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First let me start off by saying that there should be a word limit to album titles, sometimes they get out of hand. There also needs to be some kind of truth in advertising thing as well, I mean, The Hearts We Broke On The Way To The Show sounds a wee bit pretentious doesn’t it, never mind a bit wordy. But this is really apropos of nothing.

The second thing I want to address is that second or two of foreboding you sometimes get when you look at something and think to yourself that it is just going to go horribly wrong. When I downloaded this album for review I had that sense of foreboding and I wasn’t far off the mark. I have stated that I hate giving bad reviews and it’s true. Bands, generally, work hard and try to do their best to make a product that will appeal to, hopefully, a large segment of the population. Much and all as we like to think that bands are in it for the music, the reality is they would like to see a bit of the green as a reward for their work. So with that in mind, it is with a sad countenance that I greet you today and a heavy heart that I have to write this. Keep in mind that this is just my opinion and doesn’t count for much in the grand scheme of things and that somewhere there are legions of people who are just waiting for a throwback to the New Wave bands of the ’80s to come down the pipe. If there are, and I have to really believe that you are out there somewhere, this band is for you. For me, not so much.

It started out hopefully. Cosmic Dancer, a cover of a T-Rex song, starts with a nice Depeche Mode/Duran Duran vibe but it can’t overcome the lyrical paucity that was a hallmark of a T-Rex song. That being said, The Idle Hands aren’t great lyricists either so Cosmic Dancer fits right in. Loaded, the first single, contains such bon mots as: “All the unrequited emo boys get loaded” and “All the hopped up kids with their junkie friends get loaded.” In fact “…get loaded” seems to follow just about every line, although it is interesting to hear “backpack kids” sung quickly. I couldn’t decide if these songs were wry sardonic social commentary or if they just didn’t have that much to say but figured they should try for deep and insightful. They fail miserably on both counts. Don’t get me wrong, the arrangements are often quite good, with a mature post-punk/pop/New Wave sound that many retro-sounding bands lack but the lyrics definitely come from the shallow end of the pool.

It does get better after this but, for me, only marginally so. The Fall, the third song, is a danceable tune with a catchy refrain. It definitely has more in common with the Brit-pop movement of the late ’80s early ’90s than with anything going on right now. This sound kind of makes it fun but again the weak lyrics left me cold. Liver and Brains is definitely better, a heavier rock sound that supports the (and it pains me to say this because I love me some Jarvis and Cirian Daly just doesn’t have the pipes) Jarvis Cocker-style vocals. Daly, does have an interesting baritone but it is better suited to the songs that play into the lower part of his register, his voice tends to break unflatteringly when he tries to reach the higher notes within his range and a falsetto is just better left to those who can do it. Loaded showcases his voice very well and the talents of the rest of the band as well. This could be the strongest song on the whole album. Again, though, I found the lyrics questionable. Loaded, Married Life and Liver and Brains actually form a Strokes-like triad that I have to admit to finding likeable. By far, much better than the opening trio, Cosmic Dancer, Damage Control, and The Fall, and infinitely preferable to Queen of Air and Darkness (a nod to Berlin-era Bowie), Secretary (a song that could have been written by Snow Patrol), The Sleazer, or Space Thing.

What all this means to me is that, perhaps, a twelve-song album may have been a bit of an ambitious project for this band. They may have been better to just do a six-song EP rather than compiling everything they’ve ever written onto one CD. Certainly, they are talented musicians – the guitars are crunchy enough and the drums and bass are driving enough – and they have been getting a lot of favourable reviews from other blogs but I really had a hard time listening to this. I tried three or four times before I could get past the second song. This really, really isn’t my kind of music at all. They are catchy pop tunes, to be sure, (One reviewer who shall remain nameless compared them to the Jonas Brothers if the Jonas Brothers were an actual power trio. I find this a bit harsh, to say the least. I mean to compare them to the Jonas Brothers?!? That’s just cruel.), but I just didn’t like it.

The bands members are listed on their MySpace page as: Cirian and his brother, Criostoir (both Irish ex-pats) and Emma, Nick and Eileen (from Minneapolis). You can buy The Hearts We Broke On The Way To The Show on iTunes , Amazon and emusic. Anyway, give the following tracks a listen, they may be just your cuppa after all if the adage that somewhere out there the perfect partner is waiting for you is true then somewhere out there is an audience just waiting for this band.

The Idle Hands – Loaded
The Idle Hands – Sunshine on the Tenements
The Idle Hands – Liver and Brains

I think this is a first for me. I have heard, and seen, many, many, many different musical instruments in performance but this may be the first time I’ve heard a musical saw being used. Will Hanson uses it liberally in this collection of nine, um, unique (?) songs. I’m hesitant to say unique because I’m sure somewhere someone else has written a song about a serial killer who dismembers his female victims in an attempt to create the perfect girlfriend (Girlfriend Materials) but I can’t think of one off hand. Hanson can only be called one-of-a-kind, a singer/songwriter who sounds like he would be more suited to writing songs for Marilyn Manson if Manson was a folk singer. That being said, it’s really hard to pigeon-hole Hanson into neat little categories, I’ve read him described as a Goth/folk/horror/indie songwriter but I don’t think that’s fair. I mean, I don’t think Goth is a term I would ever use to describe these songs. They have dark themes, at least some do, but the arrangements aren’t dark, in fact songs like This New World, We Don’t Live In Sitcoms, Black Lungs or the instrumental Home have more in common with Death Cab For Cutie, or traditional folk than with anything from the Goth world.

