As exciting and nostalgic as chiptune music can be, it’s also a difficult genre to translate into live performance. Usually created with trackers and software sequencers, chiptunes are not easily played on traditional instruments. A new organ dubbed ‘The Chipophone ‘, though, helps 8-bit artists compose and perform in a more visceral manner, and may provide a new palate of sounds for musicians of all genres. The Chipophone... 

Daft Punk, the French house-music duo of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, are almost as famed for their masked appearances as they are for their music. Their gold and silver helmets, ablaze with blinking patterns of multi-colored LCD lights, have long been a source for cosplay inspiration. However, this recently finished replica of de Homem-Christo’s helmet may take the prize as the best rendition yet. The helmet was a... 

At a recently opened Burger King in Japan, customers can get a Whopper, french fries, a Coke and a shower, too — not the wet and naked kind, but a “musical shower,” designed to drench your newly sated ears in delicious sounds. According to Engadget, certain booths at Japanese BKs feature docks for your iPod and a clear, bowl-shaped speaker hanging above the table. As a result, your personalized tunes rain down on your table... 

Marching bands don’t exactly enjoy a “cool guy” rep as it is, so you’d think that throwing on guido tracksuits and dropping synth-heavy beats would doom band members to an eternity of after-school beatdowns. Somehow, though, against all cliquish odds, Nomadic Sound Systems from the U.K.’s Royal College of Art makes it work . Directed by Benjamin Newland, the group attempts to “open up new possibilities for... 

In an rare interview granted to The Daily Mirror published earlier today, Prince declares: The internet’s completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it. The internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good.... 

Spotify, the jukebox-in-the-cloud which is still not available in the US has been updated to work with iOS4. This adds several new features, but the game-changer is that it can now run in the background, replacing the iPod app almost completely. Spotify is a free, ad-supported or paid application for Mac, PC, iOS, Symbian and Android which lets you play any music in the catalog as if it were iTunes. Unlike Pandora, the US-only music streaming... 

Perhaps no art form has remained more consistently at the vanguard of technology’s advance than music. And we’re not talking about this ridiculousness , either. By the time bands like Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer totally freaked out the youth of the ’70s, those bizarro synth sounds had already been used to much fuller, and weirder, effect nearly 20 years prior — back when …  Read More →

To most of us, the notion of “paying for music” sounds a lot like the notion of “bipartisan agreement”; it’s a quaint idea, but it’s also kind of a pipe dream. Yet one company, apparently unconvinced that people like getting things for free, is launching a new music service, specifically designed for those YouTubers looking for legal thrills. Rumblefish’s Friendly Music allows users to select from over... 

What’s more fun than a site that turns your name to an anagram ? Why a site that turns your website into a tune , of course. Code Organ ’s appeal is simple and so is the interface. Paste your url (or any url for that matter) into the site and the organ generates a unique tune based on the code. Fa. La. La. Do you have an interesting website you want to share? Join the Website of the Day group and share it for a chance to be featured... 

Back when MTV actually played music videos, the network created an entirely new job title called the ‘Veejay.’ Basic requirements to fulfill the job included good looks, an ability to read cue cards, and a willingness to accept your inevitable irrelevance within three years. But now that MTV has become less music and more television, network execs have decided to reprise the media personality once again — by introducing something... 

Back in May, we reported on rumors that ‘Rock Band 3′ might include a keytar peripheral and a mysterious new “Pro Mode.” Today’s official announcement clarified details on the next generation of everyone’s favorite party game, arriving later this year. Pro gamers willing to shell out $150 can get a Mad Catz Fender Mustang peripheral loaded up with 102 buttons, 17 frets and six pluckable nylon strings, all... 

By Andrew Liszewski Rhythm and pattern games seem to still be all the rage, but before there was Guitar Hero and Rock Band , way back in the early 80’s there was Simon. And as far as I can tell, Mattel’s Loopz seems to be an attempt to rekindle the popularity of Simon by making it appeal to today’s kids who are used to all kinds of high-techery. Simon’s colored light-up pads have been replaced by half-circles with motion... 

Apple is busy putting finishing touches on an incremental iTunes update that will accompany iPhone 4 and iOS 4, to be launched later this month. According to the reports based on a developer build of the software, iTunes 9.2 will feature support for Apple’s new iPhone hardware, as well as the capabilities of the upcoming  Read More →

Filed under: iTunes Apple’s iTunes music service has strengthened its lead in the US music market , growing to a whopping 26.7% of all music sold in the States, up from 21% a few years ago and 12% in 2007. That’s pretty phenomenal growth, buoyed almost certainly by the rising share of digital music versus brick and mortar stores. Digital purchases make up 35.5% of music bought here, also up from 31% the last time Billboard released... 

Filed under: App Review “Lace up your shoes (oh, ay, oh, ay!) / Here’s how we do / Run baby run / Don’t ever look back” Are you like me? Do you like the running? Do you like running with your iPhone? I love to run, and I need music. Just the right song can turn a mediocre run into something transcendental. But what was it that separated the motivating songs from the energy-sapping ones? Turns out, it’s at least...