In the same vein as experimental rockers The Unicorns (aka Islands) comes this clever Texan band, "Fishboy". The songs are poppy as they come, but at the same time totally rock. Their lyrics are hilarious with many references to using cut up credit cards as guitar picks and the taco stand they run. The sounds is fresh, the lyrics are clever and the music is fun. Throw this album on in the shower or on your walk to work and you'll have a whole lot more jump in your step.
Oh how I love thee Chromeo. I vividly recall stumbling across Chromeo during my final exams in 2005... I was sitting studying away, rocking out to DFA1979 and figured I would check out their label-mates on Vice Records. Lo and behold Chromeo's entire album was streaming on the Vice site. I was immediately hooked (yes, even though it was a low-quality flash-based stream), I let that album play straight for 3-4 hours I am sure. There insanely retro and hilarious beats were so retro and cool it was refreshing. I've always had a love for that 80s analogue sound, and Chromeo delivered directly to my aural pleasure. These Montreal boys, nicked Dave One and Pee Thug, create hilariously catchy tracks which will keep any party bumping. This, their latest album (Fancy Footwork) has seen mainstream success -- but definitely do not overlook 2005's "She's in Control", perhaps an even better album. Here's the main mantra of Chromeo: "From the beginning, Chromeo made it clear that artful detachment, cheesy electro-funk breakdowns, and gleaming plastic beats -- not serious intent or aggressive musical regime change -- were the name of their well-dressed game." So do yourself a favor and download BOTH of these albums now, and you'll be guaranteed to have a fun weekend soundtrack.
Download 2007's "Fancy Footwork" here and 2005's "She's in Control" here.
Here's the review for "She's in Control" on MetaCritic. And here's there bio on AMG.
Check out the awesome track "Bonafide Lovin'" from "Fancy Footwork" here:
Three of the best reviewed albums in the past 2 years have been from James Murphy, the DFA label owner's project "LCD Soundsystem". The first self-titled debut album dropped in 2005 with amazing reviews. Murhpy's infectious, catchy beats are smooth and mature, I would say eletronica for sophisticated, hipsters who enjoy indie rock. Now, for me 2007's "Sound of Silver" is the better album (although MetaCritic has them both clocking with an astounding score of 86). Sound of Silver has shown a little more maturity and growth from the debut album... the whole thing melds together so well and is an ideal album to toss on while trying to get some office/desk work done. Now, in addition to this LCD also dropped an album this fall called 45:33. Commissioned by Nike (sell-out? Meh, the debate goes on.... if bands still have street cred after Apple uses their tunes, then why not other companies?). The idea of this album (which a seamless mix of LCD's tracks) is to serve as the perfect soundtrack to your workout - building up, plateauing and then coming down. A clever idea, which, surprisingly, seems to work. The reviews for this album were even better!
Download Sound of Silver, here! Read the MetaCritic reviews here. Download LCD's self-titled 2005 debut here. And the very cool 45:33 mix here. Check out their biography here at AMG.
Today I bring you Seattle's, "The Blakes". I had not come across these fellas at all on my musical journy until I happened to download a random "Indie Playlist torrent" which one of their tracks was featured on it. Well let me tell you, that song "Pistol Grip" definitely gripped me and I was thirsty for more. All I can say is check out the track on the video below! Completely rocking and fun, this album will most definitely make it into your high rotation in no time. On the track "Commit", The Blakes sound a whole lot like Sam Roberts, see if you feel the same.
Here's a good little abstract about the band: "The Blakes recall the stinging catchiness of the early Who, Kinks, and other 60s spitfire rock bands. Brothers Garnet and Snow Keim (both on vocals) busked around the country, writing songs, 'till they ended up settling in Seattle. There they met drummer Bob Husak and have been playing clubs and festivals (from Sasquatch to SXSW) ever since. The Blakes have received critical adoration and massive airplay for their bone-rattling anthems "Don't Bother Me," "Two Times" and "Streets."
