The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper: Line Out: Media

The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper: Line Out: Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/blogs/lineout/ Seattle's #1 Weekly Newspaper. Covering Seattle news, politics, music, film, and arts; plus movie times, club calendars, restaurant listings, forums, blogs, and Savage Love. en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. editor@thestranger.com (The Stranger Editor) webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:15:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss High Browse: The Wire Makes Its Back Issues Available Digitally http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/06/12/high-browse-the-wire-makes-its-back-issues-available-digitally http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/06/12/high-browse-the-wire-makes-its-back-issues-available-digitally Dave Segal <p>Venerable, wide-ranging British underground-music magazine <em><a href="http://www.thewire.co.uk/shop/subscriptions/">The Wire</a></em> has made its back issues dating back to 1982 available to subscribers online and through iPad, iPhone, and Android apps. I sometimes give <em>The Wire</em> grief for its dry, largely humorless writing style, but I've bought the thing every month for almost 20 years and have discovered a lot of fantastic music and learned greatly from reading it. </p> <p>More info on how to access <em>The Wire</em>'s back issues <a href="http://www.thewire.co.uk/shop/subscriptions/">here</a>. Press release after the jump.</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/d13c/1370998793-wirearchmailout-1.jpg" alt="WIREARCHMAILOUT-1.jpg" title="" width="500" height="1090" /></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/06/12/high-browse-the-wire-makes-its-back-issues-available-digitally#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=17004792&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> History Media Teh Internets http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/06/12/high-browse-the-wire-makes-its-back-issues-available-digitally?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=17004792&id=comments 0 High Browse: <i>The Wire</i> Makes Its Back Issues Available Digitally Wed, 12 Jun 2013 08:52:00 -0700 The Stranger Have You Seen the New Mountain Dew Commercial, Featuring Odd Future? http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/30/have-you-seen-the-new-mountain-dew-commercial-featuring-odd-future http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/30/have-you-seen-the-new-mountain-dew-commercial-featuring-odd-future Megan Seling <p><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/30/racist-mountain-dew-commercial-odd-future_n_3186324.html">The Huffington Post</a> just put up the new Mountain Dew commercial featuring Odd Future, racial stereotypes, and violence against women—all in one! </p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wtsGrZgu388?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>You're thirsty now, aren't you.</p> <p>Don't worry, though—it's "to be continued," so I'm sure the next chapter includes a valid explanation for this steaming pile of shit.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/30/have-you-seen-the-new-mountain-dew-commercial-featuring-odd-future#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16636372&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> ??!! Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/30/have-you-seen-the-new-mountain-dew-commercial-featuring-odd-future?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16636372&id=comments 21 Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:50:46 -0700 The Stranger What Hating Amanda Palmer Says About the Internet http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/29/what-hating-amanda-palmer-says-about-the-internet http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/29/what-hating-amanda-palmer-says-about-the-internet Anna Minard <p>Amanda Palmer drives me fucking crazy—she drives a lot of people crazy. She drives our dearest <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/22/you-dont-know-either-amanda-palmer">Megan</a> to <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/22/a-poem-for-reese">crazy poetry</a>. She drives the internet into a churning, frothing rage every few months. We've been talking <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/public-editor/Content?oid=16575392">a lot</a> about her.</p> <p>But every time the internet swells up with a big <strong>rage boner</strong> for someone, I start to wonder—could this by any chance be about something <em>other</em> than the actual person/store/Rollie Eggmaster at which the rage is directed?</p> <p>On Saturday, I got exactly what I wanted in that discussion when Vulture published Nitsuh Abebe's "<a href="http://www.vulture.com/2013/04/the-amanda-palmer-problem.html">The Amanda Palmer Problem</a>":</p> <blockquote><p>I hesitate to even point this stuff out, both because it's been remarked on at length over the past year, and because it amounts, in the aggregate, to <strong>an astonishing glut of policing the way Amanda Palmer feels like making art</strong>. It's not, after all, like she's defrauding or preying on anyone, which is more than can be said for people in countless other corners of the music world. And while the level of attention paid to her business is driven partly by serious debates that she willingly participates in, it seems just as much driven by the fact that many people inevitably find Palmer herself—her manner, music, eyebrows, gender, whatever—fun to hate...</p> <p>You might argue that this is the sort of annoyance from which the world can easily look away; doesn't there come a point where people are pointing and groaning at the "attention-seeking" person because we're actually getting something out of it?</p></blockquote> <p>This article is not an anguished "Leave Amanda alone!" Rather, it's a look at what we can learn from the red-hot reaction we have to certain annoying people on the internet.</p> <p>(Warning: I got so wrapped up in reading this internet-story-about-the-internet on my phone this weekend that I failed to participate in some <strong>really important nature</strong> that was happening around me. So you should make sure you're in a dentist's waiting room or a window-free office or something—not laying in a sun-dappled park somewhere—before <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2013/04/the-amanda-palmer-problem.html">clicking through</a>.)</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/29/what-hating-amanda-palmer-says-about-the-internet#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16624718&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Shit Talk Media Teh Internets http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/29/what-hating-amanda-palmer-says-about-the-internet?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16624718&id=comments 7 Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:29:37 -0700 The Stranger C/O Editions: A Label That Pays You To Listen To Music http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/15/co-editions-a-label-that-pays-you-to-listen-to-music http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/15/co-editions-a-label-that-pays-you-to-listen-to-music Sean Jewell <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:212px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/8eca/1365794671-decoder_ring.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/8eca/1365794671-decoder_ring.jpg" alt="C/O Ed. Secret Decoder Ring" title="C/O Ed. Secret Decoder Ring" width="200" height="205" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Sean Jewell</li><li class="imageCaption">C/O Ed. Secret Decoder Ring</li></ul></div><a href="https://www.careof.co/">Care Of Editions</a> is a German record label with a refreshing take on some stale ideas. They’re purveryors of experimental music, a genre renowned for its <strong>DIY ethic</strong>, but this is the first label I’ve ever heard of that goes so far as to pay<em> you</em> to download their music. Here’s how <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/careof/about/negativemoney.careofeditions.pdf">that crazy idea</a> works: downloads are limited in edition, and are paid for by the sales of the record they're attached to, meaning that people can only download and get paid if others are also purchasing. The only way to “unlock” paid downloads is for consumers to purchase vinyl copies. What’s better, <strong>the more vinyl that is purchased the more a download pays</strong>. It begins with a $1 reward and goes up to $45 dollars for the last lucky downloader, provided of course that the last, the 45th vinyl copy, has also sold. C/O will do this six times between 2012 and 2013, effectively devouring itself and breaking even in the process.</p> <p>As much a work of performance art as it is a distributor of art, founder <strong>Gerhard Schultz </strong>has even gone so far as<strong> literally eliminating the label's website in proportion with record sales</strong> and downloads to emphasize the zeroing out of it all. Downloads are paid in real time, too, the label writes you a check as soon as you download, and the label will keep writing checks until all the vinyl is sold. In this way the record label will always zero its own debt out by meeting exact demand with exact supply. </p> <p><strong>Gerhardt</strong> is in Berlin, but was kind enough to allow me to take part in his label experiment from all the way over here in Seattle. He provided me with a download of two of the records—<strong>Ezra Buchla</strong>’s <em>At The Door</em>, and <strong>Scott Cazan</strong>’s <em>Swallow</em>— and mailed me a vinyl copy of of the artist known as <strong>#/TAU</strong>’s <em>First Dew</em>. Though I didn’t get paid to download, or pay for the vinyl, I wanted to go all the way through the process to see how it worked. I’m assuming I would have made at least a couple dollars, then helped to free up one more download by paying for a record. What I found immediately, aside from added confirmation for my love of experimental music, was that <strong>participation in the process was like having a philosopher for a record label</strong>.</p> <p>C/O Editions first two releases are not European experimental artists but electroacoustic releases from couple of Los Angelinos. Ezra Buchla is a viola player who loops his own strings and synth sounds into a <strong>hurdy-gurdy like drone</strong>, and chants over them unintelligibly to spooky effect. Buchla has reportedly taken for inspiration a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Spicer">Jack Spicer </a>poem, and a 16th century <a href="http://parapsychologyinfo.com/MYSTERIES/Lycanthropy.htm">lycanthropy trial</a> and conviction (damn werewolves, everywhere). His limited vinyl and download are officially out on the lables website<strong>April 12th</strong>, but can be preordered (download or vinyl) now.