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New Beach House Track – White Moon

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:45:48 +0000

Beach House released a new live session on iTunes today, very delicious. It features a new track, White Moon, which you can hear below; as well as live versions of songs from both Teen Dream and Devotion.

During the week or two of sound-checks leading up to the recording, we worked through the songs and attempted to rewrite them with fewer and different tones. Listeners can judge whether or not we were able to make these ‘stripped-down’ versions mean something.

- Alex Scally – Beach House

I like the new takes on a lot of the tracks, especially Real Love, which was one of my favorite songs from Teen Dream. The minimal approach to this EP brings the listeners ears right to Victoria Legrand’s vocal, a stark difference from the studio albums, which paint landscapes of textured sound with less of a strict focal point in the mix.

Check it out, and be sure to give White Moon a listen here:
Beach House – White Moon (Itunes Session) by subpop

Ray LaMontagne – Stream The Upcoming Album FREE

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:47:09 +0000

You can stream the new album, Ray Lamontagne and the Pariah Dogs – God Willin’ and The Creek Don’t Rise for free here. You can also buy it for just $3.99 on Amazon TODAY.

Courtesy Of: Sony Music & Exclaim

Ray will be touring with David Gray, both in support of new albums coming next Tuesday. You can be sure I’ll be catching that one.

[via Exclaim]

LaMontagne recently told Exclaim! that, while he’s not too keen on co-headlining bills, he feels the combo with Gray will give people their money’s worth. “We opened for [Gray] years ago, I think after our second record,” LaMontagne says. “I’ve never felt that fans really want to spend more money to see two shows when they can spend a little less to just see you. But in this case we were all hopeful that the fans of each of us would be into it. Judging by how ticket sales have been going, that appears to be the case. I’m excited about it just because I’m a fan of David’s. I think he’s amazing.”

So far, there’s only one Canadian stop, at Toronto’s Molson Canadian Amphitheatre on August 27. However, intrepid fans might want to hold out until November when LaMontagne has a handful of dates slated with roots rock legend Levon Helm.

“That will be a special co-billed tour, very short, on the East coast,” LaMontagne says. “I met Levon for the first time when we were both on Elvis Costello’s TV show, and then I played at his 70th birthday bash up at Mountain Jam. After that we started putting this tour together, some select places, and it’s something we’re all obviously very excited about doing.”

SubPop Finally Realizes What Music is Worth: Nothing

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:52:12 +0000

I first referenced this concept over a year ago, when talking about the resurrection of the album. Ultimately, the premise becomes: “Like it or not, your music is free. Now, what can you sell that’s attached to your free music?” A bare minimum, as Trent Reznor suggests, would be to trade your music for something like an email address, like on noisetrade. As we’ve come to realize more and more over the past few years with data mining and all that, information about people is VERY valuable. Each email address is a sales lead for concert tickets, promotional events, and a myriad of other means to sell a product… just not your music.

Here, SubPop is one of the first decent-sized labels to begin to realize the futility of fighting for music sales in themselves, and starting to adjust their business model accordingly.

[via hypebot]

From early Nirvana through Mudhoney and on to Fleet Foxes and The Postal Service, indie label Sup Pop has been putting out interesting and often fabulous music for decades. But just like the rest of the recorded music industry, they’re having trouble these days getting people to pay for it.

To combat the problem, the venerable indie label is considering flipping the basic music sales proposition on its head. “Although Sub Pop is primarily known for its many fine artists and their really very fine recordings (also grunge), we’re not at all opposed to expanding into the fine world of t-shirts, hats, beer cozies, and key chains,” says Sub Pop general manager, Megan Jasper. “We used to give many of these tchotchke items away for free in an effort to entice people to pay for the music, but we’re considering flipping our strategy so that people pay for the toy and receive the music for free.”
Indie bands have already been experimenting with the concept of bundling downloads with a physical item, but this would be the first time that a substantial label made the shift.

