CMJ New Music Monthly Issue/CD 142

CMJ New Music Monthly believes Catfish Haven will save our souls, according to their cover.

This involves their brand of roots-rock music, which might be "too hot for hipsters to handle". Hey, CMJ, please stop using the word "hipsters". I don't think you know who you're referring to anymore anyway, if you ever did. The word went passed "tired" long ago. I remember I first started hearing the word a lot when Kramer was called a hipster doofus on Seinfeld and that show ended over eight years ago. Let's find some new terminology to drive into the ground.

As for Catfish Haven's desire to "maintain [their] integrity and fuckin' rock", it's swell. The group's drummer Ryan Farnham says "We respect what every band's doing, for sure" but singles out the Bellrays and My Morning Jacket "and just rootsy-based rock-bands" for "looking back" and making music that sounds like older music because much of it "is just so timeless".

Meanwhile, singer-guitarist George Hunter is critical of "dance-punk bands [who] can become an overnight success because they have a fuckin' hairdo."

So much for respect.

If the group can only appreciate music that sounds like older music, perhaps they aren't the best ones to judge the quality of dance-punk music.

This issue also includes a long interview with Girl Talk's Gregg Gillis and shorter interviews aplenty.

CMJ New Music Monthly Vol. 142. Track Listing:

Right-click to download tracks:

1. Catfish Haven - Crazy For Leaving (Listened to the entire CD before I looked at the cover or the interview. I went back and listened to this track a couple times, but I still disliked it. Roots-rock is not my favorite, but I somehow think even if it was, I'd find this song mediocre. Your mileage may vary, but that's always true.)
2. Kasabian - Empire (available on Empire) Oasis-endorsed rock from emo-bashing Brits.
3. The Zutons - Valerie (available on Tired Of Hangin' Around) Rollicking alt-rock.
4. Ray LaMontagne - Three More Days
5. My Brightest Diamond - Dragonfly
6. Mew - Why Are You Looking Grave? (available on And The Glass Handed Kites) Another beautiful song from Mew, with another interesting (and weird) video to go with it.
7. La Rocca - Sketches (20 Something Life)
8. The Roots - Don't Feel Right
9. 1090 Club - Second Hander
10. Brisa Roché - Mystery Man
11. A Bad Think - On My Own
12. Boys Like Girls - Hero-Heroine (unlikely to be endorsed by Kasabian, and not because of the group's lousy name. It's the emo factor)
13. Majestic 12 - Condoleezza, Check My Posse ("I think I'll buy myself a home in San Diego/I'll buy some Mexicans to clean it every day!/I'd buy Canadians, but they're all friggin' lazy/That's where the hippies went when Dubya won the day/Oh oh oh oh, I will rule the world forever/I'm straight and white and male, American and free" Heavily irreverent, with handclaps. The Majestic Twelve invite everyone to download their CD, Schizophrenology for free in exchange for telling friends about the group if they like the album. Good for them.
14. Citizen Cope - Back Together
15. John Mayer - Waiting On The World To Change
16. Cibelle - Phoenix (available on The Shine Of Dried Electric Leaves) Like Psapp? I'm just curious. This is nothing like Psapp. I keed. Recommended if you like Psapp's twerpy/beepy, gentle-synth lo-fi sound.
17. Nicole Atkins - Neptune City

Register People To Vote At Concerts, Get In Free

The Music For America people realized early on that kids like parties. They will pay for a party at your polling place, without so much as an eyeroll or a raised eyebrow at your rental of both smoke and bubble machines. Music For America figures it furthers their goals of increasing the voter turnout of young people, and educating and engaging them in politics, or, as they spell it, "politix".

Music For America also noticed quickly that kids like music (hence their name). Volunteers register the youth of America at their natural habitat: rock 'n' roll concerts, when the rapscallions are in a good mood and their resistance is low. Said volunteers get in the shows free in exchange for their time and having to chat with the emo boys and girls.

Participating artists include the Decemberists, TV On the Radio, Minus The Bear, the Long Winters, and Xiu Xiu.

There's already a wait list for some shows, so you might want to check it out soon if you're interested.

Some truly horrible banter is suggested but I encourage volunteers to reject it. I hope exchanges like this don't really occur: "'Do you like the Blah-blahs?'" (whatever band that's playing that night) They say yes, and you say, 'Well, they're in Music for America and you should be too.'" I think someone might as well say, "Vote or die" and I'd just as soon anyone who found either line persuasive did not vote. I also feel that while the Blah-blahs are a pretty good band, I rarely agree with their political opinions, but that's neither here nor there.

I also think Music For America should stop using the spelling "politix". It doesn't make politics seem more hip; it makes them appear desperate to look hip. Still, I agree that voting is totally cool and should be encouraged, to the extreme.

Minus The Bear - This Ain't A Surfing Movie (YSI link, two upload attempts at EZArchive seemed to go through, then failed. Available on Menos el Oso)

The Rakes Reject Ad Offer In Fur Protest

The Rakes have rejected an offer for one of their songs to be used in a TV commercial for Burberry because the company uses animal fur in their designs.

Rakes singer Alan Donohue, who is vegan, made the group's position clear in a letter to Burberry's CEO, Angela Ahrendts:

"The Rakes will not shop at Burberry or participate in Burberry's ad campaigns until it pledges to stop supporting cruelty to animals and adopts a permanent fur-free policy.

By designing in fur, Burberry is supporting one of the most violent industries on the planet, and the Rakes won't be associated with that.

Burberry has always touted itself as a fashion leader, but there's nothing 'fashionable' about drowning animals to death or electrocuting or strangling them on fur farms for their coats."

Others can share their views on this issue with Burberry's CEO. Angela Ahrendts' e-mail address is angela.ahrendts@burberry.com and her postal address is:

Angela Ahrendts, CEO
Burberry Group PLC
18-22 Haymarket
London SW1 4DQ
United Kingdom

*It costs 87 cents to send a standard letter to the U.K. from the U.S.*

Burberry's phone number is 212-757-3700

The Rakes - Just A Man With A Job (right-click to download, available on Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited)

More Depeche Mode Reissues, CD/DVD Sets

Three more Depeche Mode albums, A Broken Frame, Some Great Reward, and Songs of Faith and Devotion have been remastered and will be reissued on October 3rd in both regular CD versions and in a CD/DVD set. The 2-disc sets include the regular album (Rhino toyed with the idea of not including it, but focus groups reacted angrily). Plus, at no addit-well, let's not get silly, of course there's an additional charge. For a total cost of about $24.98, each set has a DVD containing several bonus tracks, as well as a 27-minute movie about the album including new interviews with Depeche Mode.

This is the second round of Depeche reissues from Rhino Records. Violator, Music For The Masses, and Speak And Spell were already given the Remaster-and-Reissue Deluxe treatment in June.

Depeche Mode's The Best Of, Vol. 1 will be released November 13 in the U.K. and the following day in the U.S. with a CD and DVD available separately. Single "Martyr", taken from the collection, will be released October 30 in traditional formats and digitally any moment now. Anyone who expresses disappointment in it may be kidding, or hate the synth-heavy music. Or catchy music. Reasonable minds may differ, of course... but I think "Martyr" is excellent, and 4 out of 5 experts agree: my mind is more reasonable than most.

Note: EZarchive was down, so the songs are posted to YSI, sorry about that.

A Broken Frame Track Listing:

1. Leave In Silence
2. My Secret Garden
3. Monument
4. Nothing To Fear
5. See You
6. Satellite
7. The Meaning Of Love
8. A Photograph Of You
9. Shouldn't Have Done That
10. The Sun And The Rainfall

DVD-Only Bonus Tracks:

11. My Secret Garden
12. See You (Live, Hammersmith 1982)
13. Satellite (Live, Hammersmith 1982)
14. Nothing To Fear (Live, Hammersmith 1982)
15. The Meaning of Love (Live, Hammersmith 1982)
16. A Photograph of You (Live, Hammersmith 1982)
17. Now This Is Fun
18. Oberkorn (It's A Small Town)
19. Excerpt From: My Secret Garden
And a Short Film, "Depeche Mode: 1982 (The beginning of their so-called dark phase)" (27 min.)

