After years of suing thousands of people for allegedly stealing music via the Internet, the recording industry is set to drop its legal assault as it searches for more effective ways to combat online music piracy.

The decision represents an abrupt shift of strategy for the industry, which has opened legal proceedings against about 35,000 people since 2003. Critics say the legal offensive ultimately did little to stem the tide of illegally downloaded music. And it created a public-relations disaster for the industry, whose lawsuits targeted, among others, several single mothers, a dead person and a 13-year-old girl.

 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12296603…

Now, maybe if they decide to start giving record deals to genuine bands who actually make good music, then they won’t need to ask the government for a bail out after the next U2 record fails so miserably that it forces the masses to finally realize that, “Oh, you don’t even need to be able to count properly to make this utter bullshit. Even I could do this.” And then they do.

Love,

Baby Jesus

Anyway, found this on another forum.  For the fans of NPH and Josh Whedon, the best blog I have ever seen

 http://www.drhorrible.com/mushortio.html

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZ…

Jizz In My Pants by The Lonely Island from their new release Incredibad due out in February.

The Killers - Human (Ocelot Remix)

Classixx - Cold Cut Ill

808s and Heartbreaks Cover

Well, it is finally upon us. The much anticipated followup to 2007s Graduation is Kanye Wests 808s and Heartbreaks. Got it this afternoon and have had a chance to give it a listen. I was instantly struck by the second track “Welcome to Heartbreak” ft. kid Cudi. The lyrical content is one with perspective, mostly how he longs for a family with kids. He has worked his whole life to get to the top, and now he is there looking down at all those with so much more than him (metaphorically). Anyway, I think that this album will be one to define his career and mark a true turning point for him as an artist.

Kanye West - Welcome to Heartbreak ft. Kid Cudi

Up next are some tracks from the hotly anticipated new Justice CD+DVD combo documentary and live set “A Cross The Universe”. It finally has a mastered version of their finale, a pounding version of Metallica. I’m also including Phantom 1.5 because of the deconstruction that takes place and the great insertion of samples from other songs to keep the crowd rocking. For any that diss on Justice as being overhyped/blogged about, maybe this will change your mind. But I suspect that the only true way to do that is to go to a concert of theirs. I have seen 2 so far, both were mind blowing. 

Justice - Final (Metallica)

Justice - Phantom 1.5

Early this morning, commuters nationwide were delighted to find out
that while they were sleeping, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had
come to an end.

If, that is, they happened to read a “special edition” of today’s
New York Times.

In an elaborate operation six months in the planning, 1.2 million
papers were printed at six different presses and driven to prearranged
pickup locations, where thousands of volunteers stood ready to pass
them out on the street.

Articles in the paper announce dozens of new initiatives including the
establishment of national health care, the abolition of corporate
lobbying, a maximum wage for C.E.O.s, and, of course, the end of the
war.

The paper, an exact replica of The New York Times, includes
International, National, New York, and Business sections, as well as
editorials, corrections, and a number of advertisements, including a
recall notice for all cars that run on gasoline. There is also a
timeline describing the gains brought about by eight months of
progressive support and pressure, culminating in President Obama’s “Yes
we REALLY can” speech. (The paper is post-dated July 4, 2009.)

“It’s all about how at this point, we need to push harder than ever,”
said Bertha Suttner, one of the newspaper’s writers. “We’ve got to
make sure Obama and all the other Democrats do what we elected them to do. After eight, or maybe twenty-eight years of hell, we need to start
imagining heaven.”

Not all readers reacted favorably. “The thing I disagree with is how
they did it,” said Stuart Carlyle, who received a paper in Grand
Central Station while commuting to his Wall Street brokerage. “I’m all
for freedom of speech, but they should have started their own paper.”

 http://poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?i…

courtesy of the Yes Men

Michael Jackson - Thriller (DiscoTech Remix)

T.I. - Whatever You Like (DiscoTech Remix)

More Later

-Will

I was thinking about this as I realized the other day that as Lee Hall is being renovated from top to bottom the old radio studio is gone now. It was definitely this side of crappy but I think that’s what made it real to me. Old concert posters on the walls - defunct radio station stickers all over the mixing boards - bad carpeting and worse furniture and the studio door covered with the autographs of all the musicians and groups who had visited the station - apparently all have hit the scrap heap. Definitely the end of an era - the station had been broadcasting from the attic of Lee Hall since 1946 - just over 50 years isn’t bad I guess. I can close my eyes and be back in that crappy little studio doing my show that no one heard and loving every minute of it. We had a brand new instant replay machine sitting on top of a mixing board from about 1985 next to a couple of turntables and a cartridge machine. I used to play the same station promos all the time and I got yelled at for it - but come on, how you could not love a Run DMC station promo? We also had to run a couple of PSA’s (public service announcements) and again I played the same one over and over - about clean water. It had this scary music in the background with this little girl’s voice asking ‘for a dwink of water’. ‘DO YOU WANT TO HAVE CLEAN WATER FOR YOUR CHILDREN??????’ and so on. Brilliant. I found a couple of the old station promos on their crappy website - definitely haven’t heard them in about 8 years so it was a neat flashback. Also, the fact that WMWC’s website is crappy tells me that things are just fine and the same as always.

That’ll do it for today folks - I’m Bryan Fischer and thanks for listening to Paper or Plastic on WMWC 91.5 Stereo FM.”

From the blog of Bryan Frischer (source)

Download their track “Boss” here.

WMWC Live Stream

So a bit of introduction. For those of you who aren’t in the know, Sarah Kelley and I went to the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City last week. We began the first night by getting lost on the subway and ending up in Brooklyn, but we eventually found our way to the Bowery Ballroom.

The first band up was the Friendly Fires. Now, I don’t want to bash them too much, but how many kitschy beats does it take to actually make catchy music? Also, what does playing your electric guitar with a handheld dustbuster actually accomplish? It just left me confused, but at least the guy in front of me was enjoying it.

Lykke Li on the other hand was fantastic. Her voice is beautiful and she’s not bad at crashing cymbals during songs. If you haven’t heard of her (I hadn’t), she is a Swedish pop singer that is currently on her second tour of the United States. Her latest release, “Youth Novels”, was produced by Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John and it’s catchy as hell. She’s already passed through DC, but I’m sure she’ll be back around.

Here is Lykke singing “”I’m Good, I’m Gone” in the back of a cab for black cab sessions:



and if that weren’t enough to get her voice in your head, here are two remixes of “I’m Good, I’m Gone” courtesy of some generous promotional company:

I’m Good, I’m Gone (Black Kids Remix)
I’m Good, I’m Gone (Metronomy Mix)

(how’s that for promotion?)

Anyways, I am still exhausted from the trip, but happy to be back in Fredericksburg…so that I can continue with my radio show, ofcourse. More CMJ reportbacks to come.

xoxo

Andrew