Standup comedian classic Lenny Bruce

October 15th, 2009 by txubaka No comments »

Lenny Bruce is a legend. A standup comedian in the 50s and 60s, he confronted the stablishment with his direct, harsh, uncensored language. Because of that, he had many troubles with the law, that made him appear before court several times. A true pioneer of the genre.

From the Spotify bio:

Bruce changed the whole ball game: no longer would comics have to come out in a cute little suit and tell cute little mother-in-law jokes or feel like they were “working dirty” if they talked openly about sex and other taboo subjects. The shoot-from-the-hip and tell-the-truth work of Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Richard Lewis, and myriad other modern-day comics could never have existed without Bruce first storming the citadel and tearing down the conventional walls of comedy presentation back in the 1950s. He was the original rebel in this marvelous amalgam he invented…

Related links:
- Lenny Bruce Official Website
- Lenny Bruce Bio in Wikipedia

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Posted in comedy, original recording

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Spotify is hiring

October 15th, 2009 by txubaka No comments »
Now Hiring

Most of the positions are for developer roles based in Sweden. If interested, ask them at the jobs section here. For better or worse, it’s not a google style offer. Thought it would be fun to know if that would have been a music trivia based puzzle. :P

Here’s what they are looking for:

  • Outstanding work in a previous role
  • A top-notch education from an impressive institution
  • World-class computer science or programming skills
  • A huge network of great contacts
  • Or that ever so difficult to define “star quality”

I think I’ll pass ;)

Related links:

- Jobs at Spotify.com

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Posted in news

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Spotinotes giveaway: First 4 comments get Spotify invite

October 14th, 2009 by txubaka 4 comments »
Spotify Girl

Is anyone there? If there is, and you want an Spotify invite, I have four left. You just have to comment on this post. You can put anything you want, maybe why you want to try Spotify. Leave your email (I’ll keep it private) and I’ll contact you with the coupon code. Bye!

Update: Comments are closed on this post. We’ve given away the invites we had. Stay tuned for more opportunities.

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Standup comedian Demetri Martin on Spotify

October 12th, 2009 by txubaka No comments »

There is no shortage of comedians on Spotify. We already showcased Robin Williams in his classic ‘A Night at the Met’. Today, we review another great standup comedians who has his work on Spotify:

Demetri Martin is a rising star, a talented comedian, actor, writer and musician, now starring his own movie, Taking Woodstock. He also appeared regularly on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and now has his own TV program at Comedy Central.

In this recording, he performs on a theatre with a completely dedicated audience. Very funny stuff.

From the Spotify’s bio:

Demetri Martin is not your average standup comedian. In the style of contemporaries like Eugene Mirman and Zach Galifianakis, Martin stretches the boundaries of the form into something resembling a form of Borscht Belt performance art [...] Incorporating musical instruments, props, and video into his otherwise standard on-stage act, Martin’s primary on-stage persona is that of a naïve youngster reminiscent of ’80s cult comic Emo Phillips, but not nearly so deliberately annoying.

Related links:

- Demetri Martin Official Site
- Taking Woodstock (IMDB.com)
- Demetri Martin at Comedycentral.com

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Posted in comedy

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Maximum Beatles: The unauthorised biography of The Beatles

October 10th, 2009 by txubaka No comments »

An hour long biography, including some short interviews, but, sadly, no Beatle’s music. These is part of the Maximum interviews and biographies series at the Chrome Dreams (Spotify Link) label. It has a concise introduction and chapters for every major stage of The Beatles history, specially the beginnings, explaining the reasons for their success and also studying all the changes in musical styles through their career. We’re still waiting for the music…

Album Maximum Beatles

Year 2002

  1. The Wheels Of The Universe 5 minutes, 51 seconds
  2. Before The Beginning 5 minutes, 12 seconds
  3. Hamburg 3 minutes, 58 seconds
  4. Enter Brain Epstein 6 minutes, 38 seconds
  5. Exit Pete Best 8 minutes, 37 seconds
  6. Ordinary Lads 5 minutes, 12 seconds
  7. The Final Tour 5 minutes, 17 seconds
  8. Lonely Hearts 7 minutes, 41 seconds
  9. One Bad Apple 7 minutes, 14 seconds
  10. The End Of The Beginning? 5 minutes, 47 seconds
  11. Beatles Forever? 7 minutes, 38 seconds

(Track names link to Spotify URLs)

Related links:
- Maximum Beatles: The Unauthorised Biography of The Beatles (Maximum series) (Amazon.com)
- The Beatles Official Web
- The Beatles (Wikipedia)

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Posted in audiobook, biography, interviews

The 50th Law (50 cent audio book)

October 9th, 2009 by txubaka No comments »

Spotify anounces on its blog they’re giving for their premium users the complete ‘The 50th Law’ audiobook by 50 cent and Robert Greene. Luckily for nonpremium users, they’ve also put a sampler edition, with about an hour of audio. The audiobook is about 50cent struggle to fame and his philosophy of life (you may call it that way). Let’s hope this is the beginning of many more audiobooks on Spotify.

