CAT | Muzak
So, Radiohead’s new album In Rainbows is coming out soon, and the band is offering the digital download from their website for as much as you want to pay to download it. I’m loving this idea. I download a lot of my music off of Oink, and there have been many times where I’ve said to myself ‘I wish I could send this artist $5′ because I enjoy the album, but I don’t want to pay for the CD because in the end, the artist would only be seeing a fraction of the money. Yes, I know, it’s bad. But with a CD costing upwards of $10-15, having 90+% of the money go to the record companies, entities which I am certainly no fan of, makes it tough to do. So, I want to reward artists for their fantastic work, but paying $15 for something I already have in my posession (their music) with a fraction of the money going to them just doesn’t seem like the best way to do it.
There was a time when I wanted to set up a website that would be sort of a middleman between music fans and artists. You say how much money you want to send to a band, we’d make sure it got to them. That way, if you downloaded an album or copied a CD from a friend, you could show your appreciation directly. Alas, the logistics of such an operation proved to be a barrier and I imagine I would probably get beat up by Record Industry thugs. 
So, new Radiohead album. I’m going to buy it for 5 pounds. If you’re going to download it, how much will you be paying?
I’ve been listening to this album all day long, and I’m fairly certain my world will never be the same.
http://www.thehylia.com/soundtrack-bbl.php
The first song is weird, but once the band joins in, all is well.
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September 16th – Come watch Pilot + other bands for $10
3 Comments | Posted by SockBoy in Muzak
Here’s a big ‘Hellz yeah!’ to the Canadian Music Creators Coalition, a group of Canadian artists that oppose all of the anti-consumer bullshit that the major labels are forcing down our throats. The coalition is made up of some big-name Canadian talent like the Barenaked Ladies, Sarah McLachlan and myself.
I was happy to see that the new Pilate disc wasn’t copy-protected. I wouldn’t have bought it if it was! I immediately ripped it to my computer, threw it on my iPod and have become the happiest of campers. I’m going to bring the disc to the show on Friday to get signed, to go along with my signed Caught by the Window disc. Then, it gets put away forever.
Anyways, I’m just happy to see there is some resistance to the lawsuits, DRM and other label garbage from within the actual music industry. Who knows what effect it will have, but if Jack Layton wants the Barenaked Ladies to Rock for Layton anymore, they’d best avoid voting in favour of any updates to the Copyright Act that look to fuck us over.
I’ve been listening to the new Flaming Lips album and have been enjoying it so much, I thought I’d tell you about it.
It’s really good! I’m still trying to figure out a way to articulate why it’s so good, but while I do that maybe you should download it and listen to it for yourselves. That link is good for 25 downloads, or 7 days, whichever comes first (I’d bet 7 days).
I’m always impressed with the way that the Flaming Lips can manage to integrate melody with chaotic noise, resulting in music that can be completely revolting to one person but wholly engaging to another. I’ve listened to a few Lips albums in the car with Mandie, and she can’t stand them. Often times it results in her grabbing the car wheel and causing violent crashes just to stop the music. Some of their early stuff is borderline unbearable, but starting with ‘Clouds Taste Metallic’ their sound has evolved.
Blah blah ‘The Soft Bulletin’, blah blah blah ‘Yoshimi’ blah blah blah
At War With the Mystics is probably my favourite Flaming Lips album to date. The first listen through was so-so, but since the 2nd or 3rd listen through I’ve been hooked. At times fun and funky, at other times somber, with a little ‘rock-your-face-off’ guitar to mix things up, the album has yet to get old. Sure, there’s a couple of songs that get the old ‘eat it, bitch’, for the most part we’re dealing with grade-a quality shit here.
If I had a seal of approval…
hmmm, what the hell…
I give it the SockWorld Seal of Approval:
Favourite songs:
Pompeii am Gotterdammerung (GREAT!!!!)
The W.A.N.D.
My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion
It Overtakes Me / The Stars are so Big I am so Small Do I Stand a Chance?
If you like Pilate, and you don’t mind visiting MySpace, check out Pilate’s MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/pilatetheband)
The song’s called Barely Listening, and it’s from their upcoming album ‘Sell Control for Life’s Speed’, which is coming out near the end of April. It’s been awhile since their last album came out, so I’m pretty excited!
That’s what the smiley face means… excited. 
