This is my favorite song of 2011. Or most any year. This is why getting older is getting better.

If Tom Waits had a church, I’d go to it.

#gospel
#truth

If you’re a Spotify member, click the monkey to listen to a playlist I’ve put together for my Labor Day listening pleasure.

If you’re not a Spotify Member, hit me up, sign up here for an invite (or let me know if you want to skip the line, I still have some invites left).

A non-definitive 8tracks mix with reflections, observations and associations for a July 4th weekend.

Bonus track: American Girl dedicated to Michelle Bachman.

You manage to persuade some friends to come around to your house and make a noise with you. And if you’re the singer, you have to write some words.

New Wilco? Yes, please. Obviously, always excited for that. Also excited that Wilco can probably control what they want to do and when now that they have their own label. Clearly the tension between commerce and following their muse is well-documented … but their last album, while enjoyable, well-executed and sporadically interesting … didn’t feel like an album. It felt to me more like a few singles with b-sides mixed in. While I assume Nonesuch is a happy home for artists, let’s hope Wilco feels that they have something to prove on their own label.

Speaking of labels … Morrissey, my dear … don’t be a crotchety old fogey. If labels aren’t falling over themselves to sign you (which they should be), just put out the damn thing yourself. It’s not a cheap marketing technique anymore. In fact, labels are useless to well-established acts for anything except as marketing apparati. If you put it out yourself, you can probably get a larger share of the profits and reduce the price for your precious fans. Like me.

If you don’t want to get your hands dirty in “business” … I get that, but somebody can handle that part for you. You must have a competent out of work friend, it’s a worldwide recession for Christ’s sake. Quit sulking*, put out a Craig’s List ad, and get out in the rain and sing, you freaking dandy.

*PS – don’t quit sulking, Morrissey. You sulk with the best of them

I’ve been on a huge Bryan Ferry kick recently. Not sure why exactly … something about his dramatic yet coolly restrained delivery has been fascinating me lately. Something super-Brechtian and yet extremely invested about it.

I’ve been sort of torn about him in the past. When you watch something like this … it’s so hungry. And you compare it to the mashed potato schmaltz he delivered in the 80′s* and 90′s … a fan might feel betrayed. Like he’s been phoning it in or something. Too busy being rich, cool and dating women half his age, I guess.

But he put out a new album last year that had a great single – and while it was the only significant song on the album, it wasn’t the only good song on the album. So maybe I was ready to let him back in.

Anyway … this is the song that made me a fan in the first place. Give it a shot, if you don’t know it already (btw – it changes dramatically a couple minutes in, so be patient if you aren’t struck by the opening).

(*obviously “More Than This” is an amazing song and even though is part of the less-interesting phase of his career, it’s a notable and exceptional exception. Instead of over-produced … let’s call it sophisticated.)

I love everything about Kanye’s new single. I love the beat. I love the King Crimson sample.

And I love the cover art for the single.

I haven’t been excited about anything he’s done for years, so this is a welcomed change.

I only kinda like the lyrics – but if he’s got something to say on the rest of the forthcoming album, he’ll earn these lyrics.

Here’s hoping it’s not just empty posturing.
Kanye West – Power

I am quite relaxed about it. But, you know, it is a massive change and it does alter the fact that people don’t make as much money out of records.
But I have a take on that – people only made money out of records for a very, very small time. When The Rolling Stones started out, we didn’t make any money out of records because record companies wouldn’t pay you! They didn’t pay anyone!
Then, there was a small period from 1970 to 1997, where people did get paid, and they got paid very handsomely and everyone made money. But now that period has gone.
So if you look at the history of recorded music from 1900 to now, there was a 25 year period where artists did very well, but the rest of the time they didn’t.

Enjoy.

Sam Phillips :: The Long Play :: Exclusive Content For Subscribers Only! .

(via)

This is a really interesting idea as far as how musicians can make some bank without the help of a major label. Now granted, the subscription model may be difficult to get some volume with if you’ve never had major-label success. For instance, I’m certainly not signing up for this – I’m not a big enough Sam Phillips fan. Frankly, I only barely know who she is.

But I can definitely think of acts (large and small) that I would sign up for … if you lowered the price point, that number would grow exponentially … and it wouldn’t have the stigma of a “fan club” – .