Archive for the ‘rant’ Category

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Kill Mother Fucking Depeche Mode

Monday, June 20th, 2011

It’s tough to be a “good fan” these days.

By “good fan” I mean someone who ignores the pre-release leak blogs, the torrent sites and the file-sharing services and actually pays their hard-earned cash to buy the album legit when it comes out. Someone who coughs up the extra dough for a physical version, not because they think it sounds better, but because they think music still holds some value, not something that’s as disposable as any other downloaded file on a hard drive.

I consider me one of those people. I try so hard to respect and value the bands I love, even when it seems like they are going out of their way to make it as hard as possible for me to do so.

I’ve expressed my disdain before for “exclusive” tracks. Simply put, I think they are bullshit, nothing more than a cheap way for a band to make a quick cash grab when music sales alone aren’t enough. Things have gotten a little better in recent years. It used to be that “exclusive” tracks on iTunes or on like services were only available if you bought the whole album. At least nowadays they’re usually available individually. So if a group wants to stick a B-side up as an “exclusive” track for iTunes or Amazon, I’m willing to live with it.

But sometimes it just goes too far. And if there’s any band who’s “good” at taking the whole “exclusive” thing too far, it’s fucking Depeche Mode.

When they released Sounds Of The Universe in 2008, they put out several versions. One of them was an awesome Deluxe Box Set Edition that cost around $100. That version came with not only the complete album and a ton of nifty booklets, postcards and neat bonus goodies, but two additional CDs of remixes and demos as well. Sure, it was pricey and a bit excessive, but when you got that version you felt like really got your money’s worth.

Well, not really. You see, there was also another deluxe version that was only available through iTunes on their now-defunct iTunes Pass service. This edition of the album included 18 or so additional remixes, most of which were not made available on the Deluxe Box Set Edition. It cost a bit more than the standard version, but it sure as hell cost less than the $100 that the deluxe box did.

Basically, Depeche Mode was saying that if you really wanted all the content associated with Sounds Of The Universe, then spending $100 for the Deluxe Edition wasn’t good enough. You were going to have to buy the album twice.

Now, I’m sorry, but I feel that if I spend $100 on an album, on the physical deluxe edition of the record, the one that I had to pre-order on import to get, then I feel like I should be getting the best version of that album. I should get the most bang for the my buck.

Well, apparently Depeche Mode doesn’t feel the same way, because they’re at it again. Two weeks ago Remixes 2: 81-11, their latest remix compilation, came out. When this was announced, I knew I had to get it on vinyl, if for no other reason than to match my vinyl copy of their first remix collection. So I went ahead and pre-ordered the insanely expensive 6LP edition.

Since I live in US, I had to pay import price for this box set, so it cost me over $100. I finally got it in the mail last Friday. I clawed my way into the packaging, eagerly anticipating to discover what my $100 got me.

Did it get me a download card with access to digital versions of all the tracks? Nope.

Did it get me any exclusive tracks? Nope.

Does nearly every other (far less expensive) version of the album come with exclusive tracks? Yup.

Did I go ahead and find all the exclusive tracks online with plans of hosting them here? You bet your ass.

Depeche Mode
Master And Servant (RSS Remix)
In Chains (Myer vs Wilder Deconstruction)
Sister Of Night (Ida Engberg’s Giving Voice To The Flame Remix)
Sister Of Night (Ida Engberg’s Walking Through The Light Dub)
Sweetest Perfection (Phil Kieran Vocal Miix)
Sweetest Perfection (Phil Kieran Remix Dub)
Personal Jesus (Alex Metric Dub)
I Want It All (Roland M. Dill Lunar Dub Remix)
The Sinner In Me (SixToes Remix)
The Sun And The Rainfall (Black Light Odyssey’s Further Excerpts)
The thing that really irks me about most of these exclusive cuts is that they aren’t really exclusive. For example, as Depeche Mode’s official site (which I am not linking to for obvious reasons) points out, “The Sun And The Rainfall (Black Light Odyssey’s Further Excerpts)” is an “exclusive” track for not only HMV in England, but also for Nokia in Finland; Napster in Germany; both FNAC and Virgin Media in France;  Net Music in Italy, and for Aspiro in other parts of Europe.

“Regional exclusive” and “exclusive” are not the same thing. Of course, all those stores want you to think that their version is special for some reason, so they won’t mention that.

And in some cases, like with the iTunes or Amazon exclusive tracks, if you don’t live in America or England, you’re just fucked and you cannot buy them. For some reason, if you live in the “wrong” country you aren’t able to buy digital music from other counties. Apparently MP3s can’t be imported and exported. I’m sure there’s a reason for that, and I’m sure it’s for the benefit of billion-dollar record companies and not the consumer.

What’s really fucked is that these aren’t even all the exclusive remixes! The online music store Beatport actually has an exclusive version of the album, but I don’t know if I consider that to be the same thing. Beatport is for DJs primarily, and the versions they have are almost all dub and instrumental cuts for DJs, so I’m not going to share those. But the fact that there’s a whole other version of this album that’s only available digitally and not to people who shelled out $100 for a deluxe vinyl set is kind of fucked up.

And even if you think “exclusive” tracks are just great and not fucking over hardcore fans, the fact that I was still able to find all of these tracks online in just 30 minutes of searching shows that, at the end of the day, they’re a pretty fucking useless way of encouraging MP3 sales.

Posted in Depeche Mode, rant, remixes | 31 Comments »

Some Dirty Shit

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

Has anyone out there heard The Black Eyed Peas’ “The Time (Dirty Bit)”? I managed to avoid it for a while because I don’t listen to pop radio. But the gym I workout at has started playing it over and over (and over and over) the past few weeks, so now I can’t escape its inhuman fury. If you are really curious as to the level of its awfulness, watch the (equally awful) video here. It’s bad. You’ve been warned.

Next to “My Humps,” “The Time (Dirty Bit)” is probably the worst piece of pop shit that The Black Eyed Peas have ever unleashed onto the public. For those of you who just want a brief explanation as to why its so bad, I think Deadspin’s Drew Magary says it best:

GAHHH IT’S EVEN FUCKING WORSE THERE IS NO JESUS! IT’S LIKE YOUR MOTHER BEING KILLED AND SOMEONE AUTOTUNED HER SCREAMS OF AGONY!

He sums it up quite well. But allow me to elaborate a (dirty) bit.