The album opener, Home, is steeped in traditional folk with what can only be described as his signature sound of the musical saw and glockenspiel filling the background. It is both poignant and eerie, the saw adding an almost theremin sounding echo juxtaposed with the innocence and almost childlike quality of the glockenspiel. Watching You Fade starts off sweetly enough with an accordion introducing the lyrics, “Forgotten what you look like, I’ve forgotten how you sound” but don’t let this sweet sorrow fool you because by the end of the song he’s ranting “That group that you call friends, yeah, and I hate them with my life, my hate for them transcends (can’t hear the next word), so hurry give me a knife”. The aforementioned, Girlfriend Materials, isn’t as macabre as you would think, it really is a love song to his reassembled amore, Phoebe (“Phoebe, do you hear me, Phoebe, do you hear me call?”). “Timeball” reminded me, somewhat, of the acoustic version of “Polly” by Nirvana although I don’t remember hearing Kurt Cobain singing about “a life that you once knew as 20 tons of goo”. And the final song, Black Lungs is a soothing night-cap to the scary movie that is this album, or so you would think, but Hanson doesn’t let you off the hook that easy. Even though it is like a lullaby, the lyrics deal with the break-up of his relationship and the freedom he feels. “…so leave now, to your house, and think of, what you’ve lost, not much, to speak of, I’m (back from), of trapness, now I’m breathing”.

I really liked this CD, it’s been getting a lot of play by all family members. I like the way Hanson uses the musical saw and glockenspiel and even harmonica to set an eerie atmosphere that carries throughout the album, linking the songs into a cohesive B-horror movie whole. It’s nice to have an album where the flow from song to song is consistent and almost seamless. A lot of albums now-a-days just seem to jump from single to single with a bunch of filler in between. These songs are all tied together and work individually as well as a whole. And even though the subject matter is more suited to the Gothic Archies than to Bob Dylan, it’s nice to hear traditional folk reworked in untraditional ways. And, really, how can you not like a glockenspiel? I mean, really. The only complaint I have is that, at times, Hanson’s accent makes it difficult to understand some words, that and the fact that the orchestration sometimes gets in the way. Otherwise, this is a really good, solid album.

You can find Will Hanson on MySpace, Last.FM, iTunes, or you can buy selected tracks from Indiestore.

Will Hanson – Girlfriend Materials
Will Hanson – Black Lungs
Will Hanson – We Don’t Live In Sitcoms

Bagheera is a trio consisting of Tom Cowcher, Sam Twidale and Jacob Silkin and are a product of the always active Liverpool music scene. This is a young, as yet unsigned, band with only the self-produced Hollow Home EP under their belts but they have been getting a fair amount of positive attention from fellow bloggers and the BBC Radio 6’s Tom Robinson. They haven’t been courting labels as of yet, hoping to build their repertoire before approaching them. Smart thing to do since they are all still students at the University of Liverpool.

The first thing you will note about the four song Hollow Home EP is the Beach Boy-like harmonies (all the guys sing) on the first song. This is coupled with a Grizzly Bear-like sensibility that takes these songs into the realm of soaring melodies that are layered with multiple loops and samples and are accompanied by richly textured vocals. These guys sound like they have a lot more experience than they do. The sound is complex without being crowded, and is both fresh and classic at the same time. I loved the aggressive drumming on the first song, Horizons Lined With Scars, however the vocals left me a bit confused and underwhelmed. The intro has a gorgeous guitar line that loses it’s impact when the undynamic vocals take over. I wish this was an instrumental. And that is the problem I have with these songs, the vocals let the music down. I couldn’t decide if it was because, to me, they sounded slightly flat.

Circadian Clock has a similar Beach Boy harmony and another gorgeous (this time acoustic) guitar line, very reminiscent of a flamenco style. The choral-like harmonies are the best thing in this song, they really are wonderful but again there is something slightly off, whether it’s the recording itself or the way it was mixed I’m not sure. I again felt underwhelmed, like this song wanted to be so much more but was stifled before it reached its full potential. In fact, you could say that about this whole EP. You can’t fault the musicianship, they are a talented trio, the guitar is bright with nice tone and attack, the drums sometimes fail the song such as in Skeleton Leaf where at times they are almost non-existent but on Horizons Line With Scars they make the song, and the vocal harmonies are really well executed. Still, I just couldn’t get into this group of songs. The last song Old Machine is another complex arrangement of loops and overdubs. And that could be the problem for me, I just can’t imagine sitting and listening to eight songs of harmonies and atmospheric overdubs. Just not my kind of music, I guess.

