July 2011
24 posts
New Rdio Help, Powered by Assistly
Rdio’s fancy new Help site is live, thanks to the good folks at Assistly, and our very own über-talented Designer, Adam Polselli. We’ve already been using Assistly behind the scenes for a while, to provide support for Rdio’s users in a variety of ways like email, Twitter and Facebook. This launch brings Rdio’s forums into Assistly alongside these other ways of communicating with you, which will...
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New Music Tuesday, July 26, 2011
(New to Rdio? Sign up now for a no-obligation 7-day free trial. Listen to what you want, whevever you are.)
Whether you try something completely new or revisit an artist you liked previously, reward yourself with some new tunes this week. Let your eyes lead you to some catchy album art or pick something from your network’s recent activity—who knows what new greatness you’ll find? For a...
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An Introduction To: Release the Sunbird
Relying heavily on the sound of a simple six-stringed acoustic guitar, Rogue Wave’s Zach Rogue sets out to create sweet and memorable songs in his new side project, Release the Sunbird. This debut album weaves his comforting voice with a little bit of melancholy. Not only can you hear the Come Back to Us on Rdio but we also have Five Questions with the Band and a playlist of Release the...
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Rdio Exclusive: Mark Ronson Remixes the Black Lips...
This week, the only place you’ll find Mark Ronson’s remix of the Black Lips’ song “New Direction” is here on Rdio. Ronson—producer, turntablist and (when backed by his band The Business Intl) recording artist extraordinaire—puts his own spin on the Black Lips in the “New Direction (Mark Ronson Dub Remix).
Is this the best news you’ve heard all week? Stay tuned—we have a Black Lips Chicago...
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New on Rdio: Delicious Vinyl
The Delicious Vinyl story goes something like this: two Los Angeles DJs with similarly excellent taste start a label and find immediate success. During the beginning, Delicious Vinyl was home of Tone Loc, Young MC, and Def Jef. Delicious Vinyl didn’t limit itself from there—they release dancehall reggae, dance music, Spanish rap, and later helped elevate West Coast rap to minds across the...
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An Introduction To: Army Navy
Created in Los Angeles, Army Navy began in a bedroom. Although their self-titled debut album initially arrived without much hoopla, its popularity spread through fans dedicated to their habit-forming songs. Their second album, The Last Place, is only a few weeks old and is already in many a Heavy Rotation.
What makes Army Navy tick? What did these fellows grow up listening to? What music...
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All About: Sondre Lerche
Norweigan singer/songwriter Sondre Lerche mastered a lot of music from beyond his hometown—he’s a student of world. His latest album, a self-titled sixth album, touches on the sound of America, Rock ‘n Roll, with an undercurrent of complex guitar rhythms. If you’re curious about his musical past, who he believes contributed significantly to music, or what he listens to before a show, read (and...
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Influencer Spotlight: Arjan Writes
“The pop don’t stop.” is a pretty good summary of today’s featured Rdio influencer, Arjan Writes. Armed with his oft-read blog, pop culture, music (and video) Twitter stream, Arjan brings his expansive knowledge of pop music to Rdio. Blogging since 2002, Arjan is an official blogger for the GRAMMYs, contributes on-air to CNN, and is involved in a variety of music-related projects.
What can...
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New Music Tuesday, July 19, 2011
There’s a solid roundup of albums in this week’s New Music Tuesday picks, but don’t forget about the singles—listen to brand new music from 50 Cent, Common, Wale, Chiddy Bang and more. Hit play on this week’s New Music playlist and keep reading to learn more.
Playlist Notes
Crystal Antlers, Two-Way Mirror: As you previously read, Crystal Antlers are a Long Beach-based band that crushes...
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All About: Crystal Antlers
They play loud, fast and free—that is apparent on their new album, Two-Way Mirror. The freewheeling Crystal Antlers blend a variety of styles to create genre-bending music. So with their second album in your headphones, their answers to Five Questions with the Band, and their list of Long Beach Punk bands, open your mind to the Crystal Antlers way of seeing things.
Five Questions with Crystal...
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Get Ready to See Harry Potter with The Soundtracks...
Ten years since the first movie hit theaters, and fourteen since the first published book touched store shelves, the final installment of the epic Harry Potter series is here. If you’re one of the lucky midnight viewers, relive the most exciting moments with the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 soundtrack. Still waiting to see it? Get excited by the previous Harry Potter...
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Paper Bag Records on Rdio
Toronto-based Paper Bag Records started nearly 10 years ago as a hyper-local venture, focusing on Toronto’s vibrant music community. Soon enough their roster expanded to include bands from across Canada such as The Acorn and You Say Party! We Say Die!—then they jumped the ocean, releasing albums from Sally Shapiro and Under Byen. Paper Bag Records has a history of releasing...
