Blue Pie Recording Artists available at major music download websites

Music fans, R U lookin for tunes for Zunes, rockin songs for your ipod? Blue Pie acts like Erik Simins, Gone By Ten, Yuya, Michael St. Clair, Slimey Things, Trevor Jones and many more are all avaiable at these and other leading online music retailers:


iTUNES:
www.itunes.com

DAIKI - JAPAN
www.daiki-sound.jp

BURN LOUNGE
www.burnlounge.com

SONY CONNECT:
www.connect.com/

Audio Lunch Box:
www.audiolunchbox.com

RCN - USA
www.rcninteraction.com

MUSIC MATCH:
www.musicmatch.com

MUSICLOAD - GERMANY:
www.musicload.de

MSN
www.msn.com

NAPSTER
www.napster.com

RHAPSODY
www.rhapsody.com

Music Now - AOL
www.musicnow.com

iTUNES:
www.itunes.com

Martian Music
www.martianmusic.com

BIG POND MUSIC:
www.bigpondmusic.com

HEAVENLYBLUE:
www.heavnelyblue.com

BLUE PIE
www.bluepie.com.au

eMUSIC
www.emusic.com

10 New Songs crack digital downloads TAD Top 40 Songs chart

Exciting times in the world of downloadable songs for ipods, music for computers, Microsoft portable music player Zune.Find great songs to download, tunes for Zunes, hit tracks for ipods. Check out the ten new songs added to the TAD Top 40 Downloadable Songs, and note that the track "The Sun Will Rise Again by Yuya is available as a FREE SONG DOWNLOAD from now until Thanksgiving Day at www.MySpace.com/Yuya

Here is the November top forty songs chart:

TAD Top 40 Song Downloads Chart – November 2006

This Month / Last Month - Months On Chart - Song - Artist

1/1 3 The Way I See It - Erik Simins
2/6 3 Burning Man - Yuya
3/2 3 Hat Trick - Marvel
4/8 2 When You Were Young - Killers
5/17 3 Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
6/12 3 Breaker Breaker - Slimey Things
7/4 3 Thunder On The Mountain - Bob Dylan
8/7 3 Welcome To Jamrock - Damian Marley
9/3 3 London Bridge - Fergie
10/11 3 Yeah People - Ooh La La
11/14 3 Brand New Star - Sunroom
12/5 3 You Look Good On The Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys
13/10 3 Beirut - Burning The Day
14/9 3 Baby I Love Your Way - Billy Lofton
15/18 2 There's A Pub Now In My School - Gone By Ten
16/19 3 Who Taught You To Live Like That - Sloan
17/21 3 Karolina - Sheela Langenberg
18/15 3 She's A Mod - Dino Jag
19/25 2 Waiting On The World to Change - John Mayer
20/27 3 Things To Keep - Trevor Jones
21/NEW 1 Fergalicious - Fergie
22/35 3 Fake Tales Of San Francisco - Arctic Monkeys
23/NEW 1 Champagne To Beer - Tara Sales
24/NEW 1 Vamp Samba - Michael St. Clair
25/16 3 Smack That - Akon and Eminem
26/36 2 Save Your Scizzors - City and Colour
27/13 3 Unfaithful - Rihanna
28/33 2 Want To - Sugarland
29/40 2 Maneater - Nelly Furtado
30/NEW 1 Nausea - Beck
31/NEW 1 Show Me What You Got - Jay-Z
32/NEW 1 Welcome to the Black Parade - My Chemical Romance
33/28 2 When The Night Feels My Song - Bedouin Soundclash
34/23 3 Parent's House - Erik Simins
35/NEW 1 Irreplacable - Beyonce
36/NEW 1 Say Goodbye - Chris Brown
37/30 3 Blues Of The World - Michael St. Clair
38/NEW 1 The Sun Will Rise Again - Yuya
39/29 3 Lips Of An Angel - Hinder
40/NEW 1 Hurt - Christina Aguilera

Australia sings, "Where are all the protest songs?"

by Gabriella Coslovich, TheAge.com.au

November 4, 2006

IF YOU ever doubted the market power of the fame factory that is Australian Idol, take a look at the ARIA charts: for the past three years, the country's top-selling singles have been spun by an Idol graduate. Last year, it was Anthony Callea's The Prayer, in 2004 it was Shannon Noll's What About Me (a cover of the old Moving Pictures song), and in 2003 it was Guy Sebastian's Angels Brought Me Here.

Soapie stars and Idol alumni dominate the Australian music charts — and it hasn't entirely been the intervention of angels that brought them here. The influence of prime-time television, the might of marketing, the support of profit-driven record companies and high rotation on commercial radio might have had something to do with their celestial success.

"What about you indeed?" came the rejoinder at the ARIA awards on Sunday night, as one of Australia's music legends, erstwhile Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst, took to the stage to accept the band's induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame. Using the ultra-mainstream pulpit for more than a gushing thank-you speech, Hirst beat on his political drum as forcefully as he ever did when he played with the Oils.

"Vietnam inspired some of the greatest protest songs ever written. Not so now, surprisingly, even when hundreds of thousands of Australians crowded our streets to demonstrate their opposition to another senseless war," Hirst told the audience and legions of television viewers.

"It may be that complaint rock is still being written but (is) ignored by an industry hypnotised by get-famous-fast TV shows. Bless you John Butler, but you should not have to do it all by yourself," Hirst said, referring to the popular roots musician, environmental activist and staunch independent who has broken into the mainstream.

Hirst added, in a not-so-veiled reference to the policies of the Howard Government: "Of course, everything eventually turns around, as Bush's predecessor of two centuries past, Thomas Jefferson, observed. He said: 'A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over. Their spells dissolve and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles."'

Hirst's speech was an incantation in itself, a provocation, a challenge to the industry and musicians to produce songs that matter, as Midnight Oil did in their heyday, with thumping political anthems such as Beds are Burning, Power and the Passion and Blue Sky Mining — which they famously played on a flat-bed truck outside the headquarters of the Exxon corporation in protest against the handling of the Valdez oil spill.

But how fair were Hirst's comments? Has the Australian music industry all but stopped nurturing talented, original and socially engaged songwriters to walk the get-rich-quick path presented by Australian Idol?

Are Australian musicians avoiding the fraught subjects of our times— the Iraq war, global warming, the erosion of civil liberties in the name of freedom and democracy, racism fuelled by the politics of fear and "nation building", spurious "Australian values" and the sidelining of indigenous issues? Yes, there's plenty to shout about, so where are the smouldering protest songs?

"I suspect they are being written, but they are not being promoted," Hirst told The Age this week, on his way to Newcastle to run songwriting workshops.

Richard Kingsmill, the music director of Triple J radio, confirms those suspicions, saying independent bands are out there, recording on self-funded labels that allow them artistic freedom — but their music is largely ignored by the commercial networks.

"If you were a general music lover, you might think there are no political songs being written," Kingsmill says.

"If Australian Idol is all you watch, and the Austereo and DMG networks are all you listen to, then you're never going to hear anything remotely political … it's all feelgood pop or retro rock.

"But trust me, political songs are being written, recorded and released all the time in this country. We have boxes of anti-Bush, anti-Howard, anti-Iraq war, anti-racism, pro-choice, pro-environment CDs, all from contemporary local acts."

The hip-hop scene is particularly rich with protest songs and alternative voices, says Kingsmill, pointing to groups such as the Herd, Def Wish Cast, Hilltop Hoods, Bliss N Eso and Muph & Plutonic. In the folk-roots scene, bands such as Blue King Brown are reflecting on the times, and even in the oft-dismissed mainstream rock arena you'll find incursions into politics.

"Powderfinger write political songs, always have," says Kingsmill. " Like a Dog and The Day You Come are both good examples. Powderfinger just do it in a more subtle way than the Oils did, I guess. You have to read between the lines a bit more with Bernard Fanning and his lyrics."

No need to read between the lines of Sydney hip-hop outfit the Herd's 77%, a seething, indignant rap in broad Australian accents about the dire state of the nation, which points out, among other things, that "Captain Cook was the very first queue-jumper/and it was immigrant labour that made Australia plumper".

With hip-hop beats as stirring as the Oils' trademark drumfire, the song's chorus sums it up: "Wake up, this country needs a f--king shake up."

Yet Herd manager and band member Tim Levison would be the last to compel artists to be political. "Lord knows we have experienced enough of a backlash for being political," he says. "However, you would hope that in any healthy society there would be artists speaking honestly about the political situation of the day."

Triple J continued to champion 77% despite the furore it provoked and the single was voted onto the station's Hottest 100 for 2003. The only Herd song ever to be picked up by commercial radio was its cover of the classic Redgum anti-war song I Was Only Nineteen, but it's not much of gamble, really, to play a song that has already made it onto the country's hit list, about a war that is over.

"Midnight Oil being inducted into the Hall of Fame is a reminder to people that you don't have to toe the line and make safe music to further your career," Levison says.

But even Midnight Oil was an exception. No other Australian band before or since has had such prolonged success with such explicitly political songs and actions. The great anti-war anthems of the Vietnam era hailed not from Australia but America — songs such as Creedence Clearwater Revival's Bad Moon Rising and Who'll Stop the Rain and Bob Dylan's Masters of War, Blowin' in the Wind and A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall. Perhaps the best known peace chant came from John Lennon and his Japanese muse, Yoko Ono, who recorded Give Peace a Chance in Montreal in 1969 during the second of their bed-ins for peace.

In Australia, the first anti-Vietnam song didn't appear until 1969. Written by Johnny Young, Smiley was inspired by the conscription of teen star Normie Rowe. As documented by ABC television's Long Way to the Top music series, Australian pop stars were drafted by the music industry not to sing protest songs but to entertain the troops.

"Australian music is about rock'n'roll and let's party. It's anti-intellectual," says Shane Howard, who wrote 1982's land rights anthem Solid Rock, which became a huge hit for his former band, Goanna.

Politically charged music that has broken into the mainstream has been all too scarce, Howard says.

"Yothu Yindi (with Treaty), Midnight Oil, Goanna, Redgum — that's pretty slim pickings over 30 years," he says. "I think Rob's pretty close to the truth when he talks about John Butler being the lone voice of dissent in Australian popular music, and popular is the key word.

"Given that we are entering an era of even greater concentration of media ownership, it will become even harder to hear dissenting voices."

But Michael Parisi, president of artists and repertoire at Warner Music Australia, says that just because musicians aren't making songs with an explicitly political edge doesn't mean they don't have opinions or care about social issues. Even so, for him, politics is not rock'n'roll.

"I have always come from the romantic school of rock. I have always felt that music is meant to be an escape, where rock's meant to be fun," Parisi says.

Warner Music, is apolitical, he says, but the company has also consciously eschewed the fast-track Idol phenomenon.

"We don't see it having long-term value for our business," he says.

Warner does fund artist development, but commercial success is the bottom line — if a band doesn't cut it, it's dropped.

