Over the past 5 - 6 years I've read thousands (yes, thousands) of pages debating the state/fate/whatever of the music industry. I've read rants from greedy record execs, I've read manifestos from business-oblivious tech nerds. However, I think that this quote, which sums up the state of the industry, is the most balanced and succinct thing I've read to date:
"The music industry is suffering. The major record labels - which rely on CDs for most of their revenue - are in decline. CD sales in the US have dropped more than 20 percent from a peak of $13.4 billion in 2000. But don't be fooled: The market for music is thriving. With the rise of peer-to-peer networks, the iPod, and other digital technologies - plus a 100 percent jump in concert ticket sales since 1999 - the world is awash in music. The industry now has more sources of revenue - ringtones, concert tickets, license agreements with TV shows and videogames - than ever before."
Source: Wired's "No Suit Required" (via), which features an interview with Terry McBride of Netwerk Group fame. Dude is very 21st century in his thinking. You read more about his proposed remodeling of music biz here.
My suggestion: memorize the jist of the quoted paragraph above and rattle it off to someone at the next cocktail party you attened (as you try to rationalize why it's was ok for you to have downloaded that Paris Hilton CD).
Disco Belle has DJ Ayres' "Intimate House" set here. A far cry from the dude's normal hip hop, etc tastes... this mix is very Junior Boys-ish... and highly recommended.
A quick Prison Break related question, prior to tonight's episode...
With the guards running across the countryside chasing the escapees, and one doctor in a coma and the other doctor comforting said doc-in-a-coma, and with the warden hiding from everyone/acting aloof... WHO'S RUNNING THE QUICKIE-MART?!?
reviewed: an afternoon with Cat Power at Richards on Richards...
Question: Was anyone at today's all ages Cat Power show actually under the age of 19?! Ok, fine... it was revealed that someone up in the balcony was 6 years old, but everyone on the floor appeared to be at least old enough to go drinking in Vegas.
I've never been a Cat Power fan before... or rather, I've never listened to any of her stuff, but the show was a solo acoustic thing, the venue was tiny, and hey there are a lot of people on teh interwebs who gush about her work. So sign me up.
Yup, the show was intimate, the crowd stood perfectly still, hanging on every breath of every word. You could hear a pin drop, or rather you hear the wood floors shift, and hear random cell phones go off... which was cool (the dedicated quiet, not the ring tones).
However, I'm not sure if I was 100% feeling Chan's performance. She seemed kinda scatter brained, stopping and starting, shifting and sorting. Unfocused. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. But it sent me for spins. I'm pretty sure that those who are big fans ate it all up.
There's a second Cat Power show tonight at Richards (19+). I think Quinn's going to both and will have a complete write up.
I just got a bunch more pics from the wedding sent to me... so I've whipped up a gallery (screw you, flickr!) of photos from the summer. I'm sure I'm missing some pics, but it offers proof that the entire summer was spent with, at minimum, a mild buzz.
I nearly forgot to mention when I was in Alberta last week, I drove by Oliver Square... i.e. the shopping centre which Cadence Weapon raps about. While the track makes the place out to be ruff and rugged, it's actually a strip mall, in a normal part of the city, about a half block away from an Earl's, where we ate dinner. I had the pork chop and garlic mashed potatoes. Anyways, the track in question:
Looking to kill an hour or two? Might I suggest you browse the American Hip-Hop Groups list on wikipedia. I kicked it old school, and here's what I learned whilst getting my read on:
RE: 3rd Bass - MC Search, at one, point tried (unsuccessfully) to join the Beastie Boys.
RE: 2 Live Crew - In 1998 Brother Marquis become a Born-Again Christian, quit the group, and began actively reforming himself, and partially devoting himself to now combating what he sees as the "evils" that he, as a member of 2 Live Crew, portrayed and glorified.
RE: The Goats - Members of the group were Aboriginal Americans. (Really?!)
RE: T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E. - The band name actually stands for "The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody".
RE: PM Dawn - The two band members were brothers, and were both raised by their stepfather who was a founding member of Kool & the Gang.
RE: The Fat Boys - Originally the group was known as The Disco Three. The group's name was changed after their manager complained about how much the trio ate during an early European tour.
RE: Dr. Dre - He used to dress weird... like, Cobra Snake weird.
RE: Chi Ali - Chi Ali was on the show, America's Most Wanted, for the death of the brother of his then girlfriend. Chi initially ran and evaded police for a number of weeks before his capture. He's currently serving a 14 year sentence at Elmira Correctional Facility, in Elmira, NY.
Bonus fun - Chi Ali on TV (pre-crazy, at 15 years of age):
Bad Idea Jeans: Getting in on that XM Radio IPO. With that said, there's speculation that XM and Sirius (who's stock performance is equally as crap) may merge. I'm willing to bet (though not literally) that if you were to invest now, you'd be able to make a gain off the dead cat bounce.
