-Kegan
The nicest gentelman ever.
Yes. It’s true. He called me last week and we chatted about a bunch of stuff because he is coming to the University of Maine. Ch-check it out here dawg.
-Kegan
John Mayer: why can't you just play the blues like you want to?
Sorry everybody whose Facebook status has been something about the new John Mayer album — truth is it’s not very good. His first two albums were okay, and “Continuum” was incredible, making Mayer the only one of the big four bro bands (Dave Matthews, John Mayer, Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz) that I can respect. He’s a bluesman at heart and that’s what I love. So why did he make a crappy pop album instead of continuing in the direction “Continuum” took? Beats me. He even has Taylor “I have no talent and it is a good thing that Kanye interrupted me” Swift sing on a song. At least he has a cover of “Crossroads” that rules — too bad he only had the balls to make it last a little over two minutes so all the fan girls didn’t get too blown away by an actually good song.
Read my full review here.
-Kegan
Restless Groove have been making some waves up here at UMaine this semester so I sat down and talked to them. I’ve only seen them once and it was passively, but they are tight. A really good mix between college bar band you can dance to and actual musicians. Great guys too. Definitely for fans of Primus or The Red Hot Chili Peppers. They’ve got an album coming out soon so get ready, plus they might be coming down to Portland this summer. Read the full feature here.
-Kegan
DJ AM back from the grave in DJ Hero
I don’t have the new ‘DJ Hero” game. However, what I do have is this YouTube channel with all of the music. Needless to say it fucking rules and gives DJs the attention and spotlight they deserve. Even the late DJ AM. Check out my full column on the game’s music here.
-Kegan
Julian Casablancas' solo album "Phrazes for the Young"
If the lead singer of The Strokes is saying anything to the young with “Phrazes for the Young,” it’s that The Strokes are still awesome. His solo album is a departure from traditional Strokes material, but only in the same way each new record The Strokes put out sounds a bit different. Clearly, “First Impressions of Earth” was a much more mature and produced album than the previous two. “Phrazes” just sounds like what The Strokes would if they continued their evolution of sound. All that said, the record is great. Read my FULL REVIEW to the big picture.
-Kegan
Most of you probably don’t read the tech and IP blogs out there. So it seems appropriate for me to point y’all toward something currently making IP wonks go nuts worldwide–and which will, if passed, become a really big, bad deal.
Cory Doctorow over at boingboing was probably the first one on the scene, raising the alarm admirably with an article entitled “Secret copyright treaty leaks. It’s bad. Very bad.” This article gives a decent run-down on the leaked document from the ACTA negotiations, a series of secret meetings in which the world’s top Intellectual Property exporters are whipping up a document to mandate strict IP laws worldwide. You can check out the document itself here–it’s pretty short.
To look at, the 3-page paper doesn’t seem like something Earth-shattering. To the policy nuts who pay attention to this sort of thing, it’s one of the biggest and most cynical power plays imaginable. Here’s a breakdown of a few key points:
- ACTA is being negotiated, in secret, by high-ranking unelected trade representatives from only the world’s highest IP exporters. It’s built to be beneficial to those countries, and screw everyone else (the developing world). Hey, Argentina. Need AIDS medication for dying citizens? Sorry, you can’t produce low-cost generics because Pfizer owns the patent! Et cetera.
- ACTA will require ISPs to be criminally liable for all content on their servers. Think we’re entering a new golden age of user-generated content, like Wikipedia, Youtube and Facebook becoming part of everyday life? Not with ACTA, we’re not. If anyone–anyone!–so much as contacts the ISP hosting your files and claims that you may be somehow violating their copyright, that ISP is now obligated to take down your shit. No judge, no jury, only executioner.
- The bill is being modeled on the American Digital Milennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a bill which most of the more enlightened thinkers in copyright will tell you was a horrible, horrible idea going forward (including William Patry, who literally wrote the $1500 book).
This is just a brief overview. Sure, there are upsides for content producers (like musicians, duh) having their copyrights, and I’m not disagreeing with that. But this innocuous document seeks to impose a draconian system of enforcement upon the new era of communications, and as we move into a more and more networked world, we really can’t have that. Check the links, as they give a much better view of what’s going on than I’ve done here. If you want me to go more in-depth with the theory behind why this idea is a terrible one that will backstab the world, let me know and I’ll do another post on it.
Scary shit, but it’s not passed yet. What should really worry you, though, is that if not for the leak a week ago, we wouldn’t have known a thing about this until it was law–no congressional debates, just the chamber of commerce and corporate wallets.
-Owen
P.S.–check out the comically boring press release.
I don't know what this dog was so stoked about, because it wasn't this album.
My girlfriend has this thing about The Simpsons. With a few notable exceptions, every episode produced past the tenth season fills her with a deep sense of emptiness. She tells me that after watching the fifth and sixth seasons, any of the newer stuff just seems devoid of life, a walking shell of the glorious thing it once was.
You can tell how I feel about Weezer’s new album, Raditude, by how I opened this review.
In the past, Weezer has been known for their stubborn tendency to stick to exclusively the sounds one can produce with a drumset, bass, guitar, and a bunch of amps. I have nothing against bands going synth; the obvious example of Kid A negates that being a problem. So the drum machine which kicks off track 2, “I’m Your Daddy,” though surprising, wasn’t necessarily unwelcome. The trouble is what they’ve done with it.
The short version would be to say that it sounds as though Lady Gaga was the primary influence on Raditude. The longer version would go on to comment on how fucking creepy the subject matter is. Rivers Cuomo is a 39-year old dude, however much like a 20-year-old nerd he may appear. So when the lyrics are clearly appealing to the Disney Channel crowd—squealing thirteen-year-old girls—it gets uncomfortable. Can you imagine lyrics like “Leopard handbag/outta sight!” or “We watched Titanic and it didn’t make us sad” on the Blue Album? (“I’m Your Daddy”—yes, he really could be).
All pedophilia aside, the real problem is that this album is straight up not about anything. Weezer have moved from the alcohol-fueled father issues that powered their early hits to songs like “In The Mall” and the absolutely horrifying “Can’t Stop Partying,” which is essentially a Lil Wayne-infused clod of monkey poop flung at every kid who ever cried to “Only In Dreams.” The production is clean, well-balanced… poppy, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with it. Maybe Weezer is just all out of great songs to write.
Want to know the weird thing? I actually really liked their “Kids”/”Poker Face” cover. So it’s not that they can’t make good music, do the synth-pop thing well or whatever. It’s just that they aren’t bothering to do it, choosing instead to pop out stereotypical, ready-made music and make huge wads of cash.
On the whole: Go out and get the Blue Album instead. Already have it? Get it on vinyl. Or get something else. Just don’t buy this audio turd.