Selling “A Thing Associated With The Music”

Jeff Kleinsmith, Sub Pop’s longtime art director already has a few unusual ideas for bringing Jasper’s sales strategy to market. ”Regardless of age, there’s always going to be people who prefer to touch and make stuff that’s like, physical,” says Kleinsmith. “CDs may end up being little books. We’ve talked about this at work, where you might spend the time to do a cool package, it just doesn’t have a disc in it. And instead of a disc, you’ve got a little piece of paper that says ‘go here for your download.’ So you’re getting everything about it except for that plastic disc, you know. I would love to see that.”  But Kleinsmtih’s creative juices are just getting warmed up, “That could be a magazine, it could be a shirt, it could be a sticker on a banana, it could be anything, really, that has that download. It could be a poster, a thing associated with this music.”

Bonnaroo Free Webcast

admin — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 20:15:32 +0000

All the music and none of the mud makes this the best way to experience Bonnaroo. YouTube and Ford have teamed up to stream (live and tape-delayed) video from this year’s Bonnaroo festival.

Artists include The National, Tori Amos, Tenacious D, Regina Spektor, John Fogerty, Weezer, Jay-Z, Kings of Leon, LCD Soundsystem, Norah Jones, and a ton more.

Check it out: youtube.com/bonnaroo

How To Destroy Angels – The Space in Between

admin — Sat, 15 May 2010 05:51:34 +0000

Here’s the latest from Trent Reznor’s new group, How To Destroy Angels. Dig the song, and the cinematography, the video kind of gives me the creeps though… not gonna lie. Wait for the end.

RIAA Victory Over LimeWire – The Implications

admin — Fri, 14 May 2010 16:43:58 +0000

I actually thought the best article on the subject was over at Ars, but below are a few other synopsis.

Via The Daily Swarm:

CNET:

The court decision could represent the biggest threat to online file sharing in years. According to a survey by the NPD Group, LimeWire users account for 58 percent of the people who said they downloaded music from a peer-to-peer service last year. AtCNET‘s Download.com, the LimeWire software has been downloaded more than 200 million times. In the last week alone, the software was downloaded nearly 340,000 times….Wood’s ruling could at the very least mean a shift in the downloading habits of millions.

Mediamemo:

A big victory for Big Music: A federal court has ruled in favor of the music labels in their fight against LimeWire, one of the most prominent file-sharing services on the Web….What does this mean for the music industry? Assuming Wood’s ruling stands, this one will definitely feel good for the labels, and it would have been a very big deal had they lost. But it certainly won’t help them in fighting less formally organized P2P services or those set up outside the U.S.

TechDirt:

As you can see from the ruling, LimeWire never really had a chance….Of course that doesn’t mean this isn’t troubling in many ways. In fact, it reiterates many of the problems with the original Grokster ruling. For example, it mentions things like the fact that LimeWire folks knew that LimeWire could be used to transfer copyrighted works. But that’s meaningless. Email can be used for transferring copyrighted works.FTP too. The web as well.

Either way, I’m still wondering if…it’s possible to create a system for more efficiently sharing files that doesn’t violate the inducement standard…The law should not be set up in a way to outright ban a technology that has a wide variety of useful applications, and is used for plenty of legitimate purposes, even if it’s also used (even if regularly used) for infringing purposes.

RIAA CEO Mitch Bainwol’s Statement/Victory Lap:

“This definitive ruling is an extraordinary victory for the entire creative community. The court made clear that LimeWire was liable for inducing widespread copyright theft….“LimeWire is one of the largest remaining commercial peer-to-peer services. Unlike other P2P services that negotiated licenses, imposed filters or otherwise chose to discontinue their illegal conduct following the Supreme Court’s decision in the Grokster case, LimeWire instead thumbed its nose at the law and creators. The court’s decision is an important milestone in the creative community’s fight to reclaim the Internet as a platform for legitimate commerce. By finding LimeWire’s CEOpersonally liable, in addition to his company, the court has sent a clear signal to those who think they can devise and profit from a piracy scheme that will escape accountability….We are gratified by the court’s careful and thorough analysis of the facts and applicable law.”

VIDEO: Nashville Flood Damage At Musicians Hall Of Fame

admin — Fri, 14 May 2010 16:28:39 +0000

Why this flood hasn’t garnered more attention from national media, I’m not quite sure. The Tennessean has a post up, including many photos, surveying the damage to some legendary pieces of music history.

You can read the full post here. Poke around on the rest of their site to see even more photos, and read some encouraging stories of artists helping out.

