Bandcamp

There is no doubt Myspace has helped bands and musicians promote themselves in a huge way. It's a quick and easy way to set up a website. But there is one problem with it... it is a horrible "website". It's slow, messy and their music player just downright sucks. This is why I love Bandcamp. Bandcamp let's you create a free, clean, very custom mini-site without all the ads and extra junk. Among many other features Bandcamp allows you to upload your music, set a cost and sell your music at different bit rates, see statistics on who is linking and listening to your music and much more. Viewers can also quickly share a track on Facebook, Myspace or blog. Making it very easy for others to promote your music for you. If it sounds simple, well, it is. It's the perfect quick solution for promoting your music. Check out the screencast for more info.

Le Castle Vania - The Messiah

As you know I am a big fan of Le Castle Vania. As I have said before he is consistently putting out good track after good track. His latest collaboration with Computer Club is a rework of the Drum N Bass anthem called "The Messiah" by Konflict. I applaud them for stepping out on a limb and trying a new sound for what makes a great dance floor banger.

MP3 :: Le Castle Vania + Computer Club - The Messiah (Radio Edit)

Quality of Content VS Amount of Content

I have a quick question for you readers out there. I have been questioning the format of this blog and would like your input. Would you prefer more posts per day, with less written content and links to info? Or do you like the format now where there are one to two posts per day with a semi-in-depth writeup on the topic of the post?

Please vote for which format you would prefer. Thanks for reading, your help and input.

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Remix Rush :: Hey Girl, Hey Boy

Soulwax is making quite the buzz lately. Blog readers everywhere were nearly peeing their pants with anticipation for the release of the Soulwax remix of MGMT's "Kids". This is really nothing new though. Remixes of The Gossip's "Standing in the Way of Control" and Klaxon's "Gravity's Rainbow" will go down as some of my favorite remixes of all time. Now they have released the remix of Chemical Brothers' track "Hey Boy, Hey Girl that is just amazing. The gritty baseline in this remix is enough to make the hairs on the back on your neck stand up. I can only imagine what it would be like to see Soulwax live and listen to them perform these remixes they are putting out.

MP3 :: Chemical Brothers - Hey Boy, Hey Girl (Soulwax Remix)
(Bonus) MP3 :: MGMT - Kids (Soulwax Remix)

PleaseDressMe

Despite the overly bubbly/cutesy logo, the concept behind PleaseDressMe is a great one. PleaseDressMe is a search engine designed specifically for t-shirts. The site allows you to search different tees according to color, price, keywords, tags and will also select random tees if you'd like. They have also developed a Firefox plug-in so you can easily access their search. It's a really good concept, I hope the quality of their results improves and grows. At the moment you get a lot of "College Humor" type results, but I think this will quickly change.

Blood is the New Black

When it comes to graphic tees I am all about simplicity. I really like the combination of simple shapes and good colors. Blood is the New Black has a bunch of designs by a bunch of different designers that fall into this category. I am also always down to support a small company that prices their product at a reasonable cost. Many of the shirts over at Blood is the New Black are under $25, and they are having a sale right now! I am excited to see future work from featured artists at this label.

Simplify Media

Simplify Media is a free, and legal service that makes it possible for you to stream your music library over a private network of people. Just download the Simplify Media application and follow a small setup wizard. Invite friends to your limited network and they are then able to view and listen to your music library. This is also very handy if you are away from your home library, say at work, and you want access to all of your music. The service is available for Mac and Windows, and they even have an iPhone/iPod Touch app.

Viva Radio

Sometimes listening to my iTunes playlists or library just isn't doesn't do it for me. I enjoy the surprise of not knowing what track is coming up next, which is why I listen to Last.fm, or the recently "rediscovered" Viva-Radio. I say "rediscovered" because I first found this website a couple years ago, and found it again after I heard it playing at an American Apparel store. Viva-Radio plays an eclectic mix of music and feature various contributors who's mixes you can listen to on demand. They also offer a stand alone player that you can download and and play from your desktop.

Popdeck Stores

Awhile back I posted about a website called Bountee, Popdeck is a very similar site only it's for skateboards. Basically Popdeck allows you to setup an online store using their website, upload your graphics to be printed on skate decks and then sold through the store you setup with them. You are able to set your own pricing for your skate decks, and any decks sold over $30 is split 50/50 with Popdeck. You can also print and sell your own wheels, and soon they promise to have trucks and other products as well. Chuck Anderson of Nopattern even has a store.

