River Lethe
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I'm a bit frazzled and depressed about the current state of the music industry. Right now, I don't even feel like listening to music. I feel a death. It's literally akin to the feeling I had the morning after Dime was shot onstage. I'm at a point in my life where I can't justify supporting an industry that continues to take from the people that support it (artists and consumers alike). There are too many other goals and hobbies competing for my money (nonetheless of which is getting my wife through grad school and buying our first home in the near future). I'm not saying I'm giving up music, it's in my blood, but I suggest a change for us all. I am working out the logistics of boycotting the big four music companies and all their subsidiaries. When you look at the lists of labels this includes, it's depressing, because not only are they numerous, but there are also many labels whose artists are among my favorites. It will be a major sacrifice (no pun intended). In the near future, only truly independent artists and labels will receive my dollars. I have yet to decide if I will include indie labels that are merely distributed by the big four, or if I should just find the ones with RIAA ties. As I said, I'm still working on the logistics. If we want to speed up this process of killing off the old regime, we have to make them feel it in their bank accounts (and let me assure you, I filled their coffers aplenty). Vote with your dollars. Vote with a bullet. Fuck 'em.
Well, this year I put much more time into my listening and choices. It was an excellent year in music, and I had a really hard time narrowing albums down to two, top 10 lists (and even more trouble putting them in order, except for my absolute favorites). There is still a ton of stuff I haven't gotten to, but towards the end of the year, I just cut myself off from being able to add new contenders. These are the albums that moved me this year, and quite simply, the albums I probably listened to the most.
METAL :
10. Atreyu - Lead Sails Paper Anchor
9. Machine Head - The Blackening
8. Divine Heresy - Bleed the Fifth
7. Chimaira - Resurrection
6. Baroness - Red
5. Pig Destroyer - Phantom Limb
4. Neurosis - Given to the Rising
3. High on Fire - Death is This Communion
2. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
1. Between the Buried and Me - Colors
EVERYTHING ELSE :
10. The Bravery - The Sun and the Moon
9. Okkervil River - The Stage Names
8. Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
7. Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
6. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
5. Carina Round - Slow Motion Addict
4. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
3. Saul Williams - The Inevitible Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust
2. Bat For Lashes - Fur & Gold
1. The National - Boxer
Ire Works almost beat out Colors for my fave metal album, but Colors wins just because they surprised me (I knew the DEP was going to be phenom). Both are similar in that they don't really stick to one genre or style, and yet have an unmistakable sound. Colors somehow melds the epic songwriting of Queen with death metal, whereas Ire Works is like Faith No More on steroids. Machine Head was a late addition because I had forgotten that it had come out this year. Atreyu is just a fun, anthemic rock record (and they take the place of Avenged Sevenfold this year for throwback, arena metal; A7X meanwhile, put out a toothless and mediocre followup to the excellent City of Evil from 2005).
Other noteworthy metal releases: Every Time I Die - The Big Dirty; A Life Once Lost - Iron Gag; Clutch - From Beale St. to Oblivion; As I Lay Dying - An Ocean Between Us; Devildriver - The Last Kind Words; Evergreen Terrace - Wolfbiker; Apocalyptica - Worlds Collide; Darkest Hour - Deliver Us; Poison the Well - Versions; and Comedy Central's cartoon band from Metalocalpyse, Dethklok - Dethalbum.
Metal's big disappointments of 2007: Down III Over the Under; Demon Hunter - Storm the Gates of Hell and Avenged Sevenfold - self-titled.
The National's Boxer is my album of the year, hands down. It wasn't even close. It's music for the night, loaded with introspection and soaked with alcohol and cigarette smoke. It's a melencholy record, except for the fact that the drums are just too lively to keep it down, and the lyrics and vocal melodies are just too tasty and sing-alongable (yeah, I know I totally made up that word). Bat For Lashes won me over with their video for What's A Girl To Do and a live performance of Trophy (you can find both on Youtube). Saul Williams album, produced by Trent Reznor, refuses to be hip-hop and refuses to be rock, and yet is somehow both (and I'm not talking about the BS from the 90's like P.O.D. or Limp Bizkit either). Read his lyrics and check out some of his other writing and interviews, and you'll be won over by him too. Carina Round could technically be disqualified since her album really came out overseas in 2006, but had distribution problems here in the states until this year. The Bravery is a fun album, and they managed to add new layers to the retro dance-rock of their debut album.
Honorable mentions: The Editors - And End Has a Start (it's ok, this will be on everyone else's list); Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City (and the B-sides, Another Weekend in the City); Kings of Leon - Because of the Times; Jose Gonzales - In Our Nature; Interpol - Our Love to Admire; Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga; Hot Hot Heat - Happiness Ltd.; Grinderman - self-titled; Arcade Fire - Neon Bible; and Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.
Disappointing: PJ Harvey - White Chalk (I love, love, love her, but her voice just doesn't work with these arrangements. Please pick up the guitar again and leave the quiet, piano-driven songs to Tori); Tori Amos - American Doll Posse (I just haven't been able to get into her stuff since From the Choirgirl Hotel); and Elliott Smith - New Moon (can we please stop with the post-humous, unfinished demo track releases? Thank you.)
