Your Railroad Gate

Gotta run.

2008-04-11T13:26:00.001-07:00

Hey everybody! We're moving the blog over to Tumblr. It just feels like the right thing to do.
Google, you know I love you, but I think it's clear that other blog services have a lot to offer.

yourrailroadgate.tumblr.com

See you there.

Video on Flickr; Long Live Vimeo

2008-04-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

Today Flickr premiered its new video sharing feature. Our boys over at Vimeo better watch out; I always thought of that venture a 'Flickr for videos,' with its emphasis on content that is truly user generated. Or maybe not: only Flickr Pro members can upload at this point, and there is a 90 second time limit for all clips. Big mistake, maybe, but as T.S. Eliot professed, "When forced to work within a strict framework, the imagination is taxed to its utmost and will produce its richest ideas. Given total freedom, the work is likely to sprawl." Who knows--maybe this will lead to more interesting content being posted. Either way, I can't see many Vimeo users flocking over to Flickr and upgrading to Pro just so they can upload minute-long clips when Vimeo offers 250MB/week uploads and vehemently supports HD, a shrewd move.

Flickr Adds Video [lifehacker.com]
The Vimeo HD Channel [vimeo.com]

Pitchfork: Not Pissing Me Off For Once

2008-04-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the launch of Pitchfork.tv, the much talked about new site from Pitchfork Media. Up til now, Pitchfork has kept their feet planted firmly in the music criticism and news
world. This is a pretty big departure.

After clicking around for a while today, I have to say I'm really impressed with the content that they've got up already. There's a lot of videos by the usual Pitchfork artists (Thermals, Xiu Xiu, others whose names I can't remember) as well as the entirety of loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies(!) and other goodies like artist interviews and Radiohead "exclusives." Now, Pitchfork pisses me off as much as the next music nerd, but they've always had their ear to the ground on new bands, even if the reviews were often way off base or just plain unreadable. But this site is already my preferred of the two web homes Pitchfork now hosts; their strength as an aggregator comes to the forefront while their editorializing is more subtle and easier to stomach, if it's there at all.

They're off to a running start. Now all that remains to be seen is whether they can keep the content coming. Your move, Stereogum.

Pitchfork.TV beta [Pitchfork.tv]
Obligatory Pitchfork.TV Discussion Thread [Idolator.com]
Pitchfork.tv Takes a Stab at Music Videos [Wired.com]
Pitchfork.tv Launches, Stereogum Responds, sort of. [prettymuchamazing.com]

Desert Island Jukebox Entry #1

2008-04-03T09:09:00.000-07:00

Borrowing from one of our favorite podcasts, Sound Opinions, me and the Foz are implementing the Desert Island Jukebox. As I pop my first quarter in I am hereby putting my money on the fact that if I were stranded, I would happily listen to this song to no end. I was turned onto this song in a whole new way when my sister's A Capella group performed it. But just listen and hear for yourself. First, they sweep you into this ethereal swaying groove, with a grand harp and it almost feels like you're about to hear some sort of lounge act and then, the lead singer spins around and the band delivers the first punch "Boogie Nights". The way the bass cuts, the way the drums rip, the funky guitar on the right, the white guy at the keys... it's all gold. I can't help but start dancing to this, no matter what my mood may be. Your turn Foz.

Wild Things

2008-04-03T08:47:00.000-07:00

Watch this before it gets taken down. It may be the most of it you ever see.

EMI Hires Google Exec To Head Digital

2008-04-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

Look, EMI, it's been a rough few years for you, but you're in the mix, you're having fun, you're trying new things, and I like it. Keep doing what you're doing.

Warner Brothers Fucks with a Good Thing

2008-04-02T09:11:00.000-07:00

So, I've been drooling for a very long time now about the forthcoming Where The Wild Things Are movie, adapted by Dave Eggers and directed by Spike Jones. It's a dream team working on a favorite childhood novel by Maurice Sendak, and I was only more interested after seeing stills that made the Wild Things look a lot like Gorgs. Remember Gorgs?

Well, now it looks like Warner Brothers isn't happy with test screenings and wants to fire Jonze and reshoot the film entirely. The Vulture post on the subject, which I stumbled upon pretty late, says it all pretty well. Why do movie studios think that they can create better movies with a focus group than they can with a brilliant director? Furthermore, why are we so touchy about movies that might scare children a little? Don't all the best children's movies have that dark edge to them? Dave Eggers knows how to tell a compelling story and Spike Jonze knows how to work that visual magic and apparently that makes WB execs freak the fuck out. Leave this movie alone! Forest Whitaker knows.