</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F81888411"></iframe></div></p> <p><a href="http://www.scottcazan.com/">Scott Cazan</a> is familiar with stringed instruments, but rather than play them in any conventional way, he attaches microphones to them, then drums on them, sometimes he’ll even hold microphone between his own teeth, then tap at tablets and laptops and soundboards as <strong>he captures the essence of the wood and flesh of his chosen materials</strong>. His record is three tracks of high pitched frequencies: feedback that sounds like steel cable about to snap under tension, wine glasses ringing, flutes holding notes at hypnotically long intervals, only interrupted by the static, beeping, and voice samples with <strong>the voyeuristic charm of a pocket call</strong>.</p> <p><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F78045514"></iframe></p> <p>The vinyl I received intrigued me. It arrived at my door <strong>4 days after leaving Berlin</strong>. Heavy, and sleeved in a cover that had a picture of American white tailed-bucks on the front and the <strong>C/O r</strong>ecord insignia (A diagram of it’s structure, philosophy, and business model in a single talisman like emblem) on back. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/tau.bdhm?ref=stream"># / TAU</a> is the pseudonym of German artist <strong>Boris Hegenbart </strong>who released <em>First / Dew</em> on CD in 1996, and has re-envisioned here in vinyl. Decidedly<strong> the musique concrète-ist of the bunch</strong>, he's composing with loops, endless chanting mantras, varying only in pitch and method of creation, <strong>but constant, dysrhythmic, and acousmatic</strong>. Under the chants I heard beeps, tambourines, and maracas, ther person with me on this experimental journey heard singing. When I moved around the room, the songs changed slightly because I received them differently. <strong>I felt like I was participating in the music</strong>. <br /><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:212px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/afc8/1365795156-fist_dew.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/afc8/1365795156-fist_dew.jpg" alt="Fist / Dew - Boris Hegenbart" title="Fist / Dew - Boris Hegenbart" width="200" height="175" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Sean Jewell</li><li class="imageCaption">Fist / Dew - Boris Hegenbart</li></ul></div><br />It occurs to me that both the record label, and the musicians are shrugging the status quo. The label forgoes the accepted relationship between artist, label, and customer; and the musicians shrug off the idea of what music is expected to be. When accessed in this way, one gets the feeling of participating in –not just admiring— some work of post-modern art that it responds to imperialism (and perhaps even environmental concerns) by ignoring (neither rejecting or accepting) a capitalist model. By cutting clean at a preordained point <strong>C/O Editions</strong> are making less into more, never engaging in excess, and giving credit to the seemingly infinite —and heretofore worthless—download. In essence, <strong>C/O Editions</strong> begins as nothing, and achieves its full potential when it arrives back at the start. There will be no take over, no mass acceptance, there are no illusions of manifest destiny, no grand plan to get rich, just music, and it’s distribution framework which only ever goes in debt to –and selflessly places attention on—the process, and the artists themselves.</p> <p><strong>C/O Editions </strong>is selling records and putting itself out of business at the same time right now! <a href="https://www.careof.co/#releases">Get over there!</a></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/15/co-editions-a-label-that-pays-you-to-listen-to-music#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16482781&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> New Releases ??!! Media Genius Zzzzzzzzzzzzz http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/15/co-editions-a-label-that-pays-you-to-listen-to-music?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16482781&id=comments 0 C/O Editions: A Label That Pays You To Listen To Music C/O Ed. Secret Decoder Ring Sean Jewell Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:51:11 -0700 The Stranger Raffi Speaks Out About Rape Culture http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/12/raffi-speaks-out-about-rape-culture http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/12/raffi-speaks-out-about-rape-culture Anna Minard <p>Holy lord, I love Raffi. Sometimes, people who you like as a child turn out to be <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/19/showbiz/voice-of-elmo-lawsuit">creeps</a>. And sometimes, they turn out to be really great grown-ups (like Mr. Rogers, who was one of the <a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/29686/how-mister-rogers-saved-vcr">loveliest humans ever</a>). Right now, children's singer-songwriter Raffi is <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2013/04/11/1855581/iconic-childrens-singer-raffi-cavoukian-speaks-up-about-rehtaeh-parsons-suicide-and-rape-culture/">taking to Twitter</a> to lament the awfulness of Canadian teenager <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/10/and-another-teenager-kills-herself-after-being-bullied">Rehtaeh Parsons's recent suicide</a>, and rape culture and slutshaming in general, specifically calling out men to address their own issues and adults to fix some of the systemic fuckups that lead to these tragedies.</p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">"rape culture"? what has society become—who tolerates such hideous violence& insult to human dignity? MEN, Youth—SPEAK OUT!!<br />— Raffi Cavoukian (@Raffi_RC) <a href="https://twitter.com/Raffi_RC/status/322542674848673794">April 12, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">heartbroken by the ongoing prevalence of online violence & shaming. social media enables terrible acts—needs regulating, teaching. <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23tech">#tech</a><br />— Raffi Cavoukian (@Raffi_RC) <a href="https://twitter.com/Raffi_RC/status/322759081368637440">April 12, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p>Turns out he's been involved with kids' and teens' <a href="http://www.redhoodproject.com/what-is-redhood/">safety on the internet</a> for a while, founding a project called <a href="http://www.redhoodproject.com/what-is-redhood/">Red Hood</a>, inspired by <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/10/17/the-man-who-allegedly-bullied-a-15-year-old-girl-who-killed-herself-is-identified-by-anonymous&view=comments">Amanda Todd's suicide</a>, that aims to get social-media platforms to take cyberbullying and young people's safety into account in their design. GO, RAFFI! I love you.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE! </strong>And alithea in comments wins the internet today with this "Baby Beluga" redo:<br /><blockquote>BABY BELUGA DISMANTLING THE PATRIARCHY<br />ENCOURAGE DISCOURSE SO EVERYONE CAN BE FREE<br />WITH MRAS UP ABOVE<br />AND NONINTERSECTIONALISTS BELOW<br />AND A CULTURE OF WHITE MALES CALLING EACH OTHER "BRO".</p></blockquote> <p>I'm laughing my way into the cocktail hour. YAY.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/12/raffi-speaks-out-about-rape-culture#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16481922&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> News Media #1 Fan Teh Internets http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/12/raffi-speaks-out-about-rape-culture?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16481922&id=comments 10 Fri, 12 Apr 2013 10:41:07 -0700 The Stranger "The Jazz Age Is Bullshit," Says the SF Weekly http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/03/12/the-jazz-age-is-bullshit-says-the-sf-weekly http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/03/12/the-jazz-age-is-bullshit-says-the-sf-weekly Anna Minard <p>Some generations are force-fed misremembered vainglory, some are led off the marbled cliffs of excess—let's take a moment to appreciate Manjula Martin's take on John Roderick's <a href="http://www.seattleweekly.com/2013-03-06/music/punk-rock-is-bullshit/full/">punk-failed-me screed</a>, the exceptional parody "<a href="http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2013/03/the_jazz_age_is_bullshit_a_res.php">The Jazz Age Is Bullshit</a>." Take it away, Martin:</p> <blockquote><p><strong>My experience of my youth subculture is indicative of everyone else's experience.</strong><br />I, a heterosexual white male in my 40s, really got what the Jazz Age meant. And jazz definitely meant exactly the same thing to other people as it did to me, especially people of color and women and queer folk and younger generations who came after me. I mean, come on. It's not like jazz provided a viable subculture for youth to turn to at a time when many kids were caught between eras, struggling to figure out what to keep and reject of their parents' worlds while battling the larger economic and geopolitical changes at work in the world, not to mention the common brutality of adolescence.</p> <p>And it's not like flapperism did anything for women, either. I mean, an entire subset of young women doing the things boys did and wearing short hair and showing their gams without fear certainly didn't provide other young women with a vision of life beyond the oppressive gender and sexual norms of the past. I mean, people don't even wear corsets anymore, so what's even the point of the so-called flapper rebellion? </p></blockquote> <p>There's seriousness and silliness and it's a hell of a lot of fun. <a href="http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2013/03/the_jazz_age_is_bullshit_a_res.php">Read the whole thing!</a></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/03/12/the-jazz-age-is-bullshit-says-the-sf-weekly#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16231859&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Mischief History Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/03/12/the-jazz-age-is-bullshit-says-the-sf-weekly?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16231859&id=comments 0 Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:08:43 -0700 The Stranger Seattle Rapper Freddy E. Tweets His Suicide?!? http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/01/08/seattle-rapper-freddy-e-tweets-his-suicide http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/01/08/seattle-rapper-freddy-e-tweets-his-suicide Kelly O <p>I can't believe this is real. Also: FUCK TWITTER. It's heartbreaking that this human couldn't find another human to talk to, in real time, in real life, sans internet. I wish people <a href="http://www.suicide.org/hotlines/washington-suicide-hotlines.html">still used the telephone</a>. Sincere condolences to his loved ones and family.</p> <p><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2258627/Freddy-E-suicide-Last-tweets-hip-hop-artist-shot-dead-failed-relationship.html">More here, on Daily Mail UK, </a> and here <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-207_162-57562568/rapper-freddy-e-tweets-moments-before-apparent-suicide/">on CBS News</a>.