Himalountain

Radiohead is once again doing crazy awesome things to traditional music mediums. After being cut free from their label, they are doing the unthinkable for a successful band - making their music free and accessible to fans. The freedom they have applied to In Rainbows in general is fantastic: allowing fans to choose the album price, the Nude remix contest. With few exceptions, the record industry has not embraced or even really recognized the sea change brought on by digital media - not only music “piracy” but also the proliferation of fan remixes. Radiohead, Beck, NiN and a few others are catching on - and I’m glad to see it.

Now Radiohead made a music video for House of Cards using 3D imaging technology (no cameras or lighting) and provided the visualization data for users to play with and make their own music videos.

Here is the original video:

Check out the youtube group for fan-made videos.

Oh and here’s the data plus a “making-of” video.

If you haven’t read it already, you should also check out this interview in Wired of Thom Yorke by David Byrne (Talking Heads interview Radiohead - hee!). I also found Byrne’s accompanying opinion piece on the future of the recording industry really interesting.

I’m taking advantage of actually having an internet connection this morning to counter Jundt’s BMX movie clip with a clip from my own 80s childhood. I loved book Teen Witch as a kid and one late night (this is when basic cable shows terrible old movies) I discovered that at some point, someone had made it into a film which diverges greatly from the book. Basic movie plot: frumpy girl finds out she’s a witch, gets a Tiffany makeover (based on a poster in her room), forces the high school quarterback to fall in love with her, and makes her best friend “funky”. Some other stuff happens I think but I don’t remember them ever resolving the whole “my boyfriend only loves me because magic makes him” thing. Oh and that tiny lady who played the organ in the wedding in 16 Candles is her witch “mentor”. Teen Witch the movie also is an amazing 80s time capsule, from an era when that new-fangled “rap music” was just being introduced to suburban America.

“It’s Not About Love”

Update - embedding doesn’t work so here’s a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4LmJToyAEo

I have two things to say about this video:

1) I heart Zack Galifianakis. I’ve wanted to be his BFF ever since I saw Comedians of Comedy,

2) Fiona Apple looks fantastic. Seriously, how old is she?

I left my wallet in El Segundo

His real name is David Jones but used David Bowie (after the bowie knife) so as to not be confused with Davy Jones of the Monkees.

His eyes are two different colors because he was punched in the face when he was 15 by his friend wearing a ring in a fight over a girl.

Throughout his career, Bowie has been constantly transforming his music and image. Somehow, it always seems to work. There are very few artists who can pull that off - they either get stuck in the same dated sound or fail to evolve. The original transformation from Ziggy Stardust - the androgynous alien glam-rock persona that made Bowie famous to the stripped-down “thin white duke” of Diamond Dogs is, in my opinion, the most impressive. I think at that point most people thought of him as a one-trick pony. This is where the quasi-biopic “Velvet Goldmine” diverges from Bowie’s actual life. In the movie, the Bowie character fakes his own death while in reality, he reinvented himself.

Not only do David Bowie cameos improve any storyline (Zoolander, Venture Brothers), the man can act. It’s interesting that he often plays other historical icons such as Andy Warhol in “Basquiat” and Nikola Tesla in “The Presige”

Bowie has a seriously impressive vocal range. Just listen to “Heroes”. The way that song was recorded is actually pretty cool. They had 3 microphones set up at different distances because he sings so quietly in the verses and belts it out during the chorus.

I like the fact that he never takes himself too seriously. Check out his version of “Dancing in the Street” with Mick Jagger sometime, or even better Labyrinth:

You tell me if you think he’s picking his nose at around 3:30.

And, yes, David Bowie wrote all the songs in that movie.

David Bowie is married to supermodel Iman who banged Captain Kirk in Star Trek VI. Therefore DB is 1 degree away from Star Trek:

He has collaborated with everyone: John Lennon for “Fame”, Trent Reznor for “I’m Afraid of Americans”, Queen for “Under Pressure”, and the aforementioned Mick Jagger duet. He also produced Lou Reed’s fantastic Transformer album.

Finally, covers of Bowie songs also kick some serious ass. Have you seen Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou? Throughout the move Seu Jorge - an amazing Brazilian musician in his own right - is performing acoustic Portuguese covers of Bowie classics. I’m a particular fan of “Queen Bitch” for obvious reasons. Pick up the soundtrack or the extended “Life Aquatic Studio Sessions”

Well that’s it for my Bowie rant/lesson. If you don’t like Bowie by now, listen to “Young Americans”. After that I give up.

The wikipedia entry is a pretty good read but it’s a bit scary how much of it I already knew…

HBO is finally putting shows on iTunes Music Store. Not that I use iTMS unless I have a free download. Really just wanted an an excuse to post my favorite Flight of the Conchords clip:

I’m still amazed how spot-on they got the Bowie sound from several eras.

If you are reading this blog then you probably know a little bit about me. And one of those things you know is that I watch a lot of TV. I once tried to calculate how many hours and the result was staggering.* This is mostly due to eight years spent at an “alternative” education school with class year round and no homework. As a latch-key kid, I came home at 3, watched cartoons until my parents came home for dinner, then promptly went back to TV. 8 years. This was a major contributing factor to my lack of sport prowess and poor social skills. It is also the reason I can remember, word-for-word, the following song which popped into my head this morning:

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/coo-coo-cola/3800992299 (I’m having embedding issues (That’s what she said))

*I’ve rated over 1200 Netflix titles.

we can all use a little more Beck in our lives

Watching The Venture Bros once again reminded me of Klaus Nomi, who I will admit I had never heard of before, but I’ve become kind of fascinated with lately:

You can make fun of me if you want but I dig this song. I thought Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore etc) was the drummer for this band but I guess he left.