Explore and Evolve

2007-04-05T11:19:00.000-07:00

Randomness #1

1. Starbucks corp. got their own music label now. First artist to be signed --> Paul Mcartney. Sadly i have never got so much into his music nor have i ever had Starbucks coffee. I know it kicks ass though.

2. Music sales were down sharply in 2006, reinforcing the RIAA's contention that illegal downloading is killing the industry. And there actually is one genre of music that saw a sales increase last year --> Christian Music by 5%...insane isn't it...

3. I have to start saving up to go the mountains in june...

2007-03-29T15:12:00.000-07:00

The Big Chill

The Big Chill Goa is a two day festival combining music, art, and relaxation to create a paradise on the shores of the Arabian Sea, taking place from midday until late on April 14th and 15th, 2007.

Three music performance areas will host the best dance and chill-out live performers and DJs from The Big Chill's family of artists, introducing an Indian audience to the leftfield festival experience Big Chillers in the UK have been enjoying for over a decade.

The Body&Soul area will offer a range of treatments, drawing on India's long-standing traditions of hands-on healing.

The Art Trail will showcase local and global artists working in a variety of media.

Location

The Big Chill Goa will take place right next to the beach at Asvem in Goa.

Lineup

Coldcut, Norman Jay, The Bays, Hexstatic, Shri, Mad Professor, Chilled By Nature etc.

Tickets

www.ticketpro.in

2007-01-22T10:47:00.000-08:00

Rage Against the Machine to Reunite

The political rock/rap pioneers will share a stage for the first time in seven years to perform at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this April. Rage disbanded in 2000 when vocalist Zack de la Rocha left amid internal friction.

2007-01-20T11:16:00.000-08:00

Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story

This is the remarkable story of a 13-year-old Japanese girl abducted on her way home from school by North Korean spies. For 20 years, her parents had no idea what had happened to her or if she was even alive. Then, one day the whole world learned the shocking truth.

An extraordinary tale of mystery, intrigue and most of all, love. The film is told through the eyes of the girl's mother and father who have been searching for their daughter for nearly 30 years. The film begins with the day Megumi vanishes, traces the astonishing course this personal tragedy takes, as it becomes a battle between two nations, rising to a shocking climax.

Till today the issue is not really solved and the mystery still remains a mystery but has changed it's route. In the end it always comes down to dirty politicians.

Anyways if you guys do watch this movie and feel the need to google for the current situation then here's a start --> http://www.gregoryclark.net/jt/page7/page7.html

and here --> http://www.japantoday.com/jp/newsmaker/357

2006-12-18T10:59:00.000-08:00

Third Eye
by Maynard James Keenan

Think for yourself. Question authority. Throughout human history as our species has faced the frightening, terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are or where we are going in this ocean of chance, it has been the authorities, the political, the religious, the educational authorities who attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules, regulations, informing, forming in our minds their view of reality.
To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable, open mindedness, chaotic, confused vulnerability to inform yourself.

2006-12-15T12:01:00.000-08:00

Powerchords in the Bag

We won the Sies Rock Competition (Powerchords 2006) on the 13th of December. It was a kickass show. Sound wasn't great but was manageable.

Results:
Winners - Skincold
Runners up - Red Cube

2006-12-08T13:34:00.000-08:00

Indian Band of the Year - Scribe

Scribe
Genre: Hardcore

They cover stuff like The Dillinger Escape Plan, Sick Of It All, Walls Of Jericho, Hatebreed etc.

Crazy band with crazy people...

Vocals - Vishwesh (The Crazy Growling inspiration)
Guitars - Prashant (The Best Weed Riffer in the country)
Guitars - Akshay (My Guitarist)
Bass - Vaas (I don't think he listens to hardcore)
Drums - Niraj (The Most Fun lefty drummer to watch play)

Scribe's blog --> www.havehardwillcore.blogspot.com

2006-11-27T13:53:00.000-08:00

Thats A Bhagat

www.thebhagat.blogspot.com launched today

'What are you saying duuuuuuuuuuuuude'

2006-11-22T12:49:00.000-08:00

Another Useless Award Show

Today Nickelback won the Best Pop/Rock Album Of The Year Award at the American Music Awards for their album 'All The Right Reasons'. This Album is so bad that it would have won an award for the worse Pop/Rock Album Of The Year at my Award Show. Sadly i have none. Here's my review of the album i wrote for 'Just Like That' mag earlier this yr.

