The service is known to many for helping music-seekers play a song with a single click via Google.
The Washington Post has more on the story, including noting the speculation is Apple plans to launch its own Web-based streaming audio service.
« March 2010 | Main | May 2010 »
The service is known to many for helping music-seekers play a song with a single click via Google.
The Washington Post has more on the story, including noting the speculation is Apple plans to launch its own Web-based streaming audio service.
Posted at 01:18 PM in Music, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
We're talking goals such as locating every Nirvana single or owning every Bob Dylan record. These are the sort of geeks who assume everyone knows the term "black metal" has nothing to do with Body Count or Living Colour.
I suspect some collectors hold deeply and truly the pursuit of one record above them all. I know I did.
As anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis may have noticed, I'm a rabid Dave Matthews Band fan. For me, the ultimate treasure is the highly rare vinyl edition of the group's 1998 album, Before These Crowded Streets.
This isn't the first time I have written about this pursuit.
However, it is the first time I write of ownership.
Oh, yes.
It gives me great, immense joy to say this: I own Before These Crowded Streets on vinyl.
It was a long road here.
I pursued it like a bloodhound following a scent.
Any trip to a record store came with a visit to its vinyl section. It was the same every time. The hopeful walk back to that section of the store. The cards in the vicinity in alphabetical order — Madonna, Massive Attack, Ian Matthews. When I'd get to "John Mayall's Blues Breakers," there was a crushing sigh of disappointment and a long, slow walk to another part of the store.
After the first five or six years, I would have settled for even a used copy.
A decade passed and I was no closer. On the 10th anniversary of its release, I was on a sailboat in the San Francisco Bay, telling a former co-worker about my reflective mood. It was a beautiful, sunny day as my teenage self listened to the record for the first of what has become countless times.
It's a sequence burned into my brain, from the short, 41-second opening track "Pantala Naga Pampa" to the hidden reprise of "The Last Stop" at the end of the record. They've been a home, a comfort, a joy, a place in the storm everything a record you love should be.
Part of the record's story, too, is the legend of the elusive, unreleased 12th track known only as "MacHead."
As I related these sort of thoughts to the co-worker, he shot me an appropriately awkward series of glances, seeming sufficiently creeped out that I cared so much about any record.
Today marks a dozen years.
I assume most people are like my former co-worker and don't get it, but I think everyone has their quirks, their ticks, something that drives them. For me, it's amassing a great big pile of music I love.
The road to finally possessing my coveted prize was filled with plenty of inner debate, considering, reconsidering and evaluating the purchase's worth.
I'm filled with a sense of accomplishment and yet I've really done nothing other than plunk down some money for a wax-covered saucer in a cardboard sleeve and shrink wrap.
This took persistence, diligence, tenacity and a fair amount of withstanding the comments questioning my sanity, not to mention a bitter, unwarranted disappointment associated with the very sight of John Mayall's name.
Was it worth it? There is something bittersweet about its ownership. The fact that I have it still astonishes me. It's no longer out there, waiting for me to find it. It's right there.
One day, it will be displayed on my wall.
It's what I want, but that still seems like a silly place for an album to me.
Records are made for listening, not decoration.
They're not trophies.
They're not just part of an expansive playlist on iTunes.
They're not wasted bookshelf space for old people.
They are to be played and, if they're really good, celebrated and dissected.
They are an extension of who I am. When friends and family hear DMB songs on the radio, I get text messages saying someone thought of me.
When a friend hears news about the band, I get a message.
When saxophonist LeRoi Moore died a year and a half ago, people I knew expressed their sympathy for my loss. My loss? It was a sweet, touching sentiment, but all I ever really knew of the man was his music.
The only thing I can think of to do with such a record is to elevate it to royal status.
There so many albums in my great big pile of music, but the one I chased for a dozen years and so closely defines me deserves a special, framed place on a wall in my home.
In a manner respective of a monumental search, this record nerd's long-sought vinyl copy of "Before These Crowded Streets" deserves a monument all its own ...
It's crazy, I'm thinking
Just knowing that the world is round
And here I'm dancin' on the ground
Am I right side up or upside down?
Is this real or am I dreaming? ...
Posted at 12:03 AM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The nine-piece gypsy punk outfit from New York City returns with its first platter in nearly three years with Trans-Continental Hustle.
The band has been doing the trans-continental shuffle thanks to an exhaustive touring schedule over the last few years which has notably raised its profile. Its last effort, 2007's Super Taranta!, appeared on Rolling Stone magazine's best albums of the year list, and a guest appearance with Madonna of all unlikely people didn't hurt either.