“The Time (Dirty Bit)” might just be the first song to feature every single thing I hate about modern pop music and mash it all together into one unholy abomination of shit. There’s the blatant sample of a classic used only to create a radio hook; the overused autotune, the meaningless lyrics about partying and fucking; the hideous chiptune-inspired melody that sounds like it was lifted from a broken NES game. It’s all there and it’s all shit. Shit that gets in my damn head and refuses to leave until I force it out with an injection of Madonna, Kylie, or some other artist who can actually create, good, catchy pop music.

I mean, my GOD. Its horrible. Its success makes me weep more for the youth of America than any other shitstained style-over-substance piece of computer-enhanced trash they seem to be going for as of late.

Sure, there are worst bands out there than The Black Eyed Peas, but what makes me so upset is that they used to be good! I bet you didn’t know that The Black Eyed Peas used to be a critically acclaimed alternative rap group! Its true! Check out the awesome video for Joints & Jam. See that amazing woman singing the chorus (which is a tasteful lift from the theme to “Grease” that isn’t a blatant attempt drawing pop appeal)? That’s Kim Hill.

Kim Hill is the shit. She left the group before their (not bad) second album came out. I read an interview with her once where she said that the label was pressuring them to write songs that would eventually become booty-anthems like “My Humps” and she didn’t want any part of that. Kim Hill is an intelligent woman who wants to be taken seriously as a singer and writer. She wanted to be taken seriously so much that she literally walked away from millions in order to maintain her integrity and avoid degrading herself for cash.

Luckily for Will.I.Am and the other two remaining members of The Black Eyed Peas they found Fergie, a woman who obviously has no such qualms about objectifying herself for the sake of a quick buck. Want someone to sing about their “lovely lady lumps” and then put on a girl scout outfit and roll around in candy? Fergie’s your woman! The sad thing is that Fergie isn’t that bad a singer, she just allows herself to be degraded and shit upon for the sake of album sales. Maybe she’s afraid to do something honest and real because she doesn’t want to end up like Kim Hill and chucked out of the band for another pop tart who will eagerly take her place? Geez, that’s even more depressing.

Man, now I’m bummed. I’m going to go listen to “Request + Line.” Hopefully the group that made that track will record another album someday.

Ryuichi Sakamoto
Love And Hate (Hate Mix)
Love And Hate (Message Mix – Single Edit)
Love And Hate (Love Mix)
Love And Hate (NYC Personal Mix)
Moving On (12” Mix)
Moving On (No Drum Pass)
Moving On (Radio Mix)
Ryuichi Sakamoto is the keyboardist to Yellow Magic Orchestra, a band I love. He also is an Oscar-wining composer, having done original scores for films like The Last Emperor, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence and Snake Eyes. He also did the score to Seven Samurai 20XX video game. What I’m saying is, the dude gets around. I don’t have much of his solo pop work, just these two singles. However, if they are any indication as to the quality of his work, I should really get some more. Anyone have any recommendations? I hear good things about Neo Geo.

The  vocalist on the “Love And Hate” mixes is Holly Johnson, who you may know as the lead singer of everyone’s favorite band of perverts, Frankie Goes To Hollywood. I do not know who handles the vocals for “Moving On” so any help would be appreciated.

Hopefully I’ll have more Sakamoto-related work later this week.

Paperboy
Ditty (Radio Mix)
Ditty (New Hype Mix)
Man, now THIS is a jam. What happened to hip hop man? Sure there’s some good indie and alternative shit out there. But now its all Autotune and programmed beats. Its a drag! Someone recommend me good new hip hop that doesn’t use Autotune! That’s a requirement, no Autotune. These are from a 12” single.

Posted in Paperboy, rant, remixes, Ryuichi Sakamoto | 11 Comments »

Not Pretty, Still Vacant.

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

Fucking hipsters man…

I hinted upon this on my last post. I went to the Girl Talk show in Pittsburgh this Saturday. And while I had a blast at the show. Something struck me a bit…odd about the crowd.

Allow me to list some of the fashion decisions I saw first hand

  • Pink sequin dress with dayglo fanny pack
  • TWO white men dressed like Michael Jackson circa Beat It.
  • A woman rocking a full on Native American headdress
  • JEGGINGS EVERYWHERE
  • Fat men with sports glasses and bushy, unkempt beards (thanks, Dan Deacon)
  • Cute girls wearing sports goggles
  • Short gym shorts on men (also, its fucking COLD here)
  • A green suit guy
  • A man dressed as a banana
  • Two girls rocking full geisha wear

Okay, that’s it. I officially do not “get it” anymore. I’m old. I do not understand what is going on. Why the hell are these kids dressing up in clothes that are intentionally ugly as hell and in most cases, not at all flattering (jeggings notwithstanding) ? I think I know. Its the fucking hipsters man. They’re ruining it for everyone.

There’s been much debate over what qualifies a “hipster” these days. Some people think all you need to be a hipster is a love of ultra-obscure indie bands, but I think that has almost nothing to do with it – at least with the hipsters that annoy me.

Hipsters today…they don’t seem to really care about, or really love, anything. Everything is a joke or a show. Nothing is authentic. They’re pop culture tourists, grabbing snippets of things here and there for their own shallow needs. Some hipster kid sees Heavy Metal Parking Lot, so he downloads some Dokken and buys a cheap denim jacket. A hipster chick sees a Siouxsie and Banshees video so she decides that the Indian headress look is hot this year. Michael Jackson dies, so now everyone is a die-hard MJ fan again, and simply must have a vintage Beat It jacket. The don’t know anything about what they are cribbing from, other than that they think it might make them look uncool in the way that matters the most.

Remember back in the 90s when everyone wore inconspicuous thin-framed glasses? Then Weezer got cool again, and kids started rocking the thick frames like Rivers Cuomo (I’m sure there was more to it than just Rivers, but that’s the only example I can think of off the top of my head). They were so “uncool” they became cool.

Well, they’re no longer fake-uncool, they’re straight-up cool. So now hipsters are rocking aviator frames and sports goggles! Two of the most uncomfortable and disgustingly ugly forms of eye-wear ever devised by man! Just in an effort to be intetionally uncool in a way that might make them seem cool! What’s next? Monocles?

You combine this intentional “uncool” with the casual appreciation with things like 80s culture and vintage fashion, and that’s how a normally cute girl ends up wearing pink sequins, a turquoise blouse with shoulder pads and rocking a fannypack with neon highlights, looking like she was dressed by kids on the special ed bus.

But whatever, fashion has always been moronic, now its just ironically moronic. I can deal with that. The shit that really gets me pissed is the bullshit fake interest in everything. The appropriation of shit I love (80s music and fashion) into knock-off, intentionally “ironic” bullshit.  That’s how you get asshole fake retro-sounding bands like Owl City. Its not like these assholes are really appreciating this stuff, they’re just faking it. Pretending that they think its cool because other people told them that it might be someday. When its runs its course they just sell it all back to the thrift store they found it from and move on.