Well I am not too sure how I missed this release, but I am sure glad I stumbled on to it this weekend. 22 year old Calvin Harris hails from Scotland and unleashed on the scene in a very modern, web-sort of way. Utilizing MySpace and other online tools Harris and his DIY method landed him a major record deal with EMI and he even ended up helping Kylie Minogue produce her last album. The disco/house/electronica beats on this album are fantastic and will keep you grooving. The sound is retro but modern at the same time. Lovers of Mylo and LCD Soundsystem will totally dig this album. I reckon anyone who gave this album a spin would like it to some degree -- if anything it's a great disc to toss on before going out!
Oh and here's a little tidbit for us Canadians who may be scared about downloading copyrighted content on the internet: "The Canadian police announced that it will stop targeting people who download copyrighted material for personal use. Their priority will be to focus on organized crime and copyright theft that affects the health and safety of consumers instead of the cash flow of large corporations." Read the rest of the article at TorrentFreak.
Download "I Created Disco" here!!! Here are the Metacritic reviews of "I Created Disco" Check out Mr. Harris' bio at AMG here.
Here's the video for "The Girls" from "I Created Disco":
Well, well, well... Another indie rock band from the UK, and hmmm 3 brothers too! The Cribs have been a bit longer than The Fratellis and have just released their third album (their first major label debut which has garnered some attention in North America). These guys actually toured with The Strokes, opening for them on their last North American tour. Now, out of the three albums I would say the sophmore one, "The New Fellas" is the best, but do yourself a favor and nab both. Trust me, you will be singing along with these guys during your first listen, so darn catchy and fun... So go ahead, give their video a whirl and then you'll want to download these albums!
The brothers Fratellis', hailing from Glasgow, Scotland dropped one of 2006's catchiest albums, "Costello Music". Their major break came when their single, "Flathead" was featured in an iPod commercial. These fella's in-your-face, head bobbing catchy indie pop/rock will be sure to please almost every listener, extremely accessible and fun music, it's a must-have in your musical collection! This will be the start of a little focus on British music, there are a slew of bands which are in the same vein as the Fratellis and if you like these guys (which I am 99% sure you will), well then I've got lots more in store for you!
Today I want to welcome you to the wonderful world of funk and one of my personal favorite genres in music. Funk has been around since the early 1960s and is a fusion of jazz and blues. Although they heyday of Funk may have been rooted more-so in the 70s, funk is still very much so alive and churning out the funky, feel-good licks which have made it such a distinct genre. It is true that actual bands producing funk records is now a lot smaller than it used to be, they still put out some of the best and catchiest records going. And enter, Breakestra. I discovered these fellas a few years ago and they still make their way onto my playlist all the time. Breakestra was formed in the late 1990s and if you didn't know any better (other than the superior recording quality versus those of funk records produced in the 70s) you'd think this band was part of the James Brown era. If you like your funkier hip-hop/rap (e.g.: Jurassic 5 and Del the Funkee Homosapien), then you'll definitely love Breakestra. Just toss this album on and be carried away on the most fun you've had listening to a record in a LONG time. Oh and if you love this, then be sure to check out the Keb Darge compilations!
So go to it now, and nab Breakestra's 2005 disc, "Hit the Floor" here!
Now I know the main thrust of this blog is music... however I have a passion for documentaries, especially those which aren't always brough to the mainstream (a la: Fahrenheit 9/11 or An Inconvenient Truth)... So if you'll allow me, I will post 3 of my favorites, films which have definitely changed my life here for your viewing/downloading pleasure.
The first one is a very powerful and intruding BBC documentary entitled "The Power of Nightmares"... This film traces the roots of radical Islam and then ties it into our current political situation, using the thesis of ruling and obtaining power through fear-tactics is the main thrust of this film. It is exteremly well done and is a must see. You can either stream it below, or download it as 3 files:
The next movie is a Canadian made/produced film by TVO called "The Corporation". This is an amazingly well done, and very successful film which has garnered worldwide attention. The main argument of this film is that the modern day corporation as we know it can be clinically diagnosed as being insane according to the WHO's standards. The film features many academics from Chomsky to former CEO's and even Michael Mooore. It's a bit long, but a damn well amazing and fascinating watch.
