I'll take any excuse to write about Christian rock, it seems, but Good Friday is probably the tackiest yet. Nonetheless, I'd like to take a moment to pay tribute to the strange genius of Christian alternative music, Ronnie Martin, and his synthpop project, Joy Electric.
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There's a lot of planning that goes into a new stadium. "Can we break the $10 barrier on the price of nachos?" "Where do we locate the hot dog topping station?" "How much extra security do we need for Bat Night?" In order to focus on those pressing issues, the Washington Nationals have passed the buck to you, Internet user, to pick the various songs played loudly while certain events are occurring. However, the problem is, many of the songs you have to choose from are AWFUL.
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Despite what I might have said earlier, MTV has hit gold with Rock The Cradle. The show itself isn't terribly interesting to me, especially since most of the celebrity parents. weren't that interesting to me anyway (the less I have to think about Dee Snider, the better, frankly). However, the program has done us all one huge favor... introducing the world to Al B. Sure!'s son, the impeccably named Lil' Al B. Sure!
That's right, Lil' Al B. Sure!
Although any name with the prefix "Lil'" is nomenclature gold, I have to think there were other options. Vote for your favorite after the cut.
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Keith Sweat, the sexiest former stockbroker around, is back with a new album, and the thousands of women who have followed his twenty-year-long career are probably quite excited. Who wouldn't be? During his late-'80s/early-'90s heyday, Keith Sweat was the man, with hit after hit, and although singers like J. Holiday try to pick up that loverman mantle, their attempts just don't seem quite as filthy as Keith's.
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When you're Elvis Costello, you certainly have the luxury of doing largely whatever you please. Record an album of opera? Sure. Reissue your catalog three times? Whatever. Marry a borderline smooth jazz singer? Maybe that was a bit too far, but who am I to judge? So, in preparation for a tour with the Police this summer, Elvis Costello has a new album. With all the excitement lately over the Raconteurs and Gnarls Barkley, why not come up with a exciting new distribution method for your work? Instead, the new Costello album, the apparent tribute to New York City dining Momofuku will be available on vinyl only, with a code to download the album tucked inside the packaging. Although the Elvis Costello fanbase is somewhat likely to still own turntables, you have to wonder who at Lost Highway agreed to this move. Maybe they've just given up on actually selling things over there? [Billboard]
Elvis fans, as you might have guessed, are a bit of a nutty breed. When I was the sort of person who collected and sold records, a woman begged me to sell her a copy of the soundtrack to Roustabout. (Actual begging, I assure you.) She needed it, apparently, to complete her collection of all the Elvis soundtracks. I ended up giving it to her, partially to get her to go away. But to actually consider that there are people out there collecting Elvis soundtracks, as if the movies themselves weren't bad enough, is somewhat staggering, which may be why it didn't surprise me to see the latest front of Elvis-related insanity.
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First, Edgar Bronfman, now his right-hand man, Lyor Cohen. You'd actually think that Warner Music Group was a successful organization in the midst of a growth industry, the way they're handing out raises to executives around there. While it's not an especially good time to be a WMG employee, if you're Lyor Cohen, Chairman and CEO, everything's coming up golden parachutes and roses.
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Perhaps buoyed by the status upgrade for their stock from "revulsion" to "indifference", HITS is reporting that Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman has been given a new five-year, $1 million-per-year contract, which can be extended indefinitely.
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While it's interesting than anyone would care what Clear Channel thinks of the prospective XM/Sirius satellite radio merger, Mel Karmazin and his posse have weighed in with the FCC with their take on the whole matter. As experts on radio monopolies, it makes sense to consult Clear Channel, a company deeply concerned that any satellite radio consolidation might harm "preservation of a viable, locally-oriented, free, over-the-air radio broadcast system" full of morning zoos, a KISS-FM in every market, and the most limited playlists imaginable.
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South by Southwest—or any occasion when industry types and hanger-ons get together—can be the source of a number of bad ideas, but the most buzzed idea to circulate post-Austin this year seems to be the flat fee to download whatever music you please legally. Like most completely implausible concepts, this one has its ups and downs, but no one actually believes this is ever going to happen, right? Well, Washington Post blogger Kim Hart actually sees some future in the idea.
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Google searching for material occasionally leads you to some odd places, and today it took me to Human Events, a publication that apparently has been "leading the conservative moment since 1944" for a Phyllis Schlafly review of the movie everyone was talking about several months ago, Juno! It turns out that Phyllis and I, despite otherwise sharing zero in the way of opinions, both disliked the film, but in the midst of an anti-feminist screed, there was one delightful, sorta music-related paragraph. So, you've probably been wondering...what does an 83 year old ERA foe think is wrong with today's youth? Well, she'd be happy to tell you!
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Kate Nash, who according to Maura is "a lot less cloying than on record/in the press," probably should consider visiting every single person who reads British music coverage, because at this rate, "cloying" is leading "not completely self-absorbed" by six lengths. Besides breaking the news to me that Nash is dating Ryan Jarman from The Cribs, a band I actually enjoy, this Sun article also lets us know that Nash finds people in the music business can be irritating (or "w******" in edited Brit-speak). Say it ain't so!
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I already canceled my hotel reservations for Indio after the "Let's Book Roger Waters" Coachella fiasco; now my trip to Alaska's Sitka Summer Music Festival might be ruined as well. The month-long celebration of chamber music is traditionally capped with an all-you-can-eat crab fest—truly, as all classical music festivals ought to be—but sadly, according to the Anchorage Daily News, the previous sponsor decided not to foot the bill this year. The Daily News was too delicate to mention the cheapskates unwilling to cough up the paltry $5,000 for the people of Sitka and classical music lovers with access to a sea plane to enjoy some crab on the house, but Idolator isn't afraid of stepping on some toes.
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While Jim Cramer isn't quite saying "I love these guys! They beat the treason charges! We had it as a 'Don't Buy.' Let's bump it up to a 'Risky!'" just yet, there's some good news for Warner Music Group as the status of its stock been upgraded from "Sell" to "Neutral" by Pali Research. I'm not sure what would possibly account for the upgrade, considering the captains of that particular ship are seen as less competent by the day, it seems, the research group finds "the downside" of owning their stock less significant. Way to go, Edgar! Ahmet Ertegun would be proud! [New Ratings]
Although Starbucks has made itself one of the most powerful music retailers in the country—one in which "prestige" albums can be sold at full retail price, refueling the dreams of every record executive in Burbank and Manhattan—they have largely flown under the music media radar. The Hear Music label has received most of the attention by grabbing high profile artists like Paul McCartney, but the nuts and bolts of what gets into the racks next to the cinnamon swirl coffee cake has been more of a mystery. The New York Times, providing a service possibly no one asked for but me, looked into the balance between moving units and retaining credibility. The shift for Starbucks has been from a coffee retailer with a few discs that could still seem hand-selected, to twenty discs that seem more like the new release rack at Borders. Let's face it: no one's going to believe claims of quality control screening when the second James Blunt disc is a featured selection.
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Idolator
