vintage

Muxtape is gone, and Muxtape is back.

The main page has finally been updated from the rather ominous message stating that Mux was in the middle of negotiations with the RIAA. The news is mixed; the site is relaunching, but due to huge problems trying to work out a licensing deal, it is now exclusively a service for bands.

The founder comments that it is “a radical shift in functionality, but Muxtape’s core goals haven’t changed. I still want to challenge the way we experience music online, and I still want to work to enable what I think is the most interesting aspect of interconnected music: discovering new stuff.”

It is a sad day for the internet, but things like this have to happen these days. I, for one, really enjoyed Muxtape because it allowed me to listen to actual mixtapes that other people have made; not just “listen to this song,” but rather “listen to these five, or eight, or thirteen songs that I really like and took the care to put in an order that I think makes sense”. There’s something really personal about a mix and that was the appeal of Muxtape.

I’m a bit wary of this new “for bands” designation, since MySpace and now Facebook seem to be doing enough of that on their own. I can’t see everyone flocking to Muxtape just to promote their band, but I am interested to see the ripple effect that this will certainly create throughout the rest of the filesharin’ internet.

I have to say, though, I miss clicking “random” and listening to ten tapes a day, just for fun. It had just introduced Last.fm integration maybe two or three weeks before the RIAA swung the axe, and that was awesome.

We’ll miss you, Muxtape, but we’re glad you’re back.
Wrap your head around that one.

Remember how I posted about Muxtape biting the dust due to RIAA interference? Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have a successor (who copies much of Mux’s coding, and completely acknowledges that fact). The rebellion continues. Please direct yourselves to this lovely little link:

Opentape.fm

This blog is in no way affiliated with Muxtape or Opentape and absolutely thinks the RIAA is doing a great job cracking down on dirty pirates. You should never share your music with anyone and mixtapes are a horrible idea. Etc. You know.

Also, I would like to draw your attention to a comment left by Charles on this post, in which I commented that Pony Da Look was bringing me more hits than any other search term on the internet. That’s a pretty big deal (and the hits are still rolling in!). I guess if I keep making posts like this …

Well, anyway, Charles here wrote me a review of the band’s record called Shattered Dimensions and I post it here for your viewing pleasure. It’s hilarious.

Here is a review for your blog of what Pony Da Look’s “Shattered Dimensions” sounds like:

You walk into a pub lit by torchlight and candles, and decorated with electronics from a surplus store. Somebody is slamming rhythmically on a jukebox, causing it to skip back and forth through distorted segments of some of Martin Gore’s earlier compositions for Depeche Mode. While this insistent sound fills the air, a bar-room brawl erupts between Loreena McKennitt and X-Ray Spex, who chant taunts at each other from either side of the room, as the tables are cleared aside and the other patrons stamp their bony feet as they begin the first of the many frenzied dances…

Bravo, Charles.

Real Life Update™ – I have moved into a cute little house in Toronto’s east end and am actually posting this on wireless I am stealing from an innocent neighbour. Please send this lovely person, whoever they may be, some happy thoughts on my behalf. Tomorrow is Squeeze! Updates to follow, of course.

I am kind of at a loss as to what to write about these days, since I haven’t seen any shows and I haven’t picked up any records. Heaven forbid, I know. However, one exciting thing remains: Neil Young has announced a North American tour in late fall, and I HAVE TICKETS. I am a pretty happy camper. Here’s a list of his Canadian dates:

• Oct 16 MTS Centre – Winnipeg, MB

• Oct 18 Brandt Center – Regina, SK
• Oct 19 Pengrowth Saddledome – Calgary, AB
• Oct 22 GM Place – Vancouver, BC
• Nov 29 Metro Centre – Halifax, NS
• Dec 1 Bell Centre – Montreal, PQ
• Dec 2 Scotiabank Place – Ottawa, ON
• Dec 4 Air Canada Centre – Toronto, ON

See his full tour schedule here.

I also actually had a post in the works about a mixtape I made … but unfortunately, the RIAA got in the way. Some of you may have already been part of Muxtape, a terrific website geared towards those interested in discovering new tunes. It was a very, very simple and streamlined site; no nonsense, no annoying images, just music. Users had a unique ID (username.muxtape.com) and were allowed to upload a maximum of 12 songs to the site; they could then arrange them in any order or rename them, as well name their tape and pick a colour for it.

After that … the listening. Features like “next” and “random” provided gold mines of new music and old favourites; one that I stumbled upon only had songs that were 2 minutes and 42 seconds long, and another person had just uploaded the entirety of Highway 61 Revisited (okay, I can see why the RIAA would not be too happy with that one). You could also add tapes you liked to your favourites, so you could come back and listen to them again later. Recently, Muxtape added a fabulous feature which allowed users to sync with Last.fm, enabling any tracks they listened to on Mux to scrobble onto their charts. Ingenius! Let me tell you, I was listening to Muxtape quite a bit the last few weeks.

Of course, anything good eventually gets shut down by the RIAA, and this one was no exception. Since there were so many tracks being provided in streaming format to the internet, it was only a matter of time before the problem of royalties surfaced; Muxtape has grown quite a bit in the last little while, and this puts them on par with a lot of other websites that have to pay hefty fees in order to stream that much music to listeners. The future is still up in the air for Muxtape, and if you’re like me, you’re crossing your fingers, toes and anything else that will stand still long enough in the hopes that it will come back.

Disney-meets-Kodak-styled sister site Mixwit just isn’t the same (and probably will get shut down eventually too); where Muxtape was smooth, streamlined and no-nonsense, Mixwit looks like an eight-year-old girl’s room was strewn all over the place. Oh well.

In other news, I’m seeing Squeeze in a week.