March 2010
43 posts
thediscography:
Ratliff knows his stuff and is, I think, clearly being cheeky here. I have to wonder if the numbers bear him out here, though—VW’s, sure, but I don’t know about DPs. Maybe it’s just because I don’t track Soundscan the way, say, Maura does that I sense that there are too many bands in Brooklyn with similar-sized audiences and cred (Animal Collective,...
“The Tennessee was where Vampire Weekend and Dirty Projectors — currently the...”
– Ben Ratliff in his review of the Big Ears Festival for the Times.
After the fact, something in the article accompanying the photo below chafed — see quote above. First, it’s the most awkward sentence ever! Secondly, I’m stymied as to how to begin to explain everything that’s...
Fuck Yeah Metal Beards! →
It was time, y’all.
xoxo, michaela
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“total bummer fest last night was a total bummer. Police shut us down.”
– A tweet by chriscori. The Total Bummer in question was a 90 band lo-fi/underground music fest in Gainesville, Florida, that apparently had some problems with the Po-Pos. My pal Gordon Lamb pointed out that the name is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy (were “Police Interference...
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It is Steve Almond's turn to write This Article →
tomewing:
Right, OK, here’s what I don’t understand about this argument. You are a grown man, Steve Almond. You presumably are aware that you can still buy turntables and stereos, you can still buy a lot of music - not all, but a lot - as physical media. So who is making you experience your music as the backing track to some flashing screen? Is it some magic interwebs demon? Yes, I know that lots...
MtyMx Festival… Grand But Empty →
bigcrush:
(via yvynyl)
Sadface.
Not trying to be a jerk here, but it’s not that surprising that the super-hipster show (featuring such renowned live acts as Washed Out and the Coathangers) in a country that we forget is seriously impoverished, riddled with corruption, beset by infrastructure issues, and plagued by drug gang turf war violence (it ain’t all Cancun or Cozumel)...
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Public service of the day
Apparently, at some point yesterday, a WSJ blog entry stated that badge holder attendance was up 89% at SXSW Music this year. This percentage was incorrect, it was actually up 11%, as the updated entry now states. However, I’ve already seen this incorrect statistic repeated in a number of places, thanks to the fact that it was the lead story, without citation (or updated correction), in...
“Basically, in the post-unit-sales, file-sharing era, indie music is ever more...”
– SXSW: Why Marketers and Media Companies Love ‘Indie’ - Advertising Age
Well, now. This I guess I should thank this guy for explaining the terrible taste I’ve had in my mouth for the past four years or so. And I think my soul finally finished dying. Not that there’s anything...
“But many of these glo-fi songs were even more repetitive than electrop, just...”
– SXSW: Glow-fi Draws the Biggest Crowds - NYTimes.com
I’m pretty sure that Memory Tapes isn’t *that* terrible. I mean, I kind of like the band with 10,000 names. But, I have to say Pareles is kind of right about the rest of this non-scene, though. That being said, if they’re...
“Just because you can document and share nearly every moment of your life...”
– Hey, Put Down Your Goddamn Camera - Memoryforever - Gizmodo
It always bears repeating. Perhaps people will start to listen? Someday? I admit, watching people watch shows through their cameras is one of the myriad reasons I don’t go out much anymore. Psychic pain, all those distracting,...
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"(I'll admit, I rarely buy a physical CD for more... →
The paranthetical comment from Chris Foresman in his story about Universal’s decision to cut CD prices, the new big music story of the week, rings a bit strangely to my ears, because as a personal cutoff level it seems far too high.
It’s a reflection of location and demand, really. For my part, my physical CD shopping is shaped, limited — and amazingly well assisted — by...
“I hold my guitar really low …There’s something about hittin’ a chord and...”
– Joan Jett, (via Jett Set | Vanity Fair)
Amen, Joan. I would just like to say that I’ve decided that this is the line between “playing like a girl” (ugh) and being a badass.
xoxo, michaela
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RIP Alex Chilton →
One could almost sense the pause among a lot of friends of mine online as the news spread. A sudden hush as it sunk in.
Learning about this news in this hypermediated world — my Twitter feed was punctuated with observations about SXSW and American Idol as the first posts shot around — accentuated the feeling. Maura confessed to feeling ‘extra-cranky’ while she continued...
“Roll over, Woodstock. We won.”
– Iggy Pop, in his Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame acceptance speech. (via Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inducts New Members - NYTimes.com)
Oh, Jim. Some days, in the current music climate, I’m not so sure about that.
xoxo, michaela
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“There’s a change in one of our sections that we’re excited about… we’re still...”
– Pitchfork: New Section: The Playlist
So in terms of songs, it was seen to be a waste of time/energy/bandwidth to write negatively about stuff that one doesn’t like, but when it comes to albums, we should still expect 5 paragraphs on how much they suck, and why they deserve a “2.3” or “3.8?”
(via...
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suicidewatch:
the jesus and mary chain “never...
