Band iPhone Apps #2: Spınal Tap

This is the second post in a sequence leading up to a review of the Rush iPhone App. The first post, Band iPhone Apps #1: Peter Gabriel, was some weeks ago but hopefully I'll manage to find time to do the rest without such a large gap between posts. (Famous last words!)

Stonehenge!
Originally uploaded by Der Ohlsen

This review is of the Spınal Tap App. If you've never hear of Spınal Tap, I would strongly recommending that you beg, borrow or buy a copy of This Is Spınal Tap, a mockumentary about a fictional heavy metal band... Well, I say "fictional" but they have released a number of albums and have toured and played bigger venues than some real bands.

Recently, they released an album called Back From The Dead which is supposed to be a reunion album to mark the 25th anniversary of the making of the film. It is described as "unwigged and unplugged". Brilliant! This app is connected with the Back From The Dead album and tour. It has seven (full) tracks from the band and you can comment on the tracks and share the fact that your listening to them on the iPhone App by text, Twitter, facebook, etc. As well as the music there is a fan wall (where you can leave messages and photos), and a news section (although the most recent "news" is a year old). Finally, there is a More... section with Photos, Videos, a discography, biography and more.

It's not without its problems, for example, the outdated news section and the fact that most of the links to the videos are broken. However, for the price (free) it is still well worth checking out. And if you really want to see the videos (and more beside) they seem to be available on the Tap's YouTube channel.

Band iPhone Apps #1: Peter Gabriel

When I started this post, I intended to write a review of the Rush iPhone App. However, I thought I'd start by describing a couple of other band Apps first to set the scene and show what other artists are doing with their music Apps. Unfortunately, my brief reviews got longer and longer... so I decided to split this post over a few days and build up to the Rush review!

I'll start with Peter Gabriel's iPhone App. I am a huge fan of Gabriel era Genesis and have loved pretty much everything he has done since he went solo. I have also been lucky enough to see him live a couple of times and his most recent gig in Glasgow is one of my favourite concert experiences ever.

One of his latest ideas is the Scratch My Back project, where he has recorded covers of other artist's songs. A fairly standard idea except that he has invited these artists to cover one of his songs in return. Of course, being the type of musician he is, he had to make it more difficult for himself, so his recordings are arranged without drums or guitar! The resultant recordings are fascinating: some grabbed me straight away; some have grown on me; a few I'm still working on. But all of them are interesting.

What has that got do do with iPhone Apps though? Well having released his album of covers, he is now releasing the covers of his songs that others have done and has produced an App that gives details of each pair of songs; a video of Peter talking about the track and artist he covered; and a short snippet of the other artist's cover. His fan/website is called the Full Moon Club, so the App is also called Full Moon Club. A new cover is released every month, on the night of the full moon, and when it is released, information, videos and a short sample of each track appears in the App.

It is a straightforward App that doesn't do anything particularly fancy but does what it does, very well. The video introductions are fascinating and give a real insight into the process of producing the covers. You can probably find most of the information on Gabriel's website, but having it collected together in an App makes it much easier to navigate on your phone. Very useful!

The App is not without its problems. For instance, you can't access David Byrne's cover of I Can't Remember from June because of a problem with scrolling (although you can hear it in full on Peter's site or preview it on iTunes). Also, there hasn't been an update since June... but perhaps he's too busy with the tour because there hasn't been an ...And I'll Scratch Yours release since June either.

Despite these two niggles, I would not hesitate to recommend this free App to fans and non fans alike. Gabriel is never less than interesting and this App lets you glimpse some of the creative processes behind his work. He has always pushed at musical and technological boundaries and it is great to see the use of new technology from an established artist.

Picture credit: Screendump from iPhone App.

My new iPhone - Music to my ears

"I don't know why you are so smug. You just bought your iPhone, you didn't invent it!"

Ge Wang playing Star Wars theme
using Ocarina on his iPhone
Originally uploaded by Steve Rhodes

...And yet, I remain smug. Sorry.

Here are some of the music apps that I've been playing with.

First up, is the last.fm app and the Spotify app - listen to your favourite streamed music on the move. Both are applications that I used for a long time before I got my iPhone and both work just as you would expect. And talking of streaming music, there are a bucket load of "radio" apps out there. The first one I tried (and so far I've stuck with) is Streamitall - streamed radio stations from around the world that cover pretty much any musical genre you can think of.

So much for listening to other people's music. What about creating your own? Two apps I've enjoyed playing with are:

• Dog Piano Jr - A piano keyboard that woofs! Singing dogs. Excellent! Comes with three different woof sounds. It drives my family daft and our spaniel Colin looks confused when I play with it. Great fun!
• DigiDrummer Lite - Unleash your inner Neil Peart! I tried a few free drum apps and I liked this one the best. Nice big drum pads that are easy to hit and a record function even on the free version.

And to finish, two apps that are just great fun.

• Shazam - Various people recommended this app and at first I wasn't convinced - I couldn't see the point. Then I tried it and was hooked. The idea is that you hear some music, say on the radio, and want to know what it is. So, you fire up the app, let it record a few seconds of audio which it then sends off to a database (AI system?) somewhere and within seconds it comes back with the name of the track, links to where you can buy it, a discography of the artist, a biography of the artist and a link to YouTube so you can watch the video. Stunningly brilliant. In my initial testing, it coped with everything Rock Radio threw at it!
• Tap Tap Revenge 2 - This is simply a fantastic game and what makes it even more impressive is that it is free! It's a bit like Guitar Hero - you have to tap different areas on the screen as markers fly past in time to the music. Different levels and extra tunes for download - loads to keep you going. Best of all, a two player game where the two people play, at the same time, on the same screen - one at either side of the device - literally head to head! Probably my favourite game at the moment.

Questions:
What are your favourite music apps? Also, I've deliberately only listed free music apps but are there any that are worth paying money for?

Virtual Concert Lighter

Just saw this on the Classic Rock Magazine site:

An iPhone App that turns your phone into a virtual lighter. :-) So, if you want to wave your lighter in the air at the next concert you attend remember- safety first!