On File Sharing

When a movie is released, you can go see it in the theater. If you miss it, you can wait a few months and rent it. If you really like it, chances are you can buy the movie.
Distribution of music works differently. We have to rely on radio for the majority of our new music experiences. Yes, there are other outlets; streaming on-line radio, good libraries that have CDs you can borrow, and so forth, but if your tastes fall a bit outside of the mainstream, it becomes difficult to find the music that suits you.
I don't see any CD rental places popping up. There is no Netflix equivalent for music.
Why should I pay for something that I haven't heard? Yes, I'll probably buy my favorite established artists without hearing more than a single off the new album, but that represents a tiny fraction of the quality music available in the world.
And a dollar per track? Even 80 cents is too much in some cases. If I want to do an on-line purchase of the new Kanye West album, do I get a discount for the silly skit tracks? Nope, it's all valued the same. In fact, the only on-line music service I subscribe to presently is emusic, because the cost to me breaks down to about 40 cents per track. I'll pay that because it's fair; I get no artwork or other amenities, just the songs in what is widely admitted to be a somewhat inferior medium, mp3.
I don't mind paying that amount for artists that I know, or have heard enough good things about to take a chance on. So what about music that I am not familiar with? How do I get to hear it and decide if I like it enough to go buy the CD?
In an ideal world, that is what file sharing would do. Now, I know that plenty of people take advantage, and buy nothing but blank CDs, and burn ten copies for their friends, and so on. Yes, that hurts the industry. But the industry gets so bent out of shape over people like that that they miss the potential inherent in file sharing. A music distributor's number one priority is to get an artist's work heard by as many people as possible. That leads to sales. But the industry seems to have it backwards; the idea seems to be that selling more copies means more people hear the music. Why is it, then, that when I go to a used CD store, there are more discarded copies of Hootie and the Blowfish and Celine Dion, etcetera, than anyone else? Didn't the people who bought those CDs without hearing more than a track or two absolutely love those artists, and would never think of getting rid of their copy of such a spectacular album? Or were they just hoodwinked, caught up in a moment of popular fervor, only to realize that what they had in their hands was uninspired garbage? What is more important, sales, or customers happy with the product? Yes, I know, sales are more important. Blind loyalty is the desired effect.
Plenty of people use file sharing to be exposed to music they would not hear otherwise. And many go out and pay for an album based on that experience. Then they recommend it to their friends, and maybe they go out and buy it, too. File sharing encourages an underground radio of sorts, where artists can be lifted from obscurity without the mechanism of an advertising department behind them. The sooner the music industry recognizes the upside of getting the product out to as many ears as possible, the sooner they will crawl back from the sales slump that causes them to continually lash out at forces that are beyond their control.

Top 10 2005

I am generally wary of best album of the year lists. After all, who actually has time to listen to everything? What honest person without loads of disposable income in our generic radio environment could actually scratch the surface of the quality music that is released over the course of the year? Yes, I am teetering on the brink of a file sharing debate, but that's another post.
I haven't heard everything, either, so this list is not set in stone, it is a snapshot. It represents the albums that I think I'll still be listening to not just a year from now, but ten years and beyond.

1. National - Alligator
2. Andrew Bird - ...and the Mysterious Production of Eggs
3. Mark Eitzel - Candy Ass
4. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
5. Ladytron - Witching Hour
6. Ivy - In the Clear
7. Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth
8. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
9. Hood - Outside Closer
10. The Magic Numbers - s/t

And beyond...
11. My Morning Jacket - Z
12. Erasure - Nightbird
13. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
14. Decemberists - Picaresque
15. Death Cab for Cutie - Plans

I'll probably change my mind, sooner rather than later.

Metacritic 2005

Collected top 10 album lists from various sources.

A few comments about the lists:
Can someone please explain to me what is so special about Antony and the Johnsons? Now that it is the X-mas season, I know what that voice reminds me of: Alvin and the Chipmunks slowed down.
The Kanye West album is also too highly ranked; listen to it again, people, it is the same damn song over and over done by a whiny kid who is wasting the talent he showed on his first album. Get out and live a little, Kanye, so you have something to say again.
The National made three lists, two at the number one spot, which leads me to believe that not enough people heard "Alligator", and that's a damn shame. Excellent live show from them as well.
Another neglected artists was Andrew Bird, but the post below covers that territory.

