thanks for not being a zombie

Sigur Ros, during a recent performance in St. Louis. (Download free, legal mp3s here.)

Posted by at 2:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

First of all, you simply must get the downTHEMall plugin for Firefox, which allows you to grab all the files of a particular kind on a webpage with one click. This allows you to go to a page like this one and easily open your ears to a wide range of new music that your local radio station is probably too busy playing the latest from Nickelback to notice.

Be on the lookout for the forthcoming album from Drag City recording artist and Chicago-based blogger Edith Frost, who has some free music available to give you an idea of her sound. Good stuff. This recent blog entry about touring with Calexico and Iron and Wine is an example of why Frost is one of my favorite bloggers. Frost's music is available at the iTunes music store.

Icelandic elfin musicians Sigur Rós will be touring the U.S. in 2006. You can find tour details (and buy tix) online. Free music and videos can be downloaded from their website. I'll be seeing them on February 22 in St. Louis, a five-hour drive from KC, it's true, but I dug my last music trip to STL, so...

Andy Baio's blog turned me on to Feist, a musician formerly with Broken Social Scene. The video for the song "One Evening," which you can download free from Baio's site, is awesome. It has a kind of clumsy sincerity to it that is just charming. Last night I went out and bought a physical copy of her CD Let It Die, which is also available in the more ethereal iTunes music store (hint hint).

Wilco has a new live album coming out, and you can listen to four songs online. Unlike a lot performers, they really do change things up live, rather than simply recreate the studio versions of songs. Well, it's not like they completely rearrange songs, but there are places where surprising differences are noticeable. Guitarist Nels Cline's filigreed guitar work on the live version of "Company in My Back" is one example. In this interview, Cline discusses the circumstances of joining the band after a decades-long career as a respected, if somewhat obscure, musician. This Rolling Stone profile of Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy covers a lot of ground, including Tweedy's battles with anxiety and migraines.

Son Volt's new album, Okemah and the Melody of Riot, has been widely reviewed, but I'll just link to what reviewers in The Washington Post and The New York Times have to say. Don't just take the critics' word, though. You can download a two-hour (!) live show at Washington D.C.'s 9:30 Club from NPR's All Songs Considered website and judge for yourself.

Wired reports that veteran rap group Public Enemy, whose current release is New Whirl Order have embraced the opportunities made available by the tools and habits of the digital age. The PE site links to Remix Universe, " a remix and production site for producers, beatmakers, artists, vocalists, and songwriters." Now that sounds interesting.

Lately I'm fascinated with mashups, where a DJ takes two or more popular songs and remixes them together to make something entirely new. Some are stupid, some are obvious, but some are jawdroppingly amazing. In the latter category I would put DJ Crook Air's combination of the Cure's "Just Like Heaven" and TLC's "Unpretty." (I bought both sings from iTunes to atone for getting the free mashup). (It appears the Crook Air's website is down.) DJ Dangermouse's Grey Album is perhaps the most famous. One place to start with mashups is The Weekly Mashup Podcast, and you might also check out the Mashmix download page. Although they're not DJ's, Beatallica's twisted combination of the Beatles and Metallica is clearly in the same spirit as the mashup.

And finally, although this is not music news, I'm very much looking forward to brilliantly profane comedian Sarah Silverman's forthcoming movie, Jesus is Magic. The official movie site has a postage-stamp sized trailer, but you can watch a larger one here. Read an interview with Silverman at Slate and a profile in the New Yorker.

Posted by at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Last Thursday, Apple unveiled the iPod Nano, an amazingly small, all-flash-memory music player in models with 2- and 4-gigabytes of storage. I still love my iPod Mini--which has a metal casing, unlike the new plastic Nano that I would likely sit on and break five minutes after buying--but I have to admit this thing is pretty dang cool.

One significant development to come from this will, I think, be cheaper flash memory since Apple, now the world's largest consumer of the stuff according to Steve Jobs, is pushing factories to figure out how to produce it cheaply and in mass quantities. And cheaper flash memory will mean that we see more and more storage capabilities in everyday devices like cell phones. With storage that small, and that light, the future of personal computing devices can take some interesting directions. I think, as I've written before, that the restriction on size reduction will continue to be what people currently require for input and output: a decent-sized keyboard and a decent-sized screen. But it looks like storage (and processors) will continue to get smaller, lighter, cheaper, and more energy efficient.

(There's a new iTunes phone, but that seems much less exciting.)

More iPod links:

• "IPod Nano To Be a Macro Seller," by Leander Kahney (Cult of Mac)
• "IPod's Latest Siblings," by Walter T. Mossberg (Wall Street Journal)
• "New, Thinner IPod Upstages ITunes-Ready Cell Phone," by Mike Musgrove (Washington Post)
• "You can Use an iPod to Move Music," (from this article in PC World.)

Technorati tags: apple, nano, ipodnano, mp3s

Posted by at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Boing Boing draws our attention to a remix of "Gold Digger," Kanye West's latest single. The remix samples West's outburst last week and changes the song's lyrics into a protest against George Bush.

Also do not miss this mashup of Kanye West and the Beach Boys.

