Two-piece Lightning Bolt have been hailed as one of the best noise rock bands by the hipster community thanks in part to their loud and chaotic music, intense performances done in the pit with the audience, and their gimmicky face masks. Of course hipsters are, like on most topics involving music, horribly wrong. Enter Ruins.
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redditInspiring Rock Music and Community Organizers Alike!
For those of you that have known me, or are friends with me on Facebook and Twitter, you have read how upset I have been over the belittlement towards Barack Obama and his work as a community organizer, as stated at the Republican National Convention last week by two so-called prominent political figures.
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Eat your heart out, Daytrotter. A podcast/radio show in Ybor City, Florida has seen your 4 song EP “sessions” and raised you an impromptu series of performances by some of the best indie bands on tour. The Merry Andrews Show is four music fans who have the audacity and charm to ask touring bands to perform acoustic renditions of their songs in venues that range from cafes to apartments to the side of the street. The spontaneous performances and accompanying interviews afford the viewer an unprecedented and intimate look into their favorite bands.
One thing is for sure- gas prices are drastically affecting touring bands this summer. Especially lesser known acts who spend their summers reaching new fans. The price of gasoline has made many bands cut back on their tours, especially since what was once made at the door at each venue could cover their transportation can no longer even reach the halfway point on their gas gauge.
So being able to afford the gas to put in your touring van is the obvious problem with gas prices. But what is another not so obvious way that gas prices are affecting the music industry?
Vinyl’s Resurfacing Popularity and it’s Problem
In the last few years, vinyl has all of a sudden become the hip thing to own over the almost extinct CD. Thanks to the digital era, CDs are becoming a less sought after commodity. Now that CDs have been in existence for some 15-20 years, people are bored so they either look to the new technologies (digital) or revert and revisit their nostalgic, ancient ways. Or both, as it is in today’s world of music.
By now, you’ve probably heard all about the controversy surrounding the singing of the Chinese National Anthem at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Nine-year-old Lin Miaoke, the cute-as-a-button pig-tailed girl who sang alongside her country’s athletes did not provide the voice that was heard by over 1 billion viewers. Miaoke was actually lip-syncing to the voice of 7-year-old Yang Peiyi, whose face officials deemed “too chubby” and teeth “too crooked” to be televised as a representation of China.
From the most unassuming roots, the self-taught Isaac Hayes, graduated high school against all odds, changed the direction of an entire genre of music, was crowned King in West Africa, appeared in four decades of film, and left a legacy that won’t soon be filled.
Born in the 1940s, Isaac Hayes actually grew up picking cotton in Tennessee. After his parents died, he lived with his grandparents and managed to teach himself, among others, the piano, saxophone and flute. Although he started his career in music in 1960 with Stax Records, working with the likes of Otis Redding, it wasn’t until 1968 that he actually produced an album for himself, dubbed ‘Presenting Isaac Hayes’. Although this album met with dismal reviews and even worse sales, he produced another album the following year. Hot Buttered Soul would be Isaac Hayes’ breakout, featuring songs like Walk On By and Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic. It was this album that introduced Isaac Hayes to the world as we remember him. His songs were rife with instrumental symphonies and featured long and complex monologues. His sonorous bass sometimes sang and sometimes whispered, and he quickly became an icon in the soul movement that would take hold and stay until the advent of hip hop over a decade later.
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Grooveshark tracks the best users so you know who can be trusted to deliver quality content. "
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In the turbulent, choppy waters where P2P networks and copyright law chomp at each other's fins for dominance, there's at least one beast that thinks it has a solution to keep everybody happy. Its name: Grooveshark. "
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Free streaming. Social networking. Music discovery. Oh, and reimbursement for sharing when somebody buys a song that you've uploaded to the collective. "
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If you're looking for a way to grab music from peer-to-peer networks without that nagging feeling that you're depriving a starving artist of her next meal (or a label exec of that Learjet upgrade), Grooveshark might help. "
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Grooveshark: a new music service that I can see a lot of potential in. "