On Friday I helped a friend move some furniture out of his house. We rode the B38 MTA bus from Brooklyn Heights towards Clinton Hill. A baby was crying incessantly. My friend (who rides this bus daily) predicted that the next milestone would be when the mother gave the baby a big smack. Within five minutes of that statement, I heard a thundering ~thwap!~ that made me jump out of my seat. Of course, this didn't make the baby stop crying. I used to mock the ads instructing parents not to shake their babies...I am now thinking that I owe that ad agency a big donation.
Fast forward to this morning on the B61 bus. I watched as the bus driver twisted himself into a road rage so volatile that he began repeatedly thrusting his left hand into the window.
I think it's finally time to buy a Vespa. But will that mean I have to start listening to ska again?
Up until a few months ago The Wombats were one of the best unsigned bands in the world. Now they can move on to being one of the best signed bands in the world. Sounding a little like a twitchier, male-fronted Long Blondes and boasting the greatest song about moving to New York called ... "Moving To New York, The Wombats are ready for prime-time. They also have a song called, "Patricia, The Stripper" which is about a girl named Patricia who is, you guessed it, a stripper. And a whore. They also have a song about going to a wedding of someone you've slept with and feeling torn about whether or not they are, or ever were, attractive. So, lyrically, they are ... ambitious.
You can check their new single, "Kill The Director" over at their myspace and if you're feeling sinister you can check them when they finally arrive in New York on August 15th. The Annex will probably never be the same and you get the double bonus of The Head Set as an opener. Sonically, think of it like seeing a less impressive version of The Strokes before seeing a catchier version of The Futureheads. Now THAT, my friends, is a New York rock show - derivative, loud, and, yes, entirely awesome. And when it comes to overseas bands, you can't miss them because sometimes they don't come again.
The Winter Kids came and haven't come back. The Mess Hall came and haven't returned. The Long Blondes might not be back until the second Clinton administration and now The Wombats are passing quickly through the States, so catch them before they melt back to Europe forever.
So today is Wednesday and in the record industry, major or minor, it means one thing: record sales figures. Soundscan reports fall into administrative offices around the country and they either confirm or deny the public's faith in the label and their bands. So here's where we stood today:
Our Top 10 is still dominated by artists that you would expect and almost certainly controlled by albums you don't own. But what about further down? What about the bands we write about and the bands that buzz-out blogs and sell out dark, downtown venues?
The Interpol record, Our Love To Admire struggled in the 50s and has moved just over 100,000 units in its first three weeks on the chart. This cannot be what Capitol records had in mind when it was shelling out blank-check style money that some sources say totaled in the multi-millions. With little hope for a second single beyond "Heinrich Maneuver," the album could be dead in the water and may end up selling around quarter-million albums. Which, if they hit that target exactly, at about 12 bucks per album would generate 3,000,000 dollars in revenue or roughly break even. Let's put it this way, little bands signing to major labels can either go really well (Decemberists, Death Cab) or really badly. Mostly, Interpol has been a Carlos D.isappointment.
The Spoon album Ga^5 for all it's good press and overall quality, hung on to the mid-50s as well. In a third full-week, it has sold more than 70,000 copies. Merge can hardly be disgusted with this result and sales for the album should dwarf all previous Britt Daniel projects (Gimmie Fiction ended up around 100,000 for the entire run). Not only that but Merge can generally start clearing profit after selling 25,000 albums. Something that major labels can't claim in a meaningful way until sales are north of ten-times that amount.
Still, it seems that everyone is talking about Spoon and the talking may not matter. Ga^5 will definitely be in Rolling Stone, Spin, Blender and even the hate-able Pitchforkmedia as one of the best albums of the year. And it is. It is one of the best records of the year.
Then explain to me why even the effervescent, if forgettable, Colbie Caillat out-sells them? And why she’ll keep doing it? She may end up in the half-million range when all is said and done. Maybe more. Her record isn't bad either, but it’s not jumping up any slam-dunk, year-end, got-to-get-this-shit-now lists. We’re dealing with a credible band in Spoon and what is maybe their master-work (Gaaaaaaaaaaaaa) and it’s about to get dogged by a chick with no previous records and an audible musical-debt to early Jason Mraz.
So Merge makes money and Spoon makes a very good living and Universal gets paid and Colbie Caillat gets her cute little voice on the iTunes “Free Single of the Week.” No one is really losing here. It just seems like a weird state of affairs. That which is critically acclaimed (and not in an annoying way) is worth empirically less than a digestible, little girl with a spelling-bee last name. So why does it seem frustrating or inequitable?
This is a country where Rascal Flatts sold more than 4 million records. Wake up and smell the irony.
Last Thursday we had a little Loose Record expedition to the Liam and Me/Automatic Automatic show at the Bowery. Even against xtina's will, she showed up and even looked like she enjoyed herself once. Her on-going, silent feud with Liam and Me's infectious synth-rock reached it's climax the day before the show when she almost, almost refused to go. Despite her reservations she didn't scream "fuck this" during the set and even bounced her feet around once or twice. Maybe there is hope for Israel and Palestine.
The really shit got started after the show when Jon greeted Tom and I with a "There are my dogs!" Jon is our dog and we'll go to war or to drinks with him anytime. The basement bar at the Bowery was serving drinks with all-time hostility and speed. Pretty soon we were drunk again with Liam and Me and exchanging, overly rhetorical statements of fact.