Go here to watch it at Google video, or stream it here:
And finally, another amazingly done environmental documentary also done by the BBC is entitled "Global Dimming". This film traces a phenomenon which was first noticed on September 12, 2001, a day when all flights in North America were completely grounded. The film shows the connection between CO2 emissions, global warming and how our pollution is both causing global warming, but also actually helping to keep the planet cool at the same time (due to the pollutant particles blocking sun rays). A very startling movie, in the same vein as Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth"...
You can view it at Google Video here, or stream it:
And that concludes this installment of must-see doc's! I will come back with more surely in the future.... oh and I am also looking for suggestions of ones to see!!
Wholy crap! How did I miss this band? I was sitting home last night when a good friend, who's very musically inclined, tipped me off about a little West Coast band named "Pride Tiger". I had never heard of them before, but decided after checking their site to go down to the Paramount and check them out.... I was totally floored. These guys rocked hard, and get this -- the lead singer is the vocalist. He's rocking out so hard but manages to maintain clean, crisp and smooth vocals over the hard rock backing. The band lines up vertically, bassist and lead guitar, drummer in the middle and rythm guitar on the other side. Very novel idea... the drummer rocked so hard and looked so happy, even though there was all of 40-50 people there. Either way, one of the best shows I've seen in a while! Their music is classic rock and roll, think a modern-era Thin Lizzy... but also in the same vain as Death From Above 1979 and the Panthers. Definitely a solid album which you should give a listen to.
You can download their debut album, "Lucky Ones" here!
I'm getting bogged down with school work. I'm a bit stressed out by it all; however, Go! Team comes through with another solid pop outting to keep me motivated. Proof of Youth brings the same lady rap with heavy percussion and upbeat sampling.
The album isn't grabbing me like Thunder, Lightning, Strike, but it's still good. Grip it like a Vice and The Wrath of Marcie are my favorites on the disc so far.
P.S. Don't confuse The Go! Team with Go Team, the '80s indie band started by Dub Narcotic Sound System's Calvin Johnson.
One of my most cherished bands, Sweden's "The Hives" churn out punk-rock albums like no other. Combining hilarious outfits and names, with insanely catchy, fast and addictive music is the hives recipie for success. These guys's albums are all solid, start to finish, and it's no wonder they are not more popular. I would say they rank amongst my top 10 favorite bands, and one of the top bands I want to see (According to Spin magazine they were ranked the best live band in the world a few years ago)... This new album JUST dropped and hopefully it will be one of the hits of 2007... I bet you'll end up nabbing their entire disog, it's worth it... I picture these guys as perfect working out music or something to play in a dressing room pre-game.
"Once I built an ivory tower/ so I could worship from above/ when I climbed down to be set free/ she took me in again" - Eddie Vedder, Hard Sun
I saw this album in HMV on Tuesday. At first, all I saw was original Eddie Vedder material. I wandered over, grabbed the CD. Then I saw 'soundtrack,' What the fuck? Why would Eddie Vedder do a sound track? It took a glance at the full title and then I shit my pants.
It's the soundtrack to Into the Wild, Sean Penn's adaption of Jon Krakauer's 1996 New York Time bestseller and my favorite book. Krakauer, an accomplished mountaineer and adventure, retraces the steps of Chris McCrandless. In 1992, McCrandless left a comfortable life the Souther United States to live in the Alaskan wilderness, trying to be a Henry David Thoreau.
Penn handpicked Vedder to write and perform the soundtrack. Unlike Bono, his urning, echoing voice isn't pretentious. It's a storyteller confident on his own, searching for peace with nature.
Hard Sun is the best track on the album, capturing the spirit of the novel. It's also pretty epic.
... no youtube video, get the book at the library, here's the album. Oh, you'll need to install FLAC.
edit: Canadian Gordon Peterson wrote Big Hard Sun, which Vedder covers (Hard Sun), back in '89 for his album Big Harvest. Here's the song via youtube with a fan-made video:
I may be Doctor Rock, but I have other interests and that includes melodic country music. Neko Case has been around for awhile.She used to be a punk rock drummer before making it big doing guest vocals for The New Pornographers. Her solo career started in 1997, casting away the punk roots for alternative country.
