The countdown to the All Points West Festival begins! Dubbed as the Coachella of the East Coast (hardly, but I guess you have to start somewhere), I’m really excited to participate in this inaugural NY event this weekend- albeit just for one day. Of course the highlight will be Radiohead. But with Kings of Leon opening? Not too shabby, I say.
Kings of Leon have a new album, ‘Only by the Night,’ due out September 23. They’ve been sampling new tracks on their MySpace page that sound really good. They released Crawl for download recently. Today they premiered Sex On Fire. Not a bad anthem.
Artist: The Helio Sequence Album: Keep Your Eyes Ahead File Under: Dream Rock Recommended if You Like: Early U2, Band of Horses Featured Tracks: Lately
The Portland-based duo, The Helio Sequence, released their third album ‘Keep Your Eyes Ahead’ in January of this year; but it’s one of those records I just keep coming back to again and again. While this post may be long overdue, the relevance of this recommendation is right on. It’s a great summer album. Perhaps it’s because there are moments on the record that sound so early U2/Joshua Tree I can’t help but feel nostalgic.
To see them live gives you an even greater appreciation of their range and talent. Drummer Benjamin Weikel is mesmerizing to watch on stage with his visceral drumming technique, as if he’s in some altered state of ecstasy. Combined with Brandon Summers refined vocals and radiant layers of reverb guitar, the duo produces a lot of good sound. It’s certainly high on my list for Best of 2008; maybe even claiming title to ‘Sleeper Album of the Year’. So go get it already. Hurry, before the summer’s up.
Be Your Own Pet announced Friday that they’re calling it quits as a band, citing nothing more than it’s time to move their separate ways. This just months after the release of ‘Get Damaged’. Awww, now I’m really sad I missed them open for The Raveonettes earlier this year.
La Blogotheque posted new ‘Take Away’ videos of Lykke Li ad El Perro Del Mar singing tunes as they strolled around San Francisco’s Civic Center this past May when they were in town for their show at Bimbos. What is it with the Swedes and their pop harmonies? I’ve truly enjoyed El Perro Del Mar’s mellow sounds this year. Lykke Li has some catchy tunes but I can’t seem to reconcile the Courtney Love looks with the Betty Boop voice. But a lot of people seem to like it…
Goodbye grey skies, hello sunshine! I hate July in San Francisco. But it is now officially over and so are the notorious chilly, foggy days. I woke up this morning to blue bird skies and blazing sunshine. Then I found this new track from Koushik on RCDLBL, ‘Lying in the Sun’, from his latest release – Out My Window. The perfect soundtrack for my day in every way – even the album cover.
The Listening Post published an intriguing article today on the analysis of Radiohead’s groundbreaking ‘pay what you want’ distribution strategy for In Rainbows, which allowed fans to download the album from their website for whatever price they wanted with a valid email address. Many critics of the strategy considered it a failure because the album became wildly popular on file sharing networks almost immediately upon its release.
But was it really a failure? Analysts at MCPS PRS have crunched the numbers and beg to differ. Sure, the album was ‘illegally’ shared more than 2.3 million times within the first 3 weeks of it’s release. And that’s a lot of email addresses and potential revenue the band lost. But the firm claims Radiohead’s strategy was a success nonetheless; winning the public’s attention to top the charts in both the UK and US and enable a hugely successful worldwide tour.
They conclude that when it comes to judging whether an album is a success these days, the old metrics just don’t cut it. And that the music industry needs to stop thinking of shared files as lost sales, and start treating them as an aspect of reality upon which they can build their business. Hear hear!
The full report will be available on the MCPS PRS website tomorrow. Until then, enjoy another groundbreaking Radiohead development – the new video for House of Cards using LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology. No lights or cameras were used. Just this 3D LIDAR technology.
It’s the last day of July and half the year has gone and passed. To celebrate, I’ve compiled a mixtape of my favorite songs (not albums) of the year…so far. You can listen here, but if you want the file, you’ll have to subscribe to the OCMD Mixtape. Enjoy!
Waxing philosophical about the soundtrack of my life yesterday reminded me of one of my all time favorite – and little known – Swedish rock bands, The Soundtrack of Our Lives (a.k.a. TSOOL). I had the good fortune of seeing them for the first time this year at SXSW and nearly fainted when the lead singer jumped off the stage and sang ‘21st Century Ripoff‘ right in front of me. I at least had my wits about me to take this photo.
Turns out TSOOL has a new single, Utopia, streaming on their MySpace page. Unfortunately, they don’t have a widespread US following, so I’m resigned to adore them from afar. I just love the Swedes and their fantastic music sensibilities.
For those of you unacquainted with TSOOL, here’s a video for one of their more popular tracks, Sister Surround.
I often fantasize that if my life were a movie it would have the best soundtrack ever. I guess I’m a bit Mary Katherine Gallagher in the sense that I think my feelings would often be best expressed by some melodramatic song. And if my life came with a built in scary movie soundtrack? Oh, the trouble I could have avoided. Like my little boy’s projectile vomit that hit me this morning. Gross.
Nothing makes you feel more helpless than trying to comfort a 3 year old through waves of nausea while screaming hysterically, “THERE’S HOT SAUCE IN MY MOUTH, MAMMA! MAKE IT GO AWAY!” And you can’t; all you can give them is words. “Don’t worry, sweetie, don’t you worry…it’ll be okay.”
After the worst had passed, I try to find something to comfort him…..”Juice? No. Crackers? No. TV? Yes. Anything else? A lollipop. Okay, a lollipop then.” And as I handed him the lollipop, this is the song I heard playing in my head…
I’ve long be a proponent of the music subscription model (see Rhapsody and Topspin) and am convinced that the entire music industry will be soon headed in this direction. Case in point, MySpace has an upcoming music joint venture with 3 of the 4 major labels that will launch in September (EMI is still a holdout). MySpace Music will be a combination music store/subscription service, with unlimited playbacks of full tracks, but for free. The revenue model will be advertising and paid downloads. Advertisers are already lining up, with some eight-figure deals being negotiated.
the OCMD 
