My love for anything that MF DOOM (all caps necessary) is well known. So when Stones Throw Records came out with a 2CD limited edition lunch box of the original release of MF DOOM’s “Operation Doomsday”… I pre-ordered.

Doom’s label Metalface Record is releasing the first complete version of Doom’s debut album OPERATION: DOOMSDAY. The complete version contains the original album, alternate versions, b-sides and instrumentals – 42 tracks total, all remastered.

The bad news? You might have a bit of a problem finding these now. Good news? I have it. Well that and you might want to get in line for the MF DOOM DIME BOX.

[ Links: Stones Throw, DIME BOX ]

Every now and then there’s packaging that just screams out “I need that in my life” and The Alchemist and Oh No’s saw blade vinyl record EP “Sawblade”, with a few cuts from their upcoming November 22nd release “Gutter Water” is just that one time packaging and the content come together in a cool, creative, “DOWANT” way.

The tracklisting on the Sawblade EP is as follows:

Side A

1. The Sickness
2. Operating Room
3. Freshest Rhymes
4. Overdose

Side B

1. The Sickness (Instrumental)
2. Operating Room (Instrumental)
3. Freshest Rhymes (Instrumental)
4. Overdose (Instrumental)

With the creative genius of The Alchemist and Madlib’s younger brother (and just as creative) Oh No, Gangrene promises to be something altogether cool. The limited edition Sawblade EP costs about $20.

[ Links: Decon Records ]

Just got an update for your Zune software, didn’t see much of what it did? Neither did I until I started snooping around and found the above “Do More On The Web” option on the device portion of the options. It doesn’t do much more than state “This Feature Works Only With Windows Phone 7″ at the moment… and I’ve not one clue what else has been added.

[ Links: Microsoft, Zune, Windows Phone 7 ]

If you like hip-hop, rhythm and blues, a touch of jazz and folk, all wrapped up with adult themes and lyrics and music that’s as modern as it is a throwback to better times; Foreign Exchange comprised of Little Brother’s Phonte Coleman and Dutch producer Nicolay are coming out with their third album “Authenticity”.

Picking up where their 2008 Grammy-nominated “Leave It All Behind” set left off, “Authenticity” is the group’s most diverse work to date, with a tight, 11-track song cycle spanning the duo’s trademark brand of lush electronic soul, to stripped down acoustic pieces that recall the heyday of 70′s singer-songwriter driven folk.

Tracklisting:

• 01. The Last Fall
• 02. Authenticity
• 03. Eyes To The Sky
• 04. All Roads
• 05. Fight For Love
• 06. Maybe She’ll Dream Of Me
• 07. Don’t Wait
• 08. Make Me A Fool
• 09. Everything Must Go
• 10. Laughing At Your Plans
• 11. This City Ain’t The Same Without You

I don’t mind admitting that I’m a fan. I don’t need to listen to a whole bunch of “yeah’s” screamed at me nor way too explicit lyrics being in music that I’d rather relax with my friends and/or lady with. And from what I’ve heard thus far, Foreign Exchange will be Grammy nominated, if not Grammy winners this next time.

Click “Maybe She’ll Dream of Me” above for a free download and introduction to the latest Foreign Exchange sound which comes out tomorrow, October 12th in stores and iTunes.

[ Link: Foreign Exchange Authenticity ]

At the Apple Keynote today, Steve Jobs pulled out the oft-rumored $99 Apple TV (finally) and the long awaited update to the Apple iPod Touch that brings the best parts of the Apple iPhone 4 to the music player. Think about all of the good parts of prior Apple iPhone 4 announcements:

• Facetime – forward facing camera
• Retina Display – 960 x 480 high-density pixel display
• 720p HD Video Recording via improved, 5mp back camera
• Apple A4 SoC chipset for improved performance and battery life
• 40 hours audio playback, 7 hours video playback
• 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz only)
• Bluetooth

And the inability to also make phone calls! har har

Showing up at 8, 32 and 64GB sizes, at $229, $299 and $399 respectively, the Apple iPod Touch just upped the ante for the mp3 players with extended abilities. Not bad at all Apple. More on the Apple TV later.

[ Links: Apple, Apple iPod Touch ]

Just got word that Foreign Exchange, comprised of Phonte Coleman of Little Brother and Dutch producer Nicolay are coming up with a follow-up to their Grammy nominated “Leave It All Behind”. “Authenticity” promises to be expand on the soulful sounds that got them nominated for their last album.

Lead single “Maybe She’ll Dream Of Me” is a playful, synth-driven hip-hop groove featuring a rapped verse from Phonte that evokes the band’s “Connected” era, while the epic opener “The Last Fall” finds Phonte singing some of his most cynical lyrics to date (“Love is at worst an excuse/at best it’s a truce…”) over a frenzied Nicolay production jammed with layers of strings, guitars, and dense choral harmonies.

