There's only one band around that are really doing it for me right now. Queens of the Stone Age have ripped through the genre mess of post-punk rock (and pop) to create a sound that is pure addic-tion. Once you're hooked you can't get enough.
They've been that way though ever since they incarnated themselves from the ashes of Kyuss, mixing power rock with slower blues-based churn that gets right inside your skull, forcing a hold that is mesmeric in its influence.
I read somewhere (where oh where on the web was it?) that they come on like a combination of Can and Canned Heat and I'd have to agree that that is pretty close but you'd have to throw a nod to the Sabbath as well, the band that undoubtedly influenced much of their desired "robot rock".
And they've grown in stages through the very fine Rated R (the second album) to the tightly-wound, unrelenting (and some say commercial) Songs for The Deaf while arriving at their new departure point Lullabies to Paralyse.
This is one engrossing album. Like the others before it, not perfect, but with the Queens you gotta take the rough with the smooth. It seems to represent a real maturing of their sound and ideas, as it spins between muddy blues feels, taut riff-a-rama and sheer QOTSA grooves.
Many have bagged it, but the ones that like it, (this NME review is a good summation) you have to trust because they know what it is to hear a band on top of their game and leaving everyone in their wake.
Watch out - QOTSA fans are everywhere and in the form of genuine music lovers as this titbit at the unlikely source of Wine Journal shows ...
Friday, May 27, 2005
Steve Jobs Posting in Slashdot!?
In an incredible series of posts to the Apple forum on Slashdot, As Seen On TV has a lot of people of wondering whether he is Steve Jobs or another high-profile Apple exec -- Marketing honcho Phil Schiller appears to be high on some slashdotters radar.
But this poster has to be Jobs, or at least possess the soul of Apple's CEO by the tone of his postings and the topics commented on. He also seems to be not afraid of losing his job.
The most revelatory post involves a reply to the often speculated appearance of a video iPod. As Seen shoots this down with characteristic Jobs vindictive saying a video iPod would be wrong for all sorts of reasons. Reasons he's commented on before and is probably tired of hearing rehashed in the media.
The best line in the post has to be the last, a guide to all the tyre-kickers out there speculating on where Apple may go now with their incredible product set:
Throughout the post he is at pains to point out that most of the challenges Apple face are not with the technology but with business.
Mind you, if this really is Jobs posting then if one was to be believe in the famous "Reality Distortion Field" I'd expect a video iPod by Christmas. But then again, As Seen does point to AirPort Express as being capable of doing the job. Undoubtedly a few tweaks in support for some video protocols yes but then what's to stop you downloading video to your iPod Photo and then playing back on your TV.
He's said often enough he doesn't believe in small players being effective with such immersive media as video.
As Seen On TV really has got me thinking that Jobs is sick and tired of the speculation himself and wants to steer the discussion of the geeks himself. Tough job.
But this poster has to be Jobs, or at least possess the soul of Apple's CEO by the tone of his postings and the topics commented on. He also seems to be not afraid of losing his job.
The most revelatory post involves a reply to the often speculated appearance of a video iPod. As Seen shoots this down with characteristic Jobs vindictive saying a video iPod would be wrong for all sorts of reasons. Reasons he's commented on before and is probably tired of hearing rehashed in the media.
The best line in the post has to be the last, a guide to all the tyre-kickers out there speculating on where Apple may go now with their incredible product set:
"These are the things you guys need to be paying attention to. Not the product releases. The lawsuits. That's where you'll find the clues."
Throughout the post he is at pains to point out that most of the challenges Apple face are not with the technology but with business.
Mind you, if this really is Jobs posting then if one was to be believe in the famous "Reality Distortion Field" I'd expect a video iPod by Christmas. But then again, As Seen does point to AirPort Express as being capable of doing the job. Undoubtedly a few tweaks in support for some video protocols yes but then what's to stop you downloading video to your iPod Photo and then playing back on your TV.
He's said often enough he doesn't believe in small players being effective with such immersive media as video.
As Seen On TV really has got me thinking that Jobs is sick and tired of the speculation himself and wants to steer the discussion of the geeks himself. Tough job.
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Platform Wars
It's all on again with the release of Tiger, as Apple continues to trump the Wintel Yokels on the fronts where they matter ... digital entertainment.
Of course the Microsofties have always been jealous about the coolness factor that Apple engenders but this latest spat had it's beginnings with the emergence of the iPod as a genuine drop-dead hit. But when you have the device, the application and the service so nicely integrated and effortless to use, it's no wonder they're shirty.
Microsoft for their part are hampered in this because they only make the software (if you can call a repository for malware by such a harmless name) and the hardware makers in their camp are hampered because they have to rely on the bohemoth to turn out something that will deal to iTunes and quick smart. Chances of that happening are almost at the same odds as Steve Jobs sitting down to a t-bone in Palo Alto with Kevin Rollins.
