Blogcritics Author: Damon Muma

Last.fm To Offer Free Music Legally

Damon Muma — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 06:55:27 EST

Can their announced partnership with labels to get free music to people and royalties to artists save the industry?
This week Last.fm announced that they are now offering a service (in beta) where anyone can listen to a huge selection of complete tracks and even albums online for free. They say there’s already millions of tracks up there and more are being added daily. What makes this service special is that it’s completely legal. Last.fm (which...

Music to Look Forward to in 2008

Damon Muma — Wed, 2 Jan 2008 18:42:34 EST

A look at a variety of upcoming releases to watch out for this coming year.
It's a new year, and of course it looks just the same outside, but this day does mark a good opportunity to think of what we have to look forward to in the coming 12 months musically. (I'll also be giving an opportunity to look backward at the last 12 in a few days).ALREADY OUT...

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

Damon Muma — Sun, 7 Nov 2004 17:19:24 EST

This is good. It took a second listen, with headphones in the dark for it to really click, but this is one powerful mother.The best way to describe the album in general, I think, is triumphant. In "Original of the Species" (what business does a song this brilliant, happy, and immediate have being second last?) during the last chorus, Bono goes a bit off of the melody, and yells "yeah." It's an impromptu, beautiful sort of moment we usually only get to hear in live renditions. The happiness and energy is leaping out of the song and becoming something more than just the lyrics, vocals, and instrumentation... and it's a theme throughout the album. Where 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind had similarly joyful, well-crafted songs, on U2's new album they speak more for themselves: by being a little less structured and polished, the spirit shines through ("I'm not broke but you can see the cracks/You can make me perfect again"-All Because of You).There are a number of different producers all contributing to the album, but nonetheless it maintains a consistent tone. To me it sounds like something new for U2, but since past comparisons are what everyone likes to hear... the blues of rattle and hum, combined with the soar of 'Gone', the grunge of 'Do You Feel Loved' and the layers of Achtung Baby. But the earnestness of the early 80s that they tried (a little less successfully) to recapture on ATYCLB makes a strong showing here again. Every song sounds like it belongs within the spirit and framework of the album whether it's the summery bass and melody of "A Man and A Woman", or the industrial Blues of "Love and Peace or Else", the heartache of second single "Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own"You're going to hear a lot of people saying "this is U2 sounding like U2" or "doing what they do best," and there's some truth to that, but it's also something they've not really done before. But it still feels fresh and is not simply a re-tread of past ideas. The overwhelming theme of the album (which I briefly touched on above) is what makes it intriguing: the songs are often joyful, triumphant... even the wistful pained songs have some type of bombast or anthemic ringing that makes them far more cathartic than depressing. And likewise even the happy songs often have lyrics that point to being confused, lost, or saddened. It might seem like a simple mishmashing of ideas and directionless, unthought-out songwriting, (this guy can't decide whether he's happy or depressed!) but that's not what it is at all. It's a picture of a man or woman facing the world, and all its troubles and tribulations, and deciding to take it in stride and stand up tall. To beg and plea, but with an underlying optimism that yes, everything *might* just work out right, and the knowledge everything might also blow up in our faces. It represents the thin line between the darkness and light that stands higher than either, because we can't grow without both of them pushing at us. That tension runs through the whole album. This is often reflected in the lyrics, such as "A heart that hurts is a heart that beats" (you're going to see this one quoted in almost every review, appropriately). And that's where the triumph fits in: in revelling in the glory of the human soul.And maybe it's true that U2's other albums have the same sorts of feelings running through them, but here it's more direct. It smacks you in the face and makes you pay attention. There's guitars coursing through it in all directions, there's loudness, and there's also not a weak moment on the whole album.Favourite song so far: Original of the Species