Blog: we also ran | music

I can't be the only one in the world that thinks of the scene at Jackie Treehorn's house when I hear " Conquest " by The White Stripes .

TechCrunch reports that lala.com , WOXY 's knight in shining armor and the hapless object of Bob Lefsetz's bitterest ire , will offer free, on demand streaming music to its members. TC breaks down the numbers and they don't look to be goldmine-ish at first glance. Basically, it's going to cost about $.01 per song to do this legally, and the labels will sign short term deals to reserve their right to renegotiate for higher rates if Mr. Nguyen is able to pull a rabbit out of his hat. This [...]

David Pakman, CEO of eMusic , recently wrote a piece on 17dots.com (eMusic's own blog) that's part manifesto and part elevator speech, but all awesome. Some highlights: "According to data we analyzed from the RIAA and Ipsos, last year, more than 30% fewer people bought music than did in 2000. This is an enormous decrease. Many have offered theories to explain it — piracy, music quality, you name it — but informed people will tell you that a very big reason is that consumers, inundated with well-priced entertainment choices, think most music is too [...]

What you're looking at here is a decently shot live version of "No Emotion," Idlewild 's latest. Of course, an official video has been shot, and it's done and readily available for you to view. Just not on YouTube. Seems Sanctuary would rather keep a tight grip on where you watch the video. WRAONG!!!111eleven Here's how it works: 1) I hear a song. I wonder if it has a video. 2) I search YouTube. 3) I don't find it. [...]

Honestly, is there anybody left in the world that doesn't think the RIAA is evil? It would take decades of charitable donations to starving children and subway ads with little tigers drinking out of baby bottles with bows tied on their heads to even begin to regain the public's good will. More lawsuits? That's not gonna get the job done. Especially ones like this . Satellite radio (and internet radio) have battled every step of the way with these bastards. Because presumably there are nefarious do-badders in the world who [...]

I don't play much Marilyn Manson , or listen to him much in my spare time, but ever since he appeared as one of the most intelligent and measured interviewees in Bowling for Columbine , I've held him in high regard for his perspective on his own art, and its influence on others. So when somebody linked me to this video earlier today, I watched it right away. Seems to me he survived O'Reilly famously.

You may recall my post in November about The Decemberists ' show at the downtown Apple Store here in NYC. If you don't feel like clicking back to be reminded, basically I said that if ever the show were posted to iTunes, the absolute must-have track was the slowed down version of " Song For Myla Goldberg ." Well, the show has now, in all its glory, been posted on iTunes . And the must-have track is still Myla Goldberg . You're welcome.

The interesting one to watch here (obviously) is Wincing the Night Away because it leaked months ago and it seems that everyone I know who cares at all has been listening to and enjoying The Shins ' latest for quite some time. Will they go out and buy it anyway? Somebody should ask The Decemberists . Rob Crow wears many hats. One is pictured on the album cover. But others are of a more metaphorical [...]

"Professor Brothers - Bible History #1" This has almost nothing to do with music other than the fact that Brad Neely , the magnificent mind behind the video above is also the creator of everyone's favorite song about our nation's first president . But it's funny as hell, and well, that's good enough for me. Please don't get fired for watching this with your boss listening. Brad Neely is also the guy who made Wizard People, Dear Readers , the funniest alternate soundtrack for a Harry Potter movie that I've come [...]

Stereogum and GVB are already all over this guy, but nowhere in the musicblogging manual does it state that I can't add my voice to the choir. So here goes: David Vandervelde . The kid definitely has some chops. The word is that he recorded almost every note of these songs by himself, with the same equipment that yielded Yankee Hotel Foxtrot . The sound? Well, it's always better to just hear for yourself and the links above have some tunes, as does his myspace page [...]

A history of near-certain disappointment hangs dark and low like a thundercloud over me whenever I approach the solo project of a musician whose band I love (I'm looking at YOU, Weiland) so when I originally heard about Roddy Woomble 's solo offering My Secret Is My Silence , I took a pass. I love Idlewild too much , I thought. I can't let this get in the way . Well, when I got my first taste of Idlewild's forthcoming release Make A New World [...]

Well, I was down in the dumps before about the whole Arcade Fire thing, but this video picked me right up. The song is pretty fun, and the video is... really fun. This is up there with OK Go in the "let's make our video cheap and fun instead of expensive and artsy-fartsy" category. Her name is Olivia Stone, which I tell you so that you won't have to do any research before you start doodling "Mr. Olivia Stone" (with hearts over the i's instead of dots) on the memo that just came in [...]

tickets.com is on my shit-list. If you're in the vicinity of New York City and a beating heart resides inside your chest, you probably know that Arcade Fire tickets went on sale at 9am this morning for their 5 consecutive shows at Judson Memorial Church. As can be expected, there were many more losers than winners. I know only one person personally who got tickets. Me? I got past the "virtual waiting room" (really just an automatic refresh page that saves neither your place in line, nor your dignity) but then [...]

God, I've been wanting to post this forever. If you've been paying attention you're quite aware of the heaping helpings of praise I'm always sending Endless Mike and The Beagle Club 's way. Maybe you've muttered to yourself, consumed by frustration, "shut up and DANCE , Mikey!" not actually desiring me to cut rug, but simply exclaiming the first thing that came into your head immediately following the awareness of a dull ache that can only be eased by a groundbreakingly good track from The Husky Tenor . Well today, for you, [...]

• Endless Mike and The Beagle Club - Mr. Miller's Opus

Holy crap I want to believe it'll work. Hypebot reports that an in-car hotspot solution will be announced at CES next week. The awesomeness of this cannot be questioned, if it works. Whether it'll be seamless enough to stream internet radio at 60 mph on the BQE (hah...like anyone ever gets above 20 mph on the BQE...) remains to be seen. And in my opinion, $50 a month is too high for the average this guy to pay for vehicular connectivity. But it's sure a step in [...]

It's really amazing to me that a band with a name as cool as this one (apparently the "Margot" part is a nod to The Royal Tenenbaums , FTW) and that sounds like this band sounds ( right in my wheelhouse) can put out a record in early 2006 and I would know nothing about it until very late December. But that's life, I guess. This is the video for the song "Quiet As A Mouse" from the wonderful record The Dust of Retreat .