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Channel 4 newsreaders make beautiful music

Something I missed while on holiday, via @natmandu. Brilliant.

V cool videos about urban gang life

AJ Nakasila is a very talented guy. He's made some films (with True Vision's help) about his and his friends' experiences of gang life in London. The results are stunning, and feel really authentic. There is so much debate on young people, gangs and violent crime flying around in the public domain, often driven by feral beasts, politicians, police, educators etc. They're experts in their field, but come at it from their particular perspective. They're outside, or on the edge of it, and looking in and they're often talking to other adults. What I love about these films is the feel of authenticity, and the sense that these guys are talking to us in their own language. I don't pretend they're going change the world, but they're a brilliant (and sometimes bleak) view of a small and troubling section of it.

I'm also massively impressed with AJ! The music is also by him and Jamie Perera. Stills from the shoots are on flickr and the videos are available to download on the Channel 4 Dispatches site.

Scrobblevision

You can now embed music videos from last.fm into your webspaces, and scrobble them when they're played. Not sure if this means that you also get the scrobble when/if other people play the video in your page (and therefore sway your music recommendations etc). Either way it's pretty cool, and in a very nice player too. Only problem is the name is a little too close to Chucklevision and I now have that theme tune running round my head. Thanks guys.

 

iTunes + Bebo

• Apple to sell music through UK Bebo network
  Buy music from iTunes via the artist's Bebo profile page. Very very nice. Opens up some nice possibilities for fan groups, socialising around music etc. Facebook widget next, please.
  (tags: itunes music socialnetworking bebo)

links for 2007-05-31

• CBS Acquires Last.fm for $280 Million
  I have to say I'm really kinda sad about this. I liked Last.fm for their independence. It'll be interesting to see what CBS do with it. Last.fm-style infrastructure for TV/film fans? OOOOH!
  (tags: lastfm music web2.0 cbs tv business)

MPFreeness

• At last! Amazon announce they'll be selling DRM-free MP3s
  Combined with their ratings & recommendations, lists and wish list functionality, this is going to be great.
  (tags: amazon mp3 download music emi)

Gossip unplugged

Beth Ditto et al played a session at 6Music. Amazing voice, witty lady, fabulousness all around. Video here.

One hell of a haircut

Tracy McVeigh has a sensitive column in yesterday's Observer about the furore surrounding Britney's dramatic buzz-cut (This baiting of a fading star is cruel). I'm not all that interested in what attention-grabbing stars do for shits and giggles, but shearing yourself is an interesting way to grab headlines. I agree that Britney does seem appear to be struggling with her demons, but lets imagine for a moment that she knew exactly what she was doing. What an amazing statement she's made. No longer the blonde/brunette pop princess, rejecting the classic mainstream ideals of beauty. Instead a shorn, severe young woman. A look which says "look at me", but not in quite the same way. There's nothing to hide behind if you've got no hair. No tendrils to peek through. What you see is what you get. And what you get seems to be the blank glare of someone who's had enough. It's quite the challenge, and as this (v badly watermarked) picture shows... still kinda beautiful, no?

links for 2007-02-09

• Apple - Thoughts on Music
  Steve Jobs throws down the gauntet to the majors. If they'll license DRM free music to Apple he'll distribute it via iTunes.
  (tags: apple ipod music licence legal)

links for 2006-12-07

• Ninja Tune launches music channel on Second Life
  Made by the lovely people at Rivers Run Red. Members can watch the channel for free, while being encouraged to browse the digital music store for tracks.
  (tags: secondlife music)
• BSkyB broadband to partner Google
  "Under the plans, BSkyB will launch a user-generated video service that will run off Google's video content tools. Google recently bought the market leader in user-generated videos YouTube for $1.65bn."
  (tags: bskyb google tv video)