They kill culture, sucking up all relevance it had and turning into a joke, something they can ironically mock in a pseudo self-referential way while sipping PBR and listening to Broken Social Scene. They ruin it for everyone. Because after the hipsters make their way through a subculture or music scene, anyone who had any actual real interest in it goes away, terrified that they might be mistaken for one of those soulless asshats.

I’m just dreading when they move onto grunge rock (I’m already seeing the flannel look come back). I wonder if they’ll bother with other 90s music trends. Where’s the love for horrible 90s pop music? That’s it, I’m calling it – get ready for the big Jesus Jones revival in 2012!

Erasure
 Oh L’Amour (Tin Tin Out Mix)
Oh L’Amour (Matt Darey Mix)
Solsbury Hill (Manhattan Clique Extended Remix)
The Erasure love continues! Quick disclaimer though, the “Tin Tin Out Mix” is slightly messed up. There’s a very small skip in the middle of the song I could not fix, and the very last note skips once. I couldn’t fix that either. But neither gaff is really worth worrying about. Besides, the “Matt Darey Mix” is much better, and any version of Erasure’s cover of “Solsbury Hill” trumps them all.

Praga Khan
 Love (Insider Remix)
The Moon (C.S. Johansen Remix)
Love (Dan Maze Remix)
Praga Khan’s real name is Maurice. If my name was Maurice, I’d bastardize Chaka Khan’s name for my own personal gain as well. These are from the 12” single to “Love.”

Muse
Super Massive Black Hole (Phones Control Voltage Mix)
Songs about interstellar phenomenon should not be this sexy. From a bootleg 12” called “Indie Rock n Roll Remixed.”

Posted in Erasure, Muse, Praga Khan, rant, remixes | 12 Comments »

The Summit in Columbus and Diesel in Pittsburgh, a Tale of Two Shitty Venues

Friday, October 29th, 2010

I went to four concerts (and an AMAZING Zombie Opera) in two weeks. So…I’m kind of insane. For those interested, the concerts were Jill Sobule, The Octopus Project, Foxy Shazam and The New Pornographers.

I go to many, many concerts, but four in two weeks is a lot even for me, especially since the Foxy concert was in Columbus and I am in Pittsburgh. Making that three and a half hour trek back at 12:30 was really fucking stupid. Even stupider was that the New Pornographers show was the next day, meaning I slept about five hours, woke up, worked, then drove to the concert, which was thankfully in Pittsburgh. By the end of that show I was about ready to sleep for 80 hours.

The Jill Sobule and Octopos Project concerts very fun. Sobule is still a blast to see even in the tiniest of venues, and The Octopus Project remain one of the most intense live acts I have ever seen. I even reviewed The Octopus Project show. You should read that.

I also reviewed the Foxy Shazam show. Read that. Read about how Foxy Shazam was nearly ruined by the shittiness of The Summit in Columbus.

I touch upon it in my review, but allow me to elaborate. The Summit in Columbus is a shithole. A horrible, hard-to-find, disgusting shithole. It has nasty bathrooms (even for a dive bar) and a shit bar that doesn’t serve water! No, for that you have to go to a self-serve cooler where you pour water into dixie cups. Yeah, that’s sanitary. There was no lock on that cooler either, meaning anyone could spike it with anything.

But worst of all, the place sounds like shit. The aucoustics are junk and the sound system looks like its held together by duct tape and a dream. Like I say in my review, Foxy Shazam’s audio kept cutting out during their set, because the sound system wasn’t powerful enough to handle them. It’s too bad that Eric (the lead singer of Foxy) lost his cool during the show and took it out on the promoter, because I talked to the promoter beforehand and he seemed like a really nice, really cool guy. Maybe that explains how he got sucked into booking a show at such a god awful shithole. My advice to that guy is to cut his ties with anyone at that blight upon Columbus and find another dive bar to book shows at, maybe one with a professional sound guy.

While The Summit at Columbus sucks, there is a bit of purity to its suckiness. When you walk into a dive like The Summit, you don’t exactly expect quality sound and sanitary bathrooms. That’s what makes Diesel in Pittsburgh a way worse place to see a concert; it looks like it should be a great place for a show. The stage is well lit, there appears to be plenty of room to see the band from wherever you are in the club, and the bars look well stocked and clean.

The reality is that Diesel is by far, one of the worst places in the country to see live music. Each end of the main floor is bookended by these bizarre raised sections that are nearly the height of the stage. That makes them a great place to see the show, but it also means anyone behind them won’t see shit.

It’s even worse on the second floor, which is a balcony that surrounds the main floor below. The entire balcony is lined with VIP seating areas, complete with couches and tables. These look really neat, and I’m sure they are a great place to do coke on a Saturday night, but they screw everyone else over. While a group of 4-8 people enjoy the lush VIP area, the poor masses huddled behind them can’t see shit because they can’t get close enough to look over the VIP’s heads. And I couldn’t see shit, and I’m 6’6”, so that is saying something.

The biggest problem with Diesel is that it sells its shows to capacity, and when that place is filled to capacity its impossible for everyone, or even half the audience, to get a good view of the stage. Its a giant clusterfuck that’s really hard to explain, but take my word for it. In the event of a sell out I would venture that at least 30-40 percent of the crowd wouldn’t be able to see shit for the entire show.

And the place sounds like shit because, as Neko Case pointed out during the New Pornographers’ set, the entire place is coated from head to toe in relfective surfaces.

I don’t to go out on that negativity, so let me end with a recommendation. If you’re in Pittsburgh and want to see a show, go to Mr. Smalls. That’s the best live venue I’ve ever been in. It has perfect acoustics, a nice bar and even the bathrooms aren’t that terrifying.

Blur
Black Book
Bustin’ + Dronin’
Headist/Into Another
Metal Hip Slop – Graham’s Bugman Remix
Money Makes Me Crazy (Marrakech Mix)
So You
Tender (Cornelius Remix)
Trade Stylee – Alex’s Bugman Remix
My ratio of “Amount of Blur singles I own” to “Amount that I actually like Blur” is crazy out of whack. Don’t get me wrong, I dig Blur, but I only  own three proper Blur albums (and none are Parklife) while I own about a billion Blur CD singles, an import copy of Bustin’ + Dronin’ and even a few 12” singles.  Why? They were cheap. And in the case of some of these, I needed to hear me some remixes of Bugman. I love that stupid-ass song. I posted slightly shittier sounding versions of “Bustin + Dronin'” and the remix to “Tender” before, but the rest of these are all new and taken from CD singles I picked up a few months ago. “Headist/Into Another” is amazing by the way.

