The Current Music Blog: September 28, 2006 Archive

The Buffering Stream: First Things First

Posted at 6:53 AM on September 28, 2006 by Hans Eisenbeis (1 Comments)

80 percent of Top 40 singles are now downloaded. 100 percent of them suck. (Kidding! We're kidding.) [BBC]

Ross' local club roundup: Hipster jazz at the Turf Club, rock 24-7 at the Hex, laser lightshow at the Fitz, and more. [PiPress]

City Pages picks The Alarmists to click, fudges the top 10, skips out on lunch with us. [CP]

Sasha Frere-Jones asks: Who made it OK to go four or five years between albums? [SFJ]

Ten songs your parents were probably listening to when you were conceived. Uh... if you're in Blender magazine's target market. [Blender]

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Dylan: The Lost Tape (Vol. 124)

Posted at 7:01 AM on September 28, 2006 by Hans Eisenbeis

An old Hibbing High School pal of Bob Dylan's recently found a tape he'd made of the two jamming it Iron Range stylee. Ric Kangas is now selling this tape at auction, a transaction that could put about $100,000 into Kangas' pocket. According to folks who have heard it, the tape holds three songs. On two, Dylan sings pretty like a bird. But on the third, there is a brief glimpse of future greatness:

"He kind of sings like a frog."

Just so, it's doubtful whether Dylan's present record label--or any label, for that matter--will enter the bidding. Which means the recording has about the same value to casual listeners as a pair of gym shorts he might have worn once.

Photo: Hibbing High School Yearbook

Talking Turkey: We'll Hold Your Coats

Posted at 4:00 PM on September 28, 2006 by Hans Eisenbeis

Idolator, the new kid on the block where music blogs live, is doing its best to stir up a fight with Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. (When they're not doing that, they seem to be fretting a lot over how to pronounce their own name. EYE-dough-later? Er...)

Today, Gawker's snotty kid brother with no clear music tastes--other than geezers who are easily mocked--gets finger-pointy with Pitchfork for overhyping the Hold Steady. And while we have to agree that it begins to smell a little fishy (cuz, y'know, the band appears to have bought a month's worth of banner ads, making the site look a bit like a Hold Steady homepage), we're worried about Idolators' obsession.

Nothing attracts media attention like stories about attention-starved media. (Here we go doing it ourselves. Horsefeathers!)

Thanks to the magic of not-very-well-hidden tracking software, we see Idolator is on course to hit around 200,000 visitors this month. With underwhelming numbers like that, they'll have to mention Pitchfork and Rolling Stone more than a mere eleven posts in ten days!