The music genome project is an attempt to create the most comprehensive analysis of music, ever.

It "sets out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like."

So I decided to give Pandora a go. You enter in a band name and it consequently creates a 'station' around this band and plays you a stream of similar styled songs. I decided to to throw Pandora a 'curve-ball' so I entered in 'Aphex Twin'. This is what happened:

1. Broken Spindles - To Die, For Death (Interesting recommendation. The track wasn't very electronic at all but apparently the band has released electronic tracks in the past.
2. The Dirty Projectors - Finches' Song at Oceanic Parking Lot (Excellent fit. Ambient experimental track with eerie Antony Jonston style vocals)
3. M83 - Until the Night is Over (excellent fit)
4. Moby - Alone (Not convinced. Admittedly a pre-'play' track so less dancey but not really pure ambient and electronic)
5. Kiyo - Sunset Vibe (excellent fit)
6. LFO - Brown (excellent fit)
7. Neotropic - Train to Katoomba (excellent fit)
8. High Contrast - Love sick (Drum 'n Bass style grooves but not too fast. Excellent recommendation considering that Aphex Twin released the 1999 Richard D. James album consisting of mainly experimental Drum 'n Bass)
9. Deadly Avenger - We Took Pelham (excellent fit)
10. Autechre - Silver Side (excellent fit)

Give it a go and see what you think. I think it has huge potential and there's a feedback system in place so that you can get it to 'correct' it's submissions to you. I'm going to keep playing with it a bit more to see whether it's working from a US-centric music pool or a large international one. I was very impressed with the 'Aphex Twin station' it generated for me. Quality electronic tracks from some very obscure international artists.

New Zealand music is a real curiosity (even for a New Zealander like myself). I didn't care much for it when I was growing up there in the 80's. I just thought most of it was slightly 'off' in comparison to the crispy sparkly American and British pop that got served up in that decade but as I grew older and I tired of mainstream music pap, I found that the NZ music scene was becoming more and more appetising by the day.

My first real experience with the NZ alternative music scene was a guy called Andrew Fagan and his band of misfits called the Mockers. They made a noble attempt to cross the mainstream in 1984 but having soon realised that it was more interesting to be a small fish in a large pond, rather than a big fish in a small pond, and therefore migrated to London. Unfortunately it seemed that most acts decided to close shop in NZ at the time and the period of the late 80's was not an exciting one for NZ music. Granted, bands like the Clean and the 3D's (who legend has it, were sent a bottle of champagne by Bono himself, in 1989 to congratulate them on "being the best band in the world". Legend also has it that this bottle was promptly sent back to him) we're an ecclectic and talented bunch and had they formed in the early 90's, would have most likely gained some form of commercial success.It's only until the public broadcasting organisation 'NZ On Air' was formed in 1991, that the NZ music scene received a much needed confidence boost. The organisation uses public money to assist with the funding of albums, music videos and other forms of promotion for new and existing NZ bands, both domestic and overseas.

So what state is it in now? Pretty damn good it seems. I haven't lived there since 2002 but from what I hear the scene's bubbling along nicely with Maori and Pacific Island rappers, very strong dub and drum 'n bass scenes and a decent amound of indie rock bands. However, it's the lack of live venues there that's really holding the scene back. Living in London has made me realise how easy it is to get a gig as live venues are to be found in abundance (most pubs even have a small stage tucked away in case you want to jam away). New Zealand does not have this luxury and I think it's due to people's perception of new bands, they're just not regarded as potential future talent. I remember one incident well which encapsulates what I think is currently going on in NZ. I found myself at the Temple Bar and Cafe in Auckland one night where they were holding a free performance night for up and coming female artists. I went to it with an open mind and I found genuinely talented artists who were playing with some damn awful equipment such as the bar's amp stack. By chance I had a chat to the owner that night and she was trying to sell the bar. 'I'm sick and tired of hearing these idiots play. They'll never make it'. I pointed out that the equipment provided wasn't great and that they would sound a lot better with the proper gear. She wasn't interested and just wanted to sell the bar. She was asking $NZD200,000. Towns like Auckland need more live venues if the scene's going to flourish. At the moment there's only ONE that promotes new bands on a weekly basis. The Datsuns probably gigged there about 10 times before being asked to support the White Stripes and the rest is history.