What the heck. Here's TV on the Radio's "Dry Drunk Emperor," too. (Via Badda Blog)

Bonus Links:

• Pitchforkmedia's review of Late Registration
• Robert Christgau's take at the Village Voice
• Rolling Stone's review
• "Is Kanye West The Future of Hip Hop?" by Kevin Scott (Vibe)
• "Why You Can't Ignore Kanye," by Josh Tyrangiel (Time)
• "Future of rap points West," by Robert Hilburn (LA Times)
• "The Rap on Kanye," by Lorraine Ali (Newsweek)

technorati tags: hurricane katrina, katrina, kanyewest, kanye, mp3, mashup, bush, georgewbush,

Posted by at 7:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tuesday was the 28th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. Cheeky Prof remembers hearing the news, but I don't. In 1977, if I'm not mistaken, my parents were listening mostly to bluegrass and mountain music, although I'm sure in their youth they were Elvis fans.

Elvis always makes me think of this passage from 1977 by music writer Lester Bangs in which he writes of going out to buy a case of beer for a wake in honor of Elvis:

As I left the building I passed some Latin guys hanging out by the front door. "Heard the news? Elvis is dead!" I told them. They looked at me with contemptuous indifference. So what. Maybe if I had told them Donna Summer was dead I might have gotten a reaction. I do recall walking in this neighborhood wearing a T-shirt that said "Disco Sucks" with a vast unamused muttering in my wake, which only goes to show that not for everyone was Elvis the still-reigning King of Rock 'n' Roll, in fact not for everyone is rock 'n' roll the still-reigning music. (from "Where Were You When Elvis Died?" in Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung.)

Putting aside for a moment the question of whether these "Latin guys" would have been likely Donna Summer fans, I can't help but notice that Bangs overlooks something important. For Bangs, the hierarchical, celebrity-based idol worship of popular culture is a problem, something that rock-n-roll is supposed to help destroy. So as it became more and more commercialized, with big shows featuring artists up on stage and audiences removed from them by distance, fame, and wealth, rock-n-roll morphed into just another part of the problem. Bangs argues that Elvis is a key player in all of this.

Although he doesn't elaborate on it here (or anywhere that I've read), I think it could be argued that disco provided the framework for a more democratic and participatory culture than rock-n-roll. With disco, fans didn't go into an enormous arena to scream out their inevitably unfulfilled desire for the people on stage they will never meet. Instead, they went to clubs to dance and party with friends. Disco fans didn't thrive on a lack of connection with celebrities; instead, the music facilitated their connection with other people like themselves. Bangs can't see this; indifference to the death of Elvis represents cultural fragmentation. "We will continue to fragment in this manner," he writes, "because solipsism holds all the cards at present." Disco, I think, was a powerful antidote to the solipsism that has Bangs worried here.

I'll admit that I could be completely romanticizing the era of disco, however, since I was less than 10 at its peak. I'd like to think it had the elegance of Whit Stillman's 1998 film Last Days of Disco, but maybe it was just a bunch of fat, sweaty guys in polyester leisure suits.

And finally, the Bangs quote--and the issue of white folks' appropriation of black folks' music--brings me around to yesterday's blog entry by Joe Miller: "Cracka with Attitude".

Posted by at 7:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

After being ousted at NPR, Bob Edwards landed a show on XM Radio. Check out his hour-long interview with Wilco's Jeff Tweedy.

Posted by at 8:58 AM | Permalink

"Electronica From the 1920's, Ready for Sampling," by Michael Beckerman (NYT)

"This is our story," by Will Hodgkinson (The Guardian).

Listen online to the new album from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (NME).

"Without a Prayer: Like other religious artists before him, Sufjan Stevens puts his faith in craft," by Nick Sylvester (Village Voice).

"Acts of Antiwar: Operation Ceasefire Will Bring Music To the Mall," by Teresa Wiltz (WaPo).

Posted by at 8:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Go here, and look at the latest pix. (Work safe.)

Posted by at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Gotta...

• ...do the last packing. L did most of it while I was travelling.
• ...have lunch, and dinner, and coffee, and drinks with KC friends.
• ...tie up various administrative and financial loose ends at school.
• ...turn off the utilities here and turn on the utilities there.
• ...wait for the movers to come load up the truck.
• ...drive, drive, drive.

If you'd like postcards from the road, gmail me at non.zombie

"New Town," by Vic Chesnutt.

MP3 files are posted for evaluation purposes only. Availability is limited: usually 24 hours. Through this site, I'm trying to share and promote good music with others, who will also hopefully continue to support these artists. Everyone is encouraged to purchase music and concert tickets for the artists you feel merit your hard earned dollars. If you hold copyright to one of these songs and would like the file removed, please let me know.

[composed and posted with Ecto.]

Posted by at 8:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I had another one of those recurring dreams. This time I was going to play guitar with Sonic Youth.

Posted by at 5:55 PM | Permalink

I think my brain can't decide which time zone I'm in.

• Pitchfork Media lets us know the tour dates for the newly reunited original lineup of Dinosaur Jr. No, I won't be living anywhere they're playing. Very inconsiderate of them, if you ask me. If you live in D.C./Atlanta and do not plan on going to see them at the 9:30 Club/Variety Playhouse, then you're a damn fool. Unless you don't like your ears bleeding. Then I understand.
• PFM also reports that the White Stripes are coming to the Starlight Theater in KC on August 23. Two thoughts:
  1. I will be living somewhere other than Kansas City on August 23.
  2. The Starlight Theater does not sound like a place I want to go to see a band.
• Oh wait! Ryan Adams and the Cardinals will be playing in Manchester on June 29! ... Sold out?
• Dammit!
• Then again, if I want to see someone get drunk and fall down on stage, there's always Shane MacGowan.
• Hmm, Television on the 23rd of June. Saw them last year, and don't have a burning desire to see them again.
• Holy crap! There's an amazing series called Patti Smith's Meltdown taking place in London this week:
  • Patti Smith, Chan Marshall (Cat Power), and Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine) performing together this Wednesday right here in London!
  • And she's performing with John Cale (Velvet Underground) on Satuday.
  • An homage to William Blake in the form of a tribute to Jimi Hendrix...that sounds a little flakey.
• Looks like they're all sold out.
• Dammit!
• Well, there's also a tribute to Bertolt Brecht featuring Marc Almond, The Finn Brothers, Antony & The Johnsons, Martha Wainwright, Dresden Dolls, Sparks, London Sinfonietta, The Tiger Lillies, and Patti Smith. Hmm, could be interesting. Sinfonietta collaborated with Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood recently. I dig the Dresden Dolls. And who doesn't love Soft Cell's Marc Almond? A damn fool. That's who.

