Music

The Battlestar Galactica disco jacket is the coolest article of clothing you never owned

Well, maybe a few of you lucky bastards did. But the rest of us can only imagine a bygone discotheque with Giorgio Moroder on full blast, Muffit II blowing rails in the ladies’ water closet, and the spectral outlines of Gaius Baltar and Caprica Six getting drunk in a corner somewhere. Semi-Related: Jaws and Alien…

Television Cyriaque Lamar Mar 8

Spotify: We Want To Be the OS of Music

Spotify is proving incredibly successful, and since December its users have clocked up over 13 million hours of music listening around the world. But it has its sights set higher; it wants to take over the digital music ecosystem entirely. The Guardian reports that Spotify’s rise has brought with it a rash of third-party developments:…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Mar 7

Sinuous: The Guitar Designed Like an Eames Chair

Musical styles come and go but electric guitar designs—not so much. Any design that doesn’t fit within a few long-accepted cookie-cutters is met with contempt. Cars and toasters have been updated to reflect more sophisticated thinking, so why haven’t guitars? Sinuous Guitars are different from the mainstream, and no surprise, it’s because they’re inspired by…

Tech News Mario Aguilar Mar 6

Google Play: Apps, Music, Movies, and Books All Under One Roof

Today Google took steps to get all of its entertainment ducklings in a row. Google Play is the new umbrella that will cover the company’s Apps, Movies, Music, and Books offerings. It’ll cover both desktops and Android phones. Think iTunes for the Android set. There’s nothing really new here in terms of functionality, it’s more…

Tech News Brent Rose Mar 6

Songza’s New Concierge Picks Free Music for Your Specific Situation

We music fans are large; we contain multitudes, to borrow from Walt Whitman. Sometimes we want to rock out. Sometimes we want to mellow out. Sometimes we don’t know what we want – we just want it to sound good. To try to grapple with the all-too-common problem, “So what do I actually listen to…

Tech News Eliot Van Buskirk - Evolver.fm Mar 5

Violin Strings Made by Spiders Sound Smooth as Silk

The world’s best violins come with strings made from catgut—which isn’t typically from cats, but does definitely come from the inside of an animal. If you want a more vegetarian alternative, though, how about a set made from spider silk? In a world first, Japanese researcher Dr Shigeyoshi Osaki has used thousands of strands of…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Mar 5

Violins strung with spider silk sound incredible

A Japanese researcher has brought the applications of spider silk to an entirely different register, using thousands upon thousands of strands of spider silk to create a set of violin strings. Most impressive of all, however, isn’t that these strings are functional — it’s that they actually sound incredible. Nara Medical University’s Shigeyoshi Osaki (who…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Mar 5

Hackers Steal Sony’s Unreleased Michael Jackson Back Catalog

Sony has had a rough time being hacked in the past. But now hackers have reportedly downloaded their Michael Jackson back catalog, consisting of 50,000 tracks, many of which have never been released. The back catalog, which Sony purchased from Jackson’s estate last year for $250 million, appears to have been stolen last spring around…

Privacy & Security Jamie Condliffe Mar 5

Small cats take a giant leap in “Kittens in Space” music video

Hoping to cheer up Boing Boing editor Xeni Jardin (who is unfortunately going through chemo), musician Jonathan Mann offered to write her a song for his “Song-a-Day” project on a topic of her choosing. Naturally, she opted for a tune about kittens and space, inspiring Mann to create this silly video about the first feline…

io9 Lauren Davis Mar 3

How Auto-Tune and Digital Recording Suck the Life Out of Music

For the bedroom musician, recording was a pain until software gave them an option that was fast, flexible and sonically indistinguishable to the untrained ear. Then the pros went crazy with all of that power and turned making music into a mad science of sonic construction. The trouble is that the tools that turned the…

Tech News Mario Aguilar Mar 2

Beyond Oblivion: How a Promising Music Startup Imploded

Beyond Oblivion was supposed to save the music industry. Instead, it lived up to its name, collapsing in dramatic fashion at the end of 2011 when investors lost their patience with a company that kept promising and never delivering. Years of careers and $33.2 million vanished, with two days notice, over the December holiday break.…

Tech News Eliot Van Buskirk - Evolver.fm Mar 2

These are the warning signs of Space Fever

Some may tell you that Space Fever is a fictional disease. Others may decree that it’s just a scam devised during a shadow confabulation of NASA, the pharmaceutical industry, and the Bilderberg Group. And yet other snake oil hucksters will bellow that Space Fever exists only in the minds of hypochondriacs, with such half-imagined maladies…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Mar 1

New Gorillaz music video involves a bowl full of severed ears, Andre 3000, and weirdness

For the latest Gorillaz track — “DoYaThing,” which you can download for free here — the cartoon band recruited LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and Outkast’s Andre 3000 for a deranged journey through their morning saunter. It involves a bowl full of disembodied ears, violent product placement, and Andre’s rapping, which is giving me flashbacks to…