Rick Rubin, the producer behind Johnny Cash's posthumous albums and some of the Beastie Boys classic material, steps behind the control board for this effort.
Trans-Continental Hustle is the group's fifth record and third for SideOne Dummy.
If I Were Really Rich ...
• Hole, Nobody's Daughter (Mercury) | Courtney Love may have a reputation as words unsuitable for print in this space, but Hole has always rocked hard.
Also New This Week
• Alpha Rev, New Morning (Hollywood)
• Avi Buffalo, Avi Buffalo (Sub Pop)
• Big Audio Dynamite, This is Big Audio Dynamite (Columbia)
• B.o.B., The Adventures of Bobby Ray (Atlantic)
• Wade Bowen, Live at Billy Bob's Texas (Smith)
• Jim Brickman and Lady Antebellum, Never Alone (Savoy)
• Bullet for My Valentine, Fever (Jive)
• Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Age of Miracles (Zoe)
• Eric Clapton, 461 Ocean Boulevard [Deluxe edition] (Polydor)
• Miranda Cosgrove, Sparks Fly (Sony)
• Daddy Yankee, Mundial (El Cartel)
• Dion, I Put Away My Idols/Kingdom in the Street [Package reissue] (Ace)
• Dion, Velvet & Steel [Reissue] (Word/Epic)
• The Dirty Heads, Any Port in a Storm [Special edition] (Executive)
• Drowning Pool, Drowning Pool (Eleven Seven)
• Melissa Etheridge, Fearless Love (Island)
• The Flatliners, Cavalcade (Fat Wreck)
• Peter Frampton, Thank You, Mr. Churchill (Universal)
• Frog Eyes, Paul's Tomb: A Triumph (Dead Oceans)
• Marvin Gaye, I Want You [Special edition] (Motown)
• Paul Hardcastle, Time Machine: Early Recordings 1981-1983 (Cherry Pop)
• Howling Wind, Into the Cryosphere (Profound Love)
• Jahcoozi, Barefoot Wanderer (BPitch Control)
• Katrina and the Waves, Katrina and the Waves [Bonus tracks] (Capitol/EMI)
• Katrina and the Waves, Katrina and the Waves 2 [Bonus tracks] (Capitol/EMI)
• Carole King, The Essential Carole King (Legacy)
• Lonestar, Party Heard Around the World (Time/Life)
• Lynyrd Skynyrd, One More From the Road [Special edition] (MCA)
• Jesse Malin and the St. Marks Social, Love it to Life (SideOne Dummy)
• Meat Loaf, Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell [Special edition] (MCA)
• Jo Dee Messina, Unmistakable: Love (Curb)
• Mr. Mister, Broken Wings [Reissue] (OldGold)
• Mono and the Wordless Music Orchestra, Holy Ground: NYC Live (Temporary Residence)
• Mushroom, Naked, Stoned and Stabbed (Royal Potato Family)
• The Mynabirds, What We Lose in the Fire, We Gain in the Flood (Saddle Creek)
• Anders Osborne, American Patchtwork (Alligator)
• Brian Posehn, Fart and Wiener Jokes (Relapse)
• Saint Etienne, Finisterre (Beggars Banquet)
• Small Black, Small Black (Jagjaguwar)
• Something Corporate, Played in Space: The Best of Something Corporate (Geffen)
• Sons of Sylvia, Revelation (Interscope)
• Soundtrack, Why Did I Get Married Too? (Malaco)
• Livingston Taylor, Last Alaska Moon (Chesky)
• Ten Years After, Now (TYA)
• Two Door Cinema Club, Tourist History (Glass Note)
• The Velvet Underground and Nico, The Velvet Underground and Nico [Special edition] (Polydor)
Posted at 10:27 PM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 10:38 AM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The movie's bounced around multiple film festivals around the nation. For more on the film, visit its website.
