The record industry blames piracy and downloading for sagging sales — here's the whole story.
Turn on the radio and chances are you’ll hear a top-selling song from a rock, country, or hip-hop artist. But stroll through the offices of almost any major record label and you’ll hear an entirely different kind of music: the blues. After nearly a decade of unfettered growth, music sales are down for the second year in a row. And if the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is to be believed, downloads and piracy are the verse and the chorus of the music industry’s current sad song.
... While few dispute the numbers, some, such as George Ziemann, are challenging the RIAA’s inferences from them. Ziemann, an Arizona-based musician and owner of MacWizards, a music production company, was propelled into the debate when he wasn’t able to sell his band’s CDs via online auctions on sites such as eBay, Amazon, and Yahoo because they were burned on recordable CD-Rs. Ziemann says he was told that because CD-Rs are often used to record pirated material, they’re banned on many auction sites as a result of the RIAA’s antipiracy efforts (eBay allows CD-R sales if the seller stipulates he owns the copyright).
As a result of that experience, Ziemann researched the RIAA’s figures and came to very different conclusions, released in a much-circulated article, “The RIAA’s Statistics Don’t Add Up To Piracy,” posted on his Website. He makes two key assertions: 1) that the labels raised CD prices during a down economy, and 2) that they slashed the number of new releases by almost 25% during the past three years. He says that these factors, and not downloading, are responsible for sluggish CD sales...Read more
With IN THE MIRROR OF MAYA DEREN, documentary filmmaker Martina Kudlacek has fashioned not only fascinating portrait of a groundbreaking and influential artist, but a pitch-perfect introduction to her strikingly beautiful and poetic body of work.
Crowned "Fellini and Bergman wrapped in one gloriously possessed body" by the L.A. Weekly, Maya Deren (née Eleanora Derenkovskaya) is arguably the most important and innovative avant-garde filmmaker in the history of American cinema. Using locations from the Hollywood hills to Haiti, Deren made such mesmerizing films as AT LAND, RITUAL IN TRANSFIGURED TIME, and her masterpiece, MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON, which won a prestigious international experimental filmmaking prize at the 1947 Cannes Film Festival.
Starting with excerpts from these films, IN THE MIRROR OF MAYA DEREN seamlessly and effectively interweaves archival footage with observances from acolytes and contemporaries such as filmmakers Stan Brakhage and Jonas Mekas, dance pioneer Katherine Dunham, and Living Theater founder Judith Malina. With an original score by experimental composer John Zorn. Read More
Additional Information:
A short and a big interview with director Martina Kudlacek . Older articles in this weblog on "Maya Derren"
Some bands know how to use new technology (like REM) and some bands, like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, don't.
What is "Give It Away"? "Give It Away" (GIA for short) is a peer-to-peer network dedicated to the sharing of live and unreleased music by our favorite band, R.E.M. On "Give It Away" you can find full concerts, unreleased songs, and numerous demo tracks in MP3 and SHN formats. You can also find many videos in a variety of formats.
First and foremost, this service is for the sharing of live and unreleased material only!!!
That means that any material that has ever been publicly released by any record label is NOT allowed! Any and all side project collaborations, album tracks, or soundtrack items, regardless of current print status, are forbidden on this server. NOTE: The only exceptions to this are R.E.M. B-Sides and Fan Club singles, which the band have given their permission to share on this service.Read more
Rock bands The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica are refusing to make their music available as individual downloads on Apple Computer Inc's AAPL.O iTunes online music store, a representative for the bands, said on Wednesday.
That move comes in response to Apple's decision to allow users to buy single tracks and is intended to protect the future of the long-playing album, the format that has dominated the music industry for decades, an agent for the bands said.
"Our artists would rather not contribute to the demise of the album format," said Mark Reiter, with Q Prime Management Co., which manages the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica and several other artists.
Green Day and Linkin Park, according to a source familiar with the situation, have also refused to make their songs available as individual downloads on the Apple service, which has already sold more than 5 million songs since launching this spring.Read the rest, found at:digimi.net
Tujiko Noriko released a new CD on Tomlab! A few new MP3 downloads are also availible. Found via phlow.net.
Mixing capriciousness with prettiness and outright experimentalism in a manner gently reminiscent of avant-pop genius Haco, Tujiko Noriko's introduction to the world at large was one of the most astonishing of the last years. Maybe second-best behind Björk (the Icelandic elfin pop-princess is probably a better comparative form-guide than the Mego reference) and alongside the mysterious turns and deturns of Cologne based Niobe
Virtuoso vocalist Joan La Barbara has explored the possibilities of voice and extended techniques such as multiphonics and glottal clicks since the '70s. She has performed with orchestras all over the world, from the New York Philharmonic to the Orchestra of the Hague, and has premiered operas including Robert Ashley's Now Eleanor's Idea and Jacob's Room by Morton Subotnick, with whom La Barbara cowrote The Misfortune of the Immortals. This piece (also co-written by Mark Coniglio) is an example of her work melding electronics and technology into performance. Morton Feldman, Philip Glass, and James Tenney are among the American composers who have written works specifically for her. Read more.