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar Feb 29

Google Music Sale: Rihanna, Doggystyle, and Tons of Other Hits For Only $2.99

So you like actually “owning” your digital music? You could make a legit playlist out of the 29 albums on sale at Google Music right now. The sale features a nice mix of old and new hit records in every possible genre for only $2.99. Happy Leap Year! This is also a very good time…

Tech News Mario Aguilar Feb 29

Gyroscopic Midi Controller For DJs Who Like To Be Part Of The Show

DJ TechTools has updated its arcade button Midi Fighter midi controller with a 3D gyroscope allowing parameters like pitch and volume to be controlled by simply moving it about. But only DJs with a penchant for performing might be interested. The Midi Fighter 3D includes the same 16-button array of arcade-like buttons as its predecessor,…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Feb 27

What the Hell Is That Weird Noise at the Oscars?

I flipped over to the Academy Awards because, I dunno, sometimes I just do things, but there is this weird sound happening throughout. WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!? It sounds like somebody is playing Atari during all of the presenters and acceptance speeches. Are you guys hearing it too, or is this bad acid? Somebody…

Tech News Brent Rose Feb 26

Dinosaur Planet is the space dinosaurs vs. giant robots rock opera you’ve been waiting for

If you were to ask me to describe my perfect rock opera, it would definitely have dinosaurs that had recently returned from space to take over the Earth. And giant robots who have kept the dinosaurs as their warrior slaves? A must. The artwork by Scary Go Round and Bad Machinery creator John Allison is…

io9 Lauren Davis Feb 25

Taxidermied badger and theremin combine to make the world’s weirdest musical instrument

Say hello to the badgermin, the strangest instrument ever to accompany a piano. Why did someone decide to convert a badger’s body into a playable theremin? Badgermin don’t care. And, if you find the Badgermin so hypnotic that you must own one of your own, electronic sculptor David Cranmer is willing to make more of…

io9 Lauren Davis Feb 25

StagePage Preserves Your Concert Memories for the Ages

Lose your ticket stub? Can’t find that old shoebox with your concert mementos? Documenting concerts you’ve attended is now possible with just a few smartphone swipes, so you can relive your favorite moments and keep track of who you saw, what they played, and what you thought about it. StagePage (free) lets you create a…

Tech News Paris Hill - Evolver.fm Feb 24

Josh Ritter: Love Is Making Its Way Back Home

This beautiful stop-motion animation is the video to Josh Ritter’s new song Love Is Making Its Way Back Home. It’s an enchanting track, but what really grabs you is the accompanying footage, made using over 12,000 pieces of individually cut paper. It took a team of twenty artists, editors and assistants to make the video.…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Feb 24

The Battlestar Galactica disco jacket is the coolest article of clothing you never owned

Spotify: We Want To Be the OS of Music

Sinuous: The Guitar Designed Like an Eames Chair

Google Play: Apps, Music, Movies, and Books All Under One Roof

Songza’s New Concierge Picks Free Music for Your Specific Situation

Violin Strings Made by Spiders Sound Smooth as Silk

Violins strung with spider silk sound incredible

Hackers Steal Sony’s Unreleased Michael Jackson Back Catalog

Small cats take a giant leap in “Kittens in Space” music video

How Auto-Tune and Digital Recording Suck the Life Out of Music

Beyond Oblivion: How a Promising Music Startup Imploded

These are the warning signs of Space Fever

New Gorillaz music video involves a bowl full of severed ears, Andre 3000, and weirdness

Google Music Sale: Rihanna, Doggystyle, and Tons of Other Hits For Only $2.99

Gyroscopic Midi Controller For DJs Who Like To Be Part Of The Show

What the Hell Is That Weird Noise at the Oscars?

Dinosaur Planet is the space dinosaurs vs. giant robots rock opera you’ve been waiting for

Taxidermied badger and theremin combine to make the world’s weirdest musical instrument

StagePage Preserves Your Concert Memories for the Ages

Josh Ritter: Love Is Making Its Way Back Home

Two Songs We Really Wish Were the Anime Outros for ‘Steel Ball Run’

AI Training Data Giant Mercor Is Reportedly Looking to Buy the Work You Did at Your Old Job

Utah Is Giving Dr. AI the Power to Renew Drug Prescriptions

Here’s the Perfect Excuse to See ‘Project Hail Mary’ Again

US Airlines Are Hiking Bag Fees Amid Iran War Oil Crisis

This Ridiculously Simple Trick Might Stop Gulls From Nabbing Your Lunch

‘Starfleet Academy’ Season 3 Could Have Done the ‘Voyager’ Sequel Episode of Robert Picardo’s Dreams

Judge Kills Lawsuit Against Infamous Study That Might Have Increased Teen Suicides

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

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Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

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