Some Great Reward Track Listing:

1. Something To Do
2. Lie To Me
3. People Are People
4. It Doesn't Matter
5. Stories Of Old
6. Somebody
7. Master And Servant
8. If You Want
9. Blasphemous Rumours

DVD-Only Bonus Tracks:

10. If You Want (Live)
11. People Are People (Live)
12. Somebody (Live)
13. Blasphemous Rumours (Live)
14. Master And Servant (Live)
15. In Your Memory
16. (Set Me Free) Remotivate Me ("Master and Servant" B-side, available on Singles Box, Vol. 2)
17. Somebody (Remix)
And A Short Film, "Depeche Mode: 1984 (You can get away with anything if you give it a good tune)" (27 min.)

Songs Of Faith And Devotion Track Listing:

1. I Feel You
2. Walking In My Shoes
3. Condemnation
4. Mercy In You
5. Judas
6. In Your Room
7. Get Right With Me
8. Rush
9. One Caress
10. Higher Love

DVD-Only Bonus Tracks:

11. My Joy
12. Condemnation (Paris Mix)
13. Death's Door (Jazz Mix)
14. In Your Room (Zephyr Mix)
15. I Feel You (Life's Too Short Mix)
16. Walking In My Shoes (Grungy Gonads Mix) ("Walking In My Shoes" B-side, available on Singles Box, Vol. 5)
17. My Joy (Slowslide Mix)
18. In Your Room (Apex Mix)
And A Short Film, "Depeche Mode: 1991-94 (We were going to live together, record together and it was going to be wonderful)" (27 min.)

The U.K. Festival Awards

Voting for the U.K. Festival Awards 2006 has opened, along with a contest. Voting enters you to win two tickets to every winning festival, two "VIP" tickets to the UK Festival Awards ceremony in London on October 19th, and a year's supply of the beer from the company sponsoring the Awards. That brand of beer will likely also be available in the "VIP" areas of the Awards. If you win and you would rather drink anything else, might want to BYOB to be on the safe side. Voting and the contest close on October 16th.

Corporate involvement doesn't mean the Festival Awards lack heart. Categories include the Shelter Award For Social Responsibility and the Family Festival Award, as well as a prize for "the Feel-Good Act" with nominees including a-ha and Beck.

Nominees for "Headline Act" include Depeche Mode and Radiohead. It's the only nod for Depeche Mode. Radiohead was also nominated for the "Rock Act" prize, where their competition ranges from Muse to Metallica, and for "Memorable Moment" for their performance of "Creep" at the V Festival.

Fresh-faced newcomers Metric scored a Breakthrough Act nomination. Among the artists also up for the award: Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, The Young Knives, the Kooks, the Guillemots, and the Automatic.

The face-off between Belle & Sebastian and James Blunt in the Pop Act category seems more odd than Metric's presence in the Breakthrough Act category. Just because they were already familiar to some doesn't mean they had already broken through.

One question: why is "Best Dance Act" the only artist award with the word "Best" in the title?

A partial list of nominations follows; the full list and all the voting info may be found at festivalawards.com/.

Best Major Festival:

Creamfields
Download
Carling Weekend: Leeds Festival
Carling Weekend: Reading Festival
Global Gathering
Nokia Isle of Wight Festival
T in the Park
V Festival: Chelmsford
V Festival: Staffordshire
O2 Wireless Festival

Shelter Award For Social Responsibility:

Belladrum Tartan Heart
Ben & Jerry's Sundae
Cambridge Folk Festival
Latitude
Lovebox Weekender
Solfest
The Summer Sundae Weekender
Sunrise Summer Solstice Celebration
T In The Park
WOMAD

Family Festival Award:

Beautiful Days
Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival
Ben & Jerry's Sundae
Cambridge Folk Festival
Guilfest
Solfest
The Summer Sundae Weekender
The Big Session
Wychwood
WOMAD

Headline Act:

Coldplay (Isle of Wight)
Daft Punk (Global Gathering)
Depeche Mode (O2 Wireless)
Levellers (Beautiful Days)
Metallica (Download)
Muse (Carling Weekend: Reading and Leeds)
Pearl Jam (Carling Weekend: Reading and Leeds)
Prodigy (Creamfields, Isle of Wight)
Radiohead (V Festival)
Red Hot Chili Peppers (T in the Park)

Rock Act:

Arctic Monkeys
Foo Fighters
Kaiser Chiefs
Kasabian
The Kooks
Metallica
Muse
Pearl Jam
Radiohead
Razorlight

Best Dance Act:

2 Many DJs
Carl Cox
Daft Punk
DJ Shadow
Fatboy Slim
Goldfrapp
Groove Armada
Mylo
The Prodigy
Sasha

Pop Act:

Belle & Sebastian
Girls Aloud
James Blunt
The Feeling
Kubb
Lily Allen
Orson
Sandi Thom
Scissor Sisters
Scritti Polliti

Urban Act:

Corine Bailey Rae
Damian 'Jr Gong' Marley
Lady Sovereign
Jamie T
Kano
Killa Kela
Mark Ronson
Pharrell Williams
Plan B
The Streets

Breakthrough Act:

The Automatic
Dirty Pretty Things
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
Guillemots
Klaxons
The Kooks
Lily Allen
Metric
Wolfmother
The Young Knives

Feel-Good Act:

A-Ha
Beck
Gogol Bordello
Goldie Lookin' Chain
Nizlopi
Norman Jay
Primal Scream
The Cuban Brothers
The Flaming Lips
The Proclaimers

Memorable Moment:

Axl Rose - storming off a slippery stage at Download and demanding it be carpeted, after falling over.

Levellers - closing Beautiful Days to cap the evening's Masked Ball Party.

Chris Martin - leading the Isle Of Wight Festival crowd through his version of 'The Crouch' song and dance.

Franz Ferdinand - inviting various band members on stage to help drum on 'The Outsiders' (Reading, Leeds and T In The Park)

Girls Aloud - covering Kaiser Chiefs' 'I Predict A Riot' at V Festival

Panic! At The Disco - continuing their Carling Weekend: Reading Festival set in defiance after singer Brendon Urie got knocked out by a bottle thrown from the crowd.

Procol Harum - performing the tear-jerk classic 'Whiter Shade Of Pale' at the Isle Of Wight Festival.

Radiohead - finishing their V Festival headline set with the long hibernated 'Creep'.

Roger Waters - performing 'Dark Side Of The Moon' in its entirety at Hyde Park Calling.

Scissor Sisters - performing at Bestival dressed as clowns, despite a 'clown ban' for the fancy dress party.

a-ha - Keeper Of The Flame (available on Analogue)

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - Whitewash Is Brainwash (available on The Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager)

One-Hit Wonders (Are Temporary Things)

Today is National One-Hit Wonder Day in the U.S., though affection for the one-hit wonder isn't unique to the States.

Just this month, New Zealand music television station C4 dedicated an episode of its program, U Choose 40 to One Hit Wonders. A viewer poll on the C4 website determined the 40 songs. Viewers were given 60 options, though "write-in votes" could be sent via e-mail.

The Kiwis' Top 5 One-Hit Wonders:

1. Karl Douglas - "Kung Fu Fighting" (available on Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 14 , right-click to download)
2. Nena - "99 Red Balloons"
3. Afroman - "Because I Got High"
4. The Archies - "Sugar, Sugar"
5. The Mock Turtles - "Can You Dig It?"

