Weird week, this week. Bit of a hole in the columns section this week, but I’m sure most of you have noticed that the Music News section has gotten quite the shot in the arm this week, thanks to the contributing efforts of Aaron, Brian Blottie & Adam (ABBA, for short). The upside to this is that you all will be getting your music news will be more up to date, and the downside means that I can no longer simply pad out a column with crap from earlier on in the week if I think this thing needs a to be plumped out a bit.
I’m not really feeling it this week, so if this column isn’t up to snuff like previous endeavors, that’s the reason why. Sorry, y’all.
On the plus side I had an amazing week spent mostly watching movies, continuing to write my book, and spending some time with some tres fabulous people. Wasn’t all bad, but it could’ve been better. Since this isn’t Black I guess I should stop nattering about my personal life and get down to covering…
Da News
– REM are very close to finishing up a new album, their 13th full length, for those keeping score at home. Michael Stipe, lead singer of the group, has described the album as being either very, very loud or very, very quiet, and has said the band is entertaining the thought of touring to support the disc. One of the songs that has made the cut thus far for the as-yet-untitled album is ‘Final Straw’, a tune that was made available online last year and was performed while the band was on tour last year.
– The band comprised of members of the dearly departed At The Drive In, The Mars Volta, are currently in the studio working on an album that they’re hoping to release in the fall, while Sparta, which is also made up of members of ATDI, recently updated their website to begin readying anticipation for their upcoming spin, titled Porcelain, which is due out in June. All three bands mentioned here are worth your time, money and energy spent listening to, so if what you needed was for some filthy Canadian stranger to give you an endorsement on these bands before you went out and bought them, NOW you’ve got it. Go and do me proud.
– Brian Eno will be re-releasing some of his older material in May. Here Come The Warm Jets, Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), Another Green World and Before & After Science will see the light of day on the 17th of May. The re-releasing of Eno’s material will be an ongoing project by Virgin Records, who are trying to re-introduce people to him. No word if any bonus material will be included with these tracks, nor has there been any word regarding the success/failure of trying to re-introduce a female to the elusive Eno in his natural habitat. Zookeepers are optimistic that attempts at trying to get Eno to breed with this latest selection should work and that chances at reproduction are greater than 50%.
What the FUCK was that? Well, it looked and sounded good at the time. Moving along…
– At the end of this month, NY rockers Interpol will be entering the studio to begin work on the follow-up to Turn On The Bright Lights. Look for this release to also be coming out sometime this fall. I never really got into these guys, despite getting the hard sell from my friend who absolutely ADORES these guys. Too quiet and moody for my tastes and nothing really stands out as a result. Meh.
– The Vines have info up at their website pertaining to the release of their new CD. Also for your enjoyment would be the video for ‘Ride’. Check it out at this link.
– Good news for you R Kelly fans out there: prosecutors have decided to drop 7 of the charges levelled against him in an upcoming child pornography trial. Bad news, though, as 14 child pornography charges still remain. For the rest of us who don’t give a rat’s ass about an absolutely disturbed sicko, here’s something that’ll insult your intelligence nonetheless.
– Warner Music axed a thousand jobs earlier in the week, hot on the heels of Edgar Bronfman Jr.’s purchase of the company from Time Warner Inc. These cuts are global, and will come into effect next month. Here’s hoping that my local Warner rep, who is a really good person and is great at hooking me up with passes to shows and CDs, won’t get axed, but given the fact that most of the other majors have either vastly reduced or totally eliminated their presence here, I’m not too hopeful. God forbid those warmed-over corpses that make up the executive wing of Warner take a pay cut to try and weather the storm, no, let’s axe the grunts out in the trenches who are doing their damnedest to promote the pap you’ve convinced yourselves to be a ‘sure winner’. Bah.
– In what can only be described as sheer idiocy, the Walt Disney Co. has 86’d a statue of Mickey Mouse who is dressed up like Janet Jackson. Apparently the statue was unveiled last year as part of celebrations regarding the Mouse’s 75th birthday. Other statues include Andre Agassi, Ellen DeGeneres and Jaime Lee Curtis. So okay, Disney thinks that having a statue of a woman who flashed her breast that resembles Mickey Mouse is bad for the ‘family values’ of the theme park. Okay, cool, I understand and appreciate that. What I don’t get, however, is how come Disney thinks that it’s okay to have not just ONE, but several incarnations of Mickey Mouse in drag floating around their little fantasyland, and find that there’s nothing wrong with that. Especially when you stop to consider that one of the statues is a homosexual statue!
