July 2005 Archives

Look at him, he used to be so small and now, now he's all grown up, doing grown up things in a grown up world. It's amazing what you can find on the internet when you look hard enough. This is C$ in his younger days, still wet behind the ears. I didn't even know him yet. Huh.

So here's to you kid, you've finally become a man! Mazel tav!

Now it's your turn on the spank machine.

Everybody go wish C$ a happy, happy birthday, I'm sure he'll be glad to hear from you.

Stuff to Sample: From Sealab 2021 "Hesh's Birthday Song"

I’m just going to toss this one off, almost out of a sense of duty more then anything else. Meat Beat Manifesto dropped a new album recently. The album, titled At the Center, is typical MBM, lying out there on the fringes of music in a category that we could call avant-electro-jazz.

As I listened to At the Center and began to think about the other MBM albums I own, Subliminal Sandwich, Original Fire EP and Actual Sounds and Voices, I was at a loss as to when it would be appropriate to listen to such music. There aren’t many times in real life that MBM would fit into perfectly.

One may be wandering the concrete jungle, before, during and after a fierce spring storm, completely unhinged from the effects of some devastating cold bug or virus in search of an all-night drug store. The other maybe the period following this, when you finally find the drug store, drink the whole bottle of cold remedy and spend the rest of the night cold and wet, huddled in the corner of your darkened bedroom talking to the cats on the ceiling. Other then that, I don't think MBM fits into real life. But I'm still going to give props to Jack Dangers and Co. for thinking this crazy stuff up.

Stuff to Sample: From Meat Beat Manifesto’s new album At the Center “United Nations Etc Etc” and “Want Ads One”

I’m pretty well stuck on Feist’s new album Let It Die and I can’t even being to explain why. Leslie Feist does not play rock and roll or create electronica. But what she does do, she does very, very well. The best description of Feist’s music would be something like a cross between Goldfrapp, Nora Jones and Kings of Convenience.

Feist is soft but not slow, meek in some places but purrs in others and there is sort of a tongue-in-cheek mood to the entire album that bursts out between both the somber lyrics and arrangements and the quirky rhymes and exuberance. And if that wasn’t enough, her voice is spectacular.

Feist hails from Canada and has been paying her dues with some interesting folks, like her roommate Peaches (if you don’t know who Peaches is, I pity you, and boy are you in for a surprise), Broken Social Scene and a guest appearance on the next Kings of Convenience album, among others.

There is a certain swing that this little chicky has that can not be denied, be the first on your block to proclaim you love for this talented Canadian cutey.

Stuff to Sample: From Feist’s new album Let It Die “Mushaboom” and “Leisure Suite”

Today is my birthday, and while talking with Sweets (aka C101 aka C$) he said something like, "well, you're one year older." And that started the gears in my brain cranking and I thought, "why did that just start my gears cranking?" Then I remembered that it is the opening verse of "Hesh's Birthday Song."

I tried to recite the song and only got as far as, "you're one year older, one year wiser, rock and roll star, king, czar and a kaiser." Sweets groaned at the mention of a "birthday rap" but I assured him it was good, to which he replied, "post it." So I did.

Stuff to Sample: From Sealab 2021 "Hesh's Birthday Song"

Also, Sweets' blog is up and running. He talks about . . . uh . . . stuff.
Check it out here.

I’m sure that some of the reasonably hip are familiar with the Willowz. Their music was featured in the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The songs “Something” and “Keep on Looking” from their first proper album The Willowz are Coming are used during the scene in which Kirsten Dunst dances in her underwear on Jim Carrey’s bed.

Now, if you’re going to remember one scene from the movie, remember that one, or the scene where cars fall from the sky, both are pretty cool in my book Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mid director Michel Gondry also directed the Willowz video for “I Wonder,” you can find it here.

So the Willowz should be fairly well known by now. This will be just a recap for most of you. Let’s review.

• Garage Rocky Punk
• From California (Anaheim to be exact).
• Four members (three boys and a girl).
• All members are still youngsters (late teens to early twenties).
• Lots of EPs and two proper albums, The Willowz are Coming and the new Talk in Circles.

On the scale of Rock-A-Tude, ten being the rockingest rock and roll band to ever rock and roll and one being ABBA, the Willowz would be a seven.

Stuff to Sample: From the Willowz’ Talk in Circles "Cons & Tricks" and "What's Wrong is Right"

Hey, whatever happened to ska? Seriously? Is it really not cool now? Sort of passé? Let me ask you this, would you ditch your ska band to start a faux-art-NYC-post-punk-indie-rock band? I wouldn’t, but then, I wouldn’t be caught dead fronting a ska band in the first place.

There was only one “ska” band I could ever get behind and that was Sublime. And while they were technically classified as a ska band, I like to believe they were able to transcend the genre, rising above skankin’ and whatever else those ska kids did.

I just wanted to remind you all about Sublime, because it’s summertime and the living is easy.

Invariably, the weather grows warm, I role the windows down and drive through the summer evenings listening to 40 Oz. to Freedom or Second Hand Smoke (Sublime’s self-titled has always been a winter album for me but I don’t know why).

So take care this summer, from all of us here, to all of you over there.