Hey Warners! Leave Spike Jonze and ‘Wild Things’ Alone! [Vulture Blog - nymag.com]
Photo from www.wtwta.net

Something in the water in Athens

2008-03-28T13:07:00.000-07:00

What is it with Athens, Georgia? This is the town that birthed the B-52's, the Elephant 6 collective, and R.E.M., who were still a really important, not to mention rocking, band while they still lived there. This is all to say nothing of the Indigo Girls. Well now it's all about the Whigs, whose latest album Mission Control came out a couple months ago. It's good stuff--plenty of hooks, reverb heavy vocals, the kind of alt rock I always thought they stopped making around 1996 is alive and well on this record. I saw them at the Paradise Rock Club when they were in Boston last week, and they tore the place apart opening for Drive-By Truckers--by the end of their set, just about everyone was a fan of these guys. The band's Myspace has a handful of songs to stream, and the album is for sale on eMusic and at finer digital and retail stores. Here's a video of them playing an acoustic version of "Right Hand on My Heart." (I'm pretty sure this was at SXSW)

The Whigs - "Right Hand On My Heart" (Tripwire Acoustic Session) from The Tripwire on Vimeo.

That is some nice clean video quality--props to the guys at the Tripwire for hooking it up on Vimeo.

The Whigs [myspace.com]
Mission Control [emusic.com]
"Right Hand On My Heart (Acoustic)" [vimeo.com]

Fred And Sharon's Movies

2008-03-27T07:41:00.000-07:00

From Consumerist:

"Meet Fred and Sharon. They make movies. Video Movies. They could improve your life.
Here's a commercial that demonstrates that even local public access TV has standards that must be met. Fortunately for us, when public access says no, YouTube says 'yes.'"

Great Moments In Commercial History: Fred And Sharon's Movies [consumerist.com]

Muxtape

2008-03-26T10:08:00.001-07:00

So, looking at my good friend amtendler's blog, I found this:

Hey everybody! Listen to my MUXTAPE and enjoy my musical taste!

Well, I always enjoy AM's musical taste, so I had to click through. What I found was really special. It's called muxtape. It's the simplest and most elegant way I've seen to share music online, to say nothing of its potential to bring back, in some small way, the wonder of the mixtape. It works like this: you upload songs from your computer, and then you get a url that you can send to friends. That's it. The interface is clean and easy to use: click a song to play it. I'm still working on my own muxtape (I write this from the laptop, with limited access to iTunes), but check out the homepage for samples of muxtapes users have already made. Then sign up (just three boxes to fill in!) and make your own.

Muxtape [muxtape.com]
Fozzie's Muxtape [fozzie.muxtape.com]
amtendler [annamarie.tumblr.com]

A step in the right direction?

2008-03-19T09:14:00.001-07:00

Big story in the music industry this week. The Raconteurs, side project of Jack White and Brendan Benson, released a pretty good album, Broken Boy Soldiers, a couple of years ago. Well, I wasn't a huge fan (I'm more of a White Stripes man) but the record was pretty good. I didn't think they would release another. Well, on Monday night news broke via this press release, which is worth reading in its entirety:

The Raconteurs are happy to announce that in one week's time their second album, entitled Consolers Of The Lonely, will be available EVERYWHERE Tuesday, March 25th.

"Album" meaning: full length vinyl, CD and digital formats; and "everywhere" meaning: local mom and pop Indie retailers, corporate superstores, supermarkets, iTunes, Amazon, the band's own website and any other location that could get the record up and going this quickly (some places couldn't move this fast, so they will join in as soon as they can).

It contains 14 new recordings and is being released globally on Third Man Records in conjunction with our marketing/distribution partners, XL Recordings and Warner Brothers Records.

The album was mastered and completed in the first week of March. It was then taken immediately to a vinyl pressing plant. Then to a CD pressing plant. Then preparations to sell it digitally began. March 25th became the soonest date to have it available in EVERY FORMAT AT ONCE. The band have done no interviews or advertisements for this record before this announcement.