Rihanna
Umbrella (Jody Den Broeder Destruction Radio Edit)
Umbrella (Jody Den Broeder Destruction Remix)
Umbrella (Jody Den Broeder Lush Club Remix)
Umbrella (Jody Den Broeder Lush Radio Edit)
Umbrella (Seamus Haji & Paul Emanuel Radio Edit)
Umbrella (The Lindbergh Palace Dub)
Ela-ay ay ay. Why not? These are from a promo CD single I bought used for a buck. I love this song.

Posted in Blur, rant, remixes, Rihanna | 7 Comments »

Lollapadouches vs. the greatest band in the world.

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

Downside of having this new site? I get about 10-20 spam comments a day. They all use the same form text to make it look like they aren’t spam too, “Great site and very informative did you know about…” Sigh. My favorite was the one that said my blog was well-written and easy on the eyes. We know that motherfucker was lying don’t we?

Anyways, Lollapalooza was last weekend. I was there, I’ve been going to Lolla ever since it became a destination festival in 2005, and I’ll be going to it as long as it remains that way. However, longtime readers of my blog will know that there are certain things about festivals (and concerts as a whole) that really annoy me.  Most of these things are behaviors my fellow concert goers partake in.

The number one rude, offensive and idiotic behavior that attendees at Lolla seem to partake in is talking OVER the music.  What I’m talking about isn’t a passing comment or random “Whoooo!” I am talking about idiots who TALK LOUDLY over the music that is being played.

I will never understand this! Why, why the hell would you pay 200 bucks at stand outside in the horrible humid heat to talk while the band is playing?

Now listen, I’m not a total asshole. I get that Lollapalooza is a three day outdoor festival, and that you’re going to have to talk sometime. And that’s fine. You know what? You can even talk during the music, go nuts. But don’t muscle your way to the front of the stage like an asshole and then blabber about random bullshit while people around you, who actually showed up to the stage early to fucking HEAR the music being played, try in vain to hear the music over your blaring stupid ass voice.

I’ve been complaining about this for three years now. It’s rarely gotten better. This year was exceptionally bad, especially at the DJ stage, where people acting like they were at a nightclub and not a concert venue. So many people were talking over 2ManyDJs that there were times where I actually couldn’t hear the damn music. What the fuck? Don’t they care that some people actually want to hear the music? You may be thinking “talking isn’t that loud,” but guess what, it is. Especially if you have earplugs on. The talking of the idiots around you is crystal clear.

I just don’t get it. At the very least you think people would worry about how they appear to others.

Don’t they worry that some of those people might have cameras?

These two pricks were the dickhead straw that broke my anal rententive back. They. Never. Shut. Up. Not once. Not during the entire performance. Not only that, they seemed to follow me!

There they are again! Still blabbering on, stopping me from hearing 2ManyDJ’s awesome mix of MGMT’s Kids.

Then there was this guy. He appeared to be checking out many asses of women and then commenting on them. Thanks for your input dude, I totally couldn’t tell that one chick was hot until you blurted it out.

You may be thinking to yourself, “Geez, man, it was a DJ set, lighten up. People listen to that shit to party and have a good time.”

First of all, you’re wrong, it’s a concert. Second of all, okay then, what about this backwards cap, iron cross wearing motherfucker? This was during Nneka’s set. Now, for those of you who do not know, Nneka is a brilliant singer-songwriter with an amazing voice. Most of her songs are very quiet. So quiet that if some dickhead in a tanktop wants to, he can ruin it for EVERYONE around him just by talking loudly. Congrats dude.

“What? I can’t hear you? Speak up? Wait…WHAT?”

Okay, talking on your phone during a concert is so damn stupid that they even advise against it in the fucking program. This was during Dragonette, we were about 20 feet away from the stage. The singer (who is amazing btw) was asking the audience to sing along). It was kind of a beautiful moment. A beautiful moment this fucking idiot was not a part of because she thought that was a good time to pick up her phone and make a damn call.

Gogol Bordello is one of the greatest live bands on the planet. These idiots wouldn’t know that though. They never shut up during the whole thing. So yeah, the guys with aviator shades and popped collars were annoying. Shocker, I know.

This one blew my mind. This was during X Japan. These assholes actually tried to talk over X Japan. What was funny was that they weren’t trying it during one of the band’s many slow numbers, but instead during an insane double-bass drum explosive of awesome. (Seriously, X Japan was the shit, more on them in a bit.) Surprise, they couldn’t hear each other. That didn’t stop them from talking LOUDER though, before eventually leaving.

I know my blog isn’t huge. Odds are no one who was a dick at these shows will find this post. And it’s doubtful that anyone who is unfortunate enough to know these idiots will stumble across this page as well. But hell, it sure makes me feel better.

X Japan
Orgasm (Live)
X (Live 1989)
X (Live 1993)
20th Century Boy

Oh, yeah. There was a concert too! Lolla this year was pretty good. I did some blogging of it for Big Shot Magazine. Go read that (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3) and enjoy. If you want to look at the pretty pictures, check out my Flickr.

I would like to comment further on one band I saw this weekend, that band being X Japan.

Holy shit. These guys were incredible. In just one hour they delivered more raw emotion, power, and energy than just about every other band I saw (Foxy Shazam being a notable exception). I knew of X Japan before this performance, but I never really gave them a chance. Dragonforce and Helloween aside, I’m not that into power metal. Goddamn what was I missing all these years? Immediately after getting back from Chicago I bought Blue Blood, one of their only albums available in the states (and the one with the awesome song “X” that is playing above) and have barely stopped listening to it since. Their music is like a double-bass pounding drug infecting my brain with awesome. Damn it’s great.

Sure, hide might not be with us anymore (RIP) and they aren’t as bad-ass as they used to be, but if there is any justice, the newly reformed X Japan will finally take over America (and the rest of the world) when they release their new album.

Most of X Japan’s music is rare in America. Only a handful of their albums were release in the states, so I could really post just about anything. I decided to focus on the live stuff, because that’s where X Japan really shines. These are from various albums and singles that I grabbed online. (Um…just say no to piracy kids.) I think “X” is should be their signature song if it isn’t already, but the live version of Orgasm comes in (punny!) at a close second. Their take on “20th Century Boy” is just silly, but still pretty damn awesome.

Posted in live, rant, X Japan | 18 Comments »

Furries, eMusic and Def Leppard (in that order)

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

Okay, tonight I have a very schizophrenic post for you all.