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Tips & Tricks: Waste Not, Want Not
Many monthly cellular data plans are limited these days — but luckily that doesn’t mean your Rdio experience has to be limited as well.
There are a few easy ways to conserve your data without restricting your Rdio Mobile apps (for iPhone, Android and Blackberry)—this week’s Tips & Tricks is here to show you how.
Tip 1: Sync Your Tunes
Save data by syncing your tunes. Synced music...
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An Introduction to: The Damnwells
The Damnwells sound like a band that’s been places, traveled around and experienced life. This isn’t a stretch—they’ve seen numerous incarnations since lead singer Alex Dezen recruited some friends to jam with him in 2001. They even had a documentary made about their journey called Golden Days.
Their easy-going songwriting and straightforward Americana-tinged songs seem like the perfect...
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All About: Ellie Goulding
Although she left drama school to become a musician, there’s a sense of the dramatic in Ellie Goulding’s music. Breaking into the British mainstream, she worked with Frankmusic and was chosen in the BBC’s music critic poll as the “Sound of 2010.” Ellie hasn’t disappointed, with an incredibly popular (and as you may see on Rdio) heavily listened-to debut album, Lights. Ellie answered Five...
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Find The King of Limbs on Rdio
You watched the music video, hunted down the newspaper edition, and listened to the remixes—now add it to your Collection.
Radiohead’s newest album, The King of Limbs, is available on Rdio.
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New Music Tuesday, July 12, 2011
If your musical tastes run the gamut, you’ll be rewarded this week. Brand new albums, spiffy remixes, singles as a teaser for upcoming albums, and the succinct EP — you’ll find everything in this week’s New Releases. If you don’t know where to start or just want to sample a bit of everything, we put together a New Music Playlist for you. Listen to it, pick out what you like and keep...
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New on Rdio: !K7
Short for Kaiserdamm 7, the original address of their Berlin office, Germany’s !K7 and !K7 Records have been at the forefront of independent electronic music for over 25 years.
First known for !K7 Records’ innovative DJ Kicks albums, this was one of the first compilation series that asked well-known underground DJs to create mixes emphasizing their signature sound while sharing...
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An Introduction To: dos
Dueling isn’t the word for this two-bassist band. Created by members Mike Watt (from bands like the Minutemen, the reunited Stooges, fIREHOSE, The Reactionaries and Banyan) and Black Flag’s Kira Roessler, dos’ mellow and unusual sound is rounded out by the mixing talents of Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto, Plastic Ono Band). If you liked these bands’ roving bass-lines, try out Dos’ third album,...
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Listen to the Polaris Music Prize Short List on...
We’re one step closer to finding out which artist and album will receive the 2011 Polaris Music Prize, an award given by a Canadian jury to one lucky album per year. The Polaris Music Prize, also an Rdio Influencer, made a fantastic playlist featuring short list samples—listen now and follow them to keep up with their big announcements… Who will win?
The Polaris Prize Short List
Arcade...
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An Introduction to: The Japanese Popstars
Bands don’t get musicians like The Cure’s Robert Smith, the Editors’ Tom Smith, Jon Spencer, Lisa Hannigan, M83’s Morgan Kibby, or singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow to perform on their new album without good reason. The Japanese Popstars? It’s likely that their high caliber list of guest musicians is due to their electric live shows and Irish notoriety. Learn more about the global-minded...
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New Music Tuesday, July 5, 2011
The mid-summer stretch is a good time to find great singles off upcoming albums—singles so good you’ll want put their album release date on your calendar. But not to be outshone, there are some great finds among this week’s new albums. Browse the New Releases, turn up the volume and find something new to fill your Heavy Rotation.
Playlist Notes
Little Dragon, Ritual Union EP: Little...
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New on Rdio: Warp
A few record store clerks and a producer set out to create a music label of their own. Over twenty years later, their creation, Warp Records, not only left an indelible impression on electronic music but also brought about the creation of BAFTA-winning Warp Films and bleep.com, an online music and merch store. If you’d like to learn more about the label, read about Warp in the Labels...
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Party in the USA + Canada
As the long weekend stretches out before you, here are some outstanding celebration playlists to amp up the mood and assist in your party planning.
Celebrate Canada Day
If you’re most excited about Canada’s creation, here are the playlists for you.
Garry’s Canada Day playlist — party music for your Canada Day.
Shervin’s Happy Canada Day Playlist
Kyle’s Canada Playlist 2011 — if you...
June 2011
24 posts
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Tips & Tricks: Your Queue to Enter
With New Releases, friends’ favorites and Recommendations aplenty on Rdio, it’s hard to know what to listen to next. Luckily, your Queue is here to help.