A few other quick mentions:
BEST EP : Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Is Is
BEST SOUNDTRACKS : Glenn Hansard and Marketa Irglova - Once; Various Artists - I'm Not There; and Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
BEST HARBINGER OF INDUSTRY CHANGE : Radiohead - In Rainbows; Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero, Year Zero remixed and the Limitless Potential; and Saul Williams - The Inevititble Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust. Playing by their own rules, cutting out the middle-MAN and being successful as well as leading the way for many bands to follow. Major labels' days are numbered. Tick tock, tick tock.
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Sadly, there are a few albums on your second list I have yet to even hear this year...but I agree with you on the ones I have heard.
![1194842760[1].jpg](http://images2.mog.com/pictures//0000/0019/4655/pictures/thumbs/115483.jpeg)
My compliments to the chef for cooking up such an extensive list. I admire your stamina (for listening to so many things while keeping your ears fresh) and your discerning tastes (for pointing out what worked sonically).
My thanks to you and 2007 - Looking forward to 2008
The Red Hot Chili Peppers on Monday sued Showtime Networks over the name of the television series “Californication,” which is also the name of the band’s 1999 album and a single on it.
The lawsuit alleges unfair competition, dilution of the value of the name and unjust enrichment, claiming the title is “inherently distinctive, famous ... and immediately associated in the mind of the consumer” with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
“Californication is the signature CD, video and song of the band’s career, and for some TV show to come along and steal our identity is not right,” said the band’s lead singer, Anthony Kiedis, in a statement.
The television series stars David Duchovny as a novelist suffering from writers’ block and a mid-life crisis.
The show features a character named “Dani California,” which is also the title of a Red Hot Chili Peppers song released in 2006, according to the lawsuit.
The suit also names the show’s creator and executive producer, Tom Kapinos, and two production companies, Twilight Time Films and Aggressive Mediocrity, Inc.
A call Monday to an attorney for Showtime was not immediately returned. Attempts to find a listing for Kapinos were not successful.
The suit seeks a permanent injunction barring Showtime and the other defendants from using the title “Californication” for the show, damages and restitution and disgorgement of all profits derived by the defendants.
In July 2007, Kapinos, told reporters at a Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills that he first heard the term in Oregon.
“Apparently in the ‘70s there were bumper stickers that said ‘Don’t Californicate Oregon,’ because Californians were coming up there, and I just through it was a great, great title for this show,” said Kapinos.
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From wikipedia:
Californication is a portmanteau of California and fornication, written about in Time on August 21, 1972 and seen on bumper stickers in the U.S. states of Colorado, Oregon and Idaho.[citation needed] It refers primarily to a "haphazard, mindless development that has already gobbled up most of Southern California",[1] which some attribute to an influx of Californians to other states in the Western U.S.
Oregon
Californication as a pejorative was a culmination of sentiments known in the 1940s, typified by Stewart Holbrook, author and The Oregonian columnist, who campaigned through the fictitious James G. Blaine Society against development and unchecked population growth.2 Similar groups—such as The Miller Society—jokingly promoted measures like building a 16-foot high fence all along Interstate 5 to prevent exiting between California and Washington, expelling non-native Oregon born residents, and instituting a $5000 immigration fee.[3]
In 1965, Eugene, Oregon's first planning commission began to question decades of promotion by chambers of commerce and developers. They referred to a 1959 pro-growth development plan and rampant road building as "All the way to San Jose" —an allusion to freeways decreasing neighborhood livability.[3] Interstate 5 from California was completed the year before. Previously, the main route into Oregon from California was through twisty, two-lane Oregon Route 99.
Governor Tom McCall was interviewed by Terry Drinkwater and appeared on national television January 12, 1971 for his acclaimed conservation experience. Extemporaneously he said, "Come visit us again and again. But for heaven's sake, don't come here to live."[4] Almost overnight, bumper stickers that discouraged Oregon immigration were widely seen: The famous radioactive vapors of the Columbia River will get you!, and Oregonians don't tan; they rust. The banner Don't Californicate Oregon became the symbol of James Cloutier's line of "Oregon Ungreeting Cards", which carried sentiments such as "Tom Lawson McCall, governor, on behalf of the citizens of the great state of Oregon, cordially invites you to visit... Washington or California or Idaho or Nevada or Afghanistan".[4]
Colorado
On November 7, 1972, in a statewide referendum, Colorado voters rejected a bond issue to fund the hosting of the 1976 Winter Olympics. The venue for the games would have been spread over 150 miles, and was widely viewed as license for unbridled development. As part of the opposition to the bond, the slogan Don't Californicate Colorado was coined, appearing on bumper stickers and placards across the state. This rejection by Colorado voters followed a trend in the western states to blame the arrival of Californians for the urban growth problems experienced in states like Colorado, Montana, New Mexico and Oregon.[1]
Also, does this mean Tom Petty can sue them for stealing the melody they used in the song Dani California?
Hello, pot? This is kettle.
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Interesting idea. You may find it will be easier in the future to support bands/indie labels etc, as there has been rumours of more than a few abandoning RIAA because of hteir lack of effectiveness. So far the only thing they have come up with to compete in the digital age is to sue everyone and that's not sitting well with the artists who count on the fans for support.
I hear you (pun intended)... I don't think I could go as far as allowing Music to DIE for me (& I Know it's not the case for you), but I also know that I've given enough of my money to so many of these hideous conglomerates that I will be very choosy when going ahead in the world of consumerism with regards to albums...
To say I am sick & saddened by the bullshit of the music industry would be a humongous/jinormous understatement
I'M DOWN !!