Michael Leo

Grand gestures and Memorial day

I don't like war but I do appreciate the sacrifice and understand the need on a philosophical level. Even more so, I appreciate simple acts of patriotism like this photo. I know these men didn't self organize and depending upon what you read, it was either a commercial effort or it was sanctioned by the government for a campaign to sell war bonds. That doesn't really matter. What is more important are the grand gestures like this that were being made during a terrible time. Gestures that were clearly meant to inspire our nation's people – whether grieving family, young soldier, rations-strapped family or beleaguered General. It is a bygone era and an act that would inspire more snark than cheers if it was repeated today. 

Source: Carl Hammer Gallery

I obviously don't know anyone who served in WWI but on this Memorial day, I do remember my Grandfather, who served in WWII, my mom's first husband who lost his life in Vietnam, and both my father and father-in-law who worked diligently but thankfully never saw active duty. I hope I could be so brave if ever faced with such a situation. 

 

Sundays are for soul

The world needs a little more soul. I'm talking about "Soul" – in the "file under" sense. The category of music that typically and tragically gets lumped in with the music exemplified by the likes of Luther Vandross and the non-disco days of Issac Hayes. I have no beef with Luther and Issac, there's a time and place. But what I'm so excited to see is the (re-)birth of so many soul and R&B inspired acts over the past few years. Acts that are a little less polished, a little less produced. A little more DIY and heartfelt. So with that, and being that it's Sunday, here's a four step process to getting a little more Soul. 

1. Alabama Shakes

2. Lee Fields

 

3. Sharon Jones

 

4. Mayer Hawthorne

Yes, even a white boy who never intended on becomming a soul act can lay down some awesome tracks. And you can't beat the video. 

The Bowerbirds at The Troubadour

Third time is a charm. After having tickets to two other shows, I finally got a chance to see  The Bowerbirds. Previously, they'd canceled a show in SF that I had tickets to and then upon their return, something came up and I had to flake. The cards were not falling in my favor and when I later heard that Beth was really sick at one point, I feared I'd never see them perform. It's selfish, I know. Let's keep moving. Thankfully, Beth is better and the band is going strong. When I  got the chance to pick up some tickets for a show at the Troubadour, I jumped on it immediately. I had high expectations and they didn't disappoint. 

They started with a couple crowd favorites from 2007's Hymns for a Dark Horse. By the close of the second song people were rapt. That's where the pleasure cruise of hits from the past ended and a new adventure began. Having never seen the band perform live I didn't know the kind of stage precense Philip Moore has. He confidently batted away request after request for old songs and instead did what any experienced touring musician does – he played through it. And he won. At one point someone called out for "Olive Hearts," to which Phil comically replied, "This one is kind of like Olive Hearts. It's called 'Death Wish'."

Written in a particularly dark period, The Bowerbirds latest album,  The Clearing is surprisingly bright in spots. There are dark bits but there is also a lot of light and it translates well live. I have to believe that this tour is a huge breath of fresh air for Phil, Beth and the rest of the band. They had to overcome a lot to make it back onto the road and back into the groove where they are happiest. In Beth's words:

The chapter preceding the making of the album was a disastrous chapter. [Phil and I] broke up and stayed broken up for a year. I fell and broke my ribs [...] And then the last thing that happened is that I got really sick suddenly and was in the hospital. [...] Looking back on it once we were done we looked at all the lyrics - we realized there were all these common themes of  having made it through and taking notice of what's all around you while you can. 

Turning out song after song from The Clearing and a handful from Upper Air, the Bowerbirds kept the crowd attentively listening and wanting for more. After an incredibly short encore break, the band retook the stage and closed the night with Overcome with Light (youtube: not shot at the Troubador) – it was a perfect lullaby hymn to close out the beautiful night. 

 

Inspire a generation

That's the motto for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. And if you can read anything into the Ts&Cs for Olympic ticket holders, that motto couldn't be further from the IOC's mind.

I'm not a big fan of the Olympics but I can understand and appreciate them. The effect they can have on a host nation and the sense of oneness they can instill on their participating countries' home soil is staggering. The life-changing effect they can have on the athletes who sacrifice so much and devote every waking hour to preparation, even more so.

For many, attending the Olympics as a spectator is just as absurd a notion as attending as an athlete. But this is the 21st century, right? Oh good. That means people will be able to see the games in a more connected and interactive way than ever before. Social networks, next generation mobile networks and the ubiquity of cheap smart phones with decent photo and video capture capabilities means that this could be the most engaging, most connected and most self-directed / self-reported Games in history. That is, unless the International Olympic Committee's legal team has anything to say about it.