</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:487px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/d875/1357677081-b.jpg" alt="b.jpg" title="" width="475" height="573" /></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/01/08/seattle-rapper-freddy-e-tweets-his-suicide#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15698804&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Death Media Teh Internets http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/01/08/seattle-rapper-freddy-e-tweets-his-suicide?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15698804&id=comments 4 Seattle Rapper Freddy E. Tweets His Suicide?!? Tue, 08 Jan 2013 12:30:29 -0800 The Stranger Arthur Magazine to Return http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/11/23/arthur-magazine-to-return http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/11/23/arthur-magazine-to-return Dave Segal <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:352px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/7173/1353692656-arthur31.jpg" alt="arthur31.jpg" title="" width="340" height="408" /></div></p> <p>Via <a href="http://www.wweek.com/portland/blog-29478-outer_worlds_3_the_resurrection_of_arthur_magazine.html">Robert Ham at wweek.com</a>.</p> <p>The great but financially strapped counterculture magazine <em><a href="http://arthurmag.com/">Arthur</a></em> will be returning to print after a four-year hiatus. Published by <a href="https://twitter.com/jaywbabcock">Jay Babcock</a>, the LA-based <em>Arthur</em> existed from 2002-2008 and ran some of the most insightful and provocative music/countercultural/ political journalism in America and helped to raise the profile of "freak folk" throughout the world, aided in part by <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Apples_of_the_Sun_%28album%29">The Golden Apples of the Sun</a></em> compilation it issued in conjunction with <strong>Devendra Banhart</strong> in 2004. </p> <p>Publishing such a non-mainstream zine, while aesthetically satisfying, led to $100,000 of debt. The strain of trying to edit the mag and raise revenue proved too stressful for Babcock, so he ceased operations in 2008. But a move to a location just outside of Joshua Tree, California and a reliable source of income have given him incentive to relaunch <em>Arthur</em>. This is great news for lovers of interestingly written, left-of-center music/art criticism.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/11/23/arthur-magazine-to-return#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15362107&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/11/23/arthur-magazine-to-return?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15362107&id=comments 5 <i>Arthur</i> Magazine to Return Fri, 23 Nov 2012 09:53:11 -0800 The Stranger The Wire Raves About Panabrite http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/08/21/the-wire-raves-about-panabrite http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/08/21/the-wire-raves-about-panabrite Dave Segal <p>It’s always a pleasure to see a local artist you champion break out into international awareness. Such is the case of <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/data-breaker/Content?oid=7874594">Panabrite</a> (aka <strong>Norm Chambers</strong>), a Seattle synthesizer master who’s been accumulating much blog praise over the last year or so; now his work’s earned a rave review in that most stringent of print publications, <em>The Wire</em>. (You have to get the physical copy to read the review; it’s the August issue with <strong>Ariel Pink</strong> on the cover.) </p> <p>In the review, critic <strong>Joseph Stannard</strong> writes:</p> <blockquote><p>[Panabrite’s music bears] some relation to <strong>Jon Brooks</strong>’s work as <strong>The Advisory Circle</strong> and the solo exploration of <strong>Zombi’s Steve Moore</strong>, but percolate[s] its own flavour of nautical wistfulness. Although Chambers’s music is created using vintage analogue synths, he doesn’t trade in anonymous burble. <strong>He composes instrumental pieces with strong, memorable melodies, layering them all with the kind of painstaking craft associated with studio obsessives such as Todd Rundgren, Lindsey Buckingham and Jeff Lynne</strong>… Chambers has released an oceanful of material in a relatively short space of time, and what’s astonishing is that it’s all tremendous.</p></blockquote> <p>What I’ve heard of <em>The Baroque Atrium</em> bears out Stannard’s enthusiasm. The disc contains some of <a href="http://panabritesounds.blogspot.com/">Panabrite</a>’s most accomplished compositions: somber, majestic, beautiful sojourns that propel your mind to vast, unknown realms. This is way beyond your assembly-line drone stuff (much of which I love, don’t get me wrong); Chambers has developed into a world-class sculptor of melodic grandeur. Those sci-fi-film and nature-documentary soundtracking assignments should start pouring in.</p> <p><em>The Baroque Atrium</em> is available through the Australian label <a href="http://www.preservation.com.au/product/panabrite-the-baroque-atrium">Preservation</a>.</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1ZPTJ7YABtM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/08/21/the-wire-raves-about-panabrite#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14521177&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Album Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/08/21/the-wire-raves-about-panabrite?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14521177&id=comments 6 Tue, 21 Aug 2012 10:06:22 -0700 The Stranger The Internet Is Hosting a Really Good Discussion About Music Piracy Right Now http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/06/20/the-internet-is-hosting-a-really-good-discussion-about-music-piracy-right-now http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/06/20/the-internet-is-hosting-a-really-good-discussion-about-music-piracy-right-now Megan Seling <p>It started on Saturday, when Emily White, a 20-year-old NPR intern, admitted that <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2012/06/16/154863819/i-never-owned-any-music-to-begin-with">she's really only ever paid for about 15 CDs in her life</a>, but she has over 11,000 songs in her iTunes. She collected the songs from mix CDs, her college radio station's music library (which she worked at), other people's iTunes, and, yes, some illegal downloading, and she (apparently) doesn't feel too bad about not paying these artists any money for the music she enjoys every day. </p> <p>And boy did the shit fly. </p> <p>Really, White didn't say anything that isn't already true for a whole bunch of other people. She was just given a platform in which to say it. But, even if I initially wanted to roll my eyes and walk away from it, her post has spurred a discussion that should've happened years ago. A number of musicians have come out to defend paying for music, music fans are coming clean about their downloading habits and discussing when it's okay, when it's not okay, and thinking about what it means to share music without artist compensation.</p> <p>The funniest response is from Yo La Tengo. She named them in her post as a band whose music she got for free and yesterday they Tweeted this:</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:467px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/537b/1340155491-screen_shot_2012-06-19_at_6.24.15_pm.png" alt="Screen_shot_2012-06-19_at_6.24.15_PM.png" title="" width="455" height="153" /></div></p> <p>On Monday David Lowery of Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven fame, <a href="http://thetrichordist.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/letter-to-emily-white-at-npr-all-songs-considered/">wrote an open letter to her saying</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>My intention here is not to shame you or embarrass you. I believe you are already on the side of musicians and artists and you are just grappling with how to do the right thing. I applaud your courage in admitting you do not pay for music, and that you do not want to but you are grappling with the moral implications. I just think that you have been presented with some false choices by what sounds a lot like what we hear from the “Free Culture” adherents.</p> <p>I must disagree with the underlying premise of what you have written. Fairly compensating musicians is not a problem that is up to governments and large corporations to solve. It is not up to them to make it “convenient” so you don’t behave unethically. (Besides–is it really that inconvenient to download a song from iTunes into your iPhone? Is it that hard to type in your password? I think millions would disagree.)</p></blockquote> <p>It's very long and unfortunately Lowery, who is rightfully very passionate about the subject, seems to take a lot of bottled up emotion and direct it at White. But, by way of his experience as a musician for over over two decades, he makes a number of very valid, interesting points. You can <a href="http://thetrichordist.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/letter-to-emily-white-at-npr-all-songs-considered/">read it here</a>.</p> <p>Then yesterday Travis Morrison from the Dismemberment Plan, who also works at Huffington Post, responded with a confession-filled response: "<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/travis-morrison/hey-dude-from-cracker-im_b_1610557.html">Hey Dude From Cracker, I'm Sorry, I Stole Music Like These Damned Kids When I Was A Kid.</a>"</p> <p>Morrison's band, the Dismemberment Plan, has actually benefited from file-sharing. After the band broke up in 2003, their music wasn't always readily available on store shelves, yet when they reunited several years later they sold out two nights at Webster Hall in NYC. <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/bring-a-codpiece/Content?oid=7078974">I interviewed him last year</a>, before the band made their way to Seattle, and he recognized that one reason anyone still knew who the the D-Plan was was because of the internet making music so easily accessible: </p> <blockquote><p><strong>Am I wrong in believing that you are having more success and bigger audiences for this reunion tour than you've ever had in the past?</strong></p> <p>That is absolutely true. Obviously, the way that people take in information has changed 100 percent in the last seven years—it's one of the craziest cultural shifts I'll probably ever see in my lifetime. So is it par for the course, with the emphasis on live shows now? Back in the day, it took a year to get your hands on a Minutemen record. Now, it's almost like the band still exists in this weird digital way—it's all there for people to discover. The bottom line is yes, absolutely, but I don't know if other bands have gotten crazy bumps, too. I figure there's a rising tide that's lifting all boats, especially the old crappy boats that were on the beach.</p></blockquote> <p>Local blogger Chris Burlingame also responded to Lowery on <a href="http://www.anotherrainysaturday.com/2012/06/the-intern-did-it-and-other-thoughts-on-david-lowerys-open-letter-to-emily-white/">Another Rainy Saturday</a>: </p> <blockquote><p>I agree with Lowery’s basic thesis that artists deserve to be paid for their art, and certainly hope they’re paid more than they currently are.