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Music Apps: A Brief Consumer Guide

Spoiled for Choice: Profiles of Some Leading Music Apps Now that music apps play such a big part in our busy lives, it’s important to find the right one for your taste and lifestyle. That can be easier said than done, though, simply because there are so many options out there. Let’s try and bring some clarity by profiling some of the most successful and/or user/friendly products in the field. Whatever choice you make, we hope you continue to enjoy old favorites while also making thrilling new discoveries. Underneath the technology it’s still all about the music. Spotify We’ll begin with Spotify, simply because it’s so well known to many music lovers. The current incarnation of the app allows for more music to be streamed free of charge, but a bigger development may be that subscribers who pay a monthly fee of $9.99 can now save an unlimited amount of tracks that they can then access offline at their leisure. Other user-friendly features include playlists corresponding to the use
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From bubblegum to night music

YouTube Jonathan Bree’s second solo album, A Little Night Music, confirms how far Bree has travelled since he first achieved prominence with his former band mates in The Brunettes, an outfit that successfully fused indie sounds with somewhat twee bubblegum catchiness . Although served with a heavy dose of ironic detachment, this indie bubblegum amalgam proved to be simultaneously irritating and irresistibly hooky. That’s not what we hear when we listen to ALNM, though. Orchestral maneuvres in the night Although ALNM certainly has its own lighter touches, it deftly situates even those moments within an overall mood that it considerably darker than anything we heard from The Brunettes. As ALNM plays, its combination of orchestral maneuvers and crooning singing can’t help but remind the listener of the sweetly crooned but acerbic lyrics of Lee Hazlewood or the dramatic moodiness of Scott Walker. Unlike the extremely rich orchestration that accompanied Walker’s voice, however, Br

LCD Soundsystem is Back…

And They Bring Outrageous Jams  LCD Soundsystem has made a long-awaited return after a baffling break-up that happened years ago. But we should know by now that James Murphy and his crew are all about surprises. After all, isn’t it surprising that a daring combination of punk and disco could even work in the music industry? Or that a highly successful band would simply break up and stop making music with no explanation to fans.  They Were There, and Then They Were Gone After launching their unique brand with a range of singles between 2002 and 2005, LCD Soundsystem released their first studio album in 2005, which was met with critical acclaim and Grammy nominations . Their first top-ten album and other successes followed. And then in 2011 the break-up was announced. Although there was a concert held in honor of saying farewell, and a documentary released, which was apparently meant to explain a few things – no real answers were ever given as to why LCD Soundsystem disbanded

What Katy did (and didn’t do) Next!

Mainstream Innovation: Katy Perry's Witness In the run-up to the release of Katy Perry’s new record, Witness, there was quite a bit of debate about how political the album was expected to be. To a great extent, these ultimately unrealized expectations were generated by the artist herself. Perry was very vocal in her support for Hilary Clinton’s bid for the presidency. Combined with her pre-release pronouncements about Witness and her characterization of herself as an “advocate,” this recent political focus led many listeners to expect a very ideologically intense work that would move away from Perry’s trademark dance-pop and take up the cudgels against President Trump’s administration .  In the statements she made about the record prior to its release, Perry had promised something that would be liberating not only in narrowly political terms, but also in sexual (!), psychological, and even spiritual ones. That’s quite a big promise, and numerous commentators became quite hea

TRYING TO CAPTURE THE KATE BUSH EXPERIENCE ON A LIVE CD

Kate Bush’s live release—Before the Dawn—pales in comparison with her live performances, but if you were there, or wish you had been, you can close your eyes and imagine. There’s a colourful booklet of photos to assist you with the meditation. Bush’s performances were memorable not only for her superb vocal performances but also for a multi-sensory experience that can only be felt live. The 2014 concerts at Hammersmith Odeon, which make up Before the Dawn were as visual as gigs could possibly get. In spite of the spectacular talent, such as actors, technicians and musicians who worked on this album, it is still a weak representation of the visual spectacle of the live shows. Nevertheless, with only three albums over 22 years, fans are happy to have Before the Dawn to add to their Kate Bush collection. read more here...