Someone had it rough
My favorite working class rock outfit, the Stereophonics, have just released their 4th LP, "You Gotta Go There To Come Back." in the UK (with no US release date in sight). I hate buying imports when a domestic release should have sufficed... but anyways...
"You Gotta Go..." has tossed me into confusion. Like most Stereophonics records, Kelly Jones sings his heart out: on tune and damn raspy, but this is more than raspy. Either Kelly's cigarette intake before each session grew or this man was awfully sad during the sessions (interviews point to the latter).

"You Gotta Go There To Come Back" is a tale of a man trying to regain trust in a woman. Its unclear if 'he' ever does.

Kelly and boys buried their 'walk and talk lyrical style' for a gripping 'heart in the back of the mouth' sound. in "Climbing the Walls" I hear some hope of a turnaround but it is obvious from its position on the LP that the mood of the record is to move from anger to sadness.
"I Miss You Now" finds honest vocals overdubbed on top of an agonizing Kelly humming heartlessly through it. Its a difficult record to stomach...

With the exception of two tracks on this album, its a full unleashing of heart and emotion, never before heard from the Phonics. Kelly obviously got fucked up big from personal issues and it can be heard easily from start to finish. Some overproduction on tracks like "I'm Alright" initially sound unneeded, but only help to add to sound they wanted.

Three tracks on this record feel disconnected from the full record. "Help Me," "High As a Ceiling," and "Madame Helga (a single)." Their positions simply break up the flow. Removing them from the CD playlists really helps keep the intended emotion running.

To V2: "JEEP's" sales sucked in the US. but the fall of 2001 was bad for everyone. Release this record in the USA. It's deserving. The Phonics has a fan base in the US. Their sellout gigs in NA alone show that.

For whatever reason, I was not able to finish my disucssion on the new B.R.M.C. single on my last try. I'll just state that its a good rock single and hopefully the boys do well with it.

While I am here, let me list a few of the music related blogs that I frequent for reads. The writing is very good and very opinionated. Enjoy and let them know I sent you.

The Astronaut's Notepad: http://www.astronautsnotepad.blogspot.com/
:: technicolor :: : http://othernessblue.blogspot.com/

B.R.M.C. - the boys are back in town
I always find it interesting when bands from the US go over to the UK Europe, and/or Japan and make it big. Most of them usually revolve around neo - heavy/death metal bands who's sound keeps the youth of Europe in a frenzy. But the boys of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club may be my new favorites.
Like most of the US, I didnt give nor pay too much attention to this West Coast rock outfit. I didnt avoid the album, B.R.M.C., I just didnt have the time to hear it (as ridic as that sounds).... but thanks to the musical gods, I was re-instroduced with their newest single "Stop." (to be continued)

Renewing stock
A few folks have noticed the increase in the amount of "classic" CDs being added to the 2003 List. Some have even assumed that these may be my first listen to such classics as "OK Computer" or "Achtung Baby." Not so.
The truth in the matter is that after years of abuse and constant play, many of these discs have gone dead from bad handling. In particular, "Achtung Baby." If my memory serves me right, this is my 3rd purchased copy in the last 11 years. Copy one lasted me a good 4 years before it brittled under heat stroke in my Nissan. Copy 2 lasted a good 6 years until i realized that I was handling nothing but an empty jewel case. Lost stolen? Unclear.
The same also applies to other non recent releases in my List. Lost, unplayable.. who knows what went wrong. They say CDs last 100+ years.... I wonder if they're referring to non played "shelved" discs... god knows mine get worked.

Nothing makes the day job go by faster than live music to keep you up. I;ve been glued to the Southside Fest 2003 (in Germany) live feed for an hour now.... Underworld live...Radiohead next....

Sonar last week... Southside this week. This is what the web is all about.

Sonar 2003 begins Today!
The pristine European music festival begins today in the sunny cty of Barcelona. Wish I could make it...
Luckily, we havethe next best thing: BBC Radio 1 is brodcasting a fair amount of events LIVE.

Listen live right now as Gilles Peterson bring us some amazing live guests: Bjork, Laurent Garnier, and the almighty Matthew Herbert.
This is going to be some serious fun...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/events/sonar2003.shtml.

Respect to WASTE for allowing for refunds to the folks like I who cannot make it to Giants Stadium. Youre professionalism in the frustrating situation is very much appreciated.

Things get worse for me. W.A.S.T.E. has done exactly what I hoped they would not:

from W.A.S.T.E. email:
-------------------------
... Please note that as a special service to W.A.S.T.E customers, all tickets
bought through our site will be handled differently than those purchased
through Ticketmaster. All ticket orders for the original Field Day Music
Festival purchased through W.A.S.T.E will automatically be transferred to
the one-day event tickets at Giants Stadium. We will automatically refund
any difference in face value paid and will randomly assign seats based on
our allocation. ..
-------------------------

Not happy about this one. A service to some, sure, but give me the choice please...

UPDATE: (Amazing 2 strikes days) WASTE has now given us the option. respect.

NEWSDAY: Ticket Seller Says Concert Moving to Giants Stadium

Field Day no go, go , new venue? - huh?
Though official word is not out, Ticketmaster is listing a new on sale date for Field Day Fest at Giants Stadium for one day only event this coming Sat. Talk about short ticket notice.

Though I know very little about the ongoing battles with the county, it must be stated that something is simply unprofessional about how this issue dragged on up to the last days. Granted that many large festivals only receive their "go aheads" a few days prior to their date, someone on the inside of this promotion house should have been clear with a verbal on the go ahead.

A venue change to Giants Stadium only 3 DAYS prior to the event is unacceptable. How will tickets arrive? Do they plan on 60,000 will call tickets?

