Music

Spin Magazine Is Finally Dead, Long Live Spin Online

Subscribers to Spin Magazine got a letter in the mail yesterday informing them that it had ceased publication. Wasn’t Spin already kind of dead? Yes! We knew this was coming when the struggling rag was put on hold over the summer. Now it’s officially gone forever, and we couldn’t be happier to see Spin be…

Testing Microphones with Rockstars from Apollo Run and OK Go

When it came time to review Blue’s Spark Digital microphone, we could have put a few mics in a row, sang a little, played a little guitar, then scrutinized the sounds. Or we could have talented musicians from two amazing bands create an all-new song for us. Guess which one we picked? Here’s how this…

“I Saw Mommy Kissing Yog-Sothoth” and other Cthulhu-ian Christmas songs

Okay, admittedly, there’s only one other Cthulhu-ian Christmas carol besides “I Saw Mommy Kissing Yog-Sothoth” here, and that’s “Freddy the Red-Brained Mi-Ho,” below. But I knew you guys wouldn’t want to miss these two fantastic holiday tunes by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society (who happen to have composed several other Lovecraftian, non-holiday songs here). These…

Watch NASA scientists rap and dance about their careers Gangnam Style

We’ve seen more than enough “Gangnam Style” videos to last a lifetime, but this one, put out by NASA’s Johnson Space Center, is a must-watch. That’s because all the lyrics are about the work the Johnson Space Center does—and it features dancing astrophysicists. [via Geek Dad]

Last.fm’s desktop radio will become paid-only come January. Fortunately web radio is still free—but so are its ads.

Four Alternative Album Covers, Made By You

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but books aren’t music. Every great album has an awesome cover. So for this week’s Shooting Challenge, we asked you to recreate a famous album cover. https://gizmodo.com/shooting-challenge-retro-album-cover-5965866 Rock A Little I knew I had kept my ’80’s garb for a reason and when I saw…

Audiobus Just Turned iOS into a Recording Studio

Yes, we know. People have been recording and remixing albums on iOS for ages. As the man who claims to have given Damon Albarn the idea to make an album on the iPad, I am intimately familiar with the concept. However, until today, the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch weren’t recording studios in the true…

Video proof that the Inception BRAAAM is being used in every trailer, everywhere

The Hans Zimmer Inception fart has become a staple of every movie trailer everywhere. Studios just can’t stop filling their trailers with one BRAAAM after the next. And now someone has pieced together all the trailer BRAAAMS into one perfect, bellowing trailer. Fingers crossed BRAAAM gets its own movie sometime soon. https://gizmodo.com/a-capella-inception-trailer-will-have-you-laughing-for-5634891 [via Unreality]

The Bizarre Christmas Song that Featured a Merry Dalek on Vocals

At the height of Dalekmania, the 1960s British group the Go-Go’s (not those Go-Go’s) released the novelty single “I’m Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek.” This parody of lighthearted Christmas tunes featured lead singer Sue Smith in a childlike lisp and a bandmate delivering the Dalek’s spoken lines in nasal tones. After vanishing into…

Game of Thrones meets Battle of the Bands with these parody music logos

In the musical Game of Thrones, you either top the charts or you die. Designer IG-HateyHate blends bands with Game of Thrones characters to give us logo t-shirts for King Slayer, Ironborn, and, of course, Greyjoy Division. You can see the rest of the musical mashups at RedBubble, where you can also purchase any of…

Watch These Kids Play Musical Instruments Made Out of Trash

Sometimes you’ve just got to make do with what you’ve got, but that doesn’t mean you have to want for things, things like musical instruments. The upcoming documentary Landfill Harmonic (a totally righteous pun, I feel obligated to note) is about a slum in Cateura, Paraguay that still has an orchestra, and orchestra with instruments…

Spotify Overhauls Its Player to Make Discovering New Music a Breeze (Updating)

Today’s Spotify event, billed as “Discover what’s next,” is not so subtly supposed to be about how Spotify is going to one up its competition by helping you find music better than anyone else. The service is adding a new “Discover” and “Follow” tabs to its player that not only gives you recommendations, but also…

Sonos Now Lets You Stream Music Direct From an iOS Device

Proprietary software updates are rarely exciting, but the latest from Sonos really is worth hearing about. The latest Sonos software now allows users to stream music stored on iOS devices direct to the company’s speaker systems. Don’t be fooled into thinking this uses Airplay, though it sounds exactly like it should. Instead, Sonos has developed…

Reading Rainbow remix will make you feel like a kid again

The Symphony of Science masters (melodysheep) are at it again, and taking on the fellowship of PBS shows. First they remixed Mr. Rogers, Bob Ross and Julia Child, now they’ve auto-tuned LeVar Burton from Reading Rainbow and it’s making our insides flip like a butterfly in the sky.

Watch this Band Play with Killer Gunmetal Instruments

Confiscated weapons are always destroyed, but that doesn’t mean the wreckage can’t be used for something. Artist Pedro Reyes took the remains of 6,700 guns—many of which had probably seen some action—and used their dismembered parts to build instruments for a makeshift gunmetal orchestra. The instruments were all constructed out of pistols, shotguns, and even…

How to Spread Your Music Across the Web

Cloud storage has transformed the way digital music collectors access their media. But with so many competing hosting services, which should you choose? How about: All of them. Here’s how to sync your music collection throughout the cloud. iTunes Apple’s supplemented its ubiquitous media management program in 2011 with iCloud, a 20,000 track music locker.…

The Most Popular Songs on Spotify of 2012

If the best way to listen to music is to stream it these days, then Spotify has its finger on the pulse of what’s hot and popping in music. And looking at the most popular Spotify songs of 2012, well, that must mean our collective music taste is terribly poppy and probably horrible. Here are…

Håkan Lidbo (and 56 Other Producers): The World Record Record

Ah, yes, the Internet: Wondrous world of colaboration! But is it possible that too much collaboration can turn a project into a muddled mess of confusion? That’s exactly what producer Håkan Lidbo set out to find out with “The World Record Record”—His attempt, with the help fo 56 other producers, at breaking the Guinness World…

This Music Video Was “Filmed” Entirely With Instagram

This is the music video for the new single “Invasión” by Mexico City-based band The Plastics Revolution. It’s made up entirely of stills processed using Instagram. The band claims it is a world first, but regardless of whether that’s the case—let us know in the comments if you know of another!—the effect is interesting. All…

This Lego Record Player Is Made From Half Bricks and Half Pure Awesome

While it may seem disappointing that this Lego record player doesn’t actually play vinyl records, that’s actually good. Its color-coded record playback mechanism is much more awesomerester than standard record playing. These player’s records are created using a program that codifies musical notes into patches of color distributed in concentric circles. The program prints out…