Music Genres on Google Squared

Google Squared is a new Google Labs application for displaying search data in a more organized fashion than those regular ol’ search results.  For music collectors, this tool has the potential of being very useful for discovering musical genres.

Let’s say, for example, that you want to add more Rock to your collection.  A Google Squared search results for “Rock Music Genres” returns with many suggestions in a very organized view.

Having this detailed view saves you some time in cherry-picking through search results.  In a well-organized view you get to see all Rock sub-genres.  You’ll be able to tell from this view which genres you are missing from your music collection.

Death Row Albums Now on eMusic

With Death Row record label now on eMusic, west-coast hip-hop classic albums such as Dr. Dre’s The Chronic (4x platinum), 2 Pac’s All Eyez On Me (9x platinum), and Snoop Doggy Dogg’s Doggystyle (4x platinum) are now available at relatively cheap prices (as low as a quarter per song).

Death Row, specifically The Chronic, is responsible for establishing the west coast in hip-hop and popularizing the distinctive style of g-funk.

DJ Fly Setting A New Bar In The Turntablism World.

It has been years since I have seen innovation in the turntablism world.  Just when I thought that the art of turntablism has reached its limit in innovation, 2008 DMC World Champion DJ Fly from France enters into the scene.  He has taken the turntablism art to a whole new level and has set a whole new bar for the art of turntablism.  He has a style that can best be described as perfect-timing turntablist and scratching skills to create a musical journey using hip-hop and electronic flavors.  The one thing that sets DJ Fly apart from the rest is his attention to precision.  He rarely misses a beat in his very difficult and articulate sets.  I can’t wait to see what DJ Fly is going to do next.

… and finally, here is DJ Fly with legendary DJ QBert:

4/29/2009 Update: one more video here: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x24ylt_dj-fly-le-6-minutes-vice-champion-d_creation

3 Minute Documentary about Ugandan Hip-Hop

Wikipedia has a run-down on all the different styles of African Hip-Hop.

El Hijo de la Cumbia

Never have I heard the sounds of cumbia music being mixed with electronic sounds.  That is, until I bumped into “El Hijo de la Cumbia”, Emiliano Gómez.  El Hijo de la Cumbia has found a unique sound in focusing his music in Cumbia with sounds of Electronica, Reggae, Hip-Hop, and other sprinkled all over.  Definitely, a DJ I will follow, from now on.

My opinions are based by this mix, which is the only work I’ve heard from this DJ:

TRACKLIST

01_Intro_Real_ElHijodelaCumbia
02_Siempre Suave_ElHijodelaCumbia
03_Cambie la Historia_ElHijodelaCumbia
04_Como te Voy a olvidar_Angeles Azules_vs_ElHijodelaCumbia
05_Viento_Aron y su Grupo ilusion_vs_ElHijodelaCumbia
06_Homeja Al Dj Taz_ElHijodelaCumbia _Mix
07_Pobre _ElHijodelaCumbia
08_Cumbiatoons_ElHijodelaCumbia
09_Un escalon_ElHIjodelaCumbia

Download it here.

Aurgasm – free and legal mp3s

One of the sites on my rss feed is http://aurgasm.us/.  Each week, or so, they feature a new artist and a few mp3s by that artist.  Recently, they featured a great female vocalist: Melody Gardot.  Finding out about her made following this website worthwhile.  I just listened to her two songs offered by this post: Goodnite and Worrisome Heart.  Now, I must get all her songs.

Merry DRM-Less Christmas

Download a great christmas album complete free of DRM over at emusic.com.

A Charlie Brown Christmas (with bonus tracks) – by Vince Guaraldi.

Man vs Machine (The Music Recommendation Challange)

Paul Lamere, is a researcher at Sun labs.  More specifically, he is a music researcher at Sun labs.  His latest focus involves music recommendation algorithms.  He has an interesting challange for his readers:  Which one of the following lists of music recommendations ,based on “Miles Davis” as a starting seed, was created by a music expert and which one was created by a computer algorithm.  This is not a trivial questions – I think it can go either way.