Forgotten Music, Found In The Archives

September 12, 2009 - It's safe to say that albums like Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band will ne'er be forgotten. But for every group like The Beatles, scores of additional acts record music that's, for all its merits, destined to be pronto forgotten. This music does not get remastered; it just goes away into attics and yard-sale bins, awaiting to be dusted off. If these melodic unknowns are lucky, they'll irritation the interest of human at the Archive of Contemporary Music in Greater New York — a collection of two million records, both celebrated and obscure. The archive began as the personal collection of its flow director, Bob George, who recently apportioned some outstanding commanded music.
George's appeal includes music by all genres and covers the history of entered pop music. Did You Ever Hear the Blues, from 1959, features Big Miller; George says it illustrates the Kansas City audio. "I bought this book because I started to assemble a separate section at the archive of songs and executions by writers," George says. "And then I had, like, Sandburg and Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes. And I only really bribed the record because Hughes had written all of the songs. And so, usually these forms of things are a springboard for doing a lot of research, and then I had no idea that Langston Hughes had written over 800 songs, and that he was by Kansas City. And Big Miller built his reputation pretty much called a Kansas City... that kind of shouter with the booming baritone." Tokyo-born Anna Domino's In the Land of My Dreams back-number described as "betwixt Eros and entropy," agreeing to George. "There are sealed records that, over decades, I've come back to again and again. And, you know, it's a guilty pleasure," George says. "You play it, you know, 30, 40 clips in a row." George's last selection hails from the ballrooms of coastal Colombia. The music is addressed "terapia," which is Spanish people for "therapy." "It's an unbelievable scene," he says. "It's alfresco, it's 120 degrees, it's diaphoresis, hot. They've no midrange speakers anywhere, but this giant four-by-six-foot bass speakers are all around. And so, strung like Chinese lanterns are tweeters up above your heads, with flashing lights and everything." Some of the times, a good party is the best therapy you are able to get.

Music legend Bruce Springsteen

Music legends Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, U2, Paul Simon, Metallica, Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Friends, Simon and Garfunkel will join collectively on October twenty-ninth and thirtieth at Madison Square Garden to celebrate the 25th day of remembrance of the rock 'n' roll Hall of Fame. Proceeds from the concerts will go toward creating a perm endowment for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame creation and Museum. The 2 shows will be helmed by Joel Gallen, manager and producer behindhand the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies and the MTV Movie awardings (1996-2005), and a four-hour program of foregrounds will be edited for broadcast on HBO in mid-November. Tickets will advance sale to the general world beginning Aug 3 at 9:00 a.m., and American Express Cardmembers will accept the opportunity to purchase advanced tickets starting July twenty-seven. An all-star originative team -- admitting Tom Hanks and his acquiring partner Gary Goetzman, Jann Wenner, singer-songwriter Robbie Robertson and Oscar-winning film writer and director Cameron Crowe, among others -- will act with the artists to curate the show by the live performances and filmed sections. The programs will comprise designed to tell the story of rock music by featuring guest stars and unique collaborations. Artists will execute their own songs and the music that inspired them - tracing the history of genres ranging from soul to hard rock. The museum's day of remembrance celebration will broaden beyond the concerts, with both a book and a de luxe DVD set to be discharged this fall. Collins Design will publish The rock-and-roll Hall of Fame: The First 25 Years, chronicling 25 years of elicitation ceremonies in September. In Aug, Time Life will issue a nine-DVD packaged set of highlights of the by induction ceremonies, boasting speeches and all-star executions, many that have never in front seen by the world.

Teens Just Won't Pay for Music

Nearly two thirds of 14- to 24-year-olds illegally download music over peer-to-peer (p2p) networks, says UK Music.
Artwork: Chip Taylor
According to research, which was carried out by the University of Hertfordshire on behalf of the music body, 75 percent of teens also admitted to sending digital music files by e-mail, Bluetooth, Skype, or MSN to friends and family, while 86 percent revealed that had copied CDs for friends.

UK Music also said that 68 percent of those surveyed said they listen to music on their computer and on average 14- to 24-year-olds have more than 8000 tracks on their PCs. Despite the recent popularity of music-streaming sites such as Spotify, 78 percent said they wouldn't pay for a music-streaming service.

music piracy
Artwork: Chip Taylor
"Have they got the message that there is a thing called copyright and there is a philosophy of copyright? Yup. They get it. They just don't care," said former Undertones member and CEO of UK Music Fergal Sharkey.

