The musings of a teenage audiophile. Indie, Rock, Hip-Hop, Rap, Dance, Dubstep, Garage, Metal... music crosses all boundaries.
The Cold Cut is devoted to giving you a taste of what's going on in music at the moment.
A 17 year old taking his first tentative steps into the world of blogging. In my first year, its been up and down, from the slow first months to a busy time around the one year anniversary.
I doubt you will know So-Me (I didn't), but his work is inescapable. His music videos will probably rank in the 2007's most memorable lists: Justice's D.A.N.C.E, Kanye West's 'The Good Life'. Both great videos, but both toppled from their pedestal by So-Me's latest offering. Returning to Justice, the video for 'DVNO' is simply amazing. So-Me, an animator by nature, has put together something fresh, with graphics illustrating the words of the song and much, much more. Basically, if this doesn't win something, there's no hope for us. Watch it...
My friend showed me this damn cool video a couple of weeks back, and I don't this beatboxers efforts should go unnoticed. Imagine this: kitchen beatboxing... take a look!
It has happened to all of us: you turn on the radio or MTV and that song is playing. Yes, that one: the one that has been the bane of your life for the last month, that song that penetrates your conscience due to the fact that it is radio-friendly and annoyingly memorable. Recent examples include Mika's Grace Kelly and Nickelback's How You Remind Me, but the latest one and the subject matter of this post is a band called Air Traffic. Their name might not be familiar to you, but you would have to be removed from society in order to not hear their hit single "Shooting Star", a song which at first seems blissfully innocent with its lovely piano and high vocals. After a while, though, it becomes unforgettable: I know the words to this song even though the only time I've heard it is through the wall separating me and my next-door neighbour at school!
Shooting Star: The Recorded Version
The thing is, Air Traffic are actually a really good band: they've just released debut album Fractured Life to generally positive reviews: initially comparisons were made between Air Traffic and the likes of Keane and Captain due to their music being piano driven... after listening to a few tracks, I can say this is definitely not the case. Whereas bands like Keane and Captain produce music that whilst being quaint isn't actually that good, Air Traffic produce songs like Shooting Star that are actually quite heavy, despite featuring piano. To top this off, most of the tracks on their album aren't half bad- this is probably due to the fact that the band are all in all very musically competent (see the comparative videos below of live and recorded performances of Shooting Star). Their singles- Just Abuse Me and Never Even Told Me Her Name- are two of the best piano driven pop-romp songs we've heard in a while: head over to hypem to hear them
I think it would be right for me to let you make up your own mind about this band: head over to the hype machine to hear some tracks; there are also two Youtube videos below. Please comment on your feelings about this band: I would like to know the readers of this blog think about my posts!
It appears that Justice have the smarts to match their seemingly endless ability to remix tracks and make them sound much better than the original; their new video for D.A.N.C.E.-their hit single- uses a frustratingly simple idea to great effect. Before I reveal too much, just watch the embedded video below, which features some cool t-shirts which I wish were real!
I recently heard that Google, the new owners of Youtube, are considering rewarding their contributors by giving people specific sums of money if their videos are watched. I think this is a really cool idea, and it's good to know that they want to repay the people who have made them so much money, but I think they have missed out a really important point...
It is inevitable that as soon as an object becomes valuable, people will be looking for a cut of the money. To put this into context, if a person receives money for a video containing popular music on Youtube, then the person whose music it is will file for a lawsuit unless they get a portion of the money. This can only be stopped by people who make completely original videos, which are few and far between. Does anyone have any ideas as to how we can counter this?
All the tracks available for download on this blog are there purely in the interest of the artists; I offer music to the masses for a short time only in order to promote those artists who I think deserve more publicity. If you want any of your tracks removed, please leave a comment and I will do so.
Wouldn't your inner audiophile feel better if you bought some CD's every now and then? Please make an effort to support the artists featured on this blog (if you like them!).