Shifting gears... here's a gaggle of guiltless mp3's:
adventures in fake DJ'ing: 100% local content edition...
Hey, have you checked out that quasi-metalist list of favorite vancouver bands that Quinn put out? He polled a bunch of local bloggers (including me). We each submitted our top 10, he then compiled the lists, crunched the numbers and posted the top 23 Vancouver Bands.
I really like what he's done, because it's reminded me how good and how diverse the Vancouver scene is. A lot of local folks will tell you that Vancouver has a limited number of bands worth seeing and supporting... however, this list offers quantifiable proof to the contrary. The other great thing is that the diversity of local acts really becomes evident... it's kinda hard to define a "Vancouver sound". This is a good thing.
Taking Quinn's list and moving it a step further, I've created an hour long podcast featuring the bands which made the cut (using tracks that weren't linked in his post). Here's the track list:
01 Ghost House - Arrivals -> Your Big Day 02 Maplewood Lane - Wildwood Drive 03 The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema 04 The Parallels - Bringing Words 05 Run Chico Run - Famous for Being Famous 06 You Say Party! We Say Die! - Cold Hands! Hot Bodies! 07 Run Chico Run - Clockwork Crows 08 Black Mountain - No Satisfaction 09 Ladyhawk - 48 Hours 10 Geoff Berner - Lucky Goddamn Jew 11 Hank Pine & Lily Fawn - Show Tune 12 Blue Grey Dots - Turtles 13 Channels 3 and 4 - Energy Riot 14 Basketball/Raking Bombs - Geneve 15 P:ano - Leave Me With the Boy 16 They Shoot Horses Don't They - Sunlight 17 Destroyer - 3000 Flowers 18 No Luck Club - Better Times Will Come 19 Bend Sinister - Tough Love 20 3 Inches Of Blood - Deadly Sinners
Hello from Edmonton... man, they sure have big roads here.
I've spent the last day and a bit trapped in meetings galore, but I did manage to talk shop and go for drinks with Little J of LeftNutt infamy, bonus: I met the dude(s) from The Wuxis. Good times, no?
Sidebar: Back in my turntable DJ days, even way before I became a sing-song guitar nerd, I had this self-serving fantasy that it be cool to be listed on the liner notes of someone's CD. I've subconsciously hung on to that idea. Turns out, that wish came true... tonight I was handed a copy of the official label-backed & released LeftNutt album, XXX, and lookie... I'm in full effect. Thanks boys, if I had known getting repeatedly wasted and playing beer can enduced blues guitar with you at 4am would have got me in the the "thank youse" I would have tried harder... with hopes of seeing my name in a bigger font.
By the way, nearly 1,000 folks have already bought a copy of that album. Have you? You should. It's, ummm, the tits.
Justin Timberlake's stylist, and his/her decision to put the guy in size 18 shoes. The marketing guru who opted to call Step Up "the movie of a decade". YouTube's lack of content more than 3 days old that I actually want to see. The fact that news outlets consider updates on an obscure D-list celebrity's divorce as critical as coverage of the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot. Garlic bread... white bread + garlic = fuck you, I'm not eating it. The uncertainty of season 2 of Prison Break (i.e. will it go no where and suck like the last half of season 1, or will they make it 24-caliber?)
The actual guide write up is BANG ON (e.g. "The job market is about to explode because having to hear about the 2010 Olympics every day for the next four years is going to triple the city's suicide rate"). There are a bunch of supplementall Vancouver articles attached to the guide, notable pieces include: the area guide, and getting wasted on the cheap. Keep in mind that it is Vice so they fixate on the grimey / heroiny (is that a word?) parts of the city. But you already knew that, right?
i can make jokes at the groom's expense all night long...
Yay! I finally found that little gray cable that connects my camera to my laptop. Here are the pics from Rob 2's wedding-based bonanza.
Some comments:
My digicam appears to be at the end of it's life cycle... I used to be able to pull some really good/cool photos with it, and now the thing takes ages to snap a picture and the lighting is all wonky and such. A shame really... either way, if anyone has a spare SLR lying around that they'd like to perma-loan me, hook a blogger up.
The bulk of my photos were taken during the after-hours portion of the evening... which really makes the event look a bit low class... but believe you me... the whole thing was top notch.
Yes, that's blood running down Tyke's head. Don't worry, he's laughing it off.
The 8th photo down is from our midnight bus ride from the vineyard to the bar in Kelowna. This guy from the wedding party, Matt, got up on the shitty bus PA mic, and sung a capella for 20 minutes, sending the bus into uber-hysterics... he NAILED every song he covered (everything from OutKast to Steve Miller Band). Dude had the swagger of Mick Jagger (back when he was relivant) and the pipes of Achtung Baby era Bono. One of the highlights of my summer.
