sixpence none the richer is good. no seriously, hear me out.

Ok, so you’re pretty cool, you like Kid A, and you don’t like VH1 or top 40 radio.

Chances are, if you are reading this site, you fit this profile, at least roughly. And, if you fit this profile, chances are you hate the song Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer. That’s fair, I respect that (I know matt hates this song).

sixpence none the richer

You shouldn’t write Sixpence off for this song (or their follow-up radio friendly cover). Hear me out. Sixpence None the Richer is a great band. No irony intended. Let me explain:

The band didn’t even plan to include the song Kiss Me on the album. It was a throwaway bubble gum song. The record company thought it would be gold. It was. Can you blame them for that? I can just hear matt saying “Damn right you can blame them!”. Calm down imaginary matt voice. There’s more.

At it’s foundation, Sixpence is Matt Slocum. He is a gifted guitar player, songwriter, and arranger. Their non-single tracks show a smart and interesting U2 influence. About the Kiss Me fiasco, Matt has said: ␄…somedays I feel as if we’ve been pushed to a precipice overhanging the sea of one-hit wonders, and until this next album comes out, who’s to say we won’t all fall in?”.

Matt also “…composed [and recorded] a piece for chamber orchestra two years ago based on C.S. Lewis’ novel The Great Divorce”. How cool is that!?

Want proof that they are worth a listen? It you are not Lars from Metallica, and then search for “This Beautiful Mess” on Schmapster. But first, take 1 minute and 10 seconds of your precious top 40 hating time and watch this video of Leigh Nash (lead singer) and Matt Slocum performing an abbreviated version of The Lines of My Earth.

The Lines of My Earth (performed live by Leigh Nash and Matt Slocum) – Windows Media Player:

 

I like the new Sky song.

I didn’t mean to either. I was flipping around the old television set (I’ve missed 2 months of pop culture, it’s amazing how much things change. All the sitcoms are new, and music video’s are all fresh now).

Anyhow, I guess the little pop band Sky has new members or front men/women. I saw them play thier new single (I think its new anyway) on Open Mike right at the end. Caught the last 2 minutes of it, so I didn’t know it who it was. It was live. BUT. They played it live and it sounded live, and not lipsynced and I was impressed. I later saw the video & recorded/mastered version on Much and learned who it was. I was shocked. I always fancied Sky a tiny boyband. They have talent, I was humbled. I will now give pop bands a marginal benefit of the doubt.

A marginal one.

(I also heard the Moffats say on Much, “We’ve never been a boy band, we’ve always been a rock band”. I’m still skeptical there. We’re not a blog site either.)

 

strange things are afoot at the CBC?

While listening to RadioEscapade on the CBC I heard mention of a few new CBC websites. I was surprised and pleased to find that the CBC has produced three very cool and surprisingly relevant music and arts based websites. Unfortunately they have mistaken cutting-edge technology (Flash in this case) for just-plain-cutting edge as the sites are heavy and require a fast connection. That said, I have a fast connection and some patience when it comes to finding good Canadian music.

NewMusicCanada.com
dedicated to showcasing Canadian bands. a nice ‘if you like [popular international group] then you’ll like [canadian group] feature’ that helps narrow down a list of bands you may not have heard of before. the quality is good but the quantity is lacking. I hope to see more bands up here soon.
 
JustConcerts.com
audio and video of live concerts and live CBC studio sessions. again, not much in terms of quantity, but starting with The Flashing Lights and Starling is pretty impressive.
 
120seconds.com
the self-proclaimed “home of Bite-sized Entertainment”. animation, video, games, etc. a bit of style over substance but worth a visit.

Some unsolicited advice for the CBC:

  • don’t go overboard with the technology. these sites are cool but be weary of style-over-substance. The Flashing Lights live in session is cool enough on it’s own. Just make it easy to get to.
  • upgrade your servers. streaming audio and video is only as good as the servers and bandwidth available. many of the video and audio clips I viewed on the three sites were choppy and dropped often while I can enjoy streaming media in surprisingly good quality from sites like Cnet.com and Launch.com
  • promote these sites. despite the problems I mention here they are good websites and deserve an audience.
 

b l i p s   b l i p s   b l i p s   b l i p s   b l i p s   b l i p s

These may be old news to radiohead fans, but in case you haven’t seen these yet, I encourage you to watch these blips.

They are sort of videos, sort of advertisements, but confusing enough not to get played as either.

They are all good, but I especially like Geese and Yeti. [you’ll need quicktime]

 

how to be a rock star and not suck

pearl jam bootlegs
Pearl Jam, always the peoples band, is releasing 25 double-CDs of 25 full concerts mastered and recorded straight from the soundboard.

Retailing at around $10 each, for about $250 you can own a big chunk of the 2000 Binaural Tour. That may seem like a lot to spend in one go on music but people are paying $60 – $100 a shot for one poor quality bootleg.

While ‘hardcore’ Rage Against the Machine plays the MTV;; Video Music Awards and Billy Pumpkin whines about not selling as many albums as Britney Spears*, Pearl Jam manages to make good music in a universe parallel to that of our pop culture.

Thank you Pearl Jam.

* Gotta give billy some credit for releasing Machina II: Friends and Enemies of Modern Music under the nose of Virgin Records.

 

The Viacom Music Video Awards

I know criticism is easy but that doesn’t mean you can’t be particularly good at it. Jeff Stark, the associate editor of Salon Arts and Entertainment, is very good at it.

Read his article Rock is dead and well at the MTV;; Video Awards at Salon. Sure, criticizing the MTV;; VMAs for being low class and artless is kind of like criticizing *Nsync for pandering to teenage girls, but this is still a fun article.

A representative sample (italics mine):

Durst of Limp Bizkit (do not follow this link) said something about being in “the world’s most hated rock band.” This is the same lame outlaw posturing Metallica specializes in. How unpopular can you be, Fred, if you’re up onstage getting an award from Viacom?