Combine that with all of the changes and increased workload here at Burst, and you get an “I didn’t get around to this post last month” salad. So, in deference to you, dear readers, I will be making this post 2x better than the last Music Supervisor’s Cheat Sheet (which, I’ll be honest, I wrote on the crapper).

Onward and upward!

Suburban Kids with Biblical Names - “Funeral Face”

[See post to listen to audio]

Ok, so this is a no brainer for the indie-centric music supervisor. Imagine Vampire Weekend fronted by a guy who sounds like a cross between Jens Lekman and Stephen Merritt (he of Magnetic Fields and Volvo commercial fame). Did you just get a little turned on? No? Well, then you need to find a new line of work.

The Voluntary Butler Scheme - “Trading Things In”

[See post to listen to audio]

Ramshackle, Elephant 6-aping, and ridiculously catchy. This track says to your consumers “We don’t take ourselves TOO seriously.” Your customers will then respond “The fact that you used this song for your commercial makes me want to buy your product instead of your competitors.” Which is, you know, kind of the idea.

Sam Sparro - “Black & Gold”

[See post to listen to audio]

Aside from this track being inescapably cool, it would probably serve you best if the product you were shilling was mainly comprised of the colors black and gold, and if your core audience were metrosexual, club-going hipsters. I’m looking directly at you, generic energy drink that wishes to crack Red Bull’s hold on the caffeinated alcohol market.

Munk - “Live Fast Die Old (Ed Banger Allstar Mix)”

[See post to listen to audio]

I just really want to hear that freak-fest synth line on broadcast television. Honestly, I have no idea what the phrase “Live Fast, Die Old” could work for… the Lincoln Town Car, perhaps? Somebody use this one, for me.

Blitzen Trapper - “Furr”

[See post to listen to audio]

OK, so hear me out. What the Discovery Channel needs is a show about a baby that is given up at birth to a family of wolves, who raise it as their own. It would totally be better than “Meerkat Manor,” and that show pulls, like, millions of viewers a week (I’m sure there’s research somewhere to support this). This song was made to be the theme song of that show.

Creaky Boards - “Songs I Didn’t Write”

[See post to listen to audio]

For the uninitiated, here’s the back-story :

Coldplay lands the song “Viva La Vida” in an iTunes commercial. A band called Creaky Boards makes a stink about Chris Martin seeing them perform a year earlier, and then lifting one of their melodies. The internet is fired up for 10 minutes, and it all ends in a weary “meh.” What better move for Microsoft to make than to license the Creaky Boards’ song for a Zune commercial? It’s perfect, it’s a way for Microsoft to go to bat for the smaller indie band while Apple courts the stadium fillers. NOT making moves like this is something Bill Gates would do. Steve Ballmer, you’re in charge now, step up to the plate and hit this bastard out of the park!

OK, so I lied, that was only like 1.5x better than the last MSCC. [ms]

First off, the album. Girl Talk is the undisputed world champion of the schizophrenic, yet somehow cohesive, mash-up. “Feed The Animals” is, by any standard, more comprehensive, more varied, and more visceral that “Night Ripper.” The samples fly by with such effortless fluidity, that just as you think “Hey, I love that song!” he has moved on to 3 other songs you love. The result is a masterful, hugely satisfying piece of work.

Now, with that out of the way, I need to separate the music lover in me from the music creator, the one who makes a living through licensed music…

Grapefruit Balls

No one would deny that Girl Talk has got balls the size of grapefruits for suggesting that you should pay HIM for constructing an album completely from unlicensed samples. As an example, I did a quick, and by no means comprehensive, list of the artists sampled in the first 3 tracks (though I’m sure that by the time this is posted, a comprehensive list will be available on Wikipedia).

Play Your Part (pt. 1):

Spencer Davis Group
Pete Townshend
DJ Unk
Twisted Sister
Temple of the Dog
TI
Sinead O’Conner
Jay-Z
DJ Vortex

Shut The Club Down:

Avril LaVigne
Dolla
Butthole Surfers
Rod Stewart
Ahmad
Cool Kids

Still Here:

Procul Harem
Youngbloodz
Blackstreet
Kanye West
The Band
Cassidy
Ace of Base
Fergie
Kenny Loggins
Salt ‘N Pepa
Beastie Boys
Cat Stevens

Impressive? Absolutely.

Illegal and insulting? Well, yeah, that too.

