Death To Lala

"Lala is shutting down. What this means for you."

Lala was recently bought by Apple to ideally help boost their iTunes platform (though there have been no new announcements about any incorporations to the iTunes platform). The deal was most certainly made to kill competition and the end result has finally reached me and all end consumers. As of May 31, 2010 I will receive $275 in iTunes credit because of the sheer volume of $1.00 web albums I bought over the past 15 months. I will certainly need it to rebuild my playlists, all of which I had to cut & paste into a spreadsheet like the true anal music collector I am - nothing left behind, no meticulous playlist building efforts lost.

So...moving on! I have decided to put my chips down for Grooveshark now - http://listen.grooveshark.com

Grooveshark is similar to Lala; you can listen to any song for free. It also has elements of Pandora in that you can build your own internet radio station based on artists you like and they will find similar songs to expand your horizons. Also like Lala, you can tap into anyone's collection to discover new music and build a community. It is free to sign up though they have a $25 annual fee for an enhanced platform that gets rid of the ads. I am not yet sure it is worth it because I have had no trouble using the free version so far. Grooveshark seems to be climbing the ranks of sites to find new music, stream music all the time and find fellow music heads around the world. 50 to 60 million songs are downloaded everyday and since last year their audience was growing 2-3% daily (the source: http://blogcritics.org/music/article/musicians-find-fans-at-grooveshark-artists/)

While I continue to figure out how I can build playlists to keep feeding all of you with new songs, I am going to start suggesting and tagging all of the many artists' web sites that stream their new albums before they come out, fellow bloggers that put up free songs and mp3s, RCRD LBL and Pitchfork.com for the newest music and remixes (although the latter also used Lala so we shall see what they offer).

Here is my first find for all of you - Band of Horses is streaming their new album Infinite Arms on their web site now before it officially comes out on May 18th. Visit their web site to listen; they organized the songs into a really cool picture pinwheel that rotate like a slideshow. I saw them at the New Orleans Jazzfest recently and their new songs sounded great live, particularly Compliments. For those in and around NYC, they are playing the Williamsburg Waterfront with Grizzly Bear on Sunday, June 20th and there are actually still tickets available so go get them: http://www.freewilliamsburg.com/h2oshows/

I am about to jump into wedding attendee season but I promise to write soon - maybe even collect my favorite songs to hear at a wedding reception and make a playlist? Comment/e-mail me your favorites for consideration!

I Don't Speak French BUT I Can Speak Music

La Blogotheque - http://www.blogotheque.net - talk about another way to share music and view intimate versions of some of your top indie artists, new versions of great songs often with other well-known collaborators in unique settings throughout Paris (think Andrew Bird adding his violin and whistling for St. Vincent in a top level apartment with 30 people at sunset). Another really cool thing about these mini concerts is that they are filmed in one take, anything can happen, it is guerrilla film making where musicians are the protagonists. Calling them 'Takeaway Shows" (in French it is Les Concerts A Emporter); is very fitting.

It only make sense that Phoenix, the French band from Versailles that finally got their big U.S. break with their last album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, recently performed for the web site. They picked one of the most visit sites in Paris, the Trocadero Square in front of the Eiffel Tower, then they hopped on top of a double decker tour bus, performed a song and continued singing as they hopped off at the base of the Parisian landmark.

Phoenix - Lizstomania / One time too many - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

My other favorite posting featured Bon Iver, the band created by Justin Vernon, the falsetto indie singer that made one of the great albums of 2008 (actually came out independently in 2007) - For Emma, Forever Ago, in his father's northern Wisconsin cabin in three months during winter. Peter Gabriel recently covered Bon Iver's song Flume in his recent album of covers (scroll down the blog to hear it).

Bon Iver - Wolves (act I & II) - Une Soiree de Poche from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Get on the web site, they have such a catalogue of musicians they have filmed - Wilco, The Antlers, Yo La Tango, and even Tom Jones.

