The Bobs - White Room

Anyone familiar with Cream - White Room should hear this. Unique acapella version done by "The Bobs"

Zuzana Norisová

One of the really cool things about the Internet is that I run across music that I would have never heard in a million years in the absence of the net.

In this case, I was actually searching for some answers relating to a gravitational matter when I ran across a blog called, "The Reference Frame", belonging to Luboš Motl in the Czech Republic; and in it he had a clip from the 2001 Czech retro movie Rebelové in which Zuzana Norisová performs a Czech rendition of Sugartown.

In some of her other music I've found, she reminds me very much of Joni Mitchell but smoother, but her voice is very emotional, has an extreme range and is just velvety smooth. Particularly, locate a piece called, "Mary, anyone could be wrong."

Rock and Roll

This is a really nicely put together history section on Rock and Roll through the 50's and 60's, part of StinaLisa's Home on the Web. There are samples of songs from the era and it's obvious a great deal of effort was put into this sites creation. Very very nice, check it out! Click on the graphic or the title of this article to go there.

Dream at Tempo 119 - SilverSun Pickups - Air Campaign

Ok, I know I'm totally obsessing with this but damn this is a good song and it's not getting airplay around here, I don't know about elsewhere but not here. Lazy Eye and Well Thought Out Twinkle, more the former than the latter are, but Dream at Tempo 119 is not and it's a totally cool song and absolutely should be getting some air exposure.

I hope there isn't some reason that Silversun Pickups are trying to keep it a big secret or something, but it's on a Billabong surf video so can't be trying to keep it THAT big of a secret.

So let's try to get this some airplay. If you haven't heard it, go listen to it, there is a link on the previous post. Or buy the CD and listen to it in high quality. There is a load of good music on Carnavas so it isn't a waste. Actually, the above link is a live performance and slightly faster paced; you might want to go to their MySpace page and listen to it there.

Just to make it clear, NOBODY is paying me squat, not money not favors, nadda for this. I'm doing it because I want to see good music succeed and this is good music. If good music succeeds there will be more good music.

Once you've listened to it and are convinced it's good music, write to Lazlo and Harms at KNND, at lazlo@1077theend.com and harms@1077theend.com and tell them they should add Dream at Tempo 119 by the Silversun Pickups to their playlist.

Other things you can do, if you're not in this area, contact your favorite indie station.

Also, CALL KNND 206-421-1077, or vote for it on the top ten countdown. Spread the word around, let's get this some air play.

Firwood Torched

The Firwood roadhouse, an 85 year old roadhouse in Fife burned to the ground Friday morning (May 16th). Federal investigators have ruled the fire to be arson. Being located out in the middle of nowhere, it was one of the few places one could still go to hear live music played loud unencumbered by city noise regulations that plague music venues in Seattle and many other major cities.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the arson that destroyed the Fabulous Firwood Roadhouse. To report information, call Fife Police Lt. Tom Thompson at 253-896-8287.

Dream at Tempo 119

I stumbled upon a song by the Silversun Pickups that I had not previously heard in a Billabong Surf video. It was so awesome I felt a need to mention it here. It's called "Dream at Tempo 119", I've included the lyrics below, but all I can say is if you haven't heard it, do, it's awesome.

It should be getting air play. I don't know why it's not, but go to SilverSun Pickups Myspace Page, there is a player on the right side; click in it, and scroll down to Dream at Tempo 119 and listen to it.

Dream at Tempo 119

I took my seat and stared, at the cardboard screen while no one cared.
While the lights stayed on, the familiar buzz was now long gone.
I just waited there, as the music soared into the air.
As the lights went down, she said don't open your eyes.

At tempo 119, they took to the crowd and aimed towards me.
As the circle closed, I held onto the one with splintered clothes.
Twenty years before, she said don't open your eyes and you can swim.
All my friends ignored, she said don't open your eyes.

Don’t open your eyes, and said goodnight.
Don't open your eyes, and said goodnight.

I couldn't end it there, as her wooden bones grew through her skin.
Crumbled naturally, as her limbs and leaves had broken free.
Twenty years before, she said don't open your eyes and you can swim.
Wanted nothing more, she said don't open your eyes.

Don’t open your eyes, and said goodnight.
Don't open your eyes, and said goodnight.

File Sharing and Music Quality and Diversity

It's been a number of years since the record industry killed Napster, the first significant file sharing system. At that time, we were told that file sharing would result in a lack of new music, creativity would disappear, new music would become a thing of the past.

As other file sharing networks replaced Napster, exactly the opposite has happened; artists that would have never gotten past the industry payola system got exposure and there is a wealth of creative music. This era is really a golden era of music after decades of strict industry control.

I believe that the whole issue of copyrights and patents need to be looked at more closely. The idea was that patents would give the inventor incentive to invent more and overall benefit society. The idea was that copyrights would give the author incentive to write more. Overall the system seems to be harming society more than it is helping.

Corporations, huge multinational soulless corporations are the flaw in the patent and copyright system. They simultaneously prevent the inventor or author from being substantially rewarded while at the same time they largely deny society the benefits in the name of maintaining a tightly controlled monopoly and huge incomes for themselves.

You won't find all of this new creative music everywhere. You won't find it on the radio for the most part because the industry still largely controls what is broadcast. The exception is small college radio stations, internet radio stations, and a new breed of low power FM station that are independent.

