A buddy of ours in California, Rian Bishop, has created a new channel on YouTube for retro movie soundtracks. The channel currently houses a handful of soundtracks including Mannequin, Rad, and Better Off Dead, with more soundtracks being added all the time.

A few years ago, when Rian still lived in Anchorage, the two of us hosted a movie review website called ButteryGoodness.com. In it we had an archive of movie reviews written by us, discussion forums, news about upcoming new releases, and a lot more. Due to schedule restrictions we were unable to keep the site going, but we constantly reminisce about ways we can do something again to share our passion for movies with other internet users. Thanks to YouTube, anyone can use the new channel to find soundtracks for some of our favorite retro films. If things go well, we hope to post the occasional podcast where Rian and I discuss 80’s cinema and the music we love so much. Keep checking back!

http://www.youtube.com/user/ButteryGoodness13

- Joshua

Filed under music retro soundtrack youtube

I was searching the internet the other day looking for MP3’s of music from older NES and SNES games (it’s all got to be royalty free by now, right?) when I came across this website. Quoted from the site:

8 Bit Weapon is Seth, ComputeHer, and MelBot. 8 Bit Weapon has performed across two continents with an arsenal of 8 bit weapons, which include a Commodore 64 and 128, a couple Nintendo Gameboy classics, Nintendo N.E.S., Intellivision synthesizer, Atari 2600, Speak n Spell & Speak n Music, some hybrid lo-fi acoustic-electric drums, and an assortment of other vintage and toy synthesizers.

Unless you’re familiar with the beeps, bloops, and bleeps of old-school videogame music, that paragraph might come across as gibberish. To someone like me, though, who owes his childhood happiness to Nintendo and Sega, I find it highly nostalgiac and incredibly awesome. If you are in the same boat, it’s probable that you’ve already stopped reading this blog post and are fully exploring the 8 Bit Weapon website.

If you aren’t someone who grew up with characters like Mario and Sonic, I recommend performing search engine queries for videos and music samples of the band’s work. Who knows, it might just be quirky enough that you’ll dig it regardless of your background.

- Joshua

Filed under bit weapon music

Internet sensations typically don’t give me any reason to stand up and take note (honestly, what was the appeal of lonelygirl15?), unless they’re fairly creative or cool. There are, however, occasions when something comes along I find really impressive, and Ronald Jenkees is one such individual I can’t get enough of. Ronald is a musician who writes, produces, records, and performs all of his own music, and he has a bunch of videos on youtube of him performing various songs he’s written. The following video is one of my favorites he has posted:

Not only is the music very well made, it is entertaining to watch him play; you can tell he is having a lot of fun. Also, he seems like a very down to Earth guy (watch the entire video to hear him talk about the song) who hasn’t let internet stardom get to his head. Mad props to you, Ronald, and I hope you keep doing what you’re doing for many years to come.

- Joshua

Filed under ronald jenkees music youtube

We consider ourselves pretty well versed in music, both of us having eclectic and varied tastes. Making friends who are just as into music as we are has given us access to many new bands and musicians we might not have otherwise listened to. Obviously, though, they dropped the ball. Seriously, which one of them was kind enough to open our ears to awesomeness that is Muse? Not a single one. Okay, maybe it isn't their fault it took us so long to get turned onto this wonderful and amazing band, but it certainly would've been nice to have heard about them in 1999 when they debuted their first album.

If no one told us about the British rock trio, how did we hear about them? Thanks goes solely to the awesomeness that is Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. It was during an afternoon spent playing this game with Linda's brother John that we discovered their song Knights of Cydonia. It is an interesting song to be sure, but it rocks with such fervor and enthusiasm, we both get huge smiles on our faces every time we listen to it.

Upon scouring the Internet for more information about them, we noticed comparisons being drawn to Radiohead. While the lead singers do have very similar singing voices, and both bands have comparable music styles, each is very distinctive and unique. Some people have gone so far to say Muse rips off Radiohead, but the accusations are unfounded; anyone with an ounce of intelligence would have to agree. They are both incredibly talented and each has carved their own niche in rock and roll history as amazing and unforgettable. Besides, even if they are guilty of this, we can think of far, far worse bands to borrow from. Either way, Muse is definitely worth checking out and we can't recommend them highly enough.

Filed under muse music