If you want to check out the English's version of rogue performances, visit Black Cab Sessions - http://www.blackcabsessions.com - the name is very appropriate.

New Music in 2010 (thus far)!!!

In a flurry of album releases, these are some of my favorite songs after listening to each album a few times. The good news about albums that get released early in the year - they will spend the rest of the year touring to support the album so there is a good chance you will get to see the bands you have recently discovered and will see how good they are live.

I can vouch for how good Local Natives are live and they are making the festival rounds for maximum exposure - everything from Isle of Wight to Coachella and Bonnaroo. Their voices are impeccable live, it is refreshing. I have heard great things about Phantogram's live show and have tickets to see them in May; they have sold out all of their shows to date in NYC. Beach House is selling out their own shows and supporting The National; their music is perfect for an outdoor venue at the witching hour. The Morning Benders are also selling out in NYC and have landed a pretty great opening slot for The Black Keys in Central Park. Finally, the Drive By Truckers are always a good show and if you get close enough to the stage, Mr. Patterson Hood just might give you a swig of the Jack Daniels bottle that is on their stage every night (which was my luck at a private party on Obama's inauguration night in D.C.)

Enjoy!

April and May are going to be big months too - LCD Soundsystem, The National, Caribou, Liars (check out their web site for a trippy video to accommodate their single Scissor - http://www.liarsliarsliars.com)

Bon Iver vs. Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel is back! Well, sort of. Rather than come out with a CD of new and original material he thought he would wail a variety of songs from other people in his own way, call it a new CD, get a ridiculous amount of praise and call it a day. A bit scathing I know but is this really going to be the trend now - borrow the sounds of the youngsters and sing your same old, same old?

One of the first singles off Gabriel's new CD, Scratch My Back, is Bon Iver's song Flume from the album For Emma, Forever Ago. This album launched Bon Iver into the high court of the indie world - Pitchfork ranked it 29th in the Top 200 Albums of the 200s and NPR named it among the 50 Most Important Recordings of the Decade.

A little background helps a lot: Bon Iver is a band founded by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. In 2007, after the end of a relationship, the breakup of a band, and a bout with mono, Justin spent three months alone in his father's cabin in Northwestern Wisconsin. He ended up writing and recording the entire album, which is a collection of beautiful, melancholy songs sung in a distinct falsetto enriched by layers of voices, which is now duplicated wonderfully live by a full band. The single Skinny Love is best known and I think explains the mood of the album very well. It is a good story and one that follows Bon Iver everywhere they go, which most recently was the soundtrack for the second Twilight movie (the song is Roslyn, Bon Iver with St. Vincent). Yeah, even the vampires are hip to the know about Bon Iver.

The great Peter Gabriel covering his song, this has to be a topping cherry for Mr. Vernon and

a nice wave of publicity for the band - the song is up on the Bon Iver web site

and Gabriel made it available on his own web site. I am excited for Bon Iver, that

Peter Gabriel loved his song enough to cover it and that Bon Iver will become known

to the masses. I won't even do my typical, petty 'I have liked them for so much longer and

of course you like them now that they are everywhere' as I hear from the new wave of fans.

I'll try at least, I can't make promises if it is a bourbon drinking night though.

I just have to say though, I like Bon Iver's original version better, WAY better.

Let's try an experiment - listen to Gabriel's version of Bon Iver's Flume first.

Comment on this post and tell me which one you prefer.

The original Flume by Bon Iver:

http://lala.com/zznI or on

Pitchfork or BEST YET on

La Blogotheque (more to come on this fucking amazing web site on the next post)

I will leave the album review of Gabriel's Scratch My Back to the LA Times:

Album review: Peter Gabriel's 'Scratch My Back' Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com

A Lecture By David Byrne

I recently attended a night of stories at the Bowery Ballroom

with David Byrne as the headliner. It was called Stories in High Fidelity.

