Ok, this video is not so brandnew. You probably discovered it elsewhere some days ago, but I could not help myself posting this terrific music video on my blog. So enjoy "Iron" by Woodkid aka Yoann Lemoine, a french music video director who is also a very good singer. Impressive, aesthetic and powerful, now just watch!!!
Music
Thursday 31 March 2011
The song of the day : Iron by Woodkid
By Cédric Pierre-Louis on Thursday 31 March 2011, 23:20
Friday 18 April 2008
My musical skills (featuring Miguel :-)
By Cédric Pierre-Louis on Friday 18 April 2008, 23:34
As I wrote it in my CV, I DO LOVE music. I am not only a music addict, I am
also singer, song-writer and (digital) musician. Thanks to my flatmate Miguel,
I start to learn playing guitar and I hope I will be able to play quite well
before I leave Spain. Now I want to make you listen to our current main
project ; since December Miguel and I have started to compose a mix
between his Flamenco musical inclination and my Reggae-Soul vibes...and the
following extract is at the moment the most interesting part of the song. Enjoy
it!
Tuesday 4 March 2008
Do you know Matisyahu?
By Cédric Pierre-Louis on Tuesday 4 March 2008, 19:53
Today, I would like to introduce you to such an amazing and talented artist : his name is Matisyahu! If you didn't know him until now, you missed something. But better late than never!
Matthew Paul Miller (his birth name), is a 29 year old artist known for mixing his traditional jewish influences with reggae, hip-hop and rock sounds. Born in Pennsylvania (U.S.A), he now lives in Crown Heights, a district of Brooklyn (New York) where the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic community is located. By the way, the main originality of Matisyahu is the fact he adopted Orthodox Judaism at 16 and managed to be a famous and respected reggae singer while following the strict way of life related to his religious convictions. For example, Matisyahu stands out for wearing the traditional clothing of Hasidic Jews and not performing on the Sabbath - that is to say no concert on Friday nights (source Wikipedia).
I discovered Matisyahu for the first time thanks on a TV program called "Trax" on the German-French channel Arte. I was really impressed by his musical style, the ability to change the flow and the strength of his spiritual lyrics so easily. Obviously at first sight, the traditional jewish dressing of Matisyahu, is the most amazing thing about him and this can become a "commercial advantage". But beyond thE aspect of his personality, Matisyahu deserves to be better known. He manages to seduce so many different people from the yeshiva boys with their tzitzit (ritual fringes) to the real hip-hop fans and even some trashy-sexy girls ready to spend one night with him... This artist is a phenomenon! He has an exceptional spectrum of different vocal style and he's even able of rapping or doing beatbox. The easiest comparison would be similar to the conscious and cultural sides of Buju Banton, Sizzla, Capleton, or Junior Kelly, but with the upbeat message of Luciano, Bushman and Everton Blender, and vocal dexterity of Barrington Levy (source Wikipedia). To show you how good Matisyahu IS I chose the live version of the song "King Without a Crown" to accompany this post. I hope you will enjoy the video as much as me.
Matisyahu according to Wikipedia
Thursday 3 January 2008
Record industry is changing its mind... at last!
By Cédric Pierre-Louis on Thursday 3 January 2008, 01:57
In 2007, Steve jobs, the Apple CEO, wrote an open letter
about the record industry issues (Thoughts on music, February 6, 2007). His
conclusion was pragmatic and rather audacious at this time. To struggle
efficiently piracy and sustain the growth of online music sales it's necessary
to "abolish DRM entirely".
This prophetic statement has been followed (some months after) with the lauching of iTunes Plus consists in selling songs from EMI's catalog (one of the big 4 labels) without any DRM. This first step was a real success and had to make the other big labels think more again about a necessary new strategy.
This year the dream of a "world where every online store sells DRM-free" is about to come true. Indeed, all the big four (WARNER, UNIVERSAL, EMI and very recently SONY-BMG) have decided to abolish gradually the technical restrictions which bother the digital & legal music market.
However this (r)evolution is going to achieve without the visionary Steve Jobs and his famous iTunes store. Probably bored by the arrogant leadership of Apple on the digital music market, three of the big four labels (Warner, Universal & EMI - to a lesser extent) have decided to go without iTunes store to experiment the sale of DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats (MP3).
