Zune Insider

Want to know what we’ve been digging lately? Check it out!

Laura, Community Manager: Laura’s been really enjoying the new Gotye record, an artist she’s noticed has been blowing up lately. Her favorite track is the super-catchy “Somebody That I Used to Know,” which you can find on his recent LP, Making Mirrors. On the video front, Laura recently ditched cable, and purchased a Season Pass to to the fourth season of The League on Zune. She claims this move was “totally worth it and hilarious. I hope to one day win my own version of The Shiva.”

Nick Woods, Designer: Nick has been blasting a variety of sounds this week, but Cocteau Twins were the artist at the top of his playlist – a band that helped define the sound of one of the more historic independent music labels, 4AD. Nick’s also been rocking Boris, a face-melting Japanese metal band that demands to be listened to at high volumes.

Dan, Director: Dan recently had the privelage of catching Red Fang at a hometown show, a Portland-based metal band that he’s had on heavy rotation as of late. Above is a shot of the fiery live performance that Dan was kind enough to pass along.

Dave, Designer: Dave’s been feeling the infectiously nostalgic second record by Real Estate, a New Jersey band that has put out two albums while touring the world extensively. A similar reliable groove for Dave has been Cass McCombs, one of the more impressive modern day songwriters with a handful of stellar albums already under his belt.

What have you been into lately? Let us know in the comments!

Curious about what we’ve been checking out on Zune lately? Find out below!

Brett, Content Producer: The new Cloud Nothings record was on full blast for Brett this week, an angsty rock record called Attack on Memory that was produced by Steve Albini. Brett was also blowing his speakers to the blunt grunge rock of Dope Body‘s Nupping. Brett demonstrated his softer side as well, mixing in The Weeknd‘s latest release, Echoes Of Silence – particulatly “The Fall”, a track with Clams Casino on production.

Laura, Community Manager: Laura’s favorite track this week was Kavinsky‘s “Nightcall”. It’s featured on the Drive soundtrack, a movie that Laura has also been recommmending around the office lately.

Scott, Senior Account Manager: Scott has been relying on the heavy psychadelic sounds of Austin’s The Black Angels to get him through the week, particularly the LP called Passover. He has also been into the blues power trio known as Mount Carmel, a band from Columbus, Ohio that put out their debut in 2010.

Matt, Account Manager: Matt has had the hearty pipes of Florence + The Machine in his earbuds all week, he has high praise for their newest LP called Ceremonials. In the flashback department, Matt has also been listening to a lot of Queen this week.

What are you listening to? Let us know in the comments!

Zune’s Best of 2011 Podcasts List

1)  On the Verge (Video)
2)  Here’s The Thing – WNYC
3)  Mohr Stories – Smodcast.com
4)  The Jillian Michaels Show
5)  Freakonomics Radio
6)  StarTalk
7)  This American Life
8)  TEDTalks (Video)
9)  WNYC’s Radiolab
10)  this Week in TECH
11)  The Adam Carolla Podcast
12)  Peter B Collins Show
13)  TERRA: The Nature of Our World
14)  The Nerdist
15)  Onion News Network
16)  We’re Alive – A “Zombie” Story
17)  Girl on Guy with Aisha Tyler
18)  Buzz Report HD
19)  The Rest of Everest
20) WTF with Marc Maron
21)  99% Invisible

Visit the Best of 2011 Podcast page in Zune Marketplace on the PC

The Weekly Download Episode 60 dated Oct 4th, 2011 is now live and is hosted by Jessica Zahn (jetherealz).

Show notes:
The Weekly Download podcast features audio samples from the hottest podcasts in the Zune Podcast Marketplace and is hosted by Jessica Zahn. Let us know about a hot new podcast that you may have found and send us an email about it to: askzune at microsoft.com, we might feature it and give you a shout-out.

Listen to the full episode below:

FEATURED PODCASTS SHOW NOTES:  SModCo SMorning Show Podcast – 90 min Audio Show – M-F (:39 – 2:31);  Vinyl Café Stories from CBC Radio Podcast – 45 min Audio Show – Every Friday (2:32 – 5:31);  I Sell Comics - SModcast Podcast – 60 min Audio Show – Weekly on Random Days (5:32 – 7:17);  Rooster Teeth – 60 min Audio Show – Weekly on Weds (7:18 – 9:07); Geek Friday from 5By5 Podcast – 50 min Audio Show – Every Friday (9:08 – 11:20);  Music: Earth by Ceps.

The mp3 file is 11 MB and runs for a 12 minutes. Subscribe to the podcast in the FREE Zune Marketplace 4.8 Media Player software here. Download the audio file directly here – stream it

Zune Insider Episode 134 dated Sept 30th, 2011 of the Zune Insider Audio Podcast is now live and hosted by Matt Akers (skipdeez) and Jessica Zahn (jetherealz).

Full Show Notes: New “Zune Music Pass” in Canada, and changes in the US (0:00 -9:47);  John Randolph brings the music recommendations, including “Blink-182″, “Nirvana”, and Jason Derulo (9:48 – 15:40);  Movies Ammon Gilbert discusses “Transformers”, “Fast Five”, “Scream 4″, and “Bad Teacher” (15:41 – 19:22);  Erick Roff gives us the TV scoop, which includes “House MD” and “Big Bang Theory” – and “2 and a Half Men” (oh and “It’s Always Sunny” is not a good choice for an 11-year-old) (19:23 – 26:54); Podcast Rob Greenlee (@robgreenlee) recommends 6 new podcasts from Al-Jazeera, with special mention of “The Stream”, “Fox News Flash” Daily Video series and “The News with Jessica” (26:57 – 31:19);  Live Inbox and Twitter (31:20 – 36:09);  An important announcement (36:10 – end). 

Here is the Full Audio Stream from Episode 134 – 39 minutes:

The mp3 file is 35 MB and runs for a 39 minutes. Subscribe to the podcast in the FREE Zune Marketplace 4.8 Media Player software here. Download the audio file directly here – stream the audio from Zune.net