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RIP Carol Clerk, UK music journalist
A quick search on Twitter will give you an idea of why this news, just announced today, is spreading so quickly and already causing so many tributes. When writers like Cath Carroll, Simon Price, Dave Simpson, John Robb and the Popjustice crew are all pitching in with their homages and remembrances, you get a sense of her impact. Rock’s Back Pages carries a sampling of her work if you have...
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"We have this inside joke that if you want to make... →
That’s John Simson, the executive director of SoundExchange, quoted in a story about the delivery of digital music royalties — and the problems they face in getting them to artists. If I got into that part I quoted too much I admit I would be essentially delivering my paper at the EMP Pop Conference a month early, but the whole article is worth reading as a reminder that digital play...
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For the "Hallelujah" followers in the house.
Q: What’s the worst advice you’ve ever gotten?
A: Probably to sing that song Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. Great song, but I’m so sick of performing it.
(via THE INSIDER: RUFUS WAINWRIGHT - NYLON MAGAZINE)
xoxo, michaela
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WatchIt’s pretty shocking that a conservative just now sat down with the lyrics sheet to “Born in the USA”. Oh, no, wait. No it’s not. Pete Chianca’s take on this is right on:
“Finally, a conservative gets “Born in the USA” right — it’s “anti-American propoganda!” So says Glenn Beck, who was apparently so desperate for material for his radio show yesterday that...
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WatchLady Gaga, Beyonce, Jonas Akerlund and “Telephone.” NSFW perhaps goes without saying.
Not that it’s new to observe it but having pop/rave continually thriving as a lingua franca in America over these past few years is a fine, fine thing and Lady Gaga has definitely not only found her vehicle but gotten better with it. And so, this video.
The only thing I want to really point...
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"In Search of Digital Love" →
“It’s not a proper thing,” says Michaelangelo Matos at one point, and he says so with glee and happiness as the undercurrent rather than annoyance or anything negative. Which is part of the whole that is “Digital Love” by Daft Punk, given a beautiful hourlong overview by Scott Woods, the second of his amazing non-written critical analyses this year (the first being...
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"Sure, I can travel with every piece of music I... →
maura:
From Paste, a few thoughts on having a completely digital music collection.
And wonderful thoughts they are; read the whole piece immediately. Some quick thoughts in response:
I recently completed a year-long project of ripping everything in my own collection to a hard drive — with plenty of backups. It was crazily time consuming in my case and I’m glad I only had to do it...
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“Until recently, you’d never guess that Matthew Houck, the brain and beard...”
– What in the hell is that supposed to mean? Why can’t a guy who writes Southern-sounding songs actually be from Alabama? Does music have to be made in Brooklyn now? Is that a law or something? Was it okay for him to be from Athens, GA (ALSO IN THE SOUTH), but not from Alabama? Maybe I take...
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Remind me of this the next time I'm hating on how...
So, I was doing some research on a song that’s on an old Manhattan Transfer record that I loved as a kid: “My Cat Fell In The Well (Well! Well! Well!”) which was originally recorded by the Merry Macks in 1939. While Googling for info on the Merry Macks, I stumbled upon this article from the June 12, 1939 issue of Time Magazine about Billie Holliday’s “Strange...
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“i haven’t heard this band’s music yet, but that whole dressing up...”
– “scott” weighs in on a (sigh) Brantley County, Georgia Ku Klux Klan rally in the Flagpole comments section.
—Lucas
WatchThe House of Dior + Marion Cotillard + Franz Ferdinand + Jonas Akerlund = “The Eyes of Mars”.
Now, I realize that this may not be a big hit with most people in the audience, but there’s a rather large part of me that hopes there’s more fashion+advertising+music collaborations in the future. I mean, if one way to ensure that a song’s video is a actually a little 2...
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Watchhometapes:
Perhaps the best version of Slaraffenland’s Polaroids I’ve ever heard, and what a perfect way to start getting excited for SXSW!
This was shot by Vincent Moon in the back of a truck in Austin, TX. (Hard to believe this was two years ago!) ENJOY!
A TRUCK IN TEXAS: slaraffenland on Vimeo (via Vimeo)
Though I think Vincent Moon could use a new color palette (sepia AGAIN), this is...
TROLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLO →
(via catbird)
OMG, I’ve been listening to this non-stop all morning. First saw this from John Vanderslice earlier today (who got it from the incomperable John Darnielle) — which prompted me to do some research on the provenance of this clip once I was off of one of the interminable conference calls that I’ve been trapped in all week — more here.
xoxo, michaela
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KISS goes to high school. →
As a semi-rigorous KISS fan, I’m shocked I’ve never heard of this event before. Regardless of how you feel about KISS, you have to admit this is a great story, almost deserving of a full-length documentary, particularly the civic meeting in KISSface. I can’t imagine bands of KISS’s stature doing this sort of thing today. Also from this video: final, confirmed proof that...