Oh, Morpheus. Why must you taunt me so?

Posted by at 6:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Friday and Saturday were awesome research days at the British Library. I found some really juicy stuff that's going to be very useful. I was there yesterday from 9:30 until closing at 5:00 yesterday, and I was so excited by what I was finding that I didn't want to leave.

My time has not been filled only with work, however. Friday night I saw a very good production of Henry IV Part 1 with Laurie and her friend Jessica at the National Theatre. Tuesday night we'll catch the second part. Jessica totally kicks ass for landing tickets to supposedly sold-out shows.

Last night my friend Nancy and I headed out to the hip joint of the moment, which goes by the name of the Boogaloo. It's supposed to be the place to see and be seen, but it seemed just like any other pub I've been to in London. Well, there was one difference: the beer was about twice as expensive. Still, it was fun to hang out there, and the way the juke box works is pretty cool. The rumor is that Coldplay went there once to take in (or contribute to) the vibe and got angry when no one recognized them.

Today was an eighteenth-century geek's idea of paradise. Nancy and I shared a delicious lunch at a Thai restaurant, then visited Dennis Severs' House (see photo below), which is one part living history site and two parts happening.

Subsequently, we walked up City Road to John Wesley's chapel, built in the 1760s, and to Bunhill Fields, the Nonconformists' cemetery right across the street.

The Museum of London was our next stop, and coincidentally enough, there is a sculpture next to the entrance that marks the site of John Wesley's conversion experience; Wesley described feeling a "strange warming of the heart" while walking along Aldersgate Street. Not exactly the most dramatic of descriptions given that some of Wesley's evangelical peers were passing out and speaking in tongues.

The Museum of London is a well-done presentation of the history of the city, with artifacts from the last several hundred years. We each bought a reproduction of a 1745 London map, and then headed straight for the Restoration and eighteenth-century sections, which has an exhibit on the Great Fire of 1666, and then several other exhibits organized thematically around themes like "printing" or "prison." Perhaps I'm making it sound too dry, but it really is well done. I especially like this "sermon glass".

Next on the agenda: more walking! We ended up at a pub for a couple of pints of John Courage (produced by a brewery founded in 1787), and capped off the day with dinner at an Indian restaurant of my favorite kind.

Now I'm going to bed...

Continue reading "busy few days" »

Posted by at 5:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm sitting in a London coffee shop and Internet cafe on Judd Street, waiting for the BL to open, and the radio is playing "Kansas City Here I Come," by Big Joe Turner.

Posted by at 3:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

1. "The Dark," by My Morning Jacket, from The Tennessee Fire
2. "Dark Center of the Universe," by Modest Mouse, from The Moon and Antartica
3. "In My Hour of Darkness," by the Rolling Creekdippers, from Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons
4. "In My Hour of Darkness," by Gram Parsons, from G.P. / Grievous Angel
5. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Long After Dark
6. "Let the Darkness Fall," by Mazzacane, Langille, Burnes, Daniell, Let the Darkness Fall
7. "I See a Darkness," by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, from I See a Darkness
8. "I See a Darkness," by Johnny Cash, from American III: Solitary Man
9. "A Spindle, A Darkness, A Fever, and a Necklace," by Bright Eyes, from Fever and Mirrors
10. "Can Light Be Found in the Darkness?" by Gustavo Santaolalla, from the 21 Grams soundtrack

Other "dark" lists here and here.

Posted by at 6:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A The The song just played in a Dockers commercial. When will it stop? Never, I know.

Posted by at 6:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Cell phone + acoustic guitar + audioblogger = this (mp3, ~600k).

Inspired by Profgrrrrl's audio date blogging.

Posted by at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

From Scrivener: What are the "summer" songs in your mp3 collection? Here are mine:

1. "It's Summertime," by the Flaming Lips
2. "Indian Summer Sky," by U2
3. "Summer Babe (Winter Version)," by Pavement
4. "Summertime," by Miles Davis
5. "Summertime Rolls," by Jane's Addiction
6. "Nightmare-Summertime," by John Fahey
7. "Summer Cannibals," by Patti Smith
8. "My Own Summer (Shove It)," by the Deftones

Posted by at 9:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I just heard a song by Squeeze song in an ad for women's sports apparel.

Okay, my heart is not really broken. I just hope the guys in the band got a load of dough for selling the rights.

Posted by at 6:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Everybody, I think, knows about the Friday shuffle: generate a random list of songs from your digital music player, post the first ten.

I'd like to propose something different: enter a word into your computer's mp3-playing software and see what pops up. If the word is contained in the name of an album, post the artist and album title. If the word is contained in the name of a song, post the artist and song title.

