There’s a lovely, casual, in-studio performance from my old faves dios (malos) over at this new site, Groupee.com. Also worth noting is that there’s a “Tour EP” circulating now that seems to combine their 2006 iTunes-only Album EP with a few additional tracks (”Ghetto Bird,” “Some Alcohol,” and “Dumb After All”). It’s supposedly to be released as a 12″ by Recess Records at some point, but I can’t find any confirmation, so who knows. For now, use your Google skills.

[N]umber one hit selling artist [T-Pain] announced the creation of Nappy Boy Digital, an independent record label for distributing music primarily via the Web.

“My life and career so far has been about breaking barriers and this label allows me to continue that by delivering hit songs in real time, no red tape, just good music,” said T-Pain. “You’ll hear us in the clubs and on radio too, but you can discover our tracks where people spend most of their time, online. I’m very proud to be out front on an idea like this.”

I just want to see the Hype Williams-directed Nappy Boy videos featuring rappers showing off their blinged-out server farms and tech support guys swigging Cristal.

via Mashable

I was on the White Whale Myspace listening to that Adam Franklin track, and then this track came on, and I was all like “whoa.”

It’s from the self-titled release on White Whale from Culture Reject, and I can already tell it’s destined to be on repeat here all afternoon.

On 7/29, White Whale Records is releasing a limited edition Adam Franklin (Swervedriver) / Handsome Furs split 7-inch. Each artist is covering the other, and while the Handsome Furs track hasn’t been announced yet (fingers crossed for “Rave Down”), Adam Franklin’s cover of (Wolf Parade’s) “Shine A Light” is currently streaming on Myspace, and available on iTunes as an mp3.

Yet the more I listened to the likes of Pandora.com, Last.fm, Slacker.com and all manner of music blogs and Web radio, the more I heard the sound of automation — sleek, efficient recommendation engines scientifically selecting the music I am most likely to like, yet missing out almost on what radio once offered: a glimpse into the hearts and passions of personalities who knew what music was new and cool, voices that offered a guided tour of unknown worlds, and sometimes even a frontal assault of the unexpected.

Ideally, he wouldn’t have to include “(music) blogs” in that statement, but sadly, he’s right.

Tomorrow night, 6/6, come out to the Knitting Factory and catch James Ausfahrt, aka sax/keyboardist for Love Is All, aka Åke from most-beloved Catbird Records alumnus Hemstad. It will certainly turn out to be an enjoyably bizarre and bizarrely enjoyable evening, as the show also features MC Paul Barman, Bunnybrains, The Shalitas, Andrew Thompson, DJ Thanksgiving Brown, and the legendary Gary Wilson.

I’m not sure you can consider yourself a true music writer in 2008 until you’ve written all of the following:

• The Death of the Album?
• Downloads: Harmful or Helpful?
• Music Blogs: The Next Record Labels
• Vinyl Is Back!

You ever wished someone would combine the massive time-sucking hole that is Twitter with a streaming music player? That’s right– now, instead of just having access to people’s egotistical and banal tossed-off thoughts, you can also get immediate streaming access to that Cut Copy remix they’ve been listening to. Fuzz.com unveils its new “Blip” service.

As a guy who has, for many years, kept one foot firmly planted in the Music sphere, and the other foot firmly planted in the Tech sphere, I can’t help but feel like my worlds are colliding when Tunecore gets into a fight with Michael Arrington.

Techcrunch: Tunecore Tells Us Where We Can Shove It