New Release: Winehouse

Amy Winehouse may be dead, but she's still releasing new music. Her new album, "Lioness: Hidden Treasures," will hit shelves Tuesday, to mixed reviews.

The album is a collection of 12 songs; some of which were recorded pretty early in her career, in 2002. The songs are a mixture of Motown, R&B and Jazz.

This is her first posthumous album, but there are rumors that it won't be her last. Producers have dismissed the rumor, but who knows.

Most people don't like the idea of posthumous albums. It's creepy, greedy and disrespectful to the artist.

Since the songs weren't being produced at the time of her death, this is just the music industry's way of milking a cash cow to its last drop. Winehouse only produced two albums before she died at age 27 earlier this year. It's understandable that many fans would love to hear more, but at what cost?

Winehouse's father has told reporters that he won't listen to "Lioness: Hidden Treasures" anytime soon. It's too painful. Anyone who actually cared about Amy Winehouse as a person would probably say the same.

Amy Winehouse didn't want these songs released; to her, they weren't good enough. If they were, they would have been on her albums already. Songs don't get any better just because the artist dies.

Respect her family. Let her rest in peace. 

To a true artist like Amy Winehouse, music is a part of the soul. To reveal it is the artist's decision. Or it should be.

But if you're a fan and can't resist supporting greedy producers, the official release is Tuesday, and you can pre-order online.

Some titles have leaked already. Here's one, "Like Smoke," featuring Nas:

- Heather Butterworth
 

The Wonderful, Musical World of MACRoCk!

ATTENTION CONCERT GOERS...

Who has ever heard of the strange little acronym MACRoCk?  Well, for those who have never heard or seen it, then you have been missing out on one of the best and most convenient music festivals in our area. 

The Mid-Atlantic College Radio Conference (or MACRoCk for short) is a non profit organization that is based in Harrisonburg that holds a yearly weekend festival that promotes the independent music community.   MACRoCk tried to project a message that music can thrive without bug corporation influence, and that the independent music scene is alive and well and give these bands a much larger audience then they would usually have.
 

In 1996, MACRoCk was created as a branch for WXJM, JMU's own amazing radio station. After ten years of partnership, MACRoCk left to become an organization of its own.  The organization relies heavily on volunteers for the annual April festival, and on donations from the Harrisonburg and JMU community.  

Every year, the festival has grown immensely, by picking up more bands, and getting more recognition and attendees.  Because I am affiliated with WXJM, I have had the privilege to experience MACRoCk firsthand, and have volunteered the past two years.  From an attendee's point of view, how MACRoCk operates is that it occurs the first weekend in April and is two full days of music and panels.

Patrons buy either a daily or weekend wristband which gives them unlimited access into the places where the bands are hosted, like the Artful Dodger, Clementine, Blue Nile, Court Square Theater, and Dave's.  

There have been hundreds of bands that have performed in the past like Algernon Cadawaller, Converge, Owen, US Christmas, Antlers, Screaming Females, Menzingers, and many more.  Some of the more well-known bands that have performed are Animal Collective, Bouncing Souls, Dashboard Confessional, Dillinger Escape Plan, Coheed and Cambria, and Mastodon.

Besides the whole music and concert aspects, MACRoCk also hold panels on the second day of the festival that are enlightening and rewarding.  A majority of the topics surround important issues currently happening within college radio and the independent music community.

Each panel tries to enlighten its audience to the underground world of college radio and how they play such a large role in promoting underrepresented music around the country.  Without these stations, the music we listen to would be repetitive and mundane.  

MACRoCk this year is being held April 6th-7th and not much else is known so far about what bands will play or what the panel topics will be.  If you really want to immerse yourself to a new world of music and just grow a new appreciation for independent bands and all their hard work, then you definitely need to check this out.

-MM

Don't drink by yourself, drink with Drinkify!

Imagine this:

It's Saturday night and you're all alone, listening to music.
Suddenly, you get a craving for a drink.

You then realize that you're about to have a sip. Alone. By yourself.

Don't you fear weird just sitting and drinking by yourself?

Fear not, Drinkify is here to save you!

"Never listen to music alone again."

Drinkify is a new music website that asks what you're listening to, then creates a custom drink order that enhances your listening experience.

For example, let's say you're listening to Aqua's smash-hit, Barbie Girl. All you will have to do to enhance your drinking experience is plug in "Aqua" in the search field and viola! You now have the perfect* drink.

Drinkify is completely free and has amazingly an complete database thanks to two application programming interfaces (API)  called 'The Echo Nest' and Last.Fm.

The Echo Nest gives Drinkify the terms to draw songs based on your search criteria.

You can search based on song name or artist with Drinkify and The Echo Nest in conjunction with Drinkify. Then Drinkify will either pull out the particular song, or a popular song from the artist that you searched.

Last.Fm gives Drinkify the ability to supply album art, spelling of names, and provides a list of the most popular tracks from each artist that you search.

These APIs give Drinkify and application builders detailed access to over 3 billion songs, so you'll always get a satisfying result!

Drinkify has a sense of humor too! Some of the artist and drink matches are made to poke fun at the band and it's fans.
Out of all the matches I've seen, this is one made me laugh the most.

Drinking blood does seem popular now-a-days...

Drinkify has attracted the attention of other blogs sites too, like Buzzfeed.com. They spent a booz-filled day with Drinkify and picked out their favorite combinations. To read their blog post called, "The Best of Drinkify" click here!

Now that you know all about Drinkify, why don't you try it out??


Here, let's get started!

*Drinkify does not guarantee that EVERYTHING will taste exactly right. Just most things.

-MR