Laying Down New Songs, it's Peter, Bjorn and John!

Peter, Bjorn and John are releasing a new album!

Many listeners never explored this band past their overplayed hit “Young Folks.” But those that did will have quickly learnt that there’s more to this Swedish trio than meets the eye.
Their pop is laced with bopping beats, revealing on their last album (called Writer’s Block) that they are no one-hit wonder-ers. “The Chills” and “Amsterdam” in particular, are irresistibly catchy and underrated.

They have yielded a lot of attention from respected and, well, just popular musicians far and wide.
Kanye West seems to have ties with the band. In fact one song from the upcoming album titled Living Thing was leaked by the band onto his blog.

Here is a taste of the new album, which I can’t wait to get my hands on come March 31st. I’m particularly into the song which, by Kanye, has been titled “Nothing to Worry About.” Peter, Bjorn and John show that there is still ongoing experimentalism and creative expansion of their sound. I expect the album to be as uplifting and danceable as Lykke Li’s debut last year.

Peter, Bjorn and John - Lay It Down

Peter, Bjorn and John - Nothing to Worry About

Click here to visit their website

Ooh! Blogger Me!

One exciting thing about Stereogum is that it's a big time popular blog.
They even have awards and stuff. In fact, I am usually more agreeable to the outcome of the Gummy Awards than another Rolling Stone's "top 100 great singers of all time from 1990."

You can also vote for your favourite blog other than Stereogum in these awards. I don't expect to come anywhere near some of the more deserved dedicated champs out there pimping music like a full time job. But if you vote because I've alerted you to the fact that you can vote for the top music of the year then I'll like you; you know, in the internet sense.

If you can't remember what happened this year, Stereogum have provided a list of albums on high rotation this year.

My top three albums, by the way, were:

1. Lykke Li - Youth Novels

2. TV on the Radio - Dear Science

3. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Happy voting!

Lions and Spiders and War, Oh My!

When you first hear C.W. Stoneking you might mistake him as a lesser known singer from the 1930s blues era. The voice, the use of instrumentation and percussion, the subject matter sung about, even the stifled mono sound rasping through the speakers sooner reminds you of Benny Goodman, than an experimental shoe-tapper from Footscray, Melbourne.

And yet I hear even on stage this man has the presence of someone torn straight out of the history books.

Stoneking's first album King Hokum introduced his playful sound. There was even some banter between himself and his wife, creating that depression era side of domestic living so far removed from the present.

But perhaps the concept of a depression isn't all as far removed as initially thought.
Fears of a financial recession occuring worldwide reveal the perfect timing of Stoneking's latest trumpet-out.

Jungle Blues takes a quirky look at the "dark corners of the globe."
Although remaining playful, you can't help but feel songs like "Housebound Blues" give a significant nod towards the interest rate crisis devastating families across the Western world.

And while the drunken, slow-sung blues sound has prevailed (and I hope continues to do so), this time a fearful mood has crept its way in too. During his adventures to the Congo, Stoneking sings;

"...we hitched a ride, lawd, lookin over the side,
Everything was goin on wrong,
There was bird-eatin spiders, big as my fist,
Snakes that hung down like vines
And eyes that watched as we drifted along."

This mood sits suitably alongside references to war, mentioned throughout the album. By the end of this tale Stoneking (or is it Hokum?) returns safe and sound, vowing "I'm never goin back to that country again," to tell a story about an orphaned boy, Samuel, who served in the Armed Forces. Towards the end of this story Stoneking tells us "The memories of war scarred Samuel the rest of his life, because he remembered nothing."

This time around Stoneking highlights the importance of the past, and how it informs our future. Thankfully he does all this while maintaining the fun aspect of his approach: he really does sound like a 1930s singer!
I can't wait to see him live at Falls!

C.W. Stoneking - Brave Son of America

Buy the album

Sound Familiar?

Some of you may have noticed the sudden disappearance of two of my posts.

The first time was unusual. I received no notification of removal... I had posted a number of dance songs, with the typical intention of exposing any lovely readers of my blog to new artists.