Media Files: "Only" by Morton Feldman features a gorgeous soprano solo by Joan La Barbara. La Barbara, both a friend and student of Feldman, first performed the piece at a memorial concert given for Feldman after his death in 1987.
"The Waves" is a longer work by Charles Dodge that uses both the soprano voice of Joan La Barbara and synthesized and enhanced sounds to a subtle and creepy effect.
Listen to "73 poems" by Kenneth Goldsmith + Joan La Barbara.
Norwegian trio Noxagt play slow-burn metal stripped to its essential elements: no vocals, no solos, just lurching riffs and pounding rhythms, a precision machine on a hot rail to hell. The obvious comparison, given the Load Records connection, is to heavy-rock deconstructionists like Lightning Bolt, but I think that's a red herring. The stateside duo are fast and frantic where Noxagt are methodical; Lightning Bolt and their imitators explode; Noxagt are a battering ram. Same result, different methods.
NOXAGT began in 1998 as an experimental electronic rock project, mixing grindcore and punk with musique concrète. In 2001 NOXAGT gradually evolved into an instrumental rock group consisting of Kjetil D Brandsdal, Nils Erga and Jan Christian L. Kyvik. NOXAGT's music now emphasizes a heavy and powerful rhythm section, with a massive downtuned bass guitar and crushing, often shifting drums. The distorted, droning viola adds to the rhythmic and harmonic disorientation. All three instruments are given equal importance, the overall aim being an intense yet groovy wall of sound.
Read More
Sam Shalabi is a central node in Montréal's free improv scene. One cannot count the many projects he is a part of. He is best known as a founding member of Shalabi Effect, who have recorded 2 albums on Alien8 Recordings which have earned the band extremely good response from critics and music enthusiasts alike. Apart from Shalabi Effect, he is also part of a number of bands, among which Detention, Molasses, Balai mécanique, Po, 'Gypt Gore, and a trio with David Kristian and Alexandre St-Onge. Recently he recorded his first solo effort for Alien8, On Haschisch, and is at work on a follow-up. His style ranges from freeform psychedelic rock to the most oddball abstract performance. Although mostly known as a guitarist, the highly versatile Shalabi also performs on oud and a variety of other instruments.
Media Files:
Download lot's of HUGHE MP3 excerpts and videos at the official homepage of Shalabi Effect.
Listen/Download a CBC radio profile of Shalabi Effect and Sam Shalabi in Real Audio format.
For the past 3 or 4 years, the Animal Collective have been creating quite an underground stir. Having already released over 5 records and with two successful US tours (one with friends The Black Dice) under their belts, the Animal Collective are now poised to significantly alter the popular music landscape. Their sound is everywhere and nowhere. Informed by the psychedelic freak-outs of 90s west coast isolationists like Caroliner and Sun City Girls, the emotional bursts of hardcore punk, the textures and structures of minimal techno (a la the Kompakt label), the earthiness of sixties utopians Amon Duul and Can, and the organic looseness of the best of the free and improvised music world, the Animal Collective simply cannot be pinned down. The Animal Collective are creating the new spiritual music for the 21st century: music that is aware of tradition without being tied down to it; music unconcerned with borders and definition.
Doom’s career in hip hop goes right back to the early 90s when, known as Zev Love X, he was a central member of nu skool phenomenons KMD. Dropped by Elektra for refusing to change ‘controversial’ cover artwork, tragedy was heaped on top of disappointment when Zev Love’s brother and fellow band member, Subroc, was killed in a car accident. The young MC and producer vanished from the hip hop scene and was, to some extent, forgotten. In 1998, though, he re-emerged on Bobbito Garcia’s classic label Fondle ‘Em as MF Doom and over the next few years cemented his place as one of the most important names on the underground scene, "Operation: Doomsday" was hailed as a classic and KMD’s ‘lost’ album, "Black Bastards" finally saw the light of day. A generation of musicians have grown up in awe of him and he has since worked with everyone from Prefuse 73 to Madlib. Read more It's also possible, to listen to the whole album, just follow the link before.
Yesterday I saw the movie "At Land" from Maya Deren. It's in black and white and doesn't need any sound. The movie was done in 1950 but it still looks very experimentel. Experimentel in a "Positive" way ! It still seems to inspire todays filmakers, I was reminded of a Moby video (don't know the name) and even a tv show from my childhood "the man from atlantis".
