the listenerd

“Birds” by Vitalic, featured in today’s Very Short List. I don’t know if any dogs were harmed in the filming of this video. [vsl]

I’m not even sure what this means.

[reddit]

[vicarious]

*The New York Times asks if anyone (else) will buy In Rainbows. (They’re shipping about 400,000 copies to record stores initially.)

*Big news on the Black Eyed Peas front: BEP quote machine Will.i.am has broken his foot. [earsucker]

*Is David Cross a sellout for taking a role in Alvin and the Chipmunks? (Note: This blog, like so many others, is required by law to mention David Cross at least once per quarter.) [waxy]

*Okkervil River’s put out Golden Opportunities Mixtape, an album of some of the bands covers and oddball performances. It’s available for download free on their site. [vulture]

*The top 10 tv theme songs of all time: Couldn’t agree more with “All in the Family” as #1. I sing it weekly. [listening post]

*Tough times: The Financial Times reports on EMI’s belt-tightening under Terra Firma. [xrrf]

*Recommended: Stereogum’s mashup mixtape, 2007 Mashed Up, which includes MIA vs. the A-Team theme.

*VERY LOCAL: I am recommending that everyone in or near St. Paul go to brunch at Blondie’s on Snelling today. Just saying.

I don’t have anything against either of them, but the ick factor of Terry Richardson and Vincent Gallo teaming up is enough to make some people I know gag. [fimoculous]

Waxy links to Fret Killr, a YouTube guitarist who posts videos of skillfully played songs, but won’t reveal his identity, despite repeated prodding from fans and commenters. (Also posted on mefi.)

Here’s “Auld Lang Syne.”

From last night’s concert: 50 minutes.

I recommend not missing these again (all links = self-referential). Some things from the past. For the future.

*AVOID: Black mead.

*James Hetfield responds to rumors of his detention at an airport in England for wearing a suspicious talibeard.

*The Cyclical Blog.

*Let the Bodies Hit the Floor.

*On Benjamin Franklin’s “cold-air baths.”

*Soulja Boy (Tell ‘Em) “Crank That” instructions.

*Swiss firefighter rap: 118 Projec’t.

*Notes on the Juno soundtrack. (For some reason, one of the most oft-searched posts of the year.)

*And happy new year. And thank you.

Not that musicky. Also, I would almost say NSFW, but I have the day off. [laughing squid]

*The University of Oregon stands up for students’ privacy rights in a legal fight vs. the RIAA.

*Our Digital Music runs its list of Top Ten Digital Music Stories of 2007.

*Read: an unfocused article on the future of hip-hop from the New York Times, but the nugget seems to be that a diminished mainstream market could be good for creativity of the genre.

*Filesharing is on the rise in Japan. According to one survey, 9.6% of internet users run filesharing software. Huh. [mediaeater]

*Sting is a toe sucker. [huffpo]

*Wired runs the top P2P swapped songs of 2007; Listenerd icon Soulja Boy comes in at #7.

*Cellibacy: A New York comedian gives up her cellphone for two months, documenting it here. [textually]

*Docudrama “The Killing of John Lennon” opens at the IFC Center in New York on January 2. The trailer. [nyer]

*Totally off topic, insane and NSFW: The Ballbra – a men’s underwear revolution. [mefi]

If you are not soothed by this, I don’t know what’s wrong with you. (”Oogie Oogie Wa Wa” by the Benson Orchestra of Chicago; 1922.)

*The New York Times covers Calvin Broadus’ reality TV show, “Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood.” Wherein Snoop does yoga.

*Frostwire gives filesharers an open source alternative to Limewire. [mashable]

*Amazon’s catalog of music has now swelled to 2.9 million tracks, from 3 major labels. [digital music news]

*Everyone likes talking about the RIAA. TechCrunch on the RIAA, CD ripping and the near future of copyright (infringement). On the same topic, Mashable says “The RIAA Will Die in 2008.”

