Wednesday 30 April 2008

Deezer

Just a quick snippet given I haven't written anything here in 3 weeks, need to get rid of the cobwebs and give this blog at least a semblance of life ;o)

Lots of things have been going on in April, and I'm not going to go over everything now, but this is my favourite find of the weekend, I went to Paris and Orleans and to visit some friends and family and one of my best friends converted me to Deezer - I'm loving it!

Deezer is a (French - woohoo!) online music service, way better than Last.fm or Pandora in that being a radio is only one of it's functions - it's also accessible wherever you live - and completely free! In addition to being able to search and listen to any title from a very large array of different artists, users can also create their own playlists and upload all their MP3 so that your whole music library can be available online anywhere, anytime. It also ha a strong community element, where you can make friends and then be able to listen to their own playlists, enabling people to hook up with people with similar music tastes and discover more bands.

My friend told me of a couple of occasions where he saved parties from dying by overtaking the host's computer, logging into Deezer and launching one of his wild party music playlists full blast ;o)

I'm just starting in the Deezer world, but check here if you want to be my musical friend!

That's my mate Jo aka BMF

Monday 7 April 2008

Temporary Autonomous Arts Brighton 2008



Saturday, I went to the latest TAA (Temporary Autonomous Arts) event happening in Brighton (Portslade). The festival was on from the 2nd to the 5th April and my friend Ben stayed there for the whole thing.

In their words:
TAA's are free, open access art exhibitions that take place in disused and reclaimed spaces throughout the UK.

Reclaiming space that has no other immediate purpose, we will be repairing, making safe and improving the building we use before transforming it into a vibrant, organic, techno artistic statement. [...]

Artists, musicians, writers and performers who otherwise would have no outlet, are invited to display their work uninhibited by the normal constraints placed on the current artistic climate. The space will be used respectfully and intelligently, for genuine community development, creating fields of opportunity for a future at no cost or harm to anyone else. We want to exhibit all forms of artwork; drawings, paintings, sculptures big and small, photography, installations and more. Showcasing poets and vocalists, films and performance, words and concepts born out of the free party underground movement. These spaces of reclaimed freedom have been making a significant contribution to an alternative art world.
It was very cool, all sorts of beautiful and sometimes strange artworks were all over the place, from graffiti to metalworks, projection of short films, paintings, live music in the evening, good food, etc. All in a friendly atmosphere with some pretty interesting people, it was well worth it! I'll definitely be checking when it will be happening next year!

I uploaded some pics on Flickr, check them out here: link

Friday 4 April 2008