You won’t find a better voice out there today. Once called the ghost of Patsy Cline, her voice compels the listener to follow her stories of friendship, faith, love, and jealousy. It’s real country.
To me, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood is one of two albums released in 2006 that keeps my listening over and over without skipping songs.For those of you that care, TV on the Radio’s Return to Cookie Mount is the other.The highlight for me is the opening track, Margaret vs. Pauline.
I want to share a high quality recording with you. Here's another good song, Hold on, hold on. Get it here.
One of the most critically acclaimed albums of 2007 thus far is the polaris prize nominated "The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse". This album has drawn international attention and guess what... this amazingly awesome band is playing in SACKVILLE, NB on October 18th!!!
Just read these reviews:
Drowned In Sound
That music so majestically restrained in pace can make your heart beat so quickly is a testament to The Besnard Lakes’ focus and ability to coat each millisecond of track time with an utterly captivating sound without ever becoming clogged up with their myriad ideas.
Under The Radar
Their overarching fingernail-meets-chalkboard eeriness... is what prevents a lapse into the preciousness that sometimes accompanies orchestrated indie rock, making the album a rousing success. [#16, p.90]
NOW Magazine
These are explosive epics that don't get tired, tied together in an album that's both instantly accessible and grows on you over time.
If you’re a purist, you might have trouble getting over the obvious influence of The Stooges and a blatant reference to Nirvana during Derby Days.If you can get over that, or if you’re the person that loves music for what it is, not what’s before it, these guys create a great sound that I like to call drunk rock.
Tiger stands out as the best song on the disk.The opening lines, “Well I’m fucked up mess/Baby I’m a full-time wreck/I maxed out my credit card/Yeah, I live in a car” tells you all you need to know about how the party starts.Other highlights include both Easy Street and Hot Streets.A surprising closer, Bobby’s Theme, puts it all in perspective, should we rock or finally spend some sober time with those we care about?This is the song about the guy who decided to skip the party for something more.
The selling point for this album is between the songs.Lead singer Joe Bradley assumes the role of radio jock Zach Richards, spinning the album the entire way through.He talks about hair cuts, wonders how Cheeseburger got into the playlist, and Rowdy Pete’s, the best bar in town.
No word on a new CD but the guys are still doing shows in New York. Here's the video for Tiger.
This is just a quick post gang! The Pigeon Detectives are part of this new UK bubble of bands, much akin to Kaiser Chiefs, The Cribs and The Zutons. These lads from Leeds have been together since 2002, releasing some demos and EPs along the way finally dropped 2007's "Wait for Me". This highly energetic album will have you rocking away at your desk or as you stroll down the street. Perfect music to crack on when you're cleaning or doing some menial work. But definitely worth a listen, catchy as hell, the Detectives will surely have you tapping away like 10 year old ADHD kid on speed.
Ohhhhhhhhh C'Mon! If you don't know this, one of Canada's best rock and roll bands, you're silly. Ian Blurton, the mastermind behind several Canadian bands and the producer of such bands as: The Weakerthans, Raising the Fawn, Amy Milan, The Rheostatics and many more delivers us a brand new disc, "Bottled Lightning of an all time High". The energy and pure rock this album crunches out can go toe to toe with any rock band. The best part? They're on TOUR now in the Maritimes!
So go ahead, nab the new album HERE... and be sure to catch them live, they are DYNO-MITE.
Check out more about Ian Blurton here at Wikipedia.
Fans of the blues, rock and roll and The White Stripes let me introduce you to Akron, Ohio's "The Black Keys". This rock/blues duo produces some of the catchiest, dirties rock and roll and blues licks you'll hear anywhere. Drawing from old school blues roots with a twist (akin to the White Stripes, without all the really weird shit), these fellas have put out four amazing albums since 2001. Their lo-fi, two man, simple sound works amazingly well for these gents and these albums can be listened to start to finish, all of them.
