I fell in love with Ra Ra Riot at SXSW this year. They are infectious live performers in a very Arcade Fire, Baroque Pop (eww, I can’t believe I just used that term) sort of way. Their debut album, The Rhumb Line, just released last week. I just downloaded it today. If their album is as good as their live performance, I’m sure they will be on my Album of the Week list shortly. Until then, enjoy a taste of their sound with their new video, Ghost Under Rocks.
Oh, and make sure to catch them live at The Rickshaw Stop September 24. It’s on my calendar.
I’ve been a long time fan of UK-based, Clinic. They fit right in there with my Brit Rock fascination. And the fact that they perform all their shows in surgical masks only adds to their eccentric allure. They have a new album out, ‘Do It!’ – their fifth album. Here is the new video for the track ‘Tomorrow.’
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.
Devandra Banharthas recruited real-life girlfriend Natalie Portman to play a princess in the wacky Bollywood spoof of the single ‘Carmensita‘, from his latest album, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon.
Hey, look! More psychedelic sounds from the ‘Black’ band contingent. This one in the form of the otherworldly, electronica variety – á la Air and Octopus Project. My music friend Noah turned me on to their 2007 release, Dandelion Gum, last year. I like it a lot and find myself gravitating toward this kind of ambient, ethereal music in the wee hours.
BMSW will be releasing their new album, Drippers, in September. You can pre-order a limited edition scratch-n-sniff version of the CD or 10″ here. Check out the track Happy Melted City from their forthcoming release or download Bonus Drippers for free now – which is a bunch of old, unreleased songs.
Here’s their creepy video for the Dandelion Gum album track, Sun Lips.
the OCMD 