Remember, this is a new weekly feature here on EAR FARM. Plain and simply put, a new song each week for listening/download. The only rule here: that the posted song is longer than EIGHT minutes. They'll be from my music library and only available for a limited time.
I'm not playing that 'band to watch for in 2006' game. No how, no way. If I was, I'd take this moment to reiterate the fact that Islands come close to topping my list of bands whose 2006 album I can't wait to hear. You know them already, right? They're two thirds of The Unicorns plus something like 5 other people. Having heard a bunch of their songs online and when I saw them live recently I can safely say that you WILL like this band. Or, you will like them if you enjoy something along the lines of Graceland era Paul Simon mixed with Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? as well as some general free thinking creative song-ing.
Seven by James
It's a damn good thing The Isles contacted me via MySpace because, like a jerk, I missed seeing them open for Islands and never thought twice about it. After checking out their songs I see that I missed out on a band I probably would've really dug."Even as the recording industry staggers through another year of declining sales over all, there are new signs that a democratization of music made possible by the Internet is shifting the industry's balance of power.Go read the rest HERE.
Exploiting online message boards, music blogs and social networks, independent music companies are making big advances at the expense of the four global music conglomerates, whose established business model of blockbuster hits promoted through radio airplay now looks increasingly outdated.
CD and digital album sales so far this year are down 8 percent compared with the same period a year ago, according to Nielsen SoundScan data. And while sales of digital tracks through services like iTunes have risen 150 percent, to well over 320 million songs this year, that rise is not enough to offset the plunge in album sales. Overall sales are down less than 5 percent if the digital singles are bundled into units of 10 and counted as albums, according to estimates by Billboard magazine.
Still, despite the slide, dozens of independent labels are faring well with steady-selling releases by, among others, the Miami rapper Pitbull and the indie bands Hawthorne Heights, Bright Eyes, Interpol and the Arcade Fire. Independent labels account for more than 18 percent of album sales this year - their biggest share of the market in at least five years, according to Nielsen SoundScan data. (If several big independent companies whose music is marketed by the major music labels distribution units are included, the figure exceeds 27 percent.)"
Yesterday, Die Romantik sent me a message telling me that they had just put together a little special holiday song/video:Second of all, merry christmas and happy new year (soon)! We decided to do something special for our friends & fans, and so wrote a new christmas carol to which we put together a music video.Sometimes I really just love this band. I've been listening to them quite a bit lately so this sure was a nice holiday gift. Don't you want to see?
It is a treat from us to all the people whom we want to thank - what better way to thank people than by doing it with what we do best - and so I wanted to invite you to see it.
We hope you enjoy it!
Best wishes,
Dominic & Die Romantik
Now that EAR FARM is hosting files I don't have to depend upon only posting things I find somewhere online. So, here is what I'd intended to post as a birthday gift to myself, instead it'll be a Christmas gift...from my favorite band:
Sorry about the lack of posts but it's that busy time of the year...The Raleigh Ringers is an internationally acclaimed, advanced community handbell choir based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Since its founding in 1990, The Raleigh Ringers has been dazzling concert audiences with unique interpretations of sacred, secular and popular music, including famous rock ‘n’ roll tunes arranged just for handbells.All I can say is wow. These guys really know how to work their bells. Nothing else I can say will tell you any better than seeing and listening for yourself. Sure, it may not be something you really want to LISTEN to very much (it scares my cat, kinda hurts my ears at times)...but that's okay these are just soundclips. Watching these people groovin' and jammin', man, I think Christopher Guest could do a prittay prittay funny movie about them.
This is a new weekly feature here on EAR FARM. Plain and simply, a new song each week for listening/download. The only rule here: that the posted song is longer than EIGHT minutes. They'll be from my music library and only available for a limited time.
God Fodder by Ned's Atomic Dustbin
Watching New York Noise recently I caught a music video by a Swedish band named The Knife:"The Knife was formed in the summer of 1999 when the sister and brother, Karin and Olof Dreijer, made some recordings together. Earlier, Karin played in a band called Honey is Cool. Olof had been working with different music projects. The cooperation worked out fine so they continued with hardware recordings of acoustic instruments mixed with midi and sampler programming. The Knife continued working sporadically until February 2001 when the album “The Knife” was released at their own label, Rabid Records.Read the rest of their bio HERE...
