Gnarls Barkley Reversed

This afternoon Rolling Stone put up an article about Gnarls Barkley's latest marketing ploy. The dynamic duo are giving away their 2008 sophmore release The Odd Couple, but the entire album is backwards. Its one long mp3 so you can't skip tracks but it plays nicely (surprisingly). You can go here enter some info download and enjoy.

Myspace MySpace MYSPACE

First came Myspace. We all joined. Our favorite local bands were already well established there. The larger indie bands were soon to follow and finally the major label bands focused their attention towards the Myspace generation. Within 2 1/2 years Myspace had become the biggest networking opportunity on the web. In the following months we were introduced to a Myspace record label and Myspace TV. By last year myspace had become a cultural phenomenon. The truth behind eUniverses hand in the creation of Myspace was out and the Fox Network had purchased the site...but none of this mattered. Fox's newly acquired website made networking for bands, filmmakers, comedians, writers, non-profit organizations so simple that no one even cared that Myspace had literally gone corporate.

Myspace TV recently made a deal with the London based Shine group for international distribution and "air time" for its online shows like Roommates and more notably Quarter-Life, which made it to prime time on NBC during the writer's strike this winter. Myspace was also making headlines in recent week inking deals with Universal Music Group, SongBMG, and Warner Music Group to sell DRM-Free mp3's of their artists on the website.

Myspace records on the the other hand seems to be the weak link (I use weak very loosely) in this power circuit. I remember their first compilation being a poor first effort at best. And their phenom Tila Tequila'a Myspace Records Debut didn't fair as well as someone with 3,018,099 friends and a marketing team as adept as Myspace's. That's why I was intrigued by message I got from Myspace records about getting the new Pennywise album, Reason To Believe, for free.

Now I'm not claiming to be the biggest Pennywise fan. I don't think I even own an entire album by the band. Reason to Believe isn't the best I've heard from them, but it's still a solid effort from the California punk troop. It reminds me of the pre/post Gurewitz Bad Religion of the early mid 90's without the harmonies and a more obvious attempt at broad social commentary. If I was going to give it some sort of rating, I'd have to say 3 out of 5 stars (or what ever grading system you want to use). It won't find its way onto any of my best of lists but I don't think I'd skip over the album/songs if they came up randomly in myiTunes . The more interesting part of all this is that more than 600,000 people registered to download the album. An impressive number for a band ofPennywise's size. Now if they could just turn those downloads into actual sales...

Pennywise will be on tour from May until this summer and then you can catch them on stage for Warped tour.


(tour dates via their myspace)

Apr 19 2008 6:00P	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	Long Beach, California
May 6 2008 7:00P	The Great Salt Air	Salt Lake City, Utah
May 7 2008 7:00P	Fillmore Auditorium	Denver, Colorado
May 9 2008 8:00P	Granada Theatre	Dallas, Texas
May 10 2008 8:00P	Warehouse Live	Houston, Texas
May 11 2008 7:30P	Emo’s Alternative Lounge	Austin, Texas
May 13 2008 7:00P	Sunshine Theatre	Albuquerque, New Mexico
May 18 2008 2:00P	KJEE @ Santa Barbara County Bowl	Santa Barbara, California
May 22 2008 6:30P	The Masquerade	Atlanta, Georgia
May 23 2008 7:30P	Jannus Landing	Saint Petersburg, Florida
May 24 2008 7:30P	House of Blues	Lake Buena Vista, Florida
May 25 2008 7:30P	Mojo Room	Port Saint Lucie, Florida
May 26 2008 6:00P	Plush	Jacksonville, Florida
May 28 2008 6:00P	House of Blues	N. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
May 29 2008 6:00P	The National	Richmond, Virginia
May 30 2008 8:00P	Fillmore @ TLA	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
May 31 2008 8:00P	Fillmore @ Irving Plaza	New York, New York
Jun 1 2008 8:00P	WBCN "River Rave" @ Tweeter Center	Mansfield, Massachusetts
Jun 6 2008 8:00P	KWOD @ Pavillion at The A.R.C	Davis, California
Jun 7 2008 8:00P	Live 105 BFD @ Shoreline	Mountain View,

Myspace is definitely a force to be reckoned with in the 21st century. Its only a matter of time before everyone in the world has a mandatory Myspace page.



Amendment:

I just saw this on The Daily Swarm

Wired: MySpace Music Won't Give Equity to Indie Bands

Wired Listening Post | Read Full Story >

In an interview with Wired.com, MySpace Co-founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe (pictured right) said that while MySpace is open to offering an equity deal similar to what the majors got to “the right partners,” indie bands who are unaffiliated with an agreggator like The Orchard or a major label like Universal will not receive any the general revenue generated by MySpace Music.