Posted at 09:58 AM in Film, Music, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
• AC/DC, Iron Man 2 [Sony]
• Airbourne, No Guts. No Glory. (Roadrunner)
• Anarbor, The Words You Don't Swallow (Hopeless)
• The Apples in Stereo, Travellers in Space and Time (Yep Roc)
• Aqualung, Magnetic North (Verve Forecast)
• Arcadia, So Red the Rose [Reissue] (Capitol)
• Baby Dee, A Book of Songs for Anne Marie (Drag City)
• David Benoit, Earthglow (Peak)
• Blunt Mechanic, World Record (Barsuk)
• V.V. Brown, Travelling Like the Light (Island)
• Caribou, Swim (Merge)
• Circa Survive, Blue Sky Noise (Atlantic)
• Patsy Cline, Sweet Dreams: The Complete Decca Studio Masters, 1960-1963 (Hip-O Select)
• Cypress Hill, Rise Up (Priority)
• John Denver, Live at Cedar Rapids 12/10/87 (Collectors' Choice)
• Destroyer, City of Daughters [Reissue] (Merge)
• Destroyer, Streethawk: A Seduction [Reissue] (Merge)
• Destroyer, Thief [Reissue] (Merge)
• Devin the Dude, Suite #420 (Koch)
• Doves, Best Of [2CD/DVD limited edition] (Astralwerks)
• Roky Erickson, True Love Cast Out All Evil (Anti)
• Glee Cast, Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna (Sony)
• Goatsnake, Flower of Disease (Man's Ruin)
• Gotan Project, Tango 3.0 (XL)
• Grateful Dead, Crimson, White and Indigo: Philadelphia, July 7, 1989 (GD/Rhino)
• Merle Haggard, I Am What I Am (Vanguard)
• Horse Feathers, Thistled Spring (Kill Rock Stars)
• Hot Tuna, Live at New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA 09/69 (Collectors' Choice)
• Ian Hunter, Live in London (EMS)
• The Infamous Stringdusters, Things That Fly (Sugar Hill)
• Kottonmouth Kings, Long Live the Kings (Suburban Noize)
• Jonny Lang, Live at the Ryman (Concord)
• Shelby Lynne, Tears, Lies and Alibis (Everso)
• John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension, To the One (Abstract Logix)
• Moby Grape, Historic Live Moby Grape Performances 1966-1969 (Sundazed)
• Modest Mouse, The Moon and Antarctica [Vinyl reissue] (Epic)
• Kate Nash, My Best Friend is You (Geffen)
• Nedry, Condors (Monotreme)
• Willie Nelson, Country Music (Rounder)
• Ozomatli, Fire Away (Downtown)
• Ratt, Infestation (Portrait)
• Xavier Rudd and Izintaba, Koonyum Sun (Salt X)
• Sevendust, Cold Day Memory (Atlantic)
• Sick of it All, Based on a True Story (Nuclear Blast)
• Soundtrack, American Idiot [Broadway Cast] (Warner Bros./Reprise/Maverick)
• Soundtrack, Drawn Together (Comedy Central)
• Sweet Apple, Love and Desperation (Teepee)
• Trans Am, Thing (Thrill Jockey)
• Trombone Shorty, Backatown (Verve Forecast)
• Rufus Wainwright, All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu (Decca)
Posted at 11:59 PM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
There was quite the cast of characters.
One cohort had a beard that extended down toward his chest in two sculpted, spiked columns of scraggly black hair.
There was the mullet-sporting assistant manager whose musical taste was perpetually trapped in 1982, constantly forcing his colleagues to endure hours of Toto and Asia on repeat. Oh, the horror.
There was John, my friend, the brainy, angsty young malcontent who was known for scanning the store behind the register with his hands tucked in his pockets as his thumbs stuck out.
I really enjoyed the characters and the experience. It was a place to go to every day, despite the crummy hourly wage, where the vitality and vibrancy of music was ever-present. We argued about bands and scenes or insulted the assistant manager for making us listen to “Africa” one more time.
Now I’m on the other side of the counter, a regular in a local store. The employees greet me with a familiar smile and a nod.
It’s a place that encourages the culture of music. It’s not like a big box store, which, if I’m lucky, has a few dozen copies of the latest Miley Cyrus album.
I love music and my tastes and interests run from the mainstream to the obscure, so the large, commercial chains don’t always have what I’m looking for.
Because of my passion for the independent music merchant as both a customer and a former employee, I’m stoked for Saturday’s third annual Record Store Day.
The event started in 2008, where indie stores around the country banded together to create a day to honor the local music seller. San Francisco’s legendary hard rockers Metallica helped kick things off with an in-store appearance at a Bay Area record store.
The event continues to grow. This year, there’s a slew of exclusive Record Store Day releases, including a limited 10-inch vinyl from Bruce Springsteen of last fall’s “Wrecking Ball” single; a highly rare, individually numbered John Lennon box set; and even The Rolling Stones are issuing a previously unavailable track from their classic Exile on Main Street.
