David Emery OnlineLarge Joy
I know, I know: long time no see.
Sure, it’s not as though this place is full of tumbleweed slowly ambling by but the fact remains I haven’t written a proper post in donkeys years. I have – of course, as ever – been really busy. Work is very busy in that “it’s all really great stuff but I’d like to breathe more then once a fortnight” kind-of-way (more on some of that soon) but the real reason is that I’m busy beavering away on a new design for this site.
It’s much better then this one.
Anyway, whilst not doing that last night I went to my first gig of the year – Little Joy at Dingwalls in Camden. Little Joy – for those that don’t know – are a three piece featuring Fab Moretti from the Strokes but don’t pass them off as a mere side project; they’re much more then that.
I wouldn’t blame you if you did though; it’s exactly what I did on first hearing about them. Why would the drummer from the Strokes’ band be that interesting. Couple with that the slightly gentle nature of the music and you have something that’s very easy to pass you...
Read more ➔Knotty Pine - Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
From the brilliant compilation 'Dark Was The Night' out on 4AD next month.
Knotty Pine - Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
Visit ➔Voice Of The Fans survey
How are fans keeping informed about fave artists? 68% artist websites and 64% artist email updates. 51% MySpace, almost double Facebook’s 28%. 40% use Google to find info about their favourite artists…YouTube is 39%, artist blogs are 10%, ‘via my mobile phone’ is 5% and Bebo is 4%, with Others at 15%.
Lots of interesting stats – also interesting to see a general disinterest with subscription based models (whether they’re an single artist subscription or overall subscription).
Visit ➔Search Without Effort: The Quick Search Box
One of our goals at Google is to make your search experience as fluid as possible. While much of our work is focused on Google.com, we’re trying to make it just as easy to search outside your browser.
For the last year, we have been working on a new, open-source quick search box. Today, we are releasing our first developer preview for the Mac.
Or: Quicksilver, v2.
Seems pretty good so far – finally a decent launch tool, complete with just enough eye candy and functionality (but not too much).
Visit ➔Flaming Tips
I’ve been at the old records again. Like your Grandad at Christmas who’s been “at the whiskey” he has stashed in his shed, I crept into the loft to admire the new speakers I got for Christmas and stayed there until the only thing I had left to listen to was an old Kasabian 12 inch I’d never got round to throwing out – and all because I’ve been hiding from writing the Tips For 2009 piece.
I get very grumpy about these things now (even, I hate to admit it, the BBC Sound Of poll makes me want to stuff cotton wool in my ears and sleep for a fortnight). But this year it’s particularly irksome because, actually, no-one really has a clue what’s going to happen in music in 2009.
Steve hits the nail square on the head here – last year, I think everyone had a pretty good idea of what was coming but this year it really seems like grasping at straws. Which is great, quite frankly, as there were very few acts tipped last year that I think really made much of a difference in the grand scheme of things – sure, people like Santogold, Vampire Weekend, Adele et al made good records but there wasn’t much genuine excitement.
Also: you are reading Steve Lamaqs blog, already – right? I have a feeling not many people know about it…
Visit ➔Surviving (the inevitable) Z-Apocalypse
The first thing you want to do when you realise that people are dying, then standing back up, then trying to eat you, is get to a safe place (duh!).
Beautiful bit of illustration-come-design – I wish all of the internet looked like this.
Visit ➔iPhoto '09 and Domain Language
It matters if we call something an Event or a Milestone or a Deadline. And it also goes deeper than that. The names we choose shape our software. They define the way we think about it and the way our customers interact with it.
I was beginning to worry a little that spending slightly too long on naming interface elements was me just being a bit mental; it’s nice to know that either I’m not or at least not alone.
Visit ➔2008 Music Blog Zeitgeist Countdown is ON!
We compiled data from over 700 year-end blog posts, analyzed it, and released it into the wild so everyone can see what bloggers were excited about in 2008. You can listen to full previews of the albums via imeem and browse bite-sized reviews via Musebin. We’ve also shared the data we used to compile this list under a CC license so people can see what we are working with.
The awesome-as-ever Hypemachine music blog countdown has just launched – always a good read and I’m loving their use of all sorts of different services (imeem, Flickr, Musebin) for different aspects of the Best Albums countdown.
Visit ➔List-O-Matic
This is a companion piece to my albums of the year post – indeed, it was supposed to run pretty much straight afterwards but then this thing called christmas happened, followed by new year so it’s a bit late. As opposed to albums, this post is a round-up of everything else that seems worthy of note from last year, as well as a quick look ahead to this year as well.
Best Songs
10. Adele – Hometown Glory ~ Stunningly effective live
9. Department of Eagles – No One Does it Like You
8. Pete & The Pirates – Eyes Like Tar
7. One Day As A Lion – One Day As A Lion
6. Bloc Party – Mercury ~ If only the rest of the album was this good
5. TV On The Radio – DLZ ~ More depth then the slightly throw-away singles
4. Cajun Dance Party – The Hill, The View & The Lights
3. Deerhunter – Nothing Ever Happened
2. Mystery Jets – Two Doors Down ~ Pop perfection
1. Portishead – The Rip ~ Builds so so well
Best Gigs
5. The Teenagers Prom ~ Brilliant, if only for the moment that they got a bunch of...
Read more ➔