You can nab 2006's "Magic Potion" here. However, my favorite and the most acclaimed album is 2004's "Rubber Factory", but you can get it here too.
Just do yourself a favor and get the damn album, but if you need convincing check out "Just Got To Be" from "Magic Potion" and also featured on EA Sports NHL 08.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (BRMC)'s fourth studio album "Baby 81" has the group going back to their rocking roots and sees the return of their drummer Nick Jago. BRMC's 2005 release, "Howl" was a stripped down, acoustic/folksie album which was loved by some and hated by others. These boys broke on the scene in 2000 as part of the "new rock" bubble with the likes of The Strokes and The White Stripes. Although they flew under the radar for some time, their self-titled album, they were critically acclaimed by many. Their follow-up album "Take them on, on your own", perhaps my favorite (nay, this one is even better) was, as many sophmore albums are, not recieved with the same sort of critical acclaim. Well after 7 years, and four albums BRMC goes back to their A game through and through and produces a gritty, bluesy, rocking album which should be loved by ya'll!
Well, in our second installment of a two part series of post-Libertines bands, here's Pete Doherty's other love (besides music, writing, Kate Moss and recreational drugs), "Babyshambles". Unlike Barat's "Dirty Pretty Things", Doherty started fresh and retained no ex-Libertines in his band. Now this band was actually formed while Pete was still in the Libertines, but after they eventually split up, Babyshambles was his main focus. Touring right after the fall of the Libertines in fall 2004, but not putting out a full debut album (Down in Albion) until December 2005... Unlike Barat's DPT's, Babyshambles had a very different sound from the Libertines, only rarely replicating that sound on a few tracks. This new musical styling included even a raggae-fused song, which Doherty does a pretty good job at.
However, "Down in Albion" was very disliked by the music critics (compared to Barat's DPT and definitely the Libertines, and even though it was produced by former Clash member Mick Jones). Granted, that debut album was sporadic, the flow from track to track is not very good, and really there were only a couple of gems on it. Turning to their follow-up sophomore album, "Shotters Nation", Babyshambles have delivered a much more accessible and catchy album that reverts closer to the Libertines sound. However, if I had to take a choice of what album I would rank between DPT and Babyshmables, Barat's "Waterloo to Anywhere" would be the clear winner...
Without any further adu, you can nab the brand NEW Babyshambles album (which just dropped TODAY) here.
After the dissolving of The Libertines, Carl Barat and Pete Doherty both, rather quickly, founded their own, new Post-Libertines bands. Barat's is the focus of this post. Dirty Pretty Things (DPT) features Barat as the lead, and maintained the 'tines drummer, and put together a couple of other high-profile musicians to complete the lineup. This album, Waterloo to Anywhere, which came out in May 2006 features some of the best parts of the Libertines and is an amazing album, start to finish.
Catchy tracks, lyrics, riffs with a certain rawness makes this album so great. Heralded by the critics as, "not too bad", in comparison to the Libertines works, this album was bound to be judged with the Libertines in mind... I think that this album is just as good as any of the Libertines albums and if you enjoy them then take the plunge and check this one out. After all, Carl was the main vocalist on a majority of the Libertines songs, so this transition will be an easy one for you.
Let me set the scene: Britain, 2002... the indie rock scene in the country had been flourishing since the 60s, but things had begun to get a tad stale. After Oasis's rise of fame and success (and critically acclaimed records) had been leveled off a new force in UK music was about to emerge and reignite the modern British musical revival. A little band from London suddenly took the country by storm, which were known as The Libertines. Now, the frontman you may be a little more familiar with due to his love for drugs his turbulent relationship with super model Kate Moss (I know his name's on the tip of your tongue) -- Pete Doherty!
