The Durutti Column’s 1980 debut album — confusingly titled The Return of the Durutti Column—originally came packaged in a sandpaper sleeve, a detail that couldn’t have been more at odds with the music inside. The sandpaper was a Situationist prank dreamed up in part by Factory Records boss Tony Wilson

Time Was Gigantic… When We Were Kids | Pitchfork

Under Tony Wilson’s command, Joy Division and A Certain Ratio assembled at Alan Erasmus' flat in Manchester. They were reportedly paid £15 each and given a pile of 4,000 sheets of sandpaper, with Ian Curtis taking on the bulk of the work while his bandmates watched a porn film in another room. Despite Curtis’s efforts, Factory creative director Peter Saville was underwhelmed: “To me, it looked like a DIY thing that was, really, the antithesis of what I was trying to do. It looked a bit homemade.”

The Return Of The Durutti Column – The Story Behind The Sleeve – Long Live Vinyl

The album sleeve is a very rare collector’s items as there were only 2000 made, and there are 3 different variations of spray-paint on the sleeve. … The sleeve design was inspired by a 1959 book called Mémoires by Guy Debord, a Marxist theorist, writer and filmmaker.

Durutti Column: The most punk album cover ever. - Audio and Sound

… there was no choice. I was totally broke. So I didn’t have time to sit around pondering or thinking all this through. It was just done on a basic pure survival level. I did what I had to do. Van Morrison on ‘Astral Weeks’ – you’ve got to hear it from him.

Simon and Garfunkel "Live @ Central Park" DVD timecode for all the places where a liberal reading could indicate tension between Simon and Garfunkel (via Adriana)

Sitting at home with the window open, listening to the tree branches brush against each other outside and the occasional horn-honks of Flatbush Ave, bark of dog and squeal of child... this uncomposed ambience is my creativity engine lately.

From a comment on Click opera - Ubiquity is the abyss.

Bill Anderson created a bowling alley in the basement when their daughter was growing up. Eventually, his daughter developed enough skill to amass several trophies in the sport which will be on display.

Portrait of young Joni Mitchell

Rick [Smith] came up with a rhythm and I started singing over it. The vocals were done in one take. When I lost my place, I'd repeat the same line; that's why it goes, "lager, lager, lager, lager".

Guardian Unlimited: We asked 12 artists how they created one of their classic tracks.

"It was important for me to be an 'at-home' mom," she explains. "I kept the kids close by; they came with me to record and I home-schooled them up until recently. I was very close to my parents; I always wanted to have my children close to me. It's difficult now that they're going to be with a nanny on this tour."

Ottawa Sun Online: TODAY - Ladybug and pals buzz into town

KRUCOFF'S TOP

"Lest We Forget" was originally compiled and released by Aaron Elliot of the acclaimed fanzine Cometbus (and drummer for Crimpshrine and Pinhead Gunpowder) in 1991 to document the Berkeley punk scene of the 80's. I don't want to be accused of wild exaggeration by saying the music here is exactly essential (although there's some great stuff here) but it is absolutely essential to appreciate the why, who, and how of what was being created at the time. Their output has had a significant impact on today's music. You can connect the influential dots from this tape to Maximum Rock'n'Roll to Operation Ivy to Green Day to whatever indie/punk act you're listening to right now.

I've learned recently that some folks in the hip-hop community respect what I'm doing, and it's such a thrill. [One hip-hop guy's compliment] is like five pop guys telling you that your music's doing it for them. I like being myself and kinda sticking to that. Maybe that's kind of the part to be respected. I think also I'm a 'beat' guy. I'm a rhythm guy.

John Mayer plays electric guitar.

To Major-Label Hell and Back by Alison M. Rosen

originally posted by xowie

Musicians from a few different punk-related genres are exploring therapy rock: the up-and-coming "emo" genre, which features hyperdramatic, almost mawkish rock delving deeply into personal upheaval; rap-metal, an aggressive hybrid that has lately turned more introspective; and pop-punk, a slick version of punk that's deceptively up-tempo and not generally noted for its profundity. But it is bands in the last category — like the hugely popular Good Charlotte, Sum 41 and Blink-182 — whose songs most often amount to vivid case studies in adolescent mental health issues. The group A Simple Plan, who are also receiving heavy play on MTV, might have expressed pop-punk's attitude most directly: "I'm just a kid/ And life is a nightmare."

originally posted by xowie

We'll be driving along, and all of a sudden, I'll say: ''Did you hear that? That was a funny lyric.'' And he'll say: ''No, I didn't hear that. I was listening to the groove.''