<a href="http://www.anotherrainysaturday.com/2011/07/i-love-using-spotify-but-should-i/"> I’ve grappled with the issue of Spotify’s low payments</a> and all of the music I have on my hard drive and iPod was obtained legally. I’m opposed to illegal file-sharing and haven’t engaged in it for many, many years. It’s unfortunate, of course, that artists are making less money than they were in years past, but it’s hardly like no one saw that coming. Nor can it be blamed on this poor intern or her generation, which he calls the “Free Culture.” It’s kind of like how the 1980’s were dubbed the “Me Decade.” Camper Van Beethoven put out its first album in 1985.</p></blockquote> <p>I think it's awesome that so many thoughtful posts are being written about this.</p> <p>My opinion on the matter hasn't changed. To assume that the music exists for the taking, so long as you have a nifty device to download it with, is much like walking into a restaurant with a basket of food and demanding a talented chef prepare your dinner, the way you want it, without having to compensate them for it. You brought the food, the restaurant is supplying the kitchen, what's there to pay for? In this case, of course, you have the laptop, and the songs are just floating out there in the internet, so why not just grab it and enjoy? The answer: BECAUSE SOMEONE MADE THAT. Someone took the time to create that song. Not only did they use their talent and time, but they procured the instruments and the recording device and it didn't cost nothing. Even if someone wrote a song on a found guitar in the middle of a park on a tape recorder they borrowed from a neighbor, their time and skill is still worth something and as a fan of that song, as someone who consumes that song, you're obligated to recognize that.</p> <p>But even if White doesn't agree, we shouldn't crucify her for it (although, Yo La Tengo, I'm totally cool with you stealing her bike). She's saying what so many other twenty-somethings (and other-somethings) would say, and her saying it has spurred the crucial next step: <strong>Talking about the problem and figuring out a solution.</strong></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/06/20/the-internet-is-hosting-a-really-good-discussion-about-music-piracy-right-now#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13970307&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Business Media Teh Internets http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/06/20/the-internet-is-hosting-a-really-good-discussion-about-music-piracy-right-now?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13970307&id=comments 96 The Internet Is Hosting a Really Good Discussion About Music Piracy Right Now Wed, 20 Jun 2012 11:00:22 -0700 The Stranger "All I require is the ability to listen to what I want, when I want and how I want it. Is that too much to ask?" http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/06/18/all-i-require-is-the-ability-to-listen-to-what-i-want-when-i-want-and-how-i-want-it-is-that-too-much-to-ask http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/06/18/all-i-require-is-the-ability-to-listen-to-what-i-want-when-i-want-and-how-i-want-it-is-that-too-much-to-ask Megan Seling <p>I'm really old, guys. I can tell because my eyes just kept rolling back further in my head <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2012/06/16/154863819/i-never-owned-any-music-to-begin-with">the more I read this</a> post currently up at the <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/">All Songs Considered blog</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>I never went through the transition from physical to digital. I'm almost 21 and since I first began to love music I've been spoiled by the Internet.</p> <p>I am an avid music-listener, concert-goer, and college radio DJ. My world is music-centric. I've only bought 15 CDs in my lifetime. Yet, my entire iTunes library exceeds 11,000 songs.</p> <p>I wish I could say I miss album packaging and liner notes and rue the decline in album sales the digital world has caused. But the truth is, I've never supported physical music as a consumer. As monumental a role as musicians and albums have played in my life, I've never invested money in them aside from concert tickets and t-shirts.</p> <p>But I didn't illegally download (most) of my songs. A few are, admittedly, from a stint in the 5th grade with the file-sharing program Kazaa. Some are from my family. I've swapped hundreds of mix CDs with friends. My senior prom date took my iPod home once and returned it to me with 15 gigs of Big Star, The Velvet Underground and Yo La Tengo (I owe him one).</p></blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2012/06/16/154863819/i-never-owned-any-music-to-begin-with">Read the whole thing here.</a></p> <p>Then go give some money to the artists you love, who make great music. Lord knows, with people like this out there in the world, they could use it.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/06/18/all-i-require-is-the-ability-to-listen-to-what-i-want-when-i-want-and-how-i-want-it-is-that-too-much-to-ask#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13956720&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/06/18/all-i-require-is-the-ability-to-listen-to-what-i-want-when-i-want-and-how-i-want-it-is-that-too-much-to-ask?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13956720&id=comments 14 Mon, 18 Jun 2012 13:58:46 -0700 The Stranger Shabazz Palaces to Grace Cover of Wax Poetics http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/06/01/shabazz-palaces-to-grace-cover-of-wax-poetics http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/06/01/shabazz-palaces-to-grace-cover-of-wax-poetics Dave Segal <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:469px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/382b/1338589369-i51_shabazz_palaces_grande.jpg" alt="i51_Shabazz_Palaces_grande.jpg" title="" width="457" height="600" /></div></p> <p>Look for Seattle's most adventurous hiphop group, <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-rise-of-afro-eccentricism/Content?oid=1670548">Shabazz Palaces</a>, on the cover of the next <em><a href="http://store.waxpoetics.com/products/issue-51-current-issue">Wax Poetics</a></em> magazine (#51, an all hiphop issue) in finer shops near you (<em><a href="http://www.waxpoetics.com/">WaxPo</a></em> content is rarely made available for free online, in keeping with its pro-analog/pro-trying-to-survive-in-a-hellish-time-for-print-media philosophy).</p> <p><small>Note: There's also an edition with <strong>Nas</strong> and <strong><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/hiphops-most-cunning-linguist/Content?oid=10565857">Danny Brown</a></strong> on the front and back covers. Buy 'em both.</small></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/06/01/shabazz-palaces-to-grace-cover-of-wax-poetics#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13832147&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/06/01/shabazz-palaces-to-grace-cover-of-wax-poetics?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13832147&id=comments 0 Shabazz Palaces to Grace Cover of <i>Wax Poetics</i> Fri, 01 Jun 2012 15:31:28 -0700 The Stranger Here Are the 12 Washington Bands Paste Magazine Says You Should Be Listening To http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/05/29/here-are-the-12-washington-bands-paste-magazine-says-you-should-be-listening-to http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/05/29/here-are-the-12-washington-bands-paste-magazine-says-you-should-be-listening-to Megan Seling <p>If you're already tuned into the local music scene, there's <a href="http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2012/05/1x-washington-bands-you-should-listen-to-now.html">nothing really surprising on this list</a>, but it's worth taking a peek at if for no other reason than to see some talented Washington bands get some deserved national press.</p> <p>Congrats, all! <strong>You're making the Pacific Northwest look real nice.</strong></p> <p>(Also: It's good to see some more great bands and musicians are getting shout outs in the comments, too. Get in there and show 'em what else we've got!)</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/05/29/here-are-the-12-washington-bands-paste-magazine-says-you-should-be-listening-to#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13803171&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/05/29/here-are-the-12-washington-bands-paste-magazine-says-you-should-be-listening-to?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13803171&id=comments 3 Tue, 29 May 2012 13:21:21 -0700 The Stranger I Usually Find It Ridiculous When Musicians Respond to Negative Reviews, But... http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/05/29/i-usually-find-it-ridiculous-when-musicians-respond-to-negative-reviews-but http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/05/29/i-usually-find-it-ridiculous-when-musicians-respond-to-negative-reviews-but Megan Seling <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:212px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/3ff0/1338316809-fotlplotcover.jpeg" alt="FOTLPlotcover.jpeg" title="" width="200" height="200" /></div>...Andy Falkous of Future of the Left just posted a rebuttal to <a href="http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16602-future-of-the-left-the-plot-against-common-sense/">Pitckfork's review of the band's new album</a>, <em>The Plot Against Common Sense</em> (it received a 6.0). It's a pretty hilarious read (as is most of the stuff that comes out of Falkous's brain):</p> <blockquote><p>Dear Mr.Cohen</p> <p>Many things occurred to me on reading your review of the new future of the left record 'the plot against common sense' and I would like to take this opportunity to debate with you some of the points you raise in the piece, although of course by 'debate' I mean 'shut up and listen to me'.</p> <p>According to the opening line of your review I am 'something of a hero to you'. I would almost be flattered by this sentence if it were not for the level of qualification obliquely provided by the use of 'something' but will choose to skip over the ham-fisted arse-kissing of your opening and move on to deal with some of the more pertinent matters of the day.</p> <p>Allow me to efuckidate in an easy-to-understand fuck-by-point manner -</p> <p>As we approach the bottom of your first paragraph you refer to the 'corporate slick production on future of the left's third album' (*1) - a question, my dear friend - would this be the kind of corporate slickness you get through recording an album in 16 days (using the same methods as ever) over a six month period in studio downtime and friend-financed to the tune of £2,000 (whilst we work in temporary jobs and with credit, when available, to support our habit) or instead the kind of corporate-slickness (since, as tone indicates, we’re using the term pejoratively) a person could get from writing for a site which has run the adverts of a variety of corporations, big and small, for many years? I may not be wearing my eyeglasses at this particular moment, but I can definitely see a lovely shiny one sitting atop your review at this very moment.