Mat Harden

I’m not sure what the point in hidden tracks are. Y’know - you get an album with 10 songs on it, then track 10 it followed by 5 minutes of silence until an unannounced 11th tracks is aired. Maybe it’s because they’re not so confident about the quality of the song or maybe it doesn’t seemed to fit anywhere else in the track listing. For me it’s usually a pain. If I’m listening to music, I want sound, not nothing.

My solution to this is to break-up that last track into two separate songs, simply using iTunes. It’s easy, here’s how…

1. Add ‘(Original)’ to the name of the song in question
2. Play the track and find the time at which the first song ends
3. From your menu bar select ‘File > Get Info’ and go to the ‘Options’ tab
4. Type that time into the ‘Stop Time’ field making sure the tick box is checked
5. Select ‘Advanced > Create MP3 Version’ - this may say AAC or another encoding type depending on what you have selected in your import settings, see Preferences. iTunes will then create a second copy of that track with a cropped ‘Time’ matching the what you entered in step 4.
6. Rename the new track with it’s correct title
7. Now repeat the process from on the original track from Step 2 for the second song, but of course this time altering both the ‘Start Time’ and ‘Stop Time’
8. Remove start and stop times from the original track
9. Delete the original track from iTunes but leave the actual file on your PC - (optional)

That’s all there is to it. Now you can listen to the album without any big gaps and rate the hidden track, fantastic!

Oh and also, those functions I selected from the iTunes menu are also available from the contextual menu (this little pop-up menu that appears when you right-click or ⌘-click).

Blimey! Three weeks ago this was and I’ve only just got around to logging it. James and I went to see Nizlopi [Niz-lopp-ee] at the La Scala in Kings Cross. Up until then, I’d only heard the JCB Song and thought there were a bit of a novelty one hit wonder. I still think they could be a one hit wonder, but that would be a shame.

The gig wasn’t quite what I expected - samples, hand claps, rap, double bass, gold discs, beat-boxing, crowd participation, deep inhalation and plenty of video documentation. Gary Dunne, who I’ve not heard of provided the warm-up.
I remember seeing KT Tunstall’s exclusive appearance on Later… and being very impressed with her live sampling and cut and paste solo style. Dunne does much the same but with a rockier feel, vocal effects and some crowd participation. I really enjoyed Gary Dunne and the amount of sound one guy can make with only a guitar and looping thingies. Things were looking up.

(continue reading…)

I bought him a little jumper, but it wasn’t enough. My third iPod has failed, with the same problem - HDD failure. So I’ve declared all iPods as absolute shite! I find it very hard to say. I have loved my iPod. Especially this one, as it’s lasted the longest (about 10 months). But I’ve spoken to Apple and it turns out that when they replace iPod #1 with the any-old-crap they dish out. Your warranty only covers you for a 90 day period. This was fine for iPod #2 because it broke within 2 months and it was still under the original 12 month warranty. But now, this poor little bugger has gasped it’s last digital breaths and kicked up it’s heals outside of the safe haven of warranty.

It is a shame, iPod #3 and I had some good times. They’re certainly the smallest, easiest to use and the best looking MP3 player available. I was going to also buy an Apple iBook G4 in the near future, but now I’ll have to reconsider any more investment in this company.

Apple have said that I could send it back for repair at a cost of £160. But I think I’ll just smash it up with a hammer.

To be continued…

I think it’s about time I started sharing some lists. I always been a big fan of lists. I think they’re a good idea, and everybody should have one. Recently, I’ve been using BackPackIT to store my CDs to buy lists as I can update it from home or work.

What better way to start off the lists, other than the best Albums of 2005? So here’s what I consider to be the top 5.

1. Takk… by Sigor Ros
2. Silent Alarm by Block Party
3. Cuts Across The Land by The Duke Spirit
4. Engineers by Engineers
5. We Have Sound by Tom Vek

Runners up include Beck’s Guero, The Back Room by Editors, Demon Days by Gorillaz.

What were your favourites?

I’ve been spending a lot of time on purchases for the home, but have managed to pop out for a spot of entertainment. Last Wednesday James and I saw the White Stripes at the Alexandra Palace.

I’ve not been there before and was pleased to discover I could get back to Euston in about eight tube stops. The closest station is Wood Green, where we got a cheeky burger from Flaming Nora’s (which I do recommend) before catching the W3 bus up the hill to Ally Pally.

Wow! It’s quite amazing building, a grand entrance and the roof is so high you I kept thinking I was still outside.

(continue reading…)