The purpose: to get the album to the fans as soon as possible and as we promised. We wanted to get this record to fans, the press, radio, etc., all at the EXACT SAME TIME so that no one has an upper hand on anyone else regarding it's availability, reception or perception.

With this release, The Raconteurs are forgoing the usual months of lead time for press and radio set up, as well as forgoing the all important "first week sales". We wanted to explore the idea of releasing an album everywhere at once and THEN marketing and promoting it thereafter. The Raconteurs would rather this release not be defined by it's first weeks sales, pre-release promotion, or by someone defining it FOR YOU before you get to hear it.

Another purpose was to also allow people to have their own choice as to exactly which format they would like to hear the album in IMMEDIATELY, rather than having to wait for their favorite format to become available. The band are also not releasing any version of this record that contains bonus tracks. Musically this album will be the same as the band created it no matter what format it is purchased in (The sound quality of each format however, is a different story. The Raconteurs recommend hearing it on vinyl, but the choice is of course up to the listener).

The band also prefer that fans buy the album as a whole instead of breaking up the tracks, but until iTunes and other digital services allows bands to release their albums with the option of NOT breaking it up, it will be sold in that fashion on those particular sites. On the band's website however, the album will be sold in its entirety as an mp3 at 320kb bit rate. Also in Japan, fans will be able to download the record via their mobile phones, as that is how a majority of recorded music is consumed there.

The reason we are announcing this release one week ahead of time is because of retail pre-ordering and stocking, information about this album's imminent release was bound to come to light and could be confusing to fans. Also in the event that the record leaks, we didn't want this method of release to be seen as a REACTION to such a leak. It's not. The actual worst thing about a leak is the usual poor sound quality, akin to watching a movie on a wristwatch instead of in a theater. Which for the album's creators is a bit of a letdown, but again, it is completely up to the listener.

There will be a video up on the internet for the first single, "Salute Your Solution", on the 25th as well, provided it gets edited in time. We just filmed it the other day!

We hope not to confuse anyone with too many options, or deny them the formats that they like best. The Raconteurs feel very strongly that music has worth and should be treated as such. Thank you to all those who respect music in this fashion, and thank you to our label partners for working with us to get this album to fans in as many formats as possible all at once.

There's a lot there. It's not a reaction to leaks, they say, although one has to wonder. I think this is great for the fact of its immediacy. In an age where we clearly need to be looking for a new model, and things are moving ever-faster (leaks hit the web almost as soon as an album is announced) I can't help but think that the time between recording and releasing an album has to shrink. Why should it take more than a couple of months to record, master, and release an album? Jack White is known for never spending more than ten days or so on an album. I hope he's the first in a growing trend.

And marketing and promoting an album AFTER its release, forgoing first week sales? Great idea. First week sales are always a bummer these days anyway, and if you look at the major breakouts of last year, almost every one of them had a slow and steady build to the top. (Feist and Winehouse, anyone?)

Bad news for Raekwon, good news for everyone else.

The New Model: Jack White To Industry: Oh Yeah? Well, Watch This [idolator.com]
Photo taken from Idolator's post

Simon Smith and his amazing dancing... bear

2008-03-11T23:19:00.001-07:00

Congratulations, Fozzie, you're doing an act this week.

