Music Archives - Page 10 of 19

Final Fantasy VI Meets Pat Benatar

When last you heard from him, Justin Leeper (author of the book Still Man Fights) rapped about the Occupy movement. This time he’s gone in a totally different direction, melding Final Fantasy VI and Pat Benatar. Check out the song above and official description below:

I felt these two songs — “Love is a Battlefield” and “Decisive Battle” — would go well together, so I set out to mix them. I wrote some additional lyrics, got my wife to sing, and made a video using gameplay from one of my favorite games of all-time, Square’s Final Fantasy VI (FF III in the US on SNES).

The music is “Decisive Battle,” from the Final Fantasy VI soundtrack. Both It and the game’s likenesses are owned by Square Enix.

“Love is a Battlefield” was written by Mike Chapman and Holly Knight, and was made famous by Pat Benatar.

My wife Kate did the singing on this video. I did rap and additional lyrics.

As always, Justin is looking for feedback on his work. So please leave a comment here or on his YouTube page.

Line 6 Mobile Keys MIDI Keyboard Controllers for iPad

Here’s another CES 2012 video for you. This time Line 6 mobile products manager Chris Grigg talks about the company’s two MIDI keyboard controllers specifically designed for iPad: the Mobile Keys 25 and Mobile Keys 49. Companies like Line 6 and M-Audio have been brilliant at helping musicians and song writers exploit technology to bolster creativity. Fair play to those guys and gals.

Best of 2011 Wrap Up

In case you missed any of the “Best of 2011” stories, here are links to your fellow RPadholics’ picks for the best game, videogame graphics, videogame sound, movie, and gadget. While you’re here, feel free to leave any “Best of 2011” choices that weren’t covered last week. From your favorite comic book, Netflix rental, TV show, sports team, coffee, fast food, WWE Superstar, and more, use this post to get 2011 out of your system (please)!

Cello Wars (Star Wars Parody) Lightsaber Duel Rules!!!

This Star Wars musical parody by The Piano Guys is one of the best Internet videos I’ve seen in 2011. It’s funny, creative, and awesome all the same time. The music is great. The costumes are great. The comedy is fantastic. I completely love this video! If I wasn’t poor, I’d donate money to The Piano Guys just for making this highly entertaining video.

How about you? Check it out and let me know what you think (please!).

Coffee Talk #427: Beats by Dre is the New Bose — Overrated

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Verve’s Sumatra Lake Tawar, impatiently waiting for Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus, or your favorite Christmas cartoon, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I almost always see someone wearing Bose QuietComfort headphones when I fly. I almost always laugh at those people. Bose QuietComfort headphones are overpriced and overrated. You can get headphones — in-ear or cans — that cost the same or less and sound way better. I’ll take a pair of Etymotic, Shure, Grado, or UltimateEars headphones over Bose any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

In the last year or so, I’ve been spotting a lot of Beats by Dre headphones on airplanes. They’re pretty much Bose for the hipster crowd. They’re overpriced, overrated, and feature exaggerated bass. People think they’re cool and good because of their sharp style, great marketing, and fantastic distribution. I’m not saying that Bose and Beats make bad products; they make good stuff, but you can get much better for your money.

Today I was wondering if there are any brands or products that make you scoff. Do you automatically think “lamer!” when you see someone with Bose QuietComforts? Does your hipster-douche sensor go off when you see someone with an iPad at a coffeehouse? I can’t wait to read your comments! Fire away (please)!!!

Hands On With Google Music (Not a Review!)

I’ve been playing with Google Music and Google’s Music Store on Android Market for the last day. It’s a mix of cool features and annoying quirks. There are some aspects of the experience I really like and some areas where Google Music puts Apple iTunes on its ass. There are also some aspects of the experience that are stupid and annoying. Let’s break it down!

Buying and Browsing: I love the shopping and browsing experience of the Google Music Store. It’s bright, there are lots of pictures, and the big-time acts have sweet videos. Most of what you want can be found, as Google has signed up three of the four major companies (Warners is still holding out). There’s lots of free music and a “free song of the day” that encourages repeat visits. Buying is a snap if you already have a Google Wallet or (the soon to be dead) Google Checkout account. Compared to iTunes and Amazon’s MP3 store, I prefer the shopping experience of Google Music.

Listening: After you’ve purchased your music, it’s available in seconds on the web-based player or your Android device. The instant gratification will make you want to kiss the cloud (which isn’t actually a tangible thing you can kiss). Listening on my PC was great thanks to my zippy cable Internet connection. Listening on a Samsung Galaxy S II through T-Mobile required a little more waiting because of the slower connection, the sound quality was still good. I did have some quirks with the HTML 5 version of Google Music on my iPad, but that’s something I’m going to talk about more on Padvance.com.

Downloading: If you want to download a few individual songs onto your PC then you can easily do so on the web-based player. If you want to download a large batch of purchased music then you’re better of using the Music Manager app. The app works fine for uploading and downloading music to and from the cloud, but it’s way to slow. The upload speed I can understand, but downloads should be much faster. Hopefully this will get better in the future, but for now the Music Manager app’s sluggishness is disappointing and annoying.

Social: Google Music features heavy Google+ integration. You can post a song or album through “+1” buttons. People that read your post get one free listen and a link to buy the song or album. Compared to the extremely weak Ping features on Apple iTunes, Google Music’s social aspect is deep and robust. I love how it can lead to discovering new music. There are also some potentially great music discssions that can be generated by Google+ and Google Music.

