The Pitchfork Effect

How a tiny web outfit became the most influential tastemaker on the music scene.
By Dave Itzkoff
[From WIRED, Issue 14.09 - September 2006]

… Ryan Schreiber, the site's editor in chief, reviewed Broken Social Scene's US debut album, You Forgot It in People, in 2003. He began by lamenting the fact that he was receiving more promotional CDs than he could possibly write about or even listen to, and he acknowledged that he had plucked this record from the slush pile at random. He chastised the group for its gloomy packaging and liner notes ("How could they not be the most unimaginative, bleak, whiny emo bastards in the whole pile?"). Then he conceded that he'd been listening to the record obsessively for months. It "explodes," he wrote, "with song after song of endlessly replayable, perfect pop." Schreiber awarded it a score of 9.2 points out of a possible 10. An indie rock star was born.
[Read more]

Old Joy

OLD JOY is the story of two old friends, Kurt (Will Oldham) and Mark (Daniel London), who reunite for a weekend camping trip in the Cascade mountain range east of Portland, Oregon. For Mark, the weekend outing offers a respite from the pressure of his imminent fatherhood; for Kurt, it is part of a long series of carefree adventures. As the hours progress and the landscape evolves, the twin seekers move through a range of subtle emotions, enacting a pilgrimage of mutual confusion, sudden insight, and spiritual battle. When they arrive at their final destination, a hot spring in an old growth forest, they must either confront the divergent paths they have taken, or somehow transcend their growing tensions.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

Clell Tickle: Dreamweaver

You will love Tapes N Tapes right now!
(Tongue firmly placed inside cheek.)

Black Mountain

After founding Jerk with a Bomb in the late '90s, Stephen McBean had by the mid-2000s transformed the Vancouver-area band into a group called Black Mountain. Drawing on blues, psychedelia, acid rock, and the Velvet Underground, Black Mountain's sound was a cross between the darkness and grit of the Warlocks and Brian Jonestown Massacre's trippiness. After debuting in October 2004 on Jagjaguwar with the 12" Druganaut, Black Mountain stayed with the label for an eponymous full-length, issued the following January. Joining McBean for the album were local players Matthew Camirand, Jeremy Schmidt, Joshua Wells, and Amber Webber, listed collectively to preserve the band's communal ethic. (Black Mountain ran concurrent to and intermingled with McBean's other band, lo-fi classic rockers Pink Mountaintops.)
— by Johnny Loftus/Allmusic.com

From Osho Times

Osho Zen Tarot 48. The Source

Zen asks you to come out of the head and go to the basic source.... It is not that Zen is not aware of the uses of energy in the head, but if all the energy is used in the head, you will never become aware of your eternity.... You will never know as an experience what it is to be one with the whole. When the energy is just at the center, pulsating, when it is not moving anywhere, neither in the head nor in the heart, but it is at the very source from where the heart takes it, the head takes it, pulsating at the very source--that is the very meaning of Zazen. Zazen means just sitting at the very source, not moving anywhere, a tremendous force arises, a transformation of energy into light and love, into greater life, into compassion, into creativity. It can take many forms. But first you have to learn how to be at the source. Then the source will decide where your potential is. You can relax at the source, and it will take you to your very potential.

Osho The Zen Manifesto: Freedom from Oneself Chapter 11

"I want deaf people…to hear these beats"

What happens when you stare at the sun?

Someone call an 'Ambulance'

Pitchfork gushes over new TVOTR disc

TV on the Radio
Return to Cookie Mountain
[4AD/Interscope; 2006]
Rating: 9.1

Often when we say a record has "atmosphere," we mean it as a put-down. From Sgt. Pepper's to the present, a record's sonic appeal-- the effects, the mood, the spaces between the notes-- is inextricable from how it hits us. But when an artist pushes atmosphere in place of songs, it's frequently thought of as a crutch. Most listeners don't trust a mood to grab their hearts the way they trust, say, a human voice; nobody counts on production to deliver the "money note."