Head over to the Foreign Exchange website to view the track listing and for other news about this upcoming release, here.

I cannot wait for this to drop.

[ Links: Foreign Exchange Authenticity ]

Let’s face it… the whole R&B scene plain sucks right now. There are no real standouts – no, R. Kelly does not count – and the music has all somehow blended together for one boring, monotonous sound that have very little substance outside of finding the most crass way to tell another person that you want to lick, stick or do something nasty to the person or it reminds you of another song (or ten) before it.

So receiving a heads up about YahZarah’s “The Ballad of Purple Saint James”, a singer that comes from around the DC area originally and has sung backup for Erykah Badu and done work with North Carolina’s Little Brother and the grammy nominated Foreign Exchange… this was the needed “grown folks” music that I needed to hear from an artist. Showing the range from soulful, to insightful, Yahzarah’s newly released “The Ballad of Purple Saint James” is a killer addition to any R&B lover’s collection. To me, the stand out track was “All My Days”, almost didn’t make it past that song.

Got Apple iTunes? You owe it to yourself to sample it.

[ Links: Yahzarah "The Ballad of Purple Saint James" ]

There may be people that get their cubicle party on, but I am guessing that pocket-sized mixing decks will mostly be destined for the classrooms of overindulged teenagers – and for lonely adults seeking to entertain themselves. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t approve.

From Think Geek:

• Everything you need to mix back and forth between two MP3 players.
• Pocket sized for instant DJ action.
• Preview the next song with a separate, volume-controlled headphone jack.
• Easily fade between MP3 players with the smooth slider.
• Includes: Mixing deck, 2 short audio cables (for connecting to MP3 players), 1 long audio cable (to connect to speakers – not included), and earbuds.
• Batteries: 4 AAA (not included)
• Dimensions:
  • Mixing Deck: approx. 4.5″ x 2.5″ x 1.25″
  • Long Cable: 40″
  • Short Cable: 17″

Price: $24.99

Link to the original article…

Nokia is known for a lot of things, marketing hype sometimes being one of them; however when I heard about the Nokia BH-905 “high performance” Bluetooth headphones with active noise reduction, my cynical side immediately kicked in. I mean, what could be so “high performance” about Bluetooth headsets?

So let’s see… Nokia states this about their headphones:

Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, Headset Profile (HSP) 1.2, Hands-Free Profile (HFP) 1.1, A2DP 1.2
3.5mm Nokia AV (3.5mm standard jack) connectivity
Frequency Response: 15Hz to 20kHz
Advanced Wolfson Microelectronics myZone Ambient Noise Cancellation for up to 99% noise reduction
10 microphones – 8 for noise cancelling, 2 for capturing speech in loud surroundings
Talk Time: 24 Hours, 15 Hours with noise cancellation active
Music Playback: 25 Hours, 16 Hours with noise cancellation active
Standby Time: Up to 600 Hours

The kind folks from Nokia and WOMWorld met my cynicism head-on and sent a pair of their Nokia BH-905 and a Nokia N97 to test things out. Upon opening the box, you get a good look at the size of these headphones. Of course, these are quite a bit more bulky than your typical in-ear solution; however the noise cancellation feature for calls as well as voice capture easily place the Nokia BH-905 top of it’s class. In the future, remind me to temper my cynical side.

Mind you, my normal Bluetooth earpiece is now a Motorola Endeavor HX1 with “Crystal Talk” and before that, an Aliph Jawbone 2 with their “Noise Assassin” noise cancellation. So making simple phone calls, people could still hear some road noise or if I were in the office, they could hear the server fans with the Jawbone or my Motorola. With the Nokia BH-905, I was constantly asked if I were being still, if I were still there or if I had turned off everything in my background; which wasn’t the case.

Another test happened while downtown, I sat down on a bench across from the street from some construction, decided to listen to some music. Instead of the normal reaction by some of the more inexpensive noise cancellation headphones where they just make the music louder and call that “noise cancellation”, the headphones pushed out the noise and allowed me to listen to my music from the phone without incident. Just flick the switch on the bottom left headphone and active noise cancellation kicks in noticeably. Since I decided to use a phone the entire time, I received a few phone calls while downtown and while they could hear some things in the background – it does not mute your surroundings to a point of where it’s unnatural, they could easily hear me over everything.

Note: Since these cover both ears, I would not suggest using these while driving. But using these in the workplace, in the home, while you travel on airplanes, I’d consider these headphones the first thing I’d grab before travel.

