Why Google Music is Cool (even if it’s not a game-changer)

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:

1. There’s an iPhone app
2. You can upload any music file type
3. You can stream high quality audio
4. 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.

Ben Harper – Rock N Roll Is Free (live)

Pearl Jam – Mother (Pink Floyd cover)

On Friday night, Pearl Jam performed Pink Floyd’s “Mother” to close out Jimmy Fallon’s Pink Floyd Week. Check out the video of the performance, and stream the audio below.

 

Pearl Jam – Mother (Pink Floyd cover)

PJ20 Soundtrack

It’s been years since I’ve been able to do a Pearl Jam album review, and damn if it doesn’t feel good. With twenty days of buildup and excitement, the day is finally here – the release of the Cameron Crowe directed “Pearl Jam 20” documentary, as well as the accompanying soundtrack. While I won’t be attending a screening of the movie tonight (the Brattle Theater down the street is showing it for a few weeks, plus I’ve got the Wilco show here in Boston tonight), I have been enjoying the soundtrack, which is up on Spotify, as well as the PJ20 textbook which I’ve been diligently consuming for the last week.

If you’d like a truly in-depth review of the soundtrack, head over to Two Feet Thick for their excellent map/timeline post (which was the 20th and final item in the PJ20 countdown). But if you want to hear my thoughts, keep on reading.

Stream the PJ20 Soundtrack

Today’s PJ20 surprise is that you can stream the entire 2-disc PJ20 soundtrack over at Rolling Stone. It’s quite the soundtrack, with the first disc focusing mainly on unreleased live versions of tunes, and the second on demos and instrumentals.

Check it out here.

Temple Of The Dog Reunion

I came back from vacation this weekend to discover myriad tweets, blog posts, and excited comments about the Pearl Jam festival that took place in Alpine Valley, Wisconsin. There were surprise guests, Dennis Rodmans in the crowd, a and even a Pearl Jam museum. But what made me most excited for those who were lucky enough to be in attendance was the Temple Of The Dog reunion that happened when Chris Cornell took the stage with the rest of Pearl Jam.

20 Days of Pearl Jam: Day 1

20 days of Pearl Jam surprises. Hurrah!

Pearl Jam 20 Trailer

So the Pearl Jam 20 trailer was just released on the band’s 20th Anniversary website. The problem is, that the site has crashed. Surprise? No, not really considering the site’s inability to deal with ticket sale traffic in the past. But we’ve got the video here, so you can totally watch it now.

Mike McCready Joins Soundgarden Onstage

On Saturday night, Mike McCready joined Soundgarden onstage at their LA show to perform Superunknown with them. Much thanks to Yishai for pointing out the video to me.

Mike also just (when I say just, I mean 2 minutes before I’m writing this) posted himself covering Song Of Healing, which is apparently a song from the video game “Zelda.” Enjoy!

Rare Pearl Jam Songs Turn Up

Update: The @PearlJamTwenty twitter name has been taken down, along with the Megaupload files. I have chosen to take down the one file I was previously streaming. 

Who really is behind the @PearlJamTwenty Twitter handle? Is it some super fan that somehow has ridiculously rare material that he or she has now decided to release? Is it Eddie Vedder or Cameron Crowe or someone else close to the band who has been given the go-ahead to drop these shelved tracks in honor of the band’s 20th Anniversary? Or is this just a well constructed fake by a creatively annoying individual?

That’s up for you to decide. You can grab all the tracks on Twitter, or listen to Mookie Blaylock demo Touch Me I’m Dick (the infamous track from the movie “Singles” which is really just Mudhoney’s Touch Me I’m Sick with some creative word swapping), below. Enjoy!

Mookie Blaylock (?) – Touch Me I’m Dick File Removed

Tracks From Nowhere Near You

There’s been a bit of buzz on the internet about the upcoming charity album “Live From Nowhere Near You, Vol II,” a 3-disc release which will be featuring unreleased and rare material from a number of my favorite musicians. So far two of the tracks have been released/leaked, and they’re shared below. Beneath that is the album information, which you should definitely buy here, since 100% of the profit will donated to charity to help homeless youth.

Eddie Vedder, Julian Casablancas, Josh Homme, and Fabrizio Moretti – Mercy Mercy Me (Marvin Gaye cover)

Isaac Brock – Dead End Job At The Dead Letter Office