Friday, April 30, 2010

Apples in Stereo (4/27/10)

The Apples in Stereo took us on a time-travel adventure, with costumes and all. These guys are a fun band, mixing things up after all these years (they've been around '92). Their new album is worth a listen, and their live show is worthy of your time, whichever time that may be.

Apples in Stereo (4/27/10)

Horse Feathers (4/26/10)

I wonder if Horse Feathers know the honor they have for being the first concert review on my new blog. Probably not.

Brian Straw was an appropriate opener. Such a great voice. Cloud Nothings were next, and while they aren't so approriate, they are probably one of Cleveland's best bands right now. This is the third time in a short period of time that I've seen them. Each time, I like them better.

Cloud Nothings (4/26/10)

I can't say I've spent much time with Horse Feathers lately, but the songs I've heard so far has been enjoyable. And anytime a beard and flannel wearin' indie folk band comes to play at the Tavern, I'm there. These guys were quite impressive and the lead's voice is just pitch perfect.

Horse Feathers (4/26/10)

Check out their video for Curs in the Weeds here.

RIAA Misses the Point

Great commentary on the beloved Record Store Day

RIAA Missing The Point About Record Store Day

The RIAA's blog is an endless source of fun, and its latest post is touting some figures showing the success of the recent "Record Store Day". Record Store Day is a yearly event started by a group of indie record stores that's grown over the last couple of years, and is marked with some festivities as well as the release of a lot of limited-edition records, CDs and other products available only in hard copy in certain participating shops.

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This year, there were 175 such products, and they helped boost the sales of indie shops. In particular, sales of vinyl albums were up 119 percent over the previous week, and vinyl single sales grew by 529 percent. But this isn't proof that the "we must sell music" mantra is correct; the sales increased not because people were buying music, they increased because they were buying an attractive, scarce physical product, like special vinyl picture discs or limited-edition prints.

Record Store Day is a great example of how the packaging of a product that happens to contain music can drive people to buy it. The value consumers were paying for was in that packaging, not necessarily the content within it. Whether they know it or not, the stores and bands have given customers a reason to buy.

[From RIAA Missing The Point About Record Store Day | Techdirt]

Sweet Music Videos

Cool Stuff...

Shot over the past year while I was traveling. I had never really done any time-lapse before this, so it was fun to learn. Numerous locations include: Prague, Japan, Banff, Utah, Oregon, California, and more... Download Stomacher's Album For Free: stomachermusic.com/download-sentimental-education-free/#container

Ben Meyers is a 17-year-old who spent a month putting together this video that combines improvised percussion—done on the lockers, doors and other various parts of his school—with piano and xylophone melodies. It's all played by him, recorded separately and edited together in the video. Wired's Steve Silberman tells me that young Ben is off to the Berklee College of Music in the fall. Congrats!

[From Music video with a whole school as the instrument - Boing Boing]