Of course, the artist responsible for a one-hit wonder in one country may have lots of hits or none at all in any other country. I haven't heard of all the one-hit wonders in America, let alone the one-hit wonders in Canada, but some of them are very familiar (like Trans-X's "Living on Video", The Inbreds' "Any Sense Of Time", Len's "Steal My Sunshine").

Several one-hit wonder lists are available for perusal at Wikipedia, from One-Hit Wonders in the U.K. to 1980s One-Hit Wonders in the U.S.. Along with a blast of nostalgia (ranging from fun-to-frightening), the lists should provide plenty of inspiration for mix CDs and playlists.

Mix CDs aren't enough to satisfy everyone. John Moe suggests Possible Follow-Up Songs For One-Hit Wonders, including "Everybody Was Kung Fu Making Up" and "Won't You Give Me a Ride Home From) Funkytown?"

A Few One-Hit Wonders:

(Right-click to download all songs:)

Trans-X - Living On Video (available on 80's One Hit Wonders)

The Flying Lizards - Money (available on Totally Punk Rock: the Essential Punk Album)

The Icicle Works - Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream) (available on The Icicle Works)

Romeo Void - A Girl In Trouble (Is A Temporary Thing) (available on Sedated in the Eighties, Vol. 2)

British Record Industry Seeks Tax Breaks

The British Phonographic Industry today argued that record labels should get tax breaks for promoting British music and adding to the economy through the VAT levied for music purchases.

The BPI claims record labels spend the same amount on "research and development" as pharmaceutical companies, yet don't receive the same tax credits. Whether British taxpayers consider the comparison valid may depend on whether the taxpayers asked are employed by a record company and part of their job entails going to clubs to check out bands. If not, their response may involve hearty laughter or a look of disdain or disgust. Hopefully, the government gives tax breaks to drug companies to promote the development of medications to cure and treat illnesses. That's not on the same level as promoting British music. The BPI complains that many other industries also get tax breaks. If the British government is as corrupt as the American government can be, cronyism may play a role in why some of those breaks were given. That's a reason to examine them more closely, and perhaps take some of them away, not to create more. There must be more deserving causes in the UK than record labels.

Trying out ezarchive, so it's a right-click to direct-download these:

THE DOUBLE - Hot Air (available on the 10" EP "Palm Fronds")

Rick Astley - Ain't Too Proud To Beg (available on Hold Me In Your Arms)

The Psychedelic Furs - All That Money Wants (available on All Of This And Nothing)

Autumn Begins, As It Is Wont To Do

I nearly forgot today is the first day of Autumn. It's not just Southern California's lack of crisp, cool weather that threw me. There were plenty of other cues that a changing-of-the-seasons was imminent, such as the omnipresence of Halloween decorations, costumes, and greeting cards in stores, starting roundabout late-July (it's never too early to buy those Halloween greeting cards!)

It's more emotional factors that distracted me.

1) Excitement over the development of X-ray vision (or as the inventor, Dr. Timothy D. Drysdale calls it, "Superhuman vision"). Drysdale says with terahertz imaging it's possible "to see the body beneath the clothes not just the bones that you see with x-rays". If this technology is truly that impressive, its potential applications, and the debates that might ensue over them, should be interesting. When the cost of the devices eventually falls, cereal-box prizes might vastly improve.

2) Disappointment over the decision of the weasels at Terra Fugia to move from inventor Carl Dietrich's saying "I'm working on a flying car" to backpedaling at the AirVenture Convention by hanging a banner outside a company tent reading, "It's not a flying car. It's a roadable aircraft."

Well, it looks like a ripe lemon with cardboard wings crossed with some kind of mutant fish. I love lemons but I don't want to fly or drive something that looks like one, and when shopping for roadable aircraft, I don't want to be reminded of cardboard. More importantly, Carl Dietrich said he was working on a flying car. He knew that's what everyone wanted, likely including the people who gave him a $30,000 prize for assorted inventions, including the one leading to his not-a-flying-car. Screw this roadable aircraft nonsense! You betrayed us, Dietrich! No one buy one of his lemon-resembling-small-airplanes-with-wheels!

3) Admiration for the editors of the Wall Street Journal. Every so often they decide the paper should - nay, must - risk looking ridiculous in the name of the public good. Yesterday was one such special day. Jane Spencer, hopefully a good deal off her usual beat, wrote of the market for rented luxury port-a-potties and "luxury restroom trailers", "equipped with amenities such as marble counters, wall-to-wall carpeting, satellite radio and flat-panel TVs". These facilities may be rented for parties, weddings, hoe-downs, or whatever shenanigans you have in mind, and if you imagine your hoe-down guests would be impressed by bathroom attendants, you can hire one or two.

A $1,895 restroom model called "The Presidential" can be enhanced with "live plants" for a mere $500 a night more. It would be somewhat funny if the $500/night "live plants" were a couple of very small, inexpensive houseplants someone picked up from a grocery store. Renting a port-a-potty is a risky business, but apparently this sort of luxury isn't optional:

"It's not just the flowers and the appetizers you have to plan," says Agatha Ciancarelli, who got married in her mother's backyard in New Canaan, Conn., last summer. "You also have to think about getting a fancy port-a-potty."

You have to! Perhaps from now on, every little kid who wants to get married will dream of what their luxury rented port-a-potty will be like... What kind of TV will it have, how many bathroom attendants... On their big day, who wouldn't want an exceptional bathroom to be what captivates their guests' attention?

(I heard the can at Agatha Ciancarelli's wedding was To. Die. For.)

But yes, it's Fall. Yet there's something reassuring about life's continuing weirdness, without regard to month or season.

Lambchop - Autumn's Vicar (available on Is A Woman)

Chet Baker - Autumn Leaves (available on Jazz 2)

Haircut 100 - Calling Captain Autumn (available on Pelican West)

Paste Mag/CD October 2006

Colin Meloy strikes an attractive yearbook-style pose on the cover of October's Paste, albeit in the corner. Zach Braff landed the main spot, with an interview timed to the release of his latest movie "The Last Kiss". Moviegoers might not have embraced it so far (leading to lines such as "moviegoers kissed off The Last Kiss"), but that doesn't necessarily mean it sucks. "Office Space" sank at the box office.

Along with interviews with the two men on the cover, this issue of Paste includes an interview with the Killers' Brandon Flowers, short interviews with other artists including Jim Noir, and Paste's recommendations for 24 hours' worth of TV viewing. Some of the suggestions are obvious (like "Lost", which I don't watch, and "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report", which I do.) Some are more obscure. Also included: a long list of readers' favorites.

As usual, the mag also includes a CD chock-full of music.

