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I’ll be reviewing Wilco’s show yesterday at the 9:30 Club shortly (hint: It was spectacular), but in the meantime, you might be interested in streaming tonight’s second show there. Wilco came out at 9 PM EST, so if you see this post soon, you won’t have missed much. If not, then you can listen to it in the archives. I’m listening right now and it sounds great. The way that they are able to reconstruct their songs is amazing. Be expecting more posts up on the site soon.
Do you have a music blog or know someone who does? We here at Indie Muse are looking for sites that would be interested in partnering up with us (via the blogroll), that feature similar music. We have been running Indie Muse for a while now and would love to continue spreading the word on the site so people unaware of it can potentially find new music that they like (and hopefully you have enjoyed, thus far.) Also, we want to endorse other sites that we think our readers would like, as we can’t feature every great musician out there, as much as we would like to.
If you enjoy our blog and have a site of your own that you think we would like (that’s right RIAA!), then please shoot off an email to David (at) indiemuse (dot) com, or just use the contact form below. We are NOT looking to get more traffic to the site by any means necessary. This is a passion project, and our number one priority is to promote the music we love. The number of loyal readers we have to the site is astounding, and I can’t thank you guys enough. You all have great taste in music and I love hearing from you (and your recommendations.) We will be reviewing all the sites that contact us, and will only be supporting those that we visit ourselves.
So the banner above didn’t come out that great, and I have no idea how to use Photoshop, but me and my friend Chris, the Chris who has started writing for the blog, are going to continue to have a web radio show from Sunday’s 2-4 EST on WVAU.org. We are excited and hope you will take the opportunity to check out our show. We will be playing some music that we posted on the blog as well as lots of music from bands that we haven’t yet featured. It should be an enjoyable show, and you can even listen to our awkward air breaks. We’re still learning the equipment so there might be some little goofs here and there, but overall, our plan is to have a kick ass show.
To stream, all you have to do is click THIS LINK. Or the banner above. Or the one on the left. Whatever you prefer. We will be logging the songs we play, and you can see what we played HERE.
We would really appreciate if you take the time to listen. You can find some great new artists by listening to our show, and also, it’s great to have in the background if you have any work or cleaning to do. Also, you can talk with us during the show on AIM at RadioWVAU and request songs. Hope to see you soon. Thanks.
I went through a period when I wasn’t listening to Sufjan Stevens on a regular basis, but that is no more. The break I took made me appreciate his music all over again. In particular, I have been obsessed with the first track on Illinoise, “Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, IL.”
You may not be aware of the fact that Sufjan is a writer, outside of being a lyricist, having received a MFA in creative writing. Over the years, he has written many short stories and essays. Several months ago, I found a site, All Good Naysayers, that has many of his published works. I haven’t had a chance to go through everything he’s written, but am impressed and entertained by those which I have read. If you are a Sufjan Stevens fan, and want to get a little more intimate with him as a person, and his music, I highly recommend you go read these. Perhaps to start out, you can read the 2006 cover story Stevens’ wrote for Topic Magazine. He discusses music experiences he had while growing up as a kid. I have posted the whole essay below, click on the pictures to read. Then go to All Good Naysayers (linked to writing section) to read additional short stories.
Justice has been served. Not until I read that Justice’s show at Madison Square Garden was moved to a smaller venue did I learn that Justice was planning on performing at Madison Square Garden. My response is similar to many; puzzled, confused, irritated. I have to agree with others that Justice comes off as really arrogant for attempting to play MSG; at $70 a ticket no less. Justice has some good music, but are not veterans as of just yet. Lesson to learn: Don’t fly too close to the sun. For more information and an enjoyable read, check out Brooklyn Vegan. Court adjourned.
Or crazy. The fantastic blog Aquarium Drunkard just made me aware of the guys playing in 1985 before Uncle Tupelo, under the name The Primitives. Jeff Tweedy is playing the bass. He is also wearing a dress. Too bad he doesn’t still cross dress–it would make it a whole lot easier getting my hands on a pair of Wilco tickets for DC. It is fascinating seeing how Jeff Tweedy has evolved over the years. Through a lot of experimenting, he seems to have found his sound. The boys were just nominated for a Grammy for Sky Blue Sky, an award they most definitely deserve.
