Midweek Music News Roundup 1.20.10

Posted by Lucas Wesley on 01.20.2010

The week gave us a bunch of sad deaths, but there's some good news, too. Tom Waits in the movies, new LCD Soundsystem, Garfunkel and Oates go to the theater, and free music, and free music, and free music. There's a theme! Come on in and listen to it all right here in the Midweek Music News Roundup.

Last week I briefly (and I felt rather negatively) mentioned Margaret Cho in a snippet about Tegan and Sara. How does the Cho camp respond? Sending me a video of her at the AVI Awards with her lady slave. Odd way to respond to criticism, but it's one method. Whatever, good luck to her and hers. Also, yesterday was my friend's birthday and I had to leave for the party kind of early, so if any news happened after about five o'clock Eastern, you'll need to wait until next week to hear it. Mea culpa. Let's hit the news.



- Let's start off with some horrible, shocking news. Indie garage punk star Jay Reatard has passed away at 29. Details are kind of skimpy (at first it was thought he died in his sleep, but now it's being investigated as a homicide), but even in today's world where every celebrity major and minor seems to be passing away, this one totally shocked me. Jay released a fantastic set of singles in 2007 and 2008, alongside great albums in 2006 and 2009. Despite that, his year was marred with personal tragedies, including his band quitting mid-tour and a fan attacking him on stage. It's a real shame such a great artist was lost this early in his career, and he will be greatly missed by his fans. As a tribute, Matador Records has offered a free download of his cover of Nirvana's "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle." Personally, I call it better than the original. You can hear it here.

- Last Tuesday, Philip Glass appeared on The Colbert Report. He performed a nice piano piece over Stephen's monologue about how we're at war. Stephen complained about President Obama's announcements that we are at war, skewering Bill O'Reilly's belief that "we've heard it all before." Therefore, Stephen went to Glass, a man who creates "repetitious but groundbreaking" work. This isn't really great news or anything, but how often do I get to report about Philip Glass?

- Ex-New Order bassist Peter Hook is planning on bringing Factory Records back to life. Well, technically. He plans to take the building in which Factory operated and turn it into a 350-person venue. I think that's pretty cool and I support the gesture. Go Hooky. If it fails as a venue, I could see it working very well as a more traditional dance club, too.



- LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy has announced that he is working on the next Soundsystem album, likely due in April. He claims that it will be even better than the last two, but let's face it, it would just be bad press to claim otherwise. In what I find slightly more interesting news, he also claims that this may be the last LCD Soundsystem album, implying that he may soon retire the name. I feel like he's a smart guy and wouldn't retire the name without a reason, so it'll be interesting to see what happens there.

- This probably isn't exactly news, but whatever. Tom Waits features in The Book of Eli with Denzel Washington. Actually, it can't be news, because it came out Friday and I'm sure it was announced way before that. But I want to mention that a scene with Waits has hit the web and it's typical awesome Waits. The scene features Denzel bargaining with weapon shop owner Waits, using the kind of currency you might expect from a Waits monologue. I don't mean to pimp a movie I know nothing about or anything, but Tom Waits, man.

- To quote my cousin, in the future, everyone famous will die in 15 minutes. It seems like it's every fifth bullet. It's almost as if Jay Leno's trying to get into the music business and killing careers wasn't enough. Ahem. Reggae legend Yabby You suffered a brain aneurysm last Tuesday and passed away. The news was apparently a little slow to travel, or else I'd have pointed this out last week. Yabby was known for several successful reggae singles in the 70s, with his big hit being "Conquering Lion." Health issues plagued Yabby throughout his life, but he always tried to get into the studio and share his talents with the world. He will be missed.

- Cabaret punk superstar Amanda Palmer is getting married to comic book artist Neil Gaiman. They've cross-posted the news on their blogs in an attempt to "tell the world." Ha. Like that'd ever work. I guess it's up to me to tell the world. So, there you go, guys.

- Lo-fi indie pop craze jj are prepping album number three, appropriately called jj nº 3. It will be released on March 3, but over on Pitchfork, you can hear one of the songs from the album along with a bonus track. Just as jj nº 2 swiped a bit from Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" on "Ecstasy," the bonus track, called "My Way," swipes from Wayne's part of Trina's "Don't Trip." And yet, I like it. Huh. More on how this makes me feel in Star Power.


I'm running out of super cute pictures of these two. Girls, please: more super cute pictures.

- The world famous number one act in Taiwan, Garfunkel and Oates, are planning a stage musical. Actors include Paul Rust and Martin Starr, and its directed by Aaron Ginsberg. While I'm naturally inclined to go insane for the girls, I hope no one minds if I'm going even more insane for Martin Starr. This should be hilarious.

- Ted Leo rocks harder than probably anyone else around these days, but he also has a soft spot in his heart for ladies and their cute pop songs. He proved it by covering top ten song of the decade, "Since U Been Gone." However, more recently he's proved it by posting some other lady pop songs on his twitter: Robyn's "With Every Heartbeat," Sade's "By Your Side," and Concrete Blonde's "Joey." The interested, may you be twitter bound. Again, I remind you that you may find more on how happy free things make me can be found in Star Power.

- Dr. Dre delayed Relapse again. Ob la di, ob la da. My only hope is that Dr Pepper takes a hint and makes another silly offer. I really enjoyed my free Dr Pepper and I'd like to enjoy another one.

Star Power

So, as I hinted a few times, I like it when musicians offer us things for free. And it happens all the time! Just this week, I mentioned free songs from Jay Reatard, jj, and Ted Leo. And yes, one of the circumstances was tragic, but it remains an example that musicians love giving things away for free. The idea really hit me when a compatriot of mine in the world of music suggested I listen to Atlas Sound's cover of "Doctor" by Five Discs. Anyone who hasn't heard it, go do so. Now. I'm pretty sure it's one of the ten best songs of 2009. But that's not the big point here. The point is that the song was featured on Atlas Sound's eight Virtual 7", a series of free singles he's been offering up on his blog. And thus I segue into my discussion of awesome musicians giving things away for free on the Internet.

