Just saw Rebecca Black’s “Friday” video, rightly voted the most hated on YouTube. I didn’t mind the video itself so much as the song, which was about as Autotuned and lyrically awful as anything I’ve ever heard. It’s almost like the song was programmed to annoy adults. For those outside the tweener demographic that this is clearly aimed at, the idea of a 13 year-old “kickin’ it” and “chillin’” and “cruisin’”—the latter being particularly remarkable since 13 year-olds can’t drive, so she’s doing all this with who exactly?—is another example of kids trying to act adult(ish) when it’s so painfully obvious they’re not. We all grow up in fits and starts. Most of us don’t (or didn’t) pretend so forcefully that we’ve already arrived then broadcast those attempts to the world.

So I’m clear—since I understand that Black has received personal messages of dislike from the looneys on the Internet—I’m not saying anything against her personally. In fact, I wish all the best and congratulate her on the success she’s achieved. I wish she would lay off the Autotune so we could hear the real her. But I also agree with Simon Cowell, the notorious judge of American Idol as well as a fine an evaluator of musical talent, who said Black should not “listen to anyone over the age of 18. I’m being deadly serious. Whatever she’s done has worked. Whether you like her or not, she’s the most talked-about artist in America right now. Nobody over the age of 18 should understand her or like her. So she should just do it her way.”

Continuing my long-time trend of finding fantastic albums years after their release, here’s my latest discovery:

Moon Safari by AIR

Released (of course) in 1998.

My order of Apple’s iLife ’08 came yesterday and although I’ve only had the opportunity thus far to play with iPhoto and GarageBand, I’m utterly smitten. iPhoto is a terrific update and GarageBand’s new Magic GarageBand feature let me make the following song in–I’m not kidding–5 minutes and 1 take.

Well, it turns out that one of Erin’s cousins has opted for a career as a country singer. I’m always game to support anyone’s musical dreams, but let me tell you it’s a lot easier to get excited about somebody’s singing when they’re awesome at it. Frankly, I’m not much of a country music fan, but give a listen over on her web site then tell me I’m wrong. The woman is amazing. Has an album for sale, too.

Check it out.

My favorite band at present. Revive is awesome. (See what Sir Paul McCartney has to say.) And available for free download. Do yourself a favor. Download today.

Created 7/11/04 on Apple’s Garage Band. Initial song took about 20 minutes to put together. Tack on about another hour for tweaks. The song uses 6 virtual instruments which is about all you can get out of a 1.5-GHz G4. That may not sound like much (and it’s not) but it’s adequate for goofing, so obviously it suites me just fine.

2:22 / 2.8 MB AAC [QuickTime required] – Click the headline to load and listen to the song. I’ve had to move it off the main page to keep download times short for dial-up readers.

Floating and Dreaming
© 2004 by Ty Davison. All rights reserved.

Created 7/6/04 on Apple’s Garage Band. Initial song took about 45 minutes to put together. It would have been faster, but I’d never used the software before. I spent another hour or so tweaking, mixing, and goofing. Good times.

2:35 / 2.4 MB AAC [QuickTime required] – Click the headline to load and listen to the song. I’ve had to move it off the main page to keep download times short for dial-up readers.

Mystic (The Jonah Mix)
© 2004 by Ty Davison. All rights reserved.