He Is Somebody's Drunk Uncle...

As I write this, the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players are sleeping in my two spare rooms. Tina (Mom) and Rachel (daughter) is sleeping in my sister's room. Jason (Dad) is sleeping on a couch. Opening act TY (Touching You) is sleeping in the spare room. They had just put on a very interesting and conceptual show at the Boot. The concept: rummage through estate sales, auction houses, yard sales, etc. and buy up all the photo slides they can find. Arrrange such photo slides so they Jason can write a song around them. Play song live with slideshow accompaniment. Check them out here.

In the middle of the show, they hosted a Q&A session. At the end, they asked their own question, "Does anyone have the room to hole us up for the night? We're a small band and literally can't afford to stay the night in a hotel. If anyone has extra room, we'd really appreciate it. We'll give you our sincerest gratitude and gladly give you a bunch of free merch from our collection."

Seeing as there was only 4 of them, I figured "What the hell?" and made the offer. Unbeknownst to me, I was actually in competion with another generous Boot-ian. Both of us had one problem: Tina has a completely unbased psychological fear of cats and we both had one cat. I told her I'd try to kep the cat out of the rooms they were in and Tina said, "Deal".

We stopped at a local 7-11, Tina bought some bread so they could make "phony baloney sandwiches" as they are all vegatarians. They offered me one; I passed as I enjoy my meat and never liked baloney past the 3rd grade.

While they made their sandwiches, Jason and I discussed this appearance and how frustrating it can be being a conceptual act appearing on television. I had previously seen David Byrne on The Colbert Report and felt that the travelling cameras and multiple angles ruined the presentation Byrne was looking for. Since he had backing dancers and musicians whose movements were choreographed to the song, I felt a fixed camera located center-stage would be best. Jason agreed and said, "When we were doing this show, we told them it was VERY IMPORTANT that the camera be focused on he screen at certain times because we very well couldn't have me singing words that made no sense because there wasn't a corresponding image along side it."



Afterwards, I showed them their respective rooms, gave them towels for their morning showers, and said our goodnights.

What will await me in the morning? I have no idea but I have told them I hope to be awake when they leave. It would seem rude of me to not say my goodbyes and wish them well...even if they are total strangers.

The Villains

Friday March 13th at the Taphouse, The Villains, a local Norfolk garage punk band will be playing at 10pm with the Dielectrics.  Get there early before it fills up!

Music and Integrity have nothing to do with it!

The film we viewed in class was a classic way that bands rise to fame and fall out of the graces of their fans. The film discusses bands like Metallica and how they change their sound to gain a larger audience.  Bands who water down their music are considered to be sell outs.  If they stuck to their original sound they would probably keep their core audience while gaining new fans.  The film goes on to talk about how it hard to stay in the music business because it so trendy, because fads come and go so quickly.  The film also touches on what goes into creating a tour.  The example they use is Guns n Roses tour's.  Talking about Guns n Roses and Stone Temple Pilots are making a collaboration as Velvet Revolver.  The only reason they get any recognition is because they have members from famous bands and record companies have spent millions of dollars on advertising. Velvet Revolver would probably have not made it with out this advertisement.  Music and Integrity have nothing to do with it. 

A.M. Architect

A.M. Architect is a side project of Diego Chavez AKA Aether216 and Daniel Stanush of the Panic Division. Their press release describes their sound as being based in jazz, hip-hop, and organic ambient music. Their debut album, The Road to the Sun, features a mixture of Fender Rhodes, synthesizers, pedal steel, field recordings, and more.

The lead track, Unspoken, reminds me of the first time I heard Air's Moon Safari album minus the vocals of Beth Hirsch. Glitchy beats that sound like brushed drums, Fender and guitar play a repeated melody that could be best described as "jazz lite". Upon feels as though it would have fit in with the less erratic but still overtly psychedelic moments of Caribou's Milk of Human Kindness.

Not quite emotionless and cold, but also not fiery in its' delivery The Road to the Sun has a perfect release date of April 2008. Be sure to listen to it before the ridiculously humid summer ruins the mood.

MP3: A.M. Architect - Unspoken

MP3: A.M. Architect - Upon

(Road to the Sun will be available April 2008 on Exponential Records.)

Since We're Discussing Innovation (?)

Does anyone reading this remember the days of split EPs? Be it 7", 12", or the CD-split. Well, last week a new label, FoF Music began selling their first release: a split EP that comes with a free shirt. Or is it a shirt that comes with a free EP?

Here's the press release.

The Story:

While the music industry is getting a much needed make-over, for fans there lies a fresh opportunity to change the way we value and understand music as a whole. The Internet in many ways has been "the great equalizer" for both artists and music fans giving us all new opportunities to release, buy and receive music. Artists are able to reach new listeners with ease, while interested fans have plenty of avenues to express their own voices online and discover something new. And while people aren't buying music at the stores at the same rate as in the past, they certainly are willing to support the people that make art they love. Fans still want something tangible and by evidence of current blog/Twitter culture, are seeming just as interested in the story and method as they are in the final product.