Today's word is "wish." Whaddya got? Here are mine:

1. "Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was," by Radiohead
2. "How I Wish," by Keith Richards
3. "Wish," by Alien Ant Farm
4. "I Wish My Baby Was Born," by Uncle Tupelo
5. "Blown a Wish," by My Bloody Valentine
6. "I Wished on the Moon," by Billie Holiday
7. "A Single Wish," by This Mortal Coil
8. "WishFulfillment," by Sonic Youth
9. "I Wish I Was the Moon," by Neko Case
10. "Wishful Thinking," by Wilco

I have exactly ten songs with this word in the title. Weird.

The first person to respond with their "wish" songs gets to pick the word for next week.

Aaaaand...go!

Posted by at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

Me: Hmm. Bad news from the world of music.
L: Really? What?
Me: Apparently, Paul Rodgers is now singing for Queen.
L: That's not bad news. That's terrible news of epic proportions.

Posted by at 8:48 AM | Permalink

Or, return to Pancake Mountain. They have some clips online, now, and you can buy DVDs and other stuff.

Be sure to watch the "Rufus" clips.

Posted by at 8:08 PM | Permalink

Laurie waited patiently in line to meet John Doe after the show on Friday.

Laurie says the conversation went something like this:

John: Hey, how are you doing tonight?
Laurie: Um...
John: Did you have a good time?
Laurie: Uh...so...do you like...stuff?
John: (pause) Which one of you is driving home tonight?

Posted by at 8:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

On April 15, Trent Reznor posted the "source code" of a single from the forthcoming Nine Inch Nails album. "The Hand That Feeds" is a 70 megabyte Garageband file for Apple computer users to download and play with. I heard the single on the radio yesterday, and I think it's pretty good. (Via BoingBoing.)

Posted by at 9:48 AM | Permalink

We went to go see John Doe tonight with Jeff and Laurie .

Rock 'n' roll, baby.

Posted by at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

...if I like Billy Squier more than I like Bright Eyes?

Posted by at 6:00 PM | Permalink

I've had the four-gigabyte version of the iPod mini for about seven months now, and I have to say that it's really brought music back into my life in a big way. While in grad school I did not listen to much music because I couldn't afford the necessary time or money. I don't have any more time now, but I am able to listen more often because I take about 700 songs with me wherever I go. In high school and college, my friends and I used to buy new music constantly, taping it and sharing it with each other. I do the same thing now, except that digital media have replaced magnetic. I don't really think the music industry has much to worry about from me.

Having a Powerbook running iTunes means not only that the Apple aesthetic governs the appearance of both devices, but also that the integration with the iPod mini is pretty seemless (though that's not really the case with other devices). I'm a little anxious about what my happen when the battery dies, but mostly I'm quite happy. When my iPod mini began acting funny a few weeks ago, I took it to the local Apple store and they replaced it, free of charge. Now that's customer service.

Posted by at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Challenged by Amardeep, I offer you the following:

1. Total amount of music files on your computer.

4768 songs, or 22.34 gigabytes.

2. The CD you last bought is...

Beautiful Dreamer: the Songs of Stephen Foster

3. What is the song you last listened to before reading this message

"Until the Led," by Vic Chesnutt.

4. Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.

Just five? Okay...

• "Umi Says," by Mos Def
• "Skip Tracer," by Sonic Youth
• "Moonshiner," by Uncle Tupelo (and covered by Cat Power)
• "Rosa Parks," by Outkast
• "This Is How It Goes," by Aimee Mann

5. Who are you going to pass this stick to?

Anyone who reads this and wants to participate.

Posted by at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Remember that scene in High Fidelity where Rob is organizing his music collection autobiographically...?

In the summer of 1989 I moved to Nashville to try to salvage a romantic relationship that died pretty much the day I arrived. This made for an interesting three months. In order to pay the rent I worked at a place called the Pasteria with several interesting coworkers, including one of the guitarists for a band called Rumble Circus, who were good but apparently never found much success. I probably have the details a bit wrong, but some of the members of Rumble Circus went on to join at least three Atlanta bands: the Black Crowes, Drivin' 'N' Cryin', and Mary My Hope.

The Black Crowes you have probably heard of as they had a few national hits over the years, and those of you in the Southeast probably know Drivin' 'n' Cryin'. Mary My Hope were a band that should have made a bigger splash than they did, frankly, but perhaps their timing was off. To me, they merged the aesthetics of '70s glam rock with the vision of self-styled prophets like Jim Morrison and Patti Smith. Their sound verged at times on heavy metal. Too many cooks spoil the soup? I don't know.

Fast forward a few years, and I'm sitting on the porch with Sheila Doyle, who had worked with me at the aforementioned photocopy place and who played violin for Big Fish Ensemble. We used to have lunch and play some songs together; one of them was Mary My Hope's "I'm Not Singing" (mp3, 5.7MB), which is one of the best tracks on the band's debut CD Museum. I can only remember doing this a few times, and I guess I talked myself into thinking I wasn't very good, but Sheila was always pretty happy about our informal collaborations. Once her boyfriend, BFE's drummer, came home and sang along with me on one song; I did a pretty good harmony vocal (he even said so).

I was never more than a satellite on the fringes of the margins of the periphery of the Atlanta music scene. But this is one of those moments in my life that I look back on and think, "Why did I quit doing that?"

I'm not sure that you can even buy Mary My Hope CDs anymore, but if you see one, be sure to take it home. I do know that singer James Hall has a release out on Daemon Records, and it looks like his current project is Pleasure Club.

MP3 files are posted for evaluation purposes only. Availability is limited: usually 24 hours. Through this site, I'm trying to share and promote good music with others, who will also hopefully continue to support these artists. Everyone is encouraged to purchase music and concert tickets for the artists you feel merit your hard earned dollars. If you hold copyright to one of these songs and would like the file removed, please let me know.