New York writer Alan Light told a wonderful story of his 6 year

old's obsession with the Beatles. Dan Kennedy discussed his summer

working in a record store in the Midwest as a 'project' for his next novel

- he reflected on the perils of filing punk and metal albums and how to tell

the difference by the cover art or elements of the band name

(Ex. where does one put an album where the cover art features skeletons

with gas masks on standing over a pool of blood? - Metal).

The main event was Mr. Byrne, his laptop, a screen behind him

and a sound guy on cue. He was engaging and intelligent as I

have always seen him in interviews though he seemed a bit more

scattered even nervous for this particular showing. That said, the ideas

and views he shared during his speech was fascinating. He focused on

music (obviously) but started with music hundreds of years ago

- how music used to be created for a particular environment such as

Mozart and Beethoven performing in beautiful performance halls with

meticulously built acoustics eventually leading to huge car speakers

being a popular vehicle for rap music. He talked about how the

portable music player changed a listener's experience; you now have

the ability to hear very intricate arrangements and every lyric of a song.

He transitioned into how this change of music affects how musicians

create and are ultimately compensated for their creations

(records, performances, etc). He made this transition by explaining

how birds that keep low to the ground have a lower pitched song when

calling each other and higher flying birds, a higher pitch to their call.

However, for the birds living in and around San Francisco, as the traffic

and noise of the city has increased their pitch has gotten higher in order

to hear each other's call. I thought it was a very creative way to say that

even though the environment can change for a musician, the need to create

sound and be expressive through song will always exist and music will always

be made. Humans are just like birds in that they will adjust because we

need and love the sound. Well put, la resistance musicians!

The night was wrapped up well by singer Nicole Atkins performing an

acoustic set, just her and her guitar, where cartoonist Michael Arthur

drew a scene related to each song and it was projected on a screen behind Nicole.

With every song he started a new drawing off the last one so by the end

of her set was this cool little cluster of images. My friend said Bright Eyes

had done a similar stunt at a concert she had attended. It reminded me of this

artist that was very popular in Denver, Denny Dent, who would perform

publicly painting these huge murals in three songs or so. They were often

the pictures of the artist he would play though the way he painted you did not see

the likeness until the very end - when he painted Jimi Hendrix he had to turn

the painting upside down to see that it was in fact Jimi. Coming back from

that tangent, Nicole Atkins has a pretty great voice and the cartoons actually

helped to understand the stories of her songs.

Go see David Byrne whenever he is speaking, no matter what he

is speaking about. This one lecture gave me a new way to say the music

industry will survive and new awesome music will always be

there to discover.

LCD Soundsystem is Coming!

I admit, I am a new devotee to LCD Soundsystem though I am glad I am getting into them right before their next album comes out and hopefully(!) make it to see them at the Coachella festival - both in April. I had known about LCD Soundsystem, most notably their song "Daft Punk is Coming to My House" (it was stuck in my head for days! days! a few months ago), though I have to admit I did not know much. For example, I did not know that the producer that IS LCD Soundsystem is James Murphy, who is also the co-founder of DFA Records and at one time was hired as a writer for Seinfeld, though he quite to pursue music because he didn't think the show would be successful (reruns must make him cringe to this day).

Here is a clip from the LCD Soundsytem web site about the upcoming album. I can't exactly tell you why I like it so much, the funny part at the end maybe? I can tell you it started an entire week of only listening to LCD Soundsystem, watching videos and live shows on You Tube and it added another point for team Coachella on what music festivals to attend this year - don't worry Jazzfest, I don't think I can miss another year of your dirty bourbon and hot sauce with music goodness.

Enjoy.

clip 1 from lcd soundsystem on Vimeo.

This is the last thing I will say about the end of 2009, with all the 'best of' lists of the year and decade - by song, by album, by artist, etc. That is because I found the coolest one, a perfect combination of art and music.

Check out what Hype Machine put together:

http://hypem.com/#/zeitgeist/2009/albums AND http://hypem.com/#/zeitgeist/2009/artists

What is Hype Machine you ask?