Thus leads way to the introduction of a new type of label called FoF Music (Friends of Friends), the name itself is the driving force behind the label and website, referring to the most effective way (yet traditional way!) people learn about new music...through Friends! The hope is to help re-invent how music is released in a way that is not only more involving for the artist (A&R, artwork, marketing) but more importantly truly enticing for the fans. We want to create releases that are inspiring for artists and fans alike; with the intention to create a product that is not a useless plastic memory holder but rather is worth the hard earned money spent to create and purchase.

The concept in short for our inaugural release is FoF invites an artist to join the FoF family by signing on to do a split EP; they in turn invite another musician or group to complete the split release and commission a designer to create the EP's artwork on a limited edition T-Shirt which will include a download card(100% seed paper card; Included will be the release, exclusive remixes and special content: ie videos, mixes etc).



For the first in the Friends of Friends series, FoF has invited a great friend and HERO of ours: Santa Monica based electronic genius Alfred "Daedelus" Darlington whom you may know from his solo work on labels such as Ninja Tune, Mush, Plug Research and more or even more recently with his wife as The Long Lost (also on Ninja Tune).

With the power to choose his cohorts, Daedelus has brought in homies Jogger; Amir Yaghmai and Jonathan Larroquette for their first EVER release! Not only did Alfred attend High School with Amir but the duo are the active live band members of Alfred's The Long Lost project with wife Laura as well as collaborators on his 'Exquisite Corpse" release. He's also managed to bless us with the INCREDIBLE husband and wife art duo Kozyndan for the cover art/t-shirt design. They all 5 are truly friends and we're happy to now call them ours!

The fans receive a beatiful, 100% organic-shirt printed on Alternative Apparel's "Alternative Earth" shirts and the album with bonus material all in one swoop. The album will also be available through all digital retail outlets separately...

There's only 300 shirts available. This post is kind of late on the "Breaking News" front, so they may already be sold out. Find out here.

I Knew It!

By the way, this chart is a complete joke. Read all about it here and here. The site that hosts the chart is completely flooded right now; see the whole thing here.

The Raconteurs' Simultaneous Release of 2008

Around this time last year, Warner Brothers recording artists The Raconteurs released their new album, Consolers of the Lonely, to all outlets at the exact same time. This was done in such a way that the public had one week's notice before the album was released. There would be no advance single sent to radio, no promotional videos shot, no advance copies sent to the press...nothing, prior to its release.

You can read their rationale behind this decision here.

At first, I found this to be an interesting idea. However since Warner Brothers is on the West Coast, I ended up having to wait until the following Monday to receive a physical copy for my station. Thankfully, I had signed up for a digital distribution service that services certain releases from the Big Four and a few select independent labels, so I was able to download it Tuesday morning. Though I wouldn't do this in the first place, if I had attempted to upload the files to a blog/website/p2p service, etc. the files from that service are watermarked in my name and could be traced back to me, causing all sorts of legal action against myself and the station.

Also, while "The Raconteurs" gave all sorts of reasons for this decision, I couldn't help shape the feeling that this was an attempt by the label to combat a leak of any form. By doing this, consumers simply couldn't base their judgment on whether or not to buy the album by a song heard on the radio, passed around on the Internet, or blogged about on sites like this one. The record-buying public would need to put their hard-earned money down on the counter (or "checkout now" screen) and pay to form an opinion.

Link to the digital service referred to in article: http://plaympe.com/v4/

S-Curve Was Paying Attention (?)

I have to admit, I'd completely forgotten about Velvet Revolver. Around the time the Frontline special aired, Scott Weiland was a mess, his albums weren't any good, and Guns N Roses had gone MIA. So, a super-star collaboration by them was exciting to me as tap-water. It was kind of creepy watching all those mid-30's, early 40's pasty white guys bob their heads slowly and then rock the f*ck out when appropriate. It finally dawned on me why anyone would have let a news crew into a scenario like that: FREE PUBLICITY!!!


I also wondered whatever became of poor Sarah Hudson. By "poor", I mean I know she was aiming for that late-teen, early-20's crowd, but I couldn't shake the image of her playing her little teen angst heart out for groups of soccer moms at some radio festival that couldn't attract a younger crowd if they promised free beer with no ID required. Turns out I was only half-right. S-Curve Records folded shortly after the Frontline special and "Naked Truth" was shelved. Hudson is now playing shows in Europe with a new 80's era re-hash dance band called Ultraviolet Scene.

In 2007, S-Curve was relaunched after the head of the company served as President of Columbia Records. I'm not sure if he learned anything, but the new S-Curve roster consists of alt-pop group Fountains of Wayne, 60's crooner Tom Jones, wanna-be 60's UK blues singer Joss Stone, and the up-and-coming rock sensation Tinted Windows.

What? You've never heard of Tinted Windows? They've got Velvet Revolver beat with not one, two, or three, but FOUR former members of groups gone by. We're talkin' James Iha of the Smashing Pumpkins, Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick, and on vocals Taylor Freakin' Hanson! Check out this promo shot.



How can you not be ready to hear this album? You may not be able to yet, but you can visit their website and hear their first single now! What's it sound like? Imagine if you took Fountains of Wayne/Cheap Trick rock-pop rhythm, Siamese Dream era fuzzed out buzzsaw guitars, and the voice of the oldest member of Hanson. In other words, just like in Velvet Revolver, a total lack of originality and/or creativity!