The guys from Bagheera are still in school but are working on perfecting a live show and recording new material for a second EP. Once they graduate they will be concentrating on the band full time and perfecting their repertoire. This band has a lot of promise, to be sure, and hopefully with a lot more experience under their belts the songs will be much more fully realized, right now they just fall short of being truly great tunes. By the way, don’t let the label “folk” music scare you, these aren’t really folk tunes, at least not in the strictest sense, but as with all genre’s of music folk has fallen into a kind of miscellaneous category where things get grouped that don’t quite fall into the other genre’s. If it has an acoustic guitar then it must be folk. Uh uh. If I were forced to group this into one category I would put it into atmospheric alternative. Which is another miscellaneous category all of it’s own. Let’s just say that this EP defies categorization and leave it at that, ok?

You can listen to these songs on the bands MySpace page and if you contact them they will send you a free copy of this EP. You can also find Bagheera on Facebook.

Bagheera – Horizons Lined With Scars
Bagheera – Skeleton Leaf

Well, first off let me just say that this EP was totally different from what I expected. Actually, I don’t know what I expected from the son of Neil Finn (Split Enz & Crowded House) but this wasn’t it. I guess I thought it would be more mellow/folkish but it is far from that. It is five songs that have pop stylings that are far better than what the term “pop” implies. In fact there is an awful lot to like about these songs, they are well-written (lyrically interesting without being pretentious or abstract), nicely produced (one of the better produced CD’s I’ve heard in a while), and presented in a listener friendly manner that immediately draws one in. Speaking of production, these songs were recorded on the analogue equipment in his father’s studio, Roundhead Records, which Finn also used to record his first solo album, I’ll Be Lightning. Finn used an old Nieve recording desk that was once owned by The Who, not that this means anything but I maintain that there is a certain warmth that you get from analogue that is just missing from digital. Also, for me, analogue seems to retain the dynamics in a recording, something that I find lacking in these days of highly compressed mp3’s.

The songs are an interesting mix with the EP starter Plane Crash setting the tone with its soft guitar and vocal and Beatles-like undertones, this could in fact be a more modern version of Lucy except that the chorus is a raucous mix of synths and drums and ends with a cool psychedelic touch. Won’t Change My Mind, the third song is six and a half minutes long, which is long for any song these days, and yet doesn’t drag or become tediously repetitious. It is as much of a ballad as you are going to get from Finn in this collection. It has a really lovely mid-eastern outro that is again very reminiscent of Sgt. Peppers era Beatles. Honest Face has a chorus that is a throwback to the ’50s but with more contemporary distorted synths added as a backdrop. The lyric, “You’re a cheat and a lie, with an honest face”, is something anyone who has suffered in a bad relationship can identify with. Which is another reason I like this EP, the songs are totally accessible.

Eliza-Jane Barnes (daughter of Jimmy Barnes) wrote three of the songs on Champagne In Seashells and contributes backing vocals to all but one, On Your Side, on which she sings lead. Barnes gives this song a very pretty yet sultry attack that has, at times, quite a threatening quality to it. Barnes also possesses a voice that is rich and controlled. She sings honestly with no hint of it being forced and without relying on vocal tricks to get the point across. The ease in which she switches from sultry to menacing in On Your Side is actually quite frightening because it caught me so off-guard.

I really liked this album and have been listening to it quite a bit. The songs seem to wear well, I haven’t skipped any yet, and sound equally as good as stand alone singles as they do as a cohesive whole. You can find Finn’s music through iTunes, Liberation Music, and Amazon. You can find more info on Finn at his website, Liberation Music, and MySpace. Finn is also on tour which sees him playing Lee’s Palace on October 29th so be sure to check him out. For info on Eliza-Jane Barnes you can go to her MySpace page as well.

Liam Finn – Honest Face
Liam Finn – Long Way To Go

Crap! In reading what other people had to say about Kevin Hearn & Thin Buckle’s newest release, I discovered that I am one of the few people to really not like it. And actually, that’s a bit of a lie – it’s not that I don’t like it, it’s more that, to me anyway, it was just, well, meh. It’s not bad but I just kept feeling that there should be something more. And I can’t even say just what that “more” should be. The songs are well-written and produced – something which should be expected of a member of the Barenaked Ladies – the lyrics are ok, not too trite but not overly insightful and the musicianship good – again something you would expect from the member of a band who have sold millions of CD’s – but I just couldn’t help thinking that they fell flat.

When this happens, when I am at the other end of the musical spectrum from just about everyone else, I wonder what it is that they hear that I don’t. Coma, the opener, is a nice mellow song with a gorgeous melody and catchy chorus that sticks with you. I started listening to this back in September when I knew I would be reviewing it and I have to say that I still find myself singing the chorus from time to time but is that enough? Apparently not because it dawned on me that I hadn’t listened to this CD in weeks, probably not after the third or fourth time. Coma has it’s aspirations but even though the message is noble – it’s time for us all to wake up and see the world around us – it just doesn’t quite reach the level it aspires to and the jangly, distorted guitar at the end is so jarring and out of sync with the rest it made me want to scratch my ears off. I understand that the purpose was to punctuate the need for us to wake up and its point was to do just that but I found myself cringing whenever it reached that point, almost dreading it.