Sacramento’s Deftones are part of the action, too, with a 7-inch vinyl platter of “Rocket States,” the first single from their forthcoming Diamond Eyes album. The disc marks the group’s first release since a 2008 car accident left bassist Chi Cheng in a minimally conscious state.
In Solano County, multiple stores are participating in the event. Visit http://www.recordstoreday.com for more information about special releases and participating stores.
In the Northern California area, perhaps the most exciting event planned is an in-store performance by Jónsi from the Icelandic post-rock group Sigur Rós at the Amoeba Records in San Francisco.
I haven’t decided where I’ll be yet on Saturday, but I know I will be a face among the crowd, out on the other side of the counter, doing one of the things I love most being immersed in the powerful, vibrant role an indie record store brings to the music community.
Posted at 12:35 PM in Music | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Oracular Spectacular, this Nutmegger-come-Brooklyn duo's 2008 debut, was one of those "meteor" records, the type that seem to fall out of the sky and everyone wants to run and see it.
They were nowhere and then they were everywhere in a flash, riding "Time to Pretend," "Electric Feel" and especially "Kids" to prominence — even Paul McCartney wanted to party with the "kids."
For their second effort, Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden decided to produce themselves. No word on where they came up with the silly cover design.
The record is the group's second for Sony.
If I Were Really Rich ...
• The Nels Cline Singers, Initiate (Cryptogramophone) | Wilco guitarist swims back into avant-garde jazz in side project.
• Kaki King, Junior (Rounder) | Atlanta guitarist works with Malcolm Burn again on her fifth LP.
Also New This Week
• Jeff Beck, Emotion and Commotion (Rhino)
• Bobby and Blumm, A Little Big (Sound of a Handshake)
• Harlan T. Bobo, Sucker (Goner)
• Braid, Frankie Welfare Boy Age 5 (Divot)
• Laura Bell Bundy, Achin' and Shakin' (Mercury Nashville)
• Cancer Bats, Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones (Good Fight)
• Jason Castro, Jason Castro (Atlantic)
• Coheed and Cambria, Year of the Black Rainbow (Sony)
• Lila Downs y la Misteriosa, Lila Downs y la Misteriosa en Paris: Live a FIP (World Village)
• Family, Rise ... The Very Best of Family (Rebecca)
• Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg: Je T'Aime ... Moi Non Plus (Universal)
• Gucci Mane, The Burrrprint 2 HD (Asylum)
• Tom Lehrer, The Tom Lehrer Collection (Shout! Factory)
• Little Claw, Sput and Squalor, Swallow the Snow (Ecstatic Yod)
• Madness, Seven (Virgin)
• matt pond PA, The Dark Leaves (MRI)
• Natalie Merchant, Leave Your Sleep (Nonesuch)
• Murs and 9th Wonder, Fornever (SMC)
• The Ocean, Heliocentric (Metal Blade)
• Revolting Cocks, Got Cock? (Megaforce)
• Sightings, City of Straw (Jagjaguwar)
• Iggy and the Stooges, Raw Power (Sony)
• Subhumans, Same Thoughts, Different Day (Alt. Tentacles)
• The Tallest Man on Earth, The Wild Hunt (Dead Oceans)
• Steve Vai, Where the Other Wild Things Are: Live in Minneapolis (Favored Nations)
• Woe of Tyrants, Threnody (Metal Blade)
Posted at 11:17 PM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
It's been three years since the group's eponymous vocalist issued a new record and much has changed.
After two records, Sunrise Over Sea and Grand National with Shannon Birchall and Michael Barker as the group's bassist and drummer, respectively, Butler recast the trio with Byron Luiters and brother-in-law Nicky Bomba in their places.
Apparently, the affect is a raw, rockier edge to JBT, which was already known for maintaining a rootsy edge through a variety of styles.
The album is the fifth studio collection from Butler and his first for the ATO label.
If I Were Really Rich ...
• Dr. Dog, Shame, Shame (Anti) | Philly group that recalls '70s rock issues sixth platter.
• Jakob Dylan, Woman + Country (Columbia) | Second solo album from Wallflowers frontman.
• Jónsi, Go (XL) | Second effort in the last year without Sigur Rós for the Icelandic singer.