It was removed. I thought this was an action taken by Elbows (a blogroll I'm listed with: see links to the left). But they didn't know what I was gabbing on about.
Being a man of the Y generation, and therefore always writing and in the past commenting on forums, I have quickly learnt that written words on the net are disposable. You are likely to be "modded" or censored in some way at some point in your life online (particularly if you contribute passionately to forum debates).
So I shrugged my shoulders and left it at that.

Then it happened again. This time to a post I'd spent a lot more time constructing. And I hadn't saved the draft of it (silly me). So I was cranky...

I checked my email account and I was shocked (though not entirely surprised) to find this little message in my inbox:

Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that certain content in your blog infringes upon the copyrights of others. The URL(s) of the allegedly infringing post(s) may be found at the end of this message.

The notice that we received, with any personally identifying information removed, will be posted online by a service called Chilling Effects at http://www.chillingeffects.org. We do this in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Please note that it may take Chilling Effects up to several weeks to post the notice online at the link provided.

The DMCA is a United States copyright law that provides guidelines for online service provider liability in case of copyright infringement. We are in the process of removing from our servers the links that allegedly infringe upon the copyrights of others. If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. See http://www.educause.edu/Browse/645?PARENT_ID=254 for more information about the DMCA, and see http://www.google.com/dmca.html for the process that Blogger requires in order to make a DMCA complaint.

Blogger can reinstate these posts upon receipt of a counter notification pursuant to sections 512(g)(2) and 3) of the DMCA. For more information about the requirements of a counter notification and a link to a sample counter notification, see http://www.google.com/dmca.html#counter.

Please note that repeated violations to our Terms of Service may result in further remedial action taken against your Blogger account. If you have legal questions about this notification, you should retain your own legal counsel. If you have any other questions about this notification, please let us know.

Sincerely,
The Blogger Team

Affected URLs: http://ahasbeenthatneverwas.blogspot.com/2008/09/festivus.html


Thank you, Blogger Team. It is nice to be notified this time around, I'll give you that much.

Since then I have noticed that a number of bloggers (all hosted on blogspot) have received the same notification.

I understand these copyright people (chilling effects?) are doing their job to protect the legal property surrounding music.
What I don't understand is how they believe this approach (or any) will prevent music sharing on the internet.

The first music sharing program taken to court was Napster.
Poor Metallica who must've been struggling to make a dollar, felt afflicated by Napster when a demo of one of their songs made its way into the program's library. Rather than attributing sales loss to the noticable degradation in the quality of their sound, Metallica decided eager music lovers trying to save a dollar were the reason behind why the band members have now been driven to homelessness. So to ensure they still had bread on the table they sued.

Once Napster got the wooden spoon from the District Attorney splinter groups emerged. Limewire, Soulseek... You could now decide which program operated the most efficiently and carried the biggest music library. Business-minded determination emerged from the ashes of Napster.

Now we have torrents. If I choose to (and I do not condone this) I can download an entire album in 20 minutes!
It used to take longer to download that Metallica demo, I'm pretty sure.

And we have bloggers. People who willingly endorse the music of a number of musicians, regardless of who they are, how much money they have or whether or not they believe suiing for music "copyrighting" is a good way to invest in more property.

Strangely it seems out of these two it is bloggers who are now bearing the brunt of the next wave in "legal control" over music sharing. Whether or not bloggers are promoting the music, possibly increasing music sales internationally, doesn't seem to be a question worth investigating. Best to stifle this enthusiastic burst in love of music with a blanket.

Ah McCain, You've Done it Again...

Rednecks have their say.
I guess the expression "You live, you learn" is a tad redundant in these circumstances.

Artificial Geniusness

Ipods have been a part of everybody's everything since they were released back in 2001.
And while the makers have improved its durability they are designed to ensure the consumer will "upgrade" their ipod unit and keep buying new models. Which of course I'm a big sucker for.
I just purchased the new ipod 120g classic (because carrying a lot of music in a small box is still more of a novelty to me than colour or "touchability").

With all recently released ipods comes the new "Genius" feature. This essentially runs off the idea of programs like Last FM; the Genius component "learns" the similar stylings of your songs.