Opting To Pay $0.00

Knowing, to a certain extent, what I was going to get, I chose to pay nothing, and was greeted with this screen:

To its credit, there is, to my mind, no judgement here, just an attempt to gather information. That said, I’m going to go over the choices, and the reasons for my choice.

I may donate later
Well, yes, but not by buying an album. When Girl Talk comes to town, I will be front and center, all sweaty and such.

I can’t afford to pay
If I couldn’t afford a dollar, I would hope that I would be working instead of obsessing over a blog post.

I don’t really like Girl Talk
OK, this one made me laugh.

I don’t believe in paying for music
If you’ve read any of my posts, you’ll know this is not the case.

I have already purchased this album
Um…. no.

I don’t value music made from sampling
Absolutely not the case. There is value in all music. Which is exactly my point. By not using licensed samples, Girl Talk is devaluing the very music he thrives on.

I am part of the press, radio, or music industry
Well, yeah, kinda, but that doesn’t entitle me to anything.

Other reasons
I would have preferred a box here that allowed my to explain my “other reasons”. It would have gone something like this:

Like I’ve said, brilliant album, talented artist, important work of art, terribly indecent piece of commerce. I wish him best and hope he finds a way to make more music, which I will, no doubt, listen to and enjoy. However, I refuse to be complicit in a musical black market. [ms]

Stock image juggernaut Getty Images (which also offers ‘indie’ stock music through their acquisition of Pump Audio last year) has introduced an web-based search engine that finds license-ready images and production music based on your mood, called Moodstream.

Seems like a great idea. Just sayin’… [ms]

The Hype Machine is an online music blog aggregator that surfs the web for blogs sharing (for the most part) illegal MP3s. Users then listen to the MP3s, and download them if they wish. It is a portal into a world that major labels tend to look the other way on, a world of sharing copy-written material for free in the name of “promotion.” Not that I’m against it, mind you, it’s a tremendously valuable music discovery tool.

Image via WikipediaViacom is a multinational media conglomerate who’s holdings include Paramount, Dreamworks, MTV, VH1, CMT, and Comedy Central. They have reportedly offered to buy The Hype Machine for $10M.

What is the end-game in this crazy time of media moguls snapping up music sites for insane chunks of change? Where are the profits going to come from? And don’t lay that tired “advertising revenue” smack on me. Does nobody remember the first dotcom boom and subsequent bust? Huge corporations don’t make something cool, they co-opt it, suck the cool out, and serve the reheated leftovers.

Somebody please make this make sense to me - obviously Viacom can’t openly endorse a service that shares (or promotes the sharing of) copy-written material, so in buying it, wouldn’t they have to change it? And if the strategy is to pay $10M for an architecture that you can fill with your own content, it perfectly illustrates the erroneous mindset of the modern music industry. Jesus, spend half that much and MAKE YOUR OWN DAMN THING. You cannot tell me that you couldn’t have a team of programmers whip up a site that aggregates content from multiple other sites for less than 10 million dollars.

Is it the built-in traffic? I’m sure that Hype Machine gets a significant amount of traffic daily, but guess what? Once Viacom strips away what’s there and installs its own ass-backwards system of ad-supported DRM-laden offerings, that glorious traffic they are so enamored of AIN’T COMIN’ BACK. In fact, in this day and age, what will happen is somebody else will build a newer and better site that does what the old Hype Machine did, get all of the traffic that is no longer going to Hype Machine, and then get bought out by Viacom, who were wondering why all of their Hype Machine traffic left.

The spiral that started with Napster is getting tighter and faster. I wish I could offer a solution, friends, but that’s the scariest part… so far, nobody’s got one. I only know that this isn’t it. [ms]

Well, we’ve been absent lately. Mysteriously invisible.

If you had gotten used to the regular music updates and occasional email newsletters, well, there was a good reason we’ve been practically off the grid for the past few months :

We’ve joined forces with Extreme Music - “the undisputed masters of production music” - part of the legendary Sony/ATV music publishing empire.

We love their attitude, dig their vibe, and are absolutely jacked that they believed in our production music and ideas and brand enough to write us a fat check - and as we’ve often said “It’s easy to say you’ll never sell out when no one’s making any offers.” Well, we definitely never said we wouldn’t sell out, and someone made an offer. So there we are.