The research also highlighted that 85 percent of those surveyed think a music download service that allows unlimited tracks to be obtained for a fixed price is a good idea, with 57 percent claiming it would stop them illegally file-sharing. Just over half also said that artists should charge device manufacturers a fee to enable their tracks to be copied.

"If they're prepared to work with us if we give them an all-you-can-eat download service, well then, as an industry we may then well have to step up to the plate and try to provide them with that kind of service," Sharkey added.

Bell MP3 Downloads

Download: Bell mp3

There's to a higher degree one artist on this name: 1) Bell is a New York-based banding led by Russian-born, Alaska-raised songstress Olga Bell. Bell's good resembles Björk, Feist, and Radiohead. 2) Bell is consisted of Dan Crouch and Adrian Stephens, from Archway, North Greater London. Crouch provides most of the melodic know-how and tech savvy, with Stephens providing the "rock 'n' roll" element, and track names. Stephens' contribution stretches also to some impressive dance moves, hampered only by alcohol, drugs and law of proximity of tangled cabling and sound gear. Always entertaining live. Sometime fixtures at Brixton's Dogstar, and Brick Lane's 93 Feet East. Signed to Soul Jazz the duo are purveyors of a dark strain of minimal, no-nonsense electro. Their sound derives from a stated intent to only use the preloaded sounds that accompany each piece of equipment they acquire. When these are exhausted the kit is cast and they advance. Bell's debut album "Numbers" consequently sounds like it was brought almost 5p, but nevertheless contains some notable contributions to the genre. The second album "Seven Types of Six", shows the pair in rare form, with the menacing centrepiece, "Black Helicopters", not to be missed. A third album isn't beyond the realms of possibility, although Stephens is reportedly sleeping in Rishikesh, India, in a mansion on the banks of the river with a fully operational cannon on his balcony, while Crouch is in New York City, and "concocting buying a speedboat". A recent setback: The floor of Bell's Hastings studio fell flat in the New Year. Crouch reportedly distressed with the missus. But repairs have now been made to the newly christened "Lab of Fear", and afresh albumen the works this summer!

Linkin Park.The Straight Edge: Sabres’ Stafford rockin’ out

Artist: Linkin Park
Album: Collision Course
Genres: Alternative, Metal, Metal: Alternative, Electronic, ROck: Alternative, Rock

I know NHLers get sick of answering the same questions from reporters day in and day out, so when I get the chance to go off the board, I try to take it.

Buffalo Sabres right winger Drew Stafford is enjoying his best season to date in the big league, but when I got some time with him after the Sabres’ 3-1 victory over Toronto on Wednesday, one particularly important topic came up: What do you think of the new Mastodon album?

Stafford is a big music connoisseur and the members of the Atlanta-based underground metal band are friends of his.

“It’s really good,” Stafford said of the record, Crack the Skye. “I listened to it twice on the way over here.”

It goes without saying I’m also a big Mastodon fan and it’s fun to geek out occasionally with NHLers who share similar tastes – which doesn’t happen very often. Toronto’s Boyd Devereaux is good buddies with the Constantines and Jere Lehtinen and former Dallas teammate Janne Niinimaa got to hang out with Slayer, but walk into an NHL dressing room and you’re more likely to hear Nickelback or Linkin Park. (Niinimaa even joked that in Dallas, his CDs got thrown across the room.)

The fact Stafford likes to rock out to Mastodon is, of course, secondary to his growing role on a Sabres squad that hung in the playoff race despite key injuries, before being eliminated from contention Thursday night.

Stafford’s ascent began at the University of North Dakota, where he steadily gained points each season. His third and final year was his best, when he led the Fighting Sioux with 24 goals and 48 points in 42 games. Looking back, it was an impressive feat: the next three names on that leaderboard were Travis Zajac, T.J. Oshie and Jonathan Toews, while Brian Lee and Matt Smaby held down the defense.

As with many Sabres prospects, Stafford then cut his teeth with Rochester of the American League and he points to the organization for bringing up youngsters at the right pace.

“Give credit to the management; give credit to the front office,” he said. “Look at Chris Butler this year. He’s going to be a good player. He was brought up to play with the Sabres and that’s what he needed in order to succeed.”
And while each player has his own timetable, Stafford’s was just 34 games with the Amerks before graduating to the Sabres in 2006-07.

Now in his third NHL campaign, Stafford broke his career-highs in every offensive category and became an important part of the Buffalo power play with nine man-advantage markers.

