Planet Rock - The Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation

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Liars.

From the Desk of Rusty - Best Albums of 2009

A very young and reckless part of me leapt for joy (ha!) when this was first released. Phish is back, bitches! Backwards Down The Number Line will forever be one of my favorite and most respected Birthday anthems. Which is significant if you consider that it replaced that other time honored, if not also a bit over-tired classic "Happy Birthday." That's like substituting "Cheesecake!" for an applause by hand clapping (non-Phish fans, you may not get this reference. Don't worry about it).

But more seriously, 2009 saw a lot of my favorite bands release new material. Dave Matthews and Ben Harper made a really strong showing with Groogrux and White Lies. Likewise, Pearl Jam reminded the forgetful with Backspacer that they wrote the book on alternative rock. I'm sure Cold War Kids will deliver.

Phish, though, was probably the BIGGEST surprise of 2009. Not that Round Room and Undermind were completely awful. But it was almost painful to see the Funky Four stumble on what was supposed to be their fabled Second (and Third) Coming. Compared to Lawn Boy, Rift and Billy Breathes, Round Room and Undermind were certainly weak sauce. Since Phish has released Joy, however, I'm willing to forget those other two albums ever happened. Welcome back to my CD player, guys. Happy happy oh my friend.

For those of you who've been living under a rock the past year, 2009 was a fairly important year in Copyright (v. Copyleft). Quite plainly, it is almost too easy to just take music (technically speaking of course. I'm sure at least a few Shanty folk find such a practice morally prohibitive). The Pirate Bay trials over in Sweden perhaps served as the climax of the Recording Industry's effort to squash P2P service providers globally. The the Industry got their judgment, but the Pirate Bay continues to operate (maybe more successfully then before) through a series of sleeper cell-like operations. Quite dramatic. Meanwhile, the poor Tenenbaum kid here at home, one of only a few file-sharers that decided to actually defend themselves against a suit measuring in the $100k's, tragically demonstrated that an all out indictment of the Industry still doesn't work. Still, practical solutions have emerged.

However, the Copyleft did score a major victory with the release of Feed the Animals. Composed almost entirely of unlicensed samples from other recording artists, the album functions as an expression of 21st century music consumption; we the listener also give meaning to the madness. Greg Gillis is the new Andy Warhol. It's that old school crap in that new school hit. Makes me wanna party.

Did anybody else pick up on the irony in My Girls? "I don't care for fancy things, or to take part in the freshest wave." It's exactly that type of disengaged commitment to the art that separates the greats. Rare talent meets with technological circumstance. Keep it real, keep it real shout out. Enough said.

I don't think this one really blipped on many radars, though it was on CONSTANT rotation in my car, my stereo and my earbuds. Raph Saadiq does big band like Buble can't. With soul. When it comes to Blues, R & B, Jazz and Soul, very few can top The Way I See It. Also, I'm nearly convinced that any reference to Sinatra made by the title isn't merely imagined. The Way I See It is an instant classic. Light me a smoke so I can sing some jazz.

This may of been the year of pop. Discussing this year's Billboard Top 25 Singles, DJ Earworm points out that "so many of the pop songs...seem to tell the same story: Yea, we've been through a lot, but right now we're gonna celebrate with music and dance, and it's gonna be OK." I can buy into that. Passion Pit certainly did (at least their debut album, though perhaps the same can't be said for their live performances). As a cultural indicator, Manners bottoms out my list of My Favorite Albums in 2009.

And though they didn't make the top 5, I wanted to at least mention a few of the runners up. Blakroc maybe arrived a bit too late to take a spot on the list, though I'm going to go ahead and say it.

Groundbreaking.

Also, Monsters of Folk at least deserves mention, though for some unexplainable reason, I've yet to actually listen to it. OH! and let's not forget The Electric Dream Machine...

Electric Dream Machine - watch more funny videos

I mean, they perform better than Passion Pit, right?

No cigar.

You guys remember when all those kids were getting sued because of stuff they downloaded from networks like Napster? One of the kids ended up pushing back with the help of a supposedly crack legal team, including Charles Nesson from Harvard Law. After several missteps from the defense, the Massachusetts District Court finally issued an opinion in favor the of Recording Industry Association of America (the RIAA, p/k/a The Dark Side). However, the opinion appears to offer some advice to those file sharers looking forward to their bite at the Apple (ha!). One of those "Good News, Bad News" moments for Tenenbaum, I'm sure.

From Sony BMG Music Entertainment et. al. v. Tenenbaum:

"As it made clear previously, the Court was prepared to consider a more expansive fair use argument than other courts have credited -- perhaps one supported by facts specific to this individual and this unique period of rapid technological change. For example, file sharing for the purposes of sampling music prior to purchase or space-shifting to store purchased music more efficiently might offer a compelling case for fair use. Likewise, a defendant who used the new file-sharing networks in the technological interregnum before digital media could be purchased legally, but who later shifted to paid outlets, might also be able to rely on the defense."