For ways in which you can lend a hand, please visit hon.org. You can register to volunteer, or donate funds via the tabs on the left. You can also follow on twitter @HONashville.

The Music Video Re-Revolution

admin — Thu, 06 May 2010 16:11:58 +0000

It’s no surprise that in the age of Jersey Shore and Celebrity Fit Club, the music video has long been evicted from the television airwaves. It didn’t take long for the likes of YouTube and MySpace to provide a new residence for artists though; you could almost mark the eras as before and after OK Go. Now, three short years after that game-changing video went viral, what is the status of the music video as an art form?

The music video has become an integral part of web presence, and web presence has become an indispensable part of the musician’s arsenal. Though budgets have dwindled and many of the pioneering directors from the first wave of the MTV revolution have gone on to bigger and better things, a new generation of directors is pushing the medium back into the spotlight. However, this time around, simple videos of bands performing songs in podunk bars or rappers flashing cash with bikini-clad girls around won’t due. The polished gloss and glamour of old have been exchanged for quirky aesthetics and compelling narrative. It seems now, the weirder or more outlandish the story line, the higher chance the video has of going viral. And make no mistake about it, that’s the objective from stage one.

MIA’s YouTube-banned video of ginger genocide sparked a number of interesting articles on the topic over the past week, my favorite read being from New York Magazine – Internet Killed the MTV Star. It looks long, but reads quickly, so do it! LA Times also had a piece about it in their music blog – Music Videos Make a Comeback… not as pressing a read. Definitely check out the second piece to the NYMag post though, a slide show of famed directors’ videos from the YouTube generation that you can see here.

Free Music From Merge Records!

admin — Thu, 06 May 2010 05:28:09 +0000

From the Merge Blog:

Spring has sprung and it is time for a new free Merge sampler! Featuring hit songs from the latest albums of Radar Brothers, Spoon, Let’s Wrestle, She & Him and more, visit amazon.com now to download all fourteen free songs with special cover art by Let’s Wrestle’s Wesley Patrick Gonzalez!

As always, you can find new albums from all of these artists and more in our handyMerge store.

Free Merge 2010 digital sampler track listing:
1. Radar Brothers – Horses Warriors (from The Illustrated Garden)
2. Let’s Wrestle – I Won’t Lie to You (from In the Court of the Wrestling Let’s)
3. Destroyer – The Very Modern Dance (from Streethawk: A Seduction)
4. Shout Out Louds – Fall Hard (from Work)
5. Spoon – Written in Reverse (from Transference)
6. Lou Barlow – Don’t Apologize (from Goodnight Unknown)
7. She & Him – Thieves (from Volume Two)
8. Superchunk – Learned to Surf (from Leaves in the Gutter)
9. Alec Bathgate – Glide (from Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox)
10. The Clientele – I Wonder Who We Are (from Bonfires on the Heath)
11. Caribou – Odessa (from Swim)
12. The Clean – In the Dreamlife U Need a Rubber Soul (from Mister Pop)
13. Wye Oak – I Hope You Die (from My Neighbor / My Creator)
14. Lambchop – Give It (from Live at XX Merge)

How To Destroy Angels

admin — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:53:49 +0000

I know I’m late to the party on Trent Reznor’s new project with wife, Mariqueen Maandig. Pitchfork just posted a full song that you can listen to. If you want to see a couple videos from the studio, mostly short clips to generate some JJ Abrams style hype, check out their site.

All in all, I really dig it. It’s almost like the chill instrumental side of NIN meets Massive Attack.

Listen here.

VIDEO: Jónsi – Go Do

admin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:26:26 +0000

It seems like every musical endeavor Jónsi embarks on, from Sigur Rós to Riceboy Sleeps, conjures a fantastic and dream-like quality. Perhaps there’s something in the water up in Iceland, or more likely, he’s one of the unique talents of our generation.

A few months ago, if you were on the Sigur Rós mailing list, you got a preview of Jónsi’s new solo project, and an oportunity to download a preview track, Boy Lilikoi. You might still be able to snag that on his website, I’m not sure.