So you select a nice mellow tune, like The Acorn's Hold Your Breath and the Genius will compile a playlist like:


Hold Your Breath 5:54 The Acorn

Night Windows 4:36 The Weakerthans

Seeds of Night 5:05 The Cave Singers

Waiting For Summertime 4:55 Yeasayer

Your Legs Grow 2:46 Nada Surf

Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car 4:33 Iron & Wine

Brother 3:43 Annuals

The Plot 3:32 White Rabbits

So Low So High 3:58 Maps

All The Wine 3:15 The National

It's not always entirely accurate (often it will choose the music based on the typical sound of the artist, rather than the song). But I've heard this improves over time.

I don't know whether to be excited or scared about the fact that ipods no longer simply bring music to your ears, they get in your head too...

Weekend Winddown 6

Thankfully we are now in the final month of winter. Winter seems to be the time of year when everyone goes through hardship of some form, particularly illness. It's also a time when I feel determined to rug up at home, rather that go out; to stay in and listen to some quiet music (the kind I've posted on "Weekend Winddown" mixes).

That's why Sigur Rós couldn't have performed at a better time. I saw them last Saturday night in Sydney. They were beautiful. My friends had plenty to say afterwards; about how amazing the vocals were, how mesmerising, how the beat of the faster songs really set their hearts racing. I was speechless, maybe even slightly sad. It could've been because I was exhausted, it could've been because the performance was over, but mostly it was because Sigur Rós know how to play amazingly emotive music.
Their latest studio release sets itself apart from the others with hopeful, upbeat melodies. But they still return to the beautifully soft and sad sound.

It's not yet the weekend but I'm home sick today so I'm preparing the mix early this time with an example of sad stuff Sigur Rós can produce.

Sigur Rós - Fljótavík [buy]

I saw Adele's album 19 in stores before I heard who she was. The album cover put me off so I never bothered to listen to her stuff.
Then I watched an episode of Skins, where one of the characters, Cassie (reeling from the death of another main character), runs through the streets of New York. A song is playing while this happens: a piano driven pop piece that reminds me of Sia's "Breathe Me." I later find out it is Adele. I also find out, much to my chagrin, that this song did not make it to the Skins Season 2 dvds and has been replaced by something else.

Adele - Hometown Glory [buy]

A friend recently recommended Son Lux to me. I was pretty keen to check this guy out because he had done an awesome remix of Beirut's "Sunday Smile."
His debut album reveals his large scope as he expands and contracts loud and quiet songs; some angry and violent, some melodramatic and heartfelt, and some softer; more reserved and controlled.

Son Lux - Tell [buy]

The Acorn have gradually grown on me. It's not that they require patience or repeat listening to enjoy, it's more that each song seems to compliment the other. Listening to one song by itself doesn't really do these guys justice. I initially thought "Hmmm, they sound like Turin Brakes." Which is true and I like Turin Brakes, but The Acorn have a little bit more to them.
Usually a guy sings but the example I give here is driven by beautiful female vocals that remind me of some 90's female singers, like Sixpence None the Richer's Leigh Nash. However the use of strings and the way in which each song builds make it easy to keep them from becoming overplayed power-pop for drama series.

The Acorn - Lullaby (Mountain) [buy]

I wasn't too excited about Cat Power's release, Jukebox, last year. And I'm still not. I found it pretty ordinary compared with much of her earlier work.
But the remake of "Metal Heart" shows that Chan Marshall still knows how to tap into the beautiful.

Cat Power - Metal Heart [buy]

Fleet Foxes have been the latest big thing to sweep the blogosphere. Namely, their song "White Winter Hymnal" has been a popular hit. I downloaded it, thinking that it was good timing for winter. But I really didn't like it. At all. I'm not sure why I didn't then but I still don't. Maybe I just don't like the round-a-bout repetition of the chorus. It's too hokie.
But I checked out the rest of the album and man, was I wrong about these guys. Amazing! The vocals, the escapist lyrics, the sound which harks back to Midlake, who in turn hark back to 70s folk rock.
This song in particular reminds me of the music from the closing scene of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

Fleet Foxes - Your Protector [buy]

I felt pretty content just buying Lamb's best of album, some time ago. Then I realised how much it sucks that the duo have broken up. So I've started going through their backcatalogue and found this sweet little number.

Lamb - Learn [buy]

Bring on spring!