The Current Music Blog: June 20, 2007 Archive

The Stream 06/20/07

Posted at 8:49 AM on June 20, 2007 by Barb Abney

The Tripwire's giving away Lollapalooza tix!

Glastonbury Fest fans getting ready for the weekend.

The National live on NPR.

Today In Music History:
1924 - Chet Atkins was born.
1942 - Brian Wilson was born.
1949 - Lionel Richie was born.
1953 - Cyndi Lauper was born.
1955 - Michael Anthony (Van Halen) was born.
1969 - David Bowie recorded "Space Oddity".
1985 - Marr married Angela Brown.
1987 - Teddy Pendergrass married Karen Still.
1995 - George Jones and Tammy Wynette released a reunion album.

Live On Air Blogging 06/20/07

Posted at 9:16 AM on June 20, 2007 by Barb Abney (3 Comments)

Noon-ish - Tunes On The Telly Tonight
Jesse Malin on Leno
Bright Eyes on Letterman

11:45 a.m. Jarvis Cocker
The Meltdown festival is underway!

11:30 a.m. The Pipettes
They're playing Glastonbury this weekend. They dropped by for an in-studio session earlier this month.

11:10 a.m. Arcade Fire
Check out the most recent editon of our Musicheads Podcast for some lively discussion about this band and others.

10:45 a.m. Belle & Sebastian
Nope, they haven't broken up. While they aren't touring at the moment, you might be interested in catching one of Richard's DJ sets. More info here or here.
Here's the April Fool's site I just mentioned on the air. (it's never to early to plan ahead, right?)

10:30 a.m. Boom Bip
The new EP, Sacchriledge is available now. There are a few California dates on his horizon.
You may also want to check out Neon Neon, his project with Gruff Rhys.

10:15 a.m. BRMC
Have been here twice; first in September, 2005 and most recently, they stopped in last month for an acoustic in-studio session.

10:10 a.m. Song Of The Day Info - Polyphonic Spree
Today on our Song Of The Day Podcast we're featuring Polyphonic Spree with the tune "Running Away" from their latest Fragile Army which was released last Tuesday. They have a full summer tour planned, including a show at The Fineline next month. More dates and info here and here.

9:45 a.m. Thom Yorke/Radiohead
Have you heard/heard about this yet?

9:40 a.m. Dan Deacon
Will be coming to town along with Nomo and Video Hippo, playing The Triple Rock on July, 2nd.
Learn more about him here.

9:30 a.m. Matt Pond PA
The new EP If You Want Blood was released yesterday. The forthcoming full length, Last Light will be out in September. He/they dropped by for an in-studio session last fall.

9:15 a.m. Spoon
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga will be in stores on July 10th. They'll be playing the recently announced Street Scene Fest in California in September. They'll be playing a 2-night stand at First Avenue in October.

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VW + Wilco = Oh No?

Posted at 11:05 AM on June 20, 2007 by Ali Lozoff (10 Comments)

From the Artist Direct Web site:

"You won't see a lot of Volkswagens parked at the next Wilco concert. The alt-country band's fans are protesting Jeff Tweedy's decision to license songs from the band's newly released Sky Blue Sky for a series of six TV ads promoting the car brand. The comments on message boards and blogs have been so hateful and angry that Wilco felt no choice but to respond."

I myself have been pretty conflicted about the Wilco song in the VW ads. Honestly, VW and Apple seem to be able to get away with featuring much-beloved and hipster songs in their ads in a way that many other companies cannot, and the "Pink Moon" VW ad used to drive me to tears (pun intended). Having heard everyone from Iggy Pop to Bruce Springsteen weigh in on what it means to license their work to be used commercially, I have to say I'm much more accepting of it now than I was a few years ago. Maybe that's not a good thing.... did I drink the Kool Aid of commercialism, or am I just happy that when I am inundated with loud commercials at least I like the songs that are blaring at me? (Though I still cringe at the Of Montreal Outback Steakhouse jingles, which don't appear to have any end in sight.)

Thoughts?

"This is a subject we've discussed internally many times over the years regarding movies, TV shows and even the odd advertisement," the band wrote on the official Wilco website. "With the commercial radio airplay route getting more difficult for many bands (including Wilco), we see this as another way to get the music out there. As with most of the above (with the debatable exception of radio) the band gets paid for this. And we feel okay about VWs. Several of us even drive them."

Moreover, the post continued, "Wilco have licensed hundreds of songs to television shows and films worldwide." We think music fans need to seriously calm down. After all, how are musicians supposed to make money and support their families when downloading is a common problem?

-- The ARTISTdirect Staff

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"My 3 Songs" for Wednesday

Posted at 1:51 PM on June 20, 2007 by Steve Seel

Amber Ranzau of Mpls finds some female-energy converging with the warmth of the summer sun in her set today. "These songs are all by strong, independent women," she says; "they can pick me up and make me dance any day. These songs are the essence of my summer!"

1) Regina Spektor, "On the Radio"
2) Imogen Heap, "Loose Ends"
3) Lily Allen, "Everything's Just Wonderful"

By the way, I think it's been a while since we explicitly encouraged you to participate in this business ... so right this way, please.

It's a Bad Brains song.

Posted at 10:28 PM on June 20, 2007 by Mark Wheat

Big Takeover that is!
Jack Rabid is the man behind one of the longest running old school music magazines which started as a fanzine and now has a growing presence on the web. Not sure how easy it is to get it in stores with the demise of Shinders. The Shins are the cover story, there's a big interview with Conor Oberst, more reviews than you will ever be able to read and Jack writes another of his great editorials about the 'state of music'.