</p> <p>Oh … it has moving pictorials and everything – quite lovely!</p></blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.futureoftheleftv2now.blogspot.com/2012/05/based-on-novel-of-same-name.html">Read the whole thing here.</a> </p> <p>In other Pitckfork news, earlier this month Josh Tillman of Father John Misty took the website to task via Twitter (<a href="https://twitter.com/FATHERJOHNMISTY/status/201934229582516224">over one sentence in an otherwise positive review, weirdly</a>). Pitchfork might as well go eat worms.</p> <p>(Thanks for the tip, Graham!)</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/05/29/i-usually-find-it-ridiculous-when-musicians-respond-to-negative-reviews-but#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13802237&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Sort of News Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/05/29/i-usually-find-it-ridiculous-when-musicians-respond-to-negative-reviews-but?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13802237&id=comments 1 I Usually Find It Ridiculous When Musicians Respond to Negative Reviews, But... Tue, 29 May 2012 11:46:37 -0700 The Stranger Have You Read Josh Eells's Story About Tom Gabel Coming Out as Transgender? You Should. http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/05/15/have-you-read-josh-eellss-story-about-tom-gabel-coming-out-as-transgender-you-should http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/05/15/have-you-read-josh-eellss-story-about-tom-gabel-coming-out-as-transgender-you-should Megan Seling <p>This month's <em>Rolling Stone</em> (with <a href="http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/issues/366x270/db6a10b92875251d141009e4b67ed3c74223dce8.jpg">Peter Dinklage on the cover</a>) is the first <em>Rolling Stone</em> magazine I've bought in probably half a decade. It's smaller and thinner than I remember. It's pricier, too ($4.99? Really?), but it was totally worth the cost just to read (and re-read) Josh Eells's story about Tom Gabel, the lead singer of Against Me!, who <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/tom-gabel-of-against-me-comes-out-as-transgender-20120508">came out as transgender last week</a>. Most people know by now that Gabel is going to start living her life as a woman—she's going to take hormones and eventually change her name to Laura Jane Grace. And while thousands of people have commented on the blog post announcing the news, re-posted it on Twitter and Facebook (and it's been linked to just about every other music-related blog in the world), I hope just as many people read the full story to see the person who's behind the admittedly surprising "Famous Rockstar Is Becoming a Woman" headline.</p> <p>Eells does a wonderful job telling Gabel's story. I feel so many writers could've taken advantage of her generosity and used this opportunity to write a darker, heavier piece. It's the first time a famous musician has come out as transgender, after all, and her transformation still leaves so many unanswered questions. It'd be really juicy to focus on all of the dramatic possibilities—Will the band stay together? Will the marriage last? Will the fans support her?—but Eells's piece is very straight-forward. He celebrates Gabel's bravery and paints everything in a very optimistic light. He recognizes the dark places she's been over the years, of course, but then ultimately focuses on Gabel's strength and the happiness she feels now that she's being true to herself.</p> <p>We get to see what it was like when Gabel told her wife (she didn't know which pronoun to use at first either), her bandmates (they got stoned and decided they needed to work out to protect her), and her mom (who sounds awesome). We get to see a very vulnerable side of Gabel, but even more importantly we see her sense of humor, kindness, and excitement. Instead of being all about the adversity, it's about the triumph. It's really, really inspiring.</p> <p>Basically, it's an amazing story, it's told especially well, and everyone in the world should read it.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/05/15/have-you-read-josh-eellss-story-about-tom-gabel-coming-out-as-transgender-you-should#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13658139&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/05/15/have-you-read-josh-eellss-story-about-tom-gabel-coming-out-as-transgender-you-should?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13658139&id=comments 7 Tue, 15 May 2012 11:59:47 -0700 The Stranger Oh, Synapse! '70s Electronic Magazine Now Archived Online http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/04/05/oh-synapse-70s-electronic-magazine-now-archived-online http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/04/05/oh-synapse-70s-electronic-magazine-now-archived-online Dave Segal <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:312px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/782a/1333643641-synapse3dfgdfg.jpg" alt="synapse3dfgdfg.jpg" title="" width="300" height="390" /></div></p> <p>Via <a href="http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/vintage_issues_of_synapse_the_electronic_magazine_in_their_entirety">Dangerous Minds</a></p> <p>If you love or are curious about electronic music from the pre-digital ’70s, you now have the luxury of reading about some of the genre’s most important figures in <em>Synapse</em> magazine, which has been uploaded to <a href="http://www.cyndustries.com/synapse/intro.cfm">cyndustries.com</a>. Coverage of crucial composers/players like <strong>Robert Moog, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, Terry Riley, Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Dr. Patrick Gleeson, Tangerine Dream, Todd Rundgren, Malcolm Cecil (TONTO’s Expanding Head Band)</strong>, and many other exemplars makes this a fuggin’ treasure trove of analog-synth history and revelatory gear knowledge. </p> <p><a href="http://www.cyndustries.com/synapse/intro.cfm">Check out the entire <em>Synapse</em> archive here.</a></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/04/05/oh-synapse-70s-electronic-magazine-now-archived-online#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13277137&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> History Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/04/05/oh-synapse-70s-electronic-magazine-now-archived-online?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13277137&id=comments 2 Oh, <i>Synapse</i>! '70s Electronic Magazine Now Archived Online Thu, 05 Apr 2012 09:37:32 -0700 The Stranger Paste Magazine's Top-20 Music Writer Musicians List http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/04/03/paste-magazines-top-20-music-writer-musicians-list http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/04/03/paste-magazines-top-20-music-writer-musicians-list Dave Segal <p><em><a href="http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2012/04/20-musicians-who-write-about-music.html">Paste</a></em> has posted a list of what it perceives to be 20 of the most important music writers who are also musicians. <em>The Stranger</em>’s <strong><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/brian-cook/Author?oid=583131&section=Music">Brian Cook</a></strong> (<strong>Russian Circles</strong>) and ex-<em>Stranger</em> writer <strong>Zac Pennington</strong> (<strong>Parenthetical Girls</strong>) made the list, but, sadly, <strong><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/trent-moorman/Author?oid=45200">Trent Moorman</a></strong> (every hiphop group in Seattle) and <strong><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/larry-mizell-jr/Author?oid=18608">Larry Mizell Jr.</a></strong> (<strong>Don’t Talk to the Cops!</strong>) did not. But the latter two are in good company, as <strong><a href="http://www.furious.com/perfect/toop.html">David Toop</a></strong> (<em>Ocean of Sound</em> author and excellent experimental composer) didn’t merit inclusion, either. </p> <p><a href="http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2012/04/20-musicians-who-write-about-music.html">Peruse the whole list here.</a></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/04/03/paste-magazines-top-20-music-writer-musicians-list#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13256275&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Lists Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/04/03/paste-magazines-top-20-music-writer-musicians-list?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13256275&id=comments 3 Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:23:14 -0700 The Stranger Here's an Example of How NOT to Send Your CD to Media Outlets http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/03/19/heres-an-example-of-how-not-to-send-your-cd-to-media-outlets http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/03/19/heres-an-example-of-how-not-to-send-your-cd-to-media-outlets Megan Seling <p>Speaking of <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/radio-killed-your-demo/Content?oid=13018036">sending your CDs to radio stations</a>, just a couple weeks ago I got this package in the mail:</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/8ec3/1332180403-sexycdpackage.jpg" alt="sexyCDpackage.jpg" title="" width="500" height="373" /></div></p> <p>THIS IS WHAT YOU DO NOT DO when sending your album to media outlets.</p> <p>Creativity is appreciated. Kithkin sent me <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/01/18/12-local-bands-im-excited-for-in-2012-kithkin">leaves and rocks</a>. Speaker Speaker once sent me jellybeans. But this motherfucker right here was sealed in eight layers of tape, meaning I had to spend minutes tearing through women doing stupid poses in their panties in order to open the package. <strong>Strike one.</strong> Then, inside, the short note taped to the front of the CD spelled my name wrong. Megen. <strong>Strike two.</strong></p> <p>I like bands with a sense of humor. I like getting weird shit in the mail. But I don't want to have to tear through Victoria's Secret models and clippings from an old <em>GQ</em> in order to hear your music. <strong>Is that really the first impression you want to make?</strong></p> <p>The music wasn't my thing. It sounded like singer/songwriter stuff that would've been used on <em>Dawson's Creek</em> back in the ’90s. <strong>Strike three.</strong> You're out.</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/cefe/1332180784-sexycdpackageback.jpg" alt="sexycdpackageback.jpg" title="" width="500" height="373" /></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/03/19/heres-an-example-of-how-not-to-send-your-cd-to-media-outlets#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13087182&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Media Mailbag http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/03/19/heres-an-example-of-how-not-to-send-your-cd-to-media-outlets?