The much-anticipated convergence of television and the Internet has not happened as anticipated. Instead, an ecosystem of mobile media devices is moving media consumption away from the desktop and into the living room using relatively simple web syndication technologies. Building on the combined cultural shifts of weblogs, the iPod and TiVo, streaming media is experiencing a long-awaited breakthrough into the cultural mainstream. This panel of experts will discuss some major effects of podcasting on mainstream media, and what’s happening with video blogging.

Watch Podcasting & Video Blogging (Windows Media)
Listen to Podcasting & Video Blogging (Windows Media)

The Go! Team might just have one of the catchiest albums of the year, “Thunder Lightning Strike.” Their unique sound is made up of sunshine funk, big beats, peculiar samples, adrenaline-pumping rock, TV theme songs and the occasional cheerleader. (Yes, cheerleader) It opens with a charged trashcan drum song, “Panther Dash,” before slipping into a series of funky, blippy grooves.

Those sounds run through the entire album, alternating between hyperkinetic rock’n'roll and colorful electronic big beats. It’s all jammed with harmonica, horn, what sounds like a sitar, and hip-hop flourishes. And whatever style it is, it’s danceable from beginning to end, densely packed with fun beats and wild rhythms.

KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic had the entire Go! Team in their studios for a live performance. Definitly worth a watch / listen.

The Go! Team live video performance (Real Player Required)
The Go! Team live performance audio stream (Real Player Required)

No, neither have I – but this documentary from the BBC is an interesting snapshot into a rising music genre. Hear from artists like Prozak and Tech N9ne to find out why America loves to hate Horrorcore. The darker side of rap, Horrorcore has a massive following across the US and it’s spreading to Europe.

From Detroit to NYC find out what’s blazing in the Detroit and New York City underground clubs.

Also in this story -

Reggaeton which blends Dancehall vocals with Latino beats, it’s been growing Stateside and now it’s headed for the mainstream.

Listen to the Horrorcore documentary

From WYNC is New York: Another legal battle surrounding the signature gravely voice of Tom Waits – from Frito Lay to Spain. Composer Rob Kapilow discusses Mozart’s most popular composition, “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.” Also, Radiohead is often covered by jazz musicians, but now by a classical string quartet? You bet. Today, hear selections from OK Computer played by the LA-based Section Quartet.

Listen to the entire show – From Mozart to Radiohead (Real Player Required)

Listen to Section Quartet Playing Radiohead only (Real Player Required)

Listen tp Rob Kapilow discuss Mozart’s most popular composition, “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.” (Real Player Required)

Bob Moog (1934-2005) invented and built electronic musical instruments for over half a century. From his workshops in upstate New York and later in rural North Carolina, Moog shaped musical culture with some of the most inspiring instruments ever created.

Moog explains that he “can feel what’s going on in a piece of electronic equipment… it’s something between discovering and witnessing.”

And he is convinced that many musicians come to “feel” a circuit in a similar way. “They make contact.” In fact, musicians make such strong emotional connections with the electronics inside a Moog synthesizer that Moog himself has reached cult hero status.

Moog not only made prodigious contributions to modern music and culture, but he became a character within an unfolding “American maverick inventor” mythology. Moog certainly walked and talked the “mad scientist” part, complete with the fly-away white hair, intense eyes, eccentric mannerisms and a head full of stories.

Watch the MOOG Documentary clip (Quicktime)

Private Warriors (2005) : As the Army struggles to meet recruitment numbers, FRONTLINE takes a hard look at private contractors servicing U.S. military supply lines, running U.S. military bases, and protecting U.S. diplomats and generals. Between the logistics giant Halliburton and a myriad of armed security companies, private military contractors comprise the second largest “force” in Iraq, far outnumbering all non-U.S. forces combined. There are as many as 100,000 civilian contractors and approximately 20,000 private security forces.

Run Time 60 minutes (Real Player Required)

Part 1 : The Private Side of War – The street level mayhem and dangers of Baghdad today

Part 2 : Citizens in a Combat Zone

Part 3 : Embedded – Dangers of outsourcing the war

Part 4 : Last Days in Baghdad – A drive to the airport on the world’s most dangerous road

Ed Felten, Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University and an expert in computer security, talks about how personal computers and the Internet have affected the use of media such as music and movies, and about the legal, political and policy struggles that have resulted.

Real Player : High Bandwidth / Low Bandwidth
Windows Media : High Bandwidth / Low Bandwidth

“Anyone who has followed Neil Young’s career knows enough not to expect a simple evening of mellow good times when they see him in concert, but in 1973, when Young hit the road after Harvest had confirmed his status as a first-echelon rock star, that knowledge wasn’t nearly as common as it is today.

Young’s natural inclinations to travel against the current of audience expectations were amplified by a stormy relationship between himself and his touring band, as well as the devastating death of guitarist Danny Whitten, who died of a drug overdose shortly after being given his pink slip during the first phase of tour rehearsals. The shows that followed turned into a nightly exorcism of Young’s rage and guilt, as well as a battle between himself and an audience who, expecting to hear “Old Man” and “Heart of Gold,” didn’t know what to make of the electric assault they witnessed.

All the more remarkably, Young brought along a mobile recording truck to capture the tour on tape for a live album and the result, Time Fades Away, was a ragged musical parade of bad karma and road craziness, opening with Young bellowing “14 junkies, too weak to work” on the title cut, and closing with “Last Dance,” in which he tells his fans “you can live your own life” with all the optimism of a man on the deck of a sinking ship.

While critics and fans were not kind to Time Fades Away upon first release, decades later it sounds very much of a piece with Tonight’s the Night and On the Beach, albums that explored the troubled zeitgeist of America in the mid-’70s in a way few rockers had the courage to face. If the performances are often loose and ragged, they’re also brimming with emotional force, and despite the dashed hopes of “Yonder Stands the Sinner” and “Last Dance,” “Don’t Be Denied” is a moving remembrance of Young’s childhood and what music has meant to him, and it’s one of the most powerful performances Young ever committed to vinyl.

Few rockers have been as willing as Young to lay themselves bare before their audience, and Time Fades Away ranks with the bravest and most painfully honest albums of his career — like the tequila Young was drinking on that tour, it isn’t for everyone, but you may be surprised by its powerful effects.” – AMG

Listen to the unreleased Live Neil Young Album, Time Fades Away (Windows Media)