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| I've finally finished uploading this! Other sections of this soundtrack can be found in: Track listing is under the cut and, where appropriate, a brief description of what makes the song fit in the soundtrack. Download for Tracks 60 through 70 is at the end of listing. Two tracks were too large to be uploaded to Box.net, so you will have to go to SaveFile to download (a list is provided at the end of the entry). The other tracks are in the Box.net applet. Please comment if you download...or even if you just feel like it. | |
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| Other sections of this soundtrack can be found in: Track listing is under the cut and, where appropriate, a brief description of what makes the song fit in the soundtrack. Download for Tracks 50 through 59 is at the end of listing. Two tracks were too large to be uploaded to Box.net, so you will have to go to SaveFile to download (a list is provided at the end of the entry). The other tracks are in the Box.net applet. Please comment if you download...or even if you just feel like it. | |
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| Other sections of this soundtrack can be found in: Track listing is under the cut and, where appropriate, a brief description of what makes the song fit in the soundtrack. Download for Tracks 41 through 49 is at the end of listing. Two tracks were too large to be uploaded to Box.net, so you will have to go to SaveFile to download (a list is provided at the end of the entry). The other tracks are in the Box.net applet. Please comment if you download...or even if you just feel like it. | |
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| Other sections of this soundtrack can be found in: Track listing is under the cut and, where appropriate, a brief description of what makes the song fit in the soundtrack. Download for Tracks 29 through 40 is at the end of listing. Six tracks were too large to be uploaded to Box.net, so you will have to go to SaveFile to download (a list is provided at the end of the entry). The other tracks are in the Box.net applet. Please comment if you download...or even if you just feel like it. | |
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| Other sections of this soundtrack can be found in: Track listing is under the cut and, where appropriate, a brief description of what makes the song fit in the soundtrack. Download for Tracks 13 through 28 is at the end of listing. Track 13, 'Skinhead on the MBTA (Live)' by the Dropkick Murphys, Track 23 'For Better or Worse' by Averi, and Track 26 'Soft Hand' by the Willard Grant Conspiracy has been uploaded to SaveFile for download, since Box.net won't let me upload these there due to size restriction. The rest of the tracks will be in the Box.net applet. Please comment if you download...or even if you just feel like it. | |
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| ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) lunatunes is hosting 'local music' week, so I thought I'd upload this mix from earlier this year to Box.net for the occasion. As it turns out, I never uploaded the entire thing. *cringe* Sorry about that. Even though I have since received additional tracks by various means and from RL friends for a future addition of this, they're not included here, mostly because it's a ton of hard work putting together a mix like this. This part contains the first 12 tracks of the mix, thanks to Box.net's uploading limitations on free accounts. As noted in this post, Box.net allows you to listen before you download. For instructions on how to do it, go here. Just a little refresher: This is a soundtrack of songs about New England or artists from New England (the "from" is interpreted very broadly here). I ended up with something on the order of 70 songs, many of them from people you've actually heard about. For a brief overview of New England's unique culture and heritage, here's a good overview from Wikipedia. Upon reading the page and confirming that it's all true — yeah, I guess I can see why the rest of the U.S. thinks we're a bunch of weirdos. I like to think that it isn't us who are weird so much as it's all of you. We are, if nothing else, an arrogant lot. (I'm joking about that last part. Sort of.) While it's true that when someone goes through the list of U.S. regions with a strong musical tradition, New England is not the first place anyone would pick. I'm very sure that the Mississippi Delta (Blues), Austin (Americana), Nashville (Music City U.S.A. for the Country set), Chicago (Jazz), Seattle (Grunge), Orlando (Boy Bands), L.A. (Metal and Rap), and New York City (Punk and Rap) would all be vying for a spot on the list. New England, by contrast, wouldn't even see the list, let alone be on it. There really isn't a typical "New England" sound. Hell, there isn't even a typical Boston sound. Fair enough. But what New England lacks in a cohesive, identifiable musical style, it makes up for it in variety.
