Author Archives: Tankboy

I personally have nothing against Coldplay. I kind of actually like them. I even bought their first album as an import since I thought “Yellow” sounded like an unreleased Jeff Buckley song and I was pining for some Jeff Buckley. Their last album wasn’t too bad and their new one is as good as a band who wants to be U2 can be. Aside from that their new disc X&Y is obviously being set up as the album of the year (if not, if you believe the hype, the century!) So the fact that the lead off single not only failed to hit number one on the British charts immediately upon its release but was blocked from doing so by a frickin’ ringtone melody is almost so funny it hurts.

The Official UK Charts Company said Crazy Frog’s ‘Axel F’, which went on sale as a CD last week, kept Coldplay’s ‘Speed Of Sound’ in second place. It marks a significant event in British musical history – the first ringtone-inspired tune to rise to the top of the charts. (full story)

Un-be-leeeev-able!

Above is Crazy Frog…
the artist that beat Coldplay to the top of the charts.

This isn?t exactly breaking news, but I wanted to refrain from commenting on it until I was sure that Thax was actually the author of an amazingly long post with a distinctively disturbing view of a certain segment of the Chicago music scene.

Now I?ve been asserting that Wilco has been pretty played out for a while now and while it pains me to say that, the group hasn?t offered much proof to the contrary. A Ghost Is Born was, I hope people can admit now that they?ve had some time to really let it settle in, not a good album. It just wasn?t. If what Thax alleges is true then that would go a long way towards explaining why the band has been slowly and steadily declining.

I can?t confirm or deny certain facts but when he starts describing certain segments of the indie scene I think he does get it pretty right on. Thax blames it all on Steve Albini ? which I personally don?t agree with ? but Thax?s description of a certain type of Chicago musician is so right on it hurts:

?a mandarin culture of snobbery and gossip has gradually supplanted music, and an indie rock establishment has evolved that stifles creativity-you cant be creative when you live in an atmosphere of fear of offending the “wrong people”-so now when people move to Chicago they come not to show what they have done, but they come like any trembling office worker, scared but confident in his ability in the fine art of corporate ass kissing-the Chicago scene has become an office like any other. So you have a music scene that takes sustenance in giggling and snorting and gossiping about anyone outside the well-oiled machine of clubs, publiciists, booking agents , journalists,and -oh, yeah, “fans” (smirk, giggle)-

I refuse to elaborate on what the “facts” might be from my own end because I consider myself primarily a musical critic and not a sociological one, but I will say that I think much of what depresses Thax in the overall feel of his piece is also what depresses so many other honest music lovers in this town filled with so much great potential yet so many jealous saboteurs.

Thax’s whole piece is here. Please don’t bother leaving a comment if you’re just going to attack him for dissing Wilco though.

Photo of Thax Douglas by Randy Darden

Recently Greg Kot has been trashing U2’s career moves and apparently Bono felt the time was right to set the record straight and sat down to an unusually in-depth and in-your-face interview when they played Chicago a few weeks ago. The resulting text goes a long way towards explaining U2’s motivations and current philosophy in regards to how music should be presented and it’s place is in today’s larger culture.

KOT: You told me the other day that U2 had “Kid A’d” itself to death [a reference to Radiohead’s 2000 progressive-rock album “Kid A”]. It was a funny line, but I’m disappointed to hear that.

BONO: I want to hear Radiohead, extraordinary band that they are, on MTV. I want them setting fire to the imaginations of 16-, 15-, 14-year-old kids. I was 14 when John Lennon set fire to my imagination. At that age, you’re just [angry], and your moods swing, and it’s an incredible time to be hit with something like that. Our last two albums are essentially about the combo. We used the limitations of the combo. We had 10 years of experimentation. We decided to rope it in, and tie ourselves to only one thing. And that’s the only discipline. Is it a great song? Is it fresh? Experimenting in rock is at its best when you dream from the perimeters and bring it back to the center. All my favorite innovators disappear into the woods and bring something back, and you get to hear the songs distilled from those experiments. I used “Kid A” as an example, because I love the album. We did our “Zooropa,” we did our “Passengers,” even our “Pop” experiment. There were great ideas on that album, but we didn’t have the discipline to screw the thing down and turn them into magic pop songs. We’d become progressive rock! Ahhh! (full story)

Sometimes I think Kot can be a bit too much of a cheerleader but this is one time when I think his criticism elicited what might be one of the most forthright and surprising responses ever from a band as big as U2. Required reading.

The music industry lost its quest Thursday to curb online file-sharing when an attempt to smoke out the identities of 29 alleged uploaders was quashed by the Federal Court of Appeal. (full story)

Okay, not so fast. Once you get past the giddiness of the opening paragraph you encounter such terrifying stuff like, ?The 27-page decision gives the Canadian Recording Industry Association a roadmap of how to present file-sharing evidence in future attempts to stop rampant music swapping.? It kind of makes you wonder what the RIAA is gonna do with that Grokster decision if things don?t go their way.