The New York Times Magazine: Doing It Her Way, questions for Edie Brickell.

Zebrahead—all original members intact—are about to release their third album, MFZB (it stands for Motherfucking Zebrahead, they tell us), and it’s their best one yet, which is just unfucking believable, but no less unfucking believable than the fact they’re still on a major label. This band is invincible! I think they’re stalking you!

originally posted by xowie

I actually had people developing hardware to work with the Lisa. We knew that the Z8000 chip was coming out which was a 16-bit chip from Zylog. We wanted to be ahead of everybody. I had this guy who made a 16-bit compiler inside of the Apple II which is 8-bit. We got the configuration from Zylog ahead of time. So then it got released, but it got released to the Navy and they didn't have any chips to spare us. We were actually able to complete the job by getting some chips that were rejects. They worked enough for us to finish for development.

applematters interviews Herbie Hancock.

Dada represented everything horrible about mainstream music, predicting the laughable self-importance of helium-light R.E.M. ripoffs like Counting Crows, but it turns out there's a song on this record worth about as much as a fish taco: "Dim".

It's stupid, predictable college rock, the sort of easily hummed, whiny four-chord crap you can wake up hung-over and still have stuck in your head, but like those Dave Matthews hits you download because they remind you of high school, you just don't talk about it. If you don't know anyone at the store personally, wedge a dollar copy of Puzzle between the Matador promos your local music director sold back and enjoy this laughably catchy, Friends-esque pop song.

Whoever wrote Pitchfork's Castoffs and Cutouts: the top 50 most common used CDs (an unscientific study) has excellent taste in questionable music.

I hardly ever get asked about music. I do, however, get asked about the 'Addicted to Love' video and my suits on a daily basis.

ABCNEWS.com : Robert Palmer Never Meant to Turn Us On

Judith Lewis hangs with the world’s next rock-girl idol, Brody Armstrong of the Distillers.

originally posted by xowie

VV: Regulars by Alison M. Rosen.

originally posted by xowie

Alison M. Rosen on the death of Smile.

originally posted by xowie

I got an invitation to go to Apple's office for a presentation/meeting today (June 5, 2003) about how to get independent artists into the iTunes Music Store. There were about 150 people there, representatives from the best independent record labels and music services, in this invitation-only conference room. Steve Jobs came out and started a two and a half hour presentation/seminar/Q&A about iTunes and the benefits of independent labels making their music available there. I type fast and had my laptop, so I wrote down all the major points of their presentation as they went.

"The US is like a baby with a bomb," he barks, his eyes blazing with the famous stare. "The reaction to France that the administration allowed to happen is so immature. These people have their own opinion - they're French! They're not fuckin' Americans, they're French! Vive la difference, hello? And this big deal about Bush landing on an aircraft carrier? Talk about a six-year-old kid with a Tonka toy - we got it here."

The PowerMate (input device) and Synergy (iTunes software controller) are a sublime pair, mating this luminescent dial to my own heavenly radio.

I grabbed the latest issue of Adbusters without even looking at it because, well, Adbusters. Finding the live without dead time CD (features Allen Ginsberg, Negativland, Ani DiFranco, Saul Williams… and if you’re not listening yet I’ve got nothing left) mixed by DJ Spooky that subliminal kid,

did I mention Fugazi?

Steve, don't take it entirely personally. Your arse, up which I gleefully would shove every bit of your music service, was a trope.

Psychic Doppelgängers: A Tale of Two Deans by Judith Lewis.

(Referring to this Dean, btw.)

originally posted by xowie

in a vain attempt to stop P2P users swapping songs from Madonna's 'American Life' album, the lady herself released a series of 'dummy' files onto KaZaA. these are full length files but only the first few seconds contain sound, a recording of Madonna saying 'What the fuck do you think you're doing?'. presumably this was supposed to inspire guilt and repentant hearts in the sinful 'thieves'... but instead it seems to have been counterproductive... such a perfect sample is just crying out to be remixed!

originally posted by xowie

The top result of a google image search on ‘p2p art’:

Theodore Marcus “Teddy” Edwards, 1924-2003.

originally posted by xowie

Teddy Edwards was a friend of mine. He was a jazz legend and a brilliant, dapper, sweet man.