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13087182&id=comments 7 Here's an Example of How NOT to Send Your CD to Media Outlets Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:20:16 -0700 The Stranger DaM-FunK's Prince Mix for Wax Poetics http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/02/15/dam-funks-prince-mix-for-wax-poetics http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/02/15/dam-funks-prince-mix-for-wax-poetics Dave Segal <p>Indispensable crate-digger-centric mag <em><a href="http://www.waxpoetics.com/">Wax Poetics</a></em> celebrates its 50th issue and 10th year in existence with a <a href="http://www.waxpoetics.com/blog/dj-mix/a-prince-mix-by-dam-funk">mix</a> by <a href="http://stonesthrow.com/damfunk">DâM-FunK</a> encompassing 10 <strong>Prince</strong> songs, remixes, and re-edits that haven’t been played to death. Congrats to <em>WaxPo</em> for reaching this milestone in a very difficult publishing environment for print media. </p> <p><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F36508443&show_artwork=true" frameborder="0" ></iframe></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/02/15/dam-funks-prince-mix-for-wax-poetics#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=12619352&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Media Mix http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/02/15/dam-funks-prince-mix-for-wax-poetics?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=12619352&id=comments 0 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:06:50 -0800 The Stranger Re: Today's Music News http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/02/07/re-todays-music-news http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/02/07/re-todays-music-news Anna Minard <p><a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/02/07/todays-music-news-lana-del-rey-puts-the-breaks-on-touring-kid-rocks-made-in-detroit-not-actually-made-in-detroit-new-tennis-album-strea">As Jackson just pointed out:</a> </p> <blockquote><p>"<strong>If You Need Another Reason Not to Watch the Grammys:</strong> How about because <strong>Chris Brown</strong> <a href="http://www.billboard.com/#/news/chris-brown-added-to-grammys-lineup-1006112952.story">will be performing</a> three years after he beat up <strong>Rihanna</strong> en route to the awards show."</p></blockquote> <p>SERIOUSLY, WORLD? Are you for reals? Sometimes you disappoint me <strong>so hard</strong>.</p> <p>Note:</p> <blockquote><p>Rihanna also will perform at the show. She's nominated for four awards, including the top prize—album of the year—for her platinum effort <em>Loud</em>. </p></blockquote> <p>Among the phrases that make me lose my shit, <strong>"Chris Brown comeback"</strong> ranks up there very, very high. And Rihanna continues to impress and amaze me by making <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e82VE8UtW8A&feature=related">hot songs about rough sex</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEhy-RXkNo0">controversially rapist-murdering videos</a> and basically telling anyone who expects her to act a certain way just because she was a victim of domestic violence to fuck right off, please.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/02/07/re-todays-music-news#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=12369410&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Life Legal News ??!! Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/02/07/re-todays-music-news?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=12369410&id=comments 1 Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:46:00 -0800 The Stranger Thongs and Songs http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/02/03/thongs-and-songs http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/02/03/thongs-and-songs Dave Segal <p><em><a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/">Sports Illustrated</a></em>'s annual swimsuit issue drops Feb. 14. This year's edition will carry more than just cheesecake photos: in addition, there will be editorial content on "17 emerging artists across rock, indie and electronic genres," according to <a href="http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/indies/sports-illustrated-to-highlight-indie-bands-1006082352.story">billboard.biz</a>. On top of that, a two-day music fest called <strong>Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Beauties & Beats</strong> will happen at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. <em>Time Out Chicago</em> music editor <strong>Brent Dicrescenzo</strong> helped to choose the featured bands, 10 of which will perform at the festival: <strong>Delta Spirit, Elan Atias & White Elephant, J. Roddy Walston & The Business, Little Hurricane, Maluca, Nick Waterhouse, Vonnegutt, Selebrities, White Denim</strong> and headliners <strong>the Black Lips</strong>. <strong>Bosco Delrey, DJ A-Trak, Hanni El Khatib, Kito & Reija Lee, New Look, Rhye, Toro Y Moi and The newno2</strong> are the other musicians appearing in the feature.</p> <p>"Each artist will be paired with a different model in the magazine and online, with new or previously unreleased tracks from each respective artist," writes Andrew Hampp of billboard.biz. I guess this is what the business heads mean by seeking other "revenue streams." Great job, everybody.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/02/03/thongs-and-songs#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=12265237&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/02/03/thongs-and-songs?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=12265237&id=comments 1 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:22:35 -0800 The Stranger Ad Hoc Rises From Altered Zones' Ashes http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/01/31/ad-hoc-rises-from-altered-zones-ashes http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/01/31/ad-hoc-rises-from-altered-zones-ashes Dave Segal <p>Former editors <strong>Emilie Friedlander</strong> and <strong>Ric Leichtung</strong> from the defunct <em><a href="http://alteredzones.com/">Altered Zones</a></em> blog will be launching a new online publication and quarterly zine made of paper that you can hold in your beefy mitts called <a href="http://adhoc.fm/">Ad Hoc</a>—with help from a <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ricleichtung/ad-hoc">Kickstarter campaign</a>. Their goal is to raise $33,333 (I see what they did there) by March 5. Friedlander and Leichtung describe <em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/adhocfm">Ad Hoc</a></em> thus:</p> <blockquote><p>[A]n underground music and visual culture publication created for and by a community of music lovers with a shared ethos: that of building the world you want to see using the materials at your disposal. A collective of ten tastemaking music blogs from all over the world, Ad Hoc is a daily destination for MP3s, videos, mixes, interviews, artist's writings, and cultural commentary— curated for quality, and with an emphasis on emerging artists and musical movements that best exemplify the new grassroots, Internet-fueled DIY.</p></blockquote> <p>More info about the global consortium of participating blogs (including the mighty <a href="http://mutant-sounds.blogspot.com/">Mutant Sounds</a>) and contributing writers <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ricleichtung/ad-hoc">here</a>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/01/31/ad-hoc-rises-from-altered-zones-ashes#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=12165815&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Media Teh Internets http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/01/31/ad-hoc-rises-from-altered-zones-ashes?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=12165815&id=comments 0 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:14:34 -0800 The Stranger A New Yorker Fact Checker Fact-Checks Drake http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/01/11/a-new-yorker-fact-checker-fact-checks-drake http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/01/11/a-new-yorker-fact-checker-fact-checks-drake Anna Minard <p>NPR's music blog wanted to find out if, in fact, Drake <em>really</em> "run[s] Toronto." So they <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/01/09/144912277/fact-checking-drake-does-toronto-really-love-him?ps=cprs">called up a <em>New Yorker</em> fact checker</a>. <em>New Yorker</em> fact checkers are notorious badasses (and if you have a subscription, you should read <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/02/09/090209fa_fact_mcphee">this piece</a> about them in their own magazine).</p> <p>From the Drake post:<br /><blockquote>The easiest way to fact-check a Whitmanesque claim like "I am Toronto," was to call Dave Bakula, a senior vice-president for entertainment analytics at Nielsen Entertainment, and find out how Drake's sales in Toronto compare to those in other cities. But first, to fill in the picture, I called people and organizations likely to know and understand different aspects of the "schismatic" city.</p></blockquote> <p>Now <em>that</em> is some music writing I can really get behind. FACTS!!!</p> <p>h/t <a href="http://thehairpin.com/2012/01/they-respect-that-and-love-that-so-much">The Hairpin</a>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/01/11/a-new-yorker-fact-checker-fact-checks-drake#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=11617521&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Words Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/01/11/a-new-yorker-fact-checker-fact-checks-drake?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=11617521&id=comments 0 Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:58:57 -0800 The Stranger NME Seeks Reviews Editor http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/01/06/nme-seeks-reviews-editor http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/01/06/nme-seeks-reviews-editor Dave Segal <p>Polish your résumé, blokes and blokettes: <em>NME</em>, "the world's most famous music magazine,"™ is looking for a reviews editor. Qualified candidates must be able to discern the proper pop-star haircuts and facial structures of up-and-coming bands and discuss with breathless excitement and/or smug candor music that sounds a helluva lot like Oasis and Blur (and the Kinks and the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and Amy Winehouse). You need to send your CV and cover letter to <strong>recruitment@ipcmedia.com by Jan. 16</strong>. Yeah, you'd have to move to that lousy backwater village London, but surely the perks are worth the hassle. Oi, mate, <a href="http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/61287">read more about the job opening 'ere</a>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/01/06/nme-seeks-reviews-editor#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=11486285&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Out of Town Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/01/06/nme-seeks-reviews-editor?