So The Libertines drop their record in 2002, "Up the Bracket" and it becomes the quickest selling debut album in the UK -- ousting Oasis as reigning champs. This album turns heads worldwide and becomes the talk of the indie scene from the UK (in the US we have The Strokes and The White Stripes and in Australia we have The Vines). The 'tines managed to rise to the top, hit rock bottom somewhere in 2003ish, (had something to do with drug ravaged Doherty) but again were able to churn out a second critically acclaimed album, "The Libertines". Well although they have no disbanded, the Libertines put out two amazing, rocking, clever albums. Some have pegged Doherty, despite his drug problems, as perhaps the Lennon of his era, a extremely gifted and talented poet and lyricists. Not only do both of these albums totally rock and roll but the lyrical content is top notch.
Now, a little later I will get into the spin-off bands which the breaking of the Libertines lead to, one led by Doherty, "Babyshambles" and another by co-lead singer of the 'tines, Caral Barat's "Dirty Pretty Things". Now back to why the Libertines were so important to blowing the lid of the modern-day British music revolution. These fella's put everything into their music and it ended up reaping its toll on some of them (Doherty)... Their music, his story, his continual media coverage on television gave this band so much press, they were delivered first hand to every living room and computer in the Western World. Following this new movement (we will say that Oasis existed in the 1990s generation of UK music), a whole slew of new acts came to the forefront. In the DIY/garage genre we have Mike Skinner's bedroom project, "The Streets" with raw, colorful rhymes and some of the most interesting beats you'll ever hear. Then we have bands such as (long existing) the Doves, Travis, heck, even Coldplay was a part of this. More recently the bands keep coming and coming, Art Brut, The Rakes, The Cribs, Arctic Monkeys, The View, Franz Ferdinand, Jaime T, Bloc Party, Maximo Park, The Futureheads, The Paddingtons, and the list goes on! I will try and cover all these bands in the future, but you should really go check them all out, they are all amazing in their own right, especially if you love the Libertines... all these bands either played with the 'Tines or Caral Barat or Doherty found a lot of these groups.
Anyhow, enough ranting and raving! I love UK music!!!
Download the Libertines first album, "Up the Bracket" here! And their 2004 album, "The Libertines" here.
The jury has spoken! Patrick Watson wins Canada's 2007 Polaris Music Prize! Up against some majorly stiff competition (such as Feist and Arcade Fire), Montreal's Patrick Watson (the name of the singer/songwriter, but also his band) wins the $20,000 award and more importantly the respect of music critics across Canada (ahh hopefully the prize has begun to pick up some steam outside our borders... akin, but not nearly as well known or popular as the UK's Mercury Prize). And massive props to the Maritime Connection -- The Joel Plaskett Emergency as well as New Brunswick's own (and former Eric's Trip'er) Julie Doiron were both nominated. Watson, often compared to Jeff Buckley and Rufus Wainwright has a very luscious and melodic sound -- this is a record you can just put on and go to another place, definitely worth checking out.
Here's the mission statement for the Polaris Prize:
MISSION STATEMENT The operation of a not-for-profit organization that annually honours, celebrates and rewards creativity and diversity in Canadian recorded music by recognizing, then marketing the albums of the highest artistic integrity, without regard to musical genre, professional affiliation, or sales history, as judged by a panel of selected critics and experts.
Nab the torrent here! This torrents picked up a lot of attention, shooting to 200+ seeders in the last few days.
Click here for AMG's review of Close to Paradise. And here's their bio on the band.
Check out the video for "Drifters" off of 2006's "Welcome to Paradise" album:
Halifax, Nova Scotia's "Dog Day" has finally dropped their full length album "Night Group". Is this one of the catchiest and best bands to come out of Halifax in a while? Absolutely. With members from The Burdocks and some from The Hold, this power-pop group rocks your socks off with some totally infectious tracks. I highly recommend giving this disc a spin, you will be pleasantly surprised!
Well if you haven't had the pleasure of hearing Austin's SPOON... well you're in for one of the best discoveries of music yet. These fella's, lead by the raspy voiced Britt Daniel, have churned out some of the most solid, consistent rock albums of the past decades. Album after album, each as impressive as the last, always critically acclaimed, yet always finding slightly different directions. Their albums are catchy as they come, but they are the underdogs, often flying under the radar of the mainstream.