"To put it simply, the Hype Machine keeps track of what music bloggers write about. We handpick a set of kickass music blogs and then present what they discuss for easy analysis, consumption and discovery. This way, your odds of stumbling into awesome music or awesome blogs are high. Click here to read more about how we select blogs."

Hype Machine does a great job of consolidating music blogs and making sense of the hype and what the world of music lovers are saying, yours included. So for their 2009 'best of list' they ranked the top 50 artists according to how often they were blogged about and then asked 50 visual artists to create something 'inspired by and including the band name'. The results are very cool and original as you can see. For the top albums of 2009 they also did something cool, they selected a quote from a blog that explained the album, how they experienced the album, made comparisons, etc. As a result the list feels much more personal while still being informative.

Click on the names of the artists below and all 50 on the site, you can view their portfolios, some of them are really fucking cool.

Daft Punk artwork by Lawrence Kwok

Fanfarlo artwork by Calvin Muse

#2 - Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest

“This is not rocking out music. This is listening music. This is art. This is stop you in your headspace and make you be quiet rock.” — Complicated Game

NPR Song of the Day

Subscribe to NPR 'Song of the Day'. It will be the little sunshine burst amidst the crap e-mails, Facebook evites and of course the never ending e-mail chains at work arguing over minutiae.

Here is the link to subscribe (for free). Start receiving your 'smart' song of the day from the knowledge wealthy NPR folks:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4703895

The songs they pick are old and new, across genres and across the globe. They also always feature a nice little blurb explaining the artist and the specific song they picked. The last four days have rendered songs that have all ended up on the newest playlist I am building and led me to further investigation and downloading:

1. Nova Onda, Nova Onda Do Pelo

A Swedish drummer that collaborates with Seu Gorge, the Brazilian singer from the Wes Anderson film Life Aquatic, where he sang David Bowie songs in Portuguese. Fique vibrante!

2. Beachcomber, Real Estate

Mark my words, this New Jersey band is going to be a band to watch in 2010, they are already drawing substantial crowds in New York and Brooklyn, which is the new epicenter of cool, you didn't get the memo? Well the Avett Brothers tell you clearly, listen to their song I And Love And You the next time it is playing on the radio which is in 4,3,2,1...

3. Man On the Moon, Cloud Cult

A Minnesota band that has been around since the early '00s but just reissued their most popular two albums. The more you listen to them the more you realize where a lot of these new indie darlings learned their tricks.

4. My Wife, Lost in the Wild, Beirut/Realpeople

"In "My Wife, Lost in the Wild," Condon (lead singer) constructs, bit by bit, a remarkable sonic structure, built around whirling synths and swirling beats. He layers one of his strongest assets — his clear, gorgeous crooner's voice — on top of itself, piling on in a round robin with himself to dizzying effect, culminating in an a cappella ending in which Condon serenades, "You'll send your heart to me" over and over as he harmonizes with himself. The result melds a bedroom singer-songwriter's humility with an artist's desire to top his own beautiful best work." - NPR

An added bonus is their 'Best of 2009' lists. They are only ten songs long, each song based on the overall quality of the album, and fucking spot on. They also feature diverse lists like: 'Best British Bands of 2009', '10 Albums You're Too Cool To Like', and 'Judging By the Cover: The Best Cover Songs of 2009'.

Check it out: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120574256

What I Eat For Dinner, Mostly

With all of the 'Best Of' lists circulating around not only because it is the end of the year but the end of a decade, a pretty rocky one at that, I thought I would give you my very personal list. My criteria for judging each song had nothing to do with what Spin, Rolling Stone, Billboard, friends nor any other source said. I did not look at albums sold, concert tour earnings, or award winners (although I did enjoy going to the MTV Woodie Awards). I simply reviewed my lala.com collection and sorted by sheer number of times I played the song, and picked the top 25.