Because I am a huge nerd and because I have my ear to the ground, I have it on good authority that a new batch of TELUS TV ads will be coming out next week. Yeah, it'll be the standard spacey, menagerie of animals motif that they always deliver... but... one spot will feature the track "Walk In The Park" by Oh No! Oh My!
WHAT?! HUH?! ETC?!
This is pretty cool... a blog buzz band which hand-mailed me a copy of their CD back in January, has gone right from the fringe to marketing content in all of 8 months. Yeah, that last sentence reads a bit negatively, but the fact that an unsigned band has gone from hyperlink fodder, to playing Lollapalooza, to actually become bankable and licenceable (is that a word?) is something that most bands can only dream of.
Am I the only one who gets depressed when they start to see fall concert listings? Yeah, the gig listings are quality... but when you start seeing November tour dates, you realize that fall and/or crappy weather is right around the corner. Anyways, digression...
HOB just announced that DJ Shadow will be headlining at the Commodore Ballroom on Tuesday, September 19th. Tickets are $40 +s/c (!), and go on sale this Friday. While I'd be pumped to see DJ Shadow live, I'm not sure how I feel about the new disk. Here's a sampling:
Sounds more like an UNKLE b-side than "Midnight In a Perfect World"... with that said, "Endtroducing..." came out a decade ago, so maybe change is good thing.
Think about it: by breaking up after releasing just one insanely good album the band goes out on top. The potential they had going forward will only further build the legendary status that "You're a Woman, I'm a Machine" will eventually receive.
As ass-backwards as this sounds, this is kinda album potency is important in the wacky world of "indie rock" (or whatever you want to brand it). Indie kids/hipsters/etc have incredibly fickle tastes, people move on to the next big thing in a period of weeks, not months. I like the fact that people will still be talking about DFA 1979, and speculating about what they could have done in the future for ages.
The Kelowna tourism board really should consider one of the following tag lines for future marketing materials:
Kelowna: Everyone owns a loud-ass motorcycle
- or -
Kelowna: Everyone lives in paradise
Either way, the long weekend was killer. KILLER (all caps). Not only was the wedding uber-fun (open bar at a winery), not only was I the dopest MC, not only did we trash a Sandman Inn, not only did we collectively get rich sun tans, but we also managed to commandeer a (free!) boat to whip around the lake and go cliff jumping. BOOYAA, much?
Seriously, one of the top 3 weddings I've ever attended... and one of the top 5 drunken greyhound bus rides I've ever taken (that's an entire other story). I have lots of blurry pictures to share, but it appears I've misplaced that little gray cable that connects the camera to the laptop at some point in the condo move ... so you're stuck looking at a picture of Dave in NYC this weekend. I think he's in the bathroom at CBGB's. Haven't the shut that place down already?
Is your summer in high gear yet? It better be... you've got all of 30 days left until fall starts to creep up. Gross, I know.
This month's mix is perfect for the final summer stretch. It was made with the long weekend in mind... it's kinda jittery, in that 10 cups of coffee sorta way... but since it a hot, sweaty long weekend, the coffee reference doesn't work. Replace the term "coffee" with some sort of boozy drink that knocks your socks off. I'll leave it up to you.
Things disclosed to me by my weird, eccentric, recluse land lord shortly after he returned my damage deposit check and offered me a room temperature Molson Canadian:
a 23 year old woman is trying to seduce him. She’s 1/3rd his age.
he retired at 53. His secret: save 10% of everything you make (wealthy barber stizz). The WTF?! factor: he started saving at 35, and divorced twice, and raised a family, and 4 dogs / 3 cats / 1 horse. Also, he owns a classic kits home. What?!
related: while he has gone to work in the past, he claims he never really worked a day in his life.
the creepy boarded up shed at the end of our yard actually houses 2 full sets of kitchen cabinets from some random condos. “Someday” he will install them in the rental suites.
Bonus factoids:
He has a framed ad for “tobacco liquor” in his house. And he’s had a tracheotomy.
He’s a huge Shakira fan, and owns a *stack* of her disks.
I realize for many of you reading this, this lacks context. But for those of you who’ve spent time at my place your mind is now blown.
Woo! I'm in the middle of moving into my new place, which is consuming about 102% of all my time right now... so you get a bunch of hyperlinks in leu of legit content. Aren't you lucky?!
File under "hey that's kinda cool": Billy Bragg actually won his fight against myspace. With that said, I really don't see the original TOS as a threat to artists. I mean how viable is it for myspace to resell lossy mp3s with no encoding standards, which are readily available for free on the internet, to 3rd parties? Coincidentally, Bragg has released a greatest hits album in the last 4 months... and there’s no better promotion than free PR, right? Hey, I’m just sayin’.
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