Blog Envy!

So when I travel, I sometimes get a chance to listen to satellite radio.  So as an avid consumer of that pitchforkmedia, top albums persuasion, and being the terribly over-the-hill at 29, I of course tune into Sirius XMU.  To all its credit, it is a great venue for independent musicians, or as what has become monetized as “indie,” like when I did charts as a college radio DJ (She & Him have several commercials now that bombard me when I’m trying to watch House).  But get this, I’ve listened to more unsigned bands on XMU in a day out in the field for work, than I have in all my time listening to the FM rock stations on the weekends of my youth where they did their local unsigned hours, even more than during my time at WMUC in College Park cause we had label distros…Anyway, part of the programming, that is part of the intro of this post, is a several hour program called “Blog Radio”.  This where some of the major music bloggers on the internet create a nice playlist of music they want to hear, and is often representative music often showcased on their blogs (but not always, and that’s cool!)…and I’m thinking, I’m jealous…and I miss being a DJ on college radio.  And yes, some of the personalities on the blogosphere are quite pretentious, or rather, they seem to extol the fact that they have clout and exclusive information and connections with the bands us indie-music lovers want to get to know.  But then…is the reason we want to know because this music their playing is the latest buzz?  Or is the reason we want to know is because this is the sound we’re craving and the sound we want to hear right now?  Regardless, a term that is thrown around with little consequence because its staying power is so fleeting is that of RELEVANCE, almost getting its meaning diluted as much as the battered term indie (but that word has a long way to go before it becomes as bruised and calloused as “jazz”).  As Heidi Klum says on Project Runway, “One day you’re in and the next, you’re out!”

So, I am jealous!  I don’t, or rather can’t, really blog on the most relevant music - Or so I feel.  I get my music sources from other, more connected people, who actually read their RSS feeds daily/hourly from people who actually have cell-numbers these underground deities of music on their smartphones…

Such is the way and the awesome power of the internet, where you have hundreds of millions of people, all contributing content, all contributing to our research.  Of course you have play your hand close to your chest to make it WORTH anything and so your voice on the internet sounds unique, and your valuable contacts and methods of information gathering aren’t sniped by the many other ambitious people waiting to make their mark on the blogosphere.  If that wasn’t bad enough, music reporting is already rife with pretention and exclusivity.  Fuck if I have Beach Fossils on speed dial, or at least sending me promos and CDMs of their singles for an exclusive remix.

The truth of the matter, or what’s the matter with me is, why blog?   It seems that there are a plethora of other music blogs on the internet that do a fantastic, if not much better written with more relevant content, cutting-edge and up to date with very exclusive information. 

Seems like I may be able to do the same thing with a team of bloggers, with feet on the street, money in their wallets, great contacts in their iphones and an ambitious attitude at being the coolest and hippest folks, in the know and on the internet so you, the reader, clicking on adds to pay for the blogger’s concert tickets, liquor, herbal and chemical bribes can stay up to date as well.  Then again, I’d rather take a daytrotter approach with live acoustic sessions in my amazing studio and fuck all care about what people think.  I guess that’s why they get so many cool people to do sessions there.  

There is a definite an idealization and romance to these star-music-blogs; like a movie scene where you want to be in it, blowing up the gas station, not looking back, getting in a $200,000 car with a supermodel and saying that memorable one liner that everyone will be quoting for years…basically it’s a way to make you want to care about their opinions in music.  And often to their credit, they are well researched and have probably listened to a lot of music, and probably have gone to a conservatory or college music program, or at least had some art appreciation curriculum.  And there’s a lot of them.  Going back to blog radio, a few to highlight in the wide world of music relevance is:

Gorilla Vs. Bear – Great tracks of indie rock, always seems to get the hot promo tracks off his cds before everyone else

Aquarium Drunkard – A little more high-tech than others, and often gets exclusive show presentation…so basically promotes shows and gets gigs for bands they like, which helps build relationships.  I like that business model.

Brooklyn Vegan – Well connected in the Brooklyn scene there in NYC and beyond.  His parties are apparently places where you "must be seen".

Hipster Runoff – I feel a kinship with him.  Often frames things in absurd and banal ways to where it seems just short of magical, cause indie artists are always just short of success and selling out.

The above all have shows on XMU :P

Brightest Young Things – Most amazing magazine out of DC, with great interviews, fashion etc…and an amazing street team.  Highly respected, though they can seem to speak with a very art-star voice that Karen O screamed about in that song she did in the early 00s.  Getting ahead of yourselves right?  But so cool, that any miss-step is easily brushed aside.

