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That Eric Alper

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Beat 1’s Zane Lowe on Trent Reznor: ” He’s one of the most intelligent, eloquent, passionate people I’ve ever met.”

Aug 15, 2015

Beats 1 was basically Trent Reznor’s idea?
Zane Lowe: Yeah. I’m not sure if you’ve had a chance to sit with Trent, but he’s one of the most intelligent, eloquent, passionate people I’ve ever met, not just for art, but also the way people can use it. He’s really committed to the user experience, so his whole thing was like, “People have been splintered off into individual experiences — let’s see if we can bring them back together and if so, what would that feel like for the user? What if they’re using it on a device in a music service, and not in the traditional places where radio is experienced?” It was incredibly useful for me to hear him say that because it really [solidified] some of the ideas that I’d been kicking around but wasn’t sure if I was on the right path. What is really valuable and exciting about radio is the connection to a community. Trent has been incredibly supportive every step of the way.

Via Billboard

PEANUT BUTTER WOLF’S COVER OF “BOYZ IN THE HOOD” FROM 1987

Aug 15, 2015

In 1987, I had just graduated high school and moved from San Jose to Long Beach, CA for college. I chose Long Beach State because I assumed it would be a party school since it had ‘beach’ in the name. My parents helped me move all my belongings which were my clothes, 2 turntables, a mixer, speakers, an amp and probably around 10 crates of records. I was into hip hop, but wore vintage clothes from thrift stores and had a mushroom haircut so wasn’t really accepted by the other college students who never understood me. So I was a loner who pretty much stayed in my dorm room and made music all the time. I remember saving my money once I got there and eventually bought a 4-track recorder and a Casio drum machine that had 4 pads, each with a split second of sample time. I got the drum machine used for like $300 and was very excited. Next step was to find a rapper so I put an ad in the paper. I said my influences were Schoolly D, Just Ice, Scott La Rock, and Ultramagnetic MCs. ‘Hardcore rap.’ That’s how I found Spunky Spunk Dogg, a Cholo rapper from Long Beach. A few years later when Snoop Doggy Dogg came outta Long Beach, I wondered if he knew Spunky Spunk Dogg, but that’s another story. Spunky had more tattoos than I had ever seen on a human, especially for 1988 and I was always kinda afraid of rolling with him cuz I didn’t really know his background, but he always treated me with respect and admiration. I made the beats and did the cuts. This recording is the only one I have with him from back then and we performed outside at the backyard of a BBQ on a Sunday afternoon for an audience of around 15-20 people. We did around 5 or 6 original songs we had made and 1 cover and for the cover, we chose the biggest rap song in LA at the time. My turntable kept skipping as it wasn’t a 1200 and nobody even really cheered. I don’t even recall people really paying attention, but we were having fun and it was our first and last show together as a group. This was in the summer of ’88, and soon after, I moved back to San Jose, where I eventually met Charizma and started all over again. — PBW 8/14/2015

The New York Times on laptop computers, 1985

Aug 15, 2015

WHATEVER happened to the laptop computer? Two years ago, on my flight to Las Vegas for Comdex, the annual microcomputer trade show, every second or third passenger pulled out a portable, ostensibly to work, but more likely to demonstrate an ability to keep up with the latest fad. Last year, only a couple of these computers could be seen on the fold-down trays. This year, every one of them had been replaced by the more traditional mixed drink or beer.

Was the laptop dream an illusion, then? Or was the problem merely that the right combination of features for such lightweight computers had not yet materialized? The answer probably is a combination of both views. For the most part, the portable computer is a dream machine for the few.

The limitations come from what people actually do with computers, as opposed to what the marketers expect them to do. On the whole, people don’t want to lug a computer with them to the beach or on a train to while away hours they would rather spend reading the sports or business section of the newspaper. Somehow, the microcomputer industry has assumed that everyone would love to have a keyboard grafted on as an extension of their fingers. It just is not so.

But the real future of the laptop computer will remain in the specialized niche markets. Because no matter how inexpensive the machines become, and no matter how sophisticated their software, I still can’t imagine the average user taking one along when going fishing.

Via The New York Times

Seven hours of guy lip-synching during a long road trip

Aug 15, 2015

White Rhino’s sister is not too excited about his lip-synch performance during their 7-hour road trip or his choice of music.

Brian Wilson On World Cafe

Aug 15, 2015

You’d think it would be difficult for Brian Wilson to pick his favorite Beach Boys song, but he’s decisive: It’s “God Only Knows.” In this conversation on World Cafe, he also says that while he loves the new Wilson biopic Love & Mercy (out Friday), there are parts that were hard for him to watch.

The full conversation is at the audio link above. You’ll also hear music from Wilson’s new solo album, No Pier Pressure, plus extraordinary exclusive live performances of Beach Boys classics.

How The Beatles Changed Album Covers

Aug 14, 2015

A great look at the most iconic visual supplement in the history of music.

Watch: The surprising history of the vocoder

Aug 14, 2015

Watch this on The Scene

Why ska is the mother of reggae

Aug 14, 2015

If there’s one musical style that epitomizes summer, it might be the loping island style of ska. It caught fire in early ’60s Jamaica, a precursor to reggae.

But ska has gone through a few iterations.

Ska is really a fusion of American R&B with Jamaican jazz, says Brad Klein, a Minneapolis-based filmmaker who traced the history of ska in a documentary, “Legends of Ska. Without Ska, there is no reggae.”

“Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Jimmy Cliff … all started in ska as teenagers. So, ska is the mother of reggae,” he says.

Klein’s love affair with ska began when he was working at a reggae record company, selling, doing publicity and promotion. His documentary includes three crucial early ska tracks.

“My goal was to teach people and to show the world that there’s much more to Jamaican music than Bob Marley,” says Klein.

Not only has ska had worldwide revivals in the punk 1970s (think The Specials, Madness, English Beat) and the 1990s (think The Mighty Mighty Bosstones), it still is popular. Klein says it’s most popular in Mexico and Latin America and endures in Japan as well.

Via PRI

The reason every meme uses that one font

Aug 14, 2015

This video explains why most internet memes use the typeface Impact, designed by Geoffrey Lee in 1965.

You can now buy 3D printed cochlear implants for your kid’s toys

Aug 14, 2015

Building on their Toy Like Me accessories, Makies has shipped 3D printed cochlear implants for your 3D printed custom doll, inwhite or pink. Makies come from Makielab, a company Boing Boing’s Cory Doctrow’s wife Alice Taylor founded and serves as CEO. I love these dearly and going to get a few of them for friends who have children that are hearing-impaired.