Tenenbaum's defense would have none of that and instead went for the more radical, "Aw, come on. Come on! It's not like he was selling it or anything!" defense.

So, good news for folks in the future (but still within that "unique period"). Bad news for Tenenbaum. Meltdown for Tenenbaum.

Dennis Leary - Coffee

Thank you!

The "Blakroc Project"

Blakroc Project from Myrhax on Vimeo.

In stores now.

I'm SOOOO Happy With This Puddle Right Now!!!

Happy Elk Calf Plays in Puddle - Watch more Funny Videos

Meow!

Happy Holidays Shantyfolk!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Couple of neat videos to good music

that last band is awesome I highly recommend grabbing the album!

McDeeshia likes to play guitar

Dark Side w/ Capt BuffnStuff, Ch. 2 - What it's all about

UPDATE: Barbie Girl

The power of advertising.

If you can't beat 'em, exploit 'em. Full story at NYT Media Decoder.

In somewhat related news, BMI has dropped its lawsuit against Grooveshark.

Last Night

We wanted to see...

But they were sold out. So then we thought about seeing...

But it was late and far away. So then we went back and listened to...

And drank...

Nice.

Sufjan

"Chicago" off his 2005 album "Illinois." Fucking awesome.

Have you guys heard this song yet?

My shuffle will never stop loving this song. Having said that, my shuffle knows nothing about his other songs. So first things first. I'm going to listen to his entire debut LP today and see if this guy's got more than just Buriedfed.

Just Buriedfed?! Isn't that enough?!

No. It's not. Not anymore.

I might even read about him in Spin magazine. Did you know he's already recorded his next album with Kyp Malone from TV on the Radio?

Hi.

"Now, you Irish cops are perking up. That's two sound theories in one day, neither of which deal with abnormally sized men. Kind of makes me feel like Riverdancing." Name the movie...

On another note, apparently this dude was tripping in his closet by himself and his buddy decided it would be a good idea to record his conversations with himself. Here is the result.

Live from Axis Mundi - Gogol Bordello

Gogol Bordello releases "Live from Axis Mundi" TODAY! The CD/DVD combo features the following tracks, smacks and video wacks (from Punknews.org):

Disc 1 - CD

1. Track Listing:
2. Ultimate (BBC Sessions)
3. Wonderlust King (BBC Sessions)
4. Mishto (BBC Sessions)
5. Alcohol (BBC Sessions)
6. American Wedding (BBC Sessions)
7. You Gave Up (Roumania) (BBC Sessions)
8. Stivali E Colbacco (Super Taranta Sessions)
9. Troubled Friends (Gypsy Punk Sessions)
10. 60 Revolutions (Demo)
11. Immigrant Punk (Demo)
12. Immigrant Punk (Instrumental)

Disc 2 - DVD
LIVE FROM AXIS MUNDI

1. Ultimate
2. Sally
3. Not A Crime
4. Dogs Were Barking
5. Wonderlust King
6. Mishto
7. Forces of Victory
8. Tribal Connection
9. 60 Revolutions
10. Start Wearing Purple
11. Think Locally, Fuck Globally
12. Punk Rock Parranda
13. Illumination
14. Baro Foro

XTRA TRACKS

• Immigrant Punk
• East Infection
• Avenue B
• Harem In Tuscany

VIDEOS

• Start Wearing Purple
• Not A Crime
• Wonderlust King
• American Wedding

BONUS CHRONICLES

• Creative People Must Be Stopped!
• Sacred Darling
• Purple (The Pizdetz)
• Musika Agressia

I hope you all remember Brendan and I pushing the party gypsy punk the past couple years, including favorites such as Wonderlust King, Ultimate, Alcohol and Tribal Connection. If you didn't catch the bug then, this trailer for the new disc will surely have you foaming at the mouth.

RiP! A Remix Manifesto - Brett Gaylor

This "Trace That Tune!" portion of the film argues the first point (of four) advanced by the A Remix Manifesto, a progressive counterpart the more conservative view expressed in A Writer's Manifesto (Mark Helprin). The first point states:

1. Culture always builds on the past.

Though the film's legal discussions aren't necessarily accurate, RiP!'s social commentary is insightful and well supported (even if it leans a little too left sometimes). Check it out on Hulu.

I use this video to introduce a project of mine. I'm going to do my damndest to collect as many instances of this "Trace That Tune!" as possible. So if you have any instances to offer, please please PLEASE post them up here. Let's see how many are out there, and where they pop up the most.

The Office - New Episode Tonight!

Tonight, "The Meeting." NBC at 8.