So how do I get a taste of the NZ scene, I hear you ask? Check out the following:

• 95 bfm Live Internet Stream - Auckland's only independent music station. Student run and owned
• George FM Live Internet Stream - Like bFM but dedicated solely to electronic / dance / urban acts.
• Bands.co.nz - First stop for independent NZ bands
• Allmusic's take on New Zealand Rock during the 80's
  
• New Zealand Bands of the 60's, 70's and 80's
  

Perhaps not.....You know the score. You turn up at a friend's party and you hear the same shit on the jukebox, that you hear everywhere else. Michael Jackson, The Village People, ABBA, Pearl Jam, you name it. But what tracks haven't been played to death? Are there any you could actually put on and still make people happy? Sure, putting on the latest Autechre will ensure that everyone will ask you what it is, but they will happily bundle you off into a white van afterwards. Here's a thread discussing what you SHOULD be putting on.

What's going on with that left ear?As most of you have heard by now, the world has a new Pope. However, it looks like this one won't be a 'funky pope' as Bono recently described the late John Paul II. Mr Ratzinger in his own words:

"Rock"... is the expression of the elemental passions, and at rock festivals it assumes a sometimes cultic character, a form of worship, in fact, in opposition to Christian worship.

So there's been a lot speculation around the songs that would be stored on Benedict XVI's iPod if he ever had one. Some notable suggestions so far have been 'Munich Machine - Get on the Funk Train', 'Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains the Same' and 'Human League - Don't You Want Me'. You can follow the thread HERE.

Arrrr.....!I grew up in West Auckland, the heavy metal capital of New Zealand. Constant exposure to G 'n R, Megadeth and Pantera coming from my neighbours windows provided me with an unintentional heavy metal education (although you won't see it played on NYUB), not to mention some shocking mullets that still trigger nightmares to this day (Duncan - you know who I'm talking about).

Metal rules recently tallied up the results of their 'Top 100 Metal Albums of All Time'. Feel free to laugh or cry.

For the love of mankind, please stick to athletics!Celebrities quite often think of themselves as brands. Unfortunately a few of them take the marketing term 'brand extension' a little too far by venturing into mainstream music, and mainstream radio, being the bunch of idiots they are, will happilly play this tripe. It seems Carl Lewis made an attempt in the late 80's and here you can see how truly awful this man's attempt at music really was. There's no point wishing that this won't happen again because you know it will.

I have a fondness for the kitsch, and when I stumbed upon this I just had to post it. I'm not a big fan of black metal / death metal / satanic metal not because these men supposedly eat babies alive but because I just can't take this lot seriously. You won't either when you see this collection.

• Top 10 Most Ridiculous Black Metal Photos

Give me some hardcore!The New York Times has a priceless article on Dubya's new iPod Mini and what he's got stored on it (don't have an NY Times account? Then visit Bugmenot to ease the pain). It appears Dubya likes to listen to The Knack's 'My Sharona', 'You're so square baby, I don't care' by Joni Mitchell amongst others to raise his heart rate during his hour and a half bike rides on his ranch. But don't be fooled by what seems to be an unorthodox play list. The NYT assures us and the bible belt that his iPod contains mostly traditional country fare such as George Jones, Alan Jackson and Kenny Chesney.

Apparently the President 'has a little bit of taste for hard-core' and doesn't mind listening to artists who oppose his political views so I've created a playlist which he won't object to and is sure to raise his heart-rate during his workout.

1. Public Enemy - 911 is a joke
2. Ice-T - Cop Killer
3. Rage Against The Machine - Evil Empire
4. Atari Teenage Riot - Into The Death
5. The Dead Kennedy's - Kill The Poor
6. People's Song's Chorus - The Ballad of F.D.R
7. The Smiths - This Charmless Man
8. Joe Glazer - The Giveaway Boys in Washington
9. John Handcox - There is mean things happening in this land
10. R.E.M - Its the End of the World as We Know It
11. Manhattan Chorus - Write Out My Union Card 
12. Almanac Singers - Dear Mr. President
13. Tom Glazer - When The Country is Broke
14. Morry Goodson &  Sonny Vale - Elephant and the Ass
15. Billy Bragg - Making the World Safe for Capitalism
    
16. The George W Bush Singers - Food On Your Family

What else do you think Dubya should be listening to on his iPod Mini? Let us all know by leaving a comment below.....