I was just recently made aware of Billy Bragg’s fascinating “Jail Guitar Doors” program. The initiative basically gives inmates musical instruments, with the idea that it will give them a hobby, other than, say, killing people. So far, the re-conviction rates of those who have participated in the program is only 10%-15%, opposed to the 61% national average in the UK. Truly impressive. Music plays a significant role in our lives, and our western society, including corporations, has done a relatively good job recognizing the importance of music in our over scheduled lives. I think we need to continue supporting music programs at public schools, and ensure that schools with less government funding have the necessary means to sustain these programs. Unfortunately, the schools with the least government funding are often in neighborhoods were crime is most persistent. Sure, the program may be a little expensive, but so is locking a person up for 80 years. This way, maybe we can help avoid needless crime, and perhaps even get a good band or two out of it. The Independent just recently covered a story on “Jail Guitar Doors,” and I highly recommend you read the article. When they interviewed Bragg he said:
I never ask the prisoners I meet why they are inside. When I’m with them, I’m dealing with them strictly as individuals. What they did to get themselves in here in the first place is none of my business. I don’t want to judge them on that, not least because they’ve been judged on it already – they’re banged up, aren’t they? And anyway, these instruments aren’t presents, they’re a challenge, a challenge for them to try to make something of themselves. My hope is that they will see this as an opportunity to take that first step on the path back to society.
I believe the program “Jail Guitar Doors” is only a UK run program. I am not personally knowledgeable about specific organizations in the US that have similar programs, but am sure they exist. If any one has any information, either for donating instruments to schools or prisons, or wherever, please leave a comment below– I will update the post. I care about this issue, not only because I think it’s important to help prevent crime, but also because I think everyone has the right to explore music, and their inner passion. I’m not particularly good at any instrument, but it’s not from a lack of opportunity. Right now, I play the guitar a little, and like playing, but over the years I have dabbled in the Saxophone, Piano, and Drums. If you are on this site you obviously have a deep passion for music as well. It’s just interesting to think about how lucky we all are, and question what would have happened if the musicians we treasure were born under different circumstances where they didn’t have access to instruments.
So I have a few things I would like to quickly bring up. The first thing is irrelevant to most of you, the second is a favor I need to ask of you. The third is “the best of Indie Muse”–Mp3’s that hopefully you will like. Indiemuse.com has been here for a while, but some of you are newcomers. For those of you who don’t have time to go through all of my first band posts, I want to aggregate some of the Mp3’s so you can have a listen. If they are on this site, it means we endorse them. We don’t post for quantity–we post for quality. We want Indie Muse to be a place where you can come if you have similar music tastes, and find music that you will hopefully like. We aren’t hot shots who think we are so cool or more “expert” than you in regards to independent music, because we run a music blog. We simply love music and want to share our tastes.
1) If anyone has extra Wilco tickets for either night (February 26 or 27th) at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC, please let me know. Those of you who have visited the site before know Wilco is my favorite band, and I’ve been following them in Chicago for a long time. I still haven’t washed my hands since shaking one of them with Jeff Tweedy, while he sang “Hummingbird.” But yeah, getting tickets has been a disaster. I won’t bore you with the details.
Wilco – Radio Cure (live-kicking the television)–brilliance at its finest. This live version makes me want to weep. I can’t believe I missed this show in Chicago. Please, if you have extra DC tickets I can purchase. You will be my savior.
2) Musicfloss.com. Do you like the domain name? Not as a replacement domain for this blog, but for a little music website I’m working on. I can tell you a little bit more about it later. But the domain name..if you can offer any feedback, it would be greatly appreciated. Your opinion really matters to me here. Don’t worry, it’s not a site that sells dental floss that plays music, although that would be a good idea. I just want to know if it’s catchy, easy to remember..non-offensive. Thank you in advance for your help.
3) Like I stated earlier in this post, I like every song we put on Indie Muse. But these five are some of my older favorites..and I posted them back in 2006, when I first started the blog. Expect more “recaps” in the upcoming weeks. If there is an artist that you like here, type their name into our search on the left hand sidebar to see the original post.
See that picture? Ben Folds took that picture. Understand? Just try to remember. I remembered because someone passed me a link for a Ben Folds show back in December where he debuted some new songs. The recording begins with Folds explaining that they had new material that they were working out. They have 13 songs recorded, supposedly.
I have really had a serious love for Ben Folds for a long time… but maybe the same old thing was getting old for me too, because I forgot the last time I played him on my iPod. Listening to him again after a long break was pretty surprising because what he played , while still being very “signature Folds”, broke some boundaries–in a genre where he may well be the only member. My favorite of the bunch was stuck in my head for a while and I’m pleased to share it. Enjoy:
I was cleaning up some of my old bookmarks today and came across this 2 minute video showing how big-name CD manufacturers are distorting sounds to make them seem louder, and the negative impact this has on sound quality. Thought it was an interesting video you might want to check out.
Update: If you are interested in this topic, you can also check out this new article published by Rolling Stone addressing the Loudness War. Really weird that I came across this today, because I had no idea this article was written until after posting this video which I had bookmarked for ever.