[Read the whole review]

Desmond Dekker dead at 64

Desmond Dekker (July 16, 1941 – May 25, 2006), was a Jamaican ska and reggae singer and songwriter. Together with his backing group, The Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Howard), he had one of the first international Jamaican hits with “Israelites”. Other hits include “007 (Shanty Town)” (1967) and “It Mek” (1968). Before the ascent of Bob Marley, Dekker was the best-known Jamaican musician outside of his country, and one of the most popular within it.

Brothers Of The Head

From some people...Rock & Roll was always a freak show.

In the 1970s a music promoter plucks Siamese twins from obscurity and grooms them into a freakish rock'n'roll act. A dark tale of sex, strangeness and rock music.


©2006, IFC Films LLC, ©2005, Marlin Films Limited

How the ear processes the music you hear

Holy crap!

This kid is only 12 years-old and he's already incredible.
Imagine how great he'll be in 10 years…

Return To Cookie Mountain

TV On The Radio
2006 sophomore release from this electronic, arty and atmospheric
Post Punk-influenced band from Brooklyn. Features guest appearances from David Bowie and labelmates Kazu Makino (Blonde Redhead) and Katrina Ford (Celebration). This is their first release for the highly influential 4AD label, which should increase their profile considerably.

The Amazing Screw-On Head

In this hilarious send-up of Lovecraftian horror and steampunk adventure, President Abraham Lincoln's top spy is a bodyless head known only as Screw-On Head.

When arch-fiend Emperor Zombie steals an artifact that will enable him to threaten all life on Earth, the task of stopping him is assigned to Screw-on Head. Fortunately, Screw-On Head is not alone on this perilous quest. He is aided by his multitalented manservant, Mr. Groin, and by his talking canine cohort, Mr. Dog.

Can this unorthodox trio stop Emperor Zombie in time? Does Screw-On Head have a body awesome enough to stop the horrors that have been unleashed? Where can we get a talking dog?

All these questions (O.K., maybe not that last one) will be answered when you watch the thrilling tale of The Amazing Screw-On Head!

©2006, SciFi.com, All rights reserved.

The nature of the trap

J. Krishnamurti
Daily Quote
July 22nd 2006

"Sorrow is the result of a shock, it is the temporary shaking up of a mind that has settled down, that has accepted the routine of life. Something happens — a death, the loss of a job, the questioning of a cherished belief — and the mind is disturbed. But what does a disturbed mind do? It finds a way to be undisturbed again; it takes refuge in another belief, in a more secure job, in a new relationship. Again the wave of life comes along and shatters its safeguards, but the mind soon finds still further defenses; and so it goes on. This is not the way of intelligence, is it?
No form of external or inward compulsion will help, will it? All compulsion, however subtle, is the outcome of ignorance; it is born of the desire for reward or the fear of punishment. To understand the whole nature of the trap is to be free of it; no person, no system, no belief can set you free. The truth of this is the only liberating factor — but you have to see it for yourself, and not merely be persuaded. You have to take the voyage on an uncharted sea. "

J. Krishnamurti.org
"The nature of the trap" — Book of Life
©2006, Krishnamurti Foundation of America

This just in: I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass

From our friends at Matador Records:

Yo La Tengo — new album.
We're giving you plenty of time to get ready On September 12 (September 4 in places other than North America) we'll be releasing a new CD / double LP by a trio we've creatively nicknamed "America's Best Band."
[Cover art by Gary Panter]

Where do Yo La Tengo get off, delivering the most focused, wildly entertaining album of their longer-than-long tenure? Where does the record label get off, using catchphrases like "putting the 'oomph' back in 'eclectic'"? Where do you YOU get off, looking for greater details, like the sort of person who insists on knowing how the cliffhanger ends before the trailer even starts?

Ira, Georgia and James --- aided by longtime recording associate Roger Mountenot, have made a habit of blowing us away and confounding expectations time and time again, but with 'I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass' the trio have raised their game to unparalled heights, creating a multi-genre masterpiece certain to win Nobel Prize consideration. Or would you believe the Plug Awards? Either way, the believing's in the hearing.

