‘Vintage’ Christmas Songs Warped by AI on YouTube Christmas Compilations This Year

Photo Credit: Christmas Melodies YouTube Channel Families seeking Christmas background music on YouTube during the holidays instead found AI-generated mash-up carols. The effect is subtle, since these Christmas compilations often start with a song that is only slightly altered before devolving into Christmas chaos. The YouTube compilation ‘Best of 1950sContinue Reading

“Historic for Gojira and metal”: Why the Olympics played an unlikely host for some of the biggest guitar moments of the year

2024 Year in Review: As if witnessing Gojira’s extreme-metal take on French revolution anthem Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça Ira) at the Olympics with opera singer Marina Viotti wasn’t extraordinary enough, eagle-eyed fans were quick to spot something peculiar in singer/guitarist Joe Duplantier’s hands. Instead of his signature T-style San DimasContinue Reading

“They’re both amazing guitarists, but Jeff Beck let you take liberties”: Rhonda Smith had been on call with Prince for more than a decade when she told the Purple One she was busy with Jeff Beck

When you’ve got Rhonda Smith’s killer combination of Larry Graham-like funk chops, a full-on fusion background, the ability to play just about any kind of bass instrument imaginable, and sheer stage energy, word gets around. For more than a decade, Smith was on call with Prince, but during the PurpleContinue Reading

“You can rehearse until you’re blue in the face, but once you hit the stage, all bets are off”: How King Crimson was reborn at the hands of Steve Vai and Adrian Belew

2024 Year in Review: Though King Crimson, the highly influential English progressive rock band, are spoken of in the past tense these days, founder Robert Fripp ended up giving his blessing to latter member Adrian Belew for a semi-official celebration of his time in the band. Exploring the music heardContinue Reading

Richard Perry, Music Producer Behind Carly Simon’s ‘You’re So Vain,’ Dead at 82

Perry worked behind the scenes with some of the industry’s brightest stars including Barbra Streisand, Ringo Starr, Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond, and more Music producer Richard Perry, known for his iconic collaborations with numerous artists from Carly Simon to Barbra Streisand, has died at the age of 82. Daphna Kastner,Continue Reading

What we’ve been unwrapping

A few of our favourite memories of video games at Christmas. Image credit: Niantic 25th December Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we’ve been playing over the past few days. This week it’s all about Christmas presents andContinue Reading

Elizabeth Chan, ‘Queen of Christmas,’ on Channeling Grief Into Her 14th Straight Holiday Music Release, ‘Shatterproof’

Singer-songwriter Elizabeth Chan set yet another benchmark in the annals of holiday music by issuing her 14th straight annual Christmas release, “Shatterproof,” this month. No one is likely to come close to shattering that record for the highest number of consecutive seasonal albums or EPs, but Chan — who isContinue Reading