That is the ultimate promise of the Internet for musicians and many are realizing it’s not just music this applies to (NYTimes).

Give a listen to The Helots. A local band that has a unique sound along with some killer chops and songwriting.

And yes, it’s another band with a bass player I know and consider a great person. What?s up with that? Are bass players just cooler human beings or something?

Microsoft employee Jim McCarthy wrote a piece that shares some principals that any good development team should keep.

This amazing Flash application can teach you some music theory and a great selection of church music.

You’ll want to check out retroCRUSH’s choices for the 50 Coolest Song Parts of All Time.

“Music’s been around a long time, and there’s going to be music long after Ray Charles is dead,” he told the Washington Post in 1983. “I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind. If it’s a big record, that’s the frosting on the cake, but music’s the main meal.”

He did. More at CNN.

It’s a belief of mine that great art happens at times of great distress. A sad thing to be sure, but that’s just the way it is. If we are not now in a time of distress, then we never were.

This explains how the CSMonitor can trumpet “The Protest song is back – with a vengeance”.

Frontline recently shown a special on the music industry and how difficult it is for artists to thrive in it. The show was a disappointment. No where near as thorough as I thought it could be. They have done far better work and I was surprised at how MTVish this thing was. Nevertheless you can see it online.

It didn’t surprise me when I heard the news, I always expected Axl Rose to go first, but there were plenty of signs laid all over Nirvana’s music. And that’s the rub. When a musician lets you inside, no matter the technical talent, if he or she can write songs, and if it is from the heart – you are changed. Cobain did that.

I didn’t appreciate him or Nirvana enough when he was here. Ten years later it still it still resonates. The music goes on. But back then I was angry. Angry at a selfish bastard who checked out of this world and broke so many hearts. I still want to believe it was murder. Now all that remains is a strange feeling of guilt for someone who I knew only thru music, and whose music I originally resisted. More in this Metafilter thread.

I downloaded it last night and am very impressed. Audacity is an open source multi-track recorder that get’s the interface right and makes it easy to start editting music files. Now all I need is a decent open source drum machine that exports to .mp3, .ogg or .wav and away we go 🙂 PC, Linux and Mac.