On The Runway, the second song, is a jazzy little number that has a bit of a Broken Social Scene vibe to it. But where BSS has a very dynamic presentation, this is more likely to put me to sleep, perhaps it’s Hearn’s vocals which is good overall but lacks depth and variation. I would have appreciated a more grounded and earthy vocal, something to keep these songs from becoming the too dreamy and floating away which is what happens on Reeling. This song seems to get lost despite the cold dissonance of the female background vocal (a guest appearance by Mary Margaret O’Hara), which at times sounds like an eerie version of a theremin or saw, trying to hold it down. Luna, which follows, keeps the low-key atmosphere of the album and sounds like Hearn was trying to write a Ron Sexsmith song. It fails miserably, at least for me. I think once again, Hearn is aspiring to something but isn’t quite sure what and so forces the song to be what he wants instead of just letting them direct the show. “If you were lost at sea, what kind of lighthouse would I be?” is an example of a lyric that sounds like it should say something but tagged onto the end of Luna it just sounds overly insightful and pretentious.

I wish I could like this CD, I really do, I just feel it could have been much better. There is a lot of talent here with guests such as O’Hara, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, John McDermott, and Chantal Kreviasuk, it’s just a shame that their collective talents have been squandered. These guests are accompanied by Thin Buckle’s Bob Scott (drums, percussion), Chris Gartner (bass, vocals & guitar),
Brian Macmillan (guitar & vocals), and Derek Orford (guitar, mandolin & vocals). If you are interested in this CD or any of the others that Hearn and band have released, you can buy them on iTunes, at Amazon, on his website, or at Zunior. For more information including tour dates you can go to Hearn’s website, facebook page, and MySpace.

Here are a couple of tunes for your perusal:
Kevin Hearn & Thin Buckle – Coma
Kevin Hearn & Thin Buckle – Huntsville.ca

Back in June I wrote a review about an artist from New Brunswick, New Jersey, named Brian Bond. In this review I waxed eloquent on Mr. Bond’s ability to write a decent song, well actually, a better than decent song. Well, Brian Bond has done it again with Communipaw. With the help of Keith Carne (drums), Dave Esterman (bass), and Brian Kelly (lead guitar), Bond has crafted some rather interesting musical pieces that are right up there with Elliot Smith, Wilco, Jackson Brown, and Bon Iver. He, again, shows that he is one of the better songwriters out there crafting twelve really good indie/folk/rock/alt-country songs that are both fresh and timeless. As I’ve come to expect from this man, the songs delve into the complicated area of relationships without devolving into self-pity or smarmy, fake romanticism. The songs are direct and straight from the heart.

In the opening track, The Morning Hours, Bond wonders “How did you sleep tonight/just knowing I would hear how/little I mean to you”. Don’t let the quiet introduction and soothing vocals fool you into thinking this is just another shoe-gazer/emo/folk song because it isn’t, just as you think it’s going to fade off the song kicks into gear. The sparse arrangement is suddenly awash with sound, filling all the empty spaces. And this is what I like best about Bonds song-writing, he leaves spaces that allow the songs room to breathe. There is never a gratuitous guitar solo or drum beat out of place nor are there any vocal gymnastics or any studio tricks, embellishments or endless overdubs, reverbs etc. These songs are allowed to just be and that is a trick in and of itself. Too many bands over produce or add too many contrivances that the integrity of the song is often lost, but these songs don’t suffer from ego. Keep Your Eyes On Me, which is also on Bond’s solo CD Ten Thousand Songs, could have been overpowered by the whole band treatment, instead the song becomes a lively song with a catchy hook that keeps you moving to the end.

Another song off Bond’s solo effort, 2:23, lacks the strength and poignancy of his sparsely accompanied vocals but gains a blistering guitar that portrays all the angst you feel in a relationship you know isn’t going anywhere. It’s a nice counterpoint to Bond’s sorrowful ponderings – “How could she know if she’s in love/when her heart don’t know what it means”. The song starts as a typical alt-country tune but about a minute in the guitar takes over and screams the anguish that the singer can’t quite bring himself to express. It’s a harsh contrast to Bond’s clear tenor that I find compelling. Canada is a song recorded live, in the basement perhaps?, and has a great warmth and spontaneous vibe that makes it easily my favourite. I love how it sounds both hokey and sincere while having little to do with the country itself, or at least little that I can discern. It really has an organic, garage-like feel to it that I find unique and interesting.

I have to say that when I first put this CD into my player and listened my heart dropped, I was so in love with Brian Bonds Ten Thousand Songs that I think I had unrealistic expectations. I felt let down and disappointed. I thought, “How am I going to review this? This isn’t my kind of music.” but after listening to this over the course of about a month it has grown on me and I have to say that it’s winding up on my playlists more and more frequently. Songs like Canada; Black Tambourine; Heaven, Who You and Balzhauf won me over. Bond is a talented songwriter and the band knows how to allow those talents to shine while showcasing their own strengths. Communipaw also has an EP – Moving Till The Morning which has a more alt-country feel but still exhibits Bonds writing ability. You can listen to both the full-length CD and the EP here.