Stuff to Sample: From 40 Oz. to Freedom "5446 - Ball and Chain" and from Second Hand Smoke "Doin' Time (Eerie Splendor Remix)"

Oh the dreaded sophomore slump. I find it funny when a band acknowledges the obstacle of the slump, decides to change their sound in an effort to evade, makes an album they think will beat the slump and still come out below expectations.

So yeah, I’m laughing at Torbjörn Brundtland and Svein Berge, the duo who make up Röyksopp.

There was no way they were going to top Melody A.M. It just wasn’t going to happen. Melody A.M. was immediately engaging, helping to revitalize a dying genre with warmth and surprise. As artists, they wanted to keep growing. They didn’t want to release Melody A.M. part deux. And I can't fault them for that, but after listening to Röyksopp’s new album the Understanding, I can say in no uncertain terms, they should have at least tried to make Melody A.M. part deux. Or they could have made an album that wasn’t full of cliché 80s and 90s dance panache.

The Understanding is unimaginative, the lyrics are trite and the guest singers they brought in sound bored. Halfway through the Understanding, however, the boys settle back into some familiar territory but the damage has already been done.

I may be laughing, but inside I’m crying because I really wanted an album to rival the sublime beauty of Melody A.M and I really had hoped Röyksopp could have beaten the sophomore slump.

Stuff to Sample: From Röyksopp’s the Understanding “Someone Like Me” and “Sombre Detune”

After further consideration of the continued remix album phenomenon, I’ve concluded that there is a simple equation to making a good remix album. [Music With Proper Mechanics to be Remixed (Talented Base Artist + Talented DJ) = New/Surprising Version of Song]. That’s it. There has to be talent on both sides of the booth and the music has to be “remixable.” I think this is why many remix albums, including Verve Remixed 3, tend to suffer; a lot of the music just doesn’t have the proper mechanics. But I digress.

Want to know who is really remixable? Kings of Convenience. Surprised the hell out of me, I tell you what. After they released their debut album Quiet is the New Loud in early 2001 one, they turned around and released the superb remix album Versus in late 2001.

Versus plays like any other Kings of Convenience album, very laid back, very lush but the electronic backing added by the likes of Four Tet, Royksopp, Andy Votel and Ladytron fills in all of the spaces.

How do you take something great and make it even better? Well, if you’re an American, you double it’s size and then add TV screens and lasers. In the case of Versus, it was simple extrapolation, no need for the lasers and poor gas mileage.

Stuff to Sample: From Quiet is the New Loud “Leaning Against the Wall” and “The Weight of My Words” and from Versus “Leaning Against the Wall (Evil Tordivel Remake)” and “The Weight of My Words (Four Tet Remix)”

Remember when I said, “Bossa Nova lends itself very well to down tempo music”? No? Well, I did, and it’s true. Here’s a little bit of proof.

Thanks to the utter lack of new and original music being made, the remix album is all the rage right now. Somewhere on the remix album list was Bebel Gilberto’s name. And since bossa nova and down tempo go together so well, it was a no brainer for the record label folks. Unfortunately, Bebel Gilberto Remixed is somewhat uninspired, even with contributions by Thievery Corporation and Telefon Tel Aviv, mostly because Bebel could never match the talents of her parents.

And that leads me to my next remix album, Verve Remixed 3. You know the drill, old verve jazz and soul standards pulled from the vaults and given a 21st century spin. The high point on this album is RJD2’s remix of Astrud Gilberto’s “The Gentle Rain.” The list of remixers for Verve Remixed 3 is a bit longer and heavier then Bebel Giberto Remixed with the likes of Postal Service, Brazilian Girls, Carl Craig, the Album Leaf and Danger Mouse. But no amount of DJ talent could bloster Verve Remixed 3 which is almost as bland as Bebel Gilberto Remixed.

I know, I was disappointed too. Here’s hoping Verve Remixed 4 will be better, much better.

Stuff to Sample: From Bebel Gilberto Remixed, “Ananjú (Latin Project Remix)” and from Verve Remixed 3, Astrud Gilberto’s “The Gentle Rain (RJD2 Remix)”

The happy-go-lucky world of free music on the Internet took a massive blow on June 27 as the Supreme Court ruled that the makers of peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing programs like Grokster, Kazaa and Morpheus could be held responsible for the illegal activities (i.e., downloading copyrighted material) of their users.

Not that this will even put a dent in the millions of files being shared across cyber-space, but it is a major moral victory for several giant corporations. And that’s the best kind of victory.

Until now the makers of these P2P programs had been hiding behind the precedent set in 1984’s Sony Corp of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.

Universal and several other movie and TV studios took Sony to court to try and stop the manufacture of the VCR. The studios believed that the VCR would be used to infringe on copyrights, thus resulting in millions of dollars of lost revenue.

The Supreme Court, however, ruled this new device had substantial non-infringing and legal uses and therefore could be legally sold.

The studios were put in their place, and then the multi-billion dollar a year home video market just sort of fell into their laps because apparently, consumers needed something else to watch when they weren’t infringing copyrights by tapping TV shows.