We have posted an early mp3 of "Beanbag Chair."
©2006, Matador Records

Luke who’s Coming to Dinner

An Interview with
Luke Bailey and his Ukulele
By Tony Macaluso

There are only a few names that come to mind when you think of the ukulele. More than likely you started singing ‘Tip-Toe through the Tulips.’ While Tiny Tim may have played the ukulele, you can’t say he made it cool, or popularized the instrument. There’s a reason for that. One man and one man only, has single-handedly brought the baritone ukulele out from obscurity and into the spotlight. That man is none other than Luke Bailey. There are no actual facts to support that claim, but it sounds good and I want you to read the rest of this article.

Luke Bailey is a talented performer, song-writer, extraordinarily funny, and the host of his own weekly radio program ‘The Luke Bailey Show’ on WPRK FM, Rollins College Radio. Tony Macaluso is a founding member of Luke’s band (The Bondsmen) who secretly recorded a recent conversation. Here are some excerpts:

Tony Macaluso: Do you hate that Tiny Tim comes up every time you tell someone you’re a ukulele player?
Luke Bailey: Only if I’m wearing sweat pants.

TM: I read somewhere recently that you like to meditate?
LB: That was a spelling error.

TM: Tell us about ‘The Luke Bailey Show.’
LB: I’m proud to say that The Luke Bailey Show is the #1 rated program of its kind, on Tuesday mornings, between 6:00 and 8:00 a.m. Thanks to all you out there tuning in, keep it up and spread the word.

TM: What station is that?
LB: The best radio station in Orlando, 91.5 FM, WPRK. We’re on every Tuesday morning from 6:00-8:00 a.m. (EST).

TM: Can I listen on-line?
LB: www.wprkdj.org

TM: Who’s on the air with you?
LB: We’ve got Mr. Radio and Dr. Gory…and of course, you (Tony) have an open invitation.
TM: Shucks!

TM: Any cool guests?
LB: Paris Hilton called last week. We’ve had Dr. Jane Goodall; Mayor Buddy Dyer…Syd Zed is a regular…El-Vez (the Mexican Elvis) recorded a promo for us…Dr Gory erased it though. You never know who’s gonna stop by, or call.

TM: Do you play any music?
LB: WPRK is community radio. So we play music between segments…instead of going to commercial. From me, you’ll get things like bad Elvis songs, Mrs. Miller, William Shatner, Cheech and Chong….Dr. Gory will squeeze in some Sci-Fi-Lounge-Spy-Surf-music by anyone from The Ventures to Leonard Nimoy. Mr. Radio is a bit of a metal head…and he might play AC/DC, or Hayseed Dixie, or an Iron Maiden song…And of course we play local (central-Florida-based) artists like Syd Zed, Terri Binion, and Jim O’Rourke. So send me your cds…and I’ll play em on the air.

TM: What do you talk about?
LB: Anything! Everything! Could be what we did over the weekend…What we shouldn’t have done over the weekend…Something from the news, births, deaths…We might spend the whole show laughing and talking about something one of us said, or did at 6:01 am. When you (Tony) call, it’s usually what’s happening in your bathroom…and we always spend the last 15-minutes poking fun at the next DJ, whoever she or he may be. The show is so-much fun to do…I’d probably do it for free.

Check out Luke’s official web-site at lukebailey.com . And check out the Luke Bailey Show web-site. Tony Macaluso can be reached at tony@beefstewdios.com.

Vince Welnick dead at 55

Grateful Dead keyboard player Vince Welnick has died at the age of 55, a statement on his website announced.
Welnick took over as the Dead's keyboard player in 1990 after then keyboard player, Brent Mydland, died as a result of a drug overdose.
"Vince passed from this earth on June 2, 2006... after a decade of battling tragedy while creating beauty and light around him," the website said.
The band formed in the 1960s and were popular for their legendary epic live shows. The Grateful Dead retired from performing after founder Jerry Garcia died in 1995.
No cause of death was given on Welnick's website.
From various news reports.

Photo: ©2006, Vince Welnick

Triple Crown Success

Vickie Stringer, CEO of Triple Crown Publications, took the fictionalized story of her life, wrote a book, Let That Be The Reason, and its follow-up, Imagine This, which both spent more than a year on the Essence paperback bestseller list and became the first name in "hip-hop lit."

From: Inc. Magazine, May 2006 | Page: 106 By: Patrick J. Sauer

(Read more)