Kicking the Dead Horse That Is SXSW

I'm not even sure what it means for a Food network D-list celeb to be sponsoring some kind of SXSW party , but it sure confirms that SXSW is the most over-exposed piece of rotting feces on the music map. Attendance at FXFU should swell this year. "Rachel Ray loves "indie" rock." Huh? I think we've now fallen through the looking glass's looking glass when using this term.

Where do these people come from? Rodney Branigan plays two guitars and percussion

...AT THE SAME TIME

Raw David Lee Roth Vocal Track on "Runnin with the Devil"

This is BRILLIANT - best thing I've heard in a long time. Actual, RAW David Lee Roth vocal track for "Runnin' with the Devil" ...SOLO... NOTHING ELSE... You can actually hear the other tracks in his headphones and that ridiculous little "wheeeeeeee!" sound made with the toy those dudes who think they're robots use on the street corner in Union Square of San Francisco. Enjoy!

Raw David Lee Roth Vocal Track on "Runnin' with the Devil"

Rock Song Takes Pro-Rock Stance

From the Onion:

LOS ANGELES—A fist-pumping spokesperson for the rock and roll song "Rock You" declared the new track's unwavering pro-rock stance Monday amid a deluge of blistering guitar solos and monster drum fills. "In addition to its steadfast pledge to rock you into the night, 'Rock You' also intends to rock at least until the morning light, and does not care what any authority figures may say at this time," public relations associate Mark Boudreaux said. "Furthermore, rock and roll is here to stay." Boudreaux added that lame asses, poseurs, and mama's boys opposed to the song's militant pro-rock agenda could face a long, uphill battle if the song's prediction that rock will never die proves true.

Whopper Freakout (Ghetto Version)

Give me my mutha bleepin' Whopper!


This has NOTHING to do w/ music, but is just too damn funny not to post.

Brand New - Not New

I was recently at NorCal Surf Shop in Pacifica, Ca checking out some shades and I started getting into this tune "Limousine" ripping through the speakers of the shop. Background music hardly ever makes it past my ears to my brain so I asked the hottie surf punk chick with the bullets on her belt what the hell I was listening to and she handed me "The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me" by Brand New. Now some of you probably know that Brand New hails from Long Island, NY and has been around since before the year 2000. Not what you would say is Brand New, but it's new to me so I thought I'd tell ya about 'em. Most would put them into the Punk/Pop category since they have opened for shitty ass bands like Good Charlotte and New Found Glory, but I would disagree. The opening track sounds like the Mars Volta with Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs on vox while the rest of the album continues on a dark, prog, punk, vocal harmonized rock journey (remember the band Menthol?) Good stuff...definitely worth checking out. The word is that the album before this entitled "Deja Entendu" is worthy of any record collection as well. Brand New has a few tunes on MySpace you can check out.

The Recording Industry Really is Trying to Kill Itself

Not content to just sue college kids for sharing or stealing songs across networks, the RIAA is now saying it's illegal to simply rip a CD to your own computer or mp3 player for your own personal use .

Washington Post Article

As Motley Fool recently observed with regard to Sony's stock outlook, "a good sign of a dying industry that investors might want to avoid is when it would rather litigate than innovate, signaling a potential destroyer of value." This has been the case with the music industry for years with the download battle, but with this new wrinkle, the RIAA has taken away every last reason anyone would want to buy a CD. They are cutting their own throats

I own an mp3 player, but I do not buy my music via download. Call me old fashioned, but I like CDs and LPs. I like having something physical to hold and touch, and I like to look at the album art, liner notes, etc. Also, I hate the way data compression makes music sound. But I love having access to lots of CDs on a tiny little mp3 player I can carry in my pocket, and I use my computer for theatrical sound designs, so I often rip music to my hard drive to edit and mix for sound cues. CDs give me the fidelity and tactile advantages I prefer, with the flexibility of being easily ripped for portable/professional use.

But if I have to worry about being sued for copying a CD to my laptop or ipod, why would I want to buy it? What the hell is the music industry thinking? This is the final nail in the coffin.