Dylanophilia

2008-03-09T09:39:00.000-07:00

By expressing no preference between a Rod Stewart version of a Bob Dylan song and the Dylan original, I have, I know, exposed myself: I'm not a big Dylan fan. I've got Blonde on Blonde and Highway 61 Revisited, obviously. And Bringing It All Back Home and Blood on the Tracks. Anyone who lokes music owns those four. And I'm interested enough to have bought The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3, and that live album we now know wasn't recorded at the Royal Albert Hall. The reviews of Time Out of Mind and Love and Theft convinced me to shell out for these two, as well, although I can't say I listen to them very often. I once asked for Biograph as a birthday present, so with that and The Bootleg Series I've got two Dylan boxed sets. I also, now I look, seem to own copies of World Gone Wrong, The Basement Tapes and Good As I Been To You, although this, I suspect, is due more to my respect for Greil Marcus, who has written so persuasively and brilliantly about Dylan's folk and blues roots, than to my Dylanophilia. And I have somehow picked up along the way Street Legal, Desire, and John Wesley Harding. Oh, and I bought Oh Mercy because it contains the lovely "Most of the Time," which is on the High Fidelity soundtrack. There are, therefore, around twenty separate Bob Dylan CDs on my shelf; in fact I own more recordings by Dylan than any other artist. Some people–my mother, say, who may not own twenty CDs in total–would say that I am a Dylan fanatic, but I know Dylan fanatics, and they would not recognize me as one of them. (I have a friend who stays logged on to the Dylan website Expecting Rain most of the day at work–as if the website were CNN and Dylan's career were the Middle East and who owns 130 Dylan albums, including a fourteen-CD boxed set of every single thing Dylan recorded during 1965 apart from–get this–Highway 61 Revisited, the only thing he recorded during 1965 that sane people would want to own. He's pretty keen.) I can't quote whole songs–just the odd line here and there. I do not regard Dylan as any more important, or any more talented, than Elvis Presley, or Marvin Gaye, or Bob Marley, or several other major artists. I have no opinion as to whether he was a poet, and especially not as to whether he was a better poet than another poet, I don't own any bootlegs, I have no desire to see him play live again (I saw him twice, and that was more than enough), I have no theories about any single song...I just like some of the tunes, and that, I have been led to believe, is Not Good Enough.

--Nick Hornby, 31 Songs. Take a look. I bet you have a Dylan album or two in your iTunes library you didn't know were there. 31 Songs is published under the title Songbook in the states.

(This post is dedicated to Eric Axelrod. I gave Eric a copy of 31 Songs as a gift years ago, and then borrowed it when he was done. It has sat on my bookshelf ever since. My bad, you can have it back now.)

Songbook by Nick Hornby [Amazon.com]

Ask Wikipedia: Watchmen Movie?

2008-03-08T12:50:00.000-08:00

I heard last night that someone's working on a movie based on Watchmen, the influential 1985 comic book (today they call it a graphic novel) about former superhero vigilantes facing the onset of a nuclear war. Alan Moore, the author of Watchmen, is notoriously uncooperative. And I know that Batman Begins was fantastic, but I think we need to move in baby steps. But who knows? Maybe it'll kick ass, and it's being directed by Ang Lee or some such. So this afternoon, I decided to ask wikipedia.

The idea of a Watchmen movie has been taken up and abandoned many times. Terry Gilliam was attached at one point in the late 80s, and Daron Aronofsky (!) also once was involved. Both of those were abandoned though. Now, though, they've actually shot the thing. Zack Snyder directed, and Patrick Wilson (Nite Owl), Billy Crudup (Doctor Manhattan), and the dead husband from Weeds (The Comedian). The cast sounds solid enough, but I'm not sure about this Zack Snyder guy. He directed 300 and the Dawn of the Dead remake. It was written by someone named Alex Tse whose IMDB is really thin.

You knew the best part of this was going to be what Alan Moore had to say, right? Dave Gibbons, the book's artist, seems to have been ambivalent about the script, without denouncing it. But here is a quote from the section entitled "Moore and Gibbons' response:"

In a July 2007 interview, Moore said of Snyder's project, "If they go for some other novelty option like they did with V For Vendetta then I'm in for another year of excoriating them in every interview I do until they remove my name from it."Before shooting, Snyder said "[I] totally respect his wishes to not be involved in the movie." [...] "You get people saying, 'Oh, yes, Watchmen is very cinematic,' when actually it's not. It's almost the exact opposite of cinematic." Moore said that Terry Gilliam, preparing to direct Watchmen for Warner Bros. at the time, had asked Moore how the writer would film it. Moore told Graydon about his response, "I had to tell him that, frankly, I didn't think it was filmable. I didn't design it to show off the similarities between cinema and comics, which are there, but in my opinion are fairly unremarkable. It was designed to show off the things that comics could do that cinema and literature couldn't."

Unfilmable is the key word in there. I tend to think that Moore is right. Flipping through my copy of Watchmen as I write this, it becomes increasingly clear just how unfilmable the story really is. Miracles can happen, though–wasn't Sin City unfilmable? I certainly thought it was, and now I think thats one of the Top 5 comic book films of all time. I'm not giving it number one or anything, but still.

Oh, and to Warner Bros' credit, they do have a pretty decent official website/blog up about the production. It seems shooting has wrapped. Now we wait and see.

