new music!

so i have hit a rut here lately. up until last week, I had not even had any new good music to listen to. thank God that changed recently :

First off,

Laura Imbruglia – too bad I didn’t hear her stuff earlier. her self titled debut came out last year and i am just now hearing about it. yes, her sister is Natalie Imbruglia, but a last name is about the only similar thing the two share. I think Laura is half psycho, but I always had a thing for crazy chicks.

Tegan & Sara – new album “the con” is pretty much awesome. rough and not over produced sounding. really matches up well with their vox.

Eisley – “combinations” is the title of their new release. it’s has some great tracks. another plus, they are currently touring with mute math. so go see em both.

minipop – ok, these guys are awesome. in my opinion, the should be the band touring with mute math. their debut “a new hope” is scheduled for release in november. it’s the only album i would consider actually buying if i have to.

~bk

p.s. – check out BNC. more on this later.

Touché

Some of you might not be familiar with the band Cartel, they had minor success with their song “Honestly”. Their most recent marketing ploy, basically has them recording their next album in a huge bubble. Industry insider, Bob Lefsetz recently had a field day with this. Well, now, it was the band’s turn to respond.

I can see both sides of the story. Do I think Cartel sounds any different from what they call other “popular” music? No. Same no character vocals, same bland writing with no strong choruses. And they go on to list all these bands that they have as “influences”, then why does your music not sound even remotely similar? I didn’t see relient K on your “list of bands that we love”, yet you sound strangely similar….

But maybe their new album holds some hope of a new musical direction.

The Hits That Keep On Hitting

Lately, I have been pondering what makes a hit a “hit”. Obviously being hooky is a given, but what gives it longevity? Often I hear catchy songs that I love for about a week or two, then forget forever.

I have been digging the new Fountains Of Wayne release “Traffic and Weather“, but I fear that its days in my player are numbered. It’s almost too catchy.

So I am wondering what makes me throw in my old Missing Persons albums still. Maybe it’s because of an almost total lack of good new music, but I am still mainly listening to 10-15 year old releases. I think a lot of people that really love music are in the same boat. I still pop in Coldplay’s “Parachutes” at least once a week. Lately, I have been on a Cardigans fix. I still think they are one of the best bands of the last decade. But that’s just me….

Meanwhile, In My Player:

I just got a pre-release of the new Travis album “The Boy With No Name”. I rate them right up there with Coldplay. It’s good to see some consistency writing wise. I consider them more “mood” music than anything else, something to put in when it’s raining…

I also recently picked up Silverchair’s new album “Young Modern”. Took a bit to grow on me, but it rocks just as much as “Diorama” did. I wish these guys were big in the states, cause I would love to see them live. They definitely have come a long way since “Frogstomp”.

Feist sure is blowing up on myspace and virb. I got her album, and at best she sounds a little better than Cat Power. Feist’s “My Moon, My Man” still rocks though.
Guess that’s all for now.
~bk

Emo Sucks, So Stop Sending Me Friend Requests

I consider myself to be pretty tolerant to most types of music. I can appreciate the production values of music when the music alone can’t hold my interest for one second.
2 exceptions:

Rap

Emo

If you want to make a “career” out of looking and sounding the same as 12 bazillion  other “musicians” out there, be my guest. But PLEASE, stop flooding my myspace inbox with friend requests and messages telling me to check out your band. Obviously you really don’t want me as a fan because your music makes me want to kill you to make the noise stop. Even worse is this Screamo crap. Not only does your music blow, but now I cant hear you, or anything else for that matter cause you blew out my speakers.

Music was based on individualism, can we please return to that?

Not to say all the bands I listen to are charting new territory, but at least their music is catchy.

Example

Grant it, every track is not a winner, but take “My Moon, My Man”. Strangely reminiscent of early B-52’s.  I don’t think I could make 3 cords any more catchy. I could dance to that, and I don’t dance.

Ever.

~bk

Oversaturation Of “Junk” Music + Advent Of P2P + Industry Failure To Adapt = Inevitable Demise

Yes it’s true,

The music industry is crumbling. I’m not telling you anything most of you don’t already know.

Have a look.

So where does that leave us? The musicians, the middle men as it seems….

There seems to be a lot of people preaching the demise, but not a lot of solutions to how to go about successfully pushing a genuinely “good” product. I think it might be a little too early to know exactly what the future holds, but there are some out there that are doing something right.

Case and point.

Good old fashioned self promotion and hard work seem to be a great start for a successful new gameplan that some bands are smart enough to start utilizing. Go figure.

Much more to come…

~bk