But with voices like this and much more already on the internet, I feel…washed out…

Personally, I’ve really gone through a lot of musical genres, specializations and explorations in my music consumption to get where I am today, blogging this blog.  However, I feel like I’m too slow.  Often the cutting edge of scenes is just crap that’s only going to last for a few fad-months: like crunk-kids perpetuated by the likes of Brokencyde and 2-Drunk 2 Drive.  Or to take it back to 99, the electroclash movement in NYC by bands like W.I.T. and Fischerspooner.  Much like the relevance, at the time of their height, they are all abuzz with this is the new-school, or this is the sound we were looking for.  They get a showcase at a dank Austin bar at SXSW, and a side-tent/café spot at Bonnaroo, or a space on a pavilion sidewalk at the Warped Tour and they're off!  So then, it’s what the kids want, and what the coolest underground DJs are playing (looking at you Will Eastman of D.C.), or the reporters on the citypaper are telling us to check out their show and it gets all sold-out in a day and the show is like some romantic-idealized situation that could be capitalized in a high-budget and sleek action film…like when industrial was cool in Blade and the vamps were sexily dancing to “Jukejoint Jezebel”, or when darkwave was cool in the “The Crow” and we were looking at well dressed, badass heroin junkies shooting up to “Golgotha Tenement Blues,” and bigbeat techno was cool in “The Matrix” like Propellerhead’s epic “Spybreak!” shootout scene in the building lobby.  Nowadays, there isn’t a stable goth-dance-night in the DC area (though I hear Europe’s holding on with the alfa-matrix label!).  Though I’m sure some cities are still holding on…

sic transit gloria mundi

(to quote Max from Rushmore)

The glory of the scene you were in…it fades!  It becomes irrelevant. 

But hopefully there will be some legacy left behind with genuine, amazing music…probably also left behind by the masses.

The reality of the situation is that the internet has created this amazing, albeit disparate community of people that can support this huge monolith of “indie” music.  If only we could get our act together…then we’d probably try to make it like a label…best we stay factioned, and continue to put on our airs of pretention.

But in a way, this narcissism is fun!  And I love writing about and listening to music.  So I guess…I am happy to call myself one of the internet’s music bloggers…and raise a glass to anyone else who’ll do it…just don’t expect my help…well much, unless you can get me an exclusive 2-month advance promo copy, or a white-label remix…

Popipopipopo!

So in the tradition of Japanese pop comes an underground sound that kinda parodies the pop-music industry of J-pop and in sacchrine matrimony takes our video-game culture's vintage music and makes this music, that's probably a little to fast to dance to in clubs, but probably great for some Dance Dance Revolution.

Below is a sampling of a several songs that I like, or rather have stuck in my head:

Drinking that Vegetable Juice... song by Miku Hatsune. Granted it's a video game, but it's exemplary

Plus Tech Squeezebox - My Personal Fav of the artists of this Genre

Though I have to say, their sound's rather diverse, ranging from the polysics to many nods to the immortal BOREDOMS!

Have a totally non-suggestive Honey Dip by MacDonald Duck Elclaire, which wins the coveted sounds good in japanese but what does it really mean band name prize

I think what the problem with this genre is that it doesn't really seem to be much of a genre, minus an era where people have been experimenting with revisting 8-bit sound generators and incorporating them into their brands of pop music. Though the wiki article kinda does it justice with their summary:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picopop

I can't help but get the feeling this is just japanese indie music...that is all. I mean, I hear the Polysics, I hear the Boredoms, I hear Towa Tei, I hear the Pizzacato 5. It's just another piece of that melange of their brand of fusion pop that borrows heavily from american and european music influence and then makes it there own.



So I don't think there's any staying power to the genre other than getting quickie ditties stuck in your head. Rather this is just an evolutionary step to modern japanese music, that isn't stuck in glam/metal like some other jap-genres I know...Or is it just all Shibuya Kei?

Joanna Made Me Cry

So I saw Joanna Newsom for the first time on the 22nd of March, 2010 at the 6th & I Synagogue in DC.  Discarding cliche spiritual references to the quality of the performance aside; it was the first concert I've ever cried at.

I don't think I've ever experienced someone, at a live show, who could so perfectly emote their music on stage without melodrama and just pure, genuine talent. I was in awe. And when she broke the mood with banter and when her harp string broke, it just cut the tension like a cool wave over my body, to bring me out of a dumb struck stratospheric-zone, and back to earth for a bit to enjoy her on a human level.

At the same time, she seems to have taken criticism to heart, often equating her previous work to cats, screeching vocal artistry akin to Yoko Ono, or women in pain.

An Old Favorite, but Oft Criticized Song

Seriously, she is now showing much more command of her voice and has created a smooth croon approach to this album, and approaches the singing with more tonality.  But in contrast, to me, it makes all her previous work seem purposeful in their expressions, despite their lack of mass appeal.  Her current voice and delivery in the album "Have One On Me" has much less of the folksy twang, youth and cracking, favoring that croon and purposeful intonation.  Her emotional impact is still the same, but at the same time, much more palatable to more people on first listen than her previous work.  "Have One On Me" takes into more consideration a polyphony between the harp/piano and voice, maintaining tonality vs. the previous and in my mind purposeful flourishes of atonality.  Hopefully this new release and tour will build her fanbase further, as people can ignore the whimsical vocal acrobatics and cracking and indulge in her luscious, genius and intense song writing.

