Yearly Archives: 2004

Do soundtracks to video games count as legitimate soundtracks? If so, there is little doubt that the soundtrack to the Stubbs the Zombie video game, being put out by the excellent Aspyr Records, will be the most talked about soundtrack of 2005 (at least here on Donewaiting and within the indie rock press world). The video game is set in 1959 and takes place in a “City of the Future”. All the bands featured on the soundtrack are covering songs from the ’50s and ’60s.

Tracklisting:
Ben Kweller – “Lollipop”
The Raveonettes – “My Boyfriend’s Back”
Death Cab for Cutie – “Earth Angel”
Rogue Wave – “Everyday”
Cake – “Strangers in the Night”
The Walkmen – “There Goes My Baby”
The Dandy Warhols – “All I Have to Do Is Dream”
Oranger – “Mr. Sandman”
The Flaming Lips – “If I Only Had a Brain”
Clem Snide – “Tears on My Pillow”
Rose Hill Drive – “Shakin? All Over”
Milton Mapes – “Lonesome Town”
Phantom Planet – “The Living Dead” (original song)

The soundtrack is scheduled to hit store shelves on March 15, 2005. Think there is a better soundtrack due out in 2005? Discuss here.

Kim’s posted up photos of our Andrew Bird show last week. A sample:

Get them all here. They’re quite lovely.

Excellent interview with Jeff Jarvis, touching on just about every “hot” issue in new media. For example—

One tangible result of this is nichefication of media. Some would say that’s a bad thing; they wail about the death of great shared experience of American media. But the truth is that the shared experience lived only from the ’50s to the ’90s as the growth of three networks resulted in the death of competitive newspaper towns and we lived in a world of one-size-fits-all media. That is over. Now you can find the content that suits your needs. And that’s good. That’s about control…

on the FCC—

EM: What role should the FCC and other regulators play in this new media environment? What should our legal/regulatory structure for broadcasters and existing media look like? If it should be changed, how does this change come about?

JJ: The FCC should get the F out of the way.

In First Amendment terms, it is outmoded and offensive to think that broadcast speech should be excluded from constitutional protections of free speech. It is offensive in this country for the government to decree what can and can’t be said by citizens.

Which is especially important given the recent FCC powergrab noted by Susan Crawford—

The FCC’s brief, filed in response to PK’s challenge to FCC’s jurisdiction in the flag matter, is breathtaking. FCC’s position is that its Act gives it regulatory power over all instrumentalities, facilities, and apparatus “associated with the overall circuit of messages sent and received” via all interstate radio and wire communication. That’s quite a claim.

FCC believes that it has simply been restraining itself up until now. Since 1934 (or 1927, depending on how you count), FCC has had power over all equipment used in connection with radio and wire transmissions. When the need arises, it can exercise its authority — including its authority over PCs, PVRs, and any new gizmo that has something to do with a communication of some sort.

For more on the subject(s) of “citizen media”, check out We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People By Dan Gillmor, which you can download for free.

I love Ted Leo but I hated his flash website. Thankfully, it’s been redesigned. There’s also a bunch of new mp3s on the site, for all y’all downloaders.

The Grey Album was DJ Dangermouse mashing up the Beatles with Jay-Z. Now somone has gone and made a music video for one of the songs, featuring footage from both bands. [credz]

There was a time in the donewaiting.com legacy when we had a little thing called the Tuesday Three. I would ask writers, musicians and other questionable people to recommend three albums to our humble audience. Gentle souls like the Largehearted Boy and Paul the Rub previously stepped up to the challenge.

And now it’s time for the Tuesday Three to return. I’ve asked Jason Wilder, founder of Mystery and Misery, one of my favorite weblogs, to herald in this second wave of T3.

Here are the rules: choose three albums to recommend. One album must be from 2004, one from 2003, and one from any year. And while we’re at it, we’re gonna ask you three questions. Here are Jason?s responses:

Namelessnumberheadman, ‘Your Voice Repeating’ (2004)
namelessnumberheadman is a Kansas City trio who know how to belt out luscious landscapes of music and noise. Andrew Sallee (drums, keyboard, vocals), Chuck Whittington (guitar, keyboard), and Jason Lewis (keyboards) are as accessible and classy in person as they are skilled in creating a wall of sound that sounds unique both live and in recording. Watching the three members recreate their cd live is just as entertaining as hearing them live. At any given time, the band members are moving around the numerous (seven is what I thought I counted) synths, drum kit, and guitar. They never managed to get into each other’s way, as if they choreographed their live set like a Super Bowl half time show. It is hard to place the band’s sound directly on one influence as if they have their own sound, which they do. Hints of Mercury Rev, Her Space Holiday, and the Notwist are recognizable but not consistent and deliberate. Best described as alt-spacerock, namelessnumberheadman is one of the best and complete new independent bands I have heard in a long while.