Paste October 2006 CD Track Listing:

1. Charlotte Martin - Stromata (Edit)
2. The Decemberists - O Valencia!
3. Ben Kweller - I Gotta Move (available on Ben Kweller) Especially in contrast to the Gasoline Heart song (props to Paste), Kweller sounds ready to move... at his own pace. (and even sings "So in the morning I'll hit the highway"). Kweller gets restless in his own, more laid-back way. Great to have new songs from him.
4. Gasoline Heart - Move Along (available on You Know Who You Are) Well-done Pettyesque rock song, rocks at a quicker pace.
5. Mindy Smith - Out Loud
6. Amos Lee - Shout Out Loud
7. Paul Westerberg - Love You In The Fall (available on the Open Season Soundtrack featuring the Songs Of Paul Westerberg) Punk rockers don't grow old, they just go solo, then eventually write songs for animated children's movies. Awwww, how sweet and cuddly, Paul! As punk-rocker-fates go, it's not a bad one, and this is a sweet little rock song, similar to some of his other songs.
8. Sandra McCracken - Long Way Home
9. Hem - Not California (available on Funnel Cloud) Wistful alt-country
10. Brisa Roché - Mystery Man
11. Bobby Bare Jr's Young Criminal Starvation League - Sticky Chemical
12. Sparklehorse - Don't Take My Sunshine Away
13. Tin Cup Prophette - 80 Days
14. Ani DiFranco - 78% H20
15. Bernard Fanning - Wish You Well
16. The Duhks - Heaven's My Name
17. Fret Not - Gloryland
18. Favourite Sons - Down Beside My Beauty
19. Tom Wilson - Talk Of The Town
20. The Be Good Tanyas - Human Thing
21. Ian North - Skates
22. Ane Brun - Song. No. 6 (feat. Ron Sexsmith) (this song was supposed to be included on Sampler #23 but "Rubber & Soul" was mistakenly substituted)

Mental As Anything Announces Concert Dates

Aussie alt. rock/pop group Mental As Anything first took the stage on August 16, 1977 (the night Elvis Presley died). The line-up has changed and they had a bit of a hiatus. But the group has stayed together, and released over a dozen albums, most Plucked, which was released last November. It gives an acoustic "gentle and thoughtful reworking" to some of Mental As Anything's greatest hits.

The group's now announced some concert dates, reportedly their first in years. At this point, only a few "intimate" dates have been announced, all in Australia. More might be in the works... or might not...

Mental As Anything Tour Dates:

October 5 Melbourne - Manchester Lane
October 6 South Morang - Plenty Ranges Function Centre
October 7 St. Andrews - St Andrews Hotel

Last week, Australia issued a set of rock and roll poster postage stamps. Mental As Anything is among the groups featured on the new stamps.

Mental As Anything - Egypt (available on Get Wet)

Mental As Anything - You're So Strong (available on Fundamental)

There are loads of Mental As Anything videos at YouTube. Here's their video for "Brain Brain":

Oxford English Dictionary Adds Bling, Wi-Fi

The staff at the Oxford English Dictionary, keen to keep their online version relevant and happening, have added a whole mess of entries, including bada-bing and avian flu. While the avian flu has been killing people for a couple of years, the mobsters on the Sopranos have been killing fictitious people for six seasons. Why did they take so long to add the word?

The OED defines bada-bing as "suggesting something happening suddenly, emphatically, or easily and predictably". While they can date the term back to 1965, the inspiration for adding it to their online dictionary must have been the Sopranos... Frequent breaks for a "cuppa" can't possibly cause that much of a delay and they add new words to their online dictionary a whopping four times a year.

The latest update includes over a thousand words, "subordinate entries" and new meanings for current entries.

Some new words that caught my eye:

bling
breakout
Central Casting
Disneyfication
Disneyfied
drive-by
hard-ass
hard-assed
heightism
ill-deserved
Islamophobia
Jack
Photoshop
plug-in-and-go
pluot
point-and-shoot
politico-economically
self-harm
self-harming
vox
Wi-Fi

A few of the new "subordinate entries" added to existing entries:

under "analysis":
analysis paralysis

under "pledge":
pledge-mania

under "plot":
plot point
plot twist

under "plumber":
plumber's butt
plumber's crack
plumber's friend
plumber's snake

under "sex":
sex pest

under "snow":
snow angel

under "super-":
superfood

under "yum":
yummy mummy

Yummy mummy? They just let staffers, or possibly their children, toss in a few made-up words for fun, don't they? They don't take the online version entirely seriously, despite the elite Oxford name or the snooty subscription-only access, do they? Humph!

Paul Van Dyk - Words (Original Version Radio Edit) (available on Perspective - A Collection Of Remixes 1992-1997)

Foo Fighters - Breakout (available on Greatest Hits)

Tom Petty - Jack (available on Highway Companion)

Avast, Mateys!

Relient K - The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything (available on Have We Got A Show For You!: Ten Years Of Veggie Tales)

Mary Timony - Return To Pirates (available on Ex Hex)

Arrogant Worms - The Last Saskatchewan Pirate (available on Arrogant Worms)

$20K For He Poos Clouds As Best Canadian Album

Final Fantasy's album He Poos Clouds won the first Polaris Music Prize Monday night in Toronto. The Prize was awarded for the best album in Canada, "based solely on artistic merit, without regard to genre or record sales."

Owen Pallett, the man behind the Final Fantasy moniker, kiddingly said he anticipates the win will double album sales. Hopefully for his colleagues at Blocks Recording Club, he was not kidding when he mentioned his intention to share the cash winnings with them.

The Sugarcubes Announce Reunion Concert

In honor of the 20th Anniversary of their first single "Birthday", the Sugarcubes plan to reunite for a November 17 concert in Reykjavik. In a press release posted at Björk's website, the group said the announcement was made with "unbound joy" and that "all profit" from the concert would go toward their own label, Smekkleysa SM, which "will continue to work on a non-profit basis for the future betterment of Icelandic music and artists."

According to the Sugarcubes' Wikipedia entry, "Birthday" isn't their first single. Let's just hope this isn't a hoax 20th Anniversary reunion concert when it should in fact be a 22nd Anniversary renuion concert. Either way, this will be the group's first concert since their 1992 breakup.

Ticket sales will be announced soon.

The Sugarcubes - Coldsweat (available on Life's Too Good)

The Sugarcubes - Hit (available on Stick Around For Joy)

Polaris Prize Time Tomorrow

Canada's first Polaris Music Prize will be awarded September 18th at Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre. Although the $20,000 (US$17,862.55, £9,505.54) award was inspired by the Mercury Music Prize, Polaris' stated sole criteria is artistic merit, whereas the outcome of the Mercury Prize is based on judges' evaluations of the nominated album covers and their titles, and how well they mesh.

Still, even one of the 100 Canadian music critics who suggested albums for the Prize's "long list" bases his predictions on some factors other than artistic merit. For instance, he thinks Sarah Harmer won't win for I'm a Mountain because "She doesn't need to be reminded that we love her."

He's likely correct that Harmer won't win, if only for that reason. The judges might also perceive her as a boring, "safe" winner. Especially the first year out, judges may want to make Polaris' mark with an edgier album. Others might feel it's more important that the album is likely to stand the test of time. Other factors that aren't supposed to matter, like how long ago the album was released, are bound to sneak into the mix. By its nature such a process can't be "pure".

Wolf Parade's Spencer Krug told the Edmonton Journal that he had "mixed feelings" about the nomination. "Maybe they just give it to you whether you want it or not... I like to think of music as art, and I think art is too subjective to be able to say there's a winner... We are flattered. We're just confused."

Regardless of the outcome at the Phoenix on Monday, Krug arguably already pwned the Polaris. He at least raises valid points, and the band is entitled to their feelings. Perhaps the Polaris Prize should allow artists to withdraw themselves from consideration at some point prior to the nominations. Wolf Parade's nomination could have gone to an artist who wanted it.

Award nominations do raise the profile (and album sales) of some good, lesser-known artists. Choosing one from among them as the best might be so subjective as to be silly, but awards in general are kind of silly. That said, I'll predict Metric or Final Fantasy.

The Nominations:

Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
Cadence Weapon - Breaking Kayfabe
The Deadly Snakes - Porcella
Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
Sarah Harmer - I'm a Mountain
K'naan - The Dustyfoot Philosopher
Malajube - Trompe L'Oeil
Metric - Live it Out
The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary

Sarah Harmer - Goin' Out (available on I'm a Mountain)

Final Fantasy - If I Were A Carp (available on He Poos Clouds)

Ben Kweller Bleeds For Rock

Ben Kweller started his Austin City Limits set ten minutes late today, thanks to a nasty double nosebleed, which caused a bloody, brief set.