Verdict: I can easily see myself visiting the Google Music Store several times a week, similar to how I visit the Amazon Android App Store daily to see if there are any good freebies. As for purchasing, it’s all about the price and convenience for me. Apple iTunes is the easiest way for me to buy music, but it’s often the most expensive. Amazon is usually cheaper and its software makes it easy to sync with all my devices. The Google Music Store has a ton of freebies and some sweet deals, but the Music Manager could be better. I like Google Music a lot and will definitely give it a look every time I’m thirsty for new sounds, but the experience isn’t good enough (yet) to push Amazon and Apple off my menu.

If you’ve been tinkering with Google Music, I’d love to hear about your experiences. Please let me know what you think of Google Music and the Google Music Store on Android Market when you have a chance.

Coffee Talk #421: “Shreds” Videos and You

Several years ago I came across several “Shreds” videos by a YouTube user called StSanders. He overdubbed horrendously bad guitar playing over memorable performances. His clip of Jake E. Lee “shredding” while Ozzy Osbourne clapped just about…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Groundwork’s Bolivia Aipac La Paz , Juan Manuel Marquez getting jobbed out of a win over Manny Pacquiao, or the impressive uselessness of Buboy Fernandez, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Several years ago I came across several “Shreds” videos by a YouTube user called StSanders. He overdubbed horrendously bad guitar playing over memorable performances…and made art. His clip of Jake E. Lee “shredding” while Ozzy Osbourne clapped just about killed me. His overdub of Metallica’s “One” completely cracked me up and was extra funny to me since I knew how to play most of the song.

Today I’m going to kick off the week with a laugh. Here are three of my favorite “Shreds” videos. Feel free to post your own YouTube links in the comments section. If you find these funny, head on over to StSanders’ web site and give him some props.

“99 Percent” By Justin Leeper

Check out this video for the song “99 Percent” by longtime RPad.tv friend Justin Leeper, author of the book Still Man Fights. He wrote it in support of the “Occupy” movement sweeping the nation. After you give it a listen, please leave him some feedback on the song in the comments section.

Also, let’s have some fun with it too! I challenge you to rewrite Justin’s lyrics for thoughtful or mirthful purposes. For example, my favorite verse is around the 0:58 mark:

“Corporations,
Ruining the nation,
The greed that they spawn,
Is Armageddon.”

My version goes like this:

“Corporations,
Spicy Cajuns,
Stone Cold Steve Austin,
Cheap Lisa Munn.”

Now it’s your turn! Channel your inner Lennon/McCartney and play with the lyrics.

Coffee Talk #415: Song Covers You Hate (Under Pressure)

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames,Verve’s Guatemala El Pintado, Zooey Deschanel’s performance of the American national anthem, or Manchester City thrashing Manchester United, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

“Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie is one of my favorite songs of all time. Freddie Mercury’s vocals are brilliant. Brian May’s guitar playing is awesome. Mercury’s subtle playing on the piano and Hammond organ fill out the song perfectly. And lastly, there’s John Deacon’s unforgettable bass line…which sadly some people recognize from “Ice Ice Baby“.

It actually pains me that there’s a generation of people that know Deacon’s bass line from “Ice Ice Baby” instead of “Under Pressure”. Vanilla Ice was a crap artist and his song sucked compared to “Under Pressure”. It’s sad that the hook from his only popular song was ripped from another, superior one. I’m offended that he took an integral part of a great song and turned it into a pile of garbage. Next time I’m a hiring manager, I’m going to play Deacon’s bass line and ask the job candidate what song it’s from. Anyone that says “Ice Ice Baby” will be shown the door.

As if Vanilla Ice sampling “Under Pressure” for nefarious purposes wasn’t bad enough, there’s this crap cover version by My Chemical Romance and The Used. It…just sucks. The vocals are so weak that’s it’s like comparing a little league hitter’s power to Albert Pujol’s. (Granted there are only a handful of rock-and-roll singers with Mercury’s power and range.) The arrangement is just awful. There was absolutely no reason for this cover to be released. It’s embarrassing to Queen, David Bowie, My Chemical Romance, and The Used. Ugh.

Anyway, I wanted to hear about any song samples and covers that offend you. Kindly talk about song covers and samples you hate in today’s comments section!

Foo Fighters Closing Out Blizzcon 2011

Blizzard has announced that the Foo Fighters will be the musical guests at Blizzcon 2012. The all-things-Blizzard fan-festival usually ends with a star-studded performance. Past guests include Ozzy Osbourne, Tenacious D, Jay Mohr, and Level 10 60 70 80Elite Tauren Chieftain. Here’s a clip from the…

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that Foo Fighters will headline the closing concert of this year’s sold-out BlizzCon, taking place October 21-22 at the Anaheim Convention Center. While tickets to the convention are currently sold out, viewers can watch at home by ordering a BlizzCon Virtual Ticket, offering comprehensive live coverage of the event (including Foo Fighters’ performance) globally over the Internet and also on DirecTV in the United States.

One of my favorite shows of the year gets even better! I love Blizzcon. Blizzard is an incredible developer and publisher. The company has some of most passionate fans in the world. It’s brilliant watching thousands of people come together to celebrate Blizzard’s excellent games. Add the Foo Fighters on top of all that?!? Awesome!

Any of you making it out to Blizzcon this year? Are you psyched to watch Foo Fighters perform at Blizzcon whether you’re there or watching on DirecTV?