Other sections of this soundtrack can be found in:
Track listing is under the cut and, where appropriate, a brief description of what makes the song fit in the soundtrack. You can listen to the tracks in the Box.net Applet located at the end of this post. You can then use the applet to download whatever tracks you like. Please comment if you download...or even if you just feel like it. | |
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| ETA: I can post! I can post! Hoooraaaaaaay! This was originally posted over on my InsaneJournal and my GreatestJournal on Friday. MP3 downloads under the cut. Enjoy the Friday Tuesday Random 10! The management would love it if you would comment when you download. Now Playing:  | |
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| Oh, my. Guess who found another Punk sampler on the Fat Wreck Chords Website? Look, I've spent money on their artists. So I have no guilt. None. Really. Anyway, it appears there's something called the Fat Wreck Chords Christmas Bonus. No, no. It's not a playlist of Christmas songs rendered in the key of punk. It's just the company offering a 15-track e-mix tape from their various acts. Most of the songs are rarities and unreleased tunes, so it's worth checking out. Artists included on the mix: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (covering Arlo Guthrie!), Against Me! (with an acoustic release), NOFX (previously unreleased track), and Lagwagon (live track). I'm liking what I'm hearing so far, so definitely check it out. Don't forget that Fat Wreck Chords also put out a 14-song 2006 e-mix tape sampler, iFloyd. I can say that the mix pleases me, so if you like punk, be sure to smash and grab it. Also, don't forget that Fat Wreck Chords offers free and legal downloads so you can sample all the bands on their roster, on the MP3 page. I have to say, most of the tunes I downloaded from this page were fantastic. But then again, Fat Wreck Chords tends to put out some really good mixes. I have both Rock Against Bush CDs and I've overplayed both of them quite a lot. | |
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| PLEASE DO NOT JOIN BECAUSE I AM NOT DONE SETTING THIS UP. I just want you to take a look at the new community I'm setting up for Music from the Cube at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif) cubed_music. I've already set the security settings to automatically Friends' Locked, it just so happens that the posts you see were made public, which I can do thanks to my modly powers. Also, here's the Unfinished Information Page. As you can see, I decided to go with "anyone can post a CD review if they want," rather than have it be just me. Please read over the half-finished FAQ and let me know the following:
- What do you think?
- Anything else I can add?
- What I should put in the interests box?
- A list of "resources."
Thank you for your cooperation. And just so you guys don't forget: PLEASE DO NOT JOIN THE COMMUNITY BECAUSE I'M NOT DONE SETTING IT UP! If you try to join, I'm kicking your membership back until I'm ready to open membership. Thank you. | |
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| Awwwww, [ Poll #962089][ Poll #962089]That should do it. If you have any additional comments, feel free to make them below. Operators are standing by. | |
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| Well, whaddya know. My long search for an embeddable music player that will allow you to create playlists and will also be accepted by LJ has finally paid off. Truth to tell, I'm kind of relieved about this. There have been several emails over the past two months which have made me increasingly wary about offering MP3s for download (the most recent was a most interesting email regarding my post on Marshall Crenshaw — and no, it was not anyone associated with the artist). It appears my Music from the Cube posts have popped up on too many people's radar outside of LJ-land and off my FList. While no one has threatened legal action (yet), I suspect the day is coming when someone will. As a result, I have to start considering a limited set of options (in order of preference):
- Start friends-locking my Music from the Cube posts
- Create a friends-only community where I Am Queen providing all the posts and the downloads
- Stop the Music from the Cube posts altogether
Using Imeem to embed a playlist helps me avoid making any of those choices. Number one: There's no chance in hell I'll get dinged for violating any laws since it's streaming media that I (in theory) own. Two: I'll be able to (in theory) provide the entire CD for your listening pleasure. Now, I'll still offer MP3s for download for mixes and soundtracks, so there's no plans to change that at all. I think if worst comes to worst, I can argue fair use in that case (Can someone familiar with the DMCA let me know if that's the case?). However, if I've got all these Music from the Cube posts with live downloads on top of a various mixes that expire after 30 to 60 days...ummmm...that's gonna be hard to explain away. Anyway, I'm throwing up a test embedded paylist. Let me know what y'all think: | |
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| I declare this here LJ as a Wank-Free Zone (at least for today). I also declare my LJ as a Cheer-Up Zone (at least for today) because, damn, there are a lot of people on my FList who seem to need the pick-me-up. So you know what time it is, kiddoes? MUSIC FROM THE CUBE! And who is our guest artist for today? Unh, um... Heh. Björk. I know, I know, not the most cheer-uppy artist on the planet, but I'm keeping my heavy guns in reserve for Tax Weekend in the U.S. (that would be April 14 and 15, by the way), so I don't have my heavy-hitters lined up yet. So, unh, Björk is what I got, so Björk is what I'm giving you. The management would love it if you comment, especially if you download any of the sample tracks.