The plucky troubadour pledged to "do this until it gets too disgusting", MacGyvered first aid materials, and played on, despite "thoroughly splattering his guitar with blood". It apparently got too disgusting after Kweller's third song, "Falling", which he performed at the piano.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I think that's all I can take, you guys," Kweller told the crowd. "I'm really sorry. They say that Austin is the allergy capital of the world, but I never believed 'em."

He said he'd return, hopefully not before consulting the Austin allergies forecast and a good allergist.

Kweller has posted eight episodes of "One Minute Pop Song With Ben Kweller" on his YouTube channel, with the final episode to be posted on Monday. In the clips, he discusses the making of his latest album, which is already out in the UK and will be released on September 19th in the States and Canada. Its easy-to-remember title is Ben Kweller.

Ben Kweller - Wait (available on This Bird Has Flown: A 40th Anniversary Tribute To The Beatles' Rubber Soul)

The UK Embraces Swedish Alt-Pop

Don't tell the Cardigans or the Hives but it's only just now that Swedish alternative music is becoming reallypopular in the UK.

According to The Guardian, while Swedish groups had found popularity in the UK before, the degree of enthusiasm for Swedish alt-pop/rock is now at an unprecedented and impressive level. There are now at least three Swedish music club nights in the UK, and Swedish alt-pop compilations are in the works.

Nick Levine, who promotes "Tack!Tack!Tack!" a Swedish club night in London, admits part of the music's appeal stems from how new the groups are; it's considered cool that they're not very well-known yet. He also says Swedish groups "have an ability to pluck out all the best bits from western cultures and put a new, poppy slant on it."

Swedish label Labrador Records attributes much of their success to Internet downloading and subsequent word of mouth. His label offers free MP3s of songs by every artist on its roster. Many of the songs are at high bitrates, too. Labrador bands include the Legends, Sambassadeur, Acid House Kings, and Suburban Kids With Biblical Names.

Another Swedish label, Hybrism, boasts its own blog, which lists five Hybrism sites in its links section. It's an interesting idea, but all the material on a marketing blog could be easily accessible on a well-designed label website. At some point, the plethora of overlapping sites becomes confusing and likely stretches resources thin at some labels.

Blog-wise, I'd rather visit Swedesplease for my Swedish music needs.

In July, the Guardian spoke with Swedish group Peter Bjorn And John about their third album, Writer's Block, which the paper called "delicious". The first single from Writer's Block, "Young Folks", features the Concretes' Victoria Bergsman and plenty of whistling. Bongos too. The Guardian deemed it "irresistible".

Bjorn Yttling, who plays keyboard and bass, in addition to supplying the group with its Bjorn, says the song is "groovy and melancholy at the same time," and perhaps he could just as easily be referring to many other Swedish alt-pop tunes. There's often something appealing about a contrast, as in the discord between dark lyrics and upbeat music. That will hold true even after club nights move on to a new, trendier country.


Peter Bjorn And John - Roll The Credits (available on Writer's Block)

Peter Bjorn And John's video for "Young Folks", featuring Victoria Bergsman of the Concretes:



Sambassadeur - New Moon (available on Sambassadeur)

Hell on Wheels' video for "Alexandr"... the UK adores it when Swedes sing about a "true Russian hero":

Seth Lakeman Webchat

Even the most diehard folkie might feel their affection for the genre waning at this point of the folk revival. The stirring music of Devon singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Seth Lakeman should bring back the love.

His second solo album, Kitty Jay, was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Freedom Fields, his latest album, addresses the English Civil War between Parliamentarians and Royalists with both traditional and original songs. He personalizes that dusty subject with tales of how war impacts individual lives. Lakeman enhances the immediacy of the stories he weaves with passionate singing and a fierce violin.

Friday, September 15th, Lakeman will chat in his website's forum from 11 AM to noon. That's almost certainly 11 to noon British Summer Time (GMT + 1). Given that it's also (technically) summer elsewhere, if you live in the U.S., that might put the webchat at either a bright-and-early 5 AM EST or a starry-skied 2 AM PST, depending on which coast you call home. Either way, if you're going to begin your Saturday bleary-eyed and disoriented, at least a Seth Lakeman webchat should be an interesting, safe, and inexpensive reason to do so.

I know people live in non-EST and non-PST parts of the US, and others (like Seth Lakeman) live in non-US countries. In some ways, wouldn't life be easier if we all lived in the same timezone - like one big happy global community? Yet in some ways, wouldn't life grow much more difficult?

Seth Lakeman is touring in Canada, opening for Billy Bragg through the end of the month. In October, he performs headlining concert dates aplenty in England. Info about ticket sales are at his website

Tour Dates With Billy Bragg:

Sept. 20 - Halifax - Rebecca Cohn Auditorium
Sept. 22 - Montreal - Club Soda
Sept. 23 - Ottawa - The New Capital Music Hall
Sept. 24 - Toronto - Music Hall Theatre
Sept. 27 - Winnipeg - The Venue - Ramada Marlborough

Solo Tour Dates:

Oct. 3 - Norwich - Waterfront
Oct. 4 - Brighton - Concorde 2
Oct. 5 - Frome - Cheese & Grain
Oct. 6 - Northampton - Deco
Oct. 7 - Wolverhampton - Wulfrun
Oct. 8 - Leeds - The Cockpit
Oct. 10 - Cambridge - The Junction
Oct. 11 - Bristol - Fiddlers
Oct. 12 - Cardiff - The Point
Oct. 13 - Loughborough - Festival
Oct. 14 - Oxford - Zodiac
Oct. 15 - Nottingham - Trent University
Oct. 17 - London - Scala
Oct. 21 - Plymouth - Plymouth University

December 14 - Exeter - The Great Hall At Exeter University

The video for Lakeman's first single from Freedom Fields, "Lady Of The Sea":



Lakeman recently shot a video for his next single, "The White Hare", which will be released in the UK on October 16th. Footage of an acoustic performance of "The White Hare" and an animated not-the-video video of the song are available at his website.

Seth Lakeman - The Colliers (available on Freedom Fields)

Randomness

Rather than posting from Southern California, today I'm posting from Net Hell -- not quite Netless Hell, I am, after all, online and posting... but just barely, and I'm posting songs I uploaded a couple days ago. Hopefully all will be back to normal (or at least usual) tomorrow. Failing that, I'll try to at least hop online to complain and post the rest of the songs I uploaded the other day. If a day goes by without a post, though, don't panic. I'll be fine, just netless and possibly slightly bitter.

On another note, in keeping with the post topic, I caught the first episode of "Life On Mars" and liked it. Granted, it's not entirely original, but it's well-done so far.

Okay, on to a few songs:

Holiday - Fifteen Dollars (available on Holiday)

Electrelane - Bells (available on Axes)

Badly Drawn Boy - A Bottle Of Tears (B-side on the CD-1 "Disillusion" single)

Uncut - October Playlist CD

Uncut's October cover story is "Kurt Cobain & the untold story of Grunge". Apparently it's fifteen years after Nevermind and coincidentally there's some fresh material about the Grunge genre. I sure hope there's something new left for Nevermind's twentieth anniversary.

The grunge coverage includes a timeline, an imaginary "what if Kurt Cobain had lived" timeline, and several interviews with/articles about assorted musicians, with an "essential download" and "YouTube moment" for each. Among those on the grungey pages of Uncut: Chris Cornell (formerly of Soundgarden, now of Audioslave), Mark Arm (of Mudhoney), Evan Dando (of Lemonheads), Mark Lanegan (formerly of Screaming Trees, now a solo artist).

There are also profiles of "the John and Yoko of the piece-Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love." Every pop culture icon must be exactly like some other pop culture icon. What happened to the Sid and Nancy comparison? They're just not as hot as the Beatles at the moment. Maybe that comparison will return in five years.