Nickelback – All the Right Reasons

1. Do you like repetitive music? Do you like listening to the same song for 40 minutes without actually looping even a single one?

2. Do you wanna hear 11 functionally identical songs to "This is how you remind me" from Nickelback’s earlier album.

3. Do lyrics like "Kim's the first girl I kissed | I was so nervous that I nearly missed"? or "I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame - I'd even cut my hair and change my name" appeal to you?

If yes, then well you should really quit listening to music or probably switch to bollywood remixes. The album is all about standard rock topics like love, lust, jealousy and breakups. Its basically 3 same chords over and over again. The only good songs in the album are “Savin Me” which has a big Metallica influence on it and “Side of a Bullet,” which is a passionate revenge tale written about the killer of Pantera guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, which features one of the late Abbott's guitar solos, as donated by Pantera bandmate and brother, drummer Vinnie Paul.

Bottomline: All the right reasons to not buy this album.

Rating: 2/10

2006-11-19T14:22:00.000-08:00

Band Pic # 2

2006-10-29T01:47:00.000-08:00

IE 7 vs. Firefox 2

This is what everyone is comparing on the net. Personally i would go with Firefox anyday. I dont even want to use IE anymore even if they come out with good updates. Vulnerability to viruses and spywares along with lack of features will always let them down.

Lets see the results of the comparison from www.Download.com

"Firefox 2 still rules the browser roost for now, despite a much improved version of Internet Explorer. The most obvious new feature for IE 7 (tabs) has been in Firefox forever, and the security additions from Microsoft aren't enough for us to allay concerns over new possible exploits. Lastly, the extensibility of Firefox 2 is its knockout punch, and IE's add-ons cannot compare. The flexibility and customizability of Firefox might be best suited to more advanced Web users, but it has earned its spot at the top of the browsers."

Also see the detailed comparison here --> Link

2006-10-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

Crazzzy Band -- > The Dillinger Escape Plan

Crazy bassist --> Liam Wilson
Crazy vocalist --> Greg Puciato
Crazy drummer --> Chris Pennie
Crazy guitarist # 1 --> Brian Benoit
Crazy guitarist # 2 --> Ben Weinman

Sadly i discover them after 9 yrs of their existence...anyways...who cares...

Their videos just prove the fact that they are also the craziest live band on the planet...

I would recommend this to every freaking metalhead in the world.

The band is named after John Dillinger. Read about John Dillinger here -- > Link

2006-10-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

The Goo Goo Dolls

'Let Love In' is Goo Goo Dolls 1st album in 4 years. Goo Goo Dolls unlike other bands like Arctic Monkeys or Coldplay are the kind of band which take some time getting used to. They normally are mistaken for just another alternative rock band like Nickelback, who according to me suck like big time. 'Let Love In' is a very typical Goo Goo Dolls album and just grows on you with time. I would give it a 6 outta 10 though coz they could have definitely done more with this album and yes 'Gutterflower' is still their best album by far. My fav tracks on the album would be track numbers 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 11.

2006-09-14T11:55:00.001-07:00

The Mars Volta kick some new Ass

Already diggin this album after just one listen. Insane guitarwork yet again by Omar Rodriguez. Cedric Bixler at his usual best with dreamy vocals and insane pitches. Please stop comparing it to 'De-loused in The Comatorium'. Every album cannot be the same trip. My favourite songs so far would be 'Vicarious Atonement', 'Vermicide', 'Asilos Magdalena' and 'Viscera Eyes'.

Band: The Mars Volta
Album: Amputechture
Release Date: 30th August, 2006

Buy it here --> Link

2006-09-13T02:13:00.000-07:00

Brian May's Love / Hate Relationship with Apple Macbook Pro

Since writing about my frustrations about the Apple MacBook Pro, I have been literally DELUGED with mail from Mac users who are feeling the same frustrations.

You might have noticed that I prefaced my moans with a declaration that I have always been a staunch Mac supporter. A lot of you agree ... my favourite comment was from a VERY unhappy MBP user who said,

"Do they understand how much I really want to love this machine?"

That's my feeling too. I don't want advice from helplines telling me how to make the best of my problems ... I want an admission from the manufacturer that they realise that the machine has severe faults, and that they care enough to try to rectify them.

It's so much like Tony Blair .... the man who will probably go down in History as "The Man Who Could Not Admit he was Wrong." Every day our young men are still losing their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq, and every day it becomes plainer that it was a gigantic, terrible, tragic mistake. Tony Blair even now could depart a hero if he could only bring himself to say ...