As a point of comparison, "California" my favorite track on the new record:

Regardless of the criticisms of her body of work, her live performances apparenlty are always consistently beautiful.  If she can continue to give this much soul, on every performance...if I had the money and time...I would make every show she gives.  When I saw her, the performances of California, Emily, and '81 had me weeping with how beautiful they were.  Only thing I would have preferred is if the volume of the guitar amp was about a notch and half lower.

Also, I would have liked her to play my favorite song of hers:

Sawdust & Diamonds - The song she hooked me with

Haters gonna hate though...haters shouldn't listen to her music then, or make comments on youtube.

Short Form Proposal

So when examining how the blogosphere works, and getting feedback from my friends, I realize that what's key to moderately successful blogs is constant update.

It's been almost a year since my last update, before I wrote the piece about the Jonna Lee viral videos.  That's not really a good way to maintain a blog.

So here's what I propose, that I will post some short-form blog posts.  Hopefully the feedback will be encouraging, and these posts will invariably cure the writer's block that stops me from writing my long posts anyway.  That and there'll be updates that will show up...at least on Calm Canary's google reader ;)

So I leave you(myself) with this inspiration to keep at it. Afterall, I don't have to goto school anymore, so what excuse to I have not to fill up the blogosphere with my presence.

So need a remix of this!

Building a Mystery...The Beautiful Virus

So when the UK's guardian speaks, the internet listens:

http://www.mrlukeabbott.com/marketing/listening-without-prejudice/

And the beautiful series of videos purported by the mysterious iamamiwhoami has culminated to the latest and scotch-tape wrapped present of this:

b...starring Jonna Lee & the Black Cats

I don't believe this would have gotten any of the due and press it has recieved if the hype started in that seedy rumor that these videos are the responsibility of Christina Aguilera and her creative/advertising team.

However, further analysis and the buzz of the internet has shown, that nearly without a doubt in my mind, this is the work of Jenna Lee.

If the scandinavian aesthetic of the amazing video series wasn't enough to convince us that the sultry Aguilera had turned over a wonderful new leaf of sound...this ultimate reveal showing bandmates that are irrefutably, a bearded/hairier version of Jonna Lee's bandmates, along with her vintage synths/organs.

for comparison:

Also consider the evidence in my mind that an up-and-coming artist, who is scandinavian AND does of a cover of a Nizter Ebb song, it shows off that this artist is more in-tune with these glitchy and dare I say more industrial sounding textures than would the pop-sensation Christina Aguilera...unless, as I previous thought that Christina was collaborating with artists akin to when Bjork got angry and worked with and Mark Bell on Medulla (which is definitely one of my favorites). Or when Radiohead created Amnesiac...

A softer side of Nitzer: "Violent Playground"

I also invite you compare the series of movies and songs and sounds made by the iamamiwoami crew versus the previous work of Jonna Lee. In my opinion this older work is sort of thin and hollow. Her songwriting is fun, and uses some entendre, but it's not got the impact that really makes her stand out in a sea where Regina Spekter can move you with her breath, Kate Nash can color your visions cute and Karen O. can discard art-rock for a few months and win a grammy writing music base don children's whimsy! So when Jonna Lee previous-single worthy work sounds like this:

My High is cute...but not-infectious...like the viral vids...

...at least the comedown is easy.

Anyway, what this signals to me, is that someone can really spruce up their sound by taking a cue from Yeasayer (yes...I won't compare anything to how Radiohead's changed their sound).

Old-sound was good...but not as famous

Ah, now I see why the kids like Animal Collective...and we're the toast of Brooklyn!

So what have we learned? That Jonna Lee's got an amazing creative team. And learn to enjoy your electronic mouth as much as your acoustic. And...to build this hype before you make a huge US debut at it's most widely media-covered cutting edge music festival, SXSW (sorry CMJ).

http://www.jonnalee.com/

I suppose what I'm hoping for is that this movement is further refined, and not discarded, like the glitchy laptop pop of the early 2000s that came out after Radiohead released Kid A. They were pioneers! However, they weren't remembered in my mind by the majority of today's hipsters. Except for Animal Collective, which really found their own, and quite inspiring, powerful voice and have also lent their hands to creating this amazing sound of the new decade. Then again, they both released their albums in 2000, which kinda could lead to all sorts of chicken-egg arguments, and then we'll have to bring in Load records, Einsturzende Neubauten, Mum, Mille Plateaux and so on.

Look what I made with a laptop! Julian Fane is amazing!

I suppose it all boils down to...that I thought that somone with Christina Aguilera's amazing voice, was actually going to turn to a more heartfelt and experimental sound at the risk of her image and brand.  I suppose such thoughts are usually just whimsy and want, and don't really do anything real except fuel rumormills.