Similar artists: Josh Ritter, Wilco, Bob Dylan, The Jayhawks, Johnny Cash “When you’re young, you get sad,” Ryan Adams croons in a song from his critically-acclaimed album, Heartbreaker. Yeah, that checks out. In this week’s Friday Download we have alternative country, singer-songwriter Ryan Adams. Not to be confused with Bryan Adams. Seriously, not to be…

The tools make the man, we’re told. But when it comes to musicianship, those tools can be hard to come by. Production and songwriting software is costly and complicated. That’s a discouraging / deadly combination if you’re just getting started. Artists need more options. And access to smarter tools can help coach and sustain creativity’s…

BitTorrent is a company made up of inventors, engineers, scientists, designers; makers and breakers of technology. The BitTorrent Interview is an introduction to the people of peer-to-peer: notes from the edge of distributed technology, and a few words from the team we’re lucky enough to call our own. In this week’s edition: Building a great…

The right to free speech. The right to open expression. The right to access, and experience. We live in a world where basic freedoms are being deleted. As artists and engineers; as human beings, we have a choice. An obligation to stand against persecution. An obligation to stand up for openness. Madonna’s new film, secretprojectrevolution,…

For fans of Colin Meloy, Bright Eyes, Bob Dylan, Iron & Wine, Okkervil River, M. Ward In today’s Friday Download, we have music from Elliott Smith: The widely-celebrated folk-punk singer with a huge cult following. Beloved by fellow artists, his songs fill the soundtracks of critically-acclaimed films: Good Will Hunting, American Beauty and The Royal…