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Mexican Pop Star Makes Sony Walk Their Own Gangplank

[ 4 Comments ]Posted on September 8, 2009 by admin in Music

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

Pretty soon the RIAA is going to have to change its name to the Argh!IAA

Sony, the company that tries to infect our computers with spyware & malware, that sues its customers to the tune of 2 million dollars for piracy, that has been investigated themselves for software piracy, and that is guilty by association of corrupting our judicial system, has gotten a tiny taste of their own medicine. Like me, you may not have heard of Mexican mega popstar Alejandro Fernández before, but today he’s sort of a hero. It seems that while Sony was in the process of screwing him out an entire album, he turned the tables by having police raid their Mexico City offices to seize thousands of his CD’s, audio masters, and artwork. Sony’s PR people seem to be getting less easily rattled these days; although they expressed that they were “shocked” at the multimillion dollar settlement in their favor when suing a customer for piracy, they apparently are only “surprised and disappointed” by the recent raid. Personally, I think we should all show our support by buying some Alejandro Fernández songs. And I think Sony needs to just chill out. Don’t they know that pirates are ten times more likely to buy music than other people? Read the rest of this entry »

Iggy Pop’s New Release – Préliminaires

[ Add A Comment ]Posted on June 3, 2009 by admin in Music

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

You’ll want to put on Iggy Pop’s new CD Préliminaires almost as much as you’ll want HIM to put on a shirt.


I think it’s finally time
for Iggy to put on a
shirt. How about you?

When you’re Iggy Pop, you have to go to great lengths to surprise people. I mean, after being one of the first to pull your penis out on stage (I think Jim Morrison beat him to “the draw”), being credited with inventing the “stage dive”, and acquiring the moniker “Godfather of Punk”, what’s left? Well, Iggy came up with something. Just enter your Serge Gainsbourg-slash-Leonard Cohen phase at the age of 62 with a release like his new CD Préliminaires. I’ve been an off-and-on fan of Iggy since I was about 16, when his new album The Idiot was on heavy rotation at my house along with with Bowie’s Low. His energy and crazed persona were never what interested me; and half of his music really doesn’t do much for me. But that other half? Holy crap. He just goes places others don’t go, and occasionally brings back something we didn’t know we needed. And I’m reluctantly forced to admit that I’m enjoying what he’s done on this new release. Except that I’d like to strangle him for covering Antônio Carlos Jobim’s “Insensatez”. Jesus Iggy, why? Just why? If you want to pick up a copy, there’s a limited edition package available (6,000 worldwide), as well as a regular CD and a digital download. They also have some amusing video clips of Iggy performing the new material in France on Iggy’s site. I wonder if the now legendary (and hilarious) tour rider is still in use? If you’d like to read more about Préliminaires, BlogCritics has a fairly even-handed review. And can someone tell me how you say “please put on a shirt” in French?

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Only 151 Shopping Days…

[ 2 Comments ]Posted on August 4, 2008 by admin in Music

Monday, August 4th, 2008

…and this JingleBabies CD is already driving me nuts.

Jingle Babies CD

…left until Christmas, and this collection of samples of baby sounds turned into Christmas carols is going to drive me nuts. If I don’t buy it now, I’ll forget about it until Christmas, when I’ll be saying to myself “damn, I wish I’d bought that JingleBabies CD, it would be really fun in this Xmas mix I’m making”. If I DO buy it now, when Christmas rolls around, I’ll be saying to myself “damn, what a waste of twelve bucks, this was really only funny for about ten seconds as an audio preview”. Decide for yourself. Listen to Silent Night, as sung by babies.

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

[ Add A Comment ]Posted on July 31, 2008 by admin in Music

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

Unless they happen on August 4th

David ByrneExcept the release of Brian Eno & David Byrne’s album of the same name, which will happen on August 4th, 2008. The music will be available exclusively at everythingthathappens.com with free previews and a free song, and it actually goes on sale two weeks later. Can’t wait for some new Byrne & Eno? Then make your own by remixing studio quality tracks from the 1981 release Bush of Ghosts. They’ve generously provided all the necessary tools and files at the Bush of Ghosts remix site .

Khalid Hanifi – Pamplemousse Presse

[ Add A Comment ]Posted on July 23, 2008 by admin in Music

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

A quick listen to Khalid Hanifi’s catchy new radio-ready CD, Pamplemousse Presse

Khalid Hanifi - Pamplemousse PresseOn his new release Pamplemousse Presse, Khalid Hanifi pulls off something any pop songwriter could admire, drawing from the pop palette without resorting to pop cliché, and effortlessly (well, maybe he worked on it…) blending excellent hooks with solid song craftsmanship. This collection of songs is solidly listenable from beginning to end, and in fact (whether I like it or not) remains pretty listenable in my head when the songs get stuck there. Very catchy stuff. Although you could toss off comparisons to a wide variety of singer songwriters (Rufus Wainright, Joseph Arthur, Joe Jackson, Michael Penn and others spring to mind) Hanifi has a maturity and purity of pitch in his voice and delivery that he clearly owns. You can only really compare Khalid Hanifi to Khalid Hanifi. Well paced, produced & mixed with exceptional clarity, strong melody, and nicely placed, sophisticated harmonies, this CD has only grown on me more with each listen. This is a seriously radio-ready (people still listen to those, don’t they?) artist who would fit comfortably into an adult alternative rotation as easily as an alt-country mix. If this is what Khalid Hanifi does when he’s not pursuing his music career full time, I can’t wait until he gets serious about it. Purchase a downloadable version on DigStation for USD9.99, or pick up the CD at CDBaby for USD12.97.

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