First things first, I went to AnthroCon this weekend, the largest furry convention in the world. Now, I am not a furry, but the con was literally 10 minutes from my house and since one of my best friends from college (who is a furry) was coming in for it I thought I’d go with to see what all the furry fuss was about.

It was…weird. I don’t get it and I don’t think I ever will. However, they night they had a rave, and I love me some techno. I also figured this would be a great chance to get some amazingly bizarre video and I was right, so check out my YouTube channel for furry insanity on the dance floor.

On the completely other end of the spectrum, I’m pissed off about something. Shocker I know.

I don’t buy a lot of music online, I prefer to own a physical copy of my tunes, primarily because I don’t trust my hard drive but also because I think not having a physical copy devalues the music experience (it’s complicated and not the point of tonight’s rant). When I do buy music online I generally buy it from eMusic. I’ve been a subscriber to eMusic for years now and have always found their monthly subscription plan options to be a great deal. For years I on a $19.99 monthly plan that gave me 75 tracks. That’s a partly 26 cents a track. Bitchin’.

I love eMusic not only because of how cheap the music is, but because of the music they have available. It’s a great place to pick up electronic music, I found a ton of excellent and hard to find drum ‘n’ bass, experimental electronica and other odd shit that sure as hell wouldn’t be on iTunes.

But things on eMusic are changing. This month they added Sony’s back catalog to their service. So now in addition to downloading the latest tracks by Venetian Snares, Ed Rush and Dan Deacon, I can get vintage Bruce Springsteen, The Clash and even Pearl Jam. Sounds awesome right? Oh hell no.

First of all in order to do this they had to change their pricing. My $19.99 a month plan no longer exists, it was replaced by a $20.79 plan. That doesn’t sound to bad right? Well, they also cut 25 tracks out of that deal. Now I only get 50. Although it’s not 50 tracks, it’s 50 “credits.”

Before this every track cost the same, and everything was priced per track. So if you bought a 5-track EP it took five download off your limit, if you bought an album that had 30 tracks, it cost you 30 downloads. There were problems with that system to be sure (you wouldn’t buy classical music or a mix CD with that set up) but it allowed me to score a shitload of EPs dirt-cheap, and you would occasionally find an epic one-track CD, netting you an hour or so of music for the cost of a single download.

Now its by credits, individual songs still cost one credit, but if you elect to buy by the album your pricing will vary. Sometimes its good, most regular length albums cost 12 credits, even if they have upwards of 18 songs. That’s like getting six songs for free. However, there are some massive fuckups with this system. Want this 3 Song Sampler by Foo Fighters, that’ll be 12 credits. Why? Who knows . What about the two track Springsteen single for “My Hometown“? That’ll set you back 12 credits as well. Ditto goes for the Franz Ferdinand remix EP, four tracks – 12 credits.

You may be thinking “well, I’ll just download the one song I like off the album then.” Well…fuck you that’s not going to happen. Many (so very many) of the albums feature “album only” tracks. So if you want “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town” off of My Hometown, you have to spend 12 credits. On my plan that’s about $4.92. On iTunes you can buy that song for 99 cents.

Then there’s the labeling of the songs themselves, check out that Franz Ferdinand EPs again, notice anything odd about them? There’s no remix information! So if I want to know who did the remix of “Do You Want To” I have to go to iTunes. And not only does iTunes have that information, you can also buy each track individually there! And don’t even get me started on the problems with the Michael Jackson singles, holy shit what a mess.

The reasoning behind the “album only” downloads is complete bullshit as well. As expected many long tracks are unavailable without buying the whole album. This is not unique to eMusic, iTunes does the same thing. In both cases it’s total bullshit but whatever. But check this out. “Sweet Dreams” is an album only download. Why? Because they know that everyone wants that track the most, so they make it impossible to download separately.

Then there’s the mess all these additions has made to the category system. I mentioned before that I go to eMusic to pick up new electronic music, now when I browse that section I have to wade through new “electronic” acts like Mariah Carey, C&C Music Factory and Bette fucking Midler. Who the fuck goes to eMusic to buy Mariah Carey?

To me this is a legendary example of not knowing your customer base. When eMusic started they were they only online music store that offered DRM-free MP3s. Because of this many major labels wouldn’t deal with them. They adapted, branding themselves as the online store for independent music. In doing so they built up quite a user base of discerning music fans, people who seek out hard-to-find or under-the-radar acts. The people who buy music at eMusic buy Dinosaur Jr., Spoon and Cat Power, they do not buy shit like The Fray, Chevelle, Ted Nugent or Mariah Fucking Carey.

And there’s more bullshit too, how about removing unlimited redownloading, not allowing some albums to be downloaded with free trial credits and not allowing most of the new expanded catalog to be available in countries other than the US (they still get the fucked up new pricing scheme though).

I understand that I’m still getting a deal most of the time when compared to the prices of other services like Amazon or iTunes, but for every dealI can find there’s usually at least one gigantic rip-off. eMusic used to be the place to find hard to find and niche music at a fair price. It is no longer that place and now there’s no need for eMusic.

Franz Ferdinand
Take Me Out (Morgan Geist Remix)
Take Me Out (Naum Gabo Remix)
These remixes aren’t on that previously mentioned EP that eMusic is gauging its users over. They were taken off of a strange white label promo I picked up last week. This promo was scratched to holy hell so the beginning of each is a little damaged, but after the first 30 seconds or so both sound fine.

Serart
Narnia (Bill Laswell Remix)
Facing The Plastic (Mindless Self Indulgence Remix)
Serart was a musical collaboration between Serj Tankian of System of a Down and folk musician Arto Tunçboyacıyan. They teamed up to explore experimental combinations of folk, rock, spoken word and world music to create an album that sounds unlike anything you’ve really heard before. It’s intelligent, unique and an altogether magical listening experience. So when it came time to release remix promos they called Mindless Self Indulgence’s Jimmy Urine. Makes sense to me.

Def Leppard
Nine Lives (Def Leppard Version)
Finally. After begging months ago I was able to track down the Tim McGraw-less version of this Def Leppard song, which was on the Japanese version of their latest album, Songs from The Sparkle Lounge. Still not a great song, but with 100% less country twang it sure is a fuckload better.

Posted in Def Leppard, Franz Ferdinand, furries, Mindless Self Indulgence, rant, remixes, Serart | 6 Comments »

Fuck Chilling Effects

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

Before I rant, thank you to the many people who offered me copies of Peter Gabriel’s German records, I have them now so your work here is done…until I beg for something else.

Now, to the hate.