We now have the official release date of Go, April 6th, and know that it will contain 9 sure-to-be-brilliant tracks. Of the bits I’ve heard, Jónsi’s solo debut picks up where Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust left off, with driving percussion and dancing orchestral arrangements, but incorporates more english than any of his previous projects. Until then, enjoy the new video for the first song on the album, Go Do, and sift through a plethora of media on his site.

Copyright Criminals: This is a Sampling Sport

admin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:25:58 +0000

Here’s a trailer for Copyright Criminals, an IndiePix documentary about sampling and copyright law.

In it, you’ll see hip hop legends and other artists like Public Enemy, De La Soul, Beastie Boys, etc. You’ll also witness the argument from the side of the artists who have been sampled including mister p-funk, George Clinton, Clyde Stubblefield and more.

Check your PBS showtimes for Independent Lens, as it begins showing on Tuesday (though I can’t catch it until Sunday)!

Copyright Criminals: This Is a Sampling Sport examines the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the related debates over artistic expression, copyright law, and (of course) money.

This documentary traces the rise of hip-hop from the urban streets of New York to its current status as a multibillion-dollar industry. For more than thirty years, innovative hip-hop performers and producers have been re-using portions of previously recorded music in new, otherwise original compositions. When lawyers and record companies got involved, what was once referred to as a “borrowed melody” became a “copyright infringement.”

The film showcases many of hip-hop music’s founding figures like Public Enemy, De La Soul, and Digital Underground—while also featuring emerging hip-hop artists from record labels Definitive Jux, Rhymesayers, Ninja Tune, and more. It also provides an in-depth look at artists who have been sampled, such as Clyde Stubblefield (James Brown’s drummer and the world’s most sampled musician), as well as commentary by another highly sampled musician, funk legend George Clinton.

As artists find ever more inventive ways to insert old influences into new material, this documentary asks a critical question, on behalf of an entire creative community:

Can you own a sound?

Is Streaming Music Our Shambhala?

admin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:19:11 +0000

We are teased with glimmers of hope. We hear stories of how it could work, tales from the other side of how an enlightened music industry could embrace streaming music, brokering peace and harmony between music consumers and the RIAA. Yet with each account we hear, with each promising start up we watch tank, streaming music success begins to carry more of a mythological air than a grip on reality.

I read an article by Eliot Van Buskirk over at Wired that basically gives an update on the state of streaming music services, and whether or not they’ll fly in the US. It’s a good read for us Spotify hopeful who have been waiting for updates on a US launch ever since their CTO jumped ship right before the big release.

Music: Too Expensive to Be Free, Too Free to Be Expensive

MySpace, rumored to be on the verge of purchasing the free music streaming site imeem, is struggling to keep up with its own payments to music copyright holders, according to a top News Corp executive — a problem that has plagued every other licensed free music service.

The digital music doubters could be right with the contention that advertising revenue can’t cover the costs of licensing music. Meanwhile, illegitimate free music sources continue to proliferate, rendering paid music subscriptions irrelevant for most music fans.

Advertising was supposed to be music’s magic bullet, enabling fans to get the free music they’re going to find anyway while contributing at least something to copyright holder coffers. That dream is fading fast. As legitimate sources for free on-demand music dry up, fans will likely head back to file sharing networks, which is bad news for everyone involved in music — except for, perhaps, hard drive manufacturers.

Evidence and rumors are mounting to support the idea that free music websites are unfeasible.

MySpace Music — the on-demand, ad-supported music service not to be confused with the band pages on the site — is losing money and could soon add a subscription option. News Corp Digital head Jon Miller answered his own questions on the topic last week at a conference in Monaco. “Do I think the freemium model works, consistent with earlier discussions? Yes I do. Has that been figured out? No, it hasn’t, but it’s certainly something to look at,” said Miller. “Is [Myspace Music] profitable? No, it’s not. On an operating basis it’s getting in, but no, because of the payments due to the music companies.”

Ad-supported music service imeem, which has been the subject of considerable speculation related to its running out of money over the past year, is reportedly in late-stage discussions to be acquired by MySpace, which has its own problems, as mentioned above. Like MySpace, imeem’s biggest challenge has been covering payments to labels.

MOG, which planned to launch a free, ad-supported on-demand streaming service, decided that was impossible and went with a $5/month subscription instead.