Andrew Bird - and the Mysterious Production of Eggs

"Get out your measuring cups / and we'll play a new game."

There is nothing overblown about Andrew Bird's music. No excess, just exactly what is needed, each song peppered with the right amounts of musical accompaniment; a tremor here, a scratch of the guitar there. A pop of percussion, a bending of the bow. It's like Vanderslice without the self-consciousness, The Decemberists without the pageantry, folk without the frilly feel-good nonsense.

"Come to the front of the class / and we'll measure your brain"

What I like about this album: All of the songs are fully realized; so often I hear something and while I can appreciate what the artist did with it, I'll often wonder, well, what if they had done this or that a little differently, how would that sound?

"We'll give you a complex / and we'll give it a name."

This is not world-changing music, it won't kick your ass, but if you like a little of it you'll like it all. That doesn't mean it's the same song 14 times, just that Bird delivers on his vision consistently and has the knack for creating an aural space that sweeps you into his mind for a few moments.

Original album artwork by Jay Ryan; check the 2005 gallery.
Rating: full house.

Adem - Ringing In My Ear

Though I owe you,
I owe you no allegiance
But I still feel guilty for the things that I have done
These past fifteen days

It was easy
To just let it happen
I've been with people who sing gorgeous songs
While you're just ringing in my ear

And filling with envy
Who will you turn to now?
It was your decision I won't hear you
with hating and screaming still ringing in my ear

You threw me away
Away to the jackals
But the jackals they showed me a good time
While you're just ringing in my ear

I toasted marshmallows
While you burned our bridges down
And I looked at landscapes that I had forgotten
Lit up by the fire

And filling with envy
Who will you turn to now?
It was your decision I won't hear you
With hating and screaming still ringing in my ear

It's a sunny September
The colours are bright here
And the birds sing of beautiful places
While you are just ringing in my ear

*********************************************

Sometimes you can't shut it out.

Now It's Overhead - Fall Back Open

"Everything is coming unglued."
This album is over a year and half old, so why post a review now? For the same reason that I'll do any review of an older recording; it seems to have been overlooked.
Fall Back Open is not a happy record, but it's not really sad, either. It tugs on you, with simple melodies and Andy Lemaster's voice, which perfectly suits the arrangements. There's the sense of something angry, something passionate, boiling just under the surface of almost every song, lending the album a sort of tension that occasionally pushes past the edges of the song. That tension creates the atmosphere, and when it does creep to the surface it stays on your mind, building up over the course of the album with a cumulative, well executed effect. In an era where the long player album format has been declared dead (or has it?), this collection demands a complete listen to be appreciated.
Rating: straight.

Sinead O'Connor

Went to the Vic last night to see Sinead doing reggae songs. Sly and Robbie, legends of the scene, were there to create the authentic vibe. The whole thing was this odd combination of subdued and spiritual; the band was great and Sinead's voice still carries the heft of a nation. I think she could have put the microphone down and her voice still would have carried up to the very top of the theater, where we snagged a few seats and let the music wash over us. (Nice thing about the Vic - the sound is good even up in the rafters.) I should note that I have a nice little head cold at the moment, but there was no way I would miss this show, and I left feeling relaxed and just better. I can't think of many concerts that would have such a soothing effect. I don't know enough about reggae to give a fair review to the album on which this tour is based, but I can definitely recommend it for any fan of Sinead.

