[Vol. 1 Issue #194]
Another new week begins, and we start today with innovations or crimes that could have created modern-day streaming. After that, re-imaged music and our preference to listen to the originals and new AI meets old art for the future of images. The planets are so excited by today's newsletter that they decided to line up on Tuesday!
Bigmouth Strikes Again:
Stories | News | Music | Art & Design - With A Shout (out)
Big Projects
New Matrix:
Today’s Thoughts & Themes: ReMix it Up!
Reading Tunes: The Well and the Lighthouse by Arcade Fire
Big Stories
Napster to Netflix
Morning Brew linked us with one of their Senior Video Producers, James Atamian, who broke down how Napster and other file-sharing networks paved the way for modern-day streaming. If you grew up in the 70s and 80s, you got your music from Record Store, Radio, or a friend that made a mix tape. In the 90s, new programs were also emerging as the Internet itself was starting to break the surface and show up in homes with an extra phone line and modem for a personal computer.
Compression
The early days of the Internet were slower than anyone who wasn't there to experience it could imagine. Downloads could take hours, and any glitch in the matrix, while you were downloading, meant the files could be totally lost. It was like watching a seven-story house of cards after someone opened a door, and the breeze was heading toward it. One way to improve speeds and downloads was to compress the files; in music, this meant compressing a .wav file or CDA file into a much smaller electronic file called an MP3. Similar to compressing an image file, some of the bits were removed, and the quality would not be as good as the raw CDA file, but good enough for a computer or MP3 player back in the day.
Mix Tapes in Digital Era
In walk, Napster hit its stride in the 00s. Napster worked the Peer to Peer (PTP) network, allowing anyone with a Napster account and Internet connection to share files on their computer with anyone looking for something. We were all looking for music, all music from new releases to specialty remixes and 12" tracks. Most of us were not "pirate rebels" out to break the law, but the "pirate websites" we used were. Atamian details why we wanted music and, eventually, other media, which forced us into becoming Media Junkie Pirates and changed the landscape forever.
Big Shout
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Soul Asylum Seekers
Title U2
Bono has a new memoir out, and The Edge spent most of the pandemic reworking the genius behind the music for a strange sort of greatest re-hits? The new/old album Songs of Surrender will take some time to process before its status among the mountain of U2 songs some consider part of our lives soundtrack. In the meantime, a new website called popmatters wrote a piece that resonates more with us right now. 10 SONGS THAT WILL MAKE YOU LOVE U2 – according to the list, which doesn’t categorize itself as a best of, but more the songs that built who U2 have become.
U2 80s
Boy was released in 1980, The Joshua Tree finished the decade in 1988, and the decade that turned U2 into the biggest band in the world were all songs about something. Purpose, faith, and all the words stated in the song Bad were who they were.
U2 90s
The band opted to put purpose and belief in the rearview mirror for a while, make more experimental music, and go full into the performance. If the 80s defined you, U2 in the 90s may have been an opportunity to explore other music and the benefit of taking a break from U2 in the 90s – when you go back to it now, it sounds new.
The original release date of the article was in 2012, which may have contributed to the song selection.
Big Things
Stranger Things
DO Look Up
The planets could be aligned on Tuesday night or at least some of them. Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus, and Mars could all be visible from little earth, and you can see them without a telescope. Tomorrow night head out and look west. If you have a telescope see if Elon's consciousness is on Mars!
Industrial Designs
TechnoArt
Midjourney is starting to pop up in several articles in our eclectic mix of art and design. Today a report by Moss And Fog shows us what AI can do with historical works of art, with an eye for robot futures. The images speak for themselves. Welcome to wherever you are.
Words from Gen X
Words from Gen X in age or spirit.
"I don’t believe it!” “That is why you fail.” - Yoda
Thank you for spending a few minutes with us. Here’s one for the road!
Don’t Tell A Soul
Secret Links to Cool Stuff:
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With A Shout newsletter is written by Johnny Christian with the support of a thousand idea bits and the help of many people.
Last Call
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