Sounds to me like the winner here is Ticketmaster who not only picked up 2 sets of fees (for the now cancelled site and the new site), but will also rape all purchasers with "Next Day delivery" charges...

For those that make it to Giants Stadium, i wish you luck. For you all, I truly hope it all works out in the end..

Update: So i ranted a bit and got some of it wrong. The refunds look to cover at least some of the Ticketmaster costs which is in good faith... but I still stand by my view of how it was handled. The venue change was unfortunate.... but I guess we should be happy something is happening for those that want to attend.

More info at fielddayfest.com

Re-discovered missing classics.
LA's musical tastes vary as much as mine. Allowing her to dig into CD collections when visitng friends will usually lead to some begging for me to "copy" some her discoveries.
Copy schmocky... half.com or Amazon Used should have what she needs as original. Case in point: Fiona Apple's 1996 debut "Tidal" and the absolute perfect soul record of the 70's: Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life" (make sure and get the 2000 Motown remaster).

Fiona's debut is a damn good record. not what I am into right now, but when you can pick it up for 3.58 in "very good"condition (thats a total of $6.00 shipped), you cannot go wrong.

Stevie on the otherhand is a different story altogether. This double album+EP is so intense and loved... you'll be lucky to find it used for less than 20.00. You know what...fcuk it, buy this one new... the harmonics of this "true" live studio recording's mixdown is whats albums SHOULD sound like: compression free and unlimited. Buy this record for your kids if not for you....it goes without saying how much passion can be found here.

Help my poor soul: Any spare Radiohead Beacon Theatre tickets?
God help me. I'll buy you dinner if you can help me.

Finally updated all the new CDs in house. I think I am missing a few.

Spending a good deal of ear time with Badly Drawn Boy's "About a Boy" soundtrack. Typical soundtrack flow that lends itself well to occupational day work. Pick up this record. An amazing songwriter that is in a category of his own.

And I thought it could not get any better than the iPod...
Enough cannot be said about Apple and innovation. Point in case iTunes 4. The feature list is big, but only one will truly change how people listen to music.

Forget about iTune 4's ultra simple to use, The iTunes Music Store (which for the first time makes online music purchases, ad-free, personal, and so damn easy). Forget about iTunes 4's AAC encoding (which purportedly makes smaller and more listenable music files than MP3 @ 128). Forget about iTunes portability compliance with the iPod (where's Ogg Apple? The chip supports it!)...

The real killer function of iTunes 4 is Playlist Sharing
In short, imagine wanting to hear a track on demand, but without the wait, lag, and grey-legalmatters of p2p downloading. Imagine being able ask a friend if they have a particular song, and being able to remotely connect to that friend's playlist and actually not only listen to the song in high quality but to also be able to rewind and fast forward through that track in their playlist! As much as ffwd and rwd seems like standard operating procedure in our CD players and tape decks, its never been the case in remote (streaming) MP3 usage. iTunes 4 allows for all of this and much much more.

I, for one, not only believe that this Playlist Sharing will decrease p2p usage by Mac users (which has been mediocre at best up to this point), but will also decrease illegal music trading across the OS as a whole. No need to log into Acquisition and try to find that new Bonobo single (as you wait in a queue to download it).. Ask a friend if they have it and listen to it off their machine now!

What is even more interesting is that Apple only mentions this feature on their iTunes page in one small paragraph and only mentions it in terms of sharing across the local network via Rendezvous. no mention of WAN sharing is made, but IT IS AVAILABLE! I can see the RIAA and DMCA with their puzzled looks now....

My voice of activism passed away today.
Nina Simone, more than any other black American, has brought me closer to understanding, even if only on a small level, what true anguish was during the 50's and 60's in the US. The first time LA and I heard her singing "Missisippi Goddamn," we both were taken deep into a new spiritual call for action. Her penetrating voice not only sang, but truly screamed emotion to us. Make no mistakes, she sang only what she felt.... and what she felt was a big "fcuk you" to everything that attempted to bring her down.
For this Nina, you are my hero.

Ever got to a solid rock show and hear nor see a thing on stage?
The first time I saw The White Stripes back in April of 2003, I spent more time trying to figure out who the opening act was, rather than paying attention to the music before me (The Datsuns). Problem is with +6'6" tall boys drunk and singing around me short 5'6" self, it became apparent that I would not only not to see Meg, but I would also not be able to hear a damn thing. As big as the space was, sound reflects horribly inside The Roxy (save me from these fcuking photos) and leads to nothing more than an hollow echo when you're crammed between giants.

Hopefully this Sunday will be a different story. We have 4th row balcony seats for their Orpheum gig. The Orpehum is a much more natural sounding venue and more comfortable. Not only will I actually be able to hear what is being played (nice acoustics in the upper level of this old theatre), I will also be able to see the divorcee's from a good vantage point. Hopefully Easter Sunday dinner does not tire the mood. Add a double shot of express. and I should be good to go...

Also, for those in Boston Sat, April 26th, WBCN will rebroadcast this gig in its entirety.

And official word on Field Day Festival is out: http://www.fielddayfest.com.
Line up changes have been made since the initial rumor.... see you all on Sat June 7th.

Festival season is almost upon us whch means boring East Coast big gigs featuring some America's most mass marketed / consumed bands.... with the expection of one very "hyper rumor' of a 2 day East Coast festival...

Field Day Festival looks to be East Coast America's answer to Cali's Coachella or TN's Bonaroo. Let it be known that no official word has been made public on this event, but, some heavily interested players with the help if a quick and dirty wget of the aforementioned website did discover this very telling gif (now removed from the official site but archived for ages to come by yours truly). If this is any indication of coming events, I for one, will be packing my camping gear very soon.

Even Canadian bands have it bad in the USA:
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Questioned as Suspected Terrorists