A Moment Of Noise

Matthew Shaer of Slate.com takes a lengthy look at the nascent Pitchfork backlash:

Pitchfork needs to provoke to survive—a strategy that arguably extends to publishing verbose and unreadable writing. (Pitchfork’s founder Ryan) Schreiber has admitted that he trusts writers to “their own style and presentation,” but there’s not much that can excuse the writing in this 2004 review: “The epic ‘Visiting Friends’ gathers in faceless, mutated ghosts (i.e., oddly manipulated vocalizations from the duo) to hover over their dying fire in visage of nothing better than the tops of trees.”

Our good pals at Stomp And Stammer have been celebrating 10 years of existence with a great series of 10 rip-snortin’ rock shows over the past month or so. The whole shebang culminates this Saturday, December 2nd, at The Earl in East Atlanta. Steve Wynn & The Miracle Three, Tim Lee, and Magnapop are the stars of the show, and for my money, no finer line-up could possibly be imagined. Congrats to you, S&S… we’ll see ya at the big show!

Ken Will Morton’s second CD, King Of Coming Around is currently #1 at JoeRockhead.com! Here’s a li’l video of him performing a track from the disc…

“Before The Music Dies” is a documentary about the corporate lame-ification of popular music that is being released virally through a series of independently hosted screenings. Kudos for that. Here’s a promotional blurb from their web site:

Never have so few companies controlled so much of the music played on the radio and for sale at retail stores. At the same time, there are more bands and more ways to discover their music than ever. Music seems to have split in two - the homogenous corporate product that is spoonfed to consumers and the diverse independent music that finds devoted fans online and at clubs across the country.

BEFORE THE MUSIC DIES tells the story of American music at this precarious moment. Filmmakers Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen traveled the country, hoping to understand why mainstream music seems so packaged and repetitive, and whether corporations really had the power to silence musical innovation. The answers they found on this journey–ultimately, the promise that the future holds–are what makes BEFORE THE MUSIC DIES both riveting and exhilarating.

At the heart of BEFORE THE MUSIC DIES are interviews with musicians, industry insiders, music critics, and fans that reveal how music has reached this moment of truth. Featured performances from a truly diverse group of artists, ranging from The Dave Matthews Band and Erykah Badu to Seattle street performers and Mississippi gospel singers show us that great music is always out there… as long as you know where to look. BEFORE THE MUSIC DIES will renew your passion for great music, and inspire you to play an active part in its future.

Wait a minute — Dave Matthews figures prominently among the artists sticking it to the man in this film? Now, I’m certainly no fan of Clear Channel and the like, but friggin’ Dave Matthews?!? Does that dude not personify the “homogenous corporate product” that the filmmakers rail against? OK, I realize that maybe putting a blurb like “Features Live Performances By Dark Meat!” on your movie poster might not sell a lot tickets. But come on… if you’re going to make an effort to save the soul of rock-n-roll, you can do better than Captian Wonder Bread. The dude sells out baseball stadiums fer cryin’ out loud — what’s he complaining about?

Link: Before The Music Dies

David Marchese has posted an interesting interview with Pete Townshend over at Salon. Apparently Pete only does interviews via email now, after a nasty run-in with those Howard Stern losers. Anyway, it’s a good read well worth checking out.

Also, at the risk of committing indie-rock heresy, I have to recommend that you pick up the awesome new Who album, “Endless Wire,” at Best Buy. It is only ten bucks, and their version comes with a bonus live disc and is just a really nice package all the way around. So yeah, whatever… Best Buy is evil… blah blah blah…. but in this particular case I gotta say they’ve got the goods. So go on and get your copy from them.

Just this once.

Jonathan Cohen reports for Billboard.com:

U.K. rock mainstay Paul Weller will celebrate the late January release of a career-spanning boxed set with a three-night stand at New York’s Irving Plaza. The four-disc “Hit Parade” is due Jan. 23 via Yep Roc; Weller will then play Jan. 29-31 at New York’s Irving Plaza, with the shows divided thematically.

Although each show will include music from his entire career, the first night will focus on the music of the Jam, while the second will feature the music of the Style Council. The third gig will cherry-pick from throughout Weller’s discography. Tickets go on sale Friday (Nov. 17); the thematic concept will not be repeated at any additional concerts.

[ Getcha Some Paul Weller @ JoeRockhead.com! ]

[ Thanks Chandler ]

A pair of interesting articles on the seemingly never ending debate:
Stylus Magazine
Slate.com

Taking a cue from Stephen Colbert’s “green screen challenge” — which netted an entry from George Lucas himself — The Decemberists have issued a call for fans to complete a video that they started with green screen footage of the band performing “O Valencia!” from their current CD The Crane Wife. Entries will be judged by the band, and the winner will receive a new iMac Intel Core 2 Duo courtesy of Capitol Records. Plus, the winning video will be premiered on mtvu & mtvU.com. Pretty cool, eh? Click here for more info.

[ Buy ‘The Crane Wife’ @ JoeRockhead.com! ]

Zune, Microsoft’s “iPod killer” (heh…) comes out next Tuesday, and David M. Ewalt over at Forbes.com gives it the smackdown before he even manages to get his grubby mits on one. That might seem a little unfair, but the article is an entertaining read nonetheless, and he does make a few good points. I mean really… who else but Microsoft could ever look at an iPod, and say, “Hmmm… this would be better if only it was bigger. And heavier. And brown!”

I likes me some good cheesburgers, and I likes me some Daniel Johnston. So I guess I have to move to Japan now.

[ Thanks Amanda ]