Watchmen (film) [en.wikipedia.org]
Official Website [watchmenmovie.warnerbros.com]

An excuse to post Jack Kirby artwork

2008-03-07T15:30:00.000-08:00

This week’s New Yorker: The Style Issue. I have a love/hate relationship with the New Yorker. Actually, that’s a bit too strong. For me, the New Yorker is like that band whose work you really respect without actually enjoying. I know their coverage of arts, culture, and politics is untouchable. But really, when you get down there and read an issue, the articles are too long winded and you end up reading the comics. That’s what I do. There’s no shame in that. You can admit it.

I only keep subscribing because it’s so cheap. I think you pay like 43 cents an issue or something. This makes me able to justify reading approx. one article per every four or so issues. That’s not counting their arts critics in the back of the book, and of course the aforementioned cartoons.

Well, The Style Issue arrived this week and it looks like this is the one: Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay, contributes "Secret Skin: an essa y in unitard theory,” a dissection of superhero costumes. The article, of course, is a bit long winded and I did retreat to the comics for a while in the middle there. Chabon starts out discussing the myth of comics as escapism, ultimately deciding that it’s the costumes we’ve really got to blame; the nylon (is it nylon? Spandex? Unstable molecules?) and the capes are what lure children to tie a towel around their necks and misguidedly attempt to take flight. From there, Chabon proceeds to delve into the science of costume design, taking us from the “zero minute” of Superman and from there pinballing around the superhero universe, making me grin with references as far-flung as Zatanna, Ka-Zar, Martian Manhunter, and Black Bolt (pictured). And of course, he takes us to the comic convention to mock the costumed losers trying to recreate their dreams.

It’s a fun little article, but it’s also very long and it tries a little too hard. I’m not impressed with Chabon’s conclusion that superhero costumes at once hide a hero’s past while explaining it to the bystanders. It’s true, but for all the work Chabon does trying to get there, its a little bit of a no-duh. Chabon has the most well regarded comics-based novel, but he once again loses to Jonathan Lethem when it comes to non-fiction fanboyism. And that being said, let me put in my two cents: with all respect to Kavalier and Klay (still one of my favorite works of fiction in any medium) Lethem’s The Fortress of Solitude is the greatest novel ever written to use comic book worlds as a backdrop.

Secret Skin: an essa y in unitard theory [The New Yorker]
Top Five Depressed Superheroes [JonathanLethem.com]
The Jack Kirby Museum [Kirbymuseum.org]
Image: http://home.flash.net/~jeanneb/b.html

Backward Book Club: Like A Rolling Stone

2008-03-05T12:04:00.000-08:00

I wish I could get away with a jew-fro but unfortunately I always end up looking like Ronald McDonald. Until recently, Bob Dylan has eluded me. I had heard the greatest hits, the standards, but nothing really connected. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 made it on to some of my earliest mix tapes but only because I loved his play on the word "stoned" and the fact that you could hear people cheering him on, like they do with Muddy Waters on Mannish Boy. I had seen Scorsese's brilliant attempt to get to the bottom of Mr. Zimmerman. Still, it didn't click for me. I was viewing No Direction Home for the filmmaking. The day after Heath Ledger died, Fozzie and I went to see I'm Not There. My ticket, once again, primarily had to do with filmmaking, Todd Haynes, Cate Blanchett, and of course, Heath.

Haynes transported me into a world of myth and magic unlike any I'd ever dreamed of. He showed me how Dylan wasn't blowin in the wind, he was the wind. Hell, he still is. I was enamored with the idea that he wasn't a protest singer, or a voice of a generation, but a storyteller. A very good one. So good that his own story has remained shrouded in mystery and continues to be retold by countless interpreters. It seems no one will ever know the full story. That's what makes him so compelling. Heath was difficult to watch, as we were all still mourning. But when Ms. Blanchett held the frame, synapses in my brain fired in a way they never had. She redefined my understanding of the way things are, and should be. A woman playing a man is irrelevant to me. That's about as obtuse as saying you're voting for Barack because he's black or Hillary because... well I don't know why you'd do that. What she does with such precision and delicacy is show us a Dylan in crisis. At a crossroads. A man split between who everyone thinks he is and who he thinks he wants to be.

The experience I had at the film was the seed for a number of incubations: The Foz hands me Greil Marcus's book Like A Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan At the Crossroads. My sister's iPod in her car shuffles to The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. My friend, Kahn, leaves a number of Dylan cd's in my car. And finally, youtube provides me with excellent search results for "Bob Dylan". Let's start with quite possibly the greatest 49 seconds ever captured on film. With every word containing such power, arrogance, and tangible friction, it's no wonder lesser mortals blog about him.

