The face of music is changing. Quite literally. It used to look like this: :o$ but now it looks like this: :~) You see? Seriously though, the music industry is not the same as it was when Backstreet Boys were all the rage and the Hansen boys actually seemed attractive.

It’s incredible how much music you can make just using some drums and electronics. In a blend of the primal and the technological, four distinct performers brought their unique blends of genre-defying music to the William Keeton House last Saturday night, courtesy of Fanclub Collective. These four musicians, DJ Dog Dick, Ed Schrader, Adventure (the three of whom are in the midst of their own tour) and Cale Parks, doing a one-off solo show, brought the goods to a crowd eager for any opportunity to dance. The performers delivered, making for a night filled with blips and bleeps and quick-footed dance moves.

Tucked away in a side street off the Ithaca Commons is the new Wildfire Lounge. The exposed brick walls and industrial piping that greet you after you walk up the steps to the bar seem out of place in a décor marked by mini-chandeliers and couches with oversized pillows. This was the perfect venue to see Why the Wires and A Sunny Day in Glasgow, who played the Lounge last Sunday night. Both bands took traditional genres of music and added their own style and flavor to it, although one group had more success than the other.

Throughout my childhood, I spent an undeterminable amount of time driving from here to there in my father’s forest green Ford Explorer. It was during this time that my musical preferences first began to take shape, as my dad had a static selection of albums that I was forced to listen to time and time again. Of course, there was the classic assortment of adult favorites: the Talking Head’s Stop Making Sense, Elvis Costello’s My Aim is True and Paul Simon’s Graceland. Besides these, my dad’s music taste seemed to deviate from the norm (read: The Phantom of the Opera). Finally, there was his brief foray into the country world with Lyle Lovett’s 1989 album Live in Texas.

You can tell quite a bit about a musician from the guitars he plays. This is not, as it may seem, a superficial judgment of a book by its cover. Rather, an instrument is a legitimate indication of an overall attitude towards the experience of playing and creating music.

It’s never too early to start planning. OK, maybe it’s a little early. But still, you won’t regret beginning a little bit early to craft a musical experience for your ride to and from Cornell for Thanksgiving Break. Car rides are perfect for breaking out your favorite songs, the ones you’ve listened to a million times and to which you know every word.

How do over 3GB worth of music sound blasting from those earphones — did you steal those too? That’s not counting the 10GB+ worth of Heroes episodes you ripped off of DC++, your ever-growing collection of movies you downloaded from Mininova and your still leeching Windows 7 incomplete file. Put down your protest signs pushing for an increase in Cornell’s monthly bandwidth cap just so you can torrent some more and listen to my case.

Yeah, I’m talking to you, information thief.

Technology came accompanied by pick-pocketing ninjas disguised by numbers and programming codes ready to steal your goods and services. And you? You’re part of this exponentially expanding army. Not just a soldier, but, as an average college student, you’re the general, the one leading the pack.

I think it’s fair to say that I, more than the average person, really love updating other peoples iPods. There are few feelings better than being handed an iPod and asked to upload 10 albums that I think someone will love. It’s such a fun game and when I succeed, I feel like a champ. However, every time I go home for a break I inevitably get asked by my father to update his iPod. The only problem is that my father’s music taste makes me question his sexuality. Which is obviously a very big issue.

“We love to be in places like colleges where people love music,” Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine told the sold-out crowd in Barton on Sunday night. “That’s how we started our whole career.”

The concert marked the group’s fourth stop on their Back to School Tour of college campuses with opener Fitz and the Tantrums.

Once upon a time there was a little girl and a little boy. They met Once by accident. They met twice by accident. They met thrice on purpose. And they lived happily ever after.