The record industry done their best to try to squelch these stations by charging exorbitant license fees to air materials they own. This backfired though because many of these stations adapted by playing only independent artists, thus giving those artists more exposure, exactly what the record companies were trying to avoid.

It's a weird coincidence that these independent artists are often referred to as "Indie" artists; while the independent promoters that pass the payola to the radio station corporations are also referred to as "Indies".

Recorded music is to live music as porn is to sex, and the recording industry are nothing more than musical pornographers. Both industries rely on using the legal system to control competition from other channels. Much of what the porn industry does sits on the border of legal, "obscene" material is defined sufficiently vaguely that exactly what is legal and what is not is open to interpretation. This allows large producers with large lawyer staffs to control the market and kills the small producers.

Similarly, the record companies want to control what artists get exposure so that only those that are friendly to the industry get exposure. That means only artists that will accept contracts which provide little compensation to the artist and much compensation to the record companies get exposure. Artists which make a lot of money through live performances obviously are not favored since they are less dependent upon the recording industry.

Payola is still alive and well in radio, it's big business. The recording industry sidesteps the payola laws by allowing "independent" promoters to take care of the payola aspect of the business, and they in turn generously compensate these promoters. The change in radio station ownership laws in 1996 have allowed a handful of corporations to own the majority of radio stations in the United States. Disk jockeys no longer have the freedom of choosing any of their music. Nor is the choice left in the hands of a music director at the station, instead, a mega-corporation hands them a play list, detailed to the minute, of what they will play, the same thing the other 500 stations owned by the corporation plays, based upon who paid them to promote what.

There are some bright spots. A number of years ago, a pirate radio station, called Free Radio Berkeley, told the FCC where to go when they tried to shut them down. They went to court, arguing a first amendment right, and the courts agreed. They remain on the air and provide education for other potential broadcasters to get their own stations on the air.

The FCC never took the case to the supreme court, for if the supreme court ruled the same way the district and state supreme court ruled, the FCC would essentially lose a substantial portion of their enforcement capacity. Instead, they went to congress and asked for the creation of a low power class of FM broadcasters so these people could be afforded a legal avenue towards freedom of speech and they would be able to continue to regulate the industry.

The broadcast industry went ape shit, not wanting to lose control of the markets to these small broadcasters, and severe restrictions were placed on low power FM, among them, they can't operate commercially, which substantially undercuts their revenue base. Of coarse there are ways around that but it's a form of legal harassment and restraint. Do you see the similarities to the porn industry here?

It's the same with file sharing. The industry really can't shut it all down, they'd like to but there are lots of legal uses for file sharing systems, and in reality it's the legal uses that they are concerned with. File sharing services can legally be used to share music that the artist or copyright holder allows to be shared. There are many independent artists that make money either through touring, or self publishing, and use these file sharing services to get exposure for their works. When a normal person has a choice between "real" music and the cookie cutter formula crap the record companies sign, the latter seems much less attractive. Of coarse, the record companies could actually offer real artists fair contracts but that ain't gonna happen.

Getting back to the porn analogy, I encourage everyone to go experience live music whenever you get the chance, the real thing is always infinitely better.

Ringles

According to an article in Billboard, Sony BMG has come up with a plan to market something it refers to as Ringles; this is a play on the old idea of singles.

When I was a kid, we'd buy 45's, 7 inch vinyl recordings that had a hit song on one side and a not yet heard of song on the other, referred to as the "B-side". B-sides would occasionally become popular in their own right and if you bought a Beatles or Beach Boys single usually both sides were getting airplay.

Sony is taking this idea, putting a hit, a lesser known song, and perhaps a remix or old song, along with a ring tone on a single CD in a paper slip-sleeve cover with a suggested retail price of $5.98 to $6.98, and they expect the wholesale price to be "under $4" (which probably means $3.99).

Now I like the basic concept; when I was a kid, and granted that was forever-ago, we used to buy these 45's for 25¢ each. Over time they increased to eventually being $1 each which is at about the point where I stopped buying them. Now, for comparison, gas at that time went for around 30¢/gallon so for some reason Sony feels that an inflation rate twice that of gasoline is reasonable.

In short I think the pricing is a total rip-off. CD blanks are less than 17¢ a piece now and I've found places that do bulk pressings for 9¢ a piece in large quantities, so how can they justify selling wholesale at almost $4 per piece and retail for $6.98? It's not like the artist is actually making money; any artists making decent money are doing so touring.

Screw that! If they put high quality music VIDEOS on there with 96 Khz sample rate, NOT copyprotected, so I can play them in WinAmp, burn a bunch to a custom DVD or whatever the I want to do with them, then yea maybe it would be worth the price. Just as well though, it seems the mainstream record companies don't get any real artists anyway, just belly button girls and burned out pseudo-rock stars.

Vincent

Brian Aubert of the Silversun Pickups - Modified

If you liked these recordings before, go check out this post with videos of Brian Aubert peforming Lazy Eyes and Well Thought Out Twinkle, again. I've moved the video over from youtube.com to veoh.com because it allows much higher quality.

Incidentally, when one viewer left a comment criticizing the quality of the video, I replied that they could see a higher quality image on veoh.com, youtube deleted my reply which I think is tacky.

If you're an artist in the Pacific Northwest and you'd like some free network exposure. Contact me, I'd love to video your performance and make it available assuming it's material I think my readers / viewers will be interested in.