In all seriousness, this is a deal made for reasons way beyond the immediate financial impact. We have long wanted to partner with a company who Gets It in the biggest possible way, one who was also willing to put their money where their mouth was - who would put as much effort and love into the promotion and marketing aspects of this business as we do in the writing, performing, and production of the music.

There are some exciting things planned for this new venture - a full announcement should be coming next week - but it’s safe to say that with the worldwide team at Extreme Music and Sony/ATV heading up the marketing, promotion, distribution and sales, and with our team here at Burst being freed up to concentrate solely on writing and producing great music, the best is yet to come. Stay tuned!

A note to our current clients - watch your email later today for details on how we’re planning on making sure you are taken care of during this transition period. Thank you so much for being our friends and fans for this past year! We’re stoked to get back to making more killer music for you guys ASAP.

I like to think of myself as the production music world’s Sally Struthers… if I help just one person, it will all have been worth it.

Alphabeat - “Fascination”

[See post to listen to audio]

I would buy anything from a company that seduced me with this song. It’s one of those songs you want to feel superior to, but then find yourself singing it in the shower.

Walter Meego - “Girls”

[See post to listen to audio]

Just reeks of a montage of nerdy boys attempting to make themselves desirable to attractive girls. Perhaps one of them find success by dousing himself in a quart of Axe Body Spray (hint, hint)?

Does Offend You, Yeah? - “We Are Rockstars”

[See post to listen to audio]

Part hipster dance jam, part vocoded Daft Punk-y rave-up, this seems suited for some tech company that doesn’t mind to loosen its tie a little and bang the hell out of a cowbell.

Plastic Operator - “The Pleasure Is Mine”

[See post to listen to audio]

(a phone rings)
Daughter: Hello?
Dad: It’s Dad. How is school going?
Daughter: It’s hard being away from all of my friends.
Dad: Well maybe this will help you make new friends. Look outside.
(Daughter looks outside, Dad is standing there in front of an Audi TT convertible. There is a bow on it.)
VO: Audi… make people like you.

The Aluminum Group - “Headphones”

[See post to listen to audio]

The repeated use of the word “headphones” somehow evokes an image of someone walking around, wearing headphones. Perhaps the headphones improve this person outlook on life, turning everyday mundanities into quirky little dance sequences. Perhaps.

The Ting Tings - “Great DJ (IDC Rerub)”

[See post to listen to audio]

A feel good club song with a party theme. Catchy-as-herpes chorus featuring girls and handclaps, plus very few lyrics, so as not to confuse people.

El Debarge - “Who’s Johnny”

[See post to listen to audio]

OK, I issue this one with a challenge. With the news that the greatest robot-feels-up-Ally-Sheedy movie ever made is going to be remade, my hope is that El Debarge’s paean to early-stage Alzheimer’s will find its way back into cultural ubiquity. You could get in on the ground floor with this one. Don’t waste an opportunity here.

And here’s another way we’d love to help… if you end up using any of these tracks in your projects, drop us a line and we’ll post the results here. [ms]

Last week brought the news of the relaunch of Peter Gabriel’s TheFilter.com, a service that vows to ‘filter all online media habits… and offer advice about all of their entertainment and information options.’

This got me thinking about what I like…

With sites like TheFilter, Pandora, Last.fm, Myspace, TheSixtyOne, Virb, Mog and FameCast all vying to be the number one purveyor of the things you like, in the end, what’s the point? If the things you like are the same things everybody else likes, won’t all the sites end up looking the same? And if you tend to like things that aren’t as popular with other people, it’s all just a vain effort.

I Haven’t Heard Of Your Band, Nor Do I Want To

I have accounts at MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pandora, Virb, Muxtape, TheSixtyOne, and many more that I probably forgot about a day after signing up. There is 1 band that I discovered directly from any of them (and it was Pandora). That band is Architecture in Helsinki, and they’re awesome. But think about that - every friend request from some shitty metal band, every deep cut on my Postal Service Pandora channel, every Tumblr post featuring some live video of some band - they’re all pointless.

I can’t stand that Pandora puts a limit on how many tracks I can skip (I know, it’s not their fault, but it still cripples the service they’re trying to offer).

I don’t listen to bands on MySpace because, chances are, they’re not very good, and I don’t have the will or patience to pull weeds.

Coincidentally, if you put any stock in the number of plays a band has, you’re being seriously snookered. Wired is reporting that TuneBoom Pro has been making money off of major labels by artificially inflating the play counts of artists, to the tune of $747 per every 300K plays. Payola for the social-networking set, and it’s absolutely meaningless.

