Music

The Godfather Of Soul has died.

The full list of grammy nominations was posted at Yahoo Music. I threw up a little bit when I saw that the Black Eyed Peas were nominated for one of the worst songs ever as Best Pop Performance. On the plus side, “Youth” by Matisyahu is nominated for best Reggae album, and Salif Keita, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Ali Farka Toure (RIP) were all nominated for best contemporary world music album.

Universal Music Group chairman/CEO Doug Morris makes this outrageous statement about iPod owners: “These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it”. As an iPod owner who owns several thousand legally purchased CDs and about 1500 tracks purchased legally from iTunes Music Store and eMusic, I’m offended. Ths page has a few pointers to artists associated with Universal if you want to avoid buying their music.

This is really cool. NiN did something similar with “The Hand That Feeds”. Maybe other artists will start doing the same.

His, Mine, Yours, Ours: “Inspired by comments Brian Eno made in his book A Year with Swollen Appendices, Duncan Sheik released White Limousine with two discs: One, a CD labeled Mine and the other a DVD labeled Yours. The former contains his stereo mixes, while the latter contains WAV files of the individual elements of the mixes for each song. Sheik is requesting that people remix his CD to their liking, and has even provided a place for people to upload their efforts. The best remixes will be streamed on the remix site, and some will even be released as downloads.” (Via MetaFilter.)

Via MetaFilter: Syd Barrett passes on. Pink Floyd founder (paid tribute to by his former bandmates in “Shine On You Crazy Diamond) who had succumbed to mental illness passes away due to complications of diabetes. RIP. Pink Floyd was one of the most influential groups of the 60s & 70s, known for their elaborate shows and complex multi-layered music. “Dark Side of the Moon” is still one of the largest selling albums ever, although Syd wasn’t involved with it.

Here’s what I’ve been listening to lately.

Bombay Beats – I’ve been getting into more Indian music, especially Bhangra & Bollywood music. This is a nice collection of Bhangra/hip hop fusion. I’ve also been listening to lots of music by Asha Bhosle.

Raivolution, MC Rai – New rai/dance/hip-hop mixture.

Balkan Beat Box – interesting world fusion.

Orientation, Thione Seck – I’ve mentioned this one before and it’s still my favorite. Thione is one of the world’s greatest singers & he deserves the same kind of international recognition as Baaba Maal & Youssou N’dour.

I signed up for eMusic‘s free trial, which lets me download 20 songs. I’m not sure if I’ll continue when the trial is over. I really like that their downloads are DRM-free MP3s which work perfectly on a Mac and their download manager is Mac-friendly. Unfortunately their selection is pretty limited and I don’t really like their subscription model.

Billy Preston, the “Fifth Beatle” has died at 59. Preston’s longtime manager, Joyce Moore, said Preston had been in a coma since November in a care facility and was taken to a Scottsdale hospital Saturday after his condition deteriorated. Preston’s hits include “Outta Space”, “Will It Go ’Round In Circles”, and “Nothing From Nothing” (via MetaFilter

I really hate American Idol. Especially this season, since I really dislike all of the contestants. Most people around here seem to be obsessed with it. When we had our condo association board meeting Tuesday night, almost half of the attendees left early to watch the finale. Even Mike Doughty, one of my favorite singers, is obsessed with AI. How can the same person who created Soul Coughing watch such bland mainstream crap?

World Music Cenntral reports that Desmond Dekker, the Jamaican singer who became popular worldwide with the hit songs ‘The Israelites’ and ‘Intensified’ died May 25 in the morning. He suffered a heart attack on stage during a soundcheck in Dublin, Ireland.

Desmond Dekker (born Desmond Adolphus Dacres in Kingston, Jamaica on July 16, 1941) was one of the pioneers of Ska & early Reggae. Before Bob Marley, he was Jamaica’s most popular musician. He’s still one of my favorites.