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=11486285&id=comments 2 Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:04:19 -0800 The Stranger An Exhaustive History of Motorbooty Fanzine http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/01/05/an-exhaustive-history-of-motorbooty-fanzine http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/01/05/an-exhaustive-history-of-motorbooty-fanzine Dave Segal <p><em>The Comics Journal</em>'s <strong>Frank Santoro</strong> has written an <a href="http://www.tcj.com/motorbooty-the-better-magazine/">epic feature</a> on the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based fanzine <em>Motorbooty</em> (named after the 1978 Funkadelic LP <em>Motor Booty Affair</em>). Edited by <strong>Danny Plotkin</strong> and the great visual artist/<strong>Big Chief</strong> guitarist <strong>Mark Dancey</strong>, <em>Motorbooty</em> was a hysterical, sacred-cow-skewering zine that also published one of the best assessments of <strong>Miles Davis</strong>’ electric period and a crucial survey of <strong>Sonny Sharrock</strong>’s career. </p> <p>But sober music analysis ranked low on the <em>Motorbooty</em> staff’s agenda. Instead of printing hundreds of record reviews, like many zines of the ’80s and early '90s did, they found myriad clever ways to deflate punk-rock orthodoxy and underground rock’s critics’ darlings and the customs of the fans who kept those mostly laughable fools solvent. The satire, parody, and snark—written by folks such as <strong>Mike Rubin</strong>, <strong>Barry Henssler</strong> (singer for <strong>the Necros</strong> and <strong>Big Chief</strong>), <strong>Rob Michaels</strong>, and other wiseguys—were consistently A+. Rubin’s article <strong>“When Good Bands Start to Suck”</strong> (reprinted in the feature) remains a classic deconstruction of tragic artistic trajectory.</p> <p>Read the <a href="http://www.tcj.com/motorbooty-the-better-magazine/">piece</a> and then try to find copies of the mag, which probably fetch large prices on eBay. I need to find my issues, although I think they may have been ganked during my 2008 Cali-Seattle moving fiasco. <em>Damn it</em>...</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4Y-s7PC-ue8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/01/05/an-exhaustive-history-of-motorbooty-fanzine#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=11410608&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> History Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/01/05/an-exhaustive-history-of-motorbooty-fanzine?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=11410608&id=comments 3 Thu, 05 Jan 2012 08:32:40 -0800 The Stranger Macklemore Nominated For XXL 2012 Freshman http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/12/19/macklemore-nominated-for-xxl-2012-freshman http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/12/19/macklemore-nominated-for-xxl-2012-freshman Larry Mizell, Jr. <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/G50R6n_wgeA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><br />I have to say this: I don't read rap magazines anymore. Every time I've tried to for the last, oh, 3 years, I just find myself stunned at how stupid everything is, and end up feeling old as the hills and light years out of touch. Even/especially <em>XXL</em>, which I used to enjoy quite a bit, as it used to always seem smart.</p> <p>I think i started hating <em>XXL</em> around the time they started doing their yearly <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XXL_%28magazine%29#Top_10_Freshmen">Top 10 Freshmen cover</a>, which has launched into orbit such legendary careers as Papoose, Ace Hood, Donnis, and Lil Twist. <strong>HOWEVER: my guy Macklemore is up for this cover in 2012 (a prediction I and a few others made this year), and I am very proud of him.</strong> I put my distaste aside and voted for Mack to represent himself and our region on the cover of rap's biggest magazine next year, <a href="http://www.xxlmag.com/microsites/2012.1-freshmen/">and if you feel the same way, you should, too. </a>Or you can just vote for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c3P9bi8HyE">V-Nasty</a>, like I know you want to. Either way, voting is dunski as of January 1st.</p> <p><a href="http://mindofmullybizhausshoppe.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/rstone.jpg">But I still think ol' boy was right.</a></p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/12/19/macklemore-nominated-for-xxl-2012-freshman#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=11159899&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/12/19/macklemore-nominated-for-xxl-2012-freshman?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=11159899&id=comments 0 Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:00:26 -0800 The Stranger Tyler, the Creator: "Talking About Rape and Cutting Bodies Up, It Just Doesn't Interest Me Anymore" http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/11/16/tyler-the-creator-talking-about-rape-and-cutting-bodies-up-it-just-doesnt-interest-me-anymore http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/11/16/tyler-the-creator-talking-about-rape-and-cutting-bodies-up-it-just-doesnt-interest-me-anymore Mike Ramos <p>The December issue of <em>SPIN</em> has a <a href="http://www.spin.com/articles/odd-future-new-undergrounds-loud-family-goes-road">lengthy spread on Odd Future</a> by Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, who <strong>followed around the Wolf Gang for a week of their recent US tour</strong>. The concept of a female journalist spending seven days traveling to four cities with the rowdy bunch of alleged <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3-NcRXK-s4">misogynists</a> is reason enough to give it a read, but there are some candid quotes throughout it that warrant some closer attention.</p> <p>From group "leader" Tyler, the Creator, while talking about his plans for his forthcoming third album <em>Wolf</em>, which is scheduled for a May 2012 release:</p> <blockquote><p>"<strong>Talking about rape and cutting bodies up, it just doesn't interest me anymore</strong>... What interests me is making <strong>weird hippie music</strong> for people to get high to. With <em>Wolf</em>, I'll brag a little bit more, talk about money and buying shit. But not like any other rapper, I'll be a smart-ass about it... <strong>People who want the first album again, I can't do that</strong>. I was 18, broke as fuck. On my third album, I have money and I'm hanging out with my idols. I can't rap about the same shit."</p></blockquote> <p>Money often changes rappers, but they usually deny it. Tyler, the Creator admits that he can't rap like a broke, angsty 18-year-old with an obsession with sex and violence when he has become a successful, well-known 20-year-old with a <strong>book deal, a label behind him, and an Adult Swim show in the works</strong>. Some may be crying "sellout" over those deep-pocketed comments, but it makes sense to me. Tyler's compositions have always had an <strong>underlying psych-jazz feel</strong> in the chord progressions, but it's hard for many to see past his violent lyrics. To put this in the most basic terms, take a song like this:</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3ue0jCfAnpw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>Take out the absurdly creepy lyrics, add live instruments and you get something more like this:</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="284" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/o7PEnj-8NHw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>Interesting, right? Read the rest of the <em>SPIN</em> article <a href="http://www.spin.com/articles/odd-future-new-undergrounds-loud-family-goes-road">here</a>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/11/16/tyler-the-creator-talking-about-rape-and-cutting-bodies-up-it-just-doesnt-interest-me-anymore#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=10733131&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Sort of News Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/11/16/tyler-the-creator-talking-about-rape-and-cutting-bodies-up-it-just-doesnt-interest-me-anymore?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=10733131&id=comments 0 Wed, 16 Nov 2011 12:00:37 -0800 The Stranger Amanda Palmer, Kickstarter and FUCKING JAMES FRANCO http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/11/09/amanda-palmer-kickstarter-and-fucking-james-franco http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/11/09/amanda-palmer-kickstarter-and-fucking-james-franco Bree McKenna <p>Ex-Dresden Dolls cabaret weirdo <strong>Amanda Palmer</strong> and her equally badass novelist husband Neil Gaiman are performing sold out show at the Moore tonight. She obviously has a fan base that loves her enough to be willing to chip in pretty excessively—the <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amandapalmer/an-evening-with-neil-gaiman-and-amanda-palmer?ref=history">Kickstarter</a> fund she and Gaiman used to fund the live recording of their West Coast tour was a wild success, (with <strong>3,873 backers who pledged $133,341</strong>!) far exceeding their $20,000 goal.</p> <p>Does it seem like <strong>everyone has a Kickstarter or Pledgedrive</strong> these days? At any given point I have Facebook invites for bands calling for tour support/record labels funding a pressing/photographers or videographers trying to pay for a shoot...If someone who can sell out the Moore at $22 a ticket is using it as a fundraising tool, does this mean that <strong>soliciting community support</strong> is going to be a part of developing projects in the arts from now on? I've talked to a lot of artists/musicians who think that <strong>this kind of funding is lazy</strong> and doesn't speak well of your product/art (“It's a racket... Whatever happened to just selling your t-shirts and records?”)</p> <p>Conversely, if friends and community want to show their financial support, there isn't anything wrong with accepting free money to do something you believe in. There are a lot of really great projects out there funded by Kickstarter that might not have otherwise existed. For example, what about this project I stumbled upon called "<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1687355799/fucking-james-franco?ref=history">FUCKING JAMES FRANCO,</a>" a rally to raise $2,000 to publish a book of <strong>hypothetical sexual encounters with the actor James Franco</strong> as told by various artists, writers and musicians. Do you really want to live in a world without a book of imaginary sex with Daniel Desario?? I'm not sure I do.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/11/09/amanda-palmer-kickstarter-and-fucking-james-franco#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=10662841&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Art Media Teh Internets http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/11/09/amanda-palmer-kickstarter-and-fucking-james-franco?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=10662841&id=comments 8 Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:06:55 -0800 The Stranger HERE I AM ROCK YOU LIKE A HERMAN CAIN http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/10/26/here-i-am-rock-you-like-a-herman-cain http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/10/26/here-i-am-rock-you-like-a-herman-cain Mike Nipper <p><a href="http://www.katzwinkel.com/blog/rock-you-like-a-herman-cain/">I'm sorry to get all POLITICAL on Line Out!