There’s a lot of technology that goes into the Nokia BH-905. Noise cancellation, superior Bluetooth compatibility, connectivity with just about any device that has either a headphone plug (yes, even the Apple iPhone) or your home stereo, to a pretty cool but huge carrying case to safely secure your attachments, charger and secure your player or phone in its exterior pocket… ok, I’m beating around the bush. The Nokia BH-905 isn’t cheap. But it’s not built cheap. It doesn’t feel cheap. It doesn’t look cheap. And it doesn’t work cheaply either – meaning, it actually does what Nokia says. Which, forces my cynical side to say that these headphones are definitely better than the Bose QuietComfort 3 headphones for about $100 less.

Nokia, I’m impressed by these headphones. There, I said it. It’s a shame that I had to send these back too…

The only cons to the Nokia BH-905 would be the fact that Nokia didn’t use the Micro-USB connector for recharging, much like the Nokia N97 or even my Motorola Endeavor HX1 headset and the price being another possible detractor. With that said, I still give the Nokia BH-905 a 4.5 out of 5 (Highly Recommended) score.

[ Links: Nokia, Nokia BH-905, WOMWorld ]

Broadbandreports.com recently noted how ISPs are seriously considering bundling subscription music services like Spotify (or creating their own) for a small additional, optional fee. Spotify, which offers users streaming access to music free with ads or for a monthly fee, is one way the recording industry can shake off the impacts of piracy without resorting to suing children and grandmothers. But Warner Music apparently is having none of it, and according to the BBC, no longer wants to offer its music catalog up for use by free streaming services:

Warner chief executive Edgar Bronfman Jr said: “Free streaming services are clearly not net positive for the industry and as far as Warner Music is concerned will not be licensed. “The ‘get all your music you want for free, and then maybe with a few bells and whistles we can move you to a premium price’ strategy is not the kind of approach to business that we will be supporting in the future.”

One, Bronfman is pretending that he actually has a choice in the matter, when the labels can either adapt to what their audience wants, or go out of business. Two, Bronfman has ingeniously decided to kill off one of the major user alternatives to music piracy – simply because the avenue doesn’t allow Warner to charge the kind of high music prices they’ve grown to love. Mike Masnick over at Techdirt puts it this way:

You don’t compete with “free” by taking your ball and going home. You don’t compete with “free” by pretending that old artificial scarcities are coming back after the wall has been broken down. You don’t compete with “free” by suing customers. You don’t compete with “free” by shunning those who have business models that work. You compete with free by offering a better product and a better business model. WMG is choosing to go in the other direction. Best of luck to them…

Bingo. Couldn’t have been said better. Warner, RIAA… they all need a wakeup call and see that the “old way” doesn’t work well in these new times.

Link to the original article…

Final Product // ATTIGO TT from Scott Hobbs on Vimeo.

Scott Hobbs Innovative Product Design produced ATTIGO TT touchscreen turntable system brings to the table one of the most useful, intuitive and coolest uses of a touchscreen ever:

The ATTIGO TT is a Touch-screen interface designed for DJing with mp3 tracks. The TT allows DJs to see, hear and touch music in a completely new dimension with a visualization of the music traveling vertically upwards.

The waveform of the music can be manipulated similar to a vinyl record on a turntable, with the abilty to “scratch” and along with all the other functions to control the music, this is the most simple and exciting way to mix mp3 songs.

Not sure how I missed these – the videos are from two years ago – but yes… DO WANT. No word on pricing or availability yet.

[ Links: Scott Hobbs, ATTIGO TT ]

Just last week, I was so deep in the woods that screaming for the whereabouts of my traveling companions would have probably gotten the attention of some animals that I’d rather avoid – read: bears. Cardo Systems have announced a rather unique solution to two-way communication, and oddly enough music sharing, between multiple sets of bluetooth enabled headsets if you’re on a motorcycle, snowmobile or ATV:

The Q2 MultiSet was created with the safety, convenience and enjoyment of riders in mind. The headsets come pre-paired so that riders can instantly begin communicating with each other. For added entertainment, an MP3 jack is included in both headsets which allow each rider to connect their personal MP3 player to the unit so they can each enjoy their own music. Incoming intercom messages and mobile phone calls automatically override the MP3 music so hands never have to leave the handlebars. An extra large, wind-resistant 195 mm microphone has also been included to greatly enhance sound quality.

“With the SCALA RIDER® Q2™ MultiSet we continue to empower riders with the best communication technology available, without compromising safety. To offer a smooth out-of-the-box experience the two headsets come factory paired, so that users can instantly start enjoying the product. As the fifth addition to our SCALA RIDER® line of products, we keep pushing the envelope for our customers by offering optimal solutions for every need”, said Abraham Glezerman, CEO of Cardo Systems, Inc.

Although I love my friends, I don’t exactly trust their choices in music. But Cardo does provide a cool way to communicate and share music between headsets and facilitate instant communication between users. The SCALA Rider Q2 MultiSet is available through select distributors, retail outlets, specialty shops, and directly from the Cardo Systems website with a suggested retail price of $395.95

[ Links: Cardo Systems, Scala Rider Q2 MultiSet ]