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| I figure that that I might as well go all-A Cappella for this Music from the Cube post. Today, I offer you the Grammy Award-winning The Bobs, a professional A Cappella group, and the Best of Collage A Cappella, which is like the minor leagues for would-be vocalists looking to make it big as professionals. ( Meet the Bobs and compare to the Best of College A Cappella (BOCA) from 2002 and 2005 )The management would love it if you comment, especially if you download any of the sample tracks.Now Playing: | |
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| Ahhhh, you know it's that kind of week when you put Billy Bragg and the Blokes on constant play and it's only Tuesday. Since, y'know, I'm doing that as we speak, I might as pull you lot in as well. ( Billy Bragg: Viva La Revolution! )As always, the management would love it if you comment, especially if you download the sample tracks. | |
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|  Sometimes the strangest songs crop up when I set the media player on random. Sometimes, I don't even realize that I had the song anywhere on file, and sometimes I have no idea how I got my hands on it. Take the MP3 I have of Garth Brooks doing a live, acoustic cover of 'American Pie.'First I went, "Bwah?" And then I went, "Hey, this ain't too shabby. Good job, Brooks." And then I went, "Wait a second. The audience is singing along with the whole song." Keep in mind, this is a song that is 8-and-a-half minutes long. Think about that a minute. In Brooks's live version of 'American Pie,' you can hear the audience singing along for 8-and-a-half minutes. And not just the undeniably memorable chorus, but the verses, too. And I don't just mean the beginning and the closing verses, but every single verse. In that moment I had a realization that bordered on an epiphany. 'American Pie' is one of those songs. You know what I mean, right? It's a song that just about everyone knows. Age doesn't really factor into it, neither does level of education, or region of the U.S. you come from. Hell, even people with only a glancing familiarity with American pop music know this song. If you're American (or if you've been in America for any length of time), if there's someone standing in front of you with a guitar and a good grasp of the lyrics, you can not only sing along with almost the entire song, you also know what the song's about. You might not get every single reference in the lyrics, but you know damn well that the song is about the death of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper in a plane crash. You might not know that the plane crash happened in 1959. You might not know it happened in Iowa. But you definitely know the who and the what happened. Yet, to say that 'American Pie' is about the death of Holly, Valens, and the Bopper kind of misses the point. 'American Pie' is about growing up, losing your innocence, and realizing that (as Paul Simon once famously wrote in 'American Tune') "you can't be forever blessed." If 'The Star-Spangled Banner' (our official national anthem) represents what the United States should be, I would argue that here at the dawn of the 21st century, 'American Pie' best illustrates what the United States really is. This song, which was unleashed on an unsuspecting public in 1971 by Don McLean using his own knowledge of the musical history of the rock 'n roll era, is at its heart a damn cynical song. It starts with hope and slowly sinks into disillusionment. Poppy beat notwithstanding, there is nothing happy about this song. There is no redemption, no moment of coming to terms with loss, no heroic struggle to recapture what was lost. In short, the saga simply...ends. And maybe that's the whole point. 