John Butler, who is now in Los Angeles mixing a new John Butler Trio album, doesn't have a problem with Idol. Record companies have long constructed bands, he says.

"Weren't the Temptations and a lot of those soul-singing all girl and boy groups constructed by Motown and the like? Hell, some of them were pretty good and a lot of them didn't even write their own songs," he says in an email.

However, he does object to the prefab-style bands and artists clogging the airways.

"They have a place, but it's a bummer to think that so much great original Australian music won't really be realised by the Australian mainstream just because the industry won't take a risk," he says.

There are always the exceptions that break through, the Butlers and Midnight Oils. In the end, what matters most is the song. Music appeals to different people for different reasons — melody, rhythm, lyrics, message, humanity. Midnight Oil's throbbing pub-rock style appealed to young men in the 1980s in much the same way as Wolfmother's apolitical retro-rock appeals to a new generation. One can be fairly sure that there were Oil fans around who weren't primarily attuned to the politics.

"A good song crosses all boundaries, no matter what the topic," says Butler.

"Take Beds are Burning. Yes, it was about the state of Aboriginal Australia, our racist history, past and present, and reconciliation, but it didn't get too specific. Instead, it asked a simple question of all of us: how can we sleep when our beds are burning? Well, how can we?"

He names a couple more — When the River Runs Dry, by Hunters and Collectors, and the beautiful, poetic From Little Things Big Things Grow, by Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody. "Without a good song, really, ya got nothing. Political, love song or otherwise."

Gabriella Coslovich is The Age's senior arts writer.

Ozzy's wife Sharon takes the piss out of Madonna, unjustly

Anybody read the stories about Sharon Osbourne (Ozzy's wife, in case u don't know rock or do not have a TV) criticizing Madonna for adopting baby David from Malawi, Africa? The crabby old gal compared the adoption to buying a Louis Vitton designer handbag, and also made a terrible analogy about an African Chief coming to Canada and wanting to adopt a Canadian kid. Well Sharon, it seems by your comments that you don't know jackshit about Canada or Canadians ...

Regarding the scenario where an African Chief would come to my country and adopt an unwanted baby, she says "How would Canada react in that situation?"

I'll tell you what would Canadians do; we would love and appreciate that this orphan child now had a family, and we would wish him the best for his new royal life in Africa ... seriously, we are a trusting group and believe that if this baby now had a family that loved him, that would be better than living in an institution.

As far as breaking Malawian laws, well, that's what rich people do, and if any of you don't realize that, please give your head a shake. There is a law for the poor and there are lawyers for the rich, and in this case a presidential decree could perhaps make an excpetion for the rock goddess from Detroit.

Peace and Blessings to Madonna and David and everyone who adopts children, and also to those who build schools and medical clinics for the impoverished of our world.

that's all for now, and Sharon, please lead by example, not with your mouth ... your critisms seem petty and with all your money you could be doing the things you are telling Madonna to do.

peace and justice for all,

Yuya Joe

Online community Second Life offers virtual real estate at $20 per acre per month

A Virtual World but Real Money

By RICHARD SIKLOS, New York Times



It has a population of a million. The “people” there make friends, build homes and run businesses. They also play sports, watch movies and do a lot of other familiar things. They even have their own currency, convertible into American dollars.

But residents also fly around, walk underwater and make themselves look beautiful, or like furry animals, dragons, or practically anything — or anyone — they wish.

This parallel universe, an online service called Second Life that allows computer users to create a new and improved digital version of themselves, began in 1999 as a kind of online video game.

But now, the budding fake world is not only attracting a lot more people, it is taking on a real world twist: big business interests are intruding on digital utopia. The Second Life online service is fast becoming a three-dimensional test bed for corporate marketers, including Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Sun Microsystems, Nissan, Adidas/Reebok, Toyota and Starwood Hotels.

The sudden rush of real companies into so-called virtual worlds mirrors the evolution of the Internet itself, which moved beyond an educational and research network in the 1990’s to become a commercial proposition — but not without complaints from some quarters that the medium’s purity would be lost.

Already, the Internet is the fastest-growing advertising medium, as traditional forms of marketing like television commercials and print advertising slow. For businesses, these early forays into virtual worlds could be the next frontier in the blurring of advertising and entertainment.

Unlike other popular online video games like World of Warcraft that are competitive fantasy games, these sites meld elements of the most popular forms of new media: chat rooms, video games, online stores, user-generated content sites like YouTube.com and social networking sites like MySpace.com.

Philip Rosedale, the chief executive of Linden Labs, the San Francisco company that operates Second Life, said that until a few months ago only one or two real world companies had dipped their toes in the synthetic water. Now, more than 30 companies are working on projects there, and dozens more are considering them. “It’s taken off in a way that is kind of surreal,” Mr. Rosedale said, with no trace of irony.

Beginning a promotional venture in a virtual world is still a relatively inexpensive proposition compared with the millions spent on other media. In Second Life, a company like Nissan or its advertising agency could buy an “island” for a one-time fee of $1,250 and a monthly rate of $195 a month. For its new campaign built around its Sentra car, the company then needed to hire some computer programmers to create a gigantic driving course and design digital cars that people “in world” could actually drive, as well as some billboards and other promotional spots throughout the virtual world that would encourage people to visit Nissan Island.

Virtual world proponents — including a roster of Linden Labs investors that includes Jeffrey P. Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com; Mitchell D. Kapor, the software pioneer; and Pierre Omidyar, the eBay founder — say that the entire Internet is moving toward being a three-dimensional experience that will become more realistic as computing technology advances.

Entering Second Life, people’s digital alter-egos — known as avatars — are able to move around and do everything they do in the physical world, but without such bothers as the laws of physics. “When you are at Amazon.com you are actually there with 10,000 concurrent other people, but you cannot see them or talk to them,” Mr. Rosedale said. “At Second Life, everything you experience is inherently experienced with others.”

Second Life is the largest and best known of several virtual worlds created to attract a crowd. The cable TV network MTV, for example, just began Virtual Laguna Beach, where fans of its show, “Laguna Beach: The Real O.C.,” can fashion themselves after the show’s characters and hang out in their faux settings.

Unlike Second Life, which emphasizes a hands-off approach and has little say over who sets up shop inside its simulated world, MTV’s approach is to bring in advertisers as partners.

In Second Life, retailers like Reebok, Nike, Amazon and American Apparel have all set up shops to sell digital as well as real world versions of their products. Last week, Sun Microsystems unveiled a new pavilion promoting its products, and I.B.M. alumni held a virtual world reunion.

This week, the performer Ben Folds is to promote a new album with two virtual appearances. At one, he will play the opening party for Aloft, an elaborate digital prototype for a new chain of hotels planned by Starwood Hotels and Resorts. The same day, Mr. Folds will also “appear” at a new facility his music label’s parent company, Sony BMG, is opening at a complex called Media Island.

Meanwhile, Nissan is introducing its Nissan promotion, featuring a gigantic vending machine dispensing cars people can “drive” around.

And some of this is likely to be covered for the outside world by such business news outlets as CNet and Reuters, which now have reporters embedded full-time in the virtual realm.

All this attention has some Second Lifers concerned that their digital paradise will never be the same, like a Wal-Mart coming to town or a Starbucks opening in the neighborhood. “The phase it is in now is just using it as a hype and marketing thing,” said Catherine A. Fitzpatrick, 50, a member of Second Life who in the real world is a Russian translator in Manhattan.

In her second life, Ms. Fitzpatrick’s digital alter-ego is a figure well-known to other participants called Prokofy Neva, who runs a business renting “real estate” to other players. “The next phase,” she said, “will be they try to compete with other domestic products — the people who made sneakers in the world are now in danger of being crushed by Adidas.”

Mr. Rosedale says such concerns are overstated, because there are no advantages from economies of scale for big corporations in Second Life, and people can avoid places like Nissan Island as easily as they can avoid going to Nissan’s Web site. There is no limit to what can be built in Second Life, just as there is no limit to how many Web sites populate the Internet.

Linden Labs makes most of its money leasing “land” to tenants, Mr. Rosedale said, at an average of roughly $20 per month per “acre” or $195 a month for a private “island.” The land mass of Second Life is growing about 8 percent a month, a spokeswoman said, and now totals “60,000 acres,” the equivalent of about 95 square miles in the physical world. Linden Labs, a private company, does not disclose its revenue.

Despite the surge of outside business activity in Second Life, Linden Labs said corporate interests still owned less than 5 percent of the virtual world’s real estate.

As many as 10,000 people are in the virtual world at a time, and they are engaged in a gamut of ventures: everything from holding charity fund-raisers to selling virtual helicopters to operating sex clubs. Linden also makes money on exchanging United States dollars for what it calls Linden dollars for around 400 Linden dollars for $1 (people can load up on them with a credit card). A typical article of clothing — say a shirt — would cost around 200 Linden dollars, or 50 cents. As evidence of the growth of its “economy,” Second Life’s Web site tracks how much money changes hands each day. It recently reached as much as $500,000 a day and is growing as much as 15 percent a month.

On Tuesday, a Congressional committee said it was investigating whether virtual assets and incomes should be taxed.

But many inhabitants simply hang out for free. For advertisers worried about the effectiveness of the 30-second TV spot and the clutter of real world billboards and Internet pop-up ads, Second Life is appealing because it is a place where people literally immerse themselves in their products.

Steve F. Kerho, director of interactive marketing and media for Nissan USA, said the Second Life campaign was part of a growing interest in online video games. “We’re just trying to follow our consumer, that’s where they’re spending their time,” Mr. Kerho said. “But there has to be something in it for them — it’s got to be fun; it’s got to be playful.”

Projects like the Aloft hotel, an offshoot of Starwood’s W Hotels brand, are designed to promote the venture but also to give its designers feedback from prospective guests before the first real hotel opens in 2008.

The new Sony BMG building has rooms devoted to popular musicians like Justin Timberlake and DMX, allowing fans to mingle, listen to tunes or watch videos. Sony BMG is also toying with renting residences in the complex, as well as selling music downloads that people can listen to throughout the simulated world.

Sibley Verbeck, chief executive of the Electric Sheep Company, a consultancy that designed the Aloft and Sony BMG projects, said the flurry of corporate interest stemmed from the 10 to 20 percent growth in the number of people who had gone into virtual worlds each month for the last three years. Though exact numbers are difficult to come by, the figure should top a few million by next year, he said.

The spread of these worlds, however, is limited by access to high-speed Internet connections and, in Second Life’s case, software that is challenging to master and only runs on certain models of computers.

“If it doesn’t crash and burn then it will become real,” he said. “So now’s the time to start experimenting and learning ahead of your competition.”

As part of that process, businesses are learning that different rules apply when they venture into an arena where audiences are in control. “Users are the content — that’s the thing that everybody has a hard time getting over,” said Michael Wilson, the chief executive of Makena Technologies, which operates the virtual world There.com and helped build Virtual Laguna Beach.