"OK ... I can now admit it: I screwed up. As my final gift to the nation, I'm bringing the troops home ! "

Will it happen ?

We shall see. He's another example .... we all SO wanted to love this man when he was elected. And now .... ??

Love
Bri

2006-09-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

+44

Ex Blink-182 members Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus, have joined forces with Shane Gallagher (The Nervous Return) and Craig Fairbaugh (Transplants) to form (+44), and will be out with their debut album 'When Your Heart Stops Beating' on November 14th. Really looking forward to this one.

2006-09-04T00:40:00.000-07:00

Smashing Pumpkins in the news

When it was announced Smashing Pumpkins had reformed and hit the studio, the blogosphere erupted with confusion. As the mystery remains over who's onboard in the band's final lineup (only Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlain have officially signed on to the new project), fans of the alt-rock staples circulate online rumors suggesting singer James Iha and bassist D'arcy Wretzky are out, and that Melissa Auf Der Mar and former-Jane's Addiction member Eric Avery are competing for the latter's slot. As of press time, a solid 50% of SPIN.com voters have said they don't think Smashing Pumpkins should reunite without all their original members, and most fans remain similarly skeptical the band's reformation won't be much of a success.

Source: Spin mag

Link -->www.spin.com

2006-09-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

My Band

Skincold Page on Myspcae --> Link

2006-08-31T12:30:00.000-07:00

A cool korn poster i found online

2006-08-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

iTunes vs. WinAmp

It was not a long time ago when Winamp (AOL Nullsoft) was the most popular mp3 player for windows. Then came the iPod and the equally free Windows version of iTunes and with the increase in popularity of the iPod, many people have now switched to iTunes. Also after having some serious issues with WinAmp version 3, Nullsoft had to actually release a slightly updated WinAmp 2 as WinAmp 5 later. This just helped iTunes gain more popularity. Let’s see a comparison between them for various important functions.

Installation File Size:
Winamp 5.24 --> 5.92 Mb
iTunes --> 33.8 Mb (The problem is that Apple forces its QuickTime player on you whether you want it or not)

Memory Usage:
I took a look at memory usage while they were both playing the same exact song. The memory usage for Winamp 5 was around 10 Mb whereas iTunes was somewhere around 25 to 30 Mb. Unfortunately iTunes comes with two extra processes - "iPodService" and "iTunesHelper" - both hogging around 4 to 5 Mb each. What's really annoying is how they are kept resident even when iTunes isn't open!

Interface Speed:
Winamp comes out top in general searching, and scrolling of lists. iTunes can feel slightly sluggish on slower processors (say 1Ghz or less).

Tag Editing:
iTunes has a more powerful ID tag conversion and updating tool. Both Winamp and iTunes allow you to change the tags of multiple files simultaneously. However Winamp has only 8 fields whereas iTunes has around 12 to 14.

Skinning:
WinAmp has a wide range of skins available on the WinAmp site which gives WinAmp a slight edge over iTunes. iTunes doesn’t support skinning and you are stuck with the grey steely apple look. But this look has gown down quite well with a lot of people including me who like simplicity.

Audio Formats:
Winamp wins hands down by supporting a large range of sounds formats including au, mod, mid, and many more with the appropriate plug-ins.

Radio:
Built in preset radio stations gives iTunes the edge over WinAmp here.

Music Store:
The absolute best feature of iTunes is the iTunes music store. It is exceptionally easy to navigate around and the ability to see album listings, top 10 lists, what’s new and preview music with 30 second clips is great. WinAmp doesn’t have any in built music store but you can visit the WinAmp site.

Playlists:
There are tons of neat smart playlist options in iTunes. Smart playlists are playlists that build automatically in iTunes based on some settings you define such as the 25 songs I like the most (based on a five star rating system) or the last 100 songs added etc.

Conclusion:
In the end, it all comes down to personal taste in what kind of features you look for in your MP3 player. iTunes with its well organized music store, built in preset radio stations, fresh new look with the ability to show album art of each song on the same window as well as the visualization screen and new features like podcasting and support for video playback gets my vote. While WinAmp with its flexibility in looks, usage, it’s skinning ability and less memory usage is not far behind. Of course, only iTunes can sync with the iPod by default but there are various WinAmp plug-ins available now to do the same thing.

2006-08-29T23:32:00.000-07:00

Whats so Wrong with SAE anyway?

Here is an interesting article for all aspiring audio engineers

Link#1

Another article on Career in Audio

Link#2

2006-08-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

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