Related links:
-The 50th Law on Amazon.com
-Book review at Shelf Life Blog (Entertainment Weekly)

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Posted in audiobook

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Peter Sellers Radio Comedy Classics

October 9th, 2009 by txubaka 1 comment »

I didn’t know Peter Sellers had so much success before making it as an international movie star. Quoting from Spotify biography:

On an international level, Peter Sellers is most famous as a screen comedian, starring in Dr. Strangelove, The Pink Panther, Being There, and other films. Actually, he was an all-around performer who was a household name in England long before Dr. Strangelove made him a big star overseas. Although his film career was well underway by the end of the 1950s, he first rose to prominence as a radio performer on The Goon Show (collaborating with other comedians, especially Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan). His radio success almost immediately led to solo comedy recordings (many of the Goon Show broadcasts were eventually issued on record as well, especially on the BBC’s own label).

Related links:
- Peter Sellers at IMDB.com
- Fool Britannia review at Record Collector (doesn’t get much praise)
- The official site of Peter Sellers

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Posted in comedy, radio

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How to travel on a budget (Spotify edition)

October 2nd, 2009 by txubaka No comments »

I guess this is what they call ‘niche market’ as I don’t know many people who would buy an audio travel guide, not about a particular place but about how to travel on the cheap. It includes advise on planning the trip, cheap hotels, traveling with kids  and what can go wrong. Huge tips as: ‘if you want to travel cheap, book cheap hotels’ (duh!) or ‘Australia off-peak is not that expensive’ (?)

Anyway, if you really are into audio travel guides, I recommend you to go to The Guardian website, where they have serveral guides, many of them by famous citizens of those places (look for the ‘My Home Town’ series). Also check The Amateur Traveler podcast or the Travel section of any Podcast directory, like digitalpodcast.com.

Related links:
- Audio Travel guides at The Guardian
- The Amateur Traveler podcast

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Ringtones? Yes, ringtones…

October 1st, 2009 by txubaka No comments »

Of all the things I thought I could find at Spotify, phone ringtones wasn’t the first I thought of. There seems to be an extensive collection of these short audio recordings, from the ‘Best friend calling’ collections to the ‘Your Name Ringtone‘ (my favorite is ‘It’s your …. calling‘ ones, with someone singing something like ‘It’s your (insert friend/family), don’t you wanna pick up and find out what’s going on, find out what’s going on…oh yeah yeah’ or the one-hit wonder ‘Your (familiy name)’s calling you, wants to see what you’re up too, if you wait till the sun gets through you might just miss her’ (pure magic :P ) There’s even an ‘SMS Text edition‘, you can imagine… ‘Hey (insert friend), you’ve got a text message’. You can check them out searching for  ‘Your Name Ringtone’ or clicking on the link… you know, if you wait till the sun gets through…

Related links:
- Mobile9, a ringtone directory.
- Howto: Make a ringtone from any MP3 (Lifehacker)

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The Importance of Being Earnest (theatre play and OST)

September 28th, 2009 by txubaka No comments »

Oscar Wilde’s most famous play, as performed by Sir John Gielgud and Dame Edith Evans . I hope more of these appear, they are hugely enjoyable. The CD is part of an EMI Classics collection, but Spotify doesn’t show them in a label search :( Ideas anyone?

You may remember there was a movie adaptation (IMDB link) years ago, played by Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Frances O’Connor, Reese Witherspoon, Judy Dench and Tom Wilkinson (what a cast!), Spotify has its OST by Charlie Mole, pay atention to Algernon/Jack – Everett/Firth duet:

Related links:
- The Importance of Being Earnest (Google Books, full view and PDF/EPUB download)
- The Importance of Being Earnest (Project Gutenberg, free html/txt download)
- The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) DVD at Amazon.com

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Posted in theatre

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