Yeah, I understand they are two totally unrelated cases about file-sharing but the idea that the RIAA would use info gleaned from each loss to bolster future cases kind of creeps me out.

It’s sort of like that Terminator that can change shape and adapt to become a more efficient killing machine. Only way less sexy.

In case you didn’t know, Billy Corgan is publishing his autobiography in installments over on his personal web-site. Greg Kot interviewed him in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune and got this particularly tasty quote out of the ex-Pumpkin in regards to the break-up of Zwan:

The music wasn’t the big problem, it was more their attitude: `Why do we have to practice? I’d rather be hanging out at the Rainbo.’ Lifestyle stuff. And then you get into what I would call cataclysmic behavioral stuff. Sex acts between band members in public. People carrying drugs across borders. Pajo sleeping with the producer’s girlfriend while we were making the record. I just tried to do what I’ve always done, which is to patch it up and roll it out. You go into a denial state. I got snookered in by really bad people. It’s embarrassing to me. But it wised me up to why I play, and who I love, and it made me appreciate my old band even more. (full story)

Nice.

Okay, usually I wouldn?t do this, but this piece over at Coolfer is just too spot on not to disseminate in whatever means I have at my disposal.

Really, just read it.

This line-up is officially completely out of control. In a good way.

Yoko Ono has been asked to headline Vincent Gallo?s ATP.

uk assignment

She joins her son Sean Lennon, DJ Ellen Allien, John Frusciante, Polly Jean Harvey (solo), Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Merzbow, Olivia Tremor Control, James Chance and The Contortions, Prefuse 73, Buck 65, Lydia Lunch, I am Kloot, Vitamin B-12, Kid Koala, Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto), Jayne County, Magik Markers, Afrirampo, Women and Children, The Tints, Suicide, John Foxx (Ultravox), Ted Curson, Peaches, Trapist, Nikolai Haas, Thread Pulls, Gang Gang Dance, Autolux and The Zombies + more to be announced. Vincent Gallo himself has also agreed to play at event on April 22nd ? 24th, 2005.

Think Chlo? Sevigny will be there?

The Lollapalooza train just keeps a chuggin??even when there may not be any track much further ahead. Case in point; the website went live today and said they?ll start selling two-day passes to the event in Chicago?s Grant Park on April 7. However in today?s Chicago Tribune Greg Kot reports:

City officials could not be reached for comment Thursday, but they had said Wednesday that announcing such a major lakefront festival was “premature.” The next Park District meeting that might address a permit for such an event is scheduled for April 13. (full story)

If there?s one thing Chicagoans know really well it?s that our city officials and civil servant types really don?t like to be pressured into anything.

I’ll be honest and admit that I’m exciterd by the prospect of this whole thing working out and I’ll also probably shell out the $35 for the two-day pass, but I’m also gonna make damn sure those tickets are fully refundable before plonkin? down my hard-earned cash.

Looks like Billboard (and I) may have jumped the gun about Lollapalooza rising from the ashes in Chicago’s Grant Park this summer:

Despite reports that began surfacing Wednesday announcing the event, Chicago Park District spokeswoman Jessica Maxey-Faulkner said nothing has been confirmed

Negotiations are going on between the Parkways Foundation, a fundraising arm for park programs, and Capital Sports & Entertainment, a Texas management and marketing company that produces the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

Still under discussion are the date, time, location, lineup and financial details of the proposed festival. Once those matters are resolved, a permit would have to be acquired for the event from the Park District.

“It’s premature to say this will happen,” Maxey-Faulkner said. “We do not have a timeline. But if it is to happen, I expect Parkways to come to us with a request pretty soon.”

But the city’s bumpy track record with rock concerts in Grant Park suggests that Lollapalooza is hardly a sure deal. After extensive negotiations, the city turned back efforts by Smashing Pumpkins in 1998 and Grateful Dead spinoffs the Other Ones in 2002 to stage shows on the lakefront, primarily because of concerns about security, overcrowding and excessive noise. (full story)

Also, to clarify a comment I made yesterday, Radiohead played at Hutchinson Field (which is within Grant Park) a few years ago and they figured out how to charge admission for that. However pretty much anyone could hang outside and still hear/see the whole show.

Word on the street is that it’s only gonna happen in one city this year. And that city is…Chicago! Billboard is reporting that it’ll be held in Grant Park as a two-day festival which is rather interesting. Grant park is public and you can’t really charge people for entry so if that’s the case it’s gonna be a humdinger of a free show with Beck and the Killers rumored to be playing already.

Of course the other two bands rumored so far are Kings of Leon and Widespread Panic so apparently there’s much room for suckiness as well.