Best of 2009: Top 10 Amazon Picks

1) Neko Case
2) Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3) Phoenix
4) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
5) The Avett Brothers
6) Girls
7) Animal Collective
8) K'Naan
9) Jay-Z
10) Camera Obscura

Two of Amazon's Top 10 bands are playing shows in NYC tonight (11/6): Girls and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

I kid. I kid. But Pitchfork did just post news about this mysterious new "Fall Be Kind" Animal Collective record that Amazon is selling (release date: December 8, 2009).

PREVIOUSLY: Pitchfork announces the top 20 albums of the decade

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UPDATE 2: Domino just posted this to their website (thx Philip!)...

UPDATE 3: Domino's header can be updated by anyone?!? (thx J!)...

UPDATE: "Fall Be Kind" (if it exists) is not to be confused with the just-announced Campfire Songs re-release scheduled for January 2010. The press release for that one is below....

Continue reading "'Top Albums of 2000s' accuracy called into question: Animal Collective to release another record before end of year?"

DOWNLOAD: Brighton Port Authority - Seattle (w/ Emmy the Great) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Brighton Port Authority - Toe Jam (w/ David Byrne) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Brighton Port Authority - He's Frank (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Brighton Port Authority - Should I Stay or Should I Blow (MP3)

The Brighton Port Authority (Fatboy Slim)'s album "I Think We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat" won't be released until February, except on Amazon.com where you can get it now. Guest contributors to the album include Iggy Pop, Jack Penate, Dizzee Rascal, Emmy the Great, Jamie T, Martha Wainwright, and David Byrne. David's song (the one with the racy video) is "Toe Jam". That's also the song they're giving away the parts for if you want to make your own remix (though the contest part of it is over).

Tickets for David Byrne's 2nd NYC show at Radio City Music Hall go on regular-sale today/Monday at 10AM. The few-day-old presale is now over. All of David's tour dates are listed HERE.

Emmy the Great recently visited America for NYC's CMJ Music Marathon. "America" is the topic in The BPA's 2nd single "Seattle" that she sings on. Grab the MP3 above. Watch the video for that, and the one David & Dizzee sing in, below...

Continue reading "Brighton Port Authority out on Amazon, David Byrne tickets on sale, Emmy the Great -- MP3's & videos "

by Black Bubblegum

NIN in Atlantic City, NJ (more by Zach Dilgard)

Got a few weeks to kill? Time to break out that new hard drive that you got over the holidays.

"The internet is full of surprises these days.
I was contacted by a mysterious, shadowy group of subversives who SOMEHOW managed to film a substantial amount (over 400 GB!) of raw, unedited HD footage from three separate complete shows of our Lights in the Sky tour. Security must have been lacking at these shows because the quality of the footage is excellent". -Trent Reznor

And in the forum....

There is about 405gb of HD footage available. It was recorded with multiple consumer HDV cameras during three shows: Victoria 12.05.08, Portland 12.07.08, and Sacramento 12.12.08.

This is raw, unedited, un-color-corrected HD footage. It will be primarily of interest to advanced users, who may wish to attempt to edit it together into something. It could be really interesting to see what creative users can put together using this and other fan-recorded footage. These guys are off to a great start already.

...The footage is available as a free download via bitTorrent. If you don't know what bitTorrent is, please go to this link and read every word of it before you ask anyone on the forums what to do with the torrent files. [NIN Forum]

The release of these torrents has PC World asking if NIN is the first "open source band". If so, there's more proof that open source is the way to go, because despite giving away their album Ghosts I-IV for free, it was Amazon's best selling digital album of 2008.

In related news...

NIN's other new album "The Slip" is still available as a free download.

NIN keyboared player Alessandro Cortini has left the band "to concentrate on his own projects".

Marilyn Manson wants Dita Von Teese and Trent Reznor to testify in court.

Jim DeRogatis says the Trent-produced Saul Williams album Niggy Tardust was one of the best of 2008.

NIN are playing some shows in Australia in February. No other tour dates at this time.

DOWNLOAD: Six Organs of Admittance - Jade Like Wine (new MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Valerie Project - Introduction (new MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Major Stars - Portable Freak Factory (new MP3)

Is $7 an album enough to keep an indie label in the black? Not according to Rian Murphy, sales manager at Drag City Records. Murphy's label decided to pull its catalog from digital subscription service eMusic because it had to sell three times the amount of songs to make the slim profit iTunes already provided. The service provides plans that can whittle the price of a song down to 27 cents — appetizing to consumers but nauseating for artists.

"Keep your eye on the bottom line, and if it doesn't make sense, don't do it," Murphy said. "Things become known eventually. You don't really have to force them down people's throats."

Murphy says it's up to independent labels to resist slashing their own prices just to fit someone else's corporate business model. Drag City albums sell for $9.99 on iTunes and $8.99 on Amazon, though Murphy says Amazon is swallowing the difference.

"There are too many people out there who don't value their own exposure, who want (their music) to get to the maximum number of people and they don't care what they have to do," Murphy said. "This is the reason, as far as I'm concerned, that the industry is in trouble." [The Seattle Times]

Six Organs of Admittance's new album Shelter From The Ash is out November 20th on Drag City ($15.98 at Amazon...or is it?). The Valerie Project and Major Stars also have new albums coming out on Drag City that day. Tour Dates, and more info, below...

Continue reading ""Indie rock, get to know capitalism. Or else.""