Mice Parade - Bem-Vinda Vontade

My introduction to Adam Pierce's Mice Parade came by way of the previous album, Obrigado Saudade. I played that album to death; it is a lush, well-paced work that everyone ought to hear. I feel the same way about this new effort. Yes, there are moments that feel derivative; echoes of Brian Eno in "Waterslide", and gestures toward the Sea and Cake and Tortoise on several tracks. But that doesn't detract from the music, in fact it provides a sort of reference point as Pierce drifts off toward melodies and instruments that tend to be broadly lumped under the term "world music". (Note: "World Music" is a record store invention, a catch-all for anything that doesn't fit into the narrow American musi-cultural schema. But I'll use the term, acknowledging that I don't know enough about the music of other cultures to precisely define where a sound originates; I could probably guess with some accuracy but anyone with an ounce of background more than I have would quickly see through it. Anyway...) This is an album that meshes with the world around it; if you play it during a rainstorm the pitter pat will blend in nicely; play it in the midst of relative silence and it will hold up just as well.
Pitchfork gave this album a middling score, mostly on the basis that the vocals detract from the music and seem tacked on; I don't agree. CMJ is a bit more kind.
Overall, this is a solid effort and a rewarding listen.
Rating: full house.

John Vanderslice - New Zealand Pines

golden gate park
we walked our mondays there
safe inside our replica

they have a garden there
where climates of the world
are laid out on a walking tour

you were my proof
you were my wetsuit
I will be okay
if I can keep
the things I love at bay

winter light
falls through south america
onto new zealand pines

ranger locked the gates
I took cover under
the dead wood and fragrant vines

you were my proof
you were my wetsuit
I will be okay
if I can keep
the things I love at bay

***********************

I like this song because it reminds me of my San Francisco trip; the botanical gardens were one of the great pleasures of that visit.

Engineers - s/t

"Come in out of the rain, to a better place," a place where this London-based four piece will construct nuanced melodies that are simultaneously uplifting and sad. Listening to the Engineers is like waking up in a dark room with a bright sliver of sun peeking through the curtains; you could open the curtains all the way and bask in the light but you're too comfortable to get up. They remind me a bit of a mellower Doves, with a dash of Daniel Lanois and a keen sense throughout that their songs would play well with a 70 piece orchestra backing them. Not everyone would like this band, but you can make a reliable conclusion after two minutes at a listening station whether you would enjoy the album all the way through. (Side note: that's an aspect I'll try to include in reviews on occasion; how often has it happened that you hear a bit of a band in the store and then get the CD home and the rest of it disappoints?) Some song samples can be streamed from their releases page; scroll down to the Folly ep and check out "Forgiveness" and "Come in Out of the Rain". Overall, a very consistent, pleasing album.
Rating: flush.

Tracks per day

So I glanced at my audioscrobbler/last fm stats and noticed the number of tracks played since January 2004. Over 40,000. That comes out to about 60 songs per day since then, or roughly 5-6 albums worth of material. Maybe I spend too much time sitting here?

Sun Kil Moon - Tiny Cities

You have to be bold to attempt a record like this. 11 Modest Mouse covers? Seriously? So what does that sound like, anyway? Ian Brock acoustic after a frontal lobotomy, perhaps. At least, that's what I expect the fans of the Mouse to say. And I am a fan of the Mouse, and my curiosity was definitely piqued by this album. Does the former leader of Red House Painters manage to pull off such an audacious stunt? Well, yes and no. If this had been released as a four track ep featuring the best cuts and leaving the rest for one of those Rhino style retrospective compilations, it might have worked. As it stands, we get too much of an interesting idea.
Pitchfork pretty much demolished this record, though I don't agree with Stephen Deusner's appraisals of the individual tracks. The best cut here is "Ocean Breathes Salty", capturing the morbid longing of the protagonist in a way that the original suggests but never really delivers. Other tracks, such as "Jesus Christ was an Only Child", take a similar approach and collapse into a pile of dust. And really, what is a Modest Mouse track without the nervous energy of Brock's voice, the sense that at any moment he will lose control of it and start ranting in a Tourette's reminiscent froth. Kozelek strums a pretty guitar and his intentions are not necessarily bad, but overall this is a mythical effort akin to trying to roll a boulder uphill.
Rating: pair.

Housekeeping

This blog has been dormant for a while. It has existed in forms, sometimes as a place to list favorites, other times as a "now playing" archive. With Last.fm, though, it's easy enough to see what is playing (on my computer, anyway). So, this revived version is going to be a bit more broad, with content composed primarily of reviews and occasional notes on whatever else music related comes to mind.

We can rebuild it... we have the technology... we have the sounds... we have a large supply of green jello to provide sustenance through the long winter nights...