Spotify pushed back its U.S. launch to early next year, with CEO Daniel Ek admitting that when the service launches in the states, it might not be the same as it was in Europe where music fans enjoy a free, ad-supported version of the software or a 10-euro-per-month subscription option that removes the ads. A bundled version of the service that comes with your smartphone or ISP is an increasingly likely option.

Google added play buttons to its music search results that allow anyone to listen to a song once for free through Lala or MySpace’s iLike service, after which they have to pay for it. If Google can’t figure out a way to support something with ads, it arguably cannot be done.

YouTube remains the only licensed, free, on-demand music service that promises to break even, mostly because the visual nature of the services makes users more likely to encounter advertisements on the site. When the labels launch their Vevo YouTube spin-off, they hope to generate even more money from ads than YouTube does.

The upshot of the labels’ licensing demands: Music will continue its transformation into something that accompanies a visual element.

[photo: Naughty Dog]

The Ting Tings Collaborate With Jay-Z

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:42:33 +0000

I saw that Jay-Z signed The Ting Tings a few days back, but didn’t really think it was groundbreaking news worthy of a story. Now that he’s going to be producing their next album, they’ve got my attention.

[via bang]

The Ting Tings are to work with Jay-Z on their new album.

The ‘That’s Not My Name’ duo have signed to the rap superstar’s record label, Roc Nation, in the US and he is reportedly set to give their career a huge boost by helping with them on their second album.

A source told Britain’s Daily Star newspaper: “Jay is hoping to lend his production skills to some of the new material.

“The Staccato rhythmic style of The Ting Tings sits well with what he does best, so that was the attraction.

“Jay can make them one of the biggest British bands in America.”

While the duo are thrilled with their deal, they are unlikely to be happy with the amount of time they will have to spend in America.

The group – made up of singer and guitarist Katie White and drummer and programmer Jules de Martino – recently said despite their huge success, they have been homesick since they started touring the world in support of their debut album ‘We Started Nothing’ in May 2008.

Katie said: “We’ve seen the world. God, we’ve seen it about five times. We were even flying over Siberia the other day, from the aeroplane there was just not one sign of life, not one tree, nothing. It was amazing.

“Japan, Hong Kong were great. America’s good, we do long tours there and you know, there’s some amazing cities there, but you’re driving for so long just to get to the next city.”

Jay-Z has also signed British girl group Sugababes to Roc Nation in the US.

(C) BANG Media International

Kanye Undoes Auto-Tune On Jay-Z’s New Album

Google Music Search – One More Thing For Bing To Catch Up On

admin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:15:37 +0000

So the rumors were true. As expected, Google announced a new music search service today, partnering with iLike, MySpace, Lala, the big 4 record labels and a venerable “who’s who” list of other internet music services. I’ll give you a quick list of what’s up so you don’t have to power through the dissertations on CNET or RS.

1) Google will not handle any licensing with the big 4 labels since its partners (LaLa, iLike, etc) have already brokered their own deals, and the streaming is funneled through their sites.

2) Google will NOT allow purchases through the search engine, but will push all commerce to its partner sites.

3) Users can stream entire songs within the search engine, as well as watch relevant music VIDEO clips via MySpace (kind of odd since Google OWNS YouTube…)

4) Song lyrics will be provided by GraceNote.

5) Yahoo! had a prepared statement trying to steal some thunder from Google, citing that they’ve had a similar music search for quite some time now.

So now, the RIAA is hoping when you type in “Taylor Swift” into your search bar, you see a music player and options to buy songs rather than a gaggle of torrent links. Let’s all welcome them to the 21st century.

If it’s snappy enough, I think it will be find strong success. iTunes is a slow and tough way to preview and find music since it’s a standalone program. Nobody wants to boot up an entire program to hear a 30-second clip of a song they MIGHT like. Most users always have a browser open, and likely with a Google start page, in which they can quickly look up and listen to entire tracks. Sure this was possible through Google’s partner’s sites earlier, but said sites did not have nearly the massive exposure that the king of search does.

I’m sure Google’s music partners are none too happy to collect the new exposure and potential revenue from added traffic.

How do you find your music? Do you think it will fly?

sources: Steve Knopper | Caroline McCarthy