Is My Time More Valuable Than Your Music?

I get that I’m not normal - I don’t have the same knowledge, or appetite, or technical savvy of the “average joe” - but I am pretty similar to the average Idolator commenter, or Tumblr user. Are there enough of us to create revenue for every single “music recommendation” start-up that cons a venture capitalist (whether CEO’d by Jakob Lodwick or not), or are we all getting a little sick of it as well?

Personally I’m torn, because while I get tired of waiting for the next big thing, my job requires that I be at least somewhat familiar with the current landscape, both musical and technical. I sign up for accounts, receive the invariable underwhelm-ment, and never visit again.

Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe we expect something that a web page could never deliver. The MySpace and Facebook experiences, say what you will about them, but they are what they are because of the time spent developing their respective environments. Pandora is what it is because of the time spent teaching it who you are, and frankly, I just don’t want to invest more of my time. I already waste too much time with Peel.

Peel, if you’re not familiar, is basically an aggregator for music blogs - a sort of software Hype Machine. It scans all of the blogs you’re following and looks for any new MP3s at the site, which you can then preview and download. Great, right? Well, there are currently 383 songs I have yet to listen to… since yesterday.

The Only Filter Worth a Damn is You

The fact is, there will always be more bad music than good, and by extension, more songs you don’t want to listen to on whatever music recommendation site you use than song you do. Furthermore, the fact that I like “Sunday Bloody Sunday” doesn’t mean I’m willing to sit through Zooropa, and the fact the I enjoy Bright Eyes doesn’t mean I’ll dig just any guy with a shitty voice and guitar. The intangibles in human taste are what make everybody’s different, and are why I can’t believe anyone can write a line of code that accurately deciphers them. The only filter I trust is me, and I just don’t have the mojo to keep up. [ms]

According to Phonopolis:

Stores would stock a larger number of codes than they would CDs (they would of course still stock CDs). They would not immediately pay for these codes, however. The lack of immediate cost, and small amount of space that these codes would take would allow small record stores to carry a wider selection of stock and larger numbers of individual titles. The stores would validate the mp3 codes at the point of sale. During the validation process (which would be on a distributor or label website), the store would pay for the product.

Sure, it sounds all kumbaya and stuff, but it overlooks one very important distinction, in my opinion :

There is a divide in the music marketplace nowadays, and it’s not just between the people who buy music and the people who steal it. It is between the people who will leave their house to get music and the people who won’t.

Phonopolis argues that the allure of a record store lies in “talking with someone who is knowledgeable and enthusiastic about music.” Ostensibly, it is worth my time to get in my car, drive to the record shop, talk to the clerk and see what he’s digging, pay for a code that will allow me to download an album, drive home, get back on my computer, enter the code, and download the album.

I call bullshit.

In a significantly shorter amount of time, I can IM 4 or 5 friends and ask their opinion, read 10 reviews, listen to samples of each song on the album, and buy it.

I also can’t imagine an MP3 download being cheaper at a record store than it is online, as there still needs to be a cut for the physical intermediary (the record store), as there is for the digital intermediary (iTunes, Amazon, etc.).

And, not to be a total stick in the mud, need we really encourage people to drive their gas-guzzlers additional atmosphere-clogging miles just to get something they can get in their living room?

Sorry, Phonopolis, epic FAIL. [ms]

Idolator is being snapped up by Buzznet, the same company that recently purchased Stereogum and is being bankrolled by the Universal Music Group.

Denton reported via an internal memo (which he suggested be leaked) that the three websites accounted for only 3% of total Gawker Media web traffic, and would all have better prospects selling advertising elsewhere.

I’m not a big fan of Idolator being tied to UMG, but wish good luck to Maura and the rest. I’d like to hear Idolator’s response to this news. [ms]

May I just say, from an advertising perspective, what a stroke of genius this is?

The fact that the show will be a nationally televised commercial for anyone willing to pony up the dough, with people literally competing over how best to tell the world about how inexplicably wonderful that company is, well, that’s why Mark Burnett is a millionaire and you’re not.

And if anyone can figure out where they’re casting, give us a head’s up. [ms]

(via Reuters)

More than likely, you’ve heard of the dubiously legal online mixtape creation tool, Muxtape. If not, well, you need to get out less.