For example, Sun Microsystems kicked off the opening of its Second Life venue with a press conference online hosted by executives and Mr. Rosedale of Linden Labs. But by the time the event was in full swing, several members of the audience had either walked or flown onto the stage, where they were running roughshod over the proceedings.

Even Mr. Rosedale got in on the act: he conjured a pair of sunglasses that he superimposed on a video image of a Sun representative talking on a screen behind the stage. (In virtual world lingo, such high jinks are known as “griefing.”)

Some corporate events have been met with protests by placard-waving avatars. And there is even a group called the Second Life Liberation Army that has staged faux “attacks” on Reebok and American Apparel stores. (The S.L.L.A. says it is fighting for voting rights for avatars — as well as stock in Linden Labs.)

Companies in this new environment have to get used to the idea that they may never know exactly who they are dealing with. Most of those in Second Life have chosen their names from a whimsical menu of supplied surnames, resulting in monikers like Snoopybrown Zamboni and Bitmason Pimpernel; males posing as female avatars and vice versa are not uncommon.

Another issue companies have to contend with is that their brands may already be in these virtual worlds, but illegally. Henry Jenkins, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, said one Second Life habitué created a virtual reproduction of the Ikea catalog to help people decorate their digital pads.

Mr. Verbeck of Electric Sheep said copyright infringement was rampant. His company runs an online boutique where Second Life residents sell each other pixelized creations of everything from body parts to home furnishings to roller skates — many of them unauthorized knockoffs.

So far, the boutique has not had many requests to stop selling fake products. But “we did have a request from the Salvador Dali Museum — which was great,” Mr. Verbeck said. “Second Life is so surreal that it was perfect.”

Erik Simins an R&B Hit on YouTube

Blue Pie Productions / Emporium Music recording artist Erik Simin's video Parent's House on YouTube.com

New Music Singles Chart combines download and store sales

For the ARIA Singles chart, where you can seel the full 50:

http://www.ariacharts.com.au/pages/charts_display.asp?chart=1U50

I WISH I WAS A PUNK ROCKER (WITH FLOWERS IN MY HAIR) Sandi Thom

SEXYBACK Justin Timberlake

I DON'T FEEL LIKE DANCIN' Scissor Sisters PDR/UMA

MANEATER Nelly Furtado GEF/UMA

LONDON BRIDGE Fergie A&M/UMA

U + UR HAND P!nk LAF/SBME

CALL ME WHEN YOU'RE SOBER Evanescence EPI/SBME

TALLER, STRONGER, BETTER Guy Sebastian SBME

BUTTONS The Pussycat Dolls Feat. Snoop Dogg A&M/UMA

WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG The Killers IUS/UMA



Story from The Australian / The Nation:

Pop charts get in tune with online sales

Iain Shedden, Music writer
October 09, 2006

PUNK rock ushered in the future of Australian music yesterday when the first ARIA singles chart combining online and conventional sales was released.

Scottish singer Sandi Thom's I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair), which has been No1 on the established ARIA singles chart for the past six weeks, came out on top of the new chart, which also recognises sales of songs bought online at websites such as iTunes and BigPond Music.

The combined chart signals a trend away from CD sales in shops towards the purchase, storage and playing of music through digital technology. Sales in the digital market have increased 30per cent since ARIA introduced a Digital Track chart in April and digital sales account for about 5.5 per cent of the overall music market in Australia.

That was an increase of four percentage points on the whole of last year.

ARIA chart and marketing committee chairman John Parker said combining both sets of retail figures was healthy for the local industry.

"The charts are a promotion tool for music," he said. "With the explosion of MP3 players, I think that digital sales will continue to grow at a rapid rate."

Twice as many digital tracks a week are bought in Australia than CD singles, although at the top end of the charts the No1 physical single outsells the top digital track by three to one.

The top of the new chart bears a striking resemblance to lastweek's conventional chart, with Thom, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado and Fergie in the top five.

Further down the ladder, however, the combined chart benefited one Australian band, Perth's Eskimo Joe.

Their song Black Fingernails, Red Wine dropped out of the conventional chart last week, but re-entered the combined chart atNo23.

New Zealand trio Evermore also re-entered the singles chart with their song Running.

Canada's R&B sensation Erik Simins poised for big success down under

Australia's Blue Pie Productions and Emporium Music team up to promote new music star

Watch for the release of Erik's cd "Do Not Disturb" this autumn, followed by an Australian tour winter 2007.

See www.BluePie.com.au and www.ErikSimins.com and MySpace.com/ErikSimins for news and updates.

TAD Top 40 Digital Song Downloads - Global Music Chart

TW LW Song Artist

1 5 The Way I See It - Erik Simins
2 4 Hat Trick - Marvel
3 15 London Bridge - Fergie
4 2 Thunder On The Mountain - Bob Dylan
5 1 You Look Good On
The Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys
6 8 Burning Man - Yuya
7 10 Welcome To Jamrock - Damian Marley
8 New When You Were Young - Killers
9 3 Baby I Love Your Way - Billy Lofton
10 6 Beirut - Burning The Day
11 11 Yeah People - Ooh La La
12 13 Breaker Breaker - Slimey Things
13 16 Unfaithful - Rihanna
14 17 Brand New Star - Sunroom
15 14 She's A Mod - Dino Jag
16 7 Smack That - Akon w/ Eminem
17 24 Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
18 New There's A Pub Now In
My School - Gone By Ten
19 26 Who Taught You To
Live Like That - Sloan
20 9 Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
21 36 Karolina - Sheela Langenberg
22 12 Gut Bucket - James Brown
23 19 Parent's House - Erik Simins
24 18 Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado
25 New Waiting On The
World to Change - John Mayer
26 21 Mute - Burning The Day
27 29 Things To Keep - Trevor Jones
28 New When The Night Feels
My Song - Bedouin Soundclash
29 22 Lips Of An Angel - Hinder
30 27 Blues Of The World - Michael St. Clair
31 23 What Went Wrong,
What Went Right - Yuya
32 25 Don't Say Goodbye - Katie Michaelson
33 New Want To - Sugarland
34 33 Tell Me Baby - Red Hot Chili Peppers
35 39 Fake Tales Of
San Francisco - Arctic Monkeys
36 New Save Your Scizzors - City and Colour
37 31 Laqiya - Seydina
38 35 Be Yourself - Supernova
39 32 Somewhere Out There - Our Lady Peace
40 New Maneater - Nelly Furtado

Top 40 UK Single Songs Downloads

The Official UK Download Chart : 27.09.2006
from www.BBC.co.uk/radio1/chart/downloads.shtml

TW LW Wks ARTIST TITLE (LABEL)

1 1 (7) Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin'
(Universal Music)

2 2 (2) Killers - When You Were Young
(Universal Music)

3 3 (8) Justin Timberlake - Sexyback
(Sony BMG Music)

4 4 (12) Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
(Universal Music)

5 5 (7) Nelly Furtado - Promiscuous
(Universal Music)

6 6 (5) The Feeling - Never Be Lonely
(Universal Music)

7 7 (2) Fergie - London Bridge
(Universal Music)

8 8 (5) Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger
(Universal Music)

9 28 (2) Lil' Chris - Checking It Out
(Sony BMG Music)

10 11 (5) Pink - U & Ur Hand
(Sony BMG Music)

11 13 (7) Cascada - Everytime We Touch
(All Around The World)

12 26 (2) Pussycat Dolls - I Don't Need A Man
(Universal Music)

13 15 (2) P Diddy - Come To Me
(Warner Music)

14 9 (15) Shakira - Hips Don't Lie
(Sony BMG Music)

15 38 (2) My Chemical Romance - Welcome To The Black Parade
(Warner Music)

16 12 (5) David Guetta Vs The Egg - Love Don't Let Me Go (Walking Away)
(Gut)

17 16 (7) Chamillionaire - Ridin'
(Universal Music)

18 17 (3) Lemar - It's Not That Easy
(Sony BMG Music)

19 18 (3) Lily Allen - Ldn
(EMI Music)

20 23 (3) Jamelia - Something About You
(EMI Music)

21 10 (3) Robbie Williams - Rudebox
(EMI Music)

22 20 (10) James Morrison - You Give Me Something
(Universal Music)

23 24 (8) Cassie - Me & U
(Warner Music)

24 19 (3) Muse - Starlight
(Warner Music)

25 31 (4) Bedouin Soundclash - When The Night Feels My Song
(Universal Music)

26 14 (4) Beyonce Feat. Jay-z - Deja Vu
(Sony BMG Music)

27 21 (2) Evanescence - Call Me When Youre Sober
(Sony BMG Music)

28 22 (8) Kasabian - Empire
(Sony BMG Music)

29 25 (14) Kooks - She Moves In Her Own Way
(EMI Music)

30 32 (16) Automatic - Monster
(Universal Music)

31 NEW (-) Paolo Nutini - Jenny Don't Be Hasty
(Warner Music)

32 27 (11) Rogue Traders - Voodoo Child
(Sony BMG Music)

33 30 (16) Nelly Furtado - Maneater
(Universal Music)

34 29 (13) Christina Aguilera - Ain't No Other Man
(Sony BMG Music)

35 NEW (-) Gabriella Troy - Breaking Free
(EMI Music)

36 33 (15) Rihanna - Unfaithful
(Universal Music)

37 39 (12) Razorlight - In The Morning
(Universal Music)

38 36 (2) Lupe Fiasco Feat Jill Scott - Daydreamin'
(Warner Music)

39 NEW (-) Lostprophets - A Town Called Hypocrisy
(Visible Noise)

40 40 (13) Paolo Nutini - Last Request
(Warner Music)

The Official UK Download Chart is

TAD Top 40 Digital Song Downloads

Music Chart of Popular Songs Downloaded - September 2007

1. You Look Good On The Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys
2. Thunder On The Mountain - Bob Dylan
3. Baby I Love Your Way - Billy Lofton
4. Hat Trick - Marvel
5. The Way I See It - Erik Simins
6. Beirut - Burning The Day
7. Smack That - Akon featuring Eminem
8. Burning Man - Yuya
9. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
10. Welcome to Jamrock - Damian Marley
11. Yeah People - Ooh La La
12. Gut Bucket - James Brown
13. Breaker Breaker - Slimey Things
14. She's A Mod - Dino Jag
15. London Bridge - Fergie
16. Unfaithful - Rihanna
17. Brand New Start - Sunroom
18. Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado
19. Parent's House - Erik Simins
20. Far Away - Nickelback
21. Mute - Burning The Day
22. Lips Of An Angel - Hinder
23. What Went Wrong, What Went Right - Yuya
24. Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
25. Don't Say Goodbye - Katie Michaelson
26. Who Taught You To Live Like That? - Sloan
27. Blues Of The World - Michael St.Clair
28. Sexyback - Justin Timberlake
29. Things To Keep - Trevor Jones
30. Fix You - Coldplay
31. Laqiya - Seydina
32. Somewhere Out There - Our Lady Peace
33. Ding My Gong - Bob E. Ruglass
34. Tell Me Baby - Red Hot Chili Peppers
35. Be Yourself - Supernova (or Nova Heart or ??)
36. Karolina - Sheela Langeberg
37. Take A Look - Michael St. Clair
38. Bulan (Moon) - Tommee
39. Fake Tales Of San Francisco - Arctic Monkeys
40. Paranoid In The City - Trevor Jones


The TAD Top 40 Downloaded songs is a representative sampling with input from Yahoo Music sales, iTunes, Blue Pie, and other online music vendors. This Totally Arbitrary Digital Top 40 Online songs chart is not based primarily on sales, but rather is a reflection of a variety of music styles and bands currently popular for iPods, zoons and other portable music players.

