Machine Shop: Hype Machine Team Blog

The AOL DL Show has put together a funny video clip that introduces their visitors to the Hype Machine.

Check it out:

Last week, as I was about to visit Markus (starfrosch.ch) in Bern, Switzerland, I was faced with a very usual question: What’s happening in the town while I am visiting?

After googling around a bit for event sites, looking at a bit of German and “events” in 2007, I figured to check Last.fm‘s concert search before giving up.

So I logged in and set my location to Bern in the profile and was surprised to see events! After some more browsing and listening, Lucien Dubuis left me very curious. A crossover jazz & rock trio, they seemed like they could be fun, so I figured to check this show out.

Given that all the other concert tracking & notification services can’t even find Bern on the map, I was thrilled!

It turned out the show was taking place in the beautiful PROGR space which hosts a variety of cultural and music events. A lovely evening, both Markus and I really got a kick out of Lucien Dubuis’ performance – they were having lots of fun on stage and it spread throughout the room.

What’s so special about all this? It just made it very clear to me that no matter how great a concert notification service is, it is simply worthless without sufficient data. One can argue that the services I mentioned above just cover the US, but in reality, they don’t even do a complete job there.

I want to know about concerts all over the world in giant cities and small towns, all in one place. Saying “we only do cities” or “we only do the US” is a copout. Where is this service?

Yep.

We are stopping production of the t-shirts, so if you were considering getting one, now is the time!

$20 USA / $25 International (includes shipping)

Marc Fisher has a good piece in The Washington Post about the challenges of music discovery today.

In his desire to hear something new he attempts to find new music using local FM radio, XM Satellite Radio, Last.fm, Pandora and The Hype Machine.

Read about Marc’s experience!

Had an incredible time at this year’s HWCH 2006 in Dublin. Niall from the nialler9 blog and his housemates kindly allowed me to stay in their house and we went out each night checking out shows.

So who did I see (with a 10-word or less review of the performance)?

Friday, Oct 13th
Aleko – fine rock-electronica, bad venue sound
The Urges – almost a Doors tribue but not as good
Ham Sandwich – fun but sounded like Yeah Yeah Yeahs in moments
The Immediate – excellent interesting rock
Wintersleep – intense Canadian rockers
Future Kings of Spain – a bit boring, maybe I was too tired to really appreciate

Saturday, Oct 14th
Kill City Defectors – well-done but not awfully memorable
Envelope – enjoyed more rocky show
Channel One – excellent electronica rock show
The Mighty Stef – healthy rock fun
Noise Control – not The Prodigy but the next best thing

Sunday, Oct 15th
Butterfly Explosion – good set but venue sound did not help
Simple Kid – original one man show, interesting use of his tools & powerpoint
Declan De Barra – passionate vocals with a nice cello
Peaches – disappointing, maybe because of venue choice
Valerie Francis – slightly folky, beautiful voice with odd instruments
Giveamanakick – unimpressive punky (but not quite punk) rock

Niall’s take on the three days: Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

In a word, this was a killer way to visit the fine city of Dublin! Loved every bit of it.