So I have a a treat for you here, not only is the newest album available here, their entire discography (8 albums/EPs) is all packaged together in this torrent!!! Seriously, just go for it (over 1 gigabyte, but totally worth it). You can literally queue up every single Spoon record and let them play start to finish and you will never want to skip a song!
Well I must say this is one of the biggest releases in Canada in a while. Tokyo Police Club has taken the indie scene by storm, with appearances on Letterman and extensive US touring, these guys are huge. However they don't have a full length album... yet! This 7 song EP will have to hold you over until they release their full album (which is rumored to drop MAYBE in 2007). Anyway, stop what you're doing and get this meow! These guys rock it, with an edgy punk-rock flavor. This is a band to watch, they will go to the top in 2007-08, guaranteed. If I could buy stock in these fella's I would do it TODAY. Download it HERE!
Check out their Nature of the Crime video from the EP:
This is the third album from the Ontario Alt.Country/Rock band! Give them a try, they produce solid records and their live shows are amazing. I am working on finding cover art!
The rich get poorer and the poor get richer. That’s what filesharing does for the music industry. No wonder the RIAA is desperately trying to shutdown all filesharing activities. A recent overview of the current literature on the effect of filesharing on record sales shows that the most popular artist (top 25%) sell less records. However, […]
The rich get poorer and the poor get richer. That’s what filesharing does for the music industry. No wonder the RIAA is desperately trying to shutdown all filesharing activities.
A recent overview of the current literature on the effect of filesharing on record sales shows that the most popular artist (top 25%) sell less records. However, the remaining 75% of all artists actually profits from filesharing. How this is possible?
Easy, sharing increases the amount of artists you get familiar with. Especially BitTorrent sites are an excellent platform for promoting new, or less popular artists.
First of all, on BitTorrent sites the users decide what’s popular, not the radiostations, record labels and pluggers. Besides this, it’s far more easy to first download an album, listen to it, and then decide if you want to buy it or not. Sure, most of the people will not buy the album, but since you will probably tell tell your friends about this “great new album”, popularity will grow, and eventually the artist will profit from it.
An excellent example is the band Harvey Danger who offers the opportunity to download their album on their website. As soon as they decided to do this, their popularity grew. By offering their album as a download, they gained a lot of fans, collected donations, and probably sold more albums.
Oh joy! This albums dropped early, it's not due out in stores 'till October 8th! So nab it now... For those of you unaware of the Yarmouthtonians (?) by way of Halifax, check'em! The headlining act of Dependent Music releases its 3rd disc and has built a lot of buzz and momentum over the past few years (opening for Pearl Jam in St. John's!). So go ahead, download it now! Check out their CBC Radio 3 page here.
Oh and here's a WICKED video/song off their untitled 2005 album:
Well here's my first little post! Francis Black, AKA Frank Black from the Pixie's new album Bluefinger is simply awesome. Catchy as hell, good straight-forward rock and roll. I definitely recommend giving this sucker a whirl.
An "unofficial" video for Threshold Apprehension, a great track from Bluefinger!