Posted by at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Inspired by Weez, I set myself up with Audioscrobbler. But my page remains blank, even though I've downloaded the iTunes plugin and everything.

Hmmm.

Posted by at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I want to be a good woman.
And I want for you to be a good man.
And this is why I am leaving.
And this is why I can't see you no more.
This is why I am lying
When I say, "I don't love you no more."
--Cat Power, "Good Woman"

Posted by at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I should be asleep, but some combination of getting up later than usual and having coffee at 5 this afternoon has resulted in insomnia. So you're getting your music early.

I worked the 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift at a 24-hour photocopy place in Atlanta for a good chunk of my college career. The guy who worked the graveyard shift was Glen Thrasher, who also published a 'zine called Lowlife and cohosted a show on WREK called "Destroy All Music." Glen struck me as grumpy but basically pretty nice, and he tried to clue my clueless self in to some local indie and avant-garde music. He played sporadically in a few different bands, including "I see the moon" and, I think, "Freedom Puff." I learned years later, after I'd moved to D.C., that he'd also played with Chan Marshall, better known as Cat Power.

Then I read in Creative Loafing that in her younger years, Marshall had worked at a pizza place on Ponce de Leon in Atlanta that was like a second home to me. Perhaps she'd even served me a slice and a salad.

Marshall has developed a reputation for being absolutely horrible live, reportedly because she suffers from extreme stage fright. I've never seen her perform, so I can't say. I have listened to most of her recorded music, however, and it's really affecting and often disturbing. Somehow melodic and dissonant at the same time, usually midtempo or even quite slow.

I've picked one of the most accessible tracks off of her recent album, You are Free, because the lyrics just break my heart: "Good Woman" (mp3, 4.7MB)

Here's an iTunes list of Cat Power music.

I realize that this is not exactly the most obscure music selection, and you've probably heard of Cat Power already, haven't you, dear reader? The point is this: I'm not trying to play obscurantist bingo; I just want to share some music I really like, most of which is stuff I don't hear on the radio.

MP3 files are posted for evaluation purposes only. Availability is limited: usually 24 hours. Through this site, I'm trying to share and promote good music with others, who will also hopefully continue to support these artists. Everyone is encouraged to purchase music and concert tickets for the artists you feel merit your hard earned dollars. If you hold copyright to one of these songs and would like the file removed, please let me know.

Posted by at 12:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

New purchase: Patti Smith's 1996 album Gone Again:

I have a winter’s tale How vagrant hearts relent, prevail, Sow their seed into the wind, Seize the sky, and they’re gone again. -"Gone Again"

Posted by at 9:00 PM | Permalink

Is it at all possible to find an independent coffee shop in downtown Kansas City that doesn't have free wireless Internet access? Predictably, Starbucks charges for theirs, but it's wide open just about everywhere else. If I want to support local coffeeshops, I have to contend with the lure of the Internet (or just leave the laptop at home); if I want to avoid that lure, I have to spend time with the Great Satan. So here I am at the Cup and Saucer, grading, and trying to avoid various online responsibilities.

I'm just stopping in, dear reader, to opine briefly on Atlanta's Black Crowes. When I was a wee undergrad and local hack music writer, the Black Crowes were called Mr. Crowe's Garden, and they were firmly part of the jangly southern bands on college radio crowd (see R.E.M., Let's Active, the D.B.'s, and various Athens, GA: Inside/Out bands). Then they got a record deal, went into the studio, and came out a few months later with a new band name and sounding like a cross between early '70s Rolling Stones and late '70s Aerosmith. The cool thing to do, of course, was to lament how they had "sold out." But I'll let you in on a secret: I really like the Black Crowes. When you're down in the dumps, crank up Shake Your Money Maker.

Posted by at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

They did it their way: "The Telegraph's music critics select the 50 best cover versions ever recorded"

This list gets some things wrong: Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" is much better than his cover of U2's "One." The Bangles doing "Hazy Shade of Winter"? Give me a break! Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" over John Cale's version? Wrong.

Meanwhile, what about Tori Amos' version of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," or the Sundays doing the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses"?

Bah!

Posted by at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Kansas City to St. Louis. Taco Bell. American Whiskey. American Beer. The Pageant. Jessie Malin. Ryan Adams. Denny's. Motel 6. Waffle House. St. Louis to Kansas City. Dairy Queen.

The best use of 24 hours in a long time.

Posted by at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Via CNN. See also this statement from his mother:

"This evening I received a phone call that is every mother's worst dream," she said. "My son, Russell Jones, passed away. To the public, he was known as Ol' Dirty Bastard. To me, he was known as Rusty, the kindest and most generous soul on earth. I appreciate all the support I received. Russell was more than a rapper — he was a loving father, brother, uncle and most of all, son. With love, Cherry Jones.“

Posted by at 9:24 PM | Permalink

The Wired CD: "Rip, mix, burn. Swap till you drop. The music cops can't do a thing - it's 100 percent legal, licensed by the bands." Brought to you by Wired magazine, Creative Commons, and several forward-thinking musicians. After November 9, you can download the tracks from the CC website. Until then, use the links below:

• :01 Beastie Boys/ Now Get Busy
• :02 David Byrne/ My Fair Lady
• :03 Zap Mama/ Wadidyusay?
• :04 My Morning Jacket/ One Big Holiday
• :05 Spoon/ Revenge!
• :06 Gilberto Gil/ Oslodum
• :07 Dan the Automator/ Relaxation Spa Treatment
• :08 Thievery Corporation/ DC 3000
• :09 Le Tigre/ Fake French
• :10 Paul Westerberg/ Looking Up in Heaven
• :11 Chuck D with Fine Arts Militia/ No Meaning No
• :12 The Rapture/ Sister Saviour (Blackstrobe Remix)
• :13 Cornelius/ Wataridori 2
• :14 Danger Mouse & Jemini/ What U Sittin' On? (starring Cee Lo and Tha Alkaholiks)
• :15 DJ Dolores/ Oslodum 2004
• :16 Matmos/ Action at a Distance

Yes, the election is tomorrow. Go download some free and legal music from Protest-Records. I recommend these tracks, in particular:

• Stephan Smith/ Business
• MC Frontalot/ Special Delivery
• Scott Amendola & Carla Bozulich/ Masters of War
• Cat Power/ Rockets
• The Cucumbers/ Illegal
• Sonic Youth/ Youth Against Fascism
• Eugene Chabbourne/ New New New War War War
• Soylent Gringo/ Let's Start A War
• Mike Watt & Thurston Moore/ Fourth Day of July
• DJ Spooky & Saul Williams/ The Pledge to Resist

Posted by at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

...I want to be Paul Westerberg.

Meet me anyplace or anywhere or anytime
Now, I don't care, meet me tonight
If you will dare, I will dare

That is all. Carry on.

Posted by at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Feeding the meme:

• John Coltrane, A Love Supreme
• Medeski, Martin & Wood, Combustication
• John Murphy, et al, 28 Days Later
• Rachel's, Handwriting
• Gustavo Santaolalla, 21 Grams
• Sigur Ros, Agaetis Byrjun
• Tosca Tango Orchestra, Waking Life

Posted by at 8:50 AM | Permalink

Tonight, I spent two hours grading at the Broadway Cafe, and then headed to the Uptown Theater at around 9:00. In college, I would drink booze before a show; now I drink espresso. Go figure.

As I walked up to the entrance, the ticket taker said, "You know PJ Harvey's not playing." Not even a question, just a statement. "Well, I do now," I replied. He looked irritated with me.

I arrived just in time to catch the last three or four songs by the Dresden Dolls, including a wicked cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs." Just piano and drums, but they tore that song up. Say what you will about poor, doddery, old Ozzy Osbourne, but that's one powerful song.

After about a 30-minute break, Sonic Youth came out. Something struck me as not quite right about this show, compared to the one back in August. Maybe the sound just wasn't right, which is really the resposibility of the venue more than the musicians. I've only seem them live twice now, and they sounded so crisp and clear at the Blue Note. Tonight they sounded kind of muddy. On the other hand, they did cut loose with more abandon a few times tonight. At times the songs just absolutely fell apart and careened into long stretches of feedback, which was great. I headed up to the balcony for the last 20 minutes of the show, and they sounded much better from that vantage point.

Amusing stage banter:

Kim Gordon: "It's great to be here in Kansas, again."
Crowd: "MISSOURI!"
[awkward pause]
Thurston Moore: "We're in Missouri, babe."

I know that the proprietors of Gimpysoft and Badda Blog! were there, but I did not see them. The venue was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be.

Geez, now I've got to try to go to sleep. Tomorrow I hope to focus on getting some writing done.

Posted by at 12:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This makes me very happy: "Not Just an Act: Mos Def's Return To Rap Is Genuine", by Joe Warminsky (WaPo)

Posted by at 9:00 AM | Permalink

20041008c.mp3 (3M)

Posted by at 8:00 AM | Permalink

Thanks to everyone for your input on the past two entries. My career as an amateur musician has memorable peaks:

• Age 10: Playing banjo, solo, in front of the entire school at a talent show in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
• Age 20: Playing guitar in a band in front of a crowd of drunken sailors from the sixth fleet inside an inactive volcano in Naples, Italy.
• Age 23: Playing bass in a band in a small club in Nashville, Tennessee.

And now: ephemeraltoybox, which is another kettle of fish altogether.

Posted by at 7:00 AM | Permalink

...pick a tuning, please.

And head over to Weez's and offer your thoughts on her questions.

Let's get this show on the road.

Don't make me talk about eighteenth-century Methodist sermons...because you know as well as I do that I'm not afraid to do it...

Posted by at 8:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Weez and I are collaborating on another audio project, and we need your input, dear reader:

1. How long should the track be? Choose any value between 120 and 300 seconds.
2. How should the guitar be tuned? Choose one of the following:
   • E G D G E D
   • G G C G C D
   • C G D G B B
3. How many guitar tracks should there be? Choose any value betwen 1 and 4.

Pick one question and answer it. First come, first served.

After we have answers to these questions, I will record guitar parts in small enough chunks that they can be looped and arranged in a variety of ways. Weez will record voice tracks in a similar fashion. Then we will share GarageBand files of what we've recorded and, independently, come up with two final mixes, arranging the guitar and vocal (and possibly percussion) parts as we see fit. Two sound files. Many collaborators. Game on.

Update: Weez has posted questions, too.

Posted by at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Here's a mellow track (mp3, 3.7M) to help get you through your Friday morning.

Posted by at 6:36 AM | Permalink

Collaboration with Weez. Game on, indeed. Wanna play?

I got home from school, spent an hour with the Telecaster and the Powerbook, and came up with this: 20040929.mp3 (mp3, 2.6M). The GarageBand files are stuffed at this location (3.4M).