'American Pie' merely states what is, couched in terms of popular culture, it's true, but a harsh reality nonetheless. In a way, it makes McLean a prescient kind of bard singing out the history of the United States in the latter half of the 20th century using a very specific conceit. All 'American Pie' tells us is a history we know (or at least suspect). What we do with that knowledge is ultimately left up to us, the listener. Do we merely accept it? Do we try to turn back the clock to an era that we think is more innocent? Or do we move on, wiser for what we've experienced? The ultimate irony of 'American Pie' isn't that us notoriously short-attentioned, and short-memoried Americans are familiar with this 36-year-old, 8-and-a-half minute song. The ultimate irony is that even at the time of the song's release, the only person who knew what all of the lyrics meant was McLean himself...and he still ain't talking. As more time lapses between its release on the pop music landscape in October 1971, the more mysterious all those lyrics are to many of us. Yet, we still know at least 90% of those lyrics, we still sing along, and we still get the gist. 'American Pie' is, in short, our Unofficial National Anthem. It'll never be used to open a sporting match, it'll never be played when American athletes win the gold at the Olympics, and it'll never get any kind of official recognition by anyone. Yet, it doesn't make it any less of a national anthem. Sure, there's room for debate on whether 'American Pie' is or is not such a creature, but what do you call a song that everyone seems to know almost by osmosis? For a somewhat cobbled-together stab at deciphering the lyrics of 'American Pie,' Wikipedia has a detailed entry.And while I'm at it, here are a few song downloads: The original studio release of American Pie by Don McLean and the live version American Pie (Acoustic/Live) by Garth Brooks. Note that Brooks's version is missing a a couple of middle verses, but this version still runs 7-and-a-half minutes. If you're interested in seeing what Madonna did to 'American Pie' when she covered it, here's a video from YouTube. Frankly, I think Madonna kind of missed the whole point of 'American Pie.' As an original song, it would've worked. As a remake? It's iffy at best. And for the heck of it (and because I can't resist), here's a download of Weird Al Yankovic doing his version of 'American Pie' (with the blessing of McLean, no less) with The Saga Begins (Episode One). Even though the lyrics are about Star Wars, I think Weird Al's version edges out Madonna's by quite a lot. | |
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| Punk label Fat Wreck Chords offers one hell of a loverly selection of totally and legally free punk MP3s for punk-lovers. First off, check out iFloyd the "spring sampler" Mix Tape for 2006. You can stream the whole thing online. Like what you hear? Download the whole thing in a zip file (link on the page). The mix tape offers some damn fine artists, like punk supergroup and cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes doing a cover of '(Ghost) Riders in the Sky,' NOFX with 'The Man I Killed,' Against Me! performing 'Pints of Guinness Make You Strong' live; Love Equals Death contributes 'When We Fall;' and so on. In short, 14 tracks of awesome that samples some bands that are familiar to me, and quite a few that aren't. Once you download the iFloyd Mix Tape, check out the massive MP3 download page sampling every band on the Fat Wreck Chords label. Oh, hell, do I spy with my little eye Anti-Flag? YAYE! I'll hunched over the downloads page until further notice. Now Playing: | |
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| I just realized that I never finished posting this. Sorry about that. :-) As it turns out, the delay may have been a blessing, since I do have a slight addendum to this, thanks to finding a few tracks that I can tuck in at the end. Other sections of this soundtrack can be found in: Track listing is under the cut and, where appropriate, a brief description of what makes the song fit in the soundtrack. Download for Tracks 46 through 60 is at the end of listing. Tracks have to be downloaded on an individual basis because of SaveFile's weird hiccups. Please comment if you download...or even if you just feel like it. | |
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| Other sections of this soundtrack can be found in: Track listing is under the cut and, where appropriate, a brief description of what makes the song fit in the soundtrack. Download for Tracks 31 through 45 is at the end of listing. Tracks have to be downloaded on an individual basis because of SaveFile's weird hiccups. Please comment if you download...or even if you just feel like it. | |