“Overall, I think I’ve had a pretty decent year,” said the 23-year-old Milwaukee native. “I think I can get better, but that’s what the summer is for; working on those inconsistencies.”

Even though the Sabres fell short of the post-season, Stafford’s optimism is all part and parcel to his professionalism. When asked if he was going to catch Mastodon on their current tour, the 6-foot-2, 213-pound winger simply smiled to indicate a no: “I’ve got hockey.”

It was pretty obvious from his tone that Stafford had no problem with that whatsoever.
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Linkin Park. Italy's requiem for earthquake victims

Artist: Linkin Park
Album: Lp Underground 4.0
Genres: Alternative, Metal, Metal: Alternative, Electronic, ROck: Alternative, Rock

The photograph taped to the lid of the small white coffin showed a pudgy-cheeked little girl with a clasp in her brown hair and a pout on her lips: Giuseppina Germinelli was immortalised in a sulk. She was born in 2002 and carried away seven years later, along with 286 other unlucky residents of Abruzzo, in the earthquake that struck a little after 3.30am last Monday night.

"It was me who found her," said a burly, greying middle-aged man standing by the coffin. "These are her three sisters." He pointed to the three coffins lined up alongside. "I dug them out myself. They are my granddaughters." There was pride in his voice as well as grief and bewilderment.

Yesterday the family was reunited one last time, the coffins of the four sisters heaped with flowers, the relatives crouching beside them, holding hands on top of them, their tears flowing freely.

The mass funeral was held in the parade ground of a police academy miles out of L'Aquila to the west, and these utilitarian, paramilitary surroundings have never witnessed scenes like these. The hundreds of coffins lined up before the temporary stage were so copiously heaped with bouquets that from the stage they resembled a field of flowers. Everywhere there were grieving parents and children, friends and relatives, scrutinising photos and mementoes, sharing last thoughts and tears.

The tiny coffin of Andrea Esposito, who was doubtless looking forward to his third birthday tomorrow, was surmounted by a plastic superhero figure on a motorbike. Nearby a teenage boy was remembered by a favourite t-shirt, inscribed "Linkin Park".

Italy has shown the world its most sensitive and compassionate face since the disaster struck on Monday. Give or take minor quibbles, the emergency effort has been a masterpiece of organisation and efficiency, with more than 17,000 of the 28,000 homeless accommodated almost instantly in the sky-blue tents of the Ministry of the Interior. The first of numerous tent cities sprung up across much of the region less than 24 hours after the quake.

As always in Catholic Italy the funeral mass was emotional and dignified in equal measure, the amplified sound of organ and choir carrying across the heads of the 10,000 who attended. The VVIPS present, including Silvio Berlusconi and the President Giorgio Napolitano, were reduced to a minor supporting role in the ritual of communal mourning – though Mr Berlusconi went some way towards regaining the spotlight by promising his luxury villas as accommodation for the homeless.

On local radio a priest had lamented: "There will be no Easter this year, only a continual succession of Good Fridays, because all the town's belltowers have been destroyed and no bells can ring out." But the Very Reverend Giuseppe Molinari, the Archbishop of L'Aquila, did not miss the opportunity offered by the calendar to ram home the church's message of hope. Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene standing under the cross were no different to you before the coffins of your loved ones, he told the mourners. But the "long silence of God" was followed by the Resurrection. "After the silence, the day after tomorrow, we will celebrate Easter. It will be an unforgettable Easter. It will be like being born for a second time."

Yet as they stood miles from town, these thousands who lost their homes as well as their loved ones were bitterly aware that their problems were only just beginning. Their 700-year-old city is now, as Mr Berlusconi put it, a ghost town, both empty of people and more dead than alive.

The gloomy view prevailing on the streets yesterday was that the city is doomed. "Nothing can be saved," said a bus inspector, striding along a road near the outskirts, "trying to shake off my bad mood". "They'll have to knock it all down and start again," he said with grim conviction.

The earthquake hit the city's most important administrative buildings as well as the richest symbols of its identity: the regional archives flattened alongside the Palazzo del Governo. And with the evacuation of the population, all commercial, industrial and educational life has ground to a halt.

Those who built the city will have some very awkward questions to answer about why the sections that shot up since Italy's economic boom were at least as susceptible to the earthquake as the parts built centuries ago.

Reports in the Italian press yesterday claimed that some of the buildings that proved most vulnerable in the quake, including one block of flats in which 29 people died, were constructed of cement in which sea sand was used in place of regular sand: doubling the contractor's profits, but making the steel reinforcing rods in the concrete columns fatally vulnerable to corrosion by the salt in the sand.

