users to upload 25,000 songs to the cloud, and Apple will match those songs (even if they’re stolen) with higher quality versions.
But of course, there’s a catch to both Amazon and Apple. Amazon only let’s you upload mp3s. This kind of sucks, especially if you have a collection of FLAC or mp4 or any other music type. Going through and converting everything is kind of annoying, so that’s out. Also, rumor is that they down-sample everything, so even if you upload a 320kbps version of every mp3 you own, you’re still probably streaming it at 128kbps – an audiophile’s worst nightmare.
Apple is also tricky. Firstly, they’re charging $25 a year for their service. Sounds great and reasonable, but compared the the free options it’s annoying. And their “higher quality” versions of songs means they upgrade your 128 or 190kbps tracks to 256. Not bad, but also ear-grindingly frustrating for those who care about high quality audio.
And then there’s Google. Sure, you can’t download the songs from the cloud. And their store is lacking and doesn’t bring anything new to the table. And their social features are bested by the combination of Spotify and Facebook. Nevertheless, they’re the number one cloud choice for me, and here’s why:
There’s an iPhone app
You can upload any music file type
You can stream high quality audio
They have a free, unreleased, Pearl Jam bootleg in their store
That’s basically all I need. Good quality audio that I can listen to anywhere + free Pearl Jam. No, this is not a good system to backup your music – you can’t even download the songs. And the 20,000 song limit will get annoying pretty soon. But for now, I’m flying high and enjoying having a good chunk of my music, anywhere I go.
Check out a radio rip of The Black Keys’ “Run Right Back,” the B-Side to “Lonely Boy” which will be released on Record Store Day on vinyl. The forthcoming album El Camino drops December 6th.
Drake’s forthcoming album Take Care has leaked in full. Since “The Ride” was the only song not included on the earlier leak, I figured I’d share it here.
You probably know him as Troy Barnes from NBC’s hit show “Community.” And if you don’t, then you should. Donald Glover (no relation to Danny) is a hilarious and fantastic actor. Which is why I was initially hesitant when I heard that he also rapped. How many times are actors/musicians/athletes able to shine when they cross over into another form of entertainment? Shaq and Allen Iverson’s rap albums were terrible. Some people like Bon Jovi’s acting, but I think he’s horrible. Ludacris was great in “Crash” but that’s the exception to the rule. Continue reading →
Posted onNovember 7, 2011|Comments Off on Radiohead to Tour in 2012
Radiohead has announced a US Tour in early 2012. Sad for me, it’s focused mainly in the southern half of our country, so unless they add more dates, I’ll be sitting this one out.
Radiohead 2012 tour dates
Feb 27 – Miami, FL American Airlines Arena
Feb 29 – Tampa, FL St. Pete Times Forum
Mar 1 – Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
Mar 3 – Houston, TX Toyota Center
Mar 5 – Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
Mar 7 – Austin, TX Frank Erwin Center
Mar 9 – St. Louis, MO Scottrade Center
Mar 11 – Kansas City, MO Sprint Center
Mar 13 – Broomfield, CO 1stBank Center
Mar 15 – Glendale, AZ Jobing.com Arena
Despite the weather turning sour and the year drawing to a close, we have no shortage of new music these days. I haven’t been able to post that much this week (NaNoWriMo is occupying much of my free time), but there are a few great songs that I couldn’t not share.
I’m not the hugest Mumford & Sons fan. But since I’ve recently begun playing mandolin, I’ve been trying to dabble in music that has more of a bluegrass tinge to it. Though this is mostly indie alt rock, there’s definitely a bluegrass taste to this band and this track – “Ghosts That We Knew,” which they debuted on Philly’s Radio 104.5.
John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats captivates my attention whenever he releases anything at all. The ID3 tags that Mr. Darnielle put on this track before releasing in on Twitter define the genre as “plaguecore” as the song does happen to be about a plague. The song is called “Thucydides II-58” so my guess is that JD is talking about the Plague of Athens, which Thucydides – the Greek historian and inventor of scientific history – survived. History aside, it’s a great lo-fi acoustic track.
And finally, two of Ms. Amy Winehouse‘s songs have been posthumously released. We have a collaboration with Nas called “Like Smoke” which juxtaposes Amy’s soulful voice with Nas’ flow, and a poppy soulful number called “Our Day Will Come.” Hearing the tracks is bittersweet; that they’re so good only shows us how great of a talent we truly lost.
Troubled Souls Unite 
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