2011

Introducing: Hidden Track Mobile

DaveO April 13, 2011 5 Comments

The web is growing increasingly mobile and it’s time Hidden Track caught up. On the heels of officially launching our official Twitter feed, we have now optimized our site for a superior reading experience for anyone viewing Hidden Track on a smartphone. A quick look at our traffic analytics shows us that in March of 2010, 4% of our traffic came from mobile devices. That number is up by a multiple of three as 12% of our traffic came from mobile devices in March of this year.

We are using a great plugin for Wordpress called WPtouch Pro. For bloggers out there using Wordpress, we highly recommend both the free version, WPtouch, and also think it is absolutely worth the $39 to buy the Pro version of this package that we found out-of-the-box very easy to configure.

Now that we’ve got a mobile interface up and running, we hope you are now more likely to check in on the latest Hidden Track stories on your mobile device while you’re commuting, at a bar, waiting for the band to go on at your next show or wherever you may be. There is no URL to bookmark, just navigate to Hidden Track or any article from your smartphone or tablet and the page will automatically render in a format suitable for your device.

And here is where we need your help. We can’t decide how to display the mobile version of our homepage. We laid out the two options and in true Hidden Track fashion we’re letting our readers decide which one to go with.

READ ON for the two options and to vote…

Intermezzo: Neil Young Tribute DVD/Blu-Ray

Scott Bernstein April 13, 2011 No Comments

Way back in January 2010 Neil Young was honored as the Person Of The Year by MusicCares, an organization that gives musicians in need financial and medical assistance. A veritable

HT on Twitter: Tuesday Convo

Andy Kahn April 13, 2011 2 Comments

Record Store Day (@recordstoreday) is this Saturday and I’m more excited than a kid waiting for Christmas. I’ve got a list of must haves and maybes, checked it twice, and with the prospect of securing live Phish on wax (albeit just a 7 inch soundcheck) Saturday can’t come soon enough.

In Seattle I’ll be hitting up Sonic Boom (@sonicboomnation), Easy Street Records (@EasyStRecords) and Jive Time (@jivetimerecords) and following those Twitter accounts for updates and insights on all things Record Store Day.

There are plenty of other great record stores all across the country, like Amoeba in San Francisco (@AmoebaSF) and L.A. (@AmoebaLA), Reckless Records (@RecklessRecords) in Chicago, Other Music (@othermusic) in New York City, Waterloo Records (@WaterlooRecords) in Austin, Twist and Shout (@twistDenver) in Denver and Newbury Comics (@newburycomics) in Boston, but that’s just a few. Our Tuesday @Hidden_Track conversation, #htconvo, asked our followers about their favorite record stores, past or present. READ ON to see how some of our followers responded…

Moogis: No Wanee Webcast, No Refunds Yet

Scott Bernstein April 13, 2011 11 Comments

If you purchased the Wanee Festival webcast package from Moogis, you might want to make other plans this weekend. Yesterday, a scant three days before the festival kicks off, Moogis sent subscribers, who already paid for the event, a note saying the company will not be webcasting Wanee…

Webcasts are extremely expensive events to produce and bring to the viewer. Moogis uses the same equipment as a high definition television production in order to bring the highest possible production values to our subscribers.

Moogis priced subscriptions for the 2011 Beacon run and Wanee Festival so that we could webcast both events based on the assumption that we would have the same number of subscriptions as last year. Unfortunately, we fell 300 subscriptions short of the number necessary. As a result, we have to regretfully notify you that Moogis is not going to be able to webcast Wanee this year. We have explored every possibility to see if there was any way to make this happen but we have run out of options and time.

At the moment, Moogis is in a negative financial position. But once we get new funding, we will either refund the cost of Wanee to subscribers who want a refund or apply their Wanee payment to the next Moogis pay per view event.

For those who leave their payments with us, you will get a 20% discount on all future Moogis pay per view events.

We are very sorry that we have to do this, but we have no other choice at this time.

Considering webcasts from nearly all the major festivals this summer are available for free, this announcement is a hard pill to swallow for those who shelled out money months ago to watch Wanee on Moogis. Not only will subscribers miss out on watching Wanee as it happens, but they aren’t even getting an immediate refund.

Angry fans lashed out at Allman Brothers Band drummer and Moogis founder Butch Trucks on various forums leading him to respond on the Moogis.com message boards. READ ON for Butch’s response…

Video: The Kinks – Village Green Preservation Society

Ryan Dembinsky April 13, 2011 No Comments

On Monday, Rolling Stone sparked excitement amongst Kinks fans, stating that a reunion looks promising as both Ray and Dave Davies have now mentioned publicly that they would be open

Pullin’ ‘Tubes: Foos Live On Letterman

Jeffrey Greenblatt April 13, 2011 No Comments

The Foo Fighters aren’t normally a band that we talk too much about around these parts. It’s not that we don’t love the witty charm of lead singer Dave Grohl,

Frank Heiss Comes Full Circle

Dan Berthiaume April 13, 2011 No Comments

Frank Heiss, electronic musician composer and teacher, began playing drums as a very young child. After three-plus decades of experience that included a stint in the 9-to-5 world of information technology, he has come full circle and returned to his first love.

Atmosphere: The Family Sign

Nick Gunther April 13, 2011 No Comments

While much of the content is forceful, there appears to be more confusion than cohesion present after listening to this album. In its entirety, the instrumentals and production behind the piano-laced beats that make up much of The Family Sign speak louder than the poetic flow of Slug and the quality of his lyricism.

AfterNews: Avetts / Umphrey’s / Catskill

Scott Bernstein April 12, 2011 1 Comment

Last Sunday night, The Avett Brothers played a post-game concert at Atlanta’s Turner Field and included a fantastic cover of Paul Simon’s Slip Slidin’ Away in their set. Here’s a

Review: DeVotchKa @ HOB Chicago

Allison Taich April 12, 2011 No Comments

DeVotchKa, March 31 @ House of Blues – Chicago

Worldly romantics DeVotchKa performed a sonic drama ripe with emotions on March 31 at the House of Blues in Chicago. The Denver quartet played selections spanning their five-album catalog including a number of songs off of their latest release, 100 Lovers.

There really is no easy way to describe DeVotchKa. Their music is deep rooted in exotic feelings, desires and cinematic tones. In its most basic form it carries multiple cultures and scapes of music. DeVotchKa are sonic jet setters out to share melodies and harmonic dialects from all over the world. Their music represents a crossroad of deep rooted tradition and contemporary story telling, best described with imagery (as opposed to buzzwords such as rock, pop, folk, etc.)

Every note DeVotchKa played glided around the House of Blues with rich layers of perpetual melodies. I listened to the music with my eyes closed tight. I felt circular rhythms flow through my mind and awake my imagination. The vibrant music lead me to distant lands far from home; I imagined riding a caravan through a desert at dusk seeing yellows, pinks and blues blending in the sky. I could feel the dry, chilled night air and shadows of canons in the distance. Suddenly the music shifted gears and lead me to a Spanish villa, then to a sultry Eastern European café located down a dark cobblestone alley. READ ON for more of Allison’s thoughts and images…

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