THE BEATLES ON ITUNES. FINALLY.

I had to write about this. I love it when two of my favorite things come together; in this case, the Beatles and Apple computers. The Beatles and Apple finally settled their differences. The Beatles albums are finally available 7 years after the iTunes store was launched. This is pretty exciting. I'm curious to see what kind of sales this will make. I think this is history in the making...at least in my history book. I had to take a screenshot of this. This won't be up for long.

HEAD-FI.

This is a real treat to write about. This is probably one of my oldest obsessions. Headphones. I take my music quite seriously so...I'll try not to sound too geeky.

I just picked up these bad ass headphones - the TMA-1 by AiAiAi (eye-eye-eye); a creative company from Denmark. In the world of architecture, graphic communications and industrial design, Denmark has a god given gift for brilliant design. The TMA-1 is no exception. It takes minimalism to the next level. I'm still looking for the logo! Where is it???

Headphones need days of burn-in time and out of the box, the AiAiAi's are okay. They're a little too bassy for my taste but quite fun to listen to. I'm hoping after a few days, they'll open up.

When it comes to the sound, I'm pretty serious. I'm comparing the AiAiAi to my AKG K701 and my Grados, which are both legendary. But we're comparing apples and oranges. The AKGs run at about 400 USD, however, the Grado SR60s only cost 80 bucks. The AiAiAi's were about 150 USD.

If you're serious about headphones, I'd go for the open-back headphones like the AKG K701. Huge soundstage, meaning it creates an environment around you. You feel the instruments separate from each other. You hear the imperfections. It's that accurate. Voices are elegant. Instruments are brilliant. It's a real pleasure to listen to music.

If you're on a tighter budget, go with the Grado SR80 or the SR60. With it's awesome performance, history and following, the Grados are nothing but legendary. They won't disappoint. Large soundstage, great bass response, crystal clear mids and highs. I love these headphones but unfortunately, very difficult to travel with.

[there used to be a photo of the MDR-7506 here but the "photographer" decided to claim their copyright. instead of giving this person the satisfaction of getting credit on this blog (which nobody even reads and doesn't make any money), i would rather remove the photo as suggested. this doesn't hurt the blog. the "photographer" is happy. everyone wins.]

I just remembered the last pair of headphones I own - the Sony V6 or MDR-7506. These are the industry standard. Radio Stations, sound studios, and film sets, they all carry the MDR-7506s. They're durable, sharp, accurate headphones. They run at about 100 bucks.

So where do that AiAiAi's stand? Well, so far so good. As for sound, they're okay. They have a monolithic presence. I saw them for the first time 4 months ago and finally gave in today. I'd pay 150 dollars just to display them in my house.

THE ARCADE FIRE. THE SUBURBS.

So here's my latest obsession on iTunes; an indie rockband from Montreal. They've got a really cool sound and each song in the album is completely different from each other - tunes from a rusty music box to a completely electronic sound.

Anyway, put some headphones on and check out the song above. It's totally 80's. Perhaps Blondie inspired?

BRIGHT EYES.

I was fortunate enough to have been shown this by a good friend. I'm not exactly sure why this is not more popular but this is a wonderful song and a beautiful video. There aren't enough videos out there that use real emotion. It'd be impossible to create the chemistry in this video with actors. It's indescribable.

The concept is so simple. I don't want to ruin it. You'll just have to watch it.

UNITING THE WORLD WITH U2ube.

For the first time, YouTube has teamed up with a band to, for lack of a better word "televise," a free concert. This was probably a huge step in music and technology and of course, there's only one band so ahead of the curve: U2. No doubt, with the success of this historic digital event, we will see start to see more concerts online.

The show started with a 30 minute countdown to U2's stage entrance. The growing anticipation, I must admit, definitely added to this virtual concert experience. And then voila, the show began. You probably forget immediately that you're watching it on the internet and believe me, it's something that you have to experience. I found myself singing along with Bono and if I had more space, I probably would've danced. And with all great concerts, I noticed the very familiar exhilaration of hearing great hits.

U2 is probably one of the only bands that can perform for about 2 hours, continuously playing hit after hit. They played such a beautiful and diverse set and as Bono put it "We've got old songs, new songs and songs we can hardly play."

This was truly the cheapest and one of the best concerts I've been to.

FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS.

If you're from New Zealand or Australia, you probably know these guys. Their music is great and the lyrics are hilarious...super creative boys. These guys have become so successful, they now have their own HBO tv series and it's brilliant. It's about them: two innocent kiwi boys struggling to make it in America; and obviously, America is just like New Zealand.

Watch their live material too. It's equally funny.

REAL IS BETTER.

Don't be afraid of small budgets. It gives you an excuse to do something artsy-fartsy, quirky and creative. There's something far more impressive about work without the special fx; I guess it's because you can feel the work put into it.

If the two videos below don't make your jaw drop or make you smile...  I don't know.

THE SINGING, RINGING TREE.

This is one of the coolest art installations I've ever seen. It looks like some alien technology that was left behind in the middle of nowhere! There's not much information on it but from here's what I've gathered so far: The Singing Ringing Tree is designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu. It's 3 meters tall made of steel pipes of varying lengths. The hollow steel pipes allow wind to pass through them creating this eerie but beautiful sound.