They will, of course, receive a healthy share of their own song and merchandise sales, but none of the money generated by advertisements on their profile pages. That money will go to MySpace owner News Corp., the major labels and any indie music aggregators that manage to sign equity deals with MySpace…

This is ridiculous. I don't know how they can justify cutting off revnue to indie bands when its their fans clicking on the advertisments. I realise its a shank or be shanked world, but really? Come on Myspace, you can do a little better than that.

"Inside Straight Edge"

TGIF. I've been sick this week so I'm slow moving, but still an improvement over the past few months.



Yuppie Punk and Punk News ran a news piece on this new National Geographic TV documentary on the Straight Edge lifestyle. Focusing mainly on Boston Straight Edge group "Friends Stand United", or as they are more ominously known "Fuck Shit Up". I don't have cable and have yet to watch anything further then the clip that NG had up, but I'm already familiar with the story. I have straight edge friends and some friends that belong to FSU. I also have friends who are openly gay, and African American. I also had friends that were in skin-head gangs...The point I'm trying to state is even if I don't agree with some of your beliefs I don't judge one person on their click (unless forced to choice my ideals over theirs).

Its too bad my roommates and I are to poor to get cable. I would be very interested to watch the documentary. I guess I'll have to wait until it becomes available to buy or download or stream.

Yuppie Punk has a great link to answer all of your sXe questions


And a clip:

Fresh Out, Philadelphia Slick

The beginning of every year is always the same, slow moving. The resolutions you made aren't coming to fruition as fast as you'd hope. Work is just getting back up to speed after the holidays, and the music industry is no different. Releases drop off and we're all stuck waiting for the next round of releases to come out. This year was no different, but lucky for me a small 10-piece band from the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia Slick, was just what I needed to kick myself out of the funk that I was in.

I first heard about Philadelphia Slick in a small piece in the current issue of Under the Radar which sparked my interest. A quick search lead me to a myspace and a website with streaming music and a few downloads to wet my whistle. But that wasn't good enough...on my next visit to Philly I quickly searched out 'Culture Industry', their 2007 debut release and made it a point to listen to it until I got sick of it but that hasn't happened.


Philadelphia Slick is reminiscent at first of another Philadelphia band, The Roots, but the "live hip-hop act" is where all my comparisons of the two bands stop. Principal composer and keyboardist, Zach Reilly, brings an old school pop sensibility and then weaves in a classic soul sound with touches of funk and 60's RnB to make retro sound fresh and new. While emcees Noesis and Mike Tjader share duties on the mic, voicing their opinions on the current political climate one second and dropping pop culture references the look next. What really sold me on Philadelphia Slick was the incorporation of live horns and a string section. The live instrumentation adds definition and a familiarity to the music that dates back to before I was born.


Check out Philadelphia Slick performing on DigPhilly, then go to philadelphiaslick.com and grab a copy of 2007's Culture Industry why you still can.

Radiohead remixes and live recordings

I know its been a while folks, but I sometimes get distracted by loud noises and bright lights. But I'm back, focused (for the time being) and ready to start updating this page more frequently.


I decided to start off with a new twist on an old favorite. Radiohead, whose new album In Rainbows has been the talk of the town of late, is preparing to go on tour in support of said album. But thats not all there is to mention today.


I couldn't talk about Radiohead today without mentioning their remix project where they're asking 'fans' to remix their single Nude. As of right now Holy Fuck's remix is my favorite but there maybe another one I haven't discovered yet that I may love equally. And on the topics of remixes and Radiohead...for anyone not aware yet...Bay area producer/dj/mc act Amplive put out a few remixes of songs from In Rainbows songs a couple months ago.


And the last little piece of fun for today...Radiohead was on Radio 2 yesterday for 2 live performances to kick off their tour. Recording of the show is apparently available in th UK only, but I stumble across a fantastic UK blog To Die By Your Side who posted the entire evening set for download. So go grab it, the quality is excellent and its an amazing mix of new songs and a few classics. Enjoy!

Mountain Battles = New Breeders album

Its been a rumor for a while...Anyone that saw loud Quiet loud, saw Kim Deal recording new songs while the Pixes made their rounds....


But now its official. The Breeders will be releasing a new album in the Spring of '08 on 4AD

From a Press Release from 4AD (via The Breeders Myspace)

THE BREEDERS NEW ALBUM -- MOUNTAIN BATTLES -- SET FOR RELEASE ON 4AD APRIL 8, 2008 IN US AND APRIL 7, 2008 IN REST OF WORLD!

4AD is pleased to announce the forthcoming world-wide release of Mountain Battles, the new album from The Breeders on Tuesday, April 8, 2008 (April 7 outside of North America).


ETC.....




This not to mention that they will be streaming a new song from MOUNTAIN BATTLES on their Myspace called "We're Gonna Rise" for the next 7 days.

Stream Daft Punk's 'Alive 2007'

Much Music is giving us a first listen to today's hot release...Daft Punk 'Alive 2007'. Check it out. You can't go wrong with a little AM Daft Punk...On second thought just go out and buy the record. Its all the songs you want to hear at exactly the right moment.