Not ready to commit a new find to your Collection? Re-discover a favorite album? Need a few hours of music for a long afternoon at work? The Queue is a great resting place for tunes you’re anxious to hear — add anything to it: albums, songs,...
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Now Available: Rdio for Windows
Since we launched Rdio for Mac, we’ve been saying that Rdio for Windows was coming soon, and your wait is now over. Today, we’re happy to announce that PC fans can now use Rdio for Windows.
Besides listening to music and managing your Rdio MP3 downloads, here are some other things you can do with Rdio for Windows:
Use your keyboard’s media keys to control your music—play, pause and skip...
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New Music Tuesday, June 28, 2011
There may be some novelty to this week’s New Releases, but don’t let that distract you from finding something amazing. Here are some highlights from today’s New Music Tuesday playlist—read on for a few extra-special highlights. And if we missed your favorite new album, make sure to collaborate and add a track to the mix.
Playlist Notes
Tame Impala, InnerSpeaker:
Tame Impala borrows...
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An Introduction to: Diamond Rings
John O’Regan didn’t begin as Diamond Rings—he started with The D’Urbervilles and art school. After moving from the ‘burbs into Toronto, he then began creating music anew as Diamond Rings, releasing it with accompanying music videos. Astralwerks recently re-released his debut album, Special Affections, which got him nominated for the Canadian Polaris Music Prize.
What’s next for...
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New on Rdio: Death Row Records
Young Andre “Dr. Dre” Young teamed up with Marion “Suge” Knight Jr. in the early 90’s to form Death Row Records. Together, they released early albums from Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog and 2pac—and the rest of the Death Row Records’ story is long and involved. Although it went through some turbulent times, Death Row remains influential and iconic in its shaping of rap and west...
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All About: Sam Roberts
Sam Roberts isn’t only a singer-songwriter—he’s also, unsurprisingly, the Sam Roberts Band’s front-man. Although he released music such as the Juno-winning albums We Were Born in a Flame and Love at the End of the World, he aimed to capture the same bottled lightning with the Sam Roberts Band, which recently released their first album, Collider. Sam Roberts himself took time to chat with...
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New Music Tuesday, June 21, 2011
This week’s New Music Tuesday is full of big-name musicians; people have been talking about Bon Iver, Skrillex, LMFAO and When Saints Go Machine for weeks already. At last, you can hear their albums and more here on Rdio—don’t miss all the fantastic music in this week’s New Music Tuesday playlist.
Playlist Notes
Liam Finn, FOMO: Neil Finn (Crowded House, Split Enz) had a son—Liam—who’s...
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Rdio Celebrates Gay Pride Month
June is Gay Pride Month in the US, and here at Rdio we really like parties and celebrations. And thus we are celebrating in a variety of ways.
First of all we’re thrilled to present, “I….Amanda Lepore”, a live concert event in New York City on June 25. Not only will the legendary Amanda Lepore make her concert debut, but you will also see The Ones, Kat DeLuna, Ana Matronic...
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New on Rdio: Get Physical
Get Physical’s founders have seen the music industry’s inner workings from every angle. Of its founders, Booka Shade, M.A.N.D.Y and DJ T. are accomplished in an impressive list of roles: DJ, Producer, club operator and Label owner, to name a few. It’s not difficult to see how this team was able to put together a collective of artists known for their impact on electronic music, and their...
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Listen to the Polaris Music Prize Long List on...
Yesterday one of Canada’s most esteemed awards, the Polaris Music Prize, released their long list of album nominees. These albums, nominated by a jury of Canadian music journalists, bloggers and broadcasters alike, represent Canada’s outstanding contribution to music.
Luckily for us, the Polaris Music Prize is an Rdio Influencer. Follow them to keep tabs on these albums, and listen to their...
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Tips and Tricks: Let’s Play
With so much great new music coming out each and every week, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the all the variety. And sometimes what you need is just a simple, well-curated playlist.
Playlists are the perfect way to find, organize and share music on Rdio — whether you’re creating or listening, there’s always something new to discover.
How do I create a playlist? Hover over the Action menu...
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Tips and Tricks: Let’s Play
With so much great new music coming out each and every week, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the all the variety. And sometimes what you need is just a simple, well-curated playlist.
Playlists are the perfect way to find, organize and share music on Rdio — whether you’re creating or listening, there’s always something new to discover.
How do I create a playlist? Hover over the Action menu...
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Rdio in Canada: NXNE
This week, Canada gets its own SXSW. Featuring a familiar roster of Film, Music and Interactive elements, NXNE has something for everyone. While there are many things to check out, we’re most excited about what began today: music.
In addition to The Postelles (which we mentioned Monday), you can see over 600 bands performing in Toronto. Not sure where to start? Canadian magazine and Rdio...