The latter mentioned, from Dell, the company often compared to Buick, alos make an MP3 player, dubbed the DJ. Rollins is so steamed at Apple that he referred to the iPod as a passing fad, saying that in his day they had the Walkman. Wake up Man, the iPod is the 21st Century Walkman.
The jealousy is palpable. You see it in the way the PC centric media write about anything to do with Apple. They detest the fact that the company and Steve Jobs is now on its third coming thanks to the amazing job done with the music thing.
Nowhere is this more obvious than with Rob Glaser from Real Networks. He is a real angry, meat-eating Windows zealot who just can't help himself. So angry in fact that he had his engineers tweak his Harmony software so it would work with iPods. Not sure how many iPod owners had actually signed up to use Harmony before Apple rewrote the code to block it again, but it was a dirty, sly, behind-the-back trick that these guys have to resort to now to get market share in this segment.
I'm also unsure how Tera Patrick managed to pull this off but there is an hilarious transcript of a lunch meeting between Rob Glaser and Steve Jobs in Palo Alto right here.
MSFT Bashing
Meanwhile over at Microsoft, discontent is brewing as they play catch-up on all number of fronts. Because of their stated objective of being everywhere, Microsoft hampers itself every time. The fight for supremacy of the digital domain will move to the home and the handset within the next 10 years and don't they know it. Publicly they bet the farm on Windows and this hampers any efforts at innovation.
It's employees are some of the most active bloggers anywhere. One of them, Scobelizer was moved of course to write an open letter to BG about getting a decent MP3 player built and has been very vocal about Ballmer's decision not to support the gay rights bill in Washington State after they backed down to pressure applied by a fundamentalist church.
There's a lot more hand-wringing going on over there and guys like this spill a lot saying right there in his URL the company would be better off without Ballmer.
The employees represent the heart and soul of a company and I'd say going by the above that MS is sick, and in need of remedial surgery to revive it. They've sat on their hands on their Browser, the OS and their Server products. The Execs still talk the talk though. Look at Jim Allchin, the Windows boss, dismissing Tiger a couple of days prior to release as being nothing more than a "peripharal to the iPod". If only you could refer to Windows in such flattering terms.
Of course the Microsofties have always been jealous about the coolness factor that Apple engenders but this latest spat had it's beginnings with the emergence of the iPod as a genuine drop-dead hit. But when you have the device, the application and the service so nicely integrated and effortless to use, it's no wonder they're shirty.
Microsoft for their part are hampered in this because they only make the software (if you can call a repository for malware by such a harmless name) and the hardware makers in their camp are hampered because they have to rely on the bohemoth to turn out something that will deal to iTunes and quick smart. Chances of that happening are almost at the same odds as Steve Jobs sitting down to a t-bone in Palo Alto with Kevin Rollins.
The latter mentioned, from Dell, the company often compared to Buick, alos make an MP3 player, dubbed the DJ. Rollins is so steamed at Apple that he referred to the iPod as a passing fad, saying that in his day they had the Walkman. Wake up Man, the iPod is the 21st Century Walkman.
The jealousy is palpable. You see it in the way the PC centric media write about anything to do with Apple. They detest the fact that the company and Steve Jobs is now on its third coming thanks to the amazing job done with the music thing.
Nowhere is this more obvious than with Rob Glaser from Real Networks. He is a real angry, meat-eating Windows zealot who just can't help himself. So angry in fact that he had his engineers tweak his Harmony software so it would work with iPods. Not sure how many iPod owners had actually signed up to use Harmony before Apple rewrote the code to block it again, but it was a dirty, sly, behind-the-back trick that these guys have to resort to now to get market share in this segment.
I'm also unsure how Tera Patrick managed to pull this off but there is an hilarious transcript of a lunch meeting between Rob Glaser and Steve Jobs in Palo Alto right here.
MSFT Bashing
Meanwhile over at Microsoft, discontent is brewing as they play catch-up on all number of fronts. Because of their stated objective of being everywhere, Microsoft hampers itself every time. The fight for supremacy of the digital domain will move to the home and the handset within the next 10 years and don't they know it. Publicly they bet the farm on Windows and this hampers any efforts at innovation.
It's employees are some of the most active bloggers anywhere. One of them, Scobelizer was moved of course to write an open letter to BG about getting a decent MP3 player built and has been very vocal about Ballmer's decision not to support the gay rights bill in Washington State after they backed down to pressure applied by a fundamentalist church.
There's a lot more hand-wringing going on over there and guys like this spill a lot saying right there in his URL the company would be better off without Ballmer.
The employees represent the heart and soul of a company and I'd say going by the above that MS is sick, and in need of remedial surgery to revive it. They've sat on their hands on their Browser, the OS and their Server products. The Execs still talk the talk though. Look at Jim Allchin, the Windows boss, dismissing Tiger a couple of days prior to release as being nothing more than a "peripharal to the iPod". If only you could refer to Windows in such flattering terms.
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