Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Wave of mutilation
Heard any good Big Day Out rumours? Best one I've heard is the Pixies. They've just done the European festival circuit, and they're touring the US thru November and December. Might happen.

Friday, July 23, 2004

Def Sign

 

Russell Simmons owns a loft right next to Ground Zero. He hasn't been able to use it since 9/11, but he managed to get his mate Glen E. Friedman in. Here's what he did. Read the comments too, they are hilarious.

The Guardian reports that "New research suggesting that file sharing has no impact upon sales of CDs has, not surprisingly, angered the music industry."

"... So, if downloading hasn't caused the slump in sales, what has? There are several factors that could be involved, but the easiest explanation is the popularity of DVDs.
"Over the period 1999 to 2003, DVD prices fell by 25% and the price of players fell in the US from over $1,000 to almost nothing," says Strumpf. "At the same time, CD prices went up by 10%. Combined DVD and VHS tape sales went up by 500m, while CD sales fell by 200m, so a possible explanation is that people were spending on DVDs instead of CDs."
More here.
Rock band in media punch up.
Noizyland had a few problems getting an interview out of the Mint Chicks.

"Far too busy and important for a face-to-face or even phone interview, their record company FMR contacted this website to offer an email interview with 'the boys', who had just returned from an excursion to Britain and the United States. We at Noizyland dutifully fired them off a list of questions. How did your meetings go with Geffen, we asked? How large and receptive were the crowds you played to overseas? According to the Americans you met, where can NZ be found on the map? Were you able to communicate clearly and easily?

FMR thought our questions were very good. This pleased us, as we have been working as music journalists now for a very long time and according to a myriad bands, both famous and in this case, not so, we have so far had nothing but praise when it comes to our question-asking skills.

Sadly for us, however, The Mint Chicks' manager John Baker disliked them and said he would not pass them on to the band. When pressed, he added that he was 'unhappy with the tone' of the questions. When pressed still further by FMR, he replied, rather sulkily if we may say so, that he no longer wanted to proceed with the interview."

It's like how no journalist bothered to ask the Beastie Boys (during their round of interviews for their latest album) hey, why does Mike D look half dead? No one asked what the hell have you done for 6 years while hiphop passed you by?

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

Quote of the Week.
 'Juliette Lewis just vomits on stage. I'd rather stick a finger up her ass than hear that again. Her sound is that bad. She's that commercial, man.
"She's no artist. And as for her acting career ... Did you ever see National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ? What a demanding role that was... She's just one of those religious freaks. It's her and John Travolta leading from the front line.'  Ryan from New York band The Rebels, on Juliette Lewis and her band the Licks on the Warped Tour. Read more on Ms Lewis impending rock stardom here.


Are you the Fifty Quid Bloke? He's the saviour of the music industry.




Monday, July 19, 2004

Why Tom Atkinson is the coolest drummer in Auckland.
Channel surfing on Saturday evening, and I ended up watching that Kiwi knockoff of Top of the Pops with Alex whatshisface surrounded by Teenage Girls Who Will Scream At Anything, and he introduces One Million Dollars. Now, they're a fine bunch of funky types, and there's Tom grooving away behind the drums, and he's wearing a t-shirt that says "Ahmed Zaoui: freedom or fair trial' on national television. And that is why Tom Atkinson is the coolest drummer in Auckland.
And I'd just like to raise a two finger salute in the direction of Eli Cara and Uriel Zoshe Kelman. That is all. Oh yeah, go see The Ramones;End of the Century documentary, it is brilliant. The  live footage of the band playing at CBGBs way back in 1975 is just phenomenal.



Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Tip of the hat in James direction for this gem...
"... in not safe for work news, a couple in Norway clambered onto stage during a performance by the band Cumshots (asking for trouble, aren't they, with a name like that), and proceeded to have sex as a way of showing their support for rain forest preservation. Yes, the rain forests. They're part of an environmental organization called Fuck for Forest, and if 21 year old Leona Johansson is typical of the Scandanavian activists who are members of this group, I think there's going to be a queue about a mile long at their recruiting office this morning."

If you are one of my American readers, this may be of interest to you (from NZ media commentator Russell Brown)...
"The Bush administration has been making threats and promises to push the Pakistani government into capturing and delivering Osama Bin Laden. So what? The order has come for delivery on specific dates - the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Boston at the end of this month. In order to smooth the way for a politically advantageous result, the administration has raised no protest against the Pakistani government's pardoning of nuclear physicist A.Q. Khan, who recently admitted exporting nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea, and Libya. Most of the US media appear to have ignored the 'July Surprise' story broken last week in The New Republic."

Dr Dre and Burt Bacharach are collaborating... yep, read that one again, I aint joking.
Dre: "We did a little thing together. My piano teacher introduced us. Burt Bacharach came by the studio, and we chopped it up for a little while. I gave him a couple of skeleton tracks on a CD, and he went home and played some piano over it. The next thing I know they had this jazz trumpet player play on the record, and it sounded hot. I think they’re going to put it out. I would like to really get in, and do something from scratch with him as opposed to me giving him a track, and him going to his studio and doing his thing, and us sending it back and forth." Read it here.

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Makes no sense at all
Bob Mould on copy protected CDs....
"Capitol Records fucked my computer over a few years ago with some glitch they inserted into a Sparklehorse CD. I broke the CD into 20 pieces, and never listened to their music again. Now, there's this Beastie Boys thing. All of this is really embarrassing. The business is killing itself."

So, what's the latest cool CD you got? I'm sick of everything at the moment. Suggestions please.