Category: Music

His marriage falling apart, something like 24 hours of no sleep, Elvis Costello sits down for this one-take video (save final shot) of a song from an album he still disowns. Watch him break down around 1:20 (and again at 2:20), I think it’s real. (You can take what you think about ’80s production, echo-ed vocals, and sax breaks and stick it.)
Sniff. And that’s as most as I get to personal on my blog.

Rolling Stone has an article up about Who Killed the Record Industry. Answer: the companies themselves.

So who killed the record industry as we knew it? “The record companies have created this situation themselves,” says Simon Wright, CEO of Virgin Entertainment Group, which operates Virgin Megastores. While there are factors outside of the labels’ control — from the rise of the Internet to the popularity of video games and DVDs — many in the industry see the last seven years as a series of botched opportunities. And among the biggest, they say, was the labels’ failure to address online piracy at the beginning by making peace with the first file-sharing service, Napster. “They left billions and billions of dollars on the table by suing Napster — that was the moment that the labels killed themselves,” says Jeff Kwatinetz, CEO of management company the Firm. “The record business had an unbelievable opportunity there. They were all using the same service. It was as if everybody was listening to the same radio station. Then Napster shut down, and all those 30 or 40 million people went to other [file-sharing services].”

I would also add a few other factors:
1) Getting rid of singles, and forcing people to buy an album for one song. Another reason people started grabbing MP3s.
2) Never dropping the price on CDs, but instead jacking it up to about $18. A crime.
3) Shameless CEO salaries.
4) Being Lowest Common Denominator about everything.
Also, why don’t record companies sell CDs for cheap at concerts? That’s a major audience who are ready to impulse buy. I’m sure there’s some stizoopid legal reason for this, but I’ve always seen this as a missed opportunity.

Madness finally return with a new song and a new video. Er, it’s just okay. They don’t do anything particularly interesting, it looks like it was quickly shot during somebody’s lunch break. The video doesn’t really show off the full band–are Chrissy Boy, Lee Thompson, and Mike Barson still in the band? Not that you can tell…Still, a new album is coming soon. Let’s hope it’s better than this makes it out to be. Oh yeh, and this has GUEST STARS rapping during the break. Ah. Yes.

There’s also an all-Madness version here.

This is the brand new video for Togenkyo, shot in front of a series of ramen-ya of various “class” levels. A very odd song, or really, three songs slapped together.

This one came out last year? I have no idea, never heard it before. But nice Rubic’s Cube theme. However, neither are as good as Tandem, what can I say?

The Specials – Ghost Town

and a BBC documentary on the song. Educated yo’self!

Check out the 8-year-olds dancing at 4:50! Ace!!

I’m sorry, but this may be the best thing I’ve seen all month. And it’s in my head! And it’s in German!! Hilfe!
How many music vids contain both a Godard reference and a Goatse one?
Thanks to Chris for sending this on!

Well, I didn’t think that would ever happen. Stewart Copeland, still one of the finest drummers…ever!