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New Music Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Young talent and experienced, old school performers compete for your ears in this week’s New Releases. Soprano Jackie Evancho’s blossoming talent, the Emily’s Army teens, name-bending Com Truise, and British singer-songwriter Emmy the Great would like your attention. And not to be forgotten are popular musicians Madeleine Peyroux, Paul McCartney, Sebadoh and Lenny Kravitz, who have something...
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An Introduction to: The Postelles
Capturing the simple joy of rock ‘n roll, The Postelles’ sound is at once familiar yet refreshingly new. There are no Golden Oldies here, just the debut of a young Manhattan band. Listen to their self-titled album while you learn more about The Postelles in Five Questions with the Band, queue up a playlist of Songs That Inspire them, and go see them live at NXNE this week in Toronto.
Five...
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Sub Pop Records on Rdio
Subterranean Pop, a fanzine started by college student Bruce Pavitt in 1986, was Sub Pop Records’ first incarnation. The zine’s written word gave way to bits of music as Pavitt created and sent compilation tapes between issues. Eventually Sub Pop released its first compilation LP, and an album from Green River. Next, Pavitt teamed up with Jonathan Poneman, who financed the first...
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All About: Colour Revolt
Started by a gang of Mississippi high school boys, the band Colour Revolt has seen a lot change, including college and a recording session interrupted by Hurricane Katrina. Thus, parts of their sound and spirit grew into what you’ll hear in the newly released deluxe version of their second studio album, The Cradle. Learn more about them through their singer, guitar and keyboard player, Sean...
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All About: Atari Teenage Riot
Crafting quasi-political music with a punk influence and techno beats, German band Atari Teenage Riot paved the way for a new genre called digital hardcore when they emerged in 1992. After a 10 year hiatus, they reformed and released their fourth studio album today, Is This Hyperreal?. Learn more about this intriguing set of musicians in this Five Questions with the Band and playlist below.
...
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New Music Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Occasionally an album isn’t just an album and new music is synonymous with a short story. Beyond listening, many of this week’s new releases have an interesting bit of information associated with their creation. So pick something from New Releases and try applying your best Google-fu—we’ll get you started with the Rdio Playlist Notes.
Playlist Notes
Tech N9ne, All 6’s And...
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Here Comes Bonnaroo
Bonnaroo, the four-day music and arts festival, is about to celebrate its 10th birthday. The bands are poised and ready, and the stages are almost set—whether or not you have plans to attend, you can embrace the spirit of the fest from your office chair or your road-tripping caravan’s passenger seat.
Prime your ears for this year’s line-up with the Bonnaroo Festival on Rdio. Check out the...
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New on Rdio: Hydra Head
Most people don’t think about how music makes its way from musicians to the general public, for listening and enjoyment. High-schooler Aaron Turner, however, gave it some thought and decided to start Hydra Head Records. 18 years later, the Label is still representing heavy metal, and Turner added Isis frontman to his list of accomplishments. Keep reading for a primer on Hydra Head’s bands and...
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Hear Coldplay’s New Single: Every Teardrop Is A...
Chris Martin and the rest of the Coldplay crew have been busy since 2008’s Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends. They toured the world, released a holiday single called Christmas Time, and started work on their yet-unnamed fifth studio album. Listen now to their first single, Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall.
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Tips and Tricks: We’re Here For You
We, the folks behind Rdio, want to hear what you have to say. Whether it’s a feature request, bug report, or some heart-felt praise, we’re all ears. This week’s Tip and Tricks is here to show you the best ways to be heard by someone at Rdio. We get great emails, tweets, and posts from Rdio’s awesome community every day, and we want to keep the conversation going.
Contact Us
Short and sweet:...
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All About: Flogging Molly
Flogging Molly combines two seemingly opposite styles of music—the traditional sound of Irish song with modern punk rock. Their new album, Speed of Darkness, is a testament to how much you can do with high-energy fiddles, guitars and enthusiastic singers. Today we have Five Questions with Flogging Molly and a special-edition playlist from band member Dennis Casey, so keep reading to learn more...
May 2011
20 posts
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New Music Tuesday, May 31, 2011
There are some big names in this week’s New Releases—bands like Death Cab for Cutie, Eddie Vedder, Beyoncé, My Morning Jacket and Dave Matthews Band. But the music poised to make the biggest impact on you might just be from bands you haven’t heard yet. So listen to something new from your favorite bands, but queue up new music from Favourite Sons, Frank Ocean, Sebastian or The Vaccines.
...
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New on Rdio: Pschent
French independent label Pschent takes music very seriously. They’re best known for their Hôtel Costes music series—a selection curated by DJ Stéphane Pompougnac representing the Parisian hotel of the same name. Synonymous with chic, listen to a selection of their artists and albums here on Rdio—it may transport you to another world.
Pschent Artists
Bruno From Ibiza
Cannibal Kiss
Charles...