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- Album exclusive: Listen to Best Coast's Crazy for You
Is this sparkling album of lo-fi surf pop one of the best releases of 2010? Judge for yourself ...
Yet another fuzzy, lo-fi, surf-pop band beamed in from Planet Blogosphere, right? Right, but also wrong. Because Best Coast (Californian duo Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno) stand out a mile from the pack, thanks to their sparkling melodies (not to mention some rather brilliant videos). On their debut album Crazy for You, we can hear the Beach Boys, Sonic Youth, Ramones, My Bloody Valentine, and the Shangri-Las. In fact, this love letter to LA is fast becoming one of our favourite albums of 2010. Let us know your thoughts below.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Переслать - Ask the indie professor | Music blog
Want to learn about the religious subtext to the Vaselines? Or why we like to stage dive? Then ask UCLA's professor of anthropology (and die-hard indie rock fan)
Last month in Madrid, Diego A Manrique, a man who is pretty much the Spanish equivalent of John Peel, introduced me at the Dia de la Musica festival as the world's only professor of indie music. I'm not sure if I'm the only indie professor, but I've spent the last 18 years recording, examining and writing about the culture of indie and the international music industry.
The Guardian has decided it's high time that this research be made readily available to the public and so, starting this week, they're debuting "Ask the indie professor". This column will be a place where your questions about the music scene or industry can be answered. Why Keds and Converse? Why do people love the Reading festival? How do bands make a living? Why are people at gigs recording the event rather than watching the band or dancing? And please someone ask me about why Americans think they invented indie. I've been dying to answer that one.
For those of you who think that getting a PhD in indie music is just another rock'n'roll swindle, here are my credentials. I did my doctorate in Cultural Anthropology at UCLA. This means I spend as much time looking at the rituals of Northwest Coast Indians and gender roles among the Wodaabe as I do observing how Foals fans behave at shows. I did my fieldwork in the UK, going on tours, filming audiences and working at record companies (I even had the fun of helping out a nascent Domino Records where I got to potato print 7in singles and babysit Bonnie Prince Billy). My book, Empire of Dirt: The Aesthetics and Rituals of British Indie Music tackles questions such as "Why are drummers the most ridiculed band members?" and "How do members of the music industry blag their way into shows?". But on the serious side, it shows how this form of popular culture allows people to address taboo subjects and why indie music is so meaningful to those who listen to it.
So if you are curious about why cassettes are the new vinyl, or whatever else takes your fancy, here is your chance to ask. Simply post a comment below, or if you feel shy email me at TheIndieProfessor@gmail.com. As I say to my students, it can't hurt – and don't worry, you won't be graded on this.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - Has Liz Phair written the worst album of all time? Far from it ...
The blogosphere went beserk after hearing lead single Bollywood, claiming this once intelligent songwriter is now mimicking MIA. But it's the most honest she's sounded in years
Last week, Liz Phair released a teaser track from her sixth album. Through Ke$ha-style raps and Frank Zappa-esque vocals, Bollywood tells the story of how this 1990s indie-rock darling is now making music for TV shows. It's jaw-dropping, uncomfortable, and yet probably the most refreshing thing she's done in years.
For some bloggers, Christmas had come early. They proclaimed it the worst song ever, likening Phair's rapping to Madonna's on American Life, mocking her for apparently morphing into a MIA wannabe. But, this being Liz Phair, nothing was as it seemed.
The consensus was that she had committed "career suicide". Which was exactly the reaction that greeted her 2003 album, Liz Phair. At the request of Capitol Records, she reworked the album to include songs recorded with Avril Lavigne's production team, The Matrix. The results made for a frothy and funny post-divorce collection. But critics disagreed, scorning Phair for apparently turning into a boy-crazy MILF and betraying the DIY aesthetic of her 1993 debut Exile in Guyville.
Liz Phair was relatively successful, but its similarly minded follow up, Somebody's Miracle, was not. She called it a "fucking compromise disaster" and by 2008 Phair was on Dave Matthew's ATO label, touring a reissued version of Exile in Guyville. She told Pitchfork that her new material would see her "natural prankster" emerge. Well, having seemingly parted ways with ATO, Phair's new album, Funstyle, sees her tackle a career-long series of demons – and Bollywood is just the beginning.