You can, as always, go to their MySpace page for info. Brian Bond and his companions are also part of other projects as well, so please visit them and see if there is anything you like – Brian Bond, Know Think (Keith Carne & Dave Esterman), Lonely Acrobat (Brian Kelly), and We Were Born With Rocks In Our Hands (Brian Bond). If you wish to purchase this CD or the EP, Moving Till The Morning, you can contact them here
And, as always, support your indie music community by buying these artists CD’s and going to shows.

Communipaw – Balzhauf
Communipaw – Canada
Communipaw – Keep Your Eyes On Me

A couple of months ago I wrote about this band in regards to a single and video they sent me. I loved the video and the song so was happy to get the full album. It’s one of the perks of this job, getting music from all over the world and it seems that Europe and the Middle East are coming up with some really interesting music. Eatliz is from Israel and is composed of six members – Lee Triffon, lead vocals; Guy Ben Shetrit, guitars; Or Bahir, guitars; Omry Hanegby, drums; Amit Erez, guitars, and Hadar Green, bass. They have been on the receiving end of a lot of praise in their native country and beyond, the video for the single, Attractive, was picked for high-rotation on European MTV. It was the first Israeli video to do so.

The first thing you will notice about this album is the production because it is so unobtrusive and whoever is responsible for the mix/mastering really knew what they were doing. Vocals are upfront, which is something I always like, but not so overpowering that you lose the delicacy of some of the more subtle guitar melodies. The drums are bright but again don’t overpower anything else or outshine the bass. You can hear each individual instrument without feeling that one is being sacrificed for another. And speaking of the vocals, Triffon has an amazing voice, her richness of tone and effortless delivery make listening to this album a pleasure indeed. She sounds an awful lot like Kate Bush or Bjork, which is a good thing since Bush has long had one of the best voices in the alternative genre. Triffon can hit the high notes with ease and she can equally hit the low notes with such confidence and purity of tone that it gave me chills. Her voice is easily one of the most versatile in rock right now. Such a strong female voice is sadly lacking in music these days and it really sets this band apart. She can sing with such softness and emotion and then switch to a full-throttle, coldness – often in the same song – that I found myself wishing I could sing like that. In Mix Me her voice is sexy and then in the next song Be Invisible it sounds so innocent.

Photo by Liron Arel Courtesy of eatliz.com

The songs themselves are written in English so there are no awkward translations, the lyrics flow without the weird juxtaposition of words that you often find in songs that were written in a different language. It’s hard to pin down just exactly what genre they would fit into seeing as they blend so many different styles into their songs. I heard King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, System of a Down, Kate Bush, Bauhaus, punk, mid-Eastern influences, Metallica and even a bit of surf in their music with many of these styles being combined in one song. I suppose they have more in common with contemporary bands such as Rasputina, Mars Volta or Portishead though. It is aptly named, this album, because the songs are, at times, both delicate and violent. Triffon is such a vocal chameleon that she can hold a note of such delicacy that it’s like down being blown on a summer breeze and then switch to a note of such power and intensity that it’s like being blown by hurricane force winds.

I am particularly fond of the jazzier compositions such as I Don’t Care where Green really gets his funk on. Say Where is another jazzy tune that displays the flawlessness of Triffon’s voice while also displaying the versatility of the band. Bolsheviks, the first song on the album, starts with a soothing piano but jumps into a loud, System of a Down style but then devolves into a carnival-ish atmosphere. The song jumps around but with Triffon’s soaring vocals holding it together it doesn’t end up sounding like the mish-mash I just described. There is a lot going on in these songs with time shifting, blending of styles, syncopated drum beats, and vocals that play around with the melodies so you are constantly being challenged to keep up. Predictable just isn’t in Eatliz’ vocabulary.

Even though this album came out in 2008 it is easily my favourite so far this year. In November the band is releasing an EP containing out-takes from Violently Delicate, called Delicately Violent. In 2010 they will be releasing their sophomore album, no word on the name yet, and I’m sure there will be lots of people like me anxiously awaiting it.

You can find Eatliz on MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube (you really need to see some of their videos – amazing). The band is offering this album and Delicately Violent for free through a link on their MySpace page and if you join their mailing list they will send out free songs once a month. You can buy Eatliz’ music through their record label, through Amazon and iTunes.

Here is the award winning video for Attractive:

Some songs for you to sample:

Eatliz – Attractive
Eatliz – Violently Delicate
Eatliz – Be Invisible

Photo courtesy of BoingBoing.net

Last week I wrote an opinion piece on how I thought Ellen Degeneres was a poor choice as judge on American Idol and how I thought Idol and shows like it were detrimental to the music industry. Cas, one of my fellow writers on this blog, to offer an alternative view wrote an articulate article which you can read here. Now I don’t want to get into a pissing match or to beat a dead horse (and I apologize to Allan if this is in any way hijacking his blog and also that it is so long ed. note: I don’t mind ) but there are a few things I feel need cleared up and some points that need further discussion.

