Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Friday Music: Criminal Life

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  • bob daktari,

    there is no information on how Spotify has gone since Apple Music’s launch.

    It was the fifth most downloaded app on the US iTunes store the week of apple music's launch - which suggests they benefitted from all the added publicity (good and bad) they received courtesy of Apple

    Digital Music News suggests spotify is set to dramatically change the free use terms to severely limit what people can do, all but rendering it useless to those who use it a lot... I wonder if this is due to rights holders demands? Sorry, can't find the link to the story, it seems to have vanished from the site, still shows in google search.

    I guess 11 million checking out apple music is a big number, but given the tens of millions more who have a device and iTunes account its seems like an abject failure - much like using the damn thing, like yourself I am buggered if I can get it to work in a manner that makes it the joy I know it could be... which si frustrating cause like you when you find some part of it that works and is good its great

    Streaming is now... and damn the streaming companies (except youtube & soundcloud for now) make it hard for a music fan, spotify is increasingly a horrendous user experience (keep it simple , not) and apple music is a well documented pain to use

    for todays beats I recommend this http://crackmagazine.net/audio/mixprofile/045-stimming/

    auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 540 posts Report Reply

  • Jonathan King,

    I've seen The Clash, The Buzzcocks, the Pistols, Iggy Pop ... and Chris Knox performing post-stroke is hands down the most fuckin punk rock thing I have ever seen in my life.

    Since Sep 2010 • 185 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    I had a play with Apple Music, but it just seemed too much, too complicated. And all the recommended playlists were really off the mark. "Introduction to Katy Perry". Er, I am well familiar with Katy Perry's oeuvre, thank you.

    Meanwhile, Spotify's Discover Weekly playlist has the uncanny ability to always deliver music that I like. And I've heard similar from friends. Maybe their lists are full of '90s indie rock and modern alt rock, but it's exactly the kind of stuff they're into.

    My other fave is Spotify's Fresh Finds playlist, which is compiled from new tracks that are played by "tastemakers". That is, it figures out what the cool kids are listening to a lot.

    Yay, technology!

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    Chris Knox with Rackets at the Basement as part of "The Experiment" this week

    Hey thank you. As someone who found The Nothing just a teensy bit comfy, that's the real Knox deal.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Tim Welch,

    +1 for Spotify's Discover Weekly Playlist...

    Auckland • Since Aug 2008 • 47 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Whoops! Forgot this ...

    Neil Finn does his first ever remix, for The Phoenix Foundation's 'Give Up Your Dreams'. And it's ace.

    Free download too!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to bob daktari,

    It was the fifth most downloaded app on the US iTunes store the week of apple music’s launch – which suggests they benefitted from all the added publicity (good and bad) they received courtesy of Apple

    Yeah, that's my guess too.

    Digital Music News suggests spotify is set to dramatically change the free use terms to severely limit what people can do, all but rendering it useless to those who use it a lot… I wonder if this is due to rights holders demands? Sorry, can’t find the link to the story, it seems to have vanished from the site, still shows in google search.

    Apple leaned on the music companies to force that on Spotify, so it could be true. But Digital Music News posts a lot of crazy, unverified stuff, which could be why the story has gone.

    I guess 11 million checking out apple music is a big number, but given the tens of millions more who have a device and iTunes account its seems like an abject failure – much like using the damn thing, like yourself I am buggered if I can get it to work in a manner that makes it the joy I know it could be… which si frustrating cause like you when you find some part of it that works and is good its great

    It just seems like an utter lack of focus on the real user experience. Releasing a service that actually materially harms the most intensive users of your existing music software ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Alfie, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    that's the real Knox deal.

    Hey!!! I had the impression Chris was a bit buggered after his stroke so it's great to see him performing again. A small group of us 'borrowed' TVNZ film gear back in the day to make the first Enemy clips which played on Radio with Pix. Damn we were proud of those!

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Alfie,

    Hey!!! I had the impression Chris was a bit buggered after his stroke so it's great to see him performing again.

    He's constrained by seizures (and the medication that curbs them) but is as creative as ever. Did you see Jess McAllen's gutsy story for the Sunday Star Times?

    A small group of us 'borrowed' TVNZ film gear back in the day to make the first Enemy clips which played on Radio with Pix. Damn we were proud of those!

