Youtube, a site that probably everybody who reads this column uses every day has launched a number of new features lately. First up, in recognition that music videos account for 57 percent of most-watch virals on Youtube, Google has introduced a music section to the site at youtube.com/music. It shows the most popular videos of the day as well as a breakdown by genre and curated-playlists. They are also promising a local music listing section in the near future. The addition follows the introduction of full-length movies (youtube.com/movies) where you can watch Animal Farm along with films featuring Jackie Chan, Demi Moore and a slew of Bollywood titles.
If the thought of clicking your mouse is too much to bear then Youtube have thought of that too. Leanback (youtube.com/leanback) is the site’s equivalent of a 24 hour TV channel. It takes videos from subscriptions and serves up non-stop programming based on your preferences.
Also in Youtubeland, the long overdue restriction on uploading videos longer than 10 minutes has been changed to 15. As a celebration and befitting of that ubiquitous Andy Warhol quote and the site’s regular carousel of viral celebrities, they asked users to make a video of their “15 minutes of fame” , which will be showcased on the homepage.
Meanwhile, in Kanyewatch, last week was a veritable feast of Jeezy info as Kanye did two things of interest. First, he made an appearance at the HQs of both Facebook and Twitter, looking dapper in a designer suit and gave acappella performances of new songs Lost in the World, Chain Gang and Mama’s Boyfriend from his forthcoming album. You can watch those videos here.
Secondly, he joined Twitter (@kanyewest)! Oh what delights! It sounds like a small thing but in truth, it’s fascinating reading and confirms the many facets of his personality. He confirmed he’s changed the title of his new album from Good Ass Job to.. something else (clever Kanye), he posted pics of his jet plane and his new massive living room projector screen (rich-ass Kanye), offered business advice (The Apprentice Kanye), ribbed himself for his passion for ancient art (humble Kanye), called himself “The King” a lot (modest Kanye), expressed frustration with being able to get what he wants “What do I have to do to get a simple persian rug with cherub imagery?” (tantrum Kanye) and misspelled Silicon Valley as “Silicone Valley” in his first tweet (nervous Kanye).
Let’s face it. Kanye West is a passionate guy and it’s only a matter of time before something happens to rival his caps lock-fueled “I’m typing so f**king hard I might break my f**king Mac book Air!!!!!!!!” blog rant of times gone by. When it does, with the ease of Twitter, it’ll also be fascinating reading.
Christina Aguilera & M.I.A. collaborate
The two diversive artists worked together on Xtina’s new album Bionic. The tune Elastic Love works, thanks to producer Switch’s electro-bump arrangement.
Listen at the Hype Machine
Kanye’s Power leaks
Rumoured to be taken from Kanye’s forthcoming album titled charmingly Good Ass Job, Power sees the rapper break away from the 808s & Heartbreak autotune era with a track set to soul choir sample.
Listen at the Hype Machine
CEO
Eric Berglund of electronica duo The Tough Alliance makes a solo run under the CEO name and produces Balearic pop in the process. Another great release from Swedish label Sincerely Yours, who recently released JJ and Kendal Johansson.
Check out CEO at The Culture of Me
Klaxons’ Flashover
The first new sliver of material from Klaxons’ forthcoming album sounds like first album highlight Atlantis to Interzone without the “nu-rave” bleeps and with more distortion.
http://klaxons.net
You can imagine how the pitch went:
“Hello Mr Hudson, we are popular ‘urban’ group- N-Dubz. We wish to appeal to a niche MOR market. Your agent tells our agent that we could cross-polinate our appeal with yours. We’re advised that it will all end up well.”
Actually, no. Nobody would wish for that ridiculous hybrid. Yet, here it is.
It’s that time again. It’s time to celebrate our strength, our creativity, our uniqueness, our heroes, our humanity and.. our ability to upload videos of unfortunate mishaps to Youtube.
What bigger heroine has 2009 offered us than Susan Boyle? She started the year a dowdy spinster. An appearance on Britain’s Got Talent and over 100 million Youtube views later and she ends the year as one of the biggest selling album artists of 2009 worldwide. Let us not forget the performance that started it all.
Other people became known for very different reasons this year. Tom O’ C (aka T O’ Pain) became an accidental rap sensation overnight, Christian Bale was caught on tape freaking out at a film crew member and Kanye had a bad year all round. Firstly, with the South Park Gay Fish parody and secondly with his interruption of Taylor Swift’s MTV award speech, an event which became an internet meme albeit an ephemeral one.
The year’s longest lasting internet meme was Play him off Keyboard Cat which spawned hundreds of video remixes and mashups like this Hall and Oates version while close behind was anything involving autotune including autotuned news reports and ads.
For once-off viral videos, nothing beats David, a young boy whose dazed state after a visit to the dentist was captured by his dad and uploaded to the web. For those looking to get their dance craze on, you should watch the wedding video entrance to end them all and those who can’t get enough of cute kids should check out the floppy-haired five year old playing Folsom Prison Blues or the less innocent but equally impressive redhead kid dancing to dirty rap songs.
Continue Reading..»
On Sunday, Kanye West once again showed the world his douchebag credentials. If you haven’t heard by now (or seen it), here’s what happened. At Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards in New York, Kanye stormed the stage during a delighted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for “Best Female”. He grabbed the microphone from her hands and proceeded to tell the assembled that Beyoncé should have won instead. Cue disbelief, boos, a heartbroken Ms. Swift and Beyoncé looking morto.
Mr. West has a prior history of doing things like this. At 2006′s European VMAs he pulled a similar stunt to protest Justice vs Simian’s Video of the Year win. We all remember his infamous “George Bush hates black people” outburst on live TV or how about his “ I’m typing so hard I might break my fucking Macbook Air!” reply to fans’ disgruntlement at a delayed show.
While Kanye has already issued an apology and appeared on Leno to apologise, naturally the internet is doing what it does best responding and creating video memes of the incident.
Many of the musicians and celebs present at the awards took to Twitter to react with Katy Perry tweeting “F**k you Kanye. It’s like you stepped on a kitten.” Popular Twitter user Graham Linehan and his followers rechristened him Kant and generally people called him self-centered and childish as expected.
The best thing to come out of this though, is the start of an internet meme beginning with the brilliant short video of Obama’s recent healthcare speech being interrupted by the same Kanye diatribe. Something tells me by the time you read this, “Kanye interrupts” could be the next Keyboard Cat viral sensation.
The best of the Kanye interrupts virals after the jump: Continue Reading..»
Muse = Queen?
Muse have made the next logical step from their epic bombastic rock to Queen-style OTT ballads if the ridiculously-titled United States Of Eurasia Parts 1-6 from their new album is an indication..
The Horrors remix Memory Cassette
It’s been a good week for the former panto-goth rockers. A Mercury nomination for the excellent album Primary Colours and this uncharacteristic spacey dance remix for good measure.
http://short.ie/horrorsremix
New Beastie Boys track
On the same day that the Beasties’ Adam Yauch announced he will undergo cancer treatment, Too Many Rappers from the forthcoming Hot Sauce Committee Pt.1 with Nas as a guest appeared. Still as good as ever.
http://short.ie/beastienas
Jay-Z with Kanye and Rihanna
The Hova’s upcoming Blueprint 3 album has started to leak material – this time by The Roots’ talisman Questlove via Twitter. ‘Run This Town’ is as pop as Jay-Z gets.
http://short.ie/jayz3
