Eastern Conference Champions
Ameritown
2007 | Suretone
A singular voice can really make a band stand out. With the masses of
droning male voices that overpopulate the airways with no
distinguishing characteristics lately, it's nice to hear a band that
makes you pick your head up and notice. Such is the case with Eastern
Conference Champions' release Ameritown.
Josh
Ostrander's powerful voice is backed by a strong musical presence that
is incredibly well-tuned. The electric tracks on here combine elements
of full on rock, catchy sing-a-longs, and some Brit Pop thrown in for
good measure. Ok, maybe a lot of Brit Pop, but they make it work
creating tracks like the opener "The Box" that borders on anthemic,
throwing waves of music and chorus that builds up the mentality of the
whole album. They surprisingly juxtapose quiet snippets with harsh,
rocking guitars in the grinningly fun to listen to "Yuppy Hipster Fuck"
and follow it up with "To the Wind" that makes your toes tap with
musical goodness.
The piano work on the album though flip flops
between either really helping make a song stand out, like on the track
"Stutter" and “Gucci”, or makes the song sag and sound a bit on the
mediocre side ("Some Sorta Light"). But when they have it right, it
completely overshadows those mishaps. "Rabbit Hole" 's slower, more
melodic piano driven song is reminiscent of a poppier Radiohead, while
the closing track "Hollywood" strips down to a fragile, key heavy
lullaby with guest vocal's by Maura Davis. I'd recommend "Yuppy Hipster
Fuck", "Noah" and "Hollywood".
-Elana Rintala
Denis Kvasov,
the former owner of the highly illegal and devious music downloading
site AllOfMP3.com, may be facing three years in jail and a 15 million
ruble fine. Russian authorities are currently pursuing a
copyright-infringement lawsuit against Kvasov. Read more at Crunchgear.com for the defense (no joke) of why Kvasov shouldn't be prosecuted, and why the site wasn't doing anything illegal until the
U.S. government stepped in. Laugh, chuckle, guffaw, bleeeeeh.
True
story: As a musician I contacted this company personally about two
years ago asking where in the hell they found a copy of my album that
is copyright-protected, licensed and owned by the members of the band
and record label. They responded in a quick email stating, "our rules
don't require us to get your permission or the label's, therefore, we
can sell your music at any rate we choose." I simply replied by telling
him to go f*** himself...in a polite way of course as to keep the arms
race below defcon 2. Unlike the bogus statement made in the quotes
below, I asked specifically to be paid and requested that my band
members and label recieve quarterly statements as well...while being
ripped off.
Basically, one can collect “societies” in Russia and license music to companies without first securing permission from the music's copyright holder or even the artist. It is the artists and/or label's job to ask for the royalties. Ethics anyone?
From Chrunchgear.com:
"A
body known as the Russian Organization for Multimedia and Digital
Systems (ROMS) is one such collecting society. ROMS licensed music to
Allofmp3.com, who in turn gave ROMS a 15% cut of its revenue. Most of
that revenue is paid by ROMS to the copyright holders if, and only if,
they ask to be paid. By asking to be paid, copyright holders must sign
an agreement with ROMS basically acknowledging it as a legitimate
collecting society."
"Another thing to consider is that in
Russia, a CD costs about $3. So Allofmp3.com's prices, to Russians,
were similar to what we Americans pay on iTunes. It just so happened
that Allofmp3.com was able to enjoy a little collateral cash (millions,
actually) from Americans who didn't feel like paying full price for
music. It's not that Allofmp3.com started for the sole purpose of
selling deeply discounted music to Americans -- its main user base was
its own citizens -- it just happened to turn a blind eye to everyone
else from around the world using its service."
Wow.
It's a been a big year for Matt Allen, aka Ice Cream Man. He just hit the 100,000 mark for free ice cream giveaways, has visited nearly every festival in the USA and now he gets pegged by NPR's Day to Day. We couldn't be happier for such a great guy.
A few years back when I started my first music blog I got an email from Matt, not knowing he was "that guy who pulled up in an ice cream truck after local gigs." He politely told me that I needed to get permission for a photo I used that belonged to him. Turns out I had accidently taken an ICM live shot, probably one of Norris' pics, and used it for a feature on my blog. Oops.
Since then we became friends and quickly discovered that we only lived a kick and a push away from each other in Long Beach. What else can I say? The guy has always been supportive and helpful in every way. Learn more about the man, the legend and the frozen treats via the link below.
Listen: Ice Cream Man on National Public Radio
(You need Windows Media Player or Real Player to tap into the audio, who the hell uses Real Player anymore?)
St. Vincent
Marry Me
2007 | Beggars Banquet
Annie Clark, under the moniker St. Vincent, has been getting built up to what I thought might be insurmountable heights over the internet the last couple of months, but Marry Me,
her first full length album, not only climbs the mountain, but gets to
the top and does a little dance. Beautiful is the first word that comes
to mind when trying to describe her music, followed up with whimsical
as she extracts elements of jazz, rock, folk and a little R&B.
There are timeless elements here that show her breadth of talent. Jazzy
pieces such as “What? Me Worry?” are reminiscent of classical Standards
female singers. And tracks like “Human Racing” have a folky- Joni
Mitchell quality to them.
At times though, I feel like I might
be listening to one of the new breeds of female singers by way of the
top 40’s chart when the songs take on a prominent poppier tone. “Paris
is Burning”, for example, shares some similar structures with Jem’s
“24”. “Now, Now”’s use of the child-like backing vocals was a bit too
on the cutesy side for me as well.
Overall, Clark succeeds in
creating a wonderfully accomplished album that is both soothing and
energizing. Her songwriting is charming, quirky, and well worth the
hype.
-Elana Rintala
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