Disclaimer: I must stress something very important: I do not, in any way, support illegal downloading. There are a million arguments both ways, but from a legal standpoint, I'm telling you not to do it. I have my own reasons for preferring music I pay for, but that's the not the issue. The issue is that this article is solely about when musicians are kind enough to offer us free stuff, not when we decide to fuck the fact that they need to eat and download their shit for free. Ahem. Anyway. I digress.



The first album that I know of that was given away for free on the Internet is Craters of the Sac by Ween. Released in 1999 as a thank you to the fans and a screw you to the record label, Ween offered the album for free on their web site. It's important to note that it is indeed a fully formed album, and not a collection of out takes or b-sides or anything of that effect. Indeed, it was a full eight years before In Rainbows and there was a completely free album on the Internet from a name act. Ween almost never get credit for this trailblazing move, which is a shame, because it shows once again how awesome the power of the Boognish is.

Next on the big free albums train came The Smashing Pumpkins. Known for giving lots of presents to their fans, the Pumpkins released Machina II to their web site. What would have filled a two-disc album instead filled one folder on your computer, with which you could freely and legally do whatever you want. Occasionally you see them getting credit for this move, but that's just because of their considerable fan base. Nonetheless, they certainly did this before it was a trend, and gave a certain stigma to the idea of doing it. That stigma, of course, was that you're awesome.

After the Pumpkins release, there was quite a lull in terms of free Internet music. Well, legally free anyway, this was the time of Napster, but if you're thinking about that, may I point you towards my disclaimer. However, the Internet was still relatively nascent in terms of full on mainstream accessibility. This release method had some pros and cons, but how many people really even knew about it at the time? However, eventually a little Internet label called Comfort Stand came into existence and released all of their albums of free. Claiming they "operate under the ideology that money need not come between artists and audience," the label offered (and still does through it's back catalogue) a whole lot of free music. Though there were no major names here per se, some relatively indie cool names were involved, including Dan Deacon and R. Stevie Moore. The important part here is the ethos, because that's would be the same as much of the blog mentality.

Nowadays, everyone has a blog. Seriously. Everyone. If someone doesn't have a blog, there's at least a 50/50 chance they're a robot. This includes every musician ever. And the nice ones just love giving away free songs. Sometimes they even give away free albums. Oh, wait, I already mentioned that. Anyway, this is the part where I would list all the examples, but really, it's everyone. From the struggling indie musician all the way up to Kanye West, more or less every musician with a blog has given away at least one free track. It's pretty beautiful.



Then we have a few of the more independent artists getting a certain level of unexpected fame and realizing they have this big old back catalogue people might like to see. This is the case with Dan Deacon and Jens Lekman, who both offer a plethora of old albums and EPs on their web sites. I have less to say about this than I previously thought.

Lastly, we have the lovely consideration of the many web sites and archives of free live bootlegs. Not all of it is artist supported, but a fair amount of it is. NPR offers free concerts on a regular basis, and it isn't the only web site to do so. You may even find a free show on an artist's blog. The problem with this, of course, as with all live bootlegs, is quality. Just Monday there was a bootleg by Panda Bear, wherein he played a bunch of new songs. It was exciting, but the quality was really hard for me to listen to most of the time. This is an issue with pretty much all this lovely free stuff we're given, since part of the reason it's free may well be poor production. Is that worth it? That's up to you.

And I know that last paragraph started "lastly," but In Rainbows. Two and a quarter years later, I don't need to say anything. Just know it made this even more popular.

I think the question all of this begs is: who benefits? This would also be the point I'm ultimately pretending to have been trying to make the whole time. And while at first the benefit may seem to be the fans, it's a lot more than that. Sure, artists will say it's going straight to the streets to show their love, but they know there's a happy side effect: people will be listening. And if they're lucky, those people will be talking, which will lead to more people listening. After they get the attention, someone might actually go out and buy the next album. They could only be so lucky. I know I'm buying Atlas Sound now, and it's all because of his blog.

So, musicians, this is my suggestion to you: give stuff away for free. Then I'll hear it and like it, then you'll have an album, then maybe I'll buy it. It's a tried and tested strategy and I think I just proved it always works. Well, at least it works if I hear it, that is.

Farewell Song

1988, and the song that I picked when I initially made the big list of the best of all years just doesn't seem right. But then again I'm a holier-than-thou elitist, so I can't go with obvious stuff. Anyway, 1988 was a big year for alternative music and what would become the indie scene. Sonic Youth and Pixies both had critically huge releases, Brian Wilson came out of hiding, Slick Rick, N.W.A. and Public Enemy were both already recreating rap in their own images, R.E.M. went major, John Adams wrote one of the last legendary operas and we had some nice releases from The Sugarcubes, Randy Newman and plenty others. There's a lot of ways to go here and there's plenty of fine picks regardless of what genre you're going to side on. It's a pretty hard pick, but I going with Sonic Youth's "Silver Rocket." Many would go with "Teen Age Riot," I suppose, but I'm not a teenager anymore, so that song just makes me feel old.



Album of the year can be broken down more or less the same way. Tons of great artists released seminal classics that went on to define their genre and their era. But the one that I'm going to call the best right now is Surfer Rosa by Pixies. The argument versus Doolittle is bound to be spoken at every alternative music get together in history, but for me, the debut LP is the winner.

That does it for this week, ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls. I hope you enjoyed your stay here on the Midweek Music News Roundup.