When the kick drum announces the first chord of what Rolling Stone Magazine calls the greatest pop song ever written, my heart explodes, my body jerks, and my soul screams, "YES!" I've since compiled a playlist of my favorite Dylan videos so that I can readily access them when I'm hankering for a fix.

In his book, Greil Marcus discusses Dylan with a philosopher's tongue, rambling on glowing tangents and following threads to their passionate conclusions. One notion I love is that no matter what Bob Dylan does, he will never be able to escape the cultural perception of who he is. Whether he likes it or not, Blowin' In The Wind will be the first song mentioned in his obituary and he will historically be referred to as a protest singer. This causes me to think about how we all form our perceptions about one another. Dylan didn't begin with songs like Blowin' In The Wind and it is certainly not his best song. But it's what people remember. Before that, he was trying to be Woody Guthrie. Before that, he was trying to be a leather-clad rock and roller. But Blowin' In The Wind struck a chord with the country, and created an expectation in the ears of those who became his fans after hearing it.

We all have parts of ourselves that those around us use to define who we are. What we all fail to recognize is that those parts make up a gestalt. Thinking of Bob Dylan as only a protest singer with a guitar is like seeing a man in a wheelchair only as handicapped. Maybe Dylan doesn't want a label at all. Someone like Madonna reinvents herself not to avoid labels, but to have the label of "reinvention". When Dylan shifts gears, its because he feels like it. Dylan's brilliance is that he refused to give you what you paid for. Sure, that pissed a lot of people off, and still does. But you're ticket doesn't say Mr. Tambourine Man it says Bob Fucking Dylan.

Best Kept Secret: Rhymefest

2008-03-05T08:56:00.000-08:00

If you really want to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Thriller, stay away from this overproduced mess. First off, Thriller might be the best-selling, but if you want to remember Michael at his baddest, you need to hit up Off the Wall. It also comes in a deluxe reissue, but it does not come with Fergie, Kanye, and Will.I.Am remixes of the songs. Presumably you buy a rerelease because you love the original album, not because you're a big fan of schmaltzy remixes of Billie Jean.

What you should to do is save your money and go right to allidorecords.com and download Man in the Mirror, the new Rhymefest mixtape produced and presented by Mark Ronson. Ronson and Fest are two of the most imaginative artists working today, in hip hop or any other genre. Ronson works all over the place: he produced Lily Allen's Alright, Still as well as chunks of Amy Winehouse's Back to Black. For that album, he not only won Winehouse her Grammys and street cred, but also hooked her up with the Dap Kings, Brooklyn's own soul revival band. After Back to Black, he kept on working with them, releasing the super-underrated Version, a record of covers from mostly British artists covered by other mostly British artists. Amy Winehouse covers the Zutons' only good song, "Valerie," and Ol' Dirty Bastard delivers a posthumous rhyme over a laid back cover of Britney's "Toxic."

Meanwhile, Rhymefest has been holding it down for Chicago for as long as Kanye. I don't know much about his career before Kanye's Grammy winning "Jesus Walks," which Fest co-wrote with Kanye. I first became a fan after Blue Collar came out in the summer of 2006. This album may not be the hardest hip hop album out there, but it is the most fun, and if you ask me it's the best hip hop record of the last few years. Fest has a lot in common with Kanye in the sense that his production often steals the show from his rhymes. That being said, he's a better emcee than Kanye, and his beats are... dare I say it... also better than Kanye's.

Anyfest, apparently this mixtape came out at the end of last year. I didn't notice it until a few weeks ago. What we have here is a concept mixtape: Rhymefest raps over an entire album of Michael Jackson samples, including a few skits in which Rhymefest and Ronson have to put up with Jacko's studio antics. It's a postmodern tribute to a god of popular music, and it treats the man's work with a lot more respect than any of the remixes on Thriller 25. Ronson produces most of the tracks, and the whole thing gets guest tracks from Ghostface, Talib Kweli, Mary J. Blige, Dres, Camp Lo, and Chicago up-and-coming emcee Wale. Rhymefest has a proper release coming out in April (hopefully), but honestly he's already made one of the best hip hop records of the year. Click the album title below to download the .zip file.

