18 posts tagged “music”

I still feel like a delinquent, doing things I want to do instead of training on the weekends. Yesterday I went to Amoeba and then afterwards to a birthday party in the Park. (I made up for it today by running 12.5 miles this morning.) I can't get used to not being in training. Anyway, here was my haul; music for a foggy morning:

The take from Amoeba

From his latest email, on his spring tour:

If you'd like to sing LEAD VOCALS on a song, please find us before the show and we'll bring you onstage. Try to learn two songs in case we don't know your first choice. If you want to PLAY BASS, bring it (don't worry about the amp) and learn either 424 or My Old Flame. It'll be a free for all.

He also posted a remix of his album Pixel Revolt. I know I posted the track below recently, but, I'm posting it again because I can.

They Won't Let Me Run

John Vanderslice

This morning, riding the N-Judah on the way to work, I was listening to an IndieInterviews session with John Vanderslice that has been sitting on my iPod for way too long. (Next up: his interview with Merlin Mann). I expected he would be pretty interesting, and he was. And it also made me wonder why Pixel Revolt didn't cause more of a sensation.

his earlier albums are filled with great songs, but none seem as album-oriented as Pixel Revolt, which is filled with gorgeous songs from start to finish. And it's not just the melodies; the lyrics are heartbreaking, introspective, political. All albums should be this good.

In any case, I thought I might upload a few of his tracks from various albums, plus an Alias remix of "Exodus Damage" (AKA: Dance Dance Revolution).

They Won't Let Me Run

Exodus Damage Alias Remix

Exodus Damage

What's your musical horoscope?  (Put your player on shuffle and write down the first 10 songs that come up.)
Inspired by Stephanie.  

Fun! Thanks, Party Shuffle.

Blood Red River - Beth Orton
Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away - CYHSY
Creation and Destruction - Immortal Technique
Making Time - The Olivia Tremor Control
Nude as the News - Cat Power
A Merrier Christmas - Benny Green
Promise What you Will - Iron & Wine
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - The Smiths
John Wayne Gacy Jr. - Sufjan Stevens
Flag You Down - Moviola

You know most of these, but here's one you may not, and one that makes every day better.

Immortal Technique - Creation And Destruction

The Smiths - Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

I think I'm going to be singing this song out loud until Harper kills me.

Note: originally posted on my Mac blog, but reposted here.

Apple records and the company formerly known as Apple Computer reached some sort of deal, finally. And as just about everyone has noted, perhaps this will finally open up The Beatles catalog to online sales, starting with availability on the iTunes Store.

We know this is coming, largely because of the Macworld keynote. As Rob Griffiths noted:

Steve’s slides were loaded with Beatles references. Album covers, Beatles songs playing, etc. They were everywhere. Too plentiful to miss. And yet, no announcement was made about the Beatles collection being available on the iTunes store—was there some sort of last-minute legal hold-up?

Well if there was some last-minute legal wrangling, hopefully it's over now. I wouldn't be surprised to see The Beatles for sale as early as tomorrow, included with this Tuesday's new batch of iTunes Store releases.

And just how popular will that batch of songs be? Coincidentally, I received a release from NPD today via Lee Graham with year-end analysis of the most popular artists in various formats.

Biggest selling CD of the year? Rascal Flatts. Rascal Who? I must be sleeping; never heard of them. But ho-hum, that's CDs, right? Anyone still buying those is out of touch anyway.

So lets move along to digital downloads. Here's what NPD had to say about digital downloads:

In 2006, the most popular artists judged by the number of digital downloads
via paid digital music services, like iTunes, were as follows:

1. The Fray
2. Nickelback
3. George Carlin
4. Justin Timberlake
5. Rascal Flatts
6. Linkin Park
7. Johnny Cash
8. Creedence Clearwater Revival
9. Pink
10. The White Stripes

Fascinating. And all the moreso because The Fray failed to make the list of top ten CDs, as did Carlin, JT, Linkin Park, CCR, Pink, and The White Stripes. I'd attribute the disparity to youth, were it not for Carlin and CCR. But here's the really good part:

The most popular artists, judged by the number of song tracks downloaded
via peer-to-peer (P2P) services by U.S. consumers in 2006 were as follows:

1. Eminem
2. Ludacris
3. Nickelback
4. 2Pac
5. The Beatles
6. Justin Timberlake
7. 50 Cent
8. Red Hot Chili Peppers
9. Beyonce
10. Rascal Flatts

What's interesting about that is it demonstrates that one doesn't need a new release to enjoy high demand. The classics will do quite nicely, thank you, as evidenced by the presence of both The Beatles and 2Pac on the top-downloaded list--and of course the ever-present Beatles bin at any and every music store in the world.

Yet The Beatles don't appear on the top ten list of CDs sold. And they aren't even in the top 1000 of online sales (naturally, since they have not licensed their music for sale online). It's going to be very interesting to see if, once they make a belated entrance into the market, The Beatles can transition from number five on the free downloads list to a high spot on the paid downloads list.

My guess is that, when released, Beatles albums are all going to enjoy their biggest sales since their initial release on CD format. Yet it seems very improbable that they could do as well in terms of sales on the year as they do with illegal downloads.

But who knows, maybe I'm wrong. If things work out with iTunes, maybe The Beatles could just be the next Rascal Flatts.

Audio:  Let's hear your favorite cover song.
Submitted by Suzy. 

I love this Mountain Goats cover of a Trembling Blue Stars song. Plus: I had already uploaded it.

04 Sometimes I Still Feel The Bruise

The Mountain Goats

1 comment

So, after hearing Terry Gross threaten to physically assault her listeners, and subsequently capturing that moment with WireTap, I had grand intentions. Which I then forgot all about until today when I searched my iTunes library for "Honan," looking for a phone interview I recorded last week*.

And then I found my Terry Gross remix, in which I mashed up Terry's words and Yo La Tengo's infectious, er,  let's say melodies.

I had meant to add in all sorts of other tomfoolery and gee-gaw gulumphing from her other interviews, and to delete some of the more repetitive stuff in here. But then, my interest faded and like so many other things, what I could not do in the course of a single afternoon would, in fact, never be done at all. Yet rather than let it languish in the doldrums of my iTunes library, I thought I'd upload it for your Monday listening pleasure. And if you really love it, you can download it here for permanent and real.

Mr. Tough (Terry Gross Mix)

* The year was 1999, and this was one of the best $15 I ever spent. When used with this or this, importing interviews from the telephone into iTunes could not be easier. Also, possibilities for phone pranking: endless.