Storm Large to join The Panic Channel? Rockstar Supernova breaking news …

Subject to the approval of current vocalist / guitarist Steve Isaacs, the collective of former Jane's Addiction players known as The Panic Channel is about to invite Storm Large to tour with them and even have her consider joining the band.

The sexual tension and energy flowing between the newly-single Dave Navarro and the former model Storm Large was never more present than when they rocked the house last night with a cover of Bowie's women's lib song Suffragette City.

Lukas blew the roof off again and is the clear frontrunner, and though Storm has the inside track to be the final runnerup, it's no secret in the industry that Supernova is already imagining life on the road with Luke. So, don't be surprised to see Storm Large and The Panic Channel coming to a stadium near you!

Toronto Islands to host music fest with Strokes, Dears, Flamip Lips, Sam Roberts, Massive Attack

http://www.vfestival.ca/en/

SAM ROBERTS BAND

"Whoever said you can't be saved by a song?" Sam Roberts asks on "Uprising Down Under," an elegiac track from his band's new album, Chemical City "Whoever said that was stringing you along."

It's a bold assertion, but it's not the first time Roberts has put himself on the line, worn his heart on his sleeve and tackled apathy head on. His band's debut album, We Were Born in a Flame, was an uncompromising collection of songs about love, faith, compassion, struggle and transcendence, on which Roberts made his now-famous declaration that he'd die for rock 'n' roll.

The Strokes

The sound of The Strokes is the result of frantic living, and the late nights and the early mornings they’ve spent making their music in New York City. Their music makes you want to forget who you are, and unlocks the possibilities of what you might want to be.

Massive Attack

Massive AttackThe pioneering force behind the rise of trip-hop, Massive Attack were among the most innovative and influential groups of their generation; their hypnotic sound — a darkly sensual and cinematic fusion of hip-hop rhythms, soulful melodies, dub grooves, and choice samples — set the pace for much of the dance music to emerge throughout the 1990s, paving the way for such acclaimed artists as Portishead, Sneaker Pimps, Beth Orton, and Tricky, himself a Massive Attack alumnus. Their history dates back to 1983 and the formation of the Wild Bunch, one of the earliest and most successful sound-system/DJ collectives to arrive on the U.K. music scene; renowned for their seamless integration of a wide range of musical styles, from punk to reggae to R&B, the group's parties quickly became can't-miss events for the Bristol club crowd, and at the peak of their popularity they drew crowds so enormous that the local live music scene essentially ground to a halt.

Massive Attack have made four albums to date, each one extraordinary in its own right. “Blue Lines”, “Protection”, “Mezzanine” and “100th Window” all pushed musical boundaries and made their mark.

With these critically acclaimed albums clocking up 9 million sales, a clutch of awards and a new album due for release in early 2007, the time felt right for a Massive Attack Best Of, an apt reminder of their musical legacy to date. The album, entitled “Collected”, features tracks chosen by the band, including such gems as “Unfinished Sympathy”, “Safe From Harm”, “Protection”, “Teardrop” and ”Angel”.

The special edition of “Collected” contains a bonus CD comprising of a new compilation of rare and reworked material as well as brand new recordings, whilst the flip side features a DVD of all the videos to date.

The album will be preceded by a brand new single, “Live With Me”, featuring Terry Callier on vocals. Written by Robert Del Naja, Neil Davidge and Terry Callier, and produced by Del Naja and Davidge, this track sees a return to a more soulful sound for Massive Attack, while retaining the lush production of their more recent albums. The powerful new video is directed by Jonathan Glazer, his first in six years.

Massive Attack are currently in the studio and have completed seven tracks for their fifth album, “Weather Underground”, with long time cohort and co-producer Neil Davidge. At present, they are dividing time between Bristol and New York where they have been recording with Dave Sitek and TV On The Radio, one of several collaborations for the album.

The band will be performing a series of live dates and festivals throughout the summer and autumn of 2006, details of which will be announced in due course.


THE FLAMING LIPS

The Flaming Lips YOSHIMI BATTLES THE PINK ROBOTS
by The Flaming Lips
Release Date: July 16, 2002
The Impact of Death on the Sunrise

In the spring of 2000 we were on tour (somewhere on the west coast U.S. of A.) when we began to receive some strange e-mails concerning a friend of ours (a Japanese woman who worked for a magazine and ran a record store in Osaka). The e-mails were poorly translated to English from Japanese – so the message, unfortunately, was not easily understood. But as the days went by we were able to, little by little, decipher the horrible news being transmitted – our friend (the Japanese girl) had become ill – a heart ailment of some kind – and suddenly and sadly had died. Though she (our friend) had spoke and wrote English very well, her sisters who were sending the e-mails, did not – so the seriousness of the situation was hard to confirm. You see, we had seen this girl not too long before this and – although we did not know her well – she spent several days with us traveling around Japan, and seemed fine. Whatever condition we perceived her to be in then and there, she was… now – dead… and; like I said earlier, we were on tour, traveling from city to city with a very busy schedule. So, while we were receiving this news – that she had died – we were skeptically unsure – the translation being so odd. It left us a little room to still be optimistic that perhaps this was not the final word.

As weeks passed and spring became summer, the realization of her death slowly bloomed – it was very strange – never at once did it overwhelm me, it did not come like some giant black spear piercing my chest, as other deaths had done – it came a drip at a time – never a rush of the unthinkable – it came as a gentle devastation… As the summer rolled on we were set to do a remix of “Race For The Prize” for, I believe, an UK only release. We needed a B-side and, never one to pass up an opportunity, I thought I would write up a quick new song and without giving it much thought sat down and began to sing into the tape recorder (I don’t know why but it seems the more profoundly internal something is, the more intensely one wants to scream out loud about it). What came out of me was this sympathetic plea to those sisters that I could not, with any certainty, communicate my condolences – it went almost exactly as it’s heard now – “It’s Summertime and I can understand if you still feel sad – It’s Summertime and though it’s hard to see it’s true possibilities” – and what I meant was this - the aims and appreciations of life are the best defense against death and the summertime when there is such an explosion of life – everything bursting ripe – this distraction – this noticing of life erupting all around could give them comfort. I know it did for me. So, I exclaimed “Look outside – I know that you’ll recognize it’s summertime!!” – not to be some cosmic hippie solution – there is no answer – just a change… but better to express sorrow and experience sadness than to let inner emotions inflate to the point of despair – despair only leads to more death. For it’s bad enough that something wonderful in your life has left you – but to fall into despair - despair does not allow you to even enjoy what is still living… So, as the summer came to an end, we were never satisfied with the remix and the “Race For The Prize” single was never issued, but unbeknown to us at the time, this sad song about the impact of death and the victory and celebration of sunshine was the beginning of our post “Soft Bulletin” sessions.

For the next couple of years we would be in and out of the studio (primarily Dave Fridmann’s) piecing together three different and unrelated ambitions. The first of these presented itself when our friend and filmmaker Bradley Beesley was finishing up his documentary, “Okie Noodling,” about a clan of weirdo fisherman in the backwoods of Oklahoma. “The Southern Oklahoma Cosmic Trigger Contest” (not for sale yet) was the result and it consisted of music I call, “Epic Country and Western,” utilizing mainly acoustic sounds such as harmonica, banjo, upright bass, strings and occasional hiccups. The unplugged nature of these sessions was a bizarre contrast to the tracks we were beginning to assemble with Dave Fridmann (which were, at first, completely computer generated and electronic for “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots” and the “Christmas On Mars” musical score) not only contrasting in technical terms but also in tone. The “Okie Noodling” batch had a decidedly un-moralizing bent (unlike most C&W derived from Gospel and Folk), while the “Pink Robots” batch were of an optimistic and philosophical spirit – and (if it can be pronounced to be so as a thrichotomy of priorities) – the “Christmas On Mars” score being melancholy and sometimes crushingly depressing dirges with religious textures and spacey sound effects. Our earlier experience of working on Zaireeka (an experimental 4-disc set) while working on the “Soft Bulletin” illuminated the benefits of changing focus from one sound dimension to another and though we did not intend to be juggling all three at once – it never became an un-manageable workload and actually proved to be a wonderful change of atmosphere and process.

In the past, we had never approached any collection of songs with an overall intention of mood, as we were doing here – our curiosity of sounds and production had usually shaped our identity more than any specific, pre-ordained idea. With these three projects happening simultaneously it would be very easy to drift from one idea to another carrying influences from the previous to the next – and we didn’t want this – we wanted each to be distinct and with its own logic and character and impression. So, without having too rigid a parameter we began throwing sonic and melody creations into different piles – one for the “Fish Movie,” one for the “Christmas Movie” and one for what ended up being “Pink Robots” (and it’s funny, but some kind of biological-psychological reaction mechanism kicks in and deduces that – any emersion in one sensation – for too long at a time – heightens the desire for the opposite - kind of like how eating a bag of potato chips detonates the panic response for a candy bar). And so it was with a relaxed urgency that we (at first) easily shifted from acoustic stuff to computer electronic stuff and from spacey Christmas stuff to beat-heavy experimental rock stuff. But, (and I know this begins to sound absurd) if you did actually do an experiment where you had a bag of potato chips and a candy bar and you repeatedly grabbed one and then the other – and you did this for say – half a million times over the period of a couple of years – you would eventually end up with some version of candy coated potato chips… and so while I believe the “Okie Noodling” tracks sound Real-McCoy hillbilly and the “Christmas On Mars” tracks (so far) sound very cosmic and religious – the “Pink Robots” tracks (because it was the most reworked, the most fucked with, and essentially the most “touched” of the three) have absorbed the influence of them more than they… it… And has emerged as something that, if looked at on paper – like you’re doing now – could seem impossible or wrong – perhaps like some genetically altered plant, it’s alive and thriving, but disturbingly unnatural… But, with any luck, such will be music’s triumph over the psyche that this concoction of confusing companions with it’s story-telling acid rock (I guess??) and it’s theme of sunshine funerals will render its listeners powerless to study or analyze it and enable them to sit back and – hopefully for a couple of minutes at a time - just simply be… entertained.

