Rocknerd

Hold back the invaders, their infernal machines.

21 July, 20127 May, 2017 Dance, Games 0

This week’s bit of Wikipedia: Space Invaders (Player One song). A disco novelty hit from Russell Brown and Bruce Dunlop, Australian #3 in 1980

The impending death of the album.

9 July, 20123 May, 2017 Industry, Opinion, Pop, Record 2

It’s doomed, along with the CD in general. But then, albums have always sorta sucked.

Before record execs go to bed, they check the closet for Kim Dotcom.

23 June, 20124 April, 2017 mp3 2

The huge FBI raid on massive bootlegging entirely legitimate file upload site MegaUpload in January sure struck a blow for ethics, morality and of

The struggle for existence.

19 June, 20127 May, 2017 Esoterica 2

So much for the argument from design. Computational biologist Bob MacCallum at Imperial College had too much time on his hands was inspired to

The Shit Record Covers group.

17 June, 20127 May, 2017 Record 0

For those of you on Facebook: the Shit Record Covers group, and its hall of fame. NSFW for unstylish seventies breasts. I am particularly

And the man at the back said everyone attack and it turned into a courtroom blitz.

11 June, 20127 May, 2017 Industry 1

Some musicians — I’m sure none of you reading — are observably fucking delusional about business, relationship management, reputation management and what copyright actually

How to make the general public loathe collection agencies.

10 June, 20127 May, 2017 Industry 0

Copyright collection agencies are actually a really good idea for working songwriters. Record companies generally never cough up a royalty cheque ever past the

The emperor’s new bitrate.

22 May, 201217 May, 2017 Audio 0

To bludgeon the point home about anything over CD quality being superfluous, we have, from 2008, Audibility of a CD-Standard A/D/A Loop Inserted Into

Nobody cares about your copyright.

21 May, 20127 May, 2017 mp3, Your rights 11

In the Internet era, copyright laws are just getting tougher. But people really, really don’t give a shit. 61% of 15-25-year-olds in Sweden fileshare

A Converse in a humanoid face, forever.

28 April, 201218 February, 2017 Media 2

My high-school English teacher really wanted me to do journalism at Curtin because I did well on the school magazine. I did chemistry at

So you think you have good ears.

9 April, 20127 May, 2017 Audio 1

You have a record collection this big and all you do and think about every day is records and music. So just how closely

The Sisters of Mercy, Corner Hotel, Melbourne, March 1st

12 March, 201228 April, 2017 Goth, Live 0

The “industrial groove machine” known as The Sisters of Mercy recently performed twice in Melbourne at the Corner Hotel and apparently also at the

Precisely why 24/192 downloads are audiophoolery.

6 March, 201220 November, 2016 Audio 11

Mere CD quality (16 bit/44.1kHz) is so passé. Apple is now pushing 24/96 (and telling engineers not to compress stuff to shit, God bless

ARC and KSW with Arp Cola at the Melbourne Day Org.

3 March, 201226 August, 2016 Esoterica, R'n'B 0

Official Church of Scientology Australian rap music. That is all. (This is what I get for declaring something the possible worst.)

Fans just want to wear your skin.

1 March, 20127 May, 2017 Industrial 0

Oldies but goodies from Tom Ellard of Severed Heads, on the trouble with fan spaces (I was on the email list version for a

Old, tired, worn-out second hand sentences.

27 February, 20127 May, 2017 Post-Punk, Record 0

Students of Australian music need to listen once to the first six songs on Icehouse by Flowers as part of first-year New Wave. Beyond

If I did not like big butts, could I lie?

26 February, 20127 May, 2017 R'n'B 0

The twentieth anniversary of the release of “Baby Got Back” was February 5th. To commemorate this occasion, we present a logical puzzle. “You are

Music industry whining has a long and venerable history.

25 February, 20127 May, 2017 Film, Industry 0

Today’s is from the advent of the evil talkie in the cinemas. The obvious solution is to ban soundtracks on moving images. Playing YouTube

Don’t make me wait.

24 February, 20127 May, 2017 R'n'B 0

Remember Street Sounds? Brilliant R’n’B compilations, unavailable on the face of the Earth for the past thirty years? Here you go. The label is

Keeping up with the kids.

19 February, 20127 May, 2017 Indie 0

Now listening to The Quietus Radio. Like the magazine, it’s actually decent and worth your time. God help me if I start following popular

Hell’s basement.

12 February, 201226 August, 2016 Pop 0

Chalga is possibly the worst pop genre ever, and that’s a subject I have considerable expertise in. Bulgaria could take over the world. “What’s

Get lost. Don’t lie.

11 February, 201226 August, 2016 Post-Punk 0

Plans are afoot for Rowland S. Howard to get his own disreputable dark alleyway. Well, it worked before! (Is RSH Lane actually dark?)

Only a NAZI would set A=440Hz.

28 January, 20127 May, 2017 Musician 0

If you don’t tune to A=432Hz, you are defying the natural order of the universe, and JUST LOVE HITLER.

The Damned, January 20, 2012, Melbourne

27 January, 20127 May, 2017 Live, Punk 0

In previous reviews the general superiority of Billboard as a venue has been mentioned and they remain applicable here; the light is better, the

Just three more!

13 January, 20127 May, 2017 Musician 0

“There are dozens of “art guitars” with multiple necks that can never be played. It’s just about the look for some of these creations.

How to fire a band member.

7 December, 201110 May, 2017 Musician 0

Bluegrass firing squad, and other termination procedures. Leaving them at the truckstop is only the third option on the list. “It is true, however,

What on earth is up with rocknerd.org?

2 December, 201110 May, 2017 Rocknerd 3

There is, er, something there. It appears to have a new story or two mixed in with old ones from 2006, all dated September

Napster off, MAFIAAfire on, computers continue to subsume all comers.

2 December, 201110 May, 2017 mp3, Your rights 0

The network died years ago, but Napster’s vegetative corpse was finally taken off life support Wednesday. They can’t even make money from the name

Now this is just silly.

21 November, 20116 May, 2017 Esoterica 1

Feel like brushing up on your Beatles, but don’t have all day to listen to all 226 recorded tracks? Ramjac has helpfully put together

And then there were three.

11 November, 201120 October, 2016 Industry 0

Goooooood-byeeeeeee. Universal gets EMI’s recordings, Sony gets its publishing. Three dinosaurs left. “More such earth-shaking unions of doomed giants seem inevitable.”