Mark Ronson Presents Rhymefest: Man in the Mirror [allidorecords.com]
Michael Jackson: Thriller 25 [weeklydig.com]

Erykah's year?

2008-03-02T14:44:00.000-08:00

Now, I was never a huge fan of Erykah Badu. I certainly respect her work and especially her sense of humor, but I just never really got into her records. It's nothing against her, really. I'm down with all the Soulquarians, I just never really became a huge Badu fan. She just released a new album though, New AmErykah, and the Times ran a profile of her last weekend. Here's what got my attention:

“New AmErykah” is part of a creative torrent that includes a sequel record, due in the summer, and an unrelated retro-minded album, “Lowdown Loretta Brown,” scheduled for the fall, both on Universal Motown. Ms. Badu also plans to start a lifestyle magazine, The Freaq, this summer; the first issue will come with a copy of “New AmErykah: Part Two.” Both records will also be available on a U.S.B. stick for fans to plug into their computers; for added value Ms. Badu wants to record a U.S.B. commentary track to explain her references and inspiration. A tour will start in May.

After eight years without a new studio album, Badu is back with a pair of new albums and some kind of alter ego side project. Add to the mix an experimental distribution strategy and you've hopefully got a show that plays out rather nicely over the next year. Gotta love when artists come back strong from quiet periods. Look at Paul Westerberg a few years ago- when you come out with three albums' worht of material in a year, its easier to forgive the bad stuff and enjoy the good stuff. Here's hoping that Erykah's plans go off without a hitch. Oh, and is The Freaq mag hiring?

The Mind of a One-Woman Multitude - New York Times
(Photo credit: Michael Nagle for the NYTimes)

Beads?!

2008-03-01T14:00:00.001-08:00

Have you ever been to a bead store? Me neither, until last week. Doing some promotion work, I went into Beadworks in Harvard Square to leave some goodies for their customers. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a whole store for beads, but it turned out there are two of them in Harvard Sq. alone. It actually looked like fun. There was even a little table set up in case you were struck with the urge to do some beading right then and there. The Smiths were playing on the stereo. Maybe I'll go back. On the other hand, I think it would be the most infuriating type of store to work at.

Backward Book Club: The Old, Weird America

2008-03-01T12:40:00.000-08:00

Well, your authors here decided to start up this blog while both participating in a backward book club. It happened rather accidentally a few weeks ago. We're both experiencing some Dylan mania (it tends to happen to me this time of year) and I had lent Will my copy of Greil Marcus's Like A Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads, his study of Dylan going electric told through the lens of the writing, recording, and performing of the title song. In it, Marcus is on point. He is also at times obsessive. But goddamn if its not one of the best accounts of one of the most discussed and written-about times in popular music history. And he has the smarts to treat it like a time period rather than one event. You get a real socio-chronological map, if such a thing exists.

This is why I've decided to start The Old, Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes. This is an earlier Marcus book from 1997, but it actually picks up where Like A Rolling Stone, which came out later, leaves off: just after the 1966 world tour. As you can tell from the title this one concerns the Basement Tapes, which were recorded in the Big Pink house with members of what would later become The Band (at this point, no longer the Hawks, calling themselves alternately The Honkies or The Crackers) in addition to other people who happened to be passing through at the time. This was after the world tour with The Hawks at which Dylan was heckled within an inch of his life and sanity. You know, when he looked like Cate Blanchett. Anyway, after the tour and the motorcycle crash, Dylan went into seclusion and recorded... well, he recorded a lot of songs. They circulated for years as bootlegs, and were finally released in the mid 1970s as a two disc set. The songs are strange, and many of them simply meander and go nowhere lyrically or musically. But you can hear so much happening in them, as a student of Americana or pop culture. The Band coming together and finding their sound is my favorite among these, but Marcus is really psyched on Dylan reaching down into the American landscape and digging up the roots for the sake of... well, no one but himself, really, as even Robbie Robertson (The Band's guitarist) is quoted as saying "A lot of stuff, Bob would say, 'We should destroy this.'"

Either way, if you're like me and dismissed The Basement Tapes as having been shelved so long for a good reason, give it another shot. Marcus has made me extremely frustrated that these songs sat unplayed in my iTunes library for so long. And I can already see a new map forming in the pages of The Old, Weird America.