In the spirit of getting to know each other let me just give you a little background information. I had worked in the music industry doing various jobs until 1985. I also worked for CHUMLtd both radio and TV part-time as well as CFUN in Vancouver and I was an active member of the Indie music scene through much of the ’80s. In 2006, I went back to school to study Entertainment Business Management at Metalworks Institute in Mississauga. Metalworks is one of Canada’s premier recording studios and was founded by Gil Moore of the rock band Triumph. It was expanded to include an audio/business school a few years ago. The teachers in the school are all active members of the Canadian Music Industry so I learned about broadcasting from Alan Cross, former programme director for 102.1 The Edge and host of Explore Music on aux.tv, an internet music website; entertainment business from Brian Allen, VP of A&R and music publishing of the defunct Attic Records and currently a music producer and writer; artist management from Vee Popat, Manager of National Promotions for True North Records. Collectively the teachers at Metalworks have worked with just about every major mainstream and indie artist over the past 20-30 yrs. so I have a passing knowledge of the industry, broadcasting, and music history.

There are a lot of different views on the role Idol plays in influencing the music industry and smarter people than I have written better articles both for and against however I think that shows like American Idol or America’s Got Talent are discouraging the natural evolution of music. Trends do come and go but the difference now is that the industry is using Idol as a cheap method of getting market research because they have gutted their own A&R departments and do very little in the way of artist development themselves. When almost a half a million voters are saying that they like this artist over that, the industry will jump all over it like white on rice. When someone like Carrie Underwood or Kelly Clarkson or Jennifer Hudson or Daughtry make it big, the record companies capitalize on it and flood the airwaves with like sounding bands in the hopes that fans will buy it because it sounds like something they heard on TV. I have no beef with record companies making money and I have no beef with people who like Idol or the current mainstream artists. What I don’t like is them making money by discouraging diversity in music. By subscribing to the notion that if a little is good then a lot must be better they have homogenized our airwaves and made music into cheap, disposable entertainment.

In some ways this is much, much different from any other decade. The 60s’ did have their singles-driven market just as today but the difference was that if you bought a record, and I can’t remember what they cost – 50 cents?, you kept it because it cost a lot of money for the times. People didn’t have the option of deleting it if they didn’t like it so they either gave the record to a friend or kept it. Now with p2p file-sharing and the many torrent sites music isn’t as much of an investment anymore. With the sheer volume of free music available, why spend the time looking, and then sampling, for something new and different when there is something more easily available at your fingertips? This leaves Indie bands, who don’t have the funds to promote themselves, at a disadvantage. And this is why they turn to blogs for help. I doubt very much that the music labels think that there is little chance their music will be heard if it is on a blog or they wouldn’t waste their time and money sending free CD’s to them. Certainly, most blogs don’t have the volume of hits that Pitchfork may get but the fact is they get enough to make it worth a band’s, or record company’s, while. The Hype Machine, which is a blog aggregator, did an informal survey asking readers how they discovered new music and out of the over 1,000 responses they received, 89% said through online editorials. Now, for sure, that is to be expected when the ones doing the survey are also the ones promoting blogs but it’s still an interesting survey.

Cas wonders “how many people are watching that show because they have an earnest personal investment in one of those contestants having a successful career.” If you take even a quick look through any of the hundreds of fan forums, such as Television Without Pity (TWP) or any of the fan run Idol forums or any forum of any popular or even barely known musician, you will find people who certainly do feel invested in the artists career. When Modest Mouse made the leap from indie darlings to mainstream hit makers, long time fans were cruel and unrelenting in their disgust at the bands success. They felt betrayed after their loyal support of the band when it was slogging it out on the bar scene. When the Rock Star shows were on (Rock Star: INXS and Rock Star: Super Nova), people were so invested in the outcome that at some shows Marty Casey fans (the runner up to JD Fortune in Rock Star: INXS) stayed for the opener (which was Casey), booed when Fortune took the stage and then left. You can say that they are a small portion of the music fans out there but the thing is that the people who have watched Idol from the beginning and voted for their favourite contestants over the years, do feel that they have a stake in that artists career. And there are millions of them, between 28 and 30 million for the past season, that would boil down to roughly over 2 million viewers per week. Not all vote it’s true but even if only a quarter of them vote that’s still a whopping 500,000 (give or take) people who would potentially buy the albums, buy the tickets, buy the t-shirts and whatever else is out there. So you can bet the record industry is watching!

I took a brief look at the forums on the Idol website to see what they were saying about the announcement that Ellen DeGeneres was going to be a judge. The thing that I noticed was that the overwhelming majority of dissenters stated the reason they disagreed was because she had no musical qualifications. So the expectation seems to be that a judge on a talent show that is about music should have some kind of musical knowledge above what the average viewer has. Simon Cowell, whether you like him or not, does, in fact, know what he is talking about. He has run and continues to run a successful music label and whether or not you like the acts, he has a proven track record of making the hits. I suspect that because it is his money being invested that his opinion does carry more weight but that does not mean he is less credible as a judge. It would mean the opposite, I would think, because he has a higher stake in the outcome. And the fact that he got his start through his Dad’s contacts shouldn’t negate his credibility because he still had to prove himself in the industry.