Here is a introduction on here, Ifound on the web: With the advent of 16mm equipment came the birth of film as personal artistic expression, and Maya Deren led the revolution. The woman who was "her own avant-garde movement," had what can only be described as an eclectic set of interests. She immersed herself in political science, journalism, English literature, classical ballet, Taiwanese kickboxing, and Haitian religious rituals.
Calling herself a "visual poet," Deren catalogued disparate images and explored their shared relationship to an emotion or symbolic meaning, the latter often left to the audience to ascertain. Her movies are haunting, lyrical, and breathtaking fusions of human and cinematic movement, where the actors dance with the camera. Though called a heretic by those who worked with her, she was the first person to receive a Guggenheim grant for filmmaking and the first woman to receive the Grand Prix Internationale in avant-garde film at the Cannes Film Festival. Read more
I liked this introduction to Maya Deren the most, but I will link (soon) to more detailed articles at the bottom of this article.
Throw all preconceived notions out the window as you step into the sleazy, dissonant, oddly compelling world of Peaches. The Canadian musician, born Merrill Nisker, has really created a sound all of her own, with the help of her trusty Roland MC505 Groovebox (she calls it MC5 for short). The machine provides the beats and effects, all of which are rather minimal and are often menacing and abrasive, sometimes totally cheesy. Peaches' voice does the rest of the work, ranging from raw PJ Harvey-like punk angst to hard, sexually explicit almost Missy Elliot-style raps. All this makes for an eclectic sound, which features elements of rock and roll, hip hop, and electronic music, but definitely fails to qualify as any of the above. More
Another fantastic download from the Internet Live Music Archive:
People Like Us, Matmos and Wobbly, live - October 5th, 2002 at San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA.
Download the whole concert, but beware, because of the .shn format of the files, the complete download will use 342MB of harddiscspace !
If you're unfamiliar with shn files, read this old article of mine.
Although it didn't originally have anything to do with their sound, the Cowboy Junkies' name wound up seeming pretty accurate: their music was grounded in traditional country, blues, and folk, yet drifted along in a sleepy, narcotic haze that clearly bore the stamp of the Velvet Underground. The vast majority of their songs were spare and quiet, taken at lethargic tempos and filled with languid guitars and detached, ethereal vocals courtesy of Margo Timmins. Over the late '80s and '90s, the group recorded a succession of critically acclaimed albums that found favor in the alternative rock community. Read more at allmusic.com
Download 12 (!!!) entire live shows from the Internet Music Archive in the .shn format
If you're unfamiliar with shn files, read this old article of mine.
Shorten (extension .shn) is an audio compression scheme written by Tony Robinson of SoftSound that can compact wav files (music CDs) without subtracting out any frequencies. It's "lossless"- everything in the original wav is there, so that full quality is maintained. For many traders of live music, Shorten files (shns) therefore have an undisputed advantage over "lossy" mp3-format files. A shn file made from a wav is quite a bit larger than the corresponding mp3, with a size perhaps ~50-70% of the orginal wav.
There is allready a huge community sharing "bootlegs" in the .shn format over the internet, but with permission of the artists, so called trade-friendly artists !
To get you started, you need some additional software:
Shnamp a plugin for winamp, so you can listen to your files on your PC.
mkwACT To convert .shn files into .wav files, if you want to creste "Normal" CDs. It's also possible to use mkwACT to create .shn files from wave files.
Linux and MAC user will find links to software they need in the SHN FAQ. But the SHN FAQ is also iteresting for all the WIN users, if they want to know more about .shn files and the shn-trading-community.
The Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.
For over 14 years, the Boredoms have been pummelling the minds of unsuspecting listeners with their blend of spastic noise and psychedelia. After releasing a series of cassettes and EPs in their native Japan during the '80s, the Boredoms began to attract the attention of an international audience. In 1989 Kramer?s Shimmy Disc label released the band's first U.S. CD, Soul Discharge. Soon after, the Boredoms signed to Warner Brothers in Japan. But it wasn't until 1993 that the Boredoms released their first U.S. major label record, Pop-Tari, thanks in large part to the support of Sonic Youth and Nirvana. After that album and 1994?s Chocolate Synthesizer, the Boredoms lost their major label backing, and most of their albums since have been available only in Japan. Read more at Epitonic.com
Best known for his role as founder and co-leader of avant-garde rock band Swans, Michael Gira has made it a point not to work very much under his own name (at least musically -- he has published and regularly done spoken-word shows), preferring instead to create and lead various projects as well as produce other musicians. Even after Swans came to an end, his various musical efforts were group affairs like the Body Lovers and the Angels of Light, which he led but harnessed a wide variety of performers. This said, Gira has had a few releases appear billed as solo efforts, and while more might yet surface in future, it looks likely such recordings will be sporadic in nature. Read more at Allmusic.com
MP3 Files: Michael Gira runs Young God to put out various and sundry projects he's involved with, Swans re-releases, and other miscellanea. Download Songs of his Lable at Epitonic.com. These downloads include the bands:
The Angels of Light
David Coulter
Windsor for the Derby
Read more on The Swans and download the track "sex god sex" also at Epitonic.com
I usually don't play a lot of computer games. But I was looking to get hold of REZ. It was released for the Playstation 2 and the Sega Dreamcast. I have the Sega version. This game is a simple shooter, just destroy everything that's moving. The story behind that game can be told in a few words: a big computer system has gone mad, someone has to stop it! What makes this game outstanding is obviously not the story, but the fusion of gameplay, sounds and visuals:
Every sound in Rez such as the sound effects of the laser beam or the sound of locking on to a target is programmed to instantly synchronize with the background music. Even if the player mistakenly pushes a button, that sound will also join the other sounds produced by the game in perfect harmony.
