Derek Hoy's blog

Microsoft's Songsmith is getting a lot of attention, and there is now
a growing body of work featuring recordings, classic or otherwise,
given the Songsmith Treatment (tm).

"Roxanne" by The Police

"Wonderwall" by Oasis

Intergalactic Songsmith

... and this, not quite a classic, yet.

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I'm singing with my laptop

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 07:19:00 -0800

This is so bad it's bound to be huge.

[link]

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On-line music

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 11:28:00 -0800

I work from home most of the time. I have the place to myself, sitting at a computer with a decent broadband connection, and I like listening to music. At some point last year, I realised I wasn't listening to any music that was remotely new. I got a great Christmas (2007) present from Jenny & Joe of a sub to the Word magazine. To be honest, I didn't read it much but I started listening to the CD that appeared with each issue.

I'd never heard of most of the artists, but a lot of it was great music, so it was just what I needed. I turned to on-line music services to see if I could hear more. Grooveshark is good- it's free, you access it in your web browser and you don't even need to subscribe to listen to stuff. The music is a bit disorganised there- it seems to be uploaded by people, but the service claims to be legal. I read the detail, but still couldn't understand it.

But the one I'm listening to a lot is Spotify. It's a Scandinavian startup, currently in beta-testing so you have to request a subscription, but it seems to be opening up more now. (I have some invites if you need one) It has a good range of music and you can make playlists very easily. You download the Spotify app, and it works nicely with the mac's media function keys.

What really impressed me was that today I went looking for some modern classical music (Gavin Bryers) and found it there. I wanted to hear "the Sinking of the Titanic", and it was there. But in the end it wasn't what I wanted. So I'd heard it all without paying a bean- the free Spotify account plays the occasional advert to pay its way.

And so to the third on-line music service I'm using more and more- Amazon's mp3 download service. There I found the Glorious Hills album recorded by the Latvian Radio Choir and including music by Bryars. Amazon lets you listen to short clips, and it is beautiful. So I bought the album, it downloaded straight into iTunes and I'm listening to it now. These are mp3 files with no DRM protection, so they're mine to keep and enjoy for as long as I like.

And I am.

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What a Wheeze

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:19:00 -0800

This is a fantastic idea for improving transport in our cities, and cheering us all up, as long as you're not an accordion-hater, of course:

We seriously believe that the public's perception of bendy buses could be changed to a more positive one if the buses were to make accordian noises as they cornered. They would make cities a more cheerful place to live and work and attract tourists in their thousands.

Douglas Stokes of frag.co.uk

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/busaccordian/

[via]

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Willie Beaton, RIP

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:21:00 -0800

Just heard the sad news that Willie Beaton passed away this morning. Not unexpected but no less sad.

It made me wonder how much there is recorded by someone who was a dearly loved singer and musician, but spent a lifetime outside the commercial music business. His closest brush with commercial success was in Hamish Macbeth.

UPDATE: I'm reminded Willie has been recording over the last year.

Here's Willie in action in the Plockton Inn, apparently from about a year ago.

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