Twenty years later, the studios and record labels joined forces to wage a similar battle against P2P software makers in Grokster v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. (MGM).

The studio’s argument was the same: “P2P lets consumers infringe our copyrights.” To which P2P replied, “Sony v. Universal! Go suck on it.”

Last August, the Ninth Circuit District Court agreed with P2P, stating that though file-sharing programs like Grokster could be used to infringe copyrights, they also had substantial legal uses.

But this fight would not end until the highest court in the land got their wrinkled asses involved.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, and software makers and record labels alike held their breath.

There was massive speculation that a verdict against P2P would overturn Sony v. Universal, effectively stifling tech innovation by opening the door to frivolous litigation and scaring off inventors who had neither the time nor the resources to fight legal battles to get their products to the market, especially if any corporation felt threatened by that product.

The Supreme Court’s verdict, however, came as somewhat of a surprise to those who had made predictions one way or the other.

In what could be considered taking the middle road, the high court unanimously overturned the Ninth District’s ruling while at the same time upholding the ruling it had made in Sony v. Universal.

The Supreme Court stated that the Sony v. Universal verdict did not apply in this instance, the difference being that the VCR had substantial legal uses, most notably time shifting. VCRs were not produced with the intent to infringe copyrights but to allow consumers to watch TV shows at their convenience.

In the case of Grokster and other P2P programs, the Supreme Court found that there was extensive evidence suggesting that these programs were made for the sole purpose of infringing on copyrights.

The P2P software makers also made no attempt to filter out copyrighted material. Even though the software makers did not benefit directly from infringing on copyrighted material (P2P revenue is generated through advertising streamed to program users), the software makers did promote the fact that copyrighted material was available to attract users in order to increase advertising revenue.

The case will now return to the lower courts to be retried after the new precedent set by the Supreme Court.
So what does this mean for the future of P2P and tech in general? Well, right now, not that much. You can still download P2P software, you can still download copyrighted material, but P2P is definitely changing.

As digital rights managements software and pay-for-play services continue to evolve to meet consumer demand, the programs that allow free downloads will fall by the wayside or evolve themselves and team up with the record companies to make money “legally.”

Thanks to the Supreme Court, Sony v. Universal was upheld and innovation in tech and software sectors can continue.

And last but not least, the record labels and movie studios can go back to charging exorbitant amounts of money for their cookie-cutter pop albums, rehashed plots and other mediocre products, confident that they are still the biggest crooks in the biz.

I have been listening to almost nothing but Clap Your Hands Say Yeah for close to two weeks and I still haven’t come up with anything adequate enough to describe this band. All I can say is they put a smile on my face.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah make me happy. So happy I have actually clapped my hands and said yeah a couple of times while listening to their self-titled debut. Not that they named the band with that in mind. The five members saw the phrase on a building in their hometown of New York City and since they needed a name, they figured it would work. It’s just a happy coincidence that their music is a new wave, pop and indie rock mish-mash set to danceable (and hand-clapable) beats.

So that’s it. I just wanted to share. Also, the lead singer sounds like David Byrne. Which raises the question(s), if you are blessed/cursed with a singing voice like David Byrne’s, do you exploit that? Or does that become a hindrance since that is the first thing people will hear? What if you absolutely hate David Byrne but the more you try not to sing like him the more people recognize the similarity? Is that someone’s version of an existential hell? Ahhh . . . so many questions, so little motivation to answer them.

Stuff to Sample: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's "In This Home On Ice" "Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood" and "Over and Over Again (Lost & Found)"

I recently got a hold of the White Stripe’s single for "Blue Orchid”. The single contains three other songs, two tracks that apparently didn’t make the cut for Get Behind Me Satan and a live version of “You’ve Got Her In Your Pocket" from their previous album Elephant.

Now, whenever I hear “You’ve Got Her In Your Pocket” my brain lurches into the time warp (it’s just a jump to the left) and all of the sudden I’m back in junior high, listening to the seminal Rush album 2112.

It’s just something in the chord progression and tone of the guitars, I think, but somewhere in “You’ve Got Her In Your Pocket” I hear pieces of “III. Discovery” from “Overture” on 2112. Maybe I’m crazy. Take a listen and let me know how badly I’ve warped (and a step to the right) my brain.

Stuff to Sample: White Stripes "You've Got Her In Your Pocket (Live)" and Rush's "III. Discovery"

Sometimes I wonder, as I’m sure most of you do too, “what was I thinking?” I swear; I am an obstinate fool.

Case in point: There is this band called Rilo Kiley. They play pop influenced indie rock. I refused to listen to them. Their newest album More Adventerous has been out for months and I’ve heard all sorts of good things about it. I refused to listen to them. The lead singer is a red-headed hottie. And yet I still refused to listen to them.

I must have had a good reason, right? No, not really, I just didn’t like their name. And I still don’t. How silly is that? I could have listened to the album and complained about their over use of alt-country twang or lead singer Jenny Lewis’ speak-singing. But truthfully, the album is really well put together. The alt-country twang isn’t all that bad and I like Jenny Lewis’ voice. They do need to consider a name change, though.

Stuff to Sample: Rilo Kiley's "Portions For Foxes" and "I Never"