The Walt Disney Co: proud supporters of America’s transgendered peoples, ardently opposed to the concept of public nudity in any way, shape or form. The f*ck?
In additional Disney-related, but non-music related news, Michael Eisner got the old heave ho from the board of directors earlier this week, but the board is still 100% committed to Eisner. Yeah, you guys are ousting this dude from a position he’s had since the mid 80s all of a sudden and you’re still 100% supporting him. Bullshit, sez I, but also, I sez to go and read Eric S.’s Black Column where he goes into this particular little story in microscopic like detail. Well, when you compare it to the paragraph I just wrote about it, it seems like it’s microscopic.
– As reported last week, the oh-so-individualistic Bitch Queen of MTV, who is 101% punk rawk, will be embarking on an ambitious tour of North America’s shrines to commercialism (shopping malls for the vocabularly impaired). Now, this shining bastion of creativity and free-thought will be sponsored by AOL for this tour. Why not just brand the words ‘corporate whore’ onto her forehead and be done with it? Honestly.
– Britney Spears’ new tour involves bondage, threesomes, man/man and girl/girl ‘action’, as well as more poorly lip synched singing from everyone’s favorite celebrity punchline, next to Courtney Love. Sounds a lot like what goes around the 411 HQ every weekend. Just add in some blow and a couple of pandas and that basically covers it.
– More artists have been confirmed for performances for the 2004 Junos, being held April 4th in Edmonton. Billy Talent, Kathleen Edwards, Blackie & The Rodeo Kings, Finger Eleven, Simple Plan and Three Days Grace are joining already announced performers Michael Buble, Barenaked Ladies, Nelly Furtado, The Bitch Queen of MTV, Sarah McLachlan and Nickelback. To make an already stellar bill just that much more intolerable, Alanis f*cking Morissette will be hosting the spectacle. I can’t believe I’m going up to Edmonton that weekend specifically to hang out with people associated with this junket. The things I do for some of you people…
– As reported earlier this week by ABBA, Metallica and Jay-Z are going to be ‘mixed’. I utter a big ‘whoopty f*ck!’ to anyone who’ll hear me. Why? Two reasons. 1) The Grey Album was a gimmick the first time around and it wasn’t a mind blowing album like some people may lead you to believe. Dangermouse was riding a gimmick that’d get him noticed and having someone do it again is gonna suck based on general principle. 2) This thing’ll get quashed so quick by Metallica and their army of lawyers that I’m not surprised they haven’t filed a lawsuit yet. I’ll retract this last statement IF this DJ Spooky has gotten the go-ahead to use Metallica’s music, but I seriously doubt he has.
If you want some good ‘Vs.’ music, which has samples from one artist hooked up with vocals from another, go and get your ass some DJ Soulwax, or look for the 2 Many DJs compilations. I assure you that you’ll be going ‘Danger-who?’ within 5 minutes of listening to that stuff. If you want to hear a sample of the Black on Black project, click here. I also realize this has probably been reported to death already this week, but I just had to find an excuse to plug 2 Many DJs.
– So U2 has a book coming out. In The Name Of Love: U2 By U2 which is set for a 2005 release will cover the band’s 25 year history and will be put together by Rolling Stone writer Jim Henke who also did an exhibit for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on U2. The book looks to include much of the material from this exhibit, such as session notes from Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois, handwritten lyrics as well as previously unreleased photos. Well, I mentioned a book, so it’s time to move on to bigger and better things, let’s hit the…
Anti-Pop: Fuck ‘Em, Let Them Riot! We’re Sonic Death Monkey!
EmergencyAirlines: Trevor Presiloski
Widro: Who?
– Care of Jeff’s column from last week.
Well, don’t I just feel the LOVE! We’re about 4 weeks into my time at 411, so am I allowed to throw a tantrum in this column bitching about unfair treatment and hugs from Widro, or do I get that with the 3 month anniversary of my pseudo-employment here? Just kidding, of course, but I mean, c’mon… “who?” Yarrrrrrrgh. My Courtney Love review was given the top slot for a week in Music and all I rate with Lord Widro is “who?”. You’d think I was some dude who couldn’t write that was plucked off a message board and given a spot on here. Hmm. I think I might’ve just described someone there.