This is certainly not scientific - I have a large iTunes collection, listen to NPR music and woxy.com, and have a stocked iPod that were not consulted. I also had a slight bias towards keeping a few songs from albums that came out this year over a few older, more played classics; however you will see pre-2009 dates below that I could not bear to remove. Finally, as my last defense, several of these songs come from my 'she goes' playlist that is my favorite chill mix that I play late at night when I am working, writing, a little drunk or in need of comforting background music; it only makes sense that my relaxed mood music finally gets the praise it deserves.

I may very likely follow suit and follow this posting up with another one listing my top songs or albums of 2009, of the decade or go negative with my most hated songs. However, I decided to first give you a more intimate look into my music collection. I feel exposed, and maybe even a little embarrassed, or is that vulnerability? I suppose that is the feeling that anyone gets when sharing their preferences although, music is the throne for personal preference.

Enough of my rant, enjoy! The playlist is free to listen to, at least until Apple decides what to do with their new purchase - lala.com.

KEY: (Song, Artist, Year the album was released, Number of plays I have for the song)

1. Glass, Concrete and Stone, David Byrne - 2004 - 66 plays

2. The House She Lived In, The Veils - 2009 - 51 plays

3. Two, Ryan Adams - 2006 - 46 plays

4. Tightrope, Yeasayer - 2009 - 41 plays

5. Dog Days Are Over, Florence & The Machine - 2009 - 40 plays

6. Jacksonville Skyline, Whiskeytown - 2001 - 39 plays

7. Growing Up Beside You, Paolo Nutini - 2009 - 37 plays

8. Sit Down By The Fire, The Veils - 2009 - 34 plays

9. Sunlight, Harlem Shakes - 2009 - 35 plays

10. Goin' To Acapulco, Jim James, Calexico - 2007 - 33 plays

11. Goods, Mates of State - 2004 - 28 plays

12. Paranoia in B Major, The Avett Brothers - 2007 - 27 plays

13. Skinny Love, Bon Iver - 2008 - 27 plays

14. Whispered Words (Pretty Lies), Dan Auerbach - 2009 - 26 plays

15. Burial, Miike Snow - 2009 - 25 plays

16. Eet, Regina Spektor - 2009 - 23 plays

17. My Girls, Animal Collective - 2009 - 21 plays

18. Boulder to Birmingham, Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler (Live) - 2006 - 21 plays

19. Hysteric, Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 2009 - 21 plays

20. Winds Of Change, Fitz and The Tantrums - 2009 - 21 plays

21. Lalita, The Love Language - 2009 - 21 plays

22. Daylight, Matt & Kim - 2009 - 19 plays

23. The Giant of Illinois - 2009 - 18 plays

24. Intro, The xx - 2009 - 14 plays

25. Little Secrets, Passion Pit - 2009 - 11 plays

There are some really great albums expected to come out in 2010, stay tuned!

Rob Drabkin

On Monday, November 30th I had the opportunity to see an old friend from high school take the stage at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC. Rob is currently on tour opening for Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam; a very talented guitarist from the tiny Isle of Man (I had to look it up, note how funky their flag is when you look it up too).

Back in high school Rob was our school's resident guitar virtuoso so it makes sense that he is working to become a successful musician. He is getting popular in our hometown of Denver and after this tour, his first national tour, I expect great things from him.

What was surprising about his show is how strong and clear his voice was; surprising because he never sang in high school and if you read his bio on his web page (below) he only recently decided to incorporate singing with his guitar playing. I was also impressed by how well constructed the lyrics of his songs are, they are fun to listen to but always have a much deeper meaning.

You can get his CD on iTunes or through his web site: http://www.robdrabkin.com

A few good reviews of Rob:

"The surprise of the night was the middle act, Denvers Rob Drabkin. Taking the stage armed with an acoustic guitar, a djembe (small acoustic drum) player and an afro that would have made a Will It Go Round In Circles-era Billy Preston proud, Drabkin lit into the first of many short stories told with guitar and drum....His intricate finger picking method and character driven songs got our attention. With a voice and song structure not too far from Dave Matthews, just this side of Jack Johnson, Drabkin won me over... By the end of his set, I was a fan, bringing his cd home for closer inspection." - A.J. Crandall, KINK FM Radio. Show Review Oct 6th, 2008.