</a> No really, I'm sorry.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/10/26/here-i-am-rock-you-like-a-herman-cain#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=10492329&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Drinking Drugs Celeb Fashion Mischief Crap I'm Still a Virgin Nerd Guilty Pleasure Media Classic #1 Fan Teh Internets Zzzzzzzzzzzzz http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/10/26/here-i-am-rock-you-like-a-herman-cain?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=10492329&id=comments 1 Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:36:02 -0700 The Stranger Caperin': I'm Going To Save You $25. http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/09/19/caperin-im-going-to-save-you-25 http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/09/19/caperin-im-going-to-save-you-25 Derek Erdman <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/09/19/1316466920-headr.jpg" alt="HEADR.jpg" title="" width="500" height="227" /></div></p> <p>Bob Mould was the singer of <strong>Hüsker Dü</strong>. I was so excited to see his book, <em>See A Little Light</em>, on a shelf at Barnes & Noble last week while I was looking for cat calandars. I was with a friend who was paging through <em>Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge</em>, which seemed to be written by Mark Arm, except somebody put a Y in front of his last name. I mentioned that I was going to buy the Bob Mould book and my friend asked why on earth I'd do that. "It's just going to say, 'Oh, I'm gay and it's hard to be gay,'" she added. I shrugged my shoulders because Hüsker Dü meant a lot to me as a lad and I'd already read <em>Hüsker Dü: The Story of the Noise-Pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock</em>. That book was only told from the side of drummer & drug guy Grant Hart and moustache food-master Greg Norton. Bob Mould didn't have anything to do with that book, because he wanted to write his own unbiased book. I bought the book. It was $25. Books are expensive!</p> <p><em>See A Little Light</em> begins with a preface that relates a tale of Bob Mould and his boyfriend at a clothing-optional resort in Palm Springs, California. Bob Mould's boyfriend is rude to some of the hotel staff and Bob Mould and his boyfriend are asked to leave the clothing optional resort. As they are leaving, Bob Mould gets the last laugh in his head when he compares the hotel person's job to his own. The hotel person has to work at the hotel, but Bob Mould is going to play his music in front of 999,999 people at Coachella. <strong>If you're a hotel manager, you're a loser!</strong></p> <p>Bob Mould is from a small town in New York state. His dad was a boozy convenience store owner who yelled at his customers and everybody in the family. He also bought Bob a whole bunch of stuff, guitars, tour vans, trips to wrestling matches in Montreal, <strong>college</strong>, etc. Child Bob Mould obtained a bunch of pop singles in the late 1960s and fell in love with music. Eventually he become wild about the Ramones and his father drove him to a record store an hour away to buy a copy of <em>Leave Home</em>. Bob developed a major drinking problem and decided to leave home himself and went to college in Minnesota. In college Bob studied to be an engineer (toot-toot!) but drank a lot and started taking some speed and got really into the <strong>Suicide Commandos</strong>. Eventually he went into a record store and Grant Hart was working there and then Grant Hart put a closed sign on the door and Bob & Grant went into the basement and smoked Thai Stick.</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YE12uA1S2oU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>Grant knew Greg Norton and they all started playing music together with some other guy but then they kicked the other guy out. Hüsker Dü decided that they wanted to play really fast music, so they took a lot of <strong>amphetamines</strong> and played really fast music. It was around this time that Bob Mould had to get his only job, aside from working in his family's convenience store. He lived at Grant Hart's house and worked some temporary jobs stamping papers or something. Then Hüsker Dü decided to play a bunch of shows and plan a tour. Bob's dad bought them a van and drove it 1,250 miles from New York to St. Paul. Hüsker Dü went on tour and got really good!</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aAqGBNYQ3KA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>Hüsker Dü met a lot of important people while on tour. Hüsker Dü played with Minor Threat in Chicago but since Hüsker Dü liked drugs and Minor Threat didn't, Hüsker Dü put a bunch of aspirin on stage when Minor Threat played. Eventually Hüsker Dü went to Texas and ate at a Mexican restaurant and decided not to pay. Bob Mould then met Rick Rubin who played him <strong>LL Cool J</strong>'s "I Need a Beat" before it was released, but Bob didn't like it. Around this time Bob met a guy named Mike who became his boyfriend. Then Hüsker Dü recorded totally legendary records such as <em>Metal Circus</em> and <strong><em>Zen Arcade</em></strong>. In <em>See A Little Light</em>, Bob Mould makes it clear that <em>Zen Arcade</em> means a lot to everybody but not to him, it was just a bunch of songs on a record. Everybody he was hanging out with was on acid and he felt like he was on acid by being so close to everybody, but really he was drinking boxes of wine every night. While on tour, Greg did all of the driving so Grant and Bob could sleep. Later in the book, Bob Mould says that Greg really didn't do much in Hüsker Dü.</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/K1fBMtaVd9s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>Around this time, Hüsker Dü became really popular with people going to college. SST, the label that had released most of the Hüsker Dü records up to this point, wasn't doing a good enough job printing enough records for people to buy. Bob Mould was mad at this and also mad that Grant Hart talked a lot and sometimes didn't say the right things to the press. Grant Hart also wrote a song about a failed relationship called "2541" but Bob Mould didn't like it because it sounded like a Dream Syndicate song, so he wouldn't let Hüsker Dü play it. Hüsker Dü decided to change record labels because they wanted to buy cars and houses, but then they realized that they hated each other. Bob Mould moved to a farm, Grant Hart moved into heroin, and Greg Norton opened a restaurant.</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Kmk_Fw1GrMk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>In <em>See A Little Light</em>, Bob Mould makes it clear that when he's done with a thing, he never looks back. Once Hüsker Dü was over, he closed the door on it forever. Bob Mould holed up on a farm and didn't really talk to anybody and made some acoustic guitar records. Then he got tired of being alone on a farm and decided to move to New York. He then fell in love with a guy named Kevin who worked at <strong>Kinko's</strong>. They moved to a 4,400 square foot loft in Williamsburg where Bob Mould realized that somebody at his record company signed away his songwriting royalties, so he fired everybody in sight. Then Bob Mould heard <em>Loveless</em> by My Bloody Valentine and decided to start a band called Sugar. It was the early 1990s and alternative rock was really popular. Since Hüsker Dü invented alternative rock and Bob Mould invented Hüsker Dü, Bob Mould decided he should get a bunch of the alternative rock money, so he bought some striped shirts and hired some alternative rock guys. </p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oUf1sObmhr8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>My favorite part of this book is when Bob Mould refers to Sugar as <strong>"one of America's hottest rock bands."</strong> Bob Mould was having difficult times with his boyfriend Kevin, who seemed to like him most when his career was going well. The other members of Hüsker Dü contacted Bob Mould with a lawyer to have some contracts looked at, but Bob Mould was really offended. He was in one of America's hottest rock bands! He didn't have time for that! The other members of Hüsker Dü also wanted to sue SST because they weren't receiving any money, but Bob Mould just gave the members $15,000 instead. He explains in the book that it sounds like he was paying them off, but that he really wasn't. Hüsker Dü also released a live record around this time, but Bob Mould couldn't be bothered to listen to it because he was in one of America's hottest rock bands. Soon Bob Mould and his boyfriend moved to Texas and adopted a dog. Then Bob Mould's boyfriend cheated on him but Bob Mould didn't care. Sugar played some shows in Japan and went out to dinner and ate whale sperm. Upon learning that what he ate was whale sperm, Bob Mould writes, "I thought for a second, and then pretended to be grossed out, seeing as the record company folks were heterosexuals." WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN? Sugar released two LPs and an EP and then broke up the band but <strong>forgot to tell the drummer</strong>. WHOOPS!</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ooznt1SpPow" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>Eventually, Bob Mould and his boyfriend moved back to NYC. Then they planned to move to Atlanta to start a family, but Bob thought Kinko's Kevin smoked too much pot, so they didn't. Then 9/11 happened and Bob Mould got offended that people would try to blow up NYC so they stayed but then they moved to Washington D.C. Bob Mould decided to stop playing rock music so he told everybody that he was never going to play it again. Bob Mould got really into electronic music and made some records that people mostly didn't like. Kevin cheated on Bob again so Bob tried to incorporate the other person into their relationship. That didn't work so they broke up. The last time Bob saw Kevin was in a coffee shop. Kevin tried to talk to Bob but Bob just pretented that he was <strong>Jesus Christ</strong> on a cross (?!). Then Bob embraced being gay and single and had sex with a bunch of people and got into bear culture. Eventually he went to church and really liked it and started going every week. At this point I stopped reading <em>See A Little Light</em> because I just got back from Butte, Montana and I really just wanted to eat Taco Bell in bed.</p> <p>In conclusion, you should buy and read Bob Mould's new book, <em>See A Little Light</em>. This is a really good book review! You're welcome!</p> <p>[ <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/09/19/caperin-im-going-to-save-you-25#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=10024074&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Media http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/09/19/caperin-im-going-to-save-you-25?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=10024074&id=comments 14 Caperin': I'm Going To Save You $25. Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:54:35 -0700 The Stranger