There are no answers yet: the city is in a state of suspended animation. Even buildings that have suffered no apparent damage have been evacuated. "We had to leave with what we stood up in," said a man queuing to buy a newspaper near the town centre, his voice choking with emotion. "We haven't been allowed back to get anything. They gave us these clothes at the camp. We don't know when we will be allowed to go back. The priority of the emergency services is removing the dead. Only when that is finished will they start checking the safety of the houses."

In the meantime L'Aquila's status as capital of Abruzzo is in abeyance, with all administrative functions transferred elsewhere, to the cities of Sulmona and Pescara. This small and fragile capital will have a fight on its hands to get its status back. Its residents may take some comfort from the mass at the barracks yesterday. The lesson was from the Book of Revelation, where John the Divine speaks of the Last Days. There will be a new heaven and a new earth, he promises. And "the New Jerusalem will descend from heaven".
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Brokencyde aren't going away: New Mexico kids plot reality show and tap E-40 for forthcoming single

Artist: Linkin Park
Album: Vma 2005
Genres: Alternative, Metal, Metal: Alternative, Electronic, ROck: Alternative, Rock


If you thought Brokencyde’s reign of musical terror was so 2008, color yourself mistaken. The screamo crunk kids from New Mexico are just getting started with your children’s not-yet-discerning ears, and they aim to make 2009 their very own via multiple high profile Warped Tour dates, several new videos (some with porn stars!) and even a possible reality show.

Not familiar with the act? That’s likely because you are over the age of 18 and currently not on crystal meth. Let us get you up to, ahem, speed.

Music writers nationwide were stunned last year ... even shocked into confused adulation upon viewing a cringe-inducing video (“Freaxxx”) by a "screamo-crunk" band from Albuquerque known as Brokencyde (for more on the foursome, this piece is a must-read).

"Freaxxx," which we are still unable to post due to lyrical content, united nearly every critic in the country who heard the tune as a probable harbinger of garage band-induced musical bile from the 14-24 set raised on a motley mélange of Lil Jon and Linkin Park.

Unsurprisingly, the band (to be fair, “band” is a bit of a misnomer in this case, as no discernible instruments are played by any member) could care less what others think. “There’s always gonna be haters,” Michael Montgomery said Wednesday at a video shoot inside the Key Club. “We’re living the dream right now and could care less."

By “living the dream,” we’re guessing Montgomery was referring to the shoot (a low-budget homage to the clip for Dr. Dre’s "Nothin' But a G Thang,” we kid you not) for “Booty Call,” a forthcoming single off Brokencyde’s June debut full-length for Suburban Noize Records/Koch.

“People say we’re not serious, but this album is gonna show that we do have talent," Montgomery said. He contributes backup screaming/vocals for the outfit, and spoke Wednesday between takes of what I thought might become the best video of 2009 after I spied this casting call on Craglist, which promised “trained wolves on set” and women running around in their underwear.

How dare you tease us with dangerous wolves and not deliver, Brokencyde?

“That didn’t work out,” the band’s manager, Jared Daniel Baker, sheepishly said of the lack of anything resembling a member of the Canidae family at the video shoot. Instead, Brokencyde coaxed porn stars to the set (bad trade, we say).

Adult actress Jayden James and several other busty ladies sulked in various states of undress beneath the Sunset Boulevard venue’s stage around 5 p.m., all looking somewhat bored. James admitted that she had heard of the band only recently and that she was more of a Tech N9ne fan.

Maybe James came down because she heard E-40 was on the track. Amazingly, Brokencyde have persuaded the Bay Area rapper to appear on “Booty Call," but E-40 proved as elusive as a gray wolf Wednesday and was nowhere to be found during that portion of filming, anyway.

And while we didn’t stick around long enough to see any women “run around in underwear for multiple hours,” as the video casting ad cooed, we did learn that Brokencyde is teaming up with possibly the only other band more despised by music critics (that would be Huntington Beach’s Millionaires, naturally) for a reality series pilot set to be pitched to MTV this month.

The proposed show will follow both acts on one bus during the Vans 2009 Warped Tour (yes, both Millionaires and Brokencyde are on tap to play multiple dates this summer at the roving festival, despite objections from some and a recent smackdown courtesy of Senses Fail frontman Buddy Nielsen).

-- Charlie Amter
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