I’ve just stumbled across Grooveshark for the first time, and I have to say, I’m impressed! It has an ever-growing user base feeding more and more music into it, which you can pay to download or stream for free, legally. I’ve found it easy to get some great music out of it, and just finished listening throughout all of The Cure - Faith, Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On and Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures without any problems. The biggest issue I’ve had with it so far is that, thanks to badly labelled files being shared, there’s often multiple entries for the same song under the same album. This is easily overcome though - line up each song (I use Wikipedia to get the right tracklisting) and save the album as a playlist on your account and you’ve got a permanent, ordered album to be played whenever.

So far, I think that this must be the best free & legal music source I’ve seen. While Pandora & Last.fm are great for finding new music, Grooveshark gives you quick and easy access to all your favourites, anywhere. Including the entire Broken Social Scene back catalogue. Bonus.

I’ve just stumbled across a page that confirms something I’ve suspected for a long time - many of the best songs of the past century were actually written over 200 years ago. You know when you hear a new song that feels strangely touching and familiar? When you can guess how the next chord will sound before you’ve ever heard it? Well, chances are that song is based on a classical piece that has been subconciously drummed into your head without you even realising. And chances are, that song is Pachelbel’s Canon.

SO many modern songs are based on the chord progression that this piece develops from, many of them abosutely shameless. Have a listen to the following tracks to see what I mean;

“All together now” by The Farm
“Basket Case” by Green Day
“I should be so lucky” by Kylie Minogue
“Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space” by Spritiualized
“Let it be” by The Beatles
“No woman, No cry” by Bob Marley
“Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia
“With or without you” by U2

There’s a fuller list (which I took these examples from) here; though I’m pretty sure that even this isn’t 100% comprehensive, as Coolio’s “C U When U Get There” isn’t included, though it actually uses the exact melody for it’s middle eight. I’m also pretty sure “Fools Rush In” by Elvis (and famously covered by brummy cod-reggae stars UB40) is at least partially based on Canon… Spirtualised segued quite nicely into it to finish “Ladie’s and Gentlemen…” at last year’s Summer Sundae.

I’ve been aware of this for a while now (I think I first picked up on it while listening to “Basket Case”), and it’s obviously not a new phenomenon, but I was surprised to see just how many songs, many of which are now considered ‘classics’ in their own right, are based upon the same tune. I’d be interested in finding out how many other popular songs are really adaptations of popular classical music - Air On The G String would seem suitably melodic, for example.

Rob Paravonians sums it all up in the popular YouTube vid below, and gets a few good laughs at the same time.

Can you think of any other examples on songs based on Canon?

Just been shown this little treat, The SEO Rapper. It’s like Biggie Smalls does Online Marketing.

My favourite has to be Design Coding

“If you have animation, please use in moderation, ‘cos search engines can’t index the information”.

Following on from yesterday’s musical troubles in the office, we’ve taken a different tack today - we’ve gone all 80s! And guess what - everyone loves it. All together now “I just called, to say…”.

Today I’ve been playing a downloaded playlist - “The Top 500 Songs of All Time” through the office speakers. So far I’ve been given funny “what the hell is this and how dare you make me listen to it” looks for “Like a Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan and “Walk the Line” by Johnny Cash. “Stairway to Heaven” just came on and I’m actually worried for my safety.

Jesus wept.

Tonight I took the opportunity to watch Maps live at Manchester’s Roadhouse. I first came across these guys on the indoor stage at this year’s Summer Sundae in Leicester - they blew me away then, and they have since been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, so I figured this would probably be my last chance to see them at a relatively small venue before they go stellar. Read more

Took the chance to go see iLiKETRAiNS at Manchester’s Academy 3 tonight. I was really keen to check these guys out - when I found out they were labelmates (on Beggars Banquet) of The National, a particular favourite of mine, I had a listen to the tunes on their MySpace page and was pretty impressed. As a new band they were playing at the fairly small Academy 3. The ticket was just a few quid so I though, why not? Read more

I decided to check out Air Traffic at Manchester Academy 2 today on something of a whim. I noticed their names in the listings a couple of weeks back after my brother mentioned them as his “new favourite band”, which is always encouraging. I’d heard their biggest single to date “No More Running Away” getting quite a bit of play on the radio recently and quite liked it, but haven’t had a chance to listen through the album yet so was a little unsure. However, after sitting on the fence all week I bit the bullet and ordered a couple of tickets (one for me, one for my girlfriend Helen) this afternoon. Read more