The Wrens, “Meadowlands” (2003)
The lyrics, music, and story behind the band is something that I can relate to. Listening to some of those songs (I’m not telling which ones), especially for the first time, was like having my life of tough years past flash before my eyes. Very few albums affect me emotionally as much as this one does. (buy)

Archers of Loaf, “Icky Mettle” (1993)
This album is perfect for when I am angry, happy, or want to bounce around the house with my two-year-old daughter (she’s a big fan of this album). This album is over ten years old and still hasn’t lost its charm. (buy)

Three Reasons Why You Started Mystery and Misery:
1. I wanted to write about music, but I didn’t want to bore anyone with long boring cd reviews or rating systems, so I started a mp3blog.

2. I wanted to give back to the indie community. Sending a few people to a band to buy their cd or attend their show means a great deal to the bands that I have come in contact with. Indie music has influenced and helped me throughout the years so why not give back in terms of free promotion?

3. I also wanted to find a way to support bands and artists without stealing and/or borrowing from them. I am, though, a firm believer of fair use and support those few blogs who genuinely like to help bands by promoting them through their websites. Fair use is a very touchy subject and meanings of the term vary from person to person. Because of this, I have chosen to walk the line that will cause me less grief in the long run.

Two Things Most People Don’t Know About You:
1. I have too many diverse hobbies and activities that I like to do that I do not have enough time to do them all. This ranges from sports (in basketball, I am deadly from three point range) to music (my wife and I would like to make a studio in the basement of our house) to artsy stuff like making zines (cut and paste all the way) and bookbinding to studying and practicing Buddhism and Reiki.

2. I have mild social anxiety which I hide quite well.

One Recommendation Unrelated to Music
The movie Rififi (1956) on DVD. It’s one of the best heist/break-in films ever made and is considered a standard among more than modern movies like Mission Impossible (gag). The director, Jules Dassin, was blacklisted in Hollywood during the McCarthy era when many Americans had some sort of fetish with labeling people communists. The DVD contains a very good interview with him. This is one of my most favorite movies ever.

Jason Wilder is the founder of Mystery and Misery, a legal mp3 blog, who loves finding obscure independent bands to promote their music. In a parallel life, he’s a slowly aging indie-rock icon. In real life, he’s a family man and senior editor for a well known legal publisher firm.

Last week we reported that famous Minnesota rock club First Avenue was closing it’s doors. Now word comes that two former managers are planning to take control of the beleaguered club and hope to reopen it very soon.

Does anybody want to pick up the tab for a Donewaiting columnist to fly to LA for this show? Anybody? KROQ? I’m sure Duffy will give you a free ad if you’ll pick up the cost of my trip.

The lineup for the first night (Dec.11) is: Franz Ferdinand, The Shins, The Killers, Modest Mouse, Interpol, Jimmy Eat World, Keane, Muse, Snow Patrol, Taking Back Sunday and The Music. The lineup for the second night will be announced tomorrow. If The Damnwells, Caviar, Idlewild and Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer are on the bill, I’ll pay my own way out to LA!

FYI – Tickets to the first night are sold out.

Columbus Ohio needed a daily, free online source for Columbus news, information, recommendations and action. Which is why I’m proud to announce a new website in the donewaiting.com family: peoplehavethepower.org.

Citizen journalists, keeping track of the heart of a swing state. Please check it out.

Donna Wentworth at Copyfight called it back in September:

Here’s a worst-case scenario: We have a House copyright bill (PDEA) and a Senate copyright bill (Induce). November rolls around, and ’tis the season for appropriations. Someone takes out the scissors and tape, and PDEA and Induce become PDEA+Induce. There’s an appropriations bill that looks a little lonely. Suppose we staple PDEA+Induce to the bottom? That way, it’ll be sure to sneak by — because you can’t hold back government.

Guess what? Senate May Ram Copyright Bill. Like clockwork.

Several lobbying camps from different industries and ideologies are joining forces to fight an overhaul of copyright law, which they say would radically shift in favor of Hollywood and the record companies and which Congress might try to push through during a lame-duck session that begins this week.

The Senate might vote on HR2391, the Intellectual Property Protection Act, a comprehensive bill that opponents charge could make many users of peer-to-peer networks, digital-music players and other products criminally liable for copyright infringement. The bill would also undo centuries of “fair use” — the principle that gives Americans the right to use small samples of the works of others without having to ask permission or pay.