So, they choose an iTunes challenger to launch their new strategy, the first real competitor which would able to threaten its share market. Its name is : Amazon Mp3. So, after so many attempts, 2008 could be the year when the Apple iTunes store could lose its monopoly. The famous entertainment online store (high tech and media store) has got almost everything to manage to shatter the music business of Apple.
3 millions songs without DRM in its catalog (when iTunes offers 6 millions songs but "only" 2 millions DRM-free), encoded in MP3, the most popular digital audio format compatible with all music players (whereas Apple has chosen AAC ; better audio quality but "almost" only compatible with the iPod), at a very competitive prices : from 89 cents a song and from $5.99 to $9.99 for most albums. Isn't interesting?
Update : Amazon Mp3 starts to sell songs from Sony-BMG this month. Bad time for iTunes, but this is an excellent thing for customers.
If you want discover other online shops which sell DRM-free music at good prices or even totally free, take a look to the following challengers :
Thursday 20 December 2007
Go back in the 80's... with Snoop Dogg
By Cédric Pierre-Louis on Thursday 20 December 2007, 16:59
Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction
So cool and so fresh... I'm a old school music fan that is probably the
reason why I LOVE so much this song. Good job Snoop, you're already a legend.
Now watch and appreciate this amazing "funky" video which sounds like a
tribute to Roger troutman. Before I forget, have you noticed
the strange instrument that Snoop has sometimes in his mouth? It's a
talkbox which change human voice into a robot voice.
Saturday 15 December 2007
Widen your culture with Liveplasma
By Cédric Pierre-Louis on Saturday 15 December 2007, 01:45
Created by a French developper :-), Liveplasma is really a great concept which deserves to be known. Introduced as a discover engine, this website allows you to discover new songs, artists, movies, drectors, etc... basing on your own tastes in a quick and smart way. Just type the title of your favourite artist in the search bar, and the search engine will display a visual universe of artists who are considered more or less closed to your favourite. As said the developper of Liveplasma, Frederic Vavrille, "the closer a artist or a band is closed to your favourite the greater the chances are that you will like it." In addition, "The halo around a band represents its popularity ; the wider it is, the more popular or representative of a certain style of music it is".
Moreover, Liveplasma is also linked to the entertainment on-line shop, Amazon, since for each result research you will find a list of products corresponding to what you probably like. So, by the way you will able to buy directly albums and DVDs from the "map" generated by Liveplasma according to your penchants. Liveplasma has also many other features. The best you have to do : try it.
Simple, free and ingenious, Liveplasma is definitively
a very good idea and can help you to find a Christmas present
for your friends and your family which will trully be able to please
them.
Liveplasma : music, movies, search engine and discovery engine
Monday 3 December 2007
For those who like old french songs
By Cédric Pierre-Louis on Monday 3 December 2007, 20:23
If you are like my roomate, Miguel :-), a french music fan, you should know
this website : http://chansons.ina.fr. Here you can get to know the most renowned
French songs of the last 50 years and you will be able to discover or relive
some of the most beautiful songs of the French pop music. Whether you are fan
of Sacha Distel or you want to listen to some Jacques Dutronc or Julien Clerc,
enjoy Henri Salvador's lyrics, the provocative talent of Serge Gainsbourg, or
watch the strange video of Macia
from Rita Mitsouko (Fred Chichin RIP),
this website is your paradise. So check it out!
Saturday 1 December 2007
The Record Industry Collapse
By Cédric Pierre-Louis on Saturday 1 December 2007, 01:32
Each year since 2002, when music sales began to drop, the RIAA (Recording
Industry Association of America) have released pessimistic and unsurprising
reports about the state of the « recording union » industry. This
group, which formed in 1952 to represent the interests of the recording
industry in the United States, consists of a large number of record labels and
distributors who produce and distribute about 90 % of recorded music sold in
the US (source
Wikipedia).
Unfortunately it has become unpopular, due to its current « witch hunt » against piracy which caused more than twenty thousand lawsuits in these last years, the RIAA has argued that P-2-P is the principal reason why music sales decline and considers most web surfers as potential pirates. This institution is also one of the most active pro-DRM lobbies. However this digital rights management dramatically limits the use and enjoyment of digital songs, and therefore is clearly the main cause to why the legal downloading services don't manage to reach the growth they deserve.
To my mind and not only mine, The RIAA like most other entities which defend their national record industry, go the wrong way in their struggle with the music industry crisis. They seem to misunderstand the new trends which shatter the world music industry and certainly go after the wrong person.