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| Other sections of this soundtrack can be found in: Track listing is under the cut and, where appropriate, a brief description of what makes the song fit in the soundtrack. Download for Tracks 16 through 30 is at the end of listing. Tracks have to be downloaded on an individual basis because of SaveFile's weird hiccups. Please comment if you download...or even if you just feel like it. | |
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| Yay! I finally finished programming the soundtrack so it shows up exactly the way I want it to, complete with art. Due to the size of the full post, however, LiveJournal keeps giving me "post is too large" warnings. I have to break this whole thing up into 5 posts. Apologies in advance. This is a soundtrack of songs about New England or artists from New England (the "from" is interpreted very broadly here). I ended up with something on the order of 69 (no snickering!) songs, many of them from people you've actually heard about. For a brief overview of New England's unique culture and heritage, here's a good overview from Wikipedia. Upon reading the page and confirming that it's all true — yeah, I guess I can see why the rest of the U.S. thinks we're a bunch of weirdos. I like to think that it isn't us who are weird so much as it's all of you. We are, if nothing else, an arrogant lot. (I'm joking about that last part. Sort of.) While it's true that when someone goes through the list of U.S. regions with a strong musical tradition, New England is not the first place anyone would pick. I'm very sure that the Mississippi Delta (Blues), Austin (Americana), Nashville (Music City U.S.A. for the Country set), Chicago (Jazz), Seattle (Grunge), Orlando (Boy Bands), L.A. (Metal and Rap), and New York City (Punk and Rap) would all be vying for a spot on the list. New England, by contrast, wouldn't even see the list, let alone be on it. There really isn't a typical "New England" sound. Hell, there isn't even a typical Boston sound. Fair enough. But what New England lacks in a cohesive, identifiable musical style, it makes up for it in variety.
Other sections of this soundtrack can be found in:
Track listing is under the cut and, where appropriate, a brief description of what makes the song fit in the soundtrack. Download for Tracks 1 through 15 is at the end of listing. Tracks have to be downloaded on an individual basis because of SaveFile's weird hiccups. Please comment if you download...or even if you just feel like it. | |
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| Say it with me, people: "Liz is an idiot."
Liz is an idiot because she staring at a 67-track themed mix at 2 a.m., ensuring cover art is matched to the right individual tracks, and tagging the lot so the information I provide will show up on MP3 players, as opposed to whatever tags iTunes uses.
Did you know that if you indicate the tracks are linked together by checking the ticky-box in iTunes, it wipes out the art associated with a track? I did not know this. I know it now, but I didn't know it when all my associated art mysteriously disappeared.
I also never cease to be amazed at how easily iTunes "loses" MP3 files. Jesus, Apple. If Windows MediaPlayer can do an automatic scan of my music folders without me constantly reloading files, iTunes should be able to do the same thing.
*wham-wham-wham*
Let's not get into compiling the track listing with massive amounts of links. Because, oh no, I can't just throw a bunch of tracks together. I can't go half-way on anything. No, I have to have fun with it. I have to provide educational links because there are some artists in the mix where someone is gonna say, "I beg to differ."
Yes. I. Am. Having. Fun. Yes. I. Always. Grind. My. Teeth. Like. This. When. I. Am. Having. Fun.
All I can say is, 67 tracks? I'm bundling those puppies into groups of ten and zipping them together for download. I am not loading 67 individual tracks up to SaveFile. I'll be here for years if I do that.
Honestly, I was so involved with what I was doing that I only just looked up at the clock and saw the time.
I have to crawl into bed now.