Elsewhere, specifically: affixed to the front of the magazine, is this month's Playlist CD, containing much fine music, along with a Monty Python bit.

Uncut - The Playlist - October 2006 Track Listing:

1. The Twilight Singers - I'm Ready
2. Grizzly Bear - On A Neck, On A Spit
3. The Hidden Cameras - Death Of A Tune (available on Awoo) Pretty and it rocks, but not hard enough to knock a drink over
4. Bert Jansch - A Woman Like You
5. Sparklehorse - Shade And Honey (available on Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain) Beautiful, gentle love song
6. Free - Trouble On Double Time
7. James Yorkston - Summer Song
8. Nina Nastasia - Brad Haunts A Party (available on On Leaving) Strong piano-playing accompanies pretty vocals about feeling disgruntled.
9. Nicky Wire - I Killed The Zeitgeist
10. Brightblack Morning Light - Friend Of Time
11. Charlotte Gainsbourg - The Songs That We Sing (available on 5:55) I'm not wowed. The music was mostly fine. Gainsbourg's voice seems good, and appropriately breathy. However, the song structure is awful; it's basically over at 1:49 and there's nothing for anyone to do until it really ends so they just combine repetition, awkward silence, and awkward repetition. I hope her other songs are better.
12. The Fratellis - 3 Skinny Girls
13. Wooden Wand And The Sky Band - Dead Sue
14. Monty Python - Bookshop (available on Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album) Anyone who works/has worked in a bookstore or dates/has dated/is married to someone who works/has worked in a bookstore will appreciate the realism of this comedy clip featuring an incredibly annoying customer. People who work in retail have it tough. Pretty much anything involving working with "the public" isn't a bed of thornless roses.
15. Love - You Set The Scene

Bettie Serveert - "Crutches" & Videos

I've had some Bettie Serveert synchronicity recently (and I think we all know how painful that can be... okay, in this case, more interesting than painful). Then I stumbled onto an old CMJ disc with their melancholic gem "Crutches" today. I must be destined to post it.

It even turns out Bettie Serveert are touring. Touring, and how!

Bettie Serveert Tour Dates:

Sept. 29 - Arlington, VA - Iota Club & Cafe
Sept. 30 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge

Oct. 1 - Boston, MA - Middle East
Oct. 3 - Buffalo, NY - The Buffalo Icon
Oct. 4 - Detroit, MI - Shelter at St. Andrew's
Oct. 5 - Chicago, IL - The Abbey
Oct. 8 - Milwaukee, WI - Shank Hall
Oct. 9 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
Oct. 14 - Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe
Oct. 16 - San Francisco, CA - Cafe du Nord
Oct. 17 - Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland
Oct. 19 - Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa - Club Stage
Oct. 23 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle

Nov. 10 - Amstelveen - p60
Nov. 17 - Tilburg - 013
Nov. 24 - Groene Engel - oss
Nov. 30 - Utrecht - Tivoli de Helling

Dec. 1 - Opwijk, Belgium - Nijdrop
Dec. 2 - Antwerpen, Belgium - Petrol Club
Dec. 7 - Gent, Belgium - Charlatan
Dec. 8 - Houthalen, Belgium - CC Casino
Dec. 9 - Brugge, Belgium - Cactus Club
Dec. 16 - Mechelen, Belgium - Cultuur Centrum
Dec. 21 - Leeuwarden - Zaal Romein
Dec. 22 - Den Haag - Paard

Jan. 5 - Haarlem - Patronaat
Jan. 12 - Breda - Mezz
Jan. 13 - Hengelo - Metropool
Jan. 14 - Ottersum - Roepaen

Feb. 4 - Austerlitz/Zeist - Beauforthuis

Bettie Serveert - Crutches (available on Lamprey)

"Dreammaniacs" video:



"Smack" video:

Damon Albarn Scores Chinese Circus

While not forming new bands, recording, or performing, Damon Albarn, of Blur, Gorillaz, and The Good, The Bad And The Queen, enjoys traveling... so that even while not performing or recording with any of his bands, he can still work.

Most recently, he spent several weeks in China working with local musicians on the score for a new theater production of Monkey: Journey to the West, to be directed by Chen Shi-Zheng. Monkey is adapted from a classic Chinese novel. The play is to be a circus.

Albarn's Gorillaz bandmate, Jamie Hewlett, will design the stage set. In May, he was named Designer Of The Year by the Design Museum and given a £25,000 award for his work with Gorillaz.

The play will open in Manchester before heading to Paris, and then Berlin. Shaolin monks and Peking Opera singers will participate in the production.

Damon Albarn with Michael Nyman - London Pride (available on Twentieth Century Blues: The Songs Of Noël Coward)

Swan Song For Rheostatics

Longtime Canadian alt-rock group Rheostatics may be over for good after their March 30 concert. According to a statement released on the band's website, "The Rheostatics may continue to persevere in one form or another in the future, but not with their current lineup intact." So the concert, at Massey Hall in Toronto, will at least be the last chance to catch the current Rheos line-up of Dave Bidini, Martin Tielli, Tim Vesely, and Michael Phillip Wojewoda.

Tickets for the March 30 concert are on sale now. The price range is $29.50-$39.50, and will include as-yet-undetermined "additional merriment".

In January, Bidini and Tielli will appear in "Five Hole", a theater production based on Bidini's "hockey erotica". Bidini's love of hockey has already made it into song, book, and DVD.

Rheostatics - Record Body Count (available on Melville)

Arab Strap Confirms Split: "Everybody likes a happy ending!"

Arab Strap have issued a statement on their website confirming their break-up and announcing a farewell tour. The dates for the U.K./European tour will be posted over the weekend.

"There's no animosity, no drama, we simply feel we've run our course and The Last Romance seems to us the most obvious and logical final act of the Arab Strap studio adventure. Everybody likes a happy ending!" - Arab Strap

Maybe it was time to end things if they couldn't muster more enthusiasm. Even after all their years together (and some apart), Tears For Fears still managed to put love in the joke.



Tears For Fears - Everybody Loves A Happy Ending (available on Everybody Loves A Happy Ending, released in 2004)

Arab Strap's video for "Dream Sequence":

Arab Strap Over; To Inspire 'There Is An Ending After All', 'Last Romance' Headlines

The website for French music magazine Magic: Revue Pop Moderne reports that sources have confirmed Arab Strap's Malcolm Middleton and Aidan Moffat have mutually decided to split ten years after the release of their first single, "The First Big Weekend".

The duo will still release Ten Years Of Tears, an "audio rockumentary", on Oct. 23 in the UK and France. Arap Strap (while they were still Arab Strap) picked the tracks themselves and said the album contains the "requesite early demos, B-sides, rarities, previously unreleased songs, a couple of "classics" and the occasional surprise."

A 7" single will precede the album and include the 7" edit of "There Is No Ending" and a Four Tet remix of "The First Big Weekend".

Ten Years Of Tears Track Listing:

Preface: Set The Scene
Islands (original demo from 1995)
The First Big Weekend
Gilded (Live, from their first gig)
I Saw You (from their first John Peel Session)
The Clearing (Single Version)
Packs Of Three (acoustic, live in the studio 2006)
(Afternoon) Soaps
Rocket, Take Your Turn (from the Fukd ID 12")
To All A Good Night
Turbulence (Bis Remix Radio Edit)
The Shy Retirer
Blood (Live 2004)
If There's No Hope For Us (Rogue Version)
Where We've Left Our Love
The Girl I Loved Before I Fucked (full band version)
Oxytocin (our first ever recording!)
There Is No Ending (7" Edit)

(If There's) No Hope For Us (available on The Last Romance)

Clap Your Hands, Architecture, Takka Plan Limited Ed. Tour EP

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Architecture In Helsinki, and Takka Takka have announced plans to sell a limited edition live EP during their U.S. Fall tour. Only "like a hundred" copies will be available during each concert. The disc contains three songs by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, all recorded during a set last April at the Bowery Ballroom in New York. Architecture in Helsinki contributes two songs, both from a concert last November at Leeds' Brunedell Social Club, and Takka Takka's one song was recorded last month at a mystery location.