Also New This Week
• Melissa Auf der Maur, Out of Our Minds (Phi)
• Awesome Color, Massa Hypnos (Ecstatic Peace)
• BoDeans, Mr. Sad Clown (429)
• David Bowie, David Bowie [Reissue] (Deram)
• Solomon Burke, Nothing's Impossible (E1)
• David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, Here Lies Love (Nonesuch)
• Ray Charles, Genius + Soul = Jazz (Concord)
• Cheap Trick, One on One/Next Position Please [Remaster] (Friday)
• Civil Twilight, Civil Twilight (Wind-Up)
• Codeine Velvet Club, Codeine Velvet Club (Island)
• Rita Coolidge, The Lady's Not for Sale/Fall Into SPring/It's Only Love [Package reissue] (Raven)
• Julian Cope, Peggy Suicide [Deluxe edition] (Island)
• Fleetwood Mac, Perfect in Every Way (Varese Sarabande)
• Judy Garland, On Broadway Tonight (Savoy Jazz)
• GBH, Perfume and Piss (Hellcat)
• Vivian Green, Beautiful (Koch)
• Growing, Pumps! (Vice)
• Harlem, Hippies (Matador)
• Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3, Propellor Time (Satorial)
• Insane Clown Posse, Bang! Pow! Boom! [Nuclear version] (Psychopathic)
• Javelin, No Más (Luaka Bop)
• Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, I Learned the Hard Way (Daptone)
• Angelique Kidjo, Õÿö (Razor and Tie)
• Libera, Peace (EMI)
• Madonna, The Sticky & Sweet Tour (Warner Bros.)
• Laura Marling, I Speak Because I Can (Astralwerks)
• Bobby McFerrin, Vocabularies (Emarcy)
• Mi Ami, Steal Your Face (Thrill Jockey)
• Murder by Death, Everyone is a Ghost (Graveface)
• Patrick Park, Come What Will (Badman)
• Martin Sexton, Sugarcoating (Kitchen Table)
• Slash, Slash (DHI)
• The Slits, Cut [Deluxe edition] (Koch)
• Soundtrack, When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors (Rhino)
• Robin Trower, Twice Removed From Yesterday (Iconoclassic)
• Tunng, And Then We Saw Land (Thrill Jockey)
• Peter Wolf, Midnight Souvenirs (Verve)
Posted at 10:36 PM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
If I Were Really Rich
• Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Pt. 2: Return of the Ankh (Motown) | Initially due for late 2008, Badu's second installment in the New America line arrives.
• Barenaked Ladies, All in Good Time (Raisin') | First from the Canadian group after shrinking to a quartet following the departure of Steven Page, one of its two lead vocalists.
• E-40, Revenue Retrievin': Day Shift and Revenue Retrievin': Night Shift (Heavy on the Grind) | Vallejo rapper follows up 2008's Ball Street Journal with a pair of LPs that feature guest spots from Snoop Dogg, Too Short, Gucci Mane and more.
Also New This Week
• Joan Armatrading, This Charming Life (429)
• Black Francis, Nonstoperotik (Cooking Vinyl)
• Black Tambourine, Black Tambourine (Slumberland)
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Good Son [Remaster] (Mute)
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Henry's Dream [Remaster] (Mute)
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Tender Prey [Remaster] (Mute)
• Ferry Corsten, Once Upon a Night (Ultra)
• Delerium, Remixed: The Definitive Collection (Nettwerk)
• Deru, Say Goodbye to Useless (Mush)
• Dum Dum Girls, I Will Be (Sub Pop)
• Ghostface Killah, Method Man and Raekwon, Wu Massacre (Def Jam)
• Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs, Medicine County (Transdreamer)
• El Gran Combo, Sin Salsa No Hay Paraiso (Sony Latin)
• Amy Grant, Somewhere Down the Road (Sparrow)
• Helloween, Unarmed: Best of 25th Anniversary (The End)
• Alan Jackson, Freight Train (Arista)
• Jedi Mind Tricks, Army of the Pharaohs: The Unholy Terror (Dcide)
• Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Dirty Shirt Rock 'n' Roll: The First Ten Years (Shout! Factory)
• Lady Gaga and Beyonce, Telephone: The Remixes [EP] (Interscope)
• Edwin McCain, The Best of Edwin McCain (Time Life)
• Andy McKee, Joyland (Razor & Tie)
• Paper Tongues, Paper Tongues (A&M/Octone)
• Christian Scott, Yesterday You Said Tomorrow (Concord Jazz)
• Chris Standring, Blue Bolero (Ultimate Vibe)
• Angus and Julia Stone, Down the Way (Nettwerk)
• .38 Special, Authorized Bootleg: Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York 1/29/85 (A&M)
• Usher, Raymond v. Raymond (La Face)
• Gretchen Wilson, I Got Your Country Right Here (Redneck)
Posted at 09:52 PM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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