"Rob Drabkin somewhat mirrors Jack Johnson. Not so much in a musical way, but in a singer/songwriter way that will shoot him from MySpace to MTV faster than he can cut his distinctive hair. People were obsessing about Jack Johnson in 1997 when he appeared on Napster and now, almost 10 years later, his name is as common as a hipster drinking a PBR and riding a Vespa. If he keeps this up, he will shoot out of the local scene faster than The Fray" --The Colorado Daily.

There are some dynamic and smart m*&^%r f@#$%rs out there

During a recent trip home my family did something unusual, we cleared the clutter off the dining room table and ate like The Civilized. My brother was quick enough to switch out my ipod (I am as controlling as Madonna when it comes to the soundtrack for any occasion) and put in his new discovery of his - Gnawlede, Granada Doaba.

Gnawledge is comprised of two dynamic and smart members of this planet:

Canyon Cody - Research

Gnotes - Production

I am going to start by giving you the background on Gnawledge straight from their web site (http://gnawledge.com and http://canyoncody.blogspot.com/) and the biggest thing to note is:

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THIS ALBUM FOR FREE!!! You can even remix it yourself.

"Granada Doaba is a flamenco hip-hop collaboration album recorded in Spain, produced by Gnawledge and funded by a Fulbright Scholar research grant."

"Granada Doaba explores the broad roots and divergent branches of flamenco hip-hop. Inspired by the religious convivencia of Al-Andalus, the album features 16 musicians from around the world who all currently live in Granada, Spain.

Spain’s history of multicultural confluence dates back to the early morning of mankind. Andalusia, the birthplace of flamenco and southernmost region of Spain, sits at the crossroads of Europe, Africa and the New World. Until the Christian reconquista of Granada in 1492, southern Spain was known as Al-Andalus, a Muslim Empire that controlled Andalusia for 800 years.

Flamenco is Andalusian Gypsy music and dance with a diverse history of Arab, Jewish, Indian and Afro-Latin influences. As a result of convergent paths of immigration, rhythms from around the world have come together in Andalusia, where they evolved into an indigenous musical culture: flamenco."

"Hello! My name is Canyon Cody. In 2008, I was awarded a Fulbright Scholar research grant to study multicultural fusion and collaboration in Andalusian music. In concert with the Fulbright program’s mission statement, my project engaged the local Granada community by organizing a series of collaborative recording sessions in our home studio.

Gnotes is my partner in grime. He’s a multi-instrumentalist rapper who produced the 14 songs on Granada Doaba, which correspond with the 14 chapters of my accompanying academic text about the global roots of local music. Though the historical theory of convivencia initially motivated the recordings, the resulting songs eventually took up a life their own, which forced me to re-orient my thesis. In the end, we made an album in the dark and then I studied the result in order to shine some light on the process.

This a work in progress, both the music and my writing. Please send us a postcard with any criticism, questions or suggestions. Thank you for listening."

Contact Canyon Cody, he is responsive! - info@gnawledge.com

Granada Doaba took 4 years to produce, 4!!!! Take that all of you seeking instant gratification. Reading his blog about the experience is really cool and introspective; it presents the personal journey of someone that is so dedicated to a daunting task but doesn't want it any other way. I really admire this stranger because he is living exactly like I decided to starting with this year and will be ending...never!

Read the blog if you like details and want to learn how songs are built and mixed. There is also a really interesting theory on plagiarism, copying, biting, etc. and how it affects music vs. academia.

My point overall: Download the album and pass it around. Support this project because music is academic, it transcends history and borders, your music collection should be as diverse and dynamic as possible and because this is fucking good music.