E.P. Track Listing:

1. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder
2. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Gimme Some Salt
3. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth
4. Architecture In Helsinki - Feather in a Baseball Cap
5. Architecture In Helsinki - It's 5!
6. Takka Takka - They Built You Up Too Fast

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah/Architecture In Helsinki/Takka Takka Tour Dates:

Sept 26 - Boston, MA - Avalon
Sept. 28 - New York, NY - Rumsey Playfield, Central Park
Sept. 30 - Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
Oct. 1 Cleveland, OH - House of Blues
Oct. 2 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
Oct. 3 - Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
Oct. 4. - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue - Main Room
Oct. 6. - Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre
Oct. 7. - Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater
Oct. 10. - Seattle, WA - The Showbox
Oct. 11. - Seattle, WA - The Showbox
Oct. 12 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
Oct. 13 - San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theater
Oct. 14 - Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre
Oct. 15 - Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre

Architecture In Helsinki - It's 5! (studio version, available on In Case We Die)

"It's 5!" video:

The Word: September Now Hear This! CD

Happy Be Late For Something Day.

"The Real Eighties: The Decade That Changed Everything" is the cover story of the September issue of The Word. Billy Bragg, Martin Fry, and Simple Minds' Jim Kerr are among those interviewed about the decade.

Word has not used the occasion to make their Now Hear This CD all-80s, although I thought the "Fall On Me" on the disc might be an R.E.M. cover.

The Word: Now Hear This! Track Listing:

1. Aberfeldy - Hypnotised (available on Do Whatever Turns You On) Bouncy, fun Britpop with unusually cheeky backup singers
2. Findlay Brown - Separated By The Sea (from a forthcoming album, title TBD) Melodic, shuffling, and moody.
3. Huski - Make Me Your Picture
4. Tom Petty - Down South
5. Susanna And The Magical Orchestra - Love Will Tear Us Apart
6. Guy Clark - Out In The Parkin' Lot
7. Barry Adamson - Who Killed Big Bird? (available on Stranger On The Sofa) Fast-paced, funky, infectious jazz.
8. Piney Gir - I Don't Know Why I Feel Like Cryin' But I Do
9. Jawbone - Chug A Lug
10. Pulp - Sorted For Es and Wizz
11. Grandadbob - Come With Me (from A Garden Of Happiness, out Sept. 18 in the U.K.) Snappy electropop.
12. Jane Taylor - Fall On Me
13. Bonobo - Nightlite (from Days To Come, available Oct. 2 in the UK, Oct. 31 in the U.S. and Canada.) Trip-hop reminiscent of early Morcheeba, with vocals by Bajka
14. P.F. Sloan (With Frank Black And Buddy Miller) - Eve Of Destruction
15. The Bhutan Philharmonic Feat. Sipra Bose - Snakecharmer

Johnny Cash Sings "Hurt" To Sell Tennis Shoes

Billboard.com reports that Johnny Cash's emotional cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" is being used by advertising agency W + K Amsterdam as the soundtrack for a new 60-second TV commercial for Nike. Several images of "pained expressions of world-class athletes" are combined with Johnny Cash's aching voice and Trent Reznor's moving lyrics in the ad, to encourage the purchase of a new type of overpriced tennis shoes made under questionable working conditions.

Reznor called "Hurt" "the first inclination for me that I could use a hand" (and not with anything sports-related). He said when he wrote it, he felt like he "was sitting in a pile of rubble and there [in "Hurt"] was a hint of regret and remorse."

Cash described "Hurt" as "the best anti-drug song I ever heard." He said, "It's a song about a man's pain and what we're capable of doing to ourselves and the possibility that we don't have to do that anymore." He was mysteriously silent on whether he found anything in the song relating to any particular brand of athletic footwear, let alone whether one provides better emotional support to professional athletes following their agony of defeat moments.

It's hard to believe that either Cash's estate or Reznor would okay a song both men have repeatedly discussed finding so meaningful. Reznor described Cash's version as feeling "like a nudge and boost and a hug from God." Why would he sell that?

Billboard.com does reveal the name of someone behind the sale, and their motivation:

Tom Rowland, senior VP of film and TV music at Universal Music Enterprises in Los Angeles, worked with the Nike team in Portland, Ore., to secure the track for the spot. Once the track was greenlighted, Rowland tipped off his European counterparts, as "they have great success in getting songs used in TV spots to the top of the charts."

All about the Benjamins, is it, Tom? Got a green soul, do you?

The ad, titled "Endure", started airing in Europe on August 24. There are reportedly "no plans" to air the spot in the U.S., but thanks to YouTube, Americans can see it anyway:



Cash's version of "Hurt":



Every copy of the video for the original song that I could find a link to at YouTube had been removed at the request of a certain large and sinister organization. If you're irked about the RIAA taking down videos from YouTube and think it's wrong, consider taking action, perhaps decide to boycott the RIAA, join the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and/or contact YouTube. Discontent plus inaction isn't useful.

Same goes if you're irked at Nike over their ad. Once they got away with using "Revolution" to sell shoes, maybe they figured anything is fair game.

Mojo: October Issue And The Quiet Revolution CD

Elton John is on the cover of an extremely pink Mojo this month, broadcasting the magazine's interview with him. The magazine also includes interviews with Tom Petty, Tony Bennett, and George Clinton, as well as a tribute to Arthur Lee that features his last interview.

An article discusses the climb of Monty Python up the ladder of success, while another details The Jesus And Mary Chain's contentious history.

Elsewhere, Tori Amos, dubbed "The Piano-Playing Kookstress" by Mojo, draws a self-portrait. I'm very, very good at this sort of thing. Gonna say.. hmm... she's sensitive, a mystical type... the sort Eric Cartman would not approve of... and she likes music.

When I was a little kid, I used to say that people would look better without noses. I think this might have been at least partly because the people I drew back then would have looked better without them. I found noses really hard to draw. Little triangles didn't look noses and trying to get nostrils right seemed an impossible task.

Tori's portrait is about 75% nose, in a silhouette-style triangle. She sketched just a bit of color to show her hair: a small, square-shaped squiggle of salmon/brick at the top-left (i.e. a forehead area). For a mouth there's a pink musical note on its side, (representing her, singing) I like the portrait for its economy and cleverness - it's fun. Yet I admit it isn't something I would want to hang on one of my walls. Aesthetics is a tricky and personal thing (all the moreso when you consider that the word itself has different meanings. Words... art... noses... bah)

In her short interview, Amos unshockingly reveals that her piano is her "most treasured possession". She says "collecting books on visual art" is her biggest non-musical passion. She also says she has many regrets, every day, and would like to be remembered as "someone who served good wine to all, even if you weren't necessarily called a friend."

Mojo reports that the Shins have been recording their next album, title TBD, to be released early next year. The band are co-producing it with Joe Chiccarelli (who, coincidentally, produced Tori Amos' Y Kant Tori Read). A Sub Pop representative says one song is "an homage to Morrissey, another has a Jesus And Mary Chain feel to it. But the rest is pure Shins." Petra Haden and "members of the Decemberists" guest.

Included with this issue is a "summer folk compendium", The Quiet Revolution, with tunes both old and new (some from forthcoming albums). Mojo notes that nearly 40 years separate the earliest and most recent tracks on the compilation. Despite the folk label, they disclaimer that only "much of the music included here falls loosely under the folk umbrella." It's mostly more-or-less kinda like folk music anyway.