A few months ago I got my first DMCA notice for copyright violation. (you can read my initial response to that here). At first it wasn’t that big a deal to me, after all I know a blog like mine kind of skirts the edge of the law, and a copyright owner has every right to complain to me about the hosting of their music, they do own it after all.

But it’s not that simple. When I said that “I” got a DMCA notice that’s a bit inaccurate. Actually Blogger got the notice. They then removed the blog post in its entirety and let me know about it with the following message, dated March 17th, 2009:

Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that certain content in your blog infringes upon the copyrights of others. The URL(s) of the allegedly infringing post(s) may be found at the end of this message.

The notice that we received from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and the record companies it represents, with any personally identifying information removed, will be posted online by a service called Chilling Effects at http://www.chillingeffects.org

. We do this in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Please note that it may take Chilling Effects up to several weeks to post the notice online at the link provided.

The IFPI is a trade association that represents over 1,400 major and independent record companies in the US and internationally who create, manufacture and distribute sound recordings (the “IFPI Represented Companies”).

The DMCA is a United States copyright law that provides guidelines for online service provider liability in case of copyright infringement. We are in the process of removing from our servers the links that allegedly infringe upon the copyrights of others. If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. See http://www.educause.edu/Browse/645?PARENT_ID=254 for more information about the DMCA, and see http://www.google.com/dmca.html for the process that Blogger requires in order to make a DMCA complaint.

Blogger can reinstate these posts upon receipt of a counter notification pursuant to sections 512(g)(2) and 3) of the DMCA. For more information about the requirements of a counter notification and a link to a sample counter notification, see http://www.google.com/dmca.html#counter.

Please note that repeated violations to our Terms of Service may result in further remedial action taken against your Blogger account. If you have legal questions about this notification, you should retain your own legal counsel. If you have any other questions about this notification, please let us know.

Sincerely,

The Blogger Team

Affected URLs:

http://lostturntable.blogspot.com/2009/03/they-call-it-winwood-weird-soundtrack.html

Okay a few passages to note there.

1. They have the DMCA notice, they recieved it. However, they won’t give it to me. Instead they handed it off to a site called Chilling Effects, which is an independent site dedicated to provided help regarding DMCA notices and copyright law. Why they are more justified to recieve a legal notice regarding ME than I am I fail to see.

2. Blogger does not challenge any DMCA notice, so the notice could be entirely without merit but they’ll remove it anyway.

3. At not point do they mention WHAT I put up that violated the DMCA. The post in question had several songs from several different artists, who did I piss off? Why? I have no idea.

As I said before, this was originally sent to me on March 17, at which point I was told that Chilling Effects would post the notice on their site in “several weeks.” Well, fuck all that never happened. It’s been three full months now and I have yet to see my DMCA notice on their shitty joke of a goddamn site. I emailed the people at blogger and Chilling Effects four times to find out why and I didn’t even get a response.

Chilling Effects claims to be a resource to help people fight copyright abuse. That’s fucking bullshit. They’re a fucking joke. The site was founded by lawyers and legal experts (so they claim) so they should know that an important aspect in any legal matter is timeliness, and waiting more than three months to post a legal file ISN’T FUCKING TIMELY.

It’s bullshit. A complete crock. A joke of a site run by a piss stain of a group that doesn’t know what the fuck it’s doing. And the fact that they somehow have more of a right to a legal document related to MY blog is bullshit.

Now I understand that techincally this isn’t MY blog. It’s on Blogger’s servers and they are legally responsible. However, since I am in control of the content that is put on their servers, you think they’d want me to know what I did wrong so I might not do it again. Why does Chilling Effects get this information and not me? That’s fucked up. Who the fuck made Chlling Effects the guardians of all DMCA notices and legal resources?

The thing that pisses me off the most about all this bullshit is that no one, not a single person from Google, Blogger or Chilling Effects ever bothered to respond to the multiple emails I sent asking for more information. I emailed every support, question, news and help email address at Chilling Effects and I got nothing. I even emailed Wendy Seltzer, the woman “in charge” of the organization, and I got nothing.

How do I even know I got a DMCA notice if I’m not even allowed to fucking read it!

Fuck Chilling Effects.

Big Audio Dynamite
Free (Club Mix)
Free (Film Version)
The Bottom Line (Film & Club Version)
Punk ass bitches….anyways, “Free” is another great track by B.A.D. and the last one to feature the group’s original line-up. This song originally appeared on the soundtrack to the film “Flashback” and many of the odd movie samples in the song are from that movie. The Club Mix has one of those annoying false fade-out endings, that’s not my fault. “The Bottom Line” originally appeared on This Is Big Audio Dnyamite, but not in this extended form. These are all from a 12” single.

Iggy Pop
Motor Inn (Felix Da Housecat’s High Octane Mix)
Okay, this song is…um…something. I think I like it, I kind of go back and forth on it. Iggy Pop’s rambling about his “brown girl’s” titties is just embarrassing and the occasional yelping by Peaches is a bit unneccesary, but then again so is this entire electro remix which I got from a 12” single.

Eurythmics
Love Is a Stranger (Obsession Mix)

Another quick disclaimer; this is an odd mix that puts Lennox’s vocals in the back, instead focusing on the beat and electronic effects. This is not a fault of mine, if you wanna hear Annie’s beautiful voice more then buy Sweet Dreams, which is where the original version of this song is from. This remix is from a 12” single.

Howard Jones
Things Can Only Get Better (Extended Version)
I mentioned that I wanted this remix a while ago and two people offered it to me. I never took them up on the offer and bought the 12” single myself. I’m like that.

Posted in Big Audio Dynamite, Eurythmics, Howard Jones, Iggy Pop, rant, remixes | 9 Comments »

Only Happy When I’m Whining

Friday, June 5th, 2009

Rant contained within.

Pearl Jam
U
Angel
Happy When I’m Crying
Santa Cruz
Golden State
Pearl Jam’s been in the news a lot recently. First Jeff Amet got the snot kicked out of him outside a recording studio in Atlanta, then they helped usher in The Conan Era of The Tonight Show by being their first musical guest (and playing this awesome song).

However, what everyone is talking about now is how Pearl Jam has “sold out” because of some deal they made with Target. A quick snippet of comments from across the web:

“Looks like those thugs in Atlanta stole their cred too.”

“I just can’t stop laughing. The unwavering antiestablishment band has finally sold its soul to the corporate machine.”

“I’m still laughing – SELL OUT’s”

If there’s one thing about me that people who read this blog know it’s that I fucking love Pearl Jam. If there’s another thing people who read this blog know about me is that I fucking hate stupid people. So you can imagine the backlash to this non-story is annoying me.