Teddy’s All Music Guide and Lycos entries

Gallery 41 clips

Timeline (c/o Saskia Laroo)

Teddy’s “official” site

Liner notes to Teddy’s Ready

Jazz Weekly interview

Teddy and Sweets Edison

* * *

L.A. Times obituary by Lynell George

Remembering Teddy Edwards by Len Dobbin.

Goodbye Teddy Edwards by Greg Burk

• • • 
      
      Teddy Edwards: Dextrous saxophonist by Steve Voce
      
      Jazz star had roots in Detroit by Mark Stryker

AllAboutGeorge, Uffish Thoughts and Woods Lot remember Nina Simone.

It’s Bessie Smith’s birthday. via wood s lot.

originally posted by xowie

With a heavy heart I must let you know that Babatunde Olatunji passed away Sunday in his room at Esalen with his family by his side. Let us sing and drum for him in his journey to the next world. With our thoughts and prayers he will find a safe passage, and he will come to a place of peace and joy...We love you, Baba! Thank you for the joy and happiness that you have brought to the world through your music, your words and your actions. And so be it.

originally posted by xowie

4) "You can just call them 'Trail of Dead,'" says our friend, disdainfully, when we, (apparently lamely), say "?And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead," one too many times. Is it our fault they gave themselves such an unwieldy name?

originally posted by xowie

Yusuf Islam’s Peace Train.

originally posted by xowie

“In A World Gone Mad…" is a new anti-war song from the Beastie Boys available for free download.

Rolling Stone: Phish Resurface

We had these jam sessions, Anastasio says one night after practice, where we drank hot chocolate with mushrooms and just played, trying to get in tune with each other, for eight hours. One of those jams, he points out, is on a record: “Union Federal,” a bonus track on the CD reissue of Phish’s 1989 independent cassette release, Junta. We used to rehearse like demons, Anastasio, 38, says excitedly, a big smile busting through his ginger forest of beard. A lot of it was mind games, challenging each other. We’d change roles: I’m always the natural leader. Page, you be that person now. We’d make Fish set up his drums left-handed instead of right: Use your mind to play, not your hands. Or we’d just play one note for an hour – weird stuff.
The weirdness bloomed in concert: in clubs such as Nectar’s on Main Street in Burlington, where Phish first played in December 1984 and honed their writing and jamming chops through 1989; then in theaters and, finally, arenas. Fishman, who turns thirty-eight on February 19th, played most gigs during Phish’s first two years flying on LSD. I still play with the feeling I got from those experiences, trying to generate wind and water, he claims quite earnestly.

The problems reached a crescendo on August 9, 1995: the day Jerry Garcia died. "Everybody turned to 'NEW," St. John recalls. "They came to share the pain of losing Jerry, as they did when John Lennon died." But instead of a Garcia tribute, WNEW stayed in its format-of-the-moment: a mix of classic and alternative rock. Instead of "Casey Jones" or "Touch of Grey," listeners heard the Smashing Pumpkins.

originally posted by xowie

He says he couldn't do anything with the Israelis and the Palestinians "because I'm against everybody and I can't take a side". Nor can the man who found so many snappy couplets and delightful tunes in impending nuclear doom see any toe-tapping inspiration in September 11, the invasion of Iraq, or the thing he seems most keen to talk about the Columbia space shuttle explosion. "They are calling it a disaster instead of a screw-up, which is all it was. They're calling these people heroes. The Columbia isn't a disaster. The disaster is that they're continuing this stupid program."

originally posted by daiichi

Kimya Dawson rocked the 930 Club last night. Don’t miss her MP3s – “this one is about Pee Wee Herman and Michael Jackson.”

McLean, famous for his hits American Pie and Vincent (Starry, Starry Night), said he was "proud of George Michael for standing up for life and sanity". "I am delighted that he chose a song of mine to express these feelings," he said in a statement. "We must remember that the Wizard is really a cowardly old man hiding behind a curtain with a loud microphone."

originally posted by daiichi

I know Kris and Rita and Marty Mull
Are meeting at the Troubadour
We'll get it on with the "Joy Of Cooking"
While the crowd calls out for more

- Peter Rowan, 1973

originally posted by xowie

"I would say I'm probably relatively insane, to an extent," he was quoted as saying. "I take medication for schizophrenia, but I wouldn't say I'm schizophrenic. But I have a bipolar personality, which is strange. I'm my own worst enemy. I have devils inside that fight me."