Posted by at 7:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

We went out to see Silver City on Saturday night. This film has received unfairly negative reviews. It's not John Sayles' best work, but it's quite good. Check out Chuck's review from last week. Afterwards, we went to the Plaza Art Fair which was fun--big crowds, good food, good beer--but not that interesting. When I got home, I stayed up late adding some music to a sound file of Weez reading the first stanza of The Goblin Market. Neither one quite works. Weez IM'd me to say she thought something like a carnival organ grinder on crack would be appropriate. Here's where I ran into a limitation of GarageBand: it has a paucity of loops and beats for 3/4 time. (You know, 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3) Experimentation will continue as time allows. This creative collaboration is loads of fun and helps keep me sane. If anyone else wants to play along, all you have to do is ask. (Actually, you don't even need to ask, unless you want the GarageBand files; then I'll send them or post them.)

• Goblin Market 1a (mp3, 1.8M)
• Goblin Market 1b (mp3, 1.6M)

Sunday, it was back to work at the office. It's nice and quiet there on the weekends. Wrestling with the article. Working up towards putting various proposals and applications together. Listening to the cicadas through the open windows. Above is a shot of what my desk looked like right before I left for home. One laptop is mine, and one is the school's. My notes are displayed on the one in back, and the draft of the article is on the one in front. I love a small laptop, but I have a hard time tracking my way through a big piece of writing by looking at a small slice of it on a 12" screen, so I'm trying to expand the 2-D space upon which the article is represented: two laptop screens and an entire (real) desktop. It's easy enough to move the cards around to rearrange chunks of the argument, and I can stand up and get a picture of the whole thing, see what's missing and what's there.

As I mentioned in an earlier entry, the cards are lined up like the little bits of data in a GarageBand file. Here, take a look at what "Gimme Gimme (Angry Chicken Remix)" looks like visually (warning, big pdf, 430K). I've been trying to figure out why I'm so drawn to the GarageBand interface (no firm conclusions, yet) and I'm trying to mimic its form in writing this article. We'll see.

Posted by at 6:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

"He was angrier than a Georgia chicken in a bread pan without any dough!"

I was inspired by Michael Berube. This is my GarageBand masterpiece (mp3, 3.8M). It's composed entirely of loops provided by the software and stitched together by me. Oh, and there are some sampled vocals by... well, you'll figure it out.

I hereby release this mp3 into the wild with a Creative Commons license. Dump it into your favorite P2P music swapping service. Put it on your mp3 device. Burn it to CD. Tell your friends. Do what you like. If you have GarageBand, too, and you'd like to remix it, send me a self-addressed, stamped CD mailer with a blank CD-R and I'll mail you the files (which are something like 40M, and right now I don't have that kind of server space).

Posted by at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Earlier, I mentioned how easy it was to put a song together using the parts that are included as "sound loops" with Apple's GarageBand. In other words, you don't need to know how to play a "real" instrument, in the traditional sense.

For your listening pleasure: "Gimme Gimme" (mp3, 1.4M), which I made completely from prefab parts. (See if you can identify where the loops repeat themselves: drums, guitars, cymbals -- each is a separate loop.)

There's a longer entry in here somewhere about creativity, composition, and working with chunks of information, but I don't have time to write it now. Hopefully later. The 3X5 cards I'm laying out on my desk as I revise this article remind me of the little round-edged rectangles GarageBand uses to represent the different components of a song. I'm trying to work out some useful parallels. I love reworking these songs. I hate rewriting. I'm hoping to achieve some kind of crossover effect, however.

Posted by at 5:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Like Randy, when I first started up GarageBand, I had no idea how to work it.

Notice how the sides of the GarageBand window are simulated wood (click above for a slightly larger image). This is an interesting (or is it ironic?) gesture towards the current vogue for vintage, analog equipment. The White Stripes, for instance, record only on vintage, '60s-era equipment.

One of the things I really like about this program (and I'm sure there are other programs that work the same way) is how it turns one sensory experience, sound, into another sensory experience, vision. All the parts of a song are laid out in front of you and they scroll from right to left as the song progresses. If the song is short enough or the screen wide enough, you can view the whole song as a static object, like a short text, from start to finish. You're not forced to listen your way from start to finish in order to get a sense of the whole. It makes understanding the structure of songs much easier.

I need something like this for the rest of my life. When you're right there in the middle of your life, you're not sure what's coming next and you can't remember all the details of what went before. And it's hard to pay attention to more than one track at a time. With a real iLife program, that would no longer be a problem. You could step back and say, "Aha, this class needs a bit more reverb, but the other one's doing fine. I'm going to turn down the volume on this committee assignment for a little while so it doesn't distract from the research track. Up ahead we can see where the tenure decision is made, so let's jump ahead and see what's going on there. Then we'll come back to this part and make sure everything leads up to where it's supposed to."

Well... read on for a more prosaic explanation of GarageBand as it actually works:

Continue reading "i need garageband for my life" »

Posted by at 5:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Here's something fun to start your week (MP3, 1.88M).

In other news, ragweed is just about killing me.

Posted by at 6:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

...but I'm going to see Sonic Youth, again. And this time PJ Harvey is on the bill, too.

The tickets were $20. On top of that, Ticketmaster took another $9. Dear record industry, if you want to know why people are copying music from each other without paying for it, it's because Ticketmaster took the money that would have gone toward the purchase of new CDs.

Posted by at 7:30 AM | Permalink

Man, this sucks.

Posted by at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Okay, first this happened, so after a bit of this, I went and got these and started doing this, but then this happened. But then I got this, which comes with this, so after I got one of these, I found it surprisingly easy to create this, which comes in second after this in the list of these published on this blog. Now I have to go finish reading from this to prepare for that.