Now, as an aside, I do believe this band is going to make it. Really going to make it.
But put six drinks in me and I have never been more sure of anything in my life. I will stand by both sides of the argument. Yes, they're going to make it. But, it sure helps to drink five rum and cokes to really wrap your mind around this band's potential.
The evening ended up at the Annex which was far too dark and far too loud. Not too loud to order more drinks and not too dark to drink them, however. In time, the night petered out as weekdays have a habit of doing and Tom and I rolled home sometime before three. Noah managed to drunkenly find the F-train and Micah got a ride home from Jon only to lose her nerve and not make a move.
Great night all around that led right into a ridiculous Friday night which ended with xtina, MaggieMcquade, Mina, and assorted others at MaggieMcquade's sometime around 6. I'd give the Essex St. McDonald's about a 5 for service but a solid 10 for being there when Noah and I needed you.
Tuesday night head down to the Mercury to check out The Virgins. Or just listen to them here. Your call. They go on just before 11.
On this rainy Sunday, DW and I were lazy-ing about in our respective homes, in our respective lazy-ing uniforms (courtesy of Fruit of the Loom and delia*s). Quite believably, our IM conversation lead us to muse over some fabulous internet merchandise.
Despite the high price tag, the custom quilts on this site are a prize for any Queensryche fan. Hell, I wanted the "Skullfucked" quilt before I even noticed the pentagrams. A tough choice between that and the "Bangover," which is giving me whiplash as I type this. Accepting sponsors now for my future $1700 queen-sized Queensryche quilt...
Last week at What The Heck Fest #6 in Anacortes, I ran into Jona from YACHT. He's got a new video out, directed by James Sumner. I suggest taking a hallucinogen of your choice before viewing. My tired eyes are not handling this one very well.
I prefer Jona's pleasing videologs of his latest trip to Japan:
Another bizarro music video has just been released by Liars, who will be touring with Interpol soon (also bizarro).
Earlier this week, for a variety of reasons that aren't worth explaining here, I was sitting in the offices of one of the Big Four. It was my first, up-close and personal experience with a major record label and looks like I'll be spending a little more time there. I share this unnecessary piece of personal information for two reasons 1) to be quite honest, it was exciting and 2) as a way of introducing a problem that I spend a lot of time thinking and talking about.
Just how relevant are these ridiculous little bands we cover? Really.
This is really an off-shoot of an elucidating conversation I had with someone about Tokyo Police Club. I referred to them as a "big band" without thinking what I was saying. Shit. They have 10 songs. They sell out in certain "hip" parts of the East Coast but put them in Columbus, OH on a weeknight and they might get outdrawn by an INXS cover band. And yet, they are a slam dunk in New York. Whether you like them or not (their music is not on trial here), you have to concede that they are a big indie draw. But just how much does it mean to be a "big indie draw?" How important are these bands?
Let's talk record sales for a second. It's been a solid year for some of the bigger "indie" bands like The Shins (debuted at number one on Billboard, biggest Sub Pop album without the name Nirvana on it), Interpol (who debuted at four and sold something like 100k week one copies), and Spoon (cracked the Billboard Top 10 in week one). But what about these other smaller bands with smaller labels, less distribution, fewer PR people? How many albums does a band like The Essex Green sell? They're not exactly tipping SoundScan despite having one of the best albums of 2005-2006. I would bet if they sold 15,000 albums all-time that would be a huge release and a financial success for everyone involved. So basically, if the same number of people as attend a minor league baseball game buy your album, you can be a big deal. A big deal to certain people. How out of touch is that?
In the grand scheme of things, an album released on any of the majors needs to move a serious number of units to be successful because of the amount of money invested in the entire project. Of course, a major label release should have a greater chance of success for all those same reasons. But, it's undeniable that music you and I would never buy, would never even think of buying, is what everyone else is buying. Does that make us smarter? Do we know more about music because we think The Plain White T's are brain-dead? Are we cooler? Edgier? Or are we just completely out of touch with whatever everyone else is into?
Look at this weeks Billboard Top 10. Is there any record there you own? Okay, girls own the Winehouse record but the rest of us, is there anything there I could even convince you to buy? T.I.? Let's talk rock. Linkin Park? Nickleback? Bon Jovi? What. The. Fuck.
So where are we left? Going nuts over "huge" bands that 99 percent of the country wouldn't know or wouldn't care about even if they heard them. Tell me Animal Collective is going to move units in Jacksonville? Broken Social Scene selling albums in Topeka? Don't think so. But here in New York, these bands make people's worlds stop on a dime. Just how many of you are buying Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem tickets tomorrow at noon? I am. But would someone in Salt Lake City do the same thing for a show that isn't happening until October? Would that show be an event on the same level in Kansas City?
We live in a kooky little bubble with a set of likes and dislikes that sets us diametrically opposed to the rest of the known universe. Now, does that make us smart or really fucking dumb? I couldn't tell you, I'm trying to get tickets to the sold out Tokyo Police Club show in New Jersey. I mean, they're playing with Ra Ra Riot and Vampire Weekend. Does it get any bigger?
Here, not really. Almost everywhere else, more than yes.
IN: Self-help parenting books