Just days after it was reporting that amateur photographers were being harassed on public land by private security who have been trained to stop people from photographing Olympic sites, we learn about the Ts&Cs for Olympic ticket holders. In an absurd attempt to stop the inevitable, the lawyers for the Olympics Games have included the following. 

Images, video and sound recordings of the Games taken by a Ticket Holder cannot be used for any purpose other than for private and domestic purposes and a Ticket Holder may not license, broadcast or publish video and/or sound recordings, including on social networking websites and the internet more generally, and may not exploit images, video and/or sound recordings for commercial purposes under any circumstances, whether on the internet or otherwise, or make them available to third parties for commercial purposes.

Clearly unenforceable. Clearly drivel. But also, clearly a sign of the Us and Them mentality that is still so deeply engrained within so many major corporations and media outlets. It's 2012, people. If I have to send a rider out into the night with a lattern to scream, "the future is coming here, the future is coming here" I will, but I don't know any competant horsemen...so let's skip all that and agree to get with the times, mmm'kay?

The Mayans were right about Tupac

They were the ones that predicted the return of Tupac, right?

Despite all the big reunions and starmaking performances, the real takeaway from this year’s Coachella festival is that Dr. Dre, as part of his Sunday night headlining set, actually commissioned a motherfucking life-size hologram of the late Tupac Shakur, dead nearly 16 years now, to come out and perform, a WTF stunt that absolutely got the attention it was engineered to get. [...] Dre, who worked closely with Digital Domain to create the hologram, might get more of a return on his investment in the months ahead. The Wall Street Journal reports that Dre and Snoop Dogg are considering the idea of a hologram Tupac tour. (More on Stereogum)

The end days are nigh.

I just can't help but coming back to this

Even 3 years later, First Aid Kit's rendition of Tiger Mountain Peasant Song by Fleet Foxes still gives me chills. We need more music like this.

Is this the new "boxed set?"

The Prism might be the strangest marketing ploy since the introduction of limited edition colored vinyl records. Despite the "markety" nature, seeing people break from common music distribution paradigms is always exciting. In this case, we have a solid cube which encases digital storage that contains 12 tracks and provides a minimalistic, analog user interface. Sound, as far as I can tell from the equally minimalistic documentation, is pumped through a mini headphone jack. Not sure if there is an internal speaker. 

Beautiful? Not sure. Different? Yes. Functional? TBD, but I'll not be the one putting down my $40 to make that determination. 

It is literally a boxed set but figuratively speaking, leaves a little to be desired. For $40 one might expect more than 12 tracks - espeically given the fact that much of the included music is available for free from the artists via SoundCloud.  

Things The Prism really should include:

• 100% exclusive tracks: given that you cannot easily remove the music from the box, this would go a long way to drive up the feeling of exclusivity and therefore, value.
• At least 30 tracks.
• A small LCD or multi-segment display to show the artist and track names.
• A "random" function.

Highlight app: proximity-based spam?

Highlight, the early darling of this year's SXSWi, may have created a new genre for spammers. Mobile, proximity- and push-based spam. Unintended for sure. It just goes to show you, if you build it, they will spam.

 

Why 24/192 format actually hurts digital music

 

 

Digital music encoded in 24-bit/192kHz format is being pushed by the Industry and audiophiles. Xiph.org's very cogent take is that the Industry is self-interested and audophiles are just plain wrong. They make a pretty compelling, scientifically backed case why 16/44.1 is the optimal encoding for music. It's been a long time since I learned anything about signal theory so I'm certainly placing my bets on an argument that says it's proven out in the science but I gotta say that it looks pretty solid. 

Some the most damning points made in the piece...

[Regarding: double blind test results of 24/192 vs. 16/44.1 music] In 554 trials, listeners chose correctly 49.8% of the time. In other words, they were guessing. Not one listener throughout the entire test was able to identify which was 16/44.1 and which was high rate...

And

Handled correctly, the dynamic range of 16 bit audio reaches 120dB in practice... the difference between a deserted 'soundproof' room and a sound loud enough to cause hearing damage in seconds.

There are a lot more great tidbits in there. It has definitely helped to quash my prediliction to higher bitrates when it comes to audio files. More cowbell? Sure. More samples per cowbell? No thanks. Science to the rescue!

BEAUTIFUL TILT-SHIFT TIME-LAPSE OF THE BIGGEST CARNIVAL IN THE WORLD

 

The annual Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is considered to be the largest carnival in the world, with a whopping two million people roaming the streets. Keith Loutit and Jarbas Agnellidecided to turn their cameras on the city and the carnival last year, creating this stunning tilt-shift time-lapse video that makes the city look like a diorama and the attendees look like ants. (via PetaPixel)

This is too good not to share. Watch it in high definition on a large monitor if you can.