Right!
Anyways, moving along, I promised you all that I was going to come up and provide you all with something new, amazing and interesting this week for this portion of the column and I’m hoping to try and not disappoint you with this week’s offering. This week, I figured I’d try to entertain you guys with some LINKS, and show you some stuff that people have been able to conjure up on this Wu-Wu-Wu of ours. I’ll be taking a look at some unusual music, stuff that you may not necessarily LIKE, let alone want to actually LISTEN TO, but I figure I’d try to showcase SOMETHING in here and see if you guys like what’s posted here. If this doesn’t work and you hate it, don’t worry, I’ll be trying something new next week.
– First up on this list would be The PornOrchestra, a group of artists who do full blown, um, tributes to the music that’s performed in adult films. According to their website, TPO “is an attempt to radically reinterpret the soundtrack to pornographic film.” I’ve had this link sitting in my favorites page for awhile now, for future inclusion in this column, so I figured now would be as good a time as any to put it in here. This group seems to operate in and around southern California so if you live down there, they might be worth checking out.
– Bit Shifter might be considered gimmicky, but their premise is simple: music made and performed from a gameboy. The website features some absolutely mind blowing mp3s for your perusal, as well as the option to buy some shit from them. I have to recommend ‘The Connector Conspiracy’ for your listening pleasure as it’s absolutely insane jibber-jabber coming out of such a small little gaming system. It starts off slow but then descends into some sort of whacked up silicon acid trip that has to be heard to be believed.
– 22x, a now defunct outfit that hailed from my town of Calgary, Alberta. MP3s are available here, and the group is your standard ROCK outfit and is worthy of your attention. What, would I lie to you? There’s also a Paypal jar up there for you to donate to if you happen to really like what you hear. Also, if anyone who reads this is going to Boston in Berklee, lemme know, as one of the members of this group is currently going to school there.
– Moving along, I give you the lyrical stylings of a Dr. Ammondt. This guy is apparently a linguistics expert of some kind who has taken it upon himself to go and translate Elvis Presley into civilization’s first known language: Sumerian. No MP3s, sadly, although you can get your mitts on a CD through his website if you feel you REALLY want to survive what can only be described as the textbook example of a ‘starving artist’.
– Getting away from the odd music plugs for this week, let’s do some ON SITE plugs. First off is the always timely, and Official 411 Staff Writer Of The Week Captain Caveman, who also goes by the pseudonym of Aaron Cameron in his off days. My Minority Report chum continues to astound and amaze, with my favorite line of the week with, “Let’s pretend it’s 1997 where he and Chris O’Donnell are still publically considered alive, of course.” I dunno why, but that made me crack up. As for who the ‘he’ Capt. was referring to? Read up for yourself!
– I’d plug Jeff, but it’s 8PM on Saturday night and his column still isn’t up, and I’m on my way out the door to a concert. So, hit the back button on your browser when you’re finished reading this and check out Jeff’s column when it gets posted if you haven’t read it already. Hell, go back and read it again a second time if you’ve already caught it. It’s 100% Minority Report, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Assuming it’s posted, that is. My track record of pimping stuff that has yet to be posted is pretty bad.
– Mr. YOU is angry that I stoled a story from him. And um, he’s got some Time Machine thingys up that someone requested have come back. Check ’em out.
– One more off-site link before we close up shop and move along…
Typography. That’s fun with letters, but not the kind of fun that comes from creating steaming pieces of muckity muck that you’re currently wading through. Typography meets music would be what the above link is all about. You know you wanna see what the connection between the Notorious BIG and Baskerville Old Face (a font) is. It’s cool. Honest!
Anti-Pop: B-Sides
I figured that I’ve milked that whole ranting about Eminem/Benzino in my previous columns enough, so let’s move on to talking about something else and see if I can provoke some discussion from the HORDES of fans I’ve got out there.
…Okay, maybe not HORDES. The hundreds of you out…
Okay, okay, so maybe the few dozen of…
WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘Who is this guy, and what’s he doing here writing the Sunday column?’
