I’m not quite as anti MySpace as a lot of people are. Sure, the band pages tend to be ugly and the layout is awful and it is filled up with lots of extraneous junk, but really, at the end of the day I find it pretty useful when chasing down bands, especially smaller artists. [...]
READ MOREJune, 2009
Australia’s greatest lyricist comes a gutser
Review Don Walker Shots (Black Inc.) I call bullshit on this memoir. On its long, windy sentences. On its attitude. On the story it tells, or rather doesn’t tell. On just about everything about it. I do it with great reluctance, because when it comes down it, Don Walker is some sort of genius, probably [...]
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Dead Wednesday on Friday: Michael Jackson RIP
According to the LA Times, Michael Jackson has died. Well, what choice did he have? Although he was supposedly organising a world tour, we all know that would never have got off the ground. Not only would he never again reach the levels of adulation that he reached at the peak of his career, there were [...]
READ MORESpotto music
Here’s some tracks to listen to online from around the traps. Entertainment Weekly, of all places, has a complete stream of the new Levon Helm album, and that’s definitely worth a click. The EMI blog, The In Sound From Way Out, is streaming a new track from The Black Ryder. On the strength of this, [...]
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Lenny, or: a normative rant about how to film a concert
Review Leonard Cohen Live in London DVD (Columbia) I often wonder with concert DVDs who watches them and the circumstances under which they watched. Is it people who missed the concert and want to catch up? Or is it people who saw the concert and want a momento? And do they watch it alone or [...]
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Leaving on a jet plane (and putative open thread)
At the end of next week I’m heading off to the US for a couple of weeks. This was all planned well in advance of the launch of Johnny’s so I didn’t really have it mind to be listening to a lot of music while I was over there. The trip was just a return [...]
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eMusic: growth vs credibility (coda)
This is really just a tidy up piece to on the previous story about eMusic. You can read Part One here and Part Two here. In all the kerfuffle about eMusic raising its prices and introducing Sony back-catalog into its lists, there has been some confusion about how the changes will affect Australian customers of [...]
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Wilco and out: chanelling Lennon for better and worse
I’ve been listening again to Wilco’s most recent album, Sky Blue Sky. The reason I dug it out is because I read this fairly amazing homage to it and it got me thinking about what a personal thing musical taste is. The piece is written by Scott Porad at the No Depression blogs, No Depression [...]
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Music industry: how to win friends and influence people
The case of Jammie Thomas-Rasset has just concluded in the US. The jury has found against her for illegally downloading music and awarded the record industry group who sued her a whopping $US1.92million (around $AUS2.4million): The recording industry lawyers, though clearly pleased, had no desire to showboat this one. The massive damage award, which increased [...]
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The human voice is a beautiful thing
Review Mark Olson and Gary Louris Ready for the Flood (New West Records) I bought this on the recommendation of reader Adrian and have been listening to it ever since. Thanks, Adrian. Mark Olson and Gary Louris used to be the Jayhawks, a band I remember from back in the day (actually, a bit after [...]
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