MP3s are shared to try to convince people they should like the same music I do (As in... "then she told a friend, and she told a friend...) Of course if you love music, you should (responsibly) spend lots of your disposable income on music, concerts, and merch. If you are an artist or from a label, and would like a song removed, please e-mail me at kofis.hat [at] gmail [dot] com and I'll promptly do so.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Feed switchover
In keeping with the theme of change, and because Google's buyout of Feedburner means Feedburner accounts are soon going to be to be assimilated anyway, the Kofi's hat feed has a new home at: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/Kofis-hat. I, for one, welcome my new feed overlords. According to the folks at Google, anyone who fears or dislikes change won't notice anything different, and those who embrace change or hope for improvements will feel the transition is a uniquely transformational experience.
We can only hope under the keen eye and steady hand of Google, feeds will operate as well as Blogger has under their stewardship. What Will Google Buy Next? Everything? We can only hope!
Glasvegas took the Amoeba Hollywood stage late last night and may have regretted showing up at all. They already played their only other scheduled local show the previous night (and tickets for the Troubador concert had quickly sold out), everyone in the band, according to singer James Allan, was "hungover", and the set was hampered by persistent sound-mixing problems.
The crowd—which included touring partner Carl Barât (styled as Jack White in the role of Capt. Jack Sparrow, recognized nonetheless)—wasn't given a real chance to hear what they truly sound like live or to see what they're like as performers (even in hungover/some-still-drinking mode.) That's a pity, but on the positive side: the band cared about the sound quality and played several still-obviously-good songs. The set was even fairly long for an in-store-5 songs, if you don't count second song, "Lonesome Swan", which Allan ended after 38 seconds, due to the sound issues. ("What's all this fucking noise, man?"):
By fifth song ("Daddy's Gone"), the hungover crankiness and the "fucking noise" had improved, somewhat...
Amoeba threatened to email those who purchased Glasvegas' debut album that evening an MP3 version of the show "after it's been mixed". Mixed by who? Will they include the "second song" and the "Free Bird" request? Will the engineer go for accurately conveying the sound of the show or sweetening it? I bought the disc that afternoon, evidently before clerks were given the info about the download offer, and didn't return to give my email address. My friend and I made an attempt to stay for the signing afterward, but the band was taking an unusually long amount of time to emerge, and I had visions of them eating burgers at the Jack In The Box across the street, while debating whether to return. So we made like trees and got out of there. Don't know about those burgers (alas, as a vegetarian, I never will), but the ratatouille just added to the menu at Cafe Wa_s is delicious.
Glasvegas is making like a tree and getting out of this continent. They'll return in March, playing loads of dates before and after. Ratatouille is a traditional French dish as well as an American animated motion picture.
Glasvegas Setlist, Amoeba Hollywood 1/15/2009:
1. "Flowers & Football Tops" 2. "Lonesome Swan" (James Allan cuts it early due to sound problems)/rant 3. "It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry" 4. "Geraldine" 5. "Daddy's Gone" 6. "Be My Baby"
Another cover featuring a a fancy-like old-timey painting, Coldplay's Viva La Vida, took third place, behind Roots Manuva's Slime & Reason. The Roots Manuva cover showcased another popular theme among the online voters who determined the winners: splitting headaches. Other popular imagery: geometric shapes (often brightly-colored), people and animals "vomiting" things others than vomit, and people, as well as animals with their mouths wide open for some reason other than to spew non-vomit.
I think "Lost+" is downgraded by the added Jay-Z vocals (and, as a side note, the title variations for the different versions of the song are a bit hokey, i.e. "Lost?", "Lost-", "Lost+", and "Lost@".) On the plus, or, if you prefer, +, side, the remaining songs are excellent.
Psst, someone tell Belong about the recent phenomenon called the "music video". Apparently, visual depictions of songs are made by artists (often in consultation with their record label friends.) It's trendy for kids to use the musical videos they're told are the most buzzworthy and cool to decide which tunes should join the hit parade. So making music videos seems advantageous.
Maybe it will help that 53 seconds of Belong's cover of Syd Barrett's "Late Night" are used to soundtrack a bloke's festive, yet spooky clip. The length should works with the alleged brevity of the Gen. X through Z attention span.
Alessi Laurent-Marke's distinctive, lovely vocals evoke something like a velvety-voiced lounge singer with a bit of twinkle on loan from the nearest fairy princess.
R.I.Y.L. Regina Spektor, Kate Bush, Andrew Bird, and/or Björk. You might find her a tad too heavily inspired by some of the above, or might decide, as I did, that she ultimately manages to intrigue with weird-in-a-good-way vocal aerodynamics and quirky instrumentation that are either her own offbeat style, or at least blend the styles of others in her own offbeat, fresh-sounding way.
Shoutout also for Digitalism's Hands On Idealism EP, a strong collection of remixes of a handful of songs from their 2007 album Idealism. I'm especially partial to "Apollo Gize (Breakbot Hypnotoad Extended Remix)" (audio-only video.)
Oh, thisDears live radio performance of "Lights Off" is wonderful to watch at (about) 5 in the morning after staying up all night ("Five in the morning, you know we couldn't sleep. Might be inspiration but it's been this way for weeks. And weeks. And weeks. And weeks. And weeks.") I suspect the song will prove roughly as lovely at other times of the day. And night. In addition to "Lights Off", the band played "Money Babies" (both from last year's Missiles) during their visit with Seattle's KEXP (slogan: "where the music matters". Rejected slogans reportedly include: "the only station that cares about music, frankly" and "where arguably insulting advertising matters.")