The site, in all of its 2.0-tastic glory, is the perfect vehicle for the budding Lester Bangs of the world to create the blogger-friendliest of blogger-friendly playlists full of songs they have not listened to all the way through, preferring to take Pitchfork’s word for it. Ryan Catbird, of music blog Catbirdseat offers his take on the scene-and-be-scene at his Muxtape.

In the interest of full disclosure, we thought it would be interesting to post our own Muxtapes (isn’t the prevailing attitude toward arbitrarily supplementing the English language amazing these days?). No artifice, embarrassment, or posturing allowed, just the cold, ugly face of our own personal music tastes :

MUXTAPE by Matt

MUXTAPE by Daniel

MUXTAPE by Kyle

Here are some of my current favorites:

She & Him - “Sentimental Heart”

[See post to listen to audio]

Need a cool, indie-credible chanteuse a la Apple? Lo-fi vibe and a classical string section? Actress Zooey Deschanel and indie demi-god M. Ward team up as She & Him.

PNAU - “Baby (Breakbot Remix)”

[See post to listen to audio]

Has all of the elements that made “D.A.N.C.E.” what it was. ‘Nuff said.

Grand Archives - “Miniature Birds”

[See post to listen to audio]

It’s hard to listen to this song and not think of the VW logo. Use their carefully crafted aesthetic against them.

The Most Serene Republic - “Sherry and her Butterfly Net”

[See post to listen to audio]

So your client says to you: “What I want is Death Cab for Cutie, but less expensive.”

Holy F**k - “Lovely Allen”

[See post to listen to audio]

It’s like that scene in Say Anything where John Cusack holds the boombox over his head, only instead of trying to woo Ione Skye, he’s trying to mount Regine Chassagne.

If you end up using any of these tracks in your projects, drop us a line and we’ll post the results here. [ms]

Clever, well-thought, and perfectly executed. The kind of thing that makes you think “man, I wish I’d thought of that.” F’n brilliant. Kudos to M&C Saatchi. [ms]

video after the jump

Guy Kawasaki’s latest venture, the news aggregator AllTop, is in beta right now.

AllTop is a sexy-fied RSS reader, broken into categories that cater to the Gawker set (of which we wish we were cool enough to be associated with). It will, I’m sure, quickly become my go-to site every morning, as I scan the internet for Domo-kun porn and the occasional bit of breaking news.

In related exciting news, the Burst Labs blog has been selected as one of the trusted purveyors of music industry news on AllTop’s Music feed. If there was ever a reason to step our game up, I think this is it.

It is extremely humbling and exhilarating to even be considered in the same universe as such giants as Stereogum, Coolfer, Hypebot, The Kings of A&R, and hopefully, soon enough, Idolator (hint, hint)… we promise we won’t let it go to our heads. [ms]

Blue Note records just released “Droppin’ Science: Great Samples from the Blue Note Lab,” a collection of cuts that have been sampled by hip-hop producers.

Albums like this have always confused me.

There’s always been a strange disconnect between labels and sampling artists. For the longest time, sampling was seen as a crutch, an easy way out. Perhaps it’s a sea change in attitude, but it strikes me as disingenuous to now celebrate what was once criticized, just because it has become financially viable. Especially when the artists that were criticized and belittled for the sampling (A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul) are now being used to help sell the label’s back catalog.

Where’s the love for expending effort?

Of course, this has always been an artistic justification for sampling. The idea that hearing ATCQ’s “Electric Relaxation” would get you to dig, and consequently go out and buy, an old Ronnie Foster album has long been a rallying cry of sampling artists.

I can’t even count the number of times I have discovered an artist through the songs that have sampled them, from Donny Hathaway to Roy Ayers to Rahsaan Roland Kirk. That’s part of the fun, I think.

When I see compilations like “Droppin’ Science,” it seems too easy to me, all pre-packaged and remastered. It’s too clean, too convenient. Even in this age of torrents and mp3 blogs, there is an element of search and discovery to sampling- the same ears are needed, they just have so many more places to listen.

Snob does not equal Purist

I’m not a purist. I don’t go to my local record store and flip through aisle after endless aisle of vinyl. It’s just not the way I work, but my own personal sample collection is the result of hours upon hours upon hours of searching, chatting, posting, downloading, buying, and trading.

Do I feel superior to someone who buys “Droppin’ Science,” grabs the same sample the Beastie Boys used on “Sure Shot,” and makes a new track out of it?