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| Ahhhh, 'tis the season for everyone. So Happy Holidays — whatever holiday you happen to be celebrating — to one and all of you. As for me, I've decided to go with the scientifically accurate Winter Solstice. Here, for everyone to enjoy, is my early Winter Solstice present: the lovely voice and song-writing artistry of Shawn Colvin, with a bonus review of a live CD highlighting Columbia recording artists. So dive on in, with 24 sample MP3 downloads from Shawn Colvin and 4 sample MP3 downloads of live performances from Bruce Cockburn, Rosanne Cash, Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Darden Smith. Please comment if you donwload.( The glorious voice of Shawn Colvin, plus live performances from Columbia Records ) Now Playing: | |
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| Because I can't resist... The last brass token for the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) sold at 10:23 a.m. today at Government Center station to an East Boston woman... — Read more about the last MBTA tokenGood-bye little brass T token, hello Charlie!
It's the end of an era. Truly. You know what that means, right? Music download! M.T.A. — Kingston TrioBut did he ever return?
No he never returned,
And his fate is still unlearned. (Poor ol' Charlie.)
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston,
He's the man who never returned... — Read more about the history of the song 'M.T.A.' and Charlie, the man who never returned.Because everyone knows that when you're naming the SmartCard that will allow people to use your public transportation system, you must name it after the guy who was not only trapped on the T, but got so lost that he never, ever returned. Gawd, I love my city... | |
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| I know. It's a looooong weekend and I'm posting this. That's because it took me forever to write this up the way it should be. In any case, you are all in for one hell of a treat. Okay, maybe it's more me that's in for a hell of a treat. This mega-massive post with many, many MP3 samples to download, colorful covers, and drooling fangirlism is my salute *stands with hand over heart* to Marshall Crenshaw. Dive in and enjoy the greatness! Please comment if you download.( The History of Pop and Rock, via Marshall Crenshaw ) Now Playing: | |
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| Some of you might remember my post on the Borders Books & Music Penny CD from the other day. Well, here's another example of the Penny CD and what corporations consider a "good" music mix, this time courtesy of Borders and BMG, thus proving why individual consumers are much, much better at this sort of thing. Of course, since individual consumers aren't actually using the mixes as a marketing tool beyond, "Check this cool artist I've included...think you could throw some love their way," it's probably no big shock. Please comment if you download.( Music Equals Life, or in this case, soft pop ) Now Playing: | |
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| Ahhhhh, now this is a throwback to my Bordersverse daze: the Penny CDs. The Borders Books and Music private label Penny CDs (I suspect that Barnes and Nobles has something similar) are a clever marketing ploy to get people to spend more money in the store's music department. To give Borders a credit here, in general, the Music/DVD/Multimedia department tends to have a very, very, very deep selection of genres and artists (it's usually better than the neighboring Barnes and Nobles when comparing local stores head-to-head...sorry B&B fans), and these Penny CDs are just one way to capitalize on the inventory. ( The Art of the Borders Penny CD ) Now Playing: | |
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| Dance music, set to classical violins. You'd think this would be a taste of awesome, right? You'd be wrong. As always, sample MP3 downloads and picture of the CD under the cut. ( The Bland that is Bond ) Now Playing: | |
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| ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif) vichan asked for songs about death so she could put together a soundtrack for her NanoWriMo project. She quickly learned a very important lesson: "do not ask such things when the person on your FList with 14GB of MP3s on their home computer is struggling with being too brain dead to write something that isn't utter shit." Bet she's glad I didn't start digging into the 2,000-plus CD collection. Below the cut are 16 songs I tossed up on Savefile for her. It isn't a soundtrack, since it's just 16 random songs in no particular order. Also, some of the artists and track listings are misspelled on the project page because I was doing it on the fly and some of these songs I've posted here as part of other soundtracks or musical downloads. The link at the end of the track listing goes directly to the project page. Click, download, and enjoy the tunes! Please comment if you do. ( 16 Songs About Death ) Now Playing: | |
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