• These people are a breed apart. We're better off that way
• This Is Your Life, Phil Spector. Phil?
• Beyond the gates
• There is another Hollywood, one Lana knew all too well
• Phil Spector's Ghosts

"Don't move the mikes," Phil would warn if we got up to take our 5-minute break which we were lucky to get. He didn't want anything to touch the "sound-waves" of that room once he had gotten balance. "DON'T MOVE THE MIKES," so we were very careful. The whole band was in the room. Some were playing chess, or throwing darts to naked ladies drawn on the walls. Phil would sometimes dress in outlandish costumes and then use his psychological tricks on us. We were ready for him.

originally posted by daiichi

The RIAA has staked out an untenable position that is as unrealistic as it is anti-consumer and anti-artist... Their solutions are not good solutions. They cling unsuccessfully to the past rather than embrace the stunning opportunities offered by the future. They will be unsuccessful in their attempts to criminalize the society, and in their attempts to stretch the drum head of old laws onto the drum of new technology. It is one thing to be unsuccessful, it's one thing to argue a bad position, but it's quite another to be silly and laughed at, and that's where the RIAA has ended up. They appear to be totally irrelevant except as bagmen.

originally posted by daiichi

"They have a communication system that rivals the CIA," Borg said.

originally posted by daiichi

There’s something that punk porn sites are pushing besides pictures, and it’s what really makes the kids sign on: like any other porn, they’re selling fantasy. And in this case, it’s the fantasy of reality.

originally posted by daiichi

Kokua Line: What does ‘Pu in Sai’ really mean?

originally posted by daiichi

“Live Phish Downloads offers high quality, unedited soundboard recordings of select shows in the form of MP3 and Shorten digital music files.”

Anti-war mp3: Jacob’s Ladder(Not In My Name).

originally posted by daiichi

Alison M. Rosen on free tatt night at Luxx.

originally posted by daiichi

Eep opp ork ah ah.

Deadheads, a notoriously finicky bunch, are enamored of Herring. Having played with the Allman Brothers, his technique is sometimes described as a cross between Duane Allman's and Garcia's. On Thursday, he hinted at Garcia's quicksilver style but also carved out his own distinct airspace. More often than not, his tone was something very different: echoing, yowling, distant yet a key piece of the puzzle.

originally posted by xowie

Mtv News: Roots' ?uestlove, Black Thought Delve Into Phrenology

“For the most part, none of us were in the studio at the same time for most of the recording,” he said. “It just came to be in the process of layering. Everybody came in and did their thing, and we just layered it up. Ahmir will come in the studio and lay three or five joints in a one- or two-session period, then the next time I’ll come through the studio it will be like, ‘Yo, put the joints on Ahmir was working on a couple of days ago.’ It might be two to three that I’m feeling that I wanna build upon. I might wanna drop that or ask him to come and add more to the foundation.” During a soundcheck a few months ago, the Roots came up with Phrenology’s first single, “Break You Off.” “We were doing a pilot for some TV show and we were jamming with Musiq,” Black Thought remembered. “We just came up with it and it felt real smooth. … It was sexy from the start. We couldn’t really take it nowhere else but keep it for the ladies. In a nutshell, the tune is about me meeting a young lady who’s already involved and she’s in a relationship. I’m coming to break her off, basically giving her what’s missing.” " ‘Me and Mrs. Jones’ for the new millennium," ?uest interjected. “The basic direction the album was going was so far to the left — it wasn’t like anything out there — we kind of needed a balance. We are smart businessmen and we know medicine tastes better with a little sugar in it. This seemed like a logical choice because it was something easy to get into."

Users are not actually moving the CD against the laser; rather, using a touch-sensitive "jog dial" that imitates the spinning platter of a turntable, they are "scratching" a copy of the song stored in the machine's memory.

D.J.'s can come to a club armed with beats and songs they put together hours or even minutes before. "I used to have to get samples and new beats cut onto a temporary acetate, which costs $50, doesn't sound very good or last very long," said DJ Swamp. "Now I just burn the music onto a CD. My laptop burns CD's internally, so I can be backstage putting stuff together right before I go onstage."

