Conductor is a brilliant audio visualization of the New York Subway system, created by Alexander Chen. Using data from the MTA’s public API, the piece displays train routes based on the official schedule of stops and departure times. Each line segment also turns into a musical note that triggers, if one line crosses over it (and will also sound a…
Made famous by Percy Wenrich and written by Jack Mahoney, the song When You Wore a Tulip and I Wore a Big Red Rose has been stuck in my head the past few days. While searching YouTube for versions of this song, my favorite I encountered was the rendition by Teresa Brewer. I don’t really know much about Wenrich, Mahoney…
Fran and Marlo Cowan have been married for 62 years. They played an impromptu song on a piano in the Mayo Clinic atrium in 2008, and YouTube fame arrived soon after. I like to think I’m someone who keeps pretty current on the latest online memes, but I had no idea about this video until just today. Really glad I…
I first heard of Glenn Gould after seeing a movie entitled Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould – a series of vignettes highlighting certain moments and aspects of his brillian career (and eccentric lifestyle). I don’t know a ton of Gould’s work, but I’m most familiar with his Goldberg Variations album. It’s strange, but whenever I hear this I’m…
In going over my iTunes library… I happened across an album I haven’t listened to in a long while: Romanza, by Andrea Bocelli. Immediately, I clicked on the one song that made me buy this album in the first place: Con te Partiro. I’ve mentioned this before, but it was a long time ago… so I’ll recap. When I was…
Yesterday, James was featured on WGN TV on a segment about music. Lots of us were gathered around various monitors, watching the midday show online, and got to see him being interviewed by Steve Sanders. Well, things didn’t start off very well. During an earlier sports segment, when they were showing clips from the previous Blackhawks game… this lovely screen…
This is Charo, performing Malagueña on the guitar. From her Wikipedia entry comes this interesting tidbit: “One of Charo’s regrets is that because of her flamboyant stage presence, she has been overlooked as a serious guitar player.” I had no idea – color me impressed. More guitar videeos over at the original MetaFilter thread.
SolarBeat is a Flash-based musicbox that uses the orbital frequencies of our solar system. Made by Whitevinyl, the produces a series of ambient tones that are really quite pleasing, and you can adjust the tempo to whatever you like. A very clean and lovely experiment, mixing science and sound. [via Justin] Related:pi10k
Incredibox is a great little Flash project that lets you mix your own little a capella beat box. The interface is super slick, and the sheer act of adding in loops is pleasurable. I also love how the bonus interstitials have little “unlock” requirements, before you can view them. Really well executed, and quite a lot of fun. I love…
Thinking about songs to suggest for Ben’s 20 Songs in 20 Days project, I thought of Johnny Rottentail, by Amy Ray (of Indigo Girls fame). This is another one of those songs that I ended up looping over and over. In fact, I recall driving from Chicago to Columbus, OH, listening to this song on repeat. I can still sing…
Ben has a Tumblr blog! Hoping he doesn’t mind me posting a link on here, but for those interested… here’s a quick overview: Ben Husmann is a nice man who you would enjoy having a drink with or just chatting a while over tea. He loves cooking and painting and bacon and music and he takes a lot of photographs…
Recently, I happened across a link to some music that I haven’t heard in a long, long while. While I was an undergraduate at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana… my friend Kevin Seal played a lot of music. Two bands he was involved with were Java and Chive. I’m not 100% clear on when I first heard these songs, or…
Luke Fishbeck (also known as Lucky Dragons) does some amazing stuff with electronics, music and the variable of skin contact. Make sure to stick with the video for about a minute, as the really magical moment happens at 2:14. ‘Make A Baby’ is the generic term for an ongoing series of experiments into the possibilities of using skin contact between…
My friend Dave, aka Spoolwork (MySpace | Facebook), just completed a new mix. Entitled “High Pressure Days,” it’s full of hip hop, new wave, disco, electro and soul. Not only that, it’s available for streaming online, and also as a free download to boot! Go give it a spin… 1. Roof (DJ Ayres Remix) – Wale 2. Slippery People (Cosmic…
My friend and coworker Brian Leli wrote (and photographed and reecorded) a great piece for Gapers Block, entitled The Tunnel Musicians of Chicago. Brian takes some really great photographs. And from his site, I know he’s a strong writer based on the reflections and thoughts he shares about his many travels. But this article was the first piece I’ve read…