Here’s the article that caused all the ruckus. Now, if you actually read the fucking article you’ll see that it says nothing about Target being the ONLY place where you can buy the album. From the sound of things it will most likely be the only “big box” retail store where you can pick up the album, meaning places like Best Buy and Wal-Mart won’t be carrying it. From the sound of things you can still go to your local independent store and buy it, and you can definitely still get it at Pearl Jam’s website, which is where you should buy all Pearl Jam stuff since you get it sooner and usually with bonus stuff.

I’m having a hard time understanding why signing with a multi-billion dollar corporation like Sony is okay in the eyes of some people, while working with a retail store like Target is not. In a perfect world an artist wouldn’t have to jeopardize their artistic integrity in order to sell records, but that’s not the case. Even a group like Radiohead or NIN has to work with “the man” to get their records out there.

Most importantly, I don’t think any of this really goes against the Pearl Jam code of ethics (that others have seem to supplanted onto them). They aren’t supporting some right wing organization, they’re not working with any major label and they aren’t changing their sound to accomidate a corporation’s desire. People need to shut up and learn to read before bashing someone or something for no good fucking reason.

And by the way, if you want to call Pearl Jam a Sell Out, you can just site when they let Friends use “Yellow Ledbetter” for the series finale.

Enough of my complaining (yeah, right) lets get to the music. “U” was the b-side “Wushlist” Angel was on the 1993 fan club single, “Happy When I’m Crying” is from the 1997 fan club single and the last two are from the newest fan club single that just came out a few weeks ago. I didn’t rip any of the fan club singles personally so if the quality is sub-par for once it’s not my fault. “U” is from a CD single so I don’t want to hear any complaining about that one, especially since the song is great

Posted in B-sides, Pearl Jam, rant | 6 Comments »

Critically Critical Of Critical Critics

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

Okay, time for another rant against Pitchfork.

So 21st Century Breakdown came out a few weeks ago. I bought it and while I’ve only listened to the whole thing all the way through once, I enjoy it. It’s no American Idiot to be sure but it has its high points and is still better than Nimrod and Warning.

Still, if you don’t like the album that’s fine, that’s your opinion and you are more than welcome to it. Jess Harvell at Pitchfork did not like it, and he wants you to know right off the bat that he didn’t like American Idiot either, starting his review with “I wanted to like American Idiot. Really.”

Okay, Jess didn’t like American Idiot, big deal, but as the review continues he acts like that was the popular opinion, adding, “Two listens in, though, and it was clear: American Idiot was musically dodgy and politically empty. Political pop has its place, at least when didacticism doesn’t drain the wit and life from a band’s songwriting. But American Idiot failed utterly as coherent propaganda and as rock invigorating enough to agitate the pleasure centers.”

If he wants to think that fine, but considering that nearly every other critic in the world said the exact opposite, including the critic who reviewed the album for Pitchfork back when it first came out, maybe Jess should’ve realized that he’s in the minority with that opinion and state as such. If your only information about American Idiot came from this review you’d think that the album was an undeniable critical bomb (when it was, y’know, the opposite of that).

Harvell has no business reviewing this album. Not because he didn’t like American Idiot, but because he is obviously not suited to give the readers the information they want to know about the album, i.e. is it as good as American Idiot.

Partially-hypothetical example: I really really really do not like The Joshua Tree. I think it’s a bloated, indulgent piece of shit and there are only two things I hate in this world more than “With Or Without You,” and those things are “Where The Streets Have No Name” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”

My opinion of The Joshua Tree isn’t any more right or wrong as the next guy, however, I understand that I am in the minority viewpoint when it comes to that album. So, if I was a critic in 1991 tasked with writing a review to Achtung Baby (another album I’m not a fan of) I would not begin it with, “Joshua Tree was a failure of a record,” because that’s not really fair. In fact, me reviewing that album at all wouldn’t be fair, I would be ill-suited. Everyone reading a review of Achtung Baby would want to know if it sounded in comparison to The Joshua Tree, and me saying “it sucks less than that other album that I thought sucked” is not a valid answer to that question.

Can a critic review an album by a band he doesn’t like? Sure, but he has to be honest about it, say something like, “I’m not a fan of this band, but if you are and want more of the same by them then you should enjoy this record.” Instead of doing that Harvell retconned reality and turned American Idiot into a critical flop just because the truth didn’t fit his fucking lead.

And if anyone can tell me how a 4.8 album is worse than a 4.9 album I’ll give them a cookie.

They Might Be Giants
Cabbagetown
Siftin’
Larger Than Life (Joshua Fried’s remake of She’s Actual Size)
Holy shit TMBG b-sides! You have any idea how hard it is to find these? For a band as fan-friendly as TMBG it’s pretty amazing that they haven’t yet released a rarities compilation (that I’m aware of). Sure, there was Then: The Earlier Years but that only encompassed their first two LPs, we need more dammit! These b-sides are from the maxi-single of “I Palindrome I.”

The Sugarcubes
Vitamin (Babylon’s Burning)
Vitamin (E Mix)
Walkabout (Remix)
After buying that massive box set I was surprised to find out that there were singles by The Sugarcubes that I somehow didn’t own. “Vitamin” is not one of my favorite Sugarcubes tunes, so I’m not that into these remixes. I will say though that the “Vitamin (E Mix)” is one of the most cleverly named remixes I’ve seen that isn’t an Eraser remix, and the remix of “Walkabout” is pretty good.

Siouxsie And the Banshees
Fear (Of The Unknown) (Vertigo Mix)
Cities In Dust (Remix)
The Passenger (LLLLLoco-Motion Mix)
I’ve had that Vertigo Mix of “Fear (Of The Unknown)” for years, but it was a rip from a vinyl that looked like two cats had sex on it then died, so it sounded like shit. Thank god for random maxi-single finds are sub-par record shows! Strangely, the remix isn’t posted on the tracklisting of the single, but only on the CD itself, which makes me believe it was a last minute addition. It’s a hardcore house re-imagining of the track, and is pretty damned good, which is not that surprising since it was remixed by everyone’s favorite gay formerly meth-addicted DJ from PA, Junior Vasquez. The other two mixes are from 12” promo singles. I don’t know what makes the “Cities In Dust” mix that different than the LP version, but the remix of “The Passenger” is about 5 minutes longer than the album cut. Awesome cover.