You say, Cas, that I don’t get it, that we don’t need radio and yet a recent poll in the U.S. showed that almost half the people aged 18-24 listen to internet radio. Bands still, crazily it would appear, try to get radio air play. Band managers implore fans to call their favourite radio stations and ask them to play their favourite songs. Publicists and radio promoters still work their butts off trying to get that elusive #1. And terrestrial radio, although not as popular as internet or satellite, is holding it’s own with about 73% of listeners saying that they tune in the same or more than they did five years ago. And with the iPhone offering a radio station application that will allow the listener access to around 60,000 stations, I’m guessing that the business community is still looking at radio as a viable method of ad revenue and potential sales. According to this article, it seems that a study conducted by Decima Research in 2005 showed that almost 50% of respondents found new music via the radio. Sure this research is out-of-date but I suspect that with the increase in the listenership of internet radio and with terrestrial radio still holding its own, those figures still hold. The article does go on to say that the act of listening to the radio isn’t to discover new music but undoubtedly people do.

Having lived through the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, I would never think to romanticize them but to think that the playing field is somehow level now because bands have increased access to the public could be a specious argument at best, I think. The playing field has never been level and never will be as long as the record companies keep turning their backs on diversity and playing it safe. To my mind it is not elitist to demand better from the industry than what they are currently trying to sell. It is like buying a washing machine that doesn’t work. You would demand that the manufacturer fix it, you would not accept sub-standard work nor should you accept sub-standard music. When music all starts to sound the same, when diversity is being discouraged and when the superficial takes precedence over the substantial then there is a problem. And it seems I’m not the only one to think so as this quote from Industry Canada in a larger article on the impact of music downloads and file-sharing on purchasing habits, would indicate:

“…our results for the entire Canadian population who perceived an increase in music quality over the last year prior to the survey reported higher purchases of electronic music from pay-sites and, equally, P2P file-sharing individuals who reported a perceived drop in the quality of music, purchased fewer paid electronically-delivered music tracks.”

The article goes on to say in it’s findings that there didn’t seem to be a correlation between p2p file-sharing, digital downloading and a decrease in CD sales, in fact, they found the opposite, so although on the surface this looks good for Indie music, all things being equal and new music being discovered through file-sharing etc., it doesn’t explain why the top sellers on Billboard’s hot 100 charts are almost consistently mainstream artists who get a lot of hype and radio play and with the top 5 performers from Idol selling in excess of 35 million units it’s not hard to see how it has affected the industry. And you are right in saying that we, the consumers of music, have all the power as Rich Bengloff, president of the American Association of Independent Music, concedes:

“To survive, music labels must get revenue from multiple sources, with the consumers deciding which of these sources they want to use to access music…”

So if all this is so, why do Idol winners, and by extension mainstream music, still consistently do better than Indie bands? Are they more deserving because they are popular and make millions of dollars for the record companies? Are they somehow more talented? Is it just because the Indie market is flooded by everyone and anyone who wants to make a record? If Idol has no influence then how on earth did William Hung sell so many records? When talk shows (like Ellen) TV entertainment shows (like ET & ETCanada), popular TV shows, newspapers, magazines, radio, stores, and anything else you can think of play, write about, talk about, show, or hype mainstream artists because they are the ones that sell, it makes it difficult for anything new to be heard. It’s not a level playing field, not for anyone. You say, Cas, in your last paragraph that we have the ability to change the direction of music. We have always had that ability and in the past our choices did change music. But that is the difference between now and then – we had choices, the industry listened to us and it took risks. Now, when “idols” are served up so easily on TV, and few are taking risks, I think we all lose.

R.E.M. – Radio Free Europe
Digital Primate – On Da Radio
Modest Mouse – Bankrupt On Selling

First, I do read a lot of magazines and articles on the music industry so I have a working knowledge of Idol and it’s past winners and losers. I am aware that some of the past winners have gone on to do quite well for themselves, much and all as I don’t like Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood I do have to acknowledge that they can sing and have moved beyond the Idol winner label. However, there have also been enough performers to make a laughing stock of the whole program and to cast doubts on the credibility of the pop industry in general. Performers like Britney Spears, The Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana (although not associated with Idol)and the like are further eroding the integrity of the music business and making it difficult for artists who have real talent to get recognition. All these kinds of performers do is reinforce the belief, especially in younger people, that music is disposable. So instead of furthering the music industry, creating a life-long love of music and actually encouraging and grooming young artists for a career in the industry, shows like these do the opposite.

There have been enough articles written about how Idol and the like are truly detrimental to the music industry and I will say that when these shows make artificial stars out of people who would otherwise be working a day job, it makes it extremely difficult for an independent artist to get airplay. It is already nigh impossible for a truly independent artist (one without big label backing or a hard-working promoter behind them) to get on the radio. Politics plays a large part in who gets played (they want you to think it doesn’t but it does) – you play this Idol artist or whatever band I’m trying to promote and I’ll give you an exclusive interview with xxx or whatever. This means that whatever the labels want played gets played and you can bet they don’t care if it’s good stuff but whether or not it sells. This is not new and you are all saying – yeah, yeah, yeah we know that: big labels bad, who cares. Well, the obvious answer is we all should because when crap is all we get to listen to it makes us lazy music consumers and diversity goes by the wayside. If you don’t believe me, sign up to a radio listening club where they conduct music surveys, it’s frightening that out of 30 song clips only two or three are truly different, the rest leave you wondering if they just change the names of the artists to make you believe the song is different when really it’s just the same one played over and over again.