Well, honestly… yeah, a little.

Who does this compilation serve?

The rather redundant thing about the disc is that anyone who is at all serious about sampling has got all of the tracks on it anyway. Any sample-based hip-hop producer worth his salt has got his library stocked with enough David Axelrod, Donald Byrd, Lou Donaldson, and Grant Green to choke a mule. I’m just not sure of the market for it.

The other thing that strikes me is how it is nearly impossible now to separate the original from the song that sampled it, almost to the original’s detriment. Try to listen to the first few bars of “The Edge” by David Axelrod without expecting it to launch into Dr. Dre’s “The Next Episode”… for me, at least, it is nearly impossible.

Droppin’ Science tracks + sampling artists

For those of you that are curious, here is the track-list (I took the liberty of adding some of the songs that sampled each track). It’s basically a Tribe Called Quest mixtape :

1. Lou Donaldson - “It’s Your Thing”

Brand Nubian - “Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down”
De La Soul - “Bitties In The BK Lounge”
The Roots - “It’s Comin”

2. Ronnie Foster - “Mystic Brew”

A Tribe Called Quest - “Electric Relaxation”
A Tribe Called Quest - “Stressed Out”

3. Donald Byrd - “Think Twice”

A Tribe Called Quest - “Footprints”
De La Soul - “Simply Havin”
Peanut Butter Wolf - “Don’t Turn Back”

4. David McCallum/David Axelrod - “The Edge”

DJ Shadow - “Dark Days”
Dr. Dre - “The Next Episode”

5. “Brother” Jack McDuff - “Oblighetto”

A Tribe Called Quest - “Scenario”
Ugly Duckling - “Oasis”

6. Joe Williams - “Get Out Of My Life, Woman”

Big Daddy Kane - “Very Special”
Biz Markie - “Funk Is Back”
Kool G Rap - “Ill Street Blues”

7. Grant Green - “Down Here On The Ground”

A Tribe Called Quest - “Vibes And Stuff”
Cypress Hill - “Stoned Is The Way Of The Walk”
Pete Rock & CL Smooth - “Act Like You Know”

8. Lonnie Smith - “Spinning Wheel”

A Tribe Called Quest - “Buggin Out”
A Tribe Called Quest - “Can I Kick It?”
Erick Sermon - “Hostile”
Run-DMC - “Come On Everybody”

9. Jeremy Steig - “Howling For Judy”

Beastie Boys - “Sure Shot”

10. Lou Donaldson - “Who’s Making Love”

A Tribe Called Quest - “Hot Sex”
De La Soul - “Once Again Strong Island”
Notorious BIG - “One More Chance”

11. Ronnie Laws - “Tidal Wave”

A Tribe Called Quest - “The Love”
Quasimoto - “Return of the Loop Digga”

12. Monk Higgins - “Little Green Apples”

GangStarr - “Code of the Streets”

13. Donald Byrd - “Wind Parade”

Black Eyed Peas f. De La Soul - “Cali to New York”
Tupac - “Definition of a Thug Nigga”

Obligatory recapitulation of the pertinent points

I am, as I said, confused by this album, but perhaps I am extolling way too large a proportion of my own preferences and biases on what, on the outset, is a collection of really good music from Blue Note… but I’m Matt, and that’s what I do. The content is solid, it’s the medium that throws me for a loop. [ms]

P.S.- Good on ya, John Stewart, for letting Marketa come back out to finish her acceptance speech. [ms]

The award presentation will be held as part of the SXSW Interactive Conference & Festival March 7-11 in Austin, TX, and we get a ticket and festival pass as an award nominee.

As luck would have it, I just canceled my reservations for this years SXSW Music Festival due to all of the projects on our production schedule here at Burst. But our kickass designer, JD Hooge of Gridplane, will not be able to attend and offered his invitation to me… maybe I’ll have to rethink my travel plans for March if enough of our friends and fans vote for Burst Labs as the People’s Choice Award winner. Hint, hint.

Hey, congratulations to JD and our website’s programming guru, David Knape of Bumpslide. We all have our fingers crossed for you guys! [dh]

We’re super stoked to finally announce the long-awaited upgrade to our main project : the Burst Labs site for music discovery and licensing.