Thanks,

Wayne – April 2002


Gnarls Barkley

Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere

“You are the best. You are the worst. You are average. Your love is a part of you. You try to give it away because you cannot bear its radiance, but you cannot separate it from yourself. To understand your fellow humans, you must understand why you give them your love. You must realize that hate is but a crime-ridden subdivision of love. You must reclaim what you never lost. You must take leave of your sanity, and yet be fully responsible for your actions.” -Gnarls Barkley, in a letter to the legendary rock critic Lester Bangs So who is Gnarls Barkley? Diligent pen pal to Bangs, soul giant Isaac Hayes, and Violent Femmes ringleader Gordon Gano? Well-kept romantic consort to pop stars Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson? English teacher to synth-rock legends Kraftwerk? Croupier at a mysterious annual gathering in the Bay Area that allegedly draws members of the Wu-Tang Clan and Britian's Stuckist art collective? It seems that, in the music world, Gnarls Barkley is always nearby yet impossible to find. The membership rolls of both the Atlanta hip hop collective Dungeon Family and Athens, Georgia’s psychedelic enclave Elephant Six list Barkley as an affiliate, but mention him to either group and they’ll shoot each other frightened looks and start talking basketball. The rumors fly hard in every direction and remain defiantly unverifiable. Clinton Jacks works as a cook in a Waffle House restaurant near the South Carolina coast. “One night back in the year 2000,” he recollects, “I saw Danger Mouse come in here. Cee-Lo was with him. And they had this other dude with them, dressed up like H.R. Pufnstuf. Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo ate big meals, but H.R. Pufnstuf only wanted hash browns. Then they left, Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo, but H.R. Pufnstuf stayed around for hours. He must’ve had twenty cups of coffee. I went in the bathroom, and when I came out, he was gone. But he left a $500 tip on the table. And he left a little note that said, ‘Compliments to the chef. Gnarls Barkley.’”

Pellentesque hendrerit. Aliquam ac nunc. Duis ligula libero, feugiat eget, porttitor quis, pulvinar non, magna. Pellentesque vestibulum ante id justo. Suspendisse pharetra ipsum condimentum pede. Integer quam nisi, viverra ut, faucibus nec, auctor ut, ligula. Etiam egestas. Maecenas euismod elementum risus. Morbi est. Nunc rutrum luctus lacus. Maecenas nisi. Etiam rutrum interdum felis. Duis fringilla eleifend metus. Aenean ut tellus. Praesent vel justo sit amet purus tristique ornare.

Danger Mouse, a/k/a Brian Burton, produced the infamous Grey Album, a full-length blend of the Beatles’ music and Jay-Z’s raps that became a cult classic after it was suppressed by EMI. He recently garnered a Grammy nomination for Producer of the Year for his work with the “virtual band” Gorillaz. Having recorded with enigmatic rapper MF DOOM, not to mention a cast of voices from “Adult Swim”, Danger Mouse is no stranger to outsized characters. He admits that he helped out with St. Elsewhere, the first album credited to Gnarls Barkley. “A lot of people ask me about him,” says Danger Mouse when the topic arises. “He found one of my Pelican City records, which was this downtempo experimental stuff I did in college, and I started getting letters from him. He’s

not [Blur frontman and Gorillaz co-creator] Damon Albarn – I can blow that myth out of the water for you. A lot of people think he lives in South Carolina. Personally, I think you’d be more likely to find him in Europe.”

From beneath his shroud, Burton's spiritual adviser, the usually silent “Dr. President”, murmurs something unintelligible and then…”Not that I know where he is.”

Cee-Lo Green, a/k/a Thomas Calloway, is a Dungeon Family alumnus, once and - future member of Goodie Mob and a wildly eclectic solo artist. His music is steeped in the gospel and blues traditions of the Southeast, merging timeless soul with experimental funk and hip hop. He confirms reports that his dramatic voice and soul-rummaging lyrics appear on portions of St. Elsewhere. “Yes, I believe that I sang on at least some of the Gnarls Barkley record,” he says. “But we are not the same person. I am Cee-Lo. I am a humble trumpet, and the wind of God blows through me. You might consider Gnarls the spit valve on the trumpet, were you inclined to consider him at all.” As he walked away, Cee-Lo could be heard to mutter, “You want to know who he is? He’s the dude who owes me thirty-five dollars, that’s who he is.”

Does St. Elsewhere shed light on this mysterious personage, or does it further obscure him? It’s a complex record, to be sure. It employs the full spectra of pop music and human emotion. The warm, breezy single “Crazy” and the spry finger-snapper “Smiley Faces” recall "Songs In The Key Of Life" and “Good Vibrations” in equal measure. “On Line,” a lament for the lonely and ambitious, could be a tricked-out G-funk holdover. Often dark and unpredictable, St. Elsewhere nevertheless retains its sense of joy throughout. Even Cee-Lo’s darker moments, his introspection on “Necromancer”, and the chilling “Just A Thought,” on which our hero fights off suicidal ideation, flourish in their lush, funky surroundings. It constantly shifts its shape and never sacrifices momentum. And it contains a mess of contradictory clues about just who Gnarls Barkley actually is.

“I’ve made him my life’s work,” says Milton Pawley, a Los Angeles music writer widely considered the world’s leading Barkley scholar. “And even with all the evidence I’ve gathered, I’m still not sure he really exists. Maybe Gnarls Barkley isn’t a person. Maybe he’s out there in the wind. Maybe he’s inside of all of us. Like ‘Bob’ from Twin Peaks, only more funky and less evil.”

Perhaps Gnarls Barkley will never fully reveal himself. But if St. Elsewhere is any indication, his music bears Marvin Gaye’s depth of feeling, Jeff Buckley’s emotive theatrics, and wild courage not seen since Prince’s prime. Behold the most exciting debut of 2006. A psychedelic soul masterpiece. Gnarls Barkley may not be easily located, but he won’t be a stranger.

-Emerson Dameron

Aussie band Wolfmother masters British Rock Sound

Jackin the Union Jack?

Wolfmother is yet another Aussie band in a petticoat

from: http://www.sdcitybeat.com/article.php?id=4637

by Jim Ballew, San Diego City Beat

Australia has an identity complex. In the late 1700s, after America took England to the proverbial cleaners in the Revolutionary War, Her Majesty needed somewhere to store all of England's native scoundrels and scallywags who�d previously been housed in penal camps on American soil. Australia, with all its open desert and hot marsupial action, seemed like the perfect place to store a few thousand of England�s snaggle-toothiest criminals.

Over the past two and a half centuries, the people of Australia have formed a strong sense of national identity (Foster�s Beer, Crocodile Dundee, pictures of koalas on every-goddamn-thing). Judging by the music they�ve been putting out lately, however, it seems there�s still a subconscious longing for the comforting embrace of Union Jack�s bosom.

Wolfmother is the latest in a line of modern Australian bands that have taken to mimicking the sounds of some of England�s most famous classic-rock acts. Jet tried to ape the new Rolling Stones. The Vines blatantly ripped off The Who. And now the afro�d white boys in Wolfmother are banking on the wailing thud-rock of Led Zeppelin.

The problem with modeling yourself after visionary trailblazers, however, is that there is very little chance of doing better what the others already did so well. Like Caddyshack II, these bands are sequels to phenomenal successes and barely even scratch the surface of the originals� greatness.

In fact, they hardly seem necessary at all.

Hopefully, Wolfmother will find their own unique voice for their subsequent recordings. Because a kangaroo dressed up like Henry XIII, while hilarious, is still just a kangaroo.

Note from Yuya:

Wolfmother to play Virgin Festival in Toronto with The Strokes, Gnarls Barkley, The Flaming Lips, Massive Attack and many more.

http://www.vfestival.ca/en/

Beirut's diverse, thriving music scene now battered by war

from www.Haaretz.com

When the last note sounds on peace

By Noam Ben Ze'ev

"All that is banned is desired," goes the Arabic proverb. This expression is the title of a new brochure published by the Freemuse organization - the only international organization that is focused on the struggle against music censorship and which promotes freedom of expression in music. The brochure cites discussions from the Freemuse Conference on Freedom of Expression in Music, which took place in Beirut last October, and reflects Beirut's rich musical scene and climate of freedom - before the strikes began there last month.

The sensitive topics discussed in the course of the week-long convention point to why Beirut was chosen as the host city.

"We chose Beirut because only in that city, in conditions of freedom of expression, could musicians from all over the Middle East and its periphery speak openly and without fear about the censorship and the oppression that they suffer, and about the real threat in whose shadow many of them work," says Marie Corpe, the chair of the organization, whose headquarters are in Denmark.

In a phone conversation from Amman a few days ago, Jordanian-Palestinian oud player Ahmed al-Khatib, one of the featured speakers at the conference, described the musical and cultural climate in Beirut: "It's hard to describe the tremendous cultural progress that has taken place in the city since my first visit there in 1993, when it was in ruins after the war."

Al-Khatib came to Ramallah at the end of the last decade and became one of the founders of the city's conservatory and a leading teacher. However, in 2002 he was arrested by the Israeli army, and since then he has not been allowed to return to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

"I though that Ramallah was the height of cultural flourishing until I came to Beirut," he continued, "a city that is unlike any other city in the Arab work: bustling with music, with full concert halls, wonderful artists, recordings and new trends in composition."

The spirit of freedom

In a phone conversation from Copenhagen, Marie Corpe also describes pre-war Beirut as a city that enjoyed a renaissance of construction, theater, music, master classes and conventions attended by people from all over the Middle East - not to mention jazz cafes full of intellectuals and university students. "A large number of journalists and television people took an interest in our conference, the first in the Middle East devoted to freedom of expression," she says. "Even the people from Hezbollah's Al-Manar television station confirmed their attendance but they canceled at the last minute."

To kick off the convention, as a point of reference for later deliberations, they screened a documentary film about Lounes Matoub, the popular Algerian singer of Berber origins. Matoub was kidnapped in 1994 by the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), released in the wake of demonstrations by millions who spontaneously took to the streets, was exiled to France, but returned after four years because of his longing for Algeria - and was then murdered.

In lectures and discussions held after the film, different facets of the oppression of musicians surfaced, which not only threaten musicians in Algeria, but in the entire region - including Syria, Morocco, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. These threats were described by players and singers, producers and radio people, newspaper music critics and artists from these countries.

A discussion with the head Egyptian censor, Ali abu-Shadi, revealed only a few of the methods used to silence music in that country. Ahmed al-Khatib also shed light on the complexities inherent in the Palestinian situation. He said musicians and teachers were trying to establish a musical and educational infrastructure under the terrors of the occupation, all the while within a political, social and economic context that prevents them from flourishing. "It is difficult to divert the attention of children from the violent situation surrounding them, and to make them concentrate on music," said Al-Khatib. And outside intervention, by political forces as well as by foreign donors, is in itself censorship."

