Music and Gaming

In recent years, music has broken through into the video game market in ways not achieved in previous years.  In the past 10 years, guitar hero and rock band have taken music and gaming into the mainstream together.  Bringing back classics, and integrating new music, it has given a fun new way to interactively enjoy our favorite music.  All of the sudden Aerosmith music that no one has thought about in many years is hip and cool again when they launch it with the game. Another gaming medium that has appeared is MMORPGs.  I started playing Entropia Universe a year ago, and specifically on planet ROCKtropia, music and musician integration is a major part of the gameplay.  I have chatted with Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead, who is a major player on that MMO, as well as music label promoters and other musicians.  Even smaller musicians can promote their music on that game.  This is a great way for musicans to gain exposure, they allow broadcasting of amateur musicians over the game music stream.  Is virtual reality the next step in technology and music?  I don't know, but it is fun to interact this way as a music lover and game fan.

Beck Music

The past few weeks I have become obsessed with Beck music.  I have always been a fan since I was 13 and heard "Loser" on the radio.  Strangely that still seems to be their biggest hit.  The only other #1 they've had is E-pro and that seems to have been sold less, and comon everyone that's not a young child knows Beck - Loser, and how many do you think could even hum E-pro.  I have watched all of Becks major music videos these past weeks and I would say that his videos are the opposite of highly technological.  In Where It's At, he literally does not have 2 turntables only a microphone!  The Exception to this that I found is the 2005 "Girl" video which took some major Hollywood trick photography skills.  This has turned out to be one of my favorite music video's of all time and previously I only vaguely recognized the tune.  The 90's videos are not technological, though some are well choreographed, namely "The New Pollution", which is my second favorite Beck video.  It's absolutely brilliant how he conveys pretty much being a smart alec from my view.  The dancing and scenes are fantastic.  Which leads me to my favorite Beck album which is Odelay.  I used to listen to it in high school when the songs were released, then in late college I brought it back and I remember I especially liked Jack-Ass and Readymade, and now almost 8 years after that I still love every track on that album!  Currently the songs I've been listening to most from Odely are Minus, Sissyneck, and Lord only Knows.  The thing that fascinates me about Beck is that I doubt one of his songs has a plot or a literal meaning.  Every phrase is open to interpretation, yet I can and have associated parts of his songs to different things in my life.  That is the genius of Beck!  And truly is genius as his words and phrases play together so smoothly.  The Odely album is not futuristic or technological, but that isn't really Beck's angle anyway.

My Opinion of Apple Products

I wonder if I am the only one that is not a huge fan of Apple products?  I don't mean to badmouth Apple, I think they make very nice products.  I think my bias began in grade school in the 80's when the Apple computers were pretty lame and as soon as higher powered PCs were released I just associated them with the old Apples.  The range of products they sell, the Ipad, Iphone, Ipod ect., I like them, but I just don't have desire to buy them.  I don't know why, I just prefer the PC and I think all the extra products I just associate with the computers.  I have played with the Ipad and I think it's kind of neat, and actually there are other brands of similar products.  When I tried the Ipad though, a thought I had was that it ran slow.  I don't know if I could tell you now whether it really does run slow, or if I just associate Apple with poor quality.  I know that generally Apple is not associated with poor quality, the company is such a powerhouse.  I will try out another Ipad and see if I really do think it runs slow.  I haven't even bought an Ipod and I love Mp3's.

Music and Technology

Music has changed over the years and technology has certainly changed rapidly in recent years. Everyone over the age of 5 has probably seen a major change in the medium of mainstream music communication to the listener. I was born just after 8-tracks, but have lived through cassettes, c.d.s, and now to digital music files. The improved quality of modern technology has added much improvement to older music as well, with digital re-mastering, and the elimination of scratched discs and worn out cassettes. Music and musicians can even be found on online games, I have interacted with musicians that I had been a fan of on MMORPG's. The evolution of music and technology seems to have become a mastered science, I'm not sure where it could go next but I like where we have taken them.