Acts of Volition Radio: Session 29

Acts of Volition Radio: Session Twenty Nine

A new session of Acts of Volition Radio is full of delightful songs for the summer. The songs may also be enjoyed during other seasons.

Songs for summer. Recorded Sunday, April 5, 2007 by Steven Garrity. Run time: 45min.

Session Twenty Nine Playlist:

  1. Two Hours Traffic – Arms Akimbo
  2. Travis – Big Chair
  3. Jellyfish – Glutton of Sympathy
  4. Stars – Midnight Coward
  5. The New Pornographers – Failsave
  6. Zwan – Lyric
  7. Starflyer 59 – I Win
  8. Manic Street Preachers – Design for Life
  9. Joel Plaskett Emergency – The Instrumental

For more, see the previous Acts of Volition Radio sessions or subscribe to the Acts of Volition Radio RSS feed.

Acts of Volition Radio
Acts of Volition Radio
Acts of Volition Radio: Session 29
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“This Apple ID has been disabled for security reasons”

Tonight I got home from a movie (Everything’s Gone Green – good movie) and headed to the iTunes Store to listen to some previews from the soundtrack. I was greeted by this message:

Sharpmusique iTunes account error

I suspect this is because I have used SharpMusique, an unauthorized Linux-based client for the iTunes Store (that lets you pay for music). That said, my account has been disabled from logging in from the official iTunes client as well (screenshot).

 

Acts of Volition Radio: Session 28

Acts of Volition Radio: Session Twenty Eight

This session of Acts of Volition Radio is party will test your musical attention span with some long songs, but will reward you with some music gratification.

Songs short and long. Recorded Saturday, April 7, 2007 by Steven Garrity. Run time: 41min.

Session Twenty Eight Playlist:

  1. Joel Plaskett – Snowed In
  2. Fountains of Wayne – Fire in the Canyon
  3. The Shins – Sleeping Lessons
  4. The Arcade Fire – Intervention
  5. Matthew Sweet – Thunderstorm
  6. Explosions in the Sky – Your Hand in Mine

For more, see the previous Acts of Volition Radio sessions or subscribe to the Acts of Volition Radio RSS feed.

Acts of Volition Radio
Acts of Volition Radio
Acts of Volition Radio: Session 28
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The Encouraging Near Future of Music

A post on the CBC Radio 3 weblog reminded me of a wave of albums by great artists coming out in the next few months.

Oh, and isn’t Chinese Democracy supposed to be out again this year?

We live in exciting times.

 

Acts of Volition Radio: Session 27

Acts of Volition Radio: Session Twenty Seven

The first Acts of Volition Radio session of 2007. Warning: some of these songs might make you cry.

A few pairs of great songs. Recorded Wednesday, February 5, 2007 by Steven Garrity. Run time: 45min.

Session Twenty Seven Playlist:

  1. The Delgados – Keep On Breathing
  2. Mike Knott – Tattoo
  3. FAIR – Cut Down Sideways
  4. Stereophonics – Rewind
  5. José González – Heartbeats
  6. Jeremy Enigk – World Waits
  7. Matt Mays – Mornin’ Sun

For more, see the previous Acts of Volition Radio sessions or subscribe to the Acts of Volition Radio RSS feed.

Acts of Volition Radio
Acts of Volition Radio
Acts of Volition Radio: Session 27
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Acts of Volition Radio: Session 26

Acts of Volition Radio: Session Twenty Six

In keeping with my complete lack of a publishing schedule, here is the latest session of Acts of Volition Radio. If the commentary is lacking, I assure you that the songs are worth the wait.

A few pairs of great songs. Recorded Wednesday, November 22, 2006 by Steven Garrity. Run time: 45min.

Session Twenty Six Playlist:

  1. Joel Plaskett – A Million Dollars
  2. Joel Plaskett – Nowhere With You
  3. The Thermals – Here’s Your Future
  4. The Thermals – I Might Need You To Kill
  5. Sloan – Another Way I Could Do It
  6. Sloan – Live The Life You’re Dreaming Of
  7. Joshua Radin – Winter
  8. Metric – Police And The Private
  9. Steve Earle – Jerusalem

For more, see the previous Acts of Volition Radio sessions or subscribe to the Acts of Volition Radio RSS feed.

Acts of Volition Radio
Acts of Volition Radio
Acts of Volition Radio: Session 26
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How To Be a Rock Band on the Internet: Sloan

Never Hear the End of It - Sloan
One of Canada’s finest rock bands, Sloan, also happens to have a great taste in web development firms (and a smart lawyer who worked with us on another project). This fortunate situation led to the creation of SloanMusic.com, a website that provides ample opportunity for fans to comment on the news, post their reviews and photos from shows.

This month, Sloan released their latest album, Never Hear the End of It. I think it’s their best album since Navy Blues from 1998. Along with the release of this record, Sloan’s manager, Mike Nelsen, has been posting short videos taken behind the scenes in the studio and in rehearsals as the band prepares for the release.

Never See the End of It
These short videos are a perfect of example of how a band can engage their fans through their website. The technology involved is not fancy. The website uses a standard weblog format. The videos are posted on YouTube, off-loading the hosting and flash-player nonsense (this has also led to many sarcastic declarations at our office that this is some kind of web-twenny mash-up).

The videos are short (most are well under one minute long) and most involve quick chats with the band members in the studio. A video was posted every day for 30 days (which also happens to be the number of songs on their remarkable new album).

The end result was surprisingly engaging. I found myself laughing with the band and anticipating the new album even more than I had been already.

It also helps that the guys in Sloan happen to be funny.