IS THAT YOU, WIDRO? Oh, reaaaaaal funny there, chief. I’ll take myself, and my three fans and..and…
Blather on some more in here. What, were you expecting me to run off and throw a temper tantrum on a message board somewhere cos the Bossman BURNT me? I’m a Canadian, nitwits! The best you could expect from me would be a politely worded e-mail to Widro asking him very nicely if he could perhaps maybe sort of remember who I am.
And then get promptly ignored. Much like the following segment will be if you don’t read it. (Boy, how was that for an awkward transition?)
– ‘Industry’ news: The RIAA rejected an offer from the Electronic Frontier Front that could potentionally solve the problems regarding rampant online piracy. Their suggestion of voluntary creative licensing was showcased at the Music Law Summit West last week. Basically the suggestion would work much the same way radio stations are able to license their music for play nowadays: pay a fee to be able to essentially play whatever they want. The RIAA, scared witless of the notion of allowing people to actually enjoy music, decided to go down a previously travelled road and endorsed Audible Magic, a program that works as an mp3 filter and restricts the trading of the files, more or less making it impossible to swap them around. This worked before with Napster when they were originally shut down and killed dead, so there’s precedence there. However, all it’ll take is someone coming up with a NEW format for sound files and we’re back to square one again. If the problems that have been experienced in South Asia haven’t made the People In Power realize that they are NOT going to stop rampant piracy, then I’m all out of ideas.
I like the concept of voluntary creative licensing, although I’m not as idealistic about it as the EFF seem to be about it. I’ve stated before that I dislike pay per download (PPD) services like Napster, iPod, etc. because of things like availability, format issues and the fact that if you’re buying in bulk, you’re actually losing out as you could buy a CD that comes with a bonus DVD, CD-ROM or something else, as well as the packaging and the knowledge of actually holding something PHYSICAL in your hot little hands. Couple this with the fact that things like the iPod player have had some rather glaring technical issues regarding their batteries, among other things, and I dislike the industry’s attempts at wading into the arena of the Internet. The fact that Wal-Mart, of all corporations, has decided to set up their own PPD shop should be enough based on principle alone, but if it’s not, that should cover the reasons why I dislike PPD.
The problem I have with the EFF is that their concept isn’t structured enough for the RIAA and their cronies to stomach. While it’d be amusing to think that people would willingly pay $5 a month to be able to download to their hearts content, the reality of it is that people will continue to play Russian roulette with the RIAA and risk getting sued if they can get away with it. $5 a month for literally millions of songs is too small for the record companies to be interested in.
It does seem to be working for some outfits, though, as California based record label, Magnatune has had a ‘try it before you buy it attitude’ with their material and seem to be doing fairly okay for themselves, although it should be noted that they’ve only been operating for just over a year now, and we could see them go the way of the dearly departed mp3.com in the coming months. Knock on wood, mind you, as I love the site and it’s concept, but I realize that business can be very cutthroat and brutal.
My concept of downloading pretty much is how cable TV works nowadays. Give people $10 a month for basic Top 40 Rock & Pop junk to be available for download, let them download anything from the artists featured on the ‘Top 40’ section. Then start working out package deals for people, where for another $5 a month, they get access to the entire country catalogue, or the classic rock catalogue or whatever. Much like satellite TV, the hardcore fans will plop down extra change for more material, and I can see this working rather nicely for mp3s.
To get people interested in this service over other similar filesharing services would simply be to include material that can’t be found anywhere else. Music videos, good quality videos, at that, offers to join in chats with artists. Imagine what’d happen if 10,000 little 13 year old twats convinced mom and dad to sign up for this new service so they could talk to the Bitch Queen of MTV? Also make it so that all the material is of good quality and is relatively easy to access and download and, whammo, you’ve got it set. Now as to making this all seem to be profitable and workable is another thing entirely, mind you, but that’s why I’m the Idea Guy and not the Business Major. Nyah.
What do you think regarding about this whole situation? Do you think there’s a ‘solution’ to online piracy that’ll quell these lawsuits the RIAA keeps slapping people with enough so that illegal mp3/movie trading will go the way of pirating cable, or are college students going to forever be pitted against the geriatric farts that make up the RIAA, in a vicious game of cat & mouse, with no end to piracy in sight? Or do you happen to think they’re on the right track, and PPD is going to be the one that ‘gets’ it? Your thoughts, as always, would be welcome. trevor411music@hotmail.com !
