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Found mixed cassette tapes played on this internet radio station.

YouTube - The Shins - Australia

This is an awesome music video from one of the best bands eva! Enjoy!

I’m not sure how long this has been live, but Amazon has launched a MP3 download service much like the iTunes store.

The exciting thing about this MP3 store is that all the tunes are 256kbps, DRM free and well priced. Single songs are 89c (US), albums are around $9 (US). This is the way music should be sold! I’m surprised it’s taken Amazon this long to get their shit together, but hey - they got there in the end and it’s pretty sweet.

Currently they have about 2 million songs from both indie and major labels. At this point it’s American/UK focussed so you’ll still need to hit Amplifier or iTunes if you’re after local music.

OK - so it’s not really spring, but it sure as shit doesn’t feel like it!

Manda and I are getting rid of some old CD’s.
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I haven’t been to the Kings Arms in ages…I cant actually remember what the last gig was I went to there…Last night will definately be one of the gigs I’ll never forget.

Manda and I went to see the Dresden Dolls last night. It was fucken awesome!
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The thing about summer (other than the heat, the beach and the long weekends) is all the outdoor live music events. 95Bfm put on two events every summer called the Summer Series. This is two one day events that happen in Albert Park in central Auckland - which also happens to be our neighbourhood. It features some of en zed’s finest musical talent, cold beer and a place in the shade.

This Sunday (from around 12pm) Manda and I will be making our way to the park to mash it up with the rest of Auckland’s slightly alternative ‘youff’…so this is a shout out to the rest of you to join us. Last year was a little sad with just the two of us partying on our little picnic rug. This year it would be way better if we could get you all to come and get tanked with us.

It’s guaranteed to be a good day, the line up will make sure of that:

• Frontline
• Ryan McPhun & The Ruby Suns
• North Shore Pony Club
• Sola Rosa
• The Hot Grits
• Tourettes & Michael Pipes
• Connan & the Mockasins
• Dunc Tha Funk
• DJ Exile

If the music and the beer aren’t enough to entice you there will also be sun, shade, gardens, and food stalls. So come on! Leave a comment or send me and Manda a text.

FUN! FUN! FUN!

Yes, yes I know - it’s been a bit quiet in this corner of the web. Sorry about that; I just cant be arsed writing anything. Work is making me want to top myself. My 7 years of ‘doing websites’ has ended up with me doing HTML3, font tags and fucking tables all over again. (ARGH!!!!!)

So to keep myself from going completely insane I’ve been compiling a new mix tape (a CD actually). Today I finalised the mix and bunt a few copies for test driving. Have a look at the line-up. As you can see I’ve used backpack to keep track of the track-listing. I haven’t really found much use for Backpack as it seems to run really slowly and generally annoys me. This is the first real thing I’ve done with it and it’s worked rather well. The AJAX reordering feature is really useful when it comes to compiling a mix tape.

Anyway, if you like the look of the mix leave a comment with your show of interest and I’ll email you back to get your snail-mail address so I can send you a copy. All I ask in return is that you send me something - anything (nothing organic as NZ customs will freak out).

And in other news, I’ve scanned in a whole bunch of old photos taken with my EOS 300 while I was living in London. They were all taken between 1998 and 2001. One day soon I’m going to buy a DSLR, an EOS 350D. I really miss my SLR. A lot.

This is what gets me down about the webdev community in New Zealand. Why-o-why would anyone build a web site in these modern times that only works in Internet Exploder?

Cokefridge.co.nz is supposed to be New Zealands answer to the iTunes Store. It fails very very badly. So badly infact that it’s made me unable to write properly. I’m fucking fuming!

I think paying for MP3’s is a really good idea. Dave was just saying he has so many albums of shit music…well so do I. Usually an album has only one or two good tracks and the rest are simply there to make the consumer feel like they’ve spent their money wisely. This is why there is so much music piracy these days. If there was a service (that worked) where I could download and pay for MP3’s I’d use it. I dont mind paying for music thats good. I do mind paying $26 for an album that contains mainly bad music.

Coke - I’m talking to you now: you’ve really, really dropped the ball on this one. I hope all the advertising you’ve paid for makes you bankrupt. I hope your server gets hacked.

I’m embarrassed to be a web developer in New Zealand.

[Here ends the rant.]

I love a good meme, and this seems to be one. Thanks for passing it this way Mr. Lindsay :)

Total volume of Music on my Computer

Work: 13.1GB
Home: 18(odd)GB

Song playing right now

UNKLE - one of the tunes from Widescreen Edit - A New Hope

Last CD I bought

Fat Freddy’s Drop - Based On A New Story

Five songs I listen to a lot/mean a lot to me

• Jimi Hendrix - Castles Made of Sand
• Smashing Pumpkins - Mayonaise
• Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
• Fat Freddy’s Drop - Hope
• Beasty Boys - Get It Together

Five people to whom I am passing the baton

• Manda
• Sean
• Suze
• Dave
• Peter

In the past few months I’ve been buying/downloading/listening to a lot of music. Most of it has been New Zealand music - which is as good as anything else - however, I’ve been listening to some international stars, too.

I can only be arsed to write about two of the newest CDs I’ve purchased…so without any more key-tapping here we go.

…And you will know us by the trail of the dead - Worlds Apart

I discovered this band years ago - about the same time I discovered At The Drive-in. Since then, At The Drive-in turned into Mars Volta (their new album is totally mind-blowing) and I finally purchased a TOD CD: Worlds Apart.

In a word: WOW!

These guys are really fucken good! This album is a bit of change from their previous work, which is very loud and very noisy - ala Pixies. Worlds Apart is a plunge into a prog-rock/epic-orchestral world that is seeded with unexpected breaks and symphonic interjections.

I recommend this album to anyone. No matter what sound you’re into at the moment this album will most definitely meet your business needs!

Butch Cassidy Sound System - Butches Brew

And on the other end of the scale we have this wonderful album.

Butch Cassidy Sound System is a 26-year-old musician, writer and producer called Michael Hunter. This dude put a lot of time and effort into getting this album to sound as if it was made in the early 70s. In my opinion he got it spot on!

Butches Brew sounds as authentic as any of those 70s reggae or soul albums you used to be able to find in op shops before the Kingsland hipsters bought them all. Michael Hunter plays all the instruments on most of the tracks. Not only that, but he also mastered the album from two inch tape, to achieve the authentic organic sound often missing from other dub soundsystems.

Don’t expect just reggae, however. This album covers most of the arse-shaking genres from rare hip-hop and r’n'b grooves to funk and modern day house music.

Another highly recommended album - especially for you Kiwis who are often up for some skankin’ reggae!