Posted in B-sides, rant, remixes, Siouxsie and The Banshees, Sugarcubes, TMBG | 7 Comments »

A Manifesto (with a soundtrack)

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

I don’t know anyone that enjoys music more than me, and if I ever met someone who did I’d probably be scared of them. Most people who know me tease me about my obsessive nature with music, which my video-game addled friends have frequently compared to a Pokemon mentality, I gotta get’em all. I’ve demonstrated OCD behavior in the past, most of which is under control now because I focused it all towards collecting and listening to music. I now have well over a thousand records, hundreds of CDs and even a few 8-tracks and cassettes. As you may have guessed, my Mp3 collection is massive, with over 35,000 songs, adding up to 108 days of music.

I still buy most of the music I listen to. Sure I’ll download some off of BitTorrent on occasion, but for the most part I play by the rules and pay for what I want to hear. Not only that, I tend to go out of my way to buy the actual physical CD and not a digital download. I’m not a fan of digital downloads, I think the quality is substandard many of the times and they offer no real protection should my computer decide to die a fiery death. Also, I’m a real fetishist for having a physical copy of something. I like to read the linear notes, hold the case, examine the CD art. Sure, there are digital booklets for that it’s not the same. I don’t care if that’s an old-fashioned or outdated way of looking at things, that’s how I feel. I think I’m one of the good guys, going out of my way to champion music and the purchasing of it. I used to not see a reasons to download music illegally that you could find easily legally unless you A) were broke or B) just had no qualms about stealing. But that’s not been an easy position to hold up for the past few months.

It’s getting very hard for me to get the music I want in an affordable and easy manner. First it was The Smashing Pumpkins Zeitgeist album, which was released in multiple versions with different tracklistings depending on where you bought it (none of these places being an independent record store) forcing fans who wanted to be legal to buy the same album four times. Then it was Depeche Mode with the bullshit iTunes Pass version of their upcoming Sounds Of The Universe, an $18.99 subscription to the album which promises to feature “exclusive” remixes and b-sides, none of which will be on the $99.99 special edition that I already pre-ordered. This week I finally snapped when I saw Mastodon including special instrumental tracks on the iTunes version of their new album Break The Skye and Pearl Jam tacking on some bonus live cuts for the iTunes edition of the new Special Edition of Ten.

Both of these albums are also available in very expensive deluxe editions, and neither of them contain the iTunes “exclusive” tracks. The limited edition of Crack The Skye came with an awesome lithograph and extra artwork, and that clocked in at $40. That one was only available at Mastodon’s website (it’s sold out now) as was another special edition that included a t-shirt and a bonus single, which features two of the instrumentals that were supposedly “exclusive” to iTunes. Hardcore fans who bought the more expensive editions at Mastodon’s website got fucked over by being left out of the other tracks on the iTunes version. And of course, you can’t buy those tracks separately, you have to buy the album to get them all.

It’s even worse with the Pearl Jam album. The Super Deluxe version of Ten costs $150. It’s worth the money to hardcore fans (such as I) as it’s loaded with bonus vinyl, a DVD, live stuff, artwork, booklets and even a reproduction of Eddie’s demo for the band. However, it doesn’t include the Live At The Academy tracks that are on the iTunes edition. If I pay $140 bucks for a damn album, I think I should be getting all the shit that’s included on the $16.99 online edition.

And, just like half of the Mastodon “exclusives” the Live At The Academy tracks aren’t even exclusive, they were originally included on a bonus CD that came with the fan club edition of 2006 self-titled album. Pearl Jam is my favorite band in the world (Those 35,000 mp3s on my hard drive? 2,481 are Pearl Jam tracks.) and I’ve always thought they’ve done a good job of putting themselves above the typical industry bullshit. Now I’m not so sure.

The most annoying this about all this is that as a die-hard collector there’s little I can do. I’m not going to stop buying Depeche Mode or Pearl Jam albums because of shit like this, hell, it’s hard to tell if it’s even their fault with record labels becoming more and more desperate to squeeze every buck possible out of the consumer. I think the one part of the equation that deserves the most blame however is iTunes.

The iTunes store has always sucked ass, and now it sucks in stereo. In addition to these bullshit examples there are countless more of albums getting “iTunes exclusive” tracks and even more where they make it impossible to buy individual tracks (especially on soundtracks). I’m done buying from iTunes until they stop with this bullshit. It hurts the fans who just want the most music possible from their favorite bands, and it hurts the record industry by limited what independent record stores can sell. It’s also false fucking advertising. Almost every “iTunes exclusive” isn’t a fucking exclusive, it’s usually a b-side, import track, vinyl cut or other rarity that just isn’t available at any other digital store. Any “exclusive” track you find on iTunes you can usually buy somewhere else, and if you can’t…well…that’s why they invented BitTorrent. I’m done with the iTunes store, and you should be too.

Now for some “exclusive iTunes” tracks!

The Strokes (featuring Regina Spektor)
Modern Girls and Old Fashioned Men
This track was my first exposure to the fraud that is an “iTunes exclusive” I saw it at their store and bought it right away. Then I found it a week later on a 7” single that had amazing artwork. I felt screwed over. A shame since it’s such a fucking amazing track. I love Regina Spektor and this track makes me yearn for a Julian Casablancas/Regina duet album. It would have to be better than First Impressions Of Earth.

Depeche Mode
The Sun And The Moon And The Stars (Electronic Periodic’s Microdrum Mix)
Oh Well (Black Light Odyssey Dub)
The two tracks so far released from the iTunes Pass edition of Sounds Of The Universe. These tracks will not be on the deluxe edition of the album which, as I stated earlier, costs $100. Oh yeah, that’s fair. The remix for “The Sun And The Moon…” is unbe-fucking-lievably good and totally worth buying, but you can’t if you want a physical copy of the record, so don’t. Steal it instead.

Smashing Pumpkins
Stellar
The iTunes exclusive track to Zeitgeist. I tried posting this one the week the album came out, but couldn’t find the fucker. Time heals all wounds.

Kings Of Leon
Knocked Up (Lykke Li vs. Rodeo Remix)
Another track that’s labeled as an iTunes exclusive but is in fact not. This is an awesome remix/mash-up of a great song though. Too bad I bought it under false pretense on iTunes, I would have paid much more for a physical copy, but they told me it was an exclusive so I didn’t bother to check. You shouldn’t either.

Pearl Jam – Live At The Academy 1992
Not only did iTunes slab on four tracks of this concert that was readily available at Pearl Jam’s website and call them “exclusive” but their picks for which ones to use sucked. “Speed Wash,” “Sonic Reducer” and “Porch” were totally the way to go. This is the full CD which came with my copy of Pearl jam album. I posted this back then, now I’m posting it again.

Posted in B-sides, Depeche Mode, Kings Of Leon, live, Pearl Jam, rant, Regina Spektor, remixes, The Strokes | No Comments »

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