The desperate situation of the artists who live under the yoke of totalitarian regimes in Arab countries, or under occupation, only serves to emphasize the growing spirit of freedom in Beirut prior to July 2006. A unique expression of this spirit was showcased at the conference by a cleric, Sheikh Ibrahim Ramadan al-Mardini, from the Beirut Studies and Documentation Center. In an exhaustive survey the sheikh explained the main points of Islam's attitude towards music - both according to the Koran and according to Muslim law. "The censorship of music and arts is a tool used by the totalitarian regimes to preserve themselves, and is opposed to religion," he said, pointing to many examples from theology to prove his arguments. "Islam opposes any coercion relating to thoughts and ideas, including in the field of music - because it is an abstract, neutral language of expression, which does not reflect nationality, gender, identity or religion. Therefore, everyone is permitted to express himself through it."

The participation of Lebanese composer and oud player Marcel Khalife may have been the best indication of the victory of freedom of expression in his country. In 1999 Khalife was arrested for insulting the religion and for heresy because of his song: "Father, I am Yusuf," set to the words of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish an allegory on the story of Joseph and his brothers. At his trial, which was taped on camera, Khalife courageously spoke harshly to the judges, and freely expressed the contempt he felt for his prosecutors: "Why does the court of justice, which conducts its meetings in the name of the people and makes its rulings in the name of the people, close its doors to the people?" he said defiantly. "Did you throw me into the cage of the accused only because I am a creative artist? Placing me on trial is a crude and arrogant act, which subverts a person's right to interpret any idea according to his understanding."

In the verdict, the Lebanese judges ruled that disobeying the laws of religion did not necessarily mean desecrating its holy men. "After listening to the disc we discovered that the accused sang the song out of respectful awe," they added, "without desecrating his holiness, and without intending to incite against him - neither by the words and their meaning, nor by the music." Khalife was declared innocent; and in his lecture at the conference he once again opposed censorship of any kind, claiming that the censorship official was nothing but a police officer, and emphasizing the importance of the intellectuals and artists in society: "The artist needs wings, and we must help him fly."

Just like Tel Aviv

Lebanese composer Joelle Khoury's stories about up and coming music in Lebanon and the status of the female artists in the music scene; rapper Klotair K's description of the hip-hop scene, and the story of American musician and scholar Mark LeVine, emphasize a progressive Lebanon, which exists alongside reactionary forces. "In Beirut's jazz clubs, Shi'ite and Christian girls dance with one another, and all the borders - sexual, ideological, nationalist, religious - are crossed in the climate of the youth culture there," says LeVine, a professor of modern Middle Eastern history and Islamic studies at the University of California at Irvine, during his lecture at the convention.

LeVine speaks Hebrew. He lived for over a year in Tel Aviv, and has written books and articles about the Western-Islamic conflict - including that of the Israelis and Palestinians - from the music angle.

In a phone conversation from California last week, he described Beirut as a city that is more reminiscent of Tel Aviv than one that suits the image of an evil enemy: "When you sit there on the beach, it is impossible to tell whether you're in Beirut or in Tel Aviv," he says, "and the same is true in the cafes, the pubs and the nightclubs - the same dj's play in both places. Now a friend of mine who is a rapper tells me that just like in 1982, he once again goes to sleep with heavy metal rock and Jimi Hendrix on his stereo system, in order to drown out the thunder of the bombs. The artists have stopped believing that there is a chance for peace with Israel - and that's terrible, because they are usually the last ones to give up. They will be able to reconstruct Beirut with the billions from the Gulf states; the anger and suspicion against Israel, and the disappointment and fear of it, these have already been an issue for generations."

Canada's Isis a Goddess of Lyrical Prowess

By Del F. Cowie
Exclaim.ca, Canada's Music Authority
August, 2006

With the release of her debut EP, Toronto-based Isis who has only been describing herself as an MC for just over a year is serving striking notice of her skills, charisma and versatility. On her debut EP, the 20-year-old MC of Nigerian origin issues battle-ready displays of dazzling wordplay on tracks like “The Fly Trap (Remix)” with infectious energy, wilfully taking on foes and nay-sayers. However, Isis also has the knack to compose compelling narratives. “U Know What Love Is” is visually striking, tackling the topic of domestic abuse and “Ask A Woman” outlines an often abstract balance of introspection and history. While the production and choice of mix-tape-style instrumentals is strong throughout, it’s highly evident that Isis isn’t dependent on a beat to bolster or mask her skills. Showcasing a variety of styles, this EP makes you wonder what this promising MC can accomplish in another year.

You mention on record that you have broken up with hip-hop in the past. What made you leave the music and what brought you back? I spent a while loving hip-hop only because my older brother loved hip-hop and I wanted to be like him. I used to freestyle on the block when I was 13 with a bunch of guys. And then when I was like 16 or 17 it was the “jiggy” era and I was like what the fuck is this? I got into poetry, became a vegetarian, did poetry slams and got attention and ego strokes. But then one day I started listening to Jay Dee. Then it was Stones Throw, and then I heard Quasimoto’s The Unseen and all this good hip-hop music. I kind of credit my ex-boyfriend because I would literally wake up to good hip-hop music every day.

Determining one’s fate seems to be a theme, particularly on ‘Starchild’, can you expound on what that means to you? I think that there’s a new generation of youth right now that are capable of reaching amazing feats and making history and we have to remind ourselves to realise our true potential. I have to remind myself. As females in this industry, we tend to go as far as the glass ceiling, but we can go through it. From far away it seems big, but when you get close it’s just a bubble, an anthill. A lot of things are about to change for our generation and the ones coming after us, the possibilities are endless.

A Brief History of Punk/Glam/Rock Legends: New York Dolls

Too Much Too Soon - NY Dolls a Band Ahead of Their Times

It’s not a great exaggeration to say that punk rock as we know it today would not exist without fashion-focused glitter rockers New York Dolls. While not technically a punk band, they paved the way for groups like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols, helping create the audience for original rock music that led to the creation of CBGB and its infamous policy of originals-only. With a career that spanned only a few years, the influence of these young, flamboyant, but surprisingly heterosexual cross-dressers cannot be understated. The band’s success came almost as quickly as their downfall and tragedy, taking members from arenas to barns in Florida in a few short years. The junkie lifestyle for which some were poster boys was also what ultimately killed them, while others went on to work in libraries and, supposedly, drive taxis. With their first record of new material in 22 years landing this month, New York Dolls don’t have anything left to prove, and everything to gain.

1971
A band called Actress, which includes Arthur “Killer” Kane on bass, Billy Murcia on drums, and Ricky Rivets on guitar, recruits a young guitar player named Johnny Volume to round out their line-up. Rivets is soon replaced by the Egyptian-born Sylvain Sylvain, and the band rechristen themselves the Dolls. Volume adopts the last name Thunders, and the band opts to drop the “the” and add “New York” to their name. Recruiting vocalist David Johansen, the band rehearse for a single night at Rusty’s Beanies Bike Shop before performing their first show, a set comprised of R&B and soul covers, at the Endicott Hotel, a homeless shelter in New York City.

1972
In pre-CBGB New York, the band performs at the most unlikely venues, including the Mercer Arts Center, which features rock’n’roll bands on off nights. After playing a powerful set in one of the Center’s smallest rooms for a $3 cover, the band secures a weekly residency, performing every Tuesday in gradually larger rooms. In a city with little exciting, original rock music, New York Dolls become the band to see, mixing aggressive, tuneful music that combines the blues-influenced swagger of the Stones with a distinct attitude and aesthetic that pushes the gender barrier and equally excites and disgusts those who see them. Everyone from David Bowie to Andy Warhol come to see the band play, including Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine, who would later claim that seeing New York Dolls was the impetus for the formation of their own seminal art punk band, Television. The band’s continuing popularity leads to an offer to open for Rod Stewart and the Faces in London at Wembley Arena in front of 13,000 people, a significant jump from their previous high of 350. The band dive headfirst into the lifestyle they are now afforded, and with offers of record deals coming in from the labels of Mick Jagger and the Who, among others, it looks like their career is on an upward trajectory. While still in England, however, drummer Billy Murcia ingests a near-lethal amount of Quaaludes and alcohol, and when two groupies place his body in a cold bathtub and force coffee down his throat in an attempt to revive him, he chokes to death.

1973
For almost a month, the band struggle with the decision to continue as the Dolls without Murcia. Eventually, they decide to begin the auditioning process to find a new drummer; while Marc Bell, better known today as Marky Ramone, tries for the spot, Murcia’s stool is filled by Jerry Nolan, whose unique style cements the band’s original sound. Signing with Mercury Records, the band record their self-titled debut album in a week with producer Todd Rundgren. While New York Dolls peaks at #116 on the Billboard charts, it is critically praised for its brave new sound, though the femmed-up band shot that adorns the cover makes many uptight music consumers uncomfortable. The band travel back to England where they perform on BBC’s The Old Grey Whistle Test. Ripping through a set of originals, the band are as over-the-top as ever, which leads the show’s host, Whispering Bob Harris, to refer to them as “mock rock.” While Harris hates the band, a whole generation of UK teenagers latch on to the Dolls’ raw musical style and distinct fashion sense; some later credit the performance as the turning point in the English punk movement. (And five years later, Sid Vicious will mug Bob Harris in a London pub.) The band’s popularity as a live act begins to soar despite their flagging record sales, and a sold-out show at Paris’s Olympia Theatre leads to an intensely violent clash between police and some 4,000 fans who cannot get into the show; those who do, witness Thunders smashing his guitar over the head of a spitting audience member. A similar situation arises when the band play New York City’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Halloween and 6,000 fans arrive in full glam regalia. Only half get in, and the remainder trash the hotel’s lobby. The band themselves smash a plate glass window and hit the stage two hours late, prompting influential rock promoter Howard Stein to swear he’ll never book the band again. While continuing to tour, Thunders meets groupie Sable Starr, who is only 16 at the time. The two begin a tumultuous love affair, and when Starr runs away from home, a warrant is issued for her arrest at the behest of her anxious parents. Expecting trouble, Starr heads straight for New York City while the band head out for their next batch of shows. Cyrinda Foxe, future wife of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, is erroneously arrested while waiting for the band at the airport, and, while annoyed, is flattered to be mistaken for 16 years old. (She’s 21.) Groupie troubles continue when Kane has his thumb split open in his sleep by Connie, an infamous New York groupie. Unable to play, the band recruit Peter Jordan as a temporary replacement. Sylvain and Johansen meet and befriend Malcolm McLaren, who is in New York to promote his Let It Rock designs with Vivienne Westwood.