The Quiet Revolution: 15 Tracks Hand-Picked By Mojo Track Listing:

1. Kevin Ayers - All This Crazy Gift Of Time
2. Akron/Family - Gone Beyond (from Meek Warrior, out on Oct. 3 in the U.S. and Sept. 25 in the U.K.) Mojo calls this track "beautifully crafted" and "Zepp-esque" and says "Meek Warrior threatens to be one of the year's finest releases." If you like the banjo, the words "gone", "beyond", and "completely"), and songs where the music semi-occasionally fades in and out, possibly because they're checking whether you're paying attention... this might be for you.
3. Diane Cluck - All I Bring You Is Love
4. Vashti Bunyan - Rose Hip November
5. Pentangle - Helping Hand
6. Woven Hand - Swedish Purse
7. Shelagh McDonald - Stargazer (available on Let No Man Steal Your Thyme) Mojo: "In 1972 24-year-old Scottish singer Shelagh McDonald disappeared, her whereabouts remaining a mystery for 33 years. Then, in November 2005, came a newspaper article detailing the effect of a bad LSD trip and her resultant itinerant lifestyle. While she has not returned to music, the haunting splendour of 'Stargazer' proves that she continues to beguile." I listened to the song, and decided to post it, before reading the sad track notes. The newspaper article adds more details. Some are sad, but some are positive, most notably that she says her "voice and confidence" have recovered.
8. James Yorkston - Summer Song (from The Year Of The Leopard, which will be released on September 25 in the UK and Japan, and in late October in Germany) Mojo: "Fife's new troubadour cut his teeth in hardcore outfit huckleberry before securing an impromptu solo support slot opening for Bert Jansch. Then his interest in Anne Briggs took hold as he developed his own approach to folk." Starts out a very gentle folk song, then decides to rock, but very gently.
9. Josephine Foster - There Are Eyes Above
10. John & Beverley Martyn - Go Out And Get It (available on Stormbringer) Mojo: "Originally planned as Beverley's solo album, Stormbringer was written with her husband, Scottish folk guitar hero John, in Woodstock, New York, in 1969, and eventually released under both their names. The marked influence of The Band's Music From The Big Pink is evident throughout, as the album's downhome opener 'Go Out And Get It' proves." Feel-good hippie-folk-rock.
11. Bert Jansch - The Black Swan
12. Espers - Children Of Stone
13. Davy Graham - Blues Raga
14. Pete Brown & Piblokto! - Broken Magic
15. Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Stars Spill Out Of Cups (available on We Just Did What Happened And No One Came) Mojo: "When beauty falls/It finds me here/In summer's bright and dusty smear" begins Sweet Billy Pilgrim's Tim Elensburg on this joyous slice of British folk-tronica." Sweeping, lovely, twinkly, grand.

Hot Press Electric Picnic CD: Our Friends Electric

Irish mag Hot Press logically enough devotes its latest cover to its coverage of the Electric Picnic Festival, relegating "Jesus Wept: The Mary Chain's Jim Reid On His Alcoholism" to the bottom corner and a variety of stories relating to sex off to the sides - the top sides. mind you. Jesus wept, and the Hot Press staff was no doubt moved, as well, Jim, but apparently they think sex sells more copies than alcoholism. Now if you'd groped a groupie or two whilst drunk... maybe things would be different. Or maybe if Madonna was involved in your story in some way, just to open up more headline possibilities and help the "billing".

Included with the mag is a CD. It's not an Insta-Marriage Electric Picnic Festival CD, but Our Friends Electric: Ten Essential Picnic Tracks does offer ten songs by artists at this weekend's Electric Picnic Festival, and word is, they're "essential".

Our Friends Electric Track Listing:

1. Bloc Party - Banquet
2. Broken Social Scene - Ibi Dreams Of Pavement
3. Duke Special - Maps (Live) (Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover, available on the Portrait EP, recorded at the Empire Music Hall in Belfast) A cover of "Maps", why hasn't anyone else thought of that?! Yikes, this song is covered often. I should produce a "Maps" covers album, pronto. Piano + dude, sincere cover here.
4. Semifinalists - The Chemicals That Wait (available on Semifinalists) Chirpy, synth-heavy, sweeping and dramatic but on a small-scale
5. Hot Chip - Crap Kraft Dinner (available on Coming On Strong) Mellow, sad electronica.
6. Os Mutantes - A Minha Menina
7. Elbow - Leaders Of The Free World
8. Gang Of Four - Damaged Goods
9. Tilly & The Wall - Nights Of The Living Dead
10. dEUS - 7 Days, 7 Weeks (available on Pocket Revolution) Sweet vocals and lyrics mixed with music that sometimes sounds like it's played at the wrong speed (I need to listen to it more to figure out what about it sounds a bit off to me. Nifty and then... off)

The Inflatable Church-Enhanced Electric Picnic Festival

Irish music festivals are probably the best music festivals in the world. Such a generalization may be risky, but it's useful, and not boring.

Some Irish festivals offer Morrissey and ice cream.

Organizers of the third Electric Picnic Festival, which began today, and continues through the weekend, have so much confidence that they can top a Moz-and-ice-cream combo that they're brazenly going Morrissey-free.

They are not going without ice cream, though. That would be wacky (and not good-wacky). Their cinema tent is even sponsored by an ice cream company (and it's showing "This Is Spinal Tap"! And "Ferris Bueller’s Day Off", Zoolander, and some Richard Linklater films, for good measure).

While the hooligans are playing paintball and the hippies are in the Body and Soul Village getting their palms read and doing yoga (possibly simultaneously), most people will likely be checking out the International Comedy Club Stage, as it's evidently "savagely popular."

This should leave a lot of other festivalgoing experiences, such as music, a little less crowded, yet more evidence Irish festival planners really are trying to create a peak experience for everyone. Plus: "Ten different types of gourmet pies!"

Among those performing at Stradbally Estate: Damien Rice, PJ Harvey, New Order, Massive Attack, Pet Shop Boys, The Frames, The Long Blondes, Elbow, Belle And Sebastian, Mogwai, Super Furry Animals, Psapp, and Aberfeldy.

Given the enormous number of couples who meet at concerts, paintball matches, palm readings, and whilst eating gourmet pies, the festival organizers have once again shown their brilliance by inviting people to marry in The Big Love Inflatable Church, which they claim is the only inflatable church (the church's website tweaks the claim; there, they only claim to be "the only officially licensed inflatable churh [sic]")

This gem is listed in the "theatrics" section of the website:

The Reverend Duncan Pritchard will be overseeing the proceedings, where you can find your perfect partner, invite your wedding guests and get hitched, in the only inflatable church in the world.

But don't think they aren't taking marriage seriously. Actually, do think that. It's "satire", also per the church's website. Just explain the satire bit to your parents. They'll dig it. An Electric Picnic Insta-Marriage/Annulment-or-Divorce could make for a groovy mix CD, which would make a cheap present for friends with the holidays just around the corner.

Live broadcasts from the Festival will be available online starting Saturday (Ireland time).

The Laois Hospice Foundation, Laois Housing Committee for the Mentally Handicapped, Stradbally Social Services, Stradbally Youth Club, and The Block Project in Portlaoise have been chosen as this year's nonprofit beneficiaries.

Metro Area - Orange Alert (DFA Remix) (available on The DFA Remixes: Chapter One)

The Long Blondes - My Heart Is Out Of Bounds (B-side on the "Appropriation" single)

New Order - 60 Miles An Hour (available on Singles)

Pet Shop Boys - One And One Make Five (available on Very)

Jim Noir - Computer Song (available on Tower Of Love)

Damien Rice - The Professor & La Fille Danse (Live at Cornucopia) (available on B-Sides)

The Frames - Keepsake (available on Burn The Maps)