aimusic.com » Misc

R.I.P. Les Paul – “I’m Sitting on Top of the World”

Nick Young — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 23:13:05 +0000

The innovative and legendary guitarist Les Paul died today but his inspiring contributions to the world of guitar and music will continue to live on. Here’s a pic of Zack and Danny Cooksey posing with Les in 1994. Also, one of Les Paul’s top forty songs that he performed with Mary Ford was our great uncle Joe Young’s “I’m Sitting on Top of the World”. They performed it in 1953. Joe wrote the song with Ray Henderson and his lyric writing partner Sam M Lewis back in 1925. Al Jolson’s version of it was played during the opening montage of 1930’s New York City in the 2005 remake of King Kong, and in the closing sequence of the 1995, U.S. – U.K. film, Richard III. Also, Notable interpretations have been recorded by these performers: Carl Perkins, Doris Day, Taj Mahal & Corey Harris, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie and Jerry Lewis.

WE’Re BACK!

Nick Young — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:26:07 +0000

Hi everyone, we apologize for being away so long… we’ve been hard at work on new music & music videos. we’re finally back. stay tuned for new music and updates.

Nick & Zack

A.i.

wall of synths...

M83 at Disney Hall Los Angeles

Zack Young — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:40:22 +0000

Thanx 2 our good friend DJ Brian (moontribe), I got to check out M83 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic last night at the Disney Hall in downtown Los Angeles. I didn’t have the greatest seats, but at this venue there really are no bad seats.

For those of you who are not familiar with M83 you can check him out here. Nick and I got turned on to his new album “Saturday = Youth” very recently by DJ Brian. My favorite tracks are “We Own The Sky” and “Kim & Jessie”.

Going into this show I had no idea what to expect. Anthony Gonzalez (M83) had his setup in the middle of the orchestra consisting of 3 or 4 keyboards, a laptop and various effect units that I could not make out from where I was seated.

He started out the show on his own tweaking atmospheric electronic sounds and setting the mood for the evening to come. After about 30 minutes of synth mayhem, the LA Philharmonic took to the stage and performed Arvo P?§rt‚Äôs ‚ÄúFratres. This was a very interesting piece that seemed to be the perfect dessert for the electro-synthesis we had just heard.

After intermission the Orchestra showed off their skill with ‚ÄúLa Mer‚Äù by Claude Debussy incorporating the horn section.¬† At the end, Anthony joined them on stage and performed a couple tracks from an older album of his “Before The Dawn Heals Us”.

Overall it was a great show.

Frosted Flakes Is Worse 4 U Than Bong Hits

Nick Young — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:34:21 +0000

As many of you have heard and seen the Olympic record breaking Gold Medalist Michael Phelps’s infamous “bong hit” photos, I just wanted to say that its sad that we live in a society where someone who has achieved such greatness is frowned upon by the media and population at large for taking a hit of weed… I’m not saying that winning 14 career Olympic gold medals, the most by any Olympian, gives you the right to get away with anything but I can think of plenty of worse things he could be doing than taking a bong hit. For me, it only means that he has just joined the ranks of inspirational smokers who have had tremendous influence over me… Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles to name a few. I know I’m only mentioning musical cats, but it doesn’t matter if someone inspires me through music or sports or acting or painting… inspiration can come from anywhere and Phelps inspired the whole world last August. I just read that Kelloggs (who makes the sugar coated gene splicing Frosted Flakes for kids) dropped their contract with him because they “want to teach him a lesson”. I can understand people being upset if he was doing performance enhancing drugs but cmon… smoking pot? I guess Kelloggs won’t be coming out with Hemp Cereal any time soon.

Michael Phelps on the cover of High Times

THE BOSS to Rock Super Bowl XLIII

Nick Young — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:21:42 +0000

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will be playing this years Super Bowl halftime show in Tampa, Florida.

I must admit I am not a big football fan, but I will be tuning in to see The Boss perform. I have always been a fan of his music and think he is a great songwriter. Also, his drummer Max Weinberg is one of the best in the biz at holding down the beat.

What songs will they squeeze into their 12 minute set time? Personally I’d like to hear Dancing in the Dark or Human Touch. His new album “Working on a Dream” comes out on Tuesday so maybe he will do a new track from that. Either way it should be a good time.

If you are like me and wondering what teams are playing in the Super Bowl this year it’s the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. the Arizona Cardinals. The Steelers will be wearing their road white uniforms and the Cardinals will don their red home jerseys. Apparently the Steelers have made six previous appearances at the Super Bowl and have won five titles. This is the Cardinals first time on the big stage. Predictions anyone?

We have been busy rehearsing for our show in Vegas this weekend. For those of you in the Vegas area we will be playing @ the Beauty Bar at 517 Fremont in downtown Vegas on Saturday night. A.i. should hit the stage sometime between 10 and 12pm. We will let you know when our set time is confirmed. For more info check out the shows section.

Who knows, we might just have to bust out a Springsteen cover:)

A.i. teams up with Topspin

Nick Young — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:27:00 +0000

We are excited to announce that we’ve begun working with Topspin Media. Topspin is a media technology company that is developing leading-edge marketing software and services that help artists get their music out there while building businesses and brands.

Using their cutting edge tools we will be able to get our music in YOUR hands and hard-drives as quickly as possible. We are now selling our album “Sex & Robots” through Topspin here.

We will be offering all sorts of A.i. bundled packages (exclusive tracks, vinyl, clothing, videos, and much more) in the near future so be on the lookout. Check out the Topspin player to the right of this post. ———————>

Show your A.i. love by grabbing this widget and embedding it on your own site or sharing it with a friend. Just click the embed or share icon at the bottom right of the music player.

Topspin is currently at this years SXSW music conference in Austin Texas.¬† If you are at SXSW please visit them and say wasss up! Click Here to check out their schedule in Austin, Texas.

Big Thanx to Jason Kadlec, Ian Rogers and the rest of the Topspin team!:)

I Know What A.i. Did Last Summer

Nick Young — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:35:10 +0000

U do?!?!?! In case u don’t know what we did last summer, we were visiting our folks in Holderness, New Hampshire and recording new music for Secrets /// Under the Covers. Check out some of the photos of Zack in our makeshift studio we put together 100 feet away from White Oak Pond in the forest. There was a giant spider outside one of the windows that danced to the vibration of the beats. He loved us when we turned on the lights inside and all those tasty yummy moths flew into his sticky trap.¬† At night you could hear the cry of the loons, a rare bird with bright red eyes that migrates to the lake every summer.¬† We’ve been going to New Hampshire ever since we were lil tikes…i actually wrote a haiku about the loons when i was in 6th grade and it was so good my teacher held me after class because she thought I had plagiarized. It went:

The black and white Loon
With eyes red as blood
Whistles her sad song

PS.¬† Check out Zacks drum setup… hes rockin the ultra custom tree stump drum thrown!
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Lobster heads anyone?