Here's the review from All Music Guide:
by Heather Phares
Bluefinger could be seen as a return to form, but whose return to form is it? This is the first music Charles Kitteridge Thompson IV has made as Black Francis since his days with the Pixies, after more than 15 years of releasing albums as Frank Black. The man of many names said he was inspired to go back to Black Francis while recording "Threshold Apprehension," the bonus track for the Frank Black retrospective 93-03. That song -- which also appears here -- and the rest of Bluefinger was inspired by Herman Brood, a Dutch musician, painter, and poet whose fondness for sex, drugs, and rock & roll led to lifelong health and addiction problems, and ultimately, his 2001 suicide at age 54. The switch back to the mysterious Black Francis persona might have helped channel Brood's lust for life -- after all, with the Pixies, Francis excelled at telling twisted, fragmented songs inspired by the Bible and his messed-up id like "Dead" and "Nimrod's Son" -- and Bluefinger has some of the most aggressive, decadent songs Thompson has written under any of his aliases. "Threshold Apprehension" is joyfully self-destructive, shouting about "Grand Marnier and a packet full of speed" and being "junk sick" like they're both fantastic, while the color-coded debauchery of "Tight Black Rubber" is a skuzzy cousin to Black's "Ten Percenter," and actually is fantastic. "My baby's so bad, I nearly killed her!" is an almost Pixies-worthy depiction of weird sex, and even when you're not sure exactly what is going on in the song, it sounds like dangerous fun. However, no matter how much Thompson insists that Bluefinger is a Black Francis album, it's still far closer to his work as Frank Black than to anything he did with the Pixies. He just doesn't sound the way he used to, even though his scream is still one of the all-time great rock vocals and pops up all over the album, especially effectively on the cover of Brood's own "You Can't Break a Heart and Have It." This isn't a bad thing, though; as Frank Black, he has become an excellent, if slightly more traditional, songwriter and storyteller, and that serves character sketches as diverse as the death-defying "Test Pilot Blues" and punk love story "Discotheque 36" well. Bluefinger's range also feels more Frank than Francis. "Captain Pasty"'s revved-up rocker would have fit on Dog in the Sand or Teenager of the Year, while the title track has a compassion and gentleness to it that would've been wildly out of place on a Pixies album. Attaching the Black Francis moniker to this album might ratchet up expectations too high for rabid Pixies fans, but Bluefinger is a good Charles Thompson album -- it's still really enjoyable to hear him have fun and rock out, no matter what name he chooses to use.
Welcome to my little pet project - prudentMUSIC. Derived from an inside joke (this site is absolutely prudent) the goal of this site is to distribute all my favorite music of the moment to my friends and their friends. I know I know, it's not overly ethical to steal music, but I figure the more ears hear these albums, the bands will still prosper in having their music passed along and hopefully someday we'll buy merch or go to a show of theirs. I think it will eventually work out to be win-win, right?
Anyhow, to get things going you'll need a BitTorrent client, I prefer MuTorrent it is so easy to use, lightweight, a quick and free install! For you MAC users (ha, you know I am rolling my eyes now, suckers), check out Transmission.
Don't know what BitTorrent is? Have you been in a closet? BT is the best and most ingenious method of sharing files on the internet... P2P is old school, BT totally rules. For information on BitTorrent just google it, or read about it on WikiPedia. For a really comprehensive FAQ, check out Brian's BT-FAQ and Guide. And to learn how to open ports and things on your router, check out PortForward (this is key to enabling the best upload and download speeds).
With all of this being said... ALWAYS aim to have your BT ratio close or above 1.0! You gotta give some to get some, so always leave your BT client open and running day and night! The more users seeding the quicker the downloads will go :D
Now that you have your BT client installed and good to go, it's time to go nuts with the downloading! I have a backlog of albums I want to post, I will do this slowly over the following weeks. So what I've been doing over the past 4 or 5 year (since I found out about BitTorrent) is been reading and downloading music. I read tons of online mags (Pitchfork, NME, Spin, etc) and my right hand guides which you should definitely bookmark are:
Metacritic- This site is totally sweet an amazing. They amass reviews of music (well movies, books, tv shows and games too) from 10-20 different sources and produce a numerical score for each release! So sweet! So always be checking that out. It's a little mainstream so your indie bands from Halifax likely won't make it on the site (well Buck65 did, so you figure it out).
All Music Guide - Ha, most of my friends are amazed at the random things I know about bands. Well this is the IMDB of music! It's the music bible -- you can find just about any band on here, their discography, biography, similar artists and other bands those band members may be in. So goodness, if you like the band check them out quick, find out what they're about, where they're from it takes two seconds!
Ok, well that's about it for now. I will get to posting albums real soon here. Oh, and for some other good BitTorrent websites, be sure to check these out:
In the same vein as experimental rockers The Unicorns (aka Islands) comes this clever Texan band, "Fishboy". The songs are poppy as they come, but at the same time totally rock. Their lyrics are hilarious with many references to using cut up credit cards as guitar picks and the taco stand they run. The sounds is fresh, the lyrics are clever and the music is fun. Throw this album on in the shower or on your walk to work and you'll have a whole lot more jump in your step.