Posted by at 9:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I recently saw the documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (IMDB). Regular readers of my blog (hello, you two) should know that I have pretty ecumenical music tastes. I used to be a huge fan of heavy metal: Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, the Scorpions, Judas Priest, and a whole bunch of bands you've probably never heard of. However, around the time Metallica first attracted attention in the early 1980s, my tastes had already started moving in other directions. It wasn't until the 1989 song "One" became a hit that I actually heard anything by them. Given the seven-and-a-half minute song's loud/quiet dynamics (I was digging the Pixies at the time) and anti-war stance, I thought they were interesting. I'd listen to subsequent songs that came across my car radio, but I have never bought any of their albums.

Ann Hornaday's review in the Washington Post convinced me that this was a movie I needed to see. I'm a sucker for documentaries, and Monster filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky are known for two previous, critically well-received works: Brother's Keeper (1992) and Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996). I disagree with Hornaday's contention that this is a movie about a band struggling to remain relevant, although this theme is a thread. Rather, in Monster, the filmmakers focus on interpersonal relationships and the frustrations of the creative process. Yes, there are some Spinal Tap moments, but not many, in my opinion.

Like the HBO series The Sopranos, in which the viewer is let in on the thought processes of gangster Tony Soprano through his therapy sessions, Monster allows us to sit in on the sessions that the band, as a group, has with Kansas City therapist and performance coach Phil Towle. The documentary begins in 2001, when the band is about to record a new album. They've just fired their longtime bass player, Jason Newsted because he refused to quit his side project band, Echobrain, saying he needed it as an alternative creative outlet. This kind of clash becomes apparent in other developments in the band's history. Drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist James Hetfield - both of them dominant personalities, in sharp contrast to the mellow Buddhism of lead guitarist Kirk Hammett - argue in the studio over each other's playing style. At one point, Hetfield expresses unease with the idea of the other band members working on songs while he is out of the studio, saying that he doesn't want to feel like he's just being added to a finished product as an afterthought. Hammett responds with "That's what I've felt like. [pause] For the last twenty years." Years-old conflicts are revisited as former lead guitarist Dave Mustaine (he went on to form Megadeth), kicked out in 1983, comes to a session with Ulrich to discuss what the past two decades have been like for him. "Do I wish you guys had said, 'Dave, you need to go to Alcoholics Anonymous?" he asks. "Yeah, I do."

This kind of candor, and (however unlikely it sounds) the increasing fluency with which these heavy metal musicians are able to discuss how they feel towards each other and work through their disagreements without ultimatums make for a pretty compelling film. A lengthy portion of the film features Ulrich and his gnome-like father, and it's clear that although he's sold about 100 million records by this point, Ulrich still worries about what his father thinks of their new material. Upon hearing a new track, Ulrich senior gives it a thumbs down, and his son looks like he's about to cry. When the band performs at a prison, Hetfield gives a brief, informal talk to the prisoners about anger (the new album will be called St. Anger) and the productive ways of channeling it before admitting that he's nervous and doesn't know what to say; the prisoners in the audience show their support by giving him the classic heavy metal hand gesture. The crew and his fellow bandmembers give him hugs as he comes offstage.

Hetfield goes into rehab to deal with his alcohol abuse, and the other band members (now just Ulrich and Hammett) don't see him for a year and are unclear if he'll still want to be in the band when he comes back. Upon his return, they create music according to a new work ethic: Hetfield needs to leave at 4:00 every day so he can be with his children. Although previously, individual band members were not allowed to comment on each other's role in the band (the drummer couldn't criticize the lyrics, for example, and the singer couldn't criticize the drumming), they now decide that anything goes and each member throws out ideas for song lyrics. Hammett offers "My life style determines my death style," and everyone laughs at what sounds like an odd sentiment. But they listen as Hammett explains some of his Buddhist beliefs, and by the end of the movie we see Hetfield singing that exact line on stage as the camera cuts to Hammett in a pretty subtle edit.

The new album debuts at #1 on the charts when it's released, and Ulrich argues that this proves you can make a harsh, aggressive album through a process that doesn't involve constant conflict and anger. For a musical genre known for its cartoon-like masculine posturing, this is all pretty remarkable stuff. The movie's not perfect - it presents an unrelentingly positive view of the band - but it's definitely interesting, whether you're a fan of heavy metal or not.

Posted by at 8:25 AM | Permalink

Dear Stephen,

Well, I just read your hatchet job thought provoking essay on Wilco, and I have an uncanny coincidence to report.

You write, "To a listener accustomed to the Minutemen, Wilco sounds like Hootie and the Blowfish." Wow, I was going to write something very similar, but with a few slight differences: "Listeners accustomed to the Minutemen should try listening to some music that has come out since the Minutemen stopped recording music twenty years ago." See? Uncanny, I tell you.

Your essay is the most brilliant thing I've read since that 1984 piece complaining that the Minutemen's Double Nickles on the Dime didn't measure up to the Beatles' 1964 album Meet the Beatles. Or that article that appeared in 1964 complaining that the Beatles didn't sound enough like Sinatra.

Keep up the good work of staying two decades behind the times! Oh, and you might want to send a memo to guitarist Nels Cline: you see, recently he's worked with both Wilco and the Minutemen's Mike Watt. He probably doesn't know that rock critics like you would frown on actual musicians failing to recognize the distinctions of cool that you work so hard to establish. Just a thought.

Sincerely,

George Williams

Posted by at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sonic Youth were great last night