CTRL Fall '08

The lookbook for CTRL's Fall '08 line is up and looking pretty interesting. It looks to me like this Swedish label has gotten a lot of inspiration for the current design going on in Brazil. Is it me or could you not totally see Lovefoxxx from CSS wearing a pear of these? A lot of the clothing is a bit "out there" for my own personal style, but I think if worn properly some of these pieces are really cool. Especially the girl's stuff.

For all you Salt Lake City kids out there, be sure not to miss this one!

Mopa

Good design is fairly easy to find these days. There is an abundance of great designers all over the web, but about once a week I run across a website, or portfolio that really inspires me. Mopa is a Brazilian design firm that has some amazing work. "Mopa believes in the good side of things, optimism is a part of its everyday," says the crew of Mopa, and it shows in their work. Full of bright colors and shapes the crew has a very distinct style.

Bandsintown

The other day I wrote about the event listing website Eventful. Today I discovered a similar website (with an oddly similar logo) that looks just as good, if not better. Bandsintown, like Eventful, links up with your Last.fm and personalizes your account according to the artists you listen to. Although Bandsintown has most of the same features as Eventful, I like the overall user interface better. One thing it seems to be lacking is a section for adding favorite venues, if that were added it would have pretty much everything I would want in an event listing website.

Edit: I got an email from the guys over at Bandsintown and they said more features, such as adding favorite venues are in the works. They also wanted to clear the air about the logo similarities so there was no confusion. Here is a screenshot of Eventful's logo when they first launched a year ago. And it looks as though Bandsintown launched their site in 2006.

Remix Rush :: Shadows

I had been waiting years for the opportunity to see M83 perform live. I finally got the chance on my recent visit to San Francisco and I was absolutely blown away. M83 has consistently put out good album after good album, but has only done a handful of remixes. That's why I was surprised to see his recent remix of Midnight Juggernauts. The thought of the two artists collaborating on something sounds quite unlikely, and I was unsure of how good it would be when I first heard about the remix. But when I heard the track I knew I shouldn't have doubted M83's ability to create a beautiful, airy, atmospheric soundscape of a remix. Granted it doesn't sound that much like the original, but doesn't change how good it is.

MP3 :: Midnight Juggernauts - Shadows (M83 Remix)

Mimobot VDC Content Creation Contest

Last year flash drive character masters Mimoco held their first design competition. This year they are at it again, but switching it up a bit with the VDC Content Creation Contest. In celebration of their new VDC Mimobot series coming out this October, they are asking you to get your creative juices flowing and submit any kind of digital media creation you want - music, video, animations, wallpapers, screensavers, games and whatever other digital creations you can think of. The winners will be selected and their creations will come pre-loaded on the VDC Mimobot series. Submissions are being accepted now so get to it!

Minitek NYC

For the electronic music lovers in the New York area, you may want to consider checking out the first ever Minitek Festival going down on September 12, 13 and 14 in NYC. The festival is focusing on innovation in both music and art. Featuring musicians and artists that are using unique techniques to change the way we experience performances and exhibitions. The tickets are only $80 for the entire weekend, and with the look of the lineup of performers that seems very reasonable. Head over the their website for more info, full lineup and tickets.

Cultist

As Promised, more content for the ladies. It appears as though the female focused streetwear style blog/online boutique Cultist has "revamped, restocked and relaunched" their online store. The store has some really cute stuff from labels like Insight, Hellz Bellz and WESC. I especially am liking their selection of dresses.

[via: Gorilli]

New Album By Milosh!

Milosh is one of my favorite artists of all time. The recent track he has produced for Adult Swim's Ghoslty Swim really left me craving for more new tracks, and it would appear my thirst will be quenched. Due out September 23rd Milosh will be releasing his new 9 track (a bit disappointed at the shortage of tracks) titled iii. Apparently the entire album was recorded during a trip to the Thai island of Koh Samui which I find a pretty interesting. Having been there myself I wouldn't really place it as somewhere Milosh would gather inspiration for his music, so I am curious to see if it's reflected in the album.Read more about the release over at XLR8R.

EDIT: You can also preview 3 of the new tracks over at Boomkat.

Eventful

In the past I have been rather skeptical of most event and concert community websites. They never seem to keep good track of the smaller, less mainstream shows and venues. However, Eventful has quickly changed my opinion. The website's integration with many other tools is the best part. Eventful not only allows you to track your favorite local venues and the shows that are playing there, but it does a great job at customizing your profile to search out artists that you like. Eventful will even search you Last.fm profile and iTunes library for the music you listen to and then search for those artists playing in your area. You can also demand artists that you would like to see in your city, join community groups and discussions and add your favorite venues and artists to your watch list.

And for those of you with an iPhone of iPod Touch be sure to check out Eventful's iPhone application.