All this will happen by simply controlling the player character. The music will dramatically change in tune and rhythms all during the game, which is just like remixing the music in your original way every time you play Rez. In order to further this effect we have asked various artists of club music to join the production of Rez.
The music is very simple techno/trance. Coldcut are also involved, but I can't imagine what sound effects they did, but i haven't finished the game yet (I'm stuck at the third boss).
Take a look at the REZ - webpage for more information on the involved artits, more pictures and even some videoclips of REZ live performances.
After months of playing the visceral action game Quake III Arena (Q3A) with others online, Feng Mengbo used the games ability to create custom game characters, to develop his own version for his performance piece (called Q4U). In it, he inserts his likeness into the game, equipped with a mini DV camcorder in one hand and a weapon in the other. Visitors both at the Documenta 11 as well as at their computers at home are invited to play, though they are never clear as to if they're playing against the artist or other participants.
Feng Mengbo used the video game Quake very often for several projects. Read moe about Q4U an dhis other projects on his official homepage.
A very nice piece of Bastard Pop by F1REMAN. Portishead (Cowboys) and Depech Mode (Only when i lose myself). Download it, as long as it's still availible
Last thursday a special event took place, here in Mannheim (near Heidelberg) Germany. Three of the bigger german netaudio lable, Thinnerism.com, Subsource.de and 2063 music.de met in "the Lounge"
I didn't know about this event, although I'm living in Mannheim. I had to find out about it, reading one of my favourite german weblogs: phlow.net
I've never beent to the lounge before, therefore I had to look for the entrance. While I was looking for a way to get in, I met two guys from Cologne, Moritz and Jörg. A few minutes later I discovered, that Moritz is the guy behind phlow.net ! So we allready "knew" each other, because we are both on the german netaudio mailinglist and he used some of my MP3 links on his weblog. The three of us spent the evening together at the lounge, joined by some of the DJs and organisers. We also met Stefan Schmidt, the guy behind nanoblogg, radio dj at bermudafunk
For me, this evening was also my first inofficial "blogger" meeting ! You can also read a german review of ths event from Moritz at phlow.net
This new Chris Morris short is the first work from Warp Films. 'My Wrongs 8245-8249 and 117' is about a man who no longer uses his name because he's decided he's ceased to deserve one, and a dog called Rothko. Read more and watch clips at BBC Collective
This movie is released as a DVD, which contains a remix by the cartel communique, which can be downloaded from the cartel webpage.
Tujiko Noriko released a new CD on Tomlab! A few new MP3 downloads are also availible. Found via 
Yesterday I saw the movie "At Land" from Maya Deren. It's in black and white and doesn't need any sound. The movie was done in 1950 but it still looks very experimentel. Experimentel in a "Positive" way ! It still seems to inspire todays filmakers, I was reminded of a Moby video (don't know the name) and even a tv show from my childhood "the man from atlantis"..gif)
Although it didn't originally have anything to do with their sound, the Cowboy Junkies' name wound up seeming pretty accurate: their music was grounded in traditional country, blues, and folk, yet drifted along in a sleepy, narcotic haze that clearly bore the stamp of the Velvet Underground. The vast majority of their songs were spare and quiet, taken at lethargic tempos and filled with languid guitars and detached, ethereal vocals courtesy of Margo Timmins. Over the late '80s and '90s, the group recorded a succession of critically acclaimed albums that found favor in the alternative rock community. 
Best known for his role as founder and co-leader of avant-garde rock band Swans, Michael Gira has made it a point not to work very much under his own name (at least musically -- he has published and regularly done spoken-word shows), preferring instead to create and lead various projects as well as produce other musicians. Even after Swans came to an end, his various musical efforts were group affairs like the Body Lovers and the Angels of Light, which he led but harnessed a wide variety of performers. This said, Gira has had a few releases appear billed as solo efforts, and while more might yet surface in future, it looks likely such recordings will be sporadic in nature. 