    Nice! I love our readers.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • B Jones,

    Westside: I've been reading Maurice Gee's biography (thanks Craig for the inadvertent recommendation), and wondering whether his work based in West Auckland has had any sort of influence on the development of the world around the West family. I can't think of any obvious examples because I haven't read many of his Auckland books (just Under the Mountain and In My Father's Den), but it would be weird if it hadn't, being right down the road in both time and place.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Loud and clear!

    ...this visceral performance from Chris Knox with Rackets

    The man is in grand form!
    Words are so overrated.
    His body language is as clear as ever.
    Heartening to see/hear...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • davesparks,

    Further to the Kimbra... noting this here from the twitters:

    via

    http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/jono-brandel

    Wouldn't have picked they'd pick that as the new single, but is a personal fave.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 45 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Alfie, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Did you see Jess McAllen's gutsy story for the Sunday Star Times?

    I didn't and thanks for the link. That's a good piece!

    My abiding memory of Chris is from a fancy dress party in Dunedin in the late 70s. He came dressed as a hunchback and his one-liner for the night was, "I backed a hunch and it didn't come off."

    Chris was always a good bastard and I wish him well.

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Jonathan King,

    Chris Knox performing post-stroke is hands down the most fuckin punk rock thing I have ever seen in my life.

    +1
    Frogs for a new century...

    ;-)

    the hip (replacement) priests...
    Yet still the 'most punk' challengers come - I see the Mancunian curmudgeon is coming back to have a tilt for it, with The Fall in October ...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Ben D,

    That Chris Knox vid...frigging goosebumps and flashbacks to 91 Massey Uni Orientation.

    Auckland • Since Aug 2014 • 4 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Jess McAllen’s gutsy story for the Sunday Star Times?

    I so want to put that picture of Chris in the kitchen through that Deep Dream filter ... but that'd be copyright infringement, right?

    - and seeing the kitchen brings it all flooding back. With horror (knowing what I know now of asbestos-laden post-quake Chchch) - How Chris and I scraped all the stippled wall plaster off the walls and ceiling by hand, with cheese graters being the most effective tool, and the occasional wet hanky over the nose and mouth!!!

    There have been several Flying Nun music clips filmed in that kitchen.
    ...throughout (and under) the house really.

    Corben Simpson lived in the house before Chris and Barbara bought it.

    NZ is an awfully small country at times...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    Corben Simpson lived in the house before Chris and Barbara bought it.

    I remember the discovery of a lot of empty medicine bottles in the garden.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Shaun Scott,

    Attachment

    My Friday music last week was a trip to Chicks to see the excellent Strange Harvest and Astro Children supporting the magnificent Opposite Sex at their album release.

    Cant find any streaming tracks as yet, but the really rather good new album "Hamlet" can be bought on CD from Relics in Dunedin and online.

    Fantastic gig, and very cool backdrop as well.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2008 • 90 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Russell Brown,

    ...a lot of empty medicine bottles in the garden

    Unfair speculation.
    There may be a casual, but not necessarily causal, connection...
    It was an old urban midden - what had been assumed to be a flat area was terraced and had been infilled with whiteware, well rustware really, when uncovered...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Russell Brown,

    A small group of us ‘borrowed’ TVNZ film gear back in the day to make the first Enemy clips which played on Radio with Pix. Damn we were proud of those!

    Nice! I love our readers.

    Werner Herzog got his start by ‘borrowing’ film equipment from the Munich Film School. And Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols apparently played with a stolen guitar.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Kumara Republic,

    And Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols apparently played with a stolen guitar.

    He basically stole all their gear. Which meant they had good gear!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Alistair Guthrie,

    re the Lost Scroll award, all the top 5 nominated should get it

    Auckland • Since Feb 2015 • 3 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    I remember sitting with a group in the old Gardens Tavern (no idea why might have been the only time I ever went in) mid to late 70s listening to some terrible hair metal band and Chris pipes up with "hell even I can do better than that" ... turns out he could

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    - and seeing the kitchen brings it all flooding back. With horror (knowing what I know now of asbestos-laden post-quake Chchch) - How Chris and I scraped all the stippled wall plaster off the walls and ceiling by hand, with cheese graters being the most effective tool, and the occasional wet hanky over the nose and mouth!!!

    So that's how it was done. Someone had gone to a certain amount of trouble with sweeping strokes of a trowel and plaster to create the ambience of a tacky pizza parlour. Never mind, said Chris, they'd be bringing it up to aesthetic scratch by "electronic means", which turned out to be one of these fitted to a godawful great corded drill. Having managed to nearly flog a hole in a nice old kauri door with a similar gadget I could only wish him luck.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

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