So what does all this have to do with DeGeneres? Well, with this announcement went the last shred of credibility or respectability this show had if it had any to begin with. It really can’t sink any lower. I have a lot of admiration for DeGeneres as a person, I think she has conducted her private life with grace and discretion, something all celebrities regardless of sexual orientation should do, and she can be as funny as hell but as a judge of music? Other than being a fan, what qualifications does she have? DeGeneres appearance on this show will only help the already skeptical music fan become totally disillusioned. I’m not a skeptical person by nature but when I heard this announcement I rolled my eyes and wondered who the next one-hit wonder will be and lamented the fact that some truly talented independent artist will be sacrificed for it. Although DeGeneres is no Oprah, she does have a loyal fan base who will support whatever she promotes right or wrong. This, then, casts doubt on the legitimacy of the artists themselves, which further erodes the perception that the music industry is about talent. Just think about what will be said about the artist – they were Ellen’s favourite singer – I can hear the laughter now.

There are so many independent artists out there working hard for literally nothing that deserve a break but have little chance of being heard because there is no room for them on a station’s playlist. Now I can hear you say that if they truly had talent they would make it because the cream always rises to the top except that that used to be true ages ago when music was still innovative and the industry took its time to let a band develop. Nowadays a band has to have an instant hit in order to get any kind of attention from a label or radio station. And that means that if you sound like Radiohead you may as well forget it but if you sound like Nickelback you are on your way. I agree that is a generalization and that there are exceptions to the rule but they are really few and far between. The producers of Idol aren’t going to go for someone who sounds different and DeGeneres, who may have good intentions, gets to chose and promote only those who are paraded in front of her. It’s not going to be someone truly different and I have my doubts about her ability to think critically instead of with her heart or emotions.

Let me be clear, however, she isn’t to blame for the way Idol creates false idols but she is part of the problem. By saying that she will represent the average music fan, she is giving legitimacy to the general publics acceptance of sub-standard music. At least with Paula Abdul, she had at one time a legitimate place in the music industry. She knew the ins and outs and how to work it so at least in her incoherent rants she had a credible point. DeGeneres is like the quintessential art fan, I don’t know anything about art but I know what I like. She becomes the straw man, someone who is there to help get ratings but has no real role. Will her presence have any influence on the eventual winner considering it’s the fans who vote for them? I don’t know but I imagine it will have some effect considering she can use her daytime talk show as a platform for whoever she feels is the most deserving.

In the late ’60s and ’70s it seemed like there was a new band with a completely different sound on the radio every week. Bands were trying out new things, equipment was being modified and invented it seemed like every day, and the listener had a voice and really got to choose who they were going to listen to. Record labels took their time allowing a band to develop over the course of two or three albums. You would spend your hard-earned money carefully on music you truly liked rather than downloading a song from a torrent. Music has become less a commodity and more a single-use product that can be tossed when you are tired of it. DeGeneres will not change that no matter how she uses her celebrity voice to promote the musicien du jour or music in general.

If you love music, and are tired of what is being played on the radio, please go to local shows by local artists and buy their music. Remember to support the independent artist, they are the ones who have the ability to change the music we listen to.

Handsome Furs – Legal Tender
Heartless Bastards – Hold Your Head High
Young Galaxy – Swing Your Heartache

Glasnost is a Houston, Texas band that has been making a few waves with their recently released single, No Survivor. This single is the first release from their Great Divide – EP which was released this past March at SXSW. I haven’t heard the whole EP I have to admit and any other songs I’ve listened to, other than No Survivor, have been from their MySpace page so I’m really starting from a deficit. I will be looking for their album when it drops though because I would like to hear more from this four piece.

No Survivor is a slice of electro-pop that reminds me of New Order, Cut Copy or Midnight Juggernauts. It has a catchy chorus and irresistible disco beat that soon had me dancing in my chair. The vocals, distorted by a vocoder, could have been a bit more up-front in the mix but a small quibble really. As it is, the lyrics were a bit harder to understand but the songs meaning is typical relational angst – she plays games and he’s confused – and I have to wonder how important they are when this would be played in a loud dance-club anyway. This seems to be a problem with some of their other songs as well, the vocals are a little too low in the mix therefore making the lyrics harder to hear and understand. Otherwise this single is as good a synth/pop song as anything else out there and probably better than most.

The band members are listed as Brandon Duhon (Lead Vocals, Synth), Dan Le (Synth, Backing Vocals), Bryan Porter (Bass Guitar), and Paul Valdez (Percussion) and according to their press kit are multi-instrumentalists. I mention this because it gives them a versatility that is lacking in many bands. (Don’t know who the 5th guy is in the pic, he’s not listed anywhere that I could find. Sorry, anonymous band member if you are currently still with the band.)

Great Divide can be purchased at CDBaby. You can find Glasnost on Facebook, Twitter and on Blogspot as well as the aforementioned MySpace.

Glasnost – No Survivor