*Nate Dogg had a stroke. Scary. [earsucker]

*Ron Paul supporters are planning a World of Warcraft rally on New Year’s day. Scary. [game | life]

*Wired on the process of canceling your subscription music services. Wow, 30 minutes to cancel a Napster account. I’m obviously in the minority here, but I think subscription music is more in the future than it is in the past. As I’ve said before; screw having to manage (buy, find, etc.) files – it’s a waste of my time; I want to outsource it. [murketing]

*Local: Atmosphere drops 13 tracks for free: “Strictly Leakage.” Watch the explanatory video (which contains both smoking and chess) here. [switchblade comb]

*Hannah Montana is back on the market. Also, she is not pregnant. [earsucker]

*The New York Times‘ year-end The Lives They Lived feature covers Minneapolis’ dearly departed Joybubbles.

*Proto-blogger Jorn Barger on blogging well: “7. Credit the source that led you to it, so your readers have the option of ‘moving upstream.’” Most blogs – especially those trying to go pro – are absolutely abysmal at this. And that’s annoying.

*Zach Braff quotes. Because maybe he won’t sue. [mefi]

*Album sales are down 15.3% for the year over last year. [mediaeater]

*Crowdsource your playlist needs at SpinJay. [simplespark] TANGENT: Is there a term for crowdsourcing that uses an expert filter? (Like what knol wants to be?) I could use one. It should sound fresh (yeah, yeah–all ideas are old) and be just two or three syllables. Prosourcing? (Does it already have a name?) Anyway, portmanteaus encouraged.

The execrable local: Batshit insane a cappella group The Blenders DOMINATE the Minneapolis airwaves between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. 3 days left.

TERRIFYING.

YouTube user ChipmunkNation chipmunkizes popular songs. Thank you, ChipmunkNation.

Idolator on YouTube’s Chipmunkizing meme.

[vicarious]

*HUGE NEWS: Fergie, our favorite pants-peeing diva from the Black Eyed Peas, is now engaged. And not to her craft. To Josh Duhamel.

*HUGE NEWS: The New Yorker on Strike Beards. God, huge beards rule.

*If you hate Bono as much as I do, you will probably not like U2 3D, a web production / 3D rendering of a live stadium concert by the band. [josh spear]

*Seriously: Fergie, Bono and awesome beards all in one day? X-mas effing miracle.

*Adtunes.com offers up the Top Ad Music of 2007: Cat Power for diamonds at #8. (I really wish this site would update more often; it’s great.)

*Amazon adds Warner Music to its MP3 download store.

*Yes. A list. Top 5 Rock Songs Played by Classical Musicians.

*Black Eyed Peas ringtones are over. Get a tone that reminds you to keep your New Year’s resolutions. [textually]

*The A.V. Club interviews Walk Hard star and director Jon C. Reilly and Jake Kasdan.

A Virgin Mobile commercial featuring a breakdancing nativity scene. [neatorama]

[kotaku]

Moshing. [metal sucks]

*Jay-Z is done as an exec at Def Jam. He still owes them one or more albums as an artist. [hypebot]

*Playwright Tom Stoppard takes on music in “Rock ‘n’ Roll,” a look at how rock music helped fight communism in Czechoslovakia.

*Jena Malone passes on her top 10 albums of the year through Filter: The National, Beirut, Kings of Leon, Grizzly Bear, Spoon. She’s been reading the blogs.

*Single-purpose site (I love these things): IsItChristmas.com.

*Rock Band has a variety of new and terrible tracks available for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 users. 30 Seconds to Mars? (Jared Leto’s band…) [kotaku]

*For your stalking pleasure. Spokeo updates you whenever your contacts update Flickr, Facebook, etc. No need to tell those you’re stalking that you’re tracking them, either. (Have been thinking about how best to put an ego dashboard together for a while, but the stalking angle works, too.) [fimoculous]

*Merry Christmas, if it suits you.