Sound Advice
This week is going to be a real quick & dirty Sound Advice, as I’m not really feeling it this week. The whole point of this section of the column is to hype up something that I happen to really like and enjoy. Rather than do a ho-hum entry about an artist I like and regretting what I wrote later, I’m going to do something short and sweet and promote something that I don’t know a whole lot about, but what I have heard has been pretty good thus far. Aim your toboggans and dog sleds back to Winnipeg, kiddies, as this week we’re going to be taking a look at an entire record label: Peanuts & Corn Records.
About two years ago I was talking with a friend of mine, Sean(rad), who lives in Winnipeg on MSN. We were talking about interesting political bands, with groups like Rage Against the Machine, the Dead Kennedys, and Anti-Flag getting tossed around. He then mentioned this group, called fermented reptile, but then quickly told me that he wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy their particular music because it happened to be RAP music. Given the fact that our musical conversations have usually been in the ‘rock’ vein, I guess it was a fair assessment. Assuring him that I’d be interested, he hooked me up with a couple of mp3s and I was intrigued by these guys. He told me that they’re a local group, and had a CD out in stores. Interested, I was able to get fermented reptile’s disc, Lets Just Call You Quits from my store and enjoyed it. It was some pretty charged political stuff and it also happened to be domestic on top of that. Most amazing of all, however, would’ve been the fact that these guys could rhyme pretty well….and they’re from Winnipeg! Imagine a rapper coming from Oklahoma or Kansas for you Yankees out there and you’ve got the right idea.
Anyways, fermented reptile are on Peanuts & Corn, a record label that was based in Winnipeg. They have a number of fairly talented guys featured on that particular record label. I’ve only been able to listen to the fr stuff, as well as the sampler CD, Peanuts & Corn – Factory Seconds that features most of the people on the label. I’ve liked what I’ve heard thus far, particularly mcenroe (yes, they seem to have some sort of thing with capitalization…don’t ask me!). So, if you’re into hiphop that’s Canadian, ‘underground’ and is political, it’s worth checking out.
Go and ‘preview’ anything from the fermented reptile disc. Tracklisting would be:
Intro
My Savings Account
Letters Never Sent
The Law
Severe Punishment
T.V. Dinner
Thin Line
Urine Sample
Interlude (feat Arami Baraka)
I Finally See
King Size
Size of Things…
Break Bread
Mask
Simple Me (for D.O.)
Miniature Spoons
Accidents Happen
Factory Emissions
Crimes Against Humanity
Start Search
Wild Boar Hunt
No live endorsement here as I’ve never heard them live, although my friend Sean(rad) has said FR is pretty good, so take that for what it’s worth.
Other Artists Featured In Sound Advice: Sarah Slean, Sixty Stories, Sam Roberts, Hawksley Workman.
If you want to see a band or artist featured here (preferably Canadian) e-mail me at trevor411music@hotmail.com with your suggestions or catch me on AIM as flinch311.
The End Is The Beginning Is The End
Well, this upcoming week looks to be pretty bad for new releases. I spent last week recieving crap. Umm, the soundtrack for Starsky & Hutch is out, and there’s a new disc coming out from Cannibal Corpse, for those of you who like that sort of garbage. Actually, wait, scrap what I had just said. The Von Bondies…also known as that band whose lead singer was turned into hamburger by Jack ‘(Water) Guns’ White, have their new one coming out this Tuesday. I caught a radio special on them about 3 weeks ago and it doesn’t sound too terrible. So, Von Bondies are worth your attention this week, if you’re looking for some new music.
Also, Bubba Ho-tep debuted this week up here in Calgary at our little rinky dink indie theatre. This movie features Bruce Campbell as Elvis. Fighting a mummy. Yeah, you read that right. If you haven’t heard of this, I guess that’d qualify as my good deed of the week. CHECK IT OUT, as I will be sometime later this week!
Beyond that, I’ll see you all next week. Tune in to Melchor tomorrow, and read the rest of the Music Zone while you’re at it.
CIAO!