1974
The band’s hedonistic lifestyle evolves as their success grows. Nolan and Thunders get seriously into heroin, while Kane’s alcohol addiction continues to plague the Dolls’ live shows; frequently, he is so drunk that he is unable to speak, and his bass parts are played from offstage by Peter Jordan. The band continue to play an important part of New York’s burgeoning original rock scene, performing a legendary show in full drag at Club 82, the first time the band have wholly adopted the transgendered image they have played with over the years, although Thunders refuses to dress in full drag. Too Much Too Soon, a title that would prove prophetic in the coming years, is released to generally poor reviews and dismal sales. Many criticise the album’s more poppy feel, although songs like “Who Are The Mystery Girls” have continued to hold relevance and excitement as they age. Still, the album’s reception, even from fans of the band, is overwhelmingly negative, and in an attempt to revitalise their image, Sylvain and Johansen talk McLaren into returning to New York to manage the band. Excited by the opportunity, McLaren accepts, bringing with him a new image for the gutter-glam stars: red leather. Toying with communist imagery, McLaren and Westwood play on American paranoia and attempt to politicise the band by marketing them as Mao-loving rock ‘n rollers. The idea, unveiled during four poorly received shows in New York, is a miserable failure, completely distancing the band from mainstream musical culture and leading their hardcore fan base to question their motives for the change. McLaren’s ultimate legacy with the band, however, is in sending Kane to rehab and enrolling Thunders and Nolan in a methadone clinic; while he may not have saved the band, he is credited with saving the lives of its members.

1975
Back on the small club circuit, the band heads down to Florida to play a tour McLaren has booked. The band hates the venues, which are often filled with no more than 20 people, with Nolan and Thunders in particular blaming McLaren for the miserable reception. The two are also relying on a small group of young kids to travel to Miami every day to buy them heroin, but when one of them is arrested, beaten, and spends five days in jail, all the kids get scared and refuse to supply either with any more drugs. Fed up with the tour and needing to score, Nolan and Thunders announce that they are leaving the band and returning home to New York. While the reason for their departure is initially seen as the result of issues with McLaren’s management, it will later be revealed that they were mainly looking to try Chinese Rocks, a type of heroin making its way through New York’s Lower East Side and made famous by the Ramones song of the same name. Intent on completing the tour, Sylvain, Johansen, and Kane recruit Blackie Lawless, who would go on to perform in W.A.S.P., but Kane leaves soon after Connie arrives in Florida, fleeing to L.A. to get away from her. Sylvain and Johansen struggle to continue the band without Kane, Nolan, or Thunders, playing the occasional live show, but the band slowly dissolve over the next two years in tragically unspectacular fashion. Back in New York, Nolan and Thunders look to form a new group where Thunders can function as a front-man. Television bassist Richard Hell, himself looking to front a group, agrees to join two days after leaving Television. Adding Walter Lure on second guitar, the band dub themselves the Heartbreakers.

1976
Ego drives Hell from the Heartbreakers, as he and Thunders argue over who should be singing the majority of the songs. Billy Rath, a part-time gigolo, is tapped for bass duties. The band play around New York for a growing audience, and after reviewing one of their shows for New York Rocker magazine, Nancy Spungen begins to follow the band around, attaching herself to Nolan in particular. Around the end of the year, the band leave for a tour of England with one-way tickets and no work permits. Nearly denied entry upon their arrival, McLaren has to haggle with immigration employees to let the band into the country. The Heartbreakers bring two things to the UK with them: Nancy Spungen, and heroin; as part of the Sex Pistols’ Anarchy in the UK tour with the Clash and the Damned, the Heartbreakers are often blamed for introducing the drug to the English punk scene.

1977
New York Dolls officially break up, though by this point, no one is really paying attention. The Heartbreakers, riding waves of positive reviews and energetic audience reception, record their only studio record, L.A.M.F. (“Like A Motherfucker”). The record is released by Track Records, run by the managers of the Who, but its awful mix leads to terrible reviews and poor sales, nearly bankrupting the label and the band. Nolan quits over the mix issue, and is replaced for a brief period of time by Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook. Nolan returns as a “hired musician,” claiming no membership to the band itself, but soon leaves again to be replaced by original Clash drummer Terry Chimes. The turmoil within the band, however, leads to the inevitable break-up by the end of the year, with Lure and Rath returning to New York while Thunders remains in London.

1978 to 1986
Thunders attempts to form a variety of bands, including Gang War with Wayne Kramer of the MC5. While the band never record a proper record, several live bootlegs exist. Thunders’ first solo outing features such notables as Chrissie Hynde, Glen Matlock, and Steve Jones, but none of Thunders’ solo material approaches the level of critical and commercial acclaim he had with the Dolls, or in the early days of the Heartbreakers. Thunders’ heroin addiction is crippling; he is declared “Burnt Out, Wasted, A Drugged Human Wreck” by British tabloids. Johansen also releases several solo records, often accompanied by Sylvain. Kane plays in a small number of unsuccessful bands, deeply troubled by his increasing reliance on alcohol, while Nolan occasionally fills in with Thunders at live gigs.

1987
The best-known Doll-related success occurs when Johansen releases a self-titled record under his new pseudonym, the cheesy lounge-lizard act Buster Poindexter. The album’s single, “Hot Hot Hot,” goes on to become one of those songs you are likely to hear at any mediocre bar, anywhere on the planet, at any given time, should you stay long enough. Johansen will go on to call the song, “The bane of my existence.” As Poindexter, Johansen hosts a variety of shows on VH1, and is a frequent musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Johansen’s continued success in the entertainment realm leads to roles in films such as Scrooged, where he plays the Ghost of Christmas Past. After seeing him on TV, Kane, who has appeared in several films himself as a non-speaking extra, drinks a quart of peppermint schnapps, beats his wife with cat furniture, and jumps out a third story window, shattering his kneecaps and elbow. It is years before he can walk properly again. Two years later, sober Kane finds God and converts to Mormonism. Kane refers to the message he received as being like, “An LSD trip from the Lord.”

1991 to 1992
On April 23, 1991, Johnny Thunders is found dead in his hotel room in New Orleans. While numerous conspiracy theories surround his death, it is generally accepted that the long-time drug abuser overdosed on heroin and methadone. Less than a year later, on January 14, 1992, Jerry Nolan dies while in a coma brought on by a stroke following a bout of bacterial meningitis.

2004
Morrisey, who was once the President of the New York Dolls Fanclub, asks the band to reunite for the Meltdown Festival, an annual event at London’s Royal Festival Hall, which is curated by a different UK pop star every year. The band’s surviving members decide to get back together, and play a single show on June 18. Despite the notable holes left by Nolan and Thunders, the band are tremendously well received. The show is particularly important for Kane, who has been working in a library for minimum wage for the last several years and whose troubled relationship with Johansen has continued to bother him since the band’s break-up. Twenty-two days after the show, Kane is diagnosed with leukaemia. He dies two hours later.

2005 to 2006
The brilliant New York Doll, chronicalling Kane’s life up until the band’s reunion, debuts at Sundance. Despite the loss of three original members, Sylvain and Johansen decide to continue to tour under the New York Dolls name, promising a record of new material, which is released by Roadrunner Records on July 25, 2006. One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This is a shockingly great record; while easily dismissed as a cash-grab, the record is arguably better than Too Much Too Soon, with more of the biting attitude and grit that made New York Dolls so important at its time. Featuring appearances by Michael Stipe, Iggy Pop, and Against Me!’s Tom Gabel, the record appears to hold the promise of bringing the band some of the attention they earned 30 years ago and never properly received.


Essential New York Dolls

New York Dolls (Mercury, 1973)
The band’s defining moment, this record set the stage for what would come later in the decade. Without New York Dolls, there would be no Marquee Moon, no Never Mind The Bollocks, and no Ramones. With the opening chords of “Personality Crisis,” these five dolled-up glitter rockers pushed music in a direction it was waiting for but hadn’t been given the chance. While the record will never hold the cache of punk’s first wave of classics, it remains a great rock’n’roll record more than 20 years later, with songs like “Jet Boy” and “Frankenstein” still possessing the power they did the day they were written.

Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers L.A.M.F. (Track, 1977)
Currently available online through Jungle Records (www.jungle-records.demon.co.uk) with vastly improved mixes, this collection of Thunders-penned tunes demonstrates the appeal of the guitarist’s strung-out persona. Gritty as hell with a hearty dose of melody, songs like “Born to Lose” became anthems for the legions of hair-sprayed Thunders wannabes, and the record’s sound and aesthetic helped bring about the eventual rise of bands like the Hives and the Strokes. When Thunders wasn’t completely off his head, he wrote some incredible music, and listening to L.A.M.F. is, in many ways, a painful remainder of his tragic downfall.

New York Dolls One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This (Roadrunner, 2006)
A quick spin around the internet will turn up a fairly universal early reaction among critics: “Why doesn’t this record suck?” It doesn’t just not suck though. It fits perfectly into the canon of old Dolls material, as if nothing has changed in 20-plus years. Never mind that only two original members remain, and that most of the band’s early songs were co-written by Thunders. Maintaining the piss and vigour they had in their 20s, Sylvain and Johansen offer 14 tracks of raunchy, R&B-influenced rockers that, despite the obvious trepidation any listener brings to a record like this, is guaranteed to impress any fan of the band’s back catalogue.

Jacksoul, Jully Black, Melanie Durrant; Canadian R&B rising

Canada's Got Soul!

By Ryan B. Patrick, Exclaim.ca


Canada's Got Soul?
Why Our R&B Artists Get Left in the Cold

There was a recent flurry of media activity surrounding the release of Jamaica To Toronto, a compilation that exposes the �lost� history of R&B and soul music in Canada. The CD, released on American indie label Light in the Attic, collects recordings by Canadian-based R&B singers in the �60s and �70s. Toronto had experienced a wave of Caribbean and West Indian immigration that resulted in a highly charged music scene, and straight-up soul was the order of the day. Current press has marvelled at the fact that these soul artists even existed and how much they influenced the contemporary Canadian sound. The music was fresh and vibrant, but didn�t translate into sustainable success � Canadian soul detoured into a cultural cul-de-sac while Canadian rock became a well-paved road.

The struggles faced by a domestic R&B/soul scene remain an intricate mix of fear, prejudice and conservatism twinned with an inferiority complex when held up against American counterparts. R&B and soul artists in this country are afforded more limited opportunities � in terms of media exposure, touring opportunities, radio play and major label backing � when compared to Canadian rock. Despite a smattering of Canadian success stories both at home (Jacksoul, Ivana Santilli, Massari) and in the U.S. (Tamia, Deborah Cox, Glenn Lewis), the Canadian music industry still seems mystified what to do with them.

The number of active, successful Canadian soul artists can be counted on two hands with fingers to spare � but not for a lack of talent or ambition. Toronto-born vocalist Jully Black is a good example; she was a well-known commodity (at least to the industry) for more than a decade before she finally unveiled her debut album. The fact that it was released after she had a Top 40 radio hit (1998�s �Rally�n�), a Juno nomination and an American major label deal underlines the challenges she�s faced. After signing a deal with now-defunct affiliate MCA Records, which evolved into a joint deal with Universal Canada and U.S., her album was reworked, renamed and re-jigged before finally being released last summer.