Cut Chemist of Jurassic 5 takes the process even further; at recent shows he has ventured into the crowd to record audience members talking, quickly burned a CD onstage and then immediately scratched up the vocals using the CDJ-1000. "It's something that you could never do with vinyl or a traditional turntable," Cut Chemist said. "And the audience just freaks out when they hear it."

Writer Alison M. Rosen has contacted us to complain that we are not linking to enough articles by Alison M. Rosen. Such as Sucking Strap-ons by Alison M. Rosen. Or Textbook Love Affair by Alison M. Rosen. Or Dude, Where’s My Double-Necked Guitar? by Alison M. Rosen.

originally posted by daiichi

The song, says Lewis, is about those periods of being in a "love drought where you feel incapable of love and you can’t get yourself to snap out of your own self-centered world."

"It’s just another hopeful song," she says, "Because, God, it feels good when your heart is no longer slumbering, and it wakes up, and there’s a person or song or friend that snaps you out of your own craziness."

originally posted by daiichi

When the lyrics touched sore spots in those times, there was little concern among listeners that their favorite rappers could lose their lives. The landscape has since changed as more rappers begin to take sides in what is shaping up to be a hip-hop world war.

originally posted by daiichi

Michael Jackson dangles child from hotel window in Berlin.

originally posted by xowie

I am not rich, famous or heroic. No one pounds at my door—thank God—asking for either my sperm or my autograph.

originally posted by daiichi

After a judge granted him permission to postpone his scheduled testimony until the afternoon, the reclusive pop star arrived at the courthouse without the surgical mask he had worn a day earlier, but carrying a black umbrella.

originally posted by daiichi

Listen, people, I don't how you expect to ever stop the war if you can't sing any better than that. There's about 300,000 of you fuckers out there and I want you to start singing! Come on!

originally posted by xowie

Until a moment ago, The Roots and Michael Chabon had but a tenuous connection in the map of my head.

"I’m a paper monkey. I basically do all the boring paper Asian girl things," she says. (And before you yank your underwear up your ass and get on your soap box, pal, please note that she herself said it, not us.)

originally posted by daiichi

She is showing even more of her ass. She is shrugging about her multiple body piercings. She says she likes to drink tequila. She has revealed the requisite amount of family problems. She claims she has actually had sex, and even liked it, sort of. Take that, Brit.

originally posted by daiichi

When a drumbeat on a vinyl record is scratched back and forth under a needle, it makes a sort of percussive swishing sound. The first scratches the average pop music fan ever heard were Mr. Mizell's.

Someday music will be only air. There will be no objects to hold or fetishize and people will simply collect lists. No disc, nothing spooled or grooved, nothing to scratch or break, no heads to clean, no dust to wipe, no compulsive alphabetizing. Nothing to put away in shoe boxes in spare closets and be embarrassed about.

I am not a junkie...Ive had a rather unconclusive and uncomfortable stomach condition for the past three years...I decided to relieve my pain with small doses of heroine for a walloping 3 whole weeks.

My personal top 40 tunes this week:

1. Dedicated, Digable Planets
2. Stumbline, Smashing Pumpkins
3. Approaching Pavonis Mons By Balloon (Utopia Planitia), The Flaming Lips
4. Epiphany, The Spinanes
5. Ocean Beat, Tosca
6. Is This It, The Strokes
7. Intro, Aim
8. Wigwam, Bob Dylan
9. Toj, El-P
10. All We Have is Now, The Flaming Lips
11. From A Seaside Town, Aim
12. Neil Young - Heart of Gold, Neil Young
13. The Flute Plays On, Monsieur Charles
14. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, Wilco
15. Baraat, Monsoon Wedding
16. War On War, Wilco
17. Pot Kettle Black, Wilco
18. Heavy Metal Drummer, Wilco
19. Poor Places, Wilco
20. I'm The Man Who Loves You, Wilco
21. Jesus, etc., Wilco
22. Radio Cure, Wilco
23. Glass Onion, Beatles
24. Good Disease, Aim
25. Do You Realize?, The Flaming Lips
26. the golden age, beck
27. Kamera, Wilco
28. Reservations, Wilco
29. One More Robot - Sympathy 3000-21, The Flaming Lips
30. Are You A Hypnotist??, The Flaming Lips
31. In The Morning Of The Magicians, The Flaming Lips
32. Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell, The Flaming Lips
33