Awesome of the Week: The First Song Recorded in Space

Over the holidays, astronaut Chris Hadfield sent, from the International Space Station to earth, the first song ever recorded in space. As one might expect from someone hovering high above our small blue dot, the tune contains lots of references to love, peace and goodwill.

Awesome of the Week: Records Made of Ice

To promote their forthcoming album Optica, Swedish band Shout Out Louds made an ice record of the first single, “Out of the Blue.” They only released 10 copies of the record and word is, they’re all gone, but you can still have watch and a listen to what an ice record looks and sounds like.

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Here’s another ice record that was seen at a museum opening at Duke University:

Awesome of the Week: Handwritten Lyrics

by Cat

Finding handmade treasures inside record sleeves is one of the joys of working at a record store. Someone taking the time to create a customized cover, or write out the lyrics to a favorite song, reflects a passion and connection to the music that extends far beyond merely listening to it. It’s an expression of the imprint that the music has made on a life.

These lyrics, written in a bubbly, cursive script, were found inside a jacket that was neither the Kinks nor Led Zeppelin. Memory is not serving me, but I think they were in a spoken word album, or audiobook. Regardless, tip o’the hat to whoever took the time to give the songs a little extra love. Perhaps it was just an exercise in penmanship, but even if that’s the case, for this particular exercise the scribe chose the Kinks and Zeppelin. Music awesomeness, indeed.

Awesome of the Week: Drawing Music

Through the magic of science, and some doodles, the above machine, a dyskograf, does this:
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More info here

Awesome of the Week

Although, for obvious reasons, we couldn’t pick this copy of What’s Happening up for the store, it deserves some love for pure awesomeness. You’ve got to love a handmade cover.

Awesome of the Week: Lenny and the Squigtones

Awesome of the Week

It’s been 25 years since the last Popeye cartoon and 10 years since Wilco released a video, but the stars aligned on this project. A collaboration between Wilco and the folks at King Features, which syndicates the Popeye comic strip, the video for the song “Dawned on Me” has the members of Wilco joined by Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto, Wimpy and Swee’Pea for music, dancing, mischief and a little romance. And the Popeye/Wilco thing doesn’t end there. The band, and the now-famous Wilco Brand Spinach Company were also featured in a Popeye comic book.

Awesome of the Week

Tom Wilson, the stand-up comedian and musician who is better known as Biff, the bully in Back to the Future has grown so tired of answering questions about the wildly popular trilogy that he printed the answers to frequently asked questions on the back of his business card. When people start in on the Marty McFly questions, he simply hands them a card and walks away.

Awesome of the Week: Nick Cave Note

The title of this note, which is part of the Nick Cave exhibit at the Melbourne Arts Center, is “More Things to Remember.” Presumably it’s a list of some of Cave’s influences (note that the bottom says, “Send more tomorrow.”) The fact that moose, Sydney Opera House and Popeye are listed among Beethoven, Nina Simone and Elvis seems perfectly Cave-like, doesn’t it?

Awesome of the Week: Part Two