Music Archive

Electronic Music Will Miss Michael Jackson

By
enrihrts
Published: 01 July 2009 4:40 PM UCTPosted in: Music, PersonalTags: , , , , , ,

daft-punk1 michael_jackson

In the last week there has been a lot said about Michael Jackson and the musicians he influenced over the years. Every pop star of today gets mentioned in one way or another: Usher, Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Britney Spears, those two American Idol finalists, etc. And it always sounds kind of lame. Are they really trying to blame the current batch of pop stars on Michael Jackson’s music? Just because they try to imitate him doesn’t mean they can be compared to him in any way. Michael Jackson was an original in every sense of the word. His particular style of music has not been kept alive in the mainstream. You can’t classify Thriller, Bad & Dangerous as R&B, Hip-Hop or Rock. The only thing that makes Jackson’s music Pop is that it’s popular, but nothing else in that genre sounds like it. Michael Jackson made dance music and it is in dance music where you will find the evolution of his style.

Whenever I listen to Daft Punk’s brilliant Discovery album, I can’t help but think about Michael Jackson. It just feels like something he could have created in his heyday. Certain music by The Chemical Brothers, Air,Prodigy & Gorillaz (to name a few) makes me feel the same way. Chris Brown can dance like Michael all he wants; he still not going to sound like him. And in the end, isn’t that what this is all about? Michael Jackson had a larger-than-life public persona that over the years turned into a negative thing. What we love about him is the music, and there are lots of people who have been expanding on his sounds for years. Not just badly copying them. Long live the king.

Jay Bennett (1963-2009)

By
miamimoviecritic
Published: 15 June 2009 5:31 PM UCTPosted in: Music, UncategorizedTags: , , , ,

jay_bennett

Just found out that Jay Bennett, the brilliant former member of Wilco, died on May 24. That was about three weeks ago. Don’t know how I missed that one, though in my defense I don’t listen to NPR as much these days since I made my car iPod-compatible, and it probably wasn’t very big news anyway outside of the blogosphere. Still, it came as a shock. Bennett was 45 years old.

It wasn’t a nice death, either. Details about the exact cause have yet to be released, but what we do know is that Bennett needed hip replacement surgery and couldn’t afford it because he had no health insurance. Fucking hell, man! If we’re not going to have free health care in this country, couldn’t we at least have some sort of Genius Fund to keep these people alive and working?

Ever since I started listening to them in college, Wilco has been my favorite folk-rock band of all time. Bennett joined the group in 1994, bringing with him formidable multi-instrumental talents. His love of Woody Guthrie helped bring about the band’s amazing collaboration with Billy Bragg on Mermaid Avenue, Vol. 1 and 2, which produced some of my favorite Wilco songs: Blood of the Lamb, California Stars and Remember the Mountain Bed. He also made significant contributions to the band’s breakthrough albums, Being There, Summerteeth andYankee Hotel Foxtrot.

What most people know about Bennett they know from I’m Trying to Break Your Heart, a documentary that chronicles the recording sessions for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. This is when Bennett’s relationship with Wilco soured, and he was fired from the band in 2001. Despite the tension, the film remains a loving tribute to the man’s passions and to his genius.

Here’s a cool video for California Stars. RIP Jay Bennett…

DIY Online Store

By
enrihrts
Published: 09 June 2009 4:37 PM UCTPosted in: Music, UncategorizedTags: , , , , , ,

cafepress-logo spreadshirt1 createspace

So what are you trying to sell? T-Shirts, Posters, DVD s, Birthday Cards, Books, MP3’s, Hair. Whatever it is your trying to unload, chances are there is an online company that can help you produce and distribute your products. The inexpensive, do-it-yourself store is just another thing to love about the Internet. You don’t need any big name sponsors or crazy long-term deals. All you need is a little imagination and a little hard work to pull it all together. Websites like Cafe Press are a great place to sell a large variety of products in the same store. For just $6.95 a month you can open your own store, design how it looks and customize products, with easy-to-follow instructions and templates. After you choose your products, you get to decide what mark-up you’re going to receive from each sale. So in a sense, Cafe Press sells the shirt and you sell the design. Unless you’re selling tons of merchandise, you’re probably not going to make that much money. But at least you’re getting your name out there at a relatively cheap price. I myself am an independent artist and I chose to have my store with Cafe Press. Here is the link: http://www.cafepress.com/ForesightArt

Create Space, a division of Amazon, is another company that’s incredibly helpful when you’re an indie seller.  You can create & distribute independent books, music & movies. You can have your products for sale as downloads, hard copies or both. This company in particular charges a reasonable price for their services, so you can make the most money with your mark-up price. Other great sites are spreadshirt.com, clickbank.com, threadless.com and designbyhumans. More are created every day. It’s always best to research the company and make sure to read reviews before signing on to anything.

Give Electro a Chance

By
enrihrts
Published: 08 May 2009 4:45 PM UCTPosted in: MusicTags: , , , ,

It’s been a while since I’ve gotten inspired by new music. If you’re the type of person that depends on top 40 radio to provide you with your daily soundtrack, then you probably won’t understand my point of view.  The state of popular music today is a laughing stock full of recycled garbage. I don’t believe most people can relate to music about having tons of cash, material excesses, being annoyed by the paparazzi, extreme depression or childish unrealistic love. The pop musicians of now are reminiscent of the ones from the late 80’s right before Nirvana showed up and destroyed the musical landscape and restored meaning & angst to music. That was 20 years ago and I think most of us are ready for a new savior. Music is too precious a thing to be left in the hands of Soulja Boy, Toby Keith, Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Green Day, Daddy Yankee, Miley Cyrus, The Fray, Puff Daddy and Papa Roach to name a few played out popular acts. The standards have become extremely low and these so called musicians are ripe for elimination & when that day comes believe me they are going to deserve it.

Lets us cut the crap out of music. I love beats, but in too many cases a good track can be completely wasted on some bad lyrics. This is the reason I like electronic music. It’s about ideas & beats, not some singer’s need to tell me his life story or what he woke up thinking about the other day. And I’m not talking about what most people think electronic music is, a never ending boring & repetitive trance song mixed by Paul Okenfold, Carl Cox or Danny Tenaglia. I am talking about artists that make groundbreaking sounds and the DJ’s that deliver those beats to us in the sickest of ways. Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers, Aphex Twin, Underworld, The Prodigy, Air, The Future Sound of London are a few of my personal all time favorites. These artists are composers that can’t afford to hire a symphony so they use the tools of electronic music to control sometimes hundreds of sounds at the same time to bring their big ideas to our ears. What type of music do you think Ludwig van Beethoven would be composing had he existed today?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw3mU-OrqzM]

I am very hopeful about the future of music. Right now there is a style called “Electro” that is rapidly taking over the electronic music scene & spreading to the mainstream. You can groove to its freshness, you can mosh to its rawness, you can tweak out to its sharp sound and it’s attracting diverse groups of people that you wouldn’t ever imagine partying together or enjoying each other’s company. It’s a beautiful thing to say the least and I for one am on board for the ride. Boys Noize, Simian Mobile Disco, The Bloody Beetroots, Kavinsky, Justice and DJ Steve Aoki to name a few that are at the forefront of the movement. The classical electronic group Kraftwerk is credited with inspiring this style of music. So if you haven’t heard of this scene you should give it a try, who knows you might end up liking it or loving it like I do.

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