The debut album was received with both anger and happiness. Some were furious and didn’t understand anything of it and got quite provoked, while some thought it was what they always had been waiting for. One year later The Knife started working in the studio again."
there's a newly designed banner at the top up there...see? even more sites have been added to the links, go check them out as I find all of the sites listed under links worth reading. EAR FARM has joined the Filter Music Alliance, check out the banner low on the right side of the page from this point forward, EAR FARM will be hosting MP3s via EZArchive. this is going to mean that I'll be able to share music much more easily and directly - enjoy!
Alexandra Scott found EAR FARM on MySpace a few days ago and I was immediately hooked on her music. For that very reason I wanted to try and give it a little time so I wasn't just posting a knee jerk reaction but you know what? Sometimes right when you hear something new you tell yourself "I like this...I'm really going to like this", and sometimes it's the truth.
The Flaming Lips told me (via MySpace) that I should go checkout Cheyenne when they play tonight at Lakeside Lounge. I love that bar. Every year since 1992 I've presented Unsilent Night, an outdoor ambient music piece for an INFINITE number of boom box tape players. It's like a Christmas carolling party except that we don't sing, but rather carry boom boxes, each playing a separate tape which is part of the piece. In effect, we become a city block long stereo system!Read more about it here
In 2005 the New York event will happen on Sunday December 18th. We will meet at the Arch in Washington Square at 6:45 pm, begin at 7 pm and proceed eastward to Tompkins Square Park, where the piece will end around 8 o'clock.
Who knows if it was the cancelation of the NHL season, the new Pope, or the mere existence of Arcade Fire, but 2005 was the year indie rock got bigger than ever. There were so many great albums, and at least a couple of instant classics, so we decided to open up Stereogum's end-of-year list to everyone. The three of us can't agree on a top 100, much less a top 20.Sorry, I'm not linking directly to where you vote. To vote you'll have to go to Stereogum yourself.
The deal: CLICK HERE to vote on Stereogum's 2005 Readers Poll and we'll randomly select a winner to receive the TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2005 as determined by your submissions. That way at least one of you won't feel guilty about downloading most of them.
Cure for Pain by Morphine
From HERE:
That's Wilderness
That's Explosions in the Sky
From the official Manchester v. Cancer site:
I first saw Tralala not too long ago (September 2004) at Rothko when I was there to see no band in particular. They were called "Tight Fit" then, if memory serves me correctly. I must say I wasn't blown away, but there were elements of their sound that struck me as something I wasn't really hearing anywhere else. A new band that wasn't building on a foundation solely made of post-punk/indie rock?! Really though, what current NYC band reminds you of songs like "Leader of the Pack" by the Shangri-Las and "I Will Follow Him" by Little Peggy March? Seems to me these guys picked up Beauty and the Beast by the Go Go's and decided that the best songs from that album were the ones when The Go Go's let go of pop and let punk/rock drive the vocals. That perfect spot somewhere between glam and trash.
Okay, so I didn't pony up the $$ to go see them two nights in a row BUT there's a post about last night's show that you Depeche Mode fans out there HAVE to see.
"The lineup has begun to take shape for next spring's United States of ATP (All Tomorrow's Parties) festival, which will be held May 12-14 and May 19-21, 2006, at the U.K.-bred fest's longtime home at Camber Sands in East Sussex, England.
I went up to Strawberry Fields here in Central Park today to kind of pay my respects to John Lennon, his music and what he stood for, and to just see the scene in person. There were a TON of people out: some quietly paying respect, a large group formed around a band that played Lennon songs, and even the obligatory 'blame the CIA' guy. There were also people getting pictures of themselves taken on the street in front of the Dakota where John was shot. There is a candlelight vigil at Strawberry Fields in the park tonight at 10:50pm.
John Lennon (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980) was one of the greatest artists in history. His legacy as a songwriter is unmatched and yet his impact on humankind has had a much greater reach than just his music. Twenty five years ago today he was murdered. It's impossible for me to do justice to all of the good he brought to the world.
