music

We (humans) use many expressions in our everyday life related to rhythm:
"Miss a beat"
"Find my rhythm"
"Go at your own pace"
"Get into the groove" ;-)

In my experience, I've noticed that external events can happen either on the beat or the off-beat. Which beat you ask? Well, take a conversation between two people for example. When we speak, we do so at a certain pace, which immediately implies a beat (and associated off-beat). If I want to interrupt you while you're talking, I should choose an opportune moment where you'll be least likely to react in time to continue talking, which is on the off-beat of your speech. There are classic movie moments that illustrate this phenomenon:

Music is a great mnemonic tool to establish mind share. Technology companies have been using it successfully: the Nokia ring tones, the Microsoft Windows startup and shutdown tunes and the Intel Inside jingle have become almost universally recognizable.

It is a creative challenge to devise a short (~5 secs) musical sequence that has a strong enough individuality to be remembered and associated with a brand. As an amateur musician and professional software developer, I am interested to find the logic/art behind these jingles, so I looked for a transcription of existing ones. Here's what we found:

We attended the SOS Music Festival yesteday at the Chinese Garden on the Cairo International Conference Center grounds. The name chosen for the all-day, 8-bands affair reflects the opinion, shared by many Egyptians, that low-quality pop music has monopolized Egyptian airwaves, leaving nothing to the real musicians. This festival was an attempt at saving the music.

And saving it did! All the factors that make attending open-air music festivals enjoyable were there. The location is a huge garden with a big grass field, probably donated by the Chinese government, that comfortably accepted the 2000-3000 attendees. Once inside, past what looked like decent security gates, we immediately felt transported to an alternate and sorely-missed Egypt. One where you can stroll around freely, lay on the grass, enjoy the nice weather and relax to the music. Without being subjected to scolding or lustful stares, authoritarian treatment, or flea-market swindles. The crowd, mostly university students, were there for the music and the good time. Since no alcohol was allowed, there were no fights or the typical weird vibes. I did not smell too much drugs either :-)

What songs mention information? Mostly those written by intelligent songwriters, as we will discover:

• Too Much Information, by The Police - Ghost in the Machine (1981)

  Too much information running through my brain
  Too much information driving me insane
  I've seen the whole world six times over
  Sea of Japan to the Cliffs of Dover

• Information Overload, by Living Colour - Time's Up (1990)

  Sometimes I feel
  Like my mind will explode
  Sometimes I feel
  Like I've got no control
  Sometimes I wish
  I had a heart made of steel
  Sometimes I wish
  I couldn't feel

  Information overload
  Information overload
  Information overload
  Information overload

  They say the future...it's on a microchip
  Don't you know we're all on a sinking ship
  Only ten percent control all the rest
  Only ten percent decide what is best

The issue of fairness in P2P music exchange is complicated. On one hand, it is universally accepted that the traditional business model of music labels is not compatible with the Internet. It is also universally suspected that it does not properly retribute the artists, and that it leads to over-priced products.

On the other hand, free-rolling file sharing completely bypasses both middleman and artist to let listeners find their music online, free of charge. The businessmen are fuming. But it is useful to remember that recorded music was originally intended as *promotional* material for the actual live performances, before the record made centerstage and the big-business marketing machine started manufacturing hits for profit.

I was practicing my daily piracy routine, downloading the new Strokes album. On aMule, I found a .rar file called The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth (complete + bonus) with many sources and a decent-looking size. "Great!" I told myself and happily selected it. When I extracted the package a few hours later, the Strokes album was there alongside with the full album of a band I'd never heard about, The Honkers - Roll Up Your Sleeves And Help Us Rock Up This Honker World, which turned out to be a punk band from Brazil.

- I'd like you to listen to something. Do you mind music that can sometimes be off-scale, off-tempo and technically shaky?
- Sure, I can get into rock.