It’s taken us a bit longer than we’d hoped, but we really wanted to get you some of the most requested tweaks and didn’t want to compromise on our normal music production. So, after spending the past few months in furious emails back and forth with our web development team, here’s a quick hit list of what’s changed (some of these are covered in the preview video we’ve posted below) :

• new Home Page
• new About section (including FAQ, Credits, etc.)
• new Navigation bar
• Log Out displays currently signed-in account
• more Recent items at Home Page
• all submission forms (Log In, Send To Friend, License This Track, etc.) are now in Flash
• expanded live area for previewing Petri Dish tracks in Audio Player
• Audio Player keeps track of recently played tracks
• tracks that have already been played are darkened in Petri Dish
• new Track Details layout
• Track Durations (Time) now in list and detail views
• Downloads dialog in Flash lists all available formats, stems and edits (coming soon)
• License Track form allows for multiple tracks in one submission form
• new All Compilations view

Enjoy the walkthrough video below… after 5 or 6 aborted takes I decided to just play it loose and left a few goofs in there (I wasn’t logged in when I attempted to show the new License This Track pop up - just one example!).

And much, much more planned for very soon. First comment below is a list of some of the features we have in the works already, but we absolutely want to know what all of you would like to see… drop us a comment (or an email) and we’ll get to it.

Thanks! [dh]

We’ll have to send any potential Valentine’s Day suitors over there, too, as we’ve been absolutely swamped with music production (and edits and artwork and mixes and plans…) and won’t have time this afternoon to try to top our Huey-Lewis-Tupac-Shakur themed promo from last year.

But hey… hugs, kisses and chocolate from all of us at The Burst Collective! [dh]

I have come to realize that I tend to err on the side of crotchetiness on this blog. While that attitude is sometimes completely valid, it makes me seem like an angry young man, which I don’t believe I am. In that light, I am going to run down for you the things I liked about, well, an otherwise lackluster Grammy celebration.

Now, I know, the Grammys mean about as much to a musician as, well, the American Music Awards mean to a musician, but with a lot of money and a halfway decent reputation, you’d think anyone could put on a semi-entertaining show.

Anyways, here are my highlights.

Kanye West f. Daft Punk - Stronger

Two words : Rock. Star.

These days, people use the term Rock Star when they refer to such luminaries as Daughtry, or Jon Bon Jovi, or Chad Kroger of Nickelback (who felt so desperately the need to associate himself with the term he wrote a song about it). To me, nobody embodies the braggadocio, swagger, posturing, and magnetism of the term more than Kanye West. He is the rock star personified. To watch this clip is to watch someone at the top of their game, someone who knows what the crowd wants before they do, and who gives it to them in the most entertaining way possible.

(Quick aside: Daft Punk, in their first national television performance, gave me a new fetish object, the JazzMutant Lemur, which has to be the sexiest control surface in existence. Thanks to MusicThing for pointing it out.)

Feist - 1234

Usually, when the Grammys stage an “intimate” performance, it is code for “Beyonce’s only gonna use 5 background dancers in this one.” What Feist accomplished was to seem both out of place and at home. It was like she knew Steve Jobs was responsible for her appearance, yet she also knew she deserved all the accolades she’s gotten. All the little touches, from the twee brass band to the accidental feedback at the very end, gave the awards just the slightest touch of indie sloppiness, in a totally network-approved manner.

Alicia Keys - No One

So many things going against this one.

Has Alicia Keys received massive boosts to her career by Clive Davis juju? Absolutely.

Was the keyboard positioned out on the catwalk - the one that Alicia played exactly 5 notes on - unnecessary? Sure.

Does John Mayer think that if he doesn’t show off his chops in front of large audiences regularly we’ll only remember him for “Daughters”? Apparently.

But holy shit, what a song.

will.i.am - Grammy History

Seriously, I started this post with the best of intentions, and I really did love the three previous performances, but what the hell was this? Is this what happens when the writers have little to no time to prepare? Give them their friggin’ money, if only so we never have to see “Professor” will.i.am parading his weak dog and pony show on live television again. Note to aspiring MCs: If you have to repeat a lame phrase 3 times just to fill out a verse, YOU HAVE NOTHING IMPORTANT TO SAY. That is all.

Ok, back to the positive place. Aside from the 3 great performances above and a surprisingly good showing by Amy Winehouse (surprising in that she sang well, remained upright, and kept the crazy crack moves to a minimum) The Grammys weren’t that bad… I guess. That’s positive…. right? [ms]