MSN Messenger 7.0 launched today. I’ve been using the beta for a while now but this full release ups the ante. Apart from some very sophisticated new audio/video features, it also now allows integration with your iTunes / Windows Media Player playlist. What does this mean? Well, whenever I now play a song, the artist name and title appears next to my IM name on a person’s contact list (alongside a headphone icon). Curious buddies on my list can then click on the track and see album and artist details on MSN Music  along with track samples. Another step forward in the world of online music. I think it’s utterly fantastic. It’s not revolutionary but it’s a neat, compact tidy package which even the most technically adverse can set up. Audioscrobbler is a similar service but it suffers from technical outages and has no IM integration. One thing to watch out for though is the power of the random shuffle. The artist ‘Selfish Cunt’ popped in my random shuffle on iTunes and I only just caught it in time when logged into MSN at work. MK - 'Britain is Shit - Selfish Cunt' as my MSN name would have gone down a treat with some of my colleagues. ;)

• Pitchfork has been one of my MP3 resources for a long time now and it’s nice to see an article outlining how successful this site has been in displacing traditional music media. Veneral bastions of the music media such as ‘Rolling Stone’ are now realising that a collaborative music community like Pitchfork offers the reader a lot more value. Fluxblog also gets a mention along with the rest of us - the audio blogger massive. Hoorah!
• The Washington Post wants YOU to be a podcaster!
• Podcasting News lists it’s top podcasts for the month of March. Quite a different list from that on podcast alley but the two use different ranking systems. Couple that with the fact that both use unique IP tracking to do the rankings makes it even more dodgier as I realised this week how easy it is for individuals on dial up accounts to reset their IP’s by logging in and out of their ISP. I know, you’d have to be desperate wouldn’t you?
• The total US podcast audience is currently estimated to be 6 million people. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 29% of the 22 million adults that own an MP3 player in jesusland have ‘downloaded a podcast at least once’. Now that’s the catch. I don’t think those numbers add up and I’d like to see how podcast was actually definited, if at all. Podcast is not mainstream yet, contrary to what some people like to believe and it still takes a bit of technical savvy for the average punter to find a show and then download it. I’m of the belief that when people were asked about podcasts, they just associated the term with any old music download thus skewing the figures.

• Universal are looking for young twats to join their new 'concept' punk band by advertising in Kerrang. Target market = Chavs.
• New Interpol remix of 'Untitled'.
  
• New remix team MSTRKRFT remixes Panthers - Thank Me With Your Hands. MSTRKRFT are Jesse Keeler from DFA 1979 and AI-P from Girls are Short.
• Rumours abound of the Error Plains releasing a new single 'Boys in Girls Clothes' in June. Listen to NYUB Podcast #6 for Error Plains interview.
  
• One of the better NME piss-takes at the moment. 'See what happened when I thought Pete Doherty was spelled Pete Dochery'. Classic.
  

Indie KidNeat little article in Friday's Guardian on the BBC's Steve Lamacq. John Peel is irreplacable but the next best thing is probably Steve. The article mentions The Magic Numbers who I featured on NYUB #3. You can hear Steve Lamacq's show online via the BBC Radio 6 site.

Keith MoonHere you can find a video of Animal versus Buddy Rich in a 'drum-off'. Furry limbs and hair fly as Animal tries to keep up with Buddy. Hilarious stuff. Thanks to Rummage Through the Crevices for spotting this. In case you didn't know, Buddy Rich is one of the most famous Jazz drummers around. And another interesting bit of info: Animal was based on Keith Moon, the original drummer for The Who.

On the Wheels of SteelBasement Jaxx single-handedly saved house music from an early demise with the release of ‘Remedy’ in 1998. Seven years later, and they’re about to release a retrospective singles collection of their career. A Guardian article details the 12” tracks that got them on to the dance floor and provided inspiration for their musical talent.

1. Status Quo - Down Down Down (1974)
2. The Skids - Working for the Yankee Dollar (1974)
3. Adam & The Ants – Prince Charming (1981)
4. The Police - Can’t Stand Losing You (1981)
5. David Bowie – John I’m Only Dancing (1979)
6. Jermaine Stewart – We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes off (1986)
7. Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock – It Takes Two (1988)
8. Public Enemy – Fight the Power (1989)
9. JT & The Big Family – Moments in Soul (1990)
10. Outkast – Hey Ya! (2003)

We all know the new 50 cent album, Massacre, is a big pile of poo but to rub in the crap a bit further, Pop Justice now gives you step by step instructions on how to recreate the stunningly original album cover art. Go on, you know you want to....really.