And He Slayed Her attacks the Capitol CEO who forced her to record with The Matrix (Andy Slater), while Smoke and U Hate It touch upon her public persona, record company battles and the duplicity of LA showbiz. On Smoke, there are skits about not wanting to work with John Mayer and missing the boat (literally) because she's not on the list. U Hate It ends the album via a pretend award acceptance speech: "I wanna thank ATO … OMG … I'm so nervous, who am I forgetting? Dave Matthews, you're the best!" she says, her voice turned chipmunk-high for added irony. Even the deceptively sweet Satisfied seems like a parody of Why Can't I?, Liz Phair's syrupy lead single, with its picture-perfect lyrics soiled by the line, "You held my hair as I puked, oh, everywhere".
Can there be a clearer indication that Phair has returned to form? The price, however, has been high. As well as the web reaction, she's lost her label and management. Last weekend, Phair posted an explanation on her official site. "Here is the thing you need to know about these songs and the ones coming next: these are all me. Love them, or hate them, but don't mistake them for anything other than an entirely personal, un-tethered-from-the-machine, free-for-all view of the world, refracted through my own crazy lens."
The middle-finger-aloft attitude of Funstyle has been compared to Dylan's Self Portrait and Prince's hip-hop parodies on The Black Album. But for all the sense of Liz Phair having eaten herself, this is also the most uninhibited, alive and honest she's sounded in years.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - Prince's war with iTunes plays into the hands of illegal filesharers
Prince is right to have issues with iTunes and YouTube. But making his album available only to Mirror readers goes against his philosophy of reaching as many listeners as possible
As a Prince fan, I bought the Mirror for the first time on Saturday to get a copy of his latest album, 20Ten. As a musician, I was puzzled by why he felt the need to give away his music with a UK tabloid that costs 65p. I was equally perplexed by his decision to snub iTunes because it doesn't pay advances. Why would he need an advance? He's Prince, for God's sake. Surely he should trust that people would buy his music anyway. Besides, many more fans would have access to iTunes than a newsagent on one day.
In an interview with the Mirror, Prince compared the internet to MTV, saying that its days are numbered. Is this the reason why, when I put his new CD into my computer, Gracenote, the music database used by iTunes, didn't recognise the titles? Is that why there were 66 five-second silent tracks before the bonus track?
It's a strange turnaround for someone who, a decade ago, described Napster as "exciting". "What might happen with young people exchanging music is that they might develop a real appreciation," the "purple Yoda from the heart of Minnesota" said. He also claimed that online distribution could enable musicians to end exploitation from record labels. Surprisingly, despite his dismay with the music industry, Prince later signed with Columbia Records and, in 2005, with Universal.
Since then, he seems to have had a change of heart. Prince has reportedly threatened YouTube with a lawsuit for copyright infringement, forcing it to take down live footage of him playing Radiohead's Creep at the Coachella festival in 2008. Now, I have issues with YouTube, and I fully support an artist's right to decide what happens to their music, but Prince's decision to make his new album available as an exclusive covermount goes against his philosophy of reaching as many listeners as possible.
The Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), unsurprisingly, objected to Prince releasing his album as a covermount. Pointing out that his record sales have halved since the first Daily Mail covermount in 2007, it claims Prince's latest move "could kill his career". While there could be other explanations for the decrease in sales – illegal filesharing, for example – I agree that covermounts devalue music. It makes people question if a CD is really worth £8 when a major artist such as Prince can afford to give it away with a 65p paper.
I agree with independent record label Blancomusic that it's unfair that iTunes takes the same share of the retail price (30%) as the bricks-and-mortar shops, manufacturers and distributors – despite not taking the same risks when stocking product. I also agree that artists make little from other digital stores and streaming services. Yet, making their music available on legal digital outlets is something that they all have had to accept. That's what music fans want, and if they can't get it legally they'll get it illegally, without paying a penny.
ERA concluded its press release by saying: "Go away and make an album that people are prepared to pay for. We still have faith you [Prince] can do it." With 20Ten, I think he has. Unfortunately, most people will now only be able to get it illegally.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать
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