Wednesday, January 11th, 2006

My Mind's Not Right

Vincent Moon has directed some gorgeous videos for singles from The National’s Alligator, namely “Lit Up” and “Daughters Of The Soho Riots”, which you can view here. And now he’s added to his impressive videography with some live videos taken from the band’s performances in Paris at La Guinguette this past December, which you can view or download here. They’re so artfully done, they’re practically proper promo clips unto themselves. He’s currently got “Abel” and “Baby, We’ll Be Fine” up, and hopefully “About Today” will be following. Note – these files ain’t small. Which is good news when you’re watching but not so good when you’re downloading.

And speaking of vids, check out the video for “Funny Little Frog”, the first single from Belle & Sebastian’s The Life Pursuit, out February 7. I ordered the CD/7″/DVD package from merry olde Englande yesterday, but since I don’t expect the DVD to play properly in my DVD/TV setup, I will settle for the mildly crappy version from the NME.

KVRX has made available audio from Explosions In The Sky’s very first ever live performance, and I’m sure the band is thrilled about that… Naked post-rock instrumental baby photos! Awww. Via Largehearted Boy.

Some show to note – KT Tunstall is at the Mod Club on March 1, tickets $15. There’ll probably be some dancing at Lee’s Palace on February 10th with OK Go! and controller.controller and on March 22, Lee’s will host Richard Butler, sans Psychedelic Furs.

Thanks to Eugene for sending me the link to this podcast at Public Radio International’s The World, exposing Toronto’s “underground” music scene. Points off for misspelling Jason Collett’s name, but it’s a decent general interest piece otherwise with interview bits with eye‘s Stuart Berman and Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew and Feist.

And speaking of Ms Leslie, JAM! takes a few minutes of her time and gets a peek at the upcoming year in Feist. No mention of the live album but look for the new studio record this Fall.

I got my first cease-and-desist yesterday! Someone objected to the mp3s I’d posted for my year-end list and, via DMCA, contacted my webhosting to lay the smackdown on me. Thankfully, they just removed the offending directory and didn’t shut me down, but I guess I’ve found the limits of what I can get away with in terms of posting files. All this means, really, is that my list for 2006 will only have links to legally available tracks already online. The year-end is really the only time I ever rip tracks myself, but I guess that’s not kosher. I don’t know which track in particular raised the ire in question, but I have my suspicions. Y’know, a quick email is all it would have taken. No need to involve the authorities.

Also fun – I spent the night re-upping about 25GB of music to my iPod. It has been crashing with increasing frequency, doing the “won’t play” thing now once a day… A reset and it’s fine, but it’s annoying. So I wiped the drive and reinstalled the software and hopefully that will set it straight. If not… guh. I don’t want to think about that.

But on the plus side, I did get a copy of The Radio Dept’s Lesser Matters on LP for a mere $10 and to tie today’s post alllll back up in a tidy bow, I also got a copy of Alligator on vinyl the day before yesterday. So you DMCA punks can keep your digital music. I got records.

np – Crooked Fingers / Crooked Fingers

By : Frank Yang at 8:57 am
Category: Uncategorized
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  1. Andy says:

    It’s really so sad that in an environment built on community/communication that people, who you really think ought to know better, can feel the need to ignore common sense and resort to such heavy-handed tactics. Glad that your evil, ruinous, bring-down-the-industry ways didn’t get you shut down!

  2. sean says:

    Your ISP should be obliged to tell you what the offending file was, and who complained. It would be really, really useful to me to know what it was (even if you just want to email me privately).

    But regardless, that sucks. You do a great service to the community – and to artists, – and it’s a pity that some people still don’t recognise that.

  3. Matt says:

    did anyone see kt tunstalls set at the jason collet show in mid november? i arrived late and missed her in favor of sushi and while i cant say that i was dispointed with my decision im just curious how she was.

  4. Sandra says:

    Thanks for linking those National live clips. They are nicely done but a wee bit too drunken-toddler style on the camera work and few too many quick cuts for my delicate sensibilites though. You should also check out these really well done (though less arty) live clips from last May, if you haven’t already. About Today is absolutely outstanding!

    http://www.lesinrocks.com/D

  5. ryan says:

    The complaining party had to be either 4AD, ATO, or Beggar’s. None of the others would do it. I’d put my money on Beggar’s, but that’s pretty much a guess.

  6. Frank says:

    I figured on ATO because, like, the major labels are evil and all. I will inquire with my hosting to find out though – for my own personal edification.

  7. david says:

    Congratulations on the cease and desist, Frank, and thanks for the National clips.

  8. Frank says:

    Well, Dreamhost got back to me and said that it was IFPI (http://www.ifpi.org/) who filed the complaint and they took issue with the entire directory of year-end list mp3s. They appear to be British, so Ryan may well be right-on with his guess of Beggars, who would also include 4AD, I guess. Oh, what irony if it was the National track that caught their attention…

  9. John the cover guy says:

    Frank… any idea if this means an end to your cover of the week? Please say no, please!

  10. Frank says:

    absolutely not. the complaint was specifically in regards to the year-end list tracks, which I left up longer than I’d intended to anyway. in three years I’ve gotten nary a complaint from an artist about the cover of the week, and I really don’t expect any since a) they’re up for 1 week and b), they’re predominantly live tracks, b-sides or otherwise rare tunes.

  11. Steve says:

    Frank,

    Regarding your ipod… apple also just released a firmware upgrade on 1/10/06. Perhaps that could solve some of your problems (if you haven’t tried that alreday).

    http://www.apple.com/ipod/d

    Love your site.

  12. Matt says:

    The music industry’s heavy-handed tactics may end up hurting them in the end. It irks me that you’ve recieved a c&d; when I started reading your blog at the end of 2003, I downloaded the songs from your end-of-year list and bought 7 or so of the records on it.

    Oh, thanks for the Radio Dept. track the other day…absolutely stunning. I’ve had Lesser Matters for a while now, so it was good to hear something else from them.

  13. TJ says:

    For what it’s worth and if IFPI’s still reading, I bought two albums that were on this last year-end list of yours, in part because of your praise for them. I bought more as a result of year-end lists in general, I just already had a lot on your list.

    Great site, keep it up.

  14. douglas martin says:

    sucks about the cease-and-desist order. i can’t believe someone snitched on you.

    "have gun, will travel/and i can’t stand the sight/of a motherfuckin’ tattle/such a waste of life.."