Black remains upbeat about the situation, saying �I�m happy because I wasn�t really ready anyway. The people who run the industry only know what they know so you can�t really fault them for not being willing to take the chance.� What those industry-running people don�t know is what to do with an artist like Black � is she R&B, soul or pop? How will she be received in Medicine Hat?

Generally speaking, the industry hasn�t bothered to answer those questions, leaving it to the artists themselves to break ground and build a DIY touring circuit all their own. �I�m the person I am today because of the grind,� Black continues. �I got stronger and better at what I do. I sold 40,000 [records] and no one expected me to sell even five or ten [thousand].�

�There aren�t a lot of outlets out there,� says Haydain Neale, front-man for Jacksoul, arguably the most successful R&B/soul outfit in the country. He describes the band�s decade-long career as a �beautiful struggle� that, despite nationwide recognition, moderate record sales and inevitable Juno nominations, remains a challenge each time out. �There�s no circuit,� he continues. �You�ve got to create it yourself. It�s real easy to say that people don�t want to show us love, but you�ve got to demand that respect.�

Ivana Santilli is another Canadian success story; her early �90s rise came at a time when there was some buzz around soul, R&B and hip-hop hybrids. �There was a genuine excitement at the time. Live music on the road was still a doable concept � whereas now it really is about making your band smaller.� Downsizing your artistic ambitions to keep your overhead low is one solution, but it doesn�t solve the problem of having nowhere to play. �If you�re playing rock, you can play 30 dates across Canada within a two month span,� Santilli says. �As an R&B artist, you�d be done in two weeks.�

Vancouver-based soul artist GreenTARA agrees, �It�s about finding that pocket of people that relate to your music. You have to be able to shave down all your extras and just go.�

ooking again at Jamaica to Toronto, it�s acutely ironic and wholly Canadian that it took an American label to recognise and legitimise the music before Canada took notice. This, more so than any other musical genre, relates to the perception of R&B and soul in this country.

�The Americans are laughing at us because Canada doesn�t have a system,� says Toronto�s Melanie Durrant. The R&B vocalist knows all about the U.S. system. Once signed to the legendary Motown label, Durrant suffered countless delays to her American debut project and was ultimately dropped. She came back and her reworked album was released by Koch Canada. Still, Durrant says the experience was valuable, if only to highlight the differences between the American and Canadian approaches to the music. The American approach is soup-to-nuts � producers, studios, writing staff and labels work in conjunction. �It�s a whole package, Durrant says. �Here someone will play a beat for you and demand five grand. There are only scraps to win.�

David Cox, an Artists & Repertoire (A&R) rep for the Universal Music Group, knows there�s a market for soul music in Canada, but the industry hasn�t evolved with the scene. �Maybe the industry of yesteryear didn�t know what to do with a Jully Black,� Cox says. �This attitude has changed a lot, particularly with the relative success of R&B and urban acts.� Beyond the few Canadian R&B/soul success stories there are teems of artists who toil in obscurity. Even the successes are relative; most were forced to breakthrough Stateside before getting any love north of the border. Paradoxically, it had to be done before people could see it could work.

�Who wants to put their balls on the table?� Cox asks. �The Canadian market is so Americanised and it�s hard to compete with because it�s got to be something that sticks out enough, but not to the point where it doesn�t compete.�

One big reason why soul music doesn�t get any love is due to cultural points of reference. The industry has always been white � there�s no other way to describe its infrastructure. The mistake historically made by labels was the belief that the music�s appeal is limited only to the African-Canadian community. Canadian labels, who often operate as franchises of their American counterparts, look to the U.S. market as a model in most of their operations, but the Canadian market doesn�t share the same monolithic cultural experiences � in black or white communities or music markets � as the U.S. Targeting an African-Canadian market for soul music doesn�t work the same way because the socio-cultural experiences of black Canadians aren�t always shared with African-Americans.

What�s interesting is that soul and R&B, as popular music, have Canadian roots far deeper than rock and pop. Larry LeBlanc, Billboard magazine�s Canadian bureau chief, agrees. �Toronto was a strong R&B town in the �50s, �60s and early �70s � this was not a rock town until the late �60s.� Yet that scene remained separate from the Canadian recording industry, which never quite figured out what to do with it. While the industry isn�t overtly racist, there exists a cultural disconnect, a �prejudice by exclusion� that hampers the success of domestic R&B and soul. �I can remember being at a Juno Awards dinner ten years ago. There was one visible minority in the room,� LeBlanc says. �Some of the labels have tried to tap into the market, but they saw limited rewards.� So the cultural thing is part of it. The industry was a composed of a generation that was raised on rock and simply couldn�t relate to the music, LeBlanc argues. The situation parallels the meagre gains the hip-hop community has had in terms of forging a place for the music.

According to music journalist Nick Jennings, the position of R&B and soul as an also-ran to Canadian rock is ironic, considering that soul music provided a key component in informing the quintessential Canadian sound. Jennings, the author of Before the Gold Rush: Flashbacks to the Dawn of the Canadian Sound, notes that Toronto in particular was a bastion for blues and R&B. The key player in the early �60s was Arkansas-born Toronto resident Ronnie Hawkins, who drew heavily from black American music in forging his popular rock sound. A lot of blue-eyed soul groups that were attempting a rhythm and blues sound looked to Hawkins, according to Jennings, including Little Caesar and the Consuls, and Jon and Lee and the Checkmates.

Black artists from the Caribbean or the U.S. found hospitable communities not just in Toronto but also Vancouver and Montreal; artists like Eddie Spencer, Johnnie Osbourne and Willie McGhie and the Sounds of Joy � all featured on the Jamaica to Toronto compilation � made an impact on the Canadian scene. But these artists, Jennings notes, soon became frustrated by a lack of opportunities to record � part of a larger prejudice against the worth of Canadian music in general. �There certainly wasn�t a shortage of talent,� Jennings says. �It wasn�t black or white � it was a national prejudice. Literally, at radio stations across Canada there was an assumption that if it was Canadian then it couldn�t be good.�

The Canadian music scene in general didn�t undergo the radical transformation required to build a domestic music scene until the early �70s, when Canadian Content rules (which dictate that radio stations must play a certain percentage of Canadian music) came into effect. That legislation gave Canadian music a leg-up, and an infrastructure � made up of producers, managers, engineers, writers, investors and label executives � began to grow. It�s a process that the R&B and soul scene is now in the middle of, according to Billboard�s LeBlanc. �What we fail to recognise in signing an R&B act now is that they are going through the same problem that the rock community experienced 20 years ago,� he says. Canadian rock grew by networking and a Byzantine system of joint venture deals between Canadian majors and their American counterparts, he adds � and most of the time, it was the Canadian labels that shouldered most of the risks.

For his part, Calgary-based soul singer Jeff Hendrick believes the industry doesn�t give Canadians enough credit. �Living out west, I think there�s still that notion it�s only happening in Toronto,� he says. More frustrating is a lack of promotional opportunities and diversity on the airwaves. �Obviously, radio is not looking to break new artists,� he says. �Let�s say there are five signed Canadian acts � those are the ones you�re going to hear.� He points to the fact that, outside of Toronto-based urban radio station FLOW 93.5, many other recently licensed urban radio outlets across the country didn�t last. �It�s strange that there were all these radio licenses that were able to apply under the guise of �urban� and were all gone within a minute.� (Most switched to a Top 40 format.) �The wrong people are making the wrong decisions, there�s no other way to put it,� he continues. �There are still some dinosaurs in the music biz. They�re making decisions and they don�t listen to the music. That�s problematic, especially since there doesn�t seem to be great interest in trying to grow different genres.�

A rock music-based infrastructure is the only one available, according to Hendrick. �As a soul artist, you�re usually [booked into] rock rooms, sometimes you�re opening for artists that may not really complement you, or vice versa. I know the crowd is there, but when it comes to the booking side, there�s hesitancy.�

Nova Scotia-based singer Jamie Sparks takes a zen approach to the situation. �Being on the east coast, sometimes you feel like there are things going on in the rest of Canada that we may not be connected to,� he says. �But there�s a strong community here, which is a plus. You can exhaust the market pretty quickly but there are spots that are really supportive if you have your stuff together.�

Sparks runs an independent label and understands the money needed to successfully promote an artist. �Marketing and promotion is a big part and the majors may not want to put money into a format they�re not comfortable with. But it�s all about [getting] good music out there and getting good feedback.�

It�s a huge country with a small, spread out and diverse population. But when it comes to work in the music industry, sometimes the opportunities just aren�t there. �There is a level of frustration,� says Ivana Santilli, �but the moment that I stopped blaming things around me and started doing something about it, I became more productive and re-inspired.� She adds that, regardless of genre, Canadian musicians need to think beyond their local communities. �If you�re any good, consider Canada a building ground. It�s not about being bitter. If you�re any good, you should be able to play on a world stage. You have to see it as your responsibility to either improve the situation or find a solution for your specific situation.�

Those seeking a model example of success for an R&B artist in this country need look no further than Ottawa-based Massari. His debut album, released on the independent Capital Prophet Records, has sold more than 75,000 copies (and counting) � that makes him bigger, sales wise, than artists who have been around longer, like Divine Brown, Jully Black, Shawn Desman and Keisha Chante.

�The formula is simple,� Massari says. �You�ve got to work ten times harder than the average artist. The overwhelming presence of the States means that we�ve got to work harder to get noticed. People have been waiting for something different, and I�m here to provide that. It�s not about the money but about longevity.�

�He�s got a structure around him,� says LeBlanc of Massari�s career trajectory. �Five years ago, a major wouldn�t know what to do with an act like Massari � I don�t think they�d be willing to put in the time and development.�

The template for success as a Canadian R&B/soul artist probably lies somewhere in the gulf between Massari and Jully Black. Black has been savvy about branding herself, working as a TV host and crafting a media persona that has raised her profile, which should help her upcoming sophomore album. �Since when has any successful person been one-dimensional?� she asks rhetorically. �An R&B artist in Canada has to build a brand and broaden your fan base.�

�Right now I�d say Jully�s career is at a crossroads. But I think it�s to her credit that she�s kept herself alive,� LeBlanc says. �The days of the million dollar record deal are over. You have to create an indie presence and most don�t have the money, infrastructure or business savvy. The majors are signing less.�

Sometimes, the best way you can represent Canada is by leaving,� Santilli says. �We don�t need to remind ourselves that there�s talent here. We know that. What we need to do is inform other people elsewhere that there�s talent here in that way it can be widespread.�

Calgary's Jeff Hendrick has thought about moving out of Canada but decided against it. �At the end of the day it�s still a very rock-oriented country. I don�t think it�s inherently our music. But we do have people that love it and we�re producing some music of our own. I think that we�re doing ourselves a disservice if the answer is always �Let�s move away.� There�s more to Canada than Nickelback.�

Building a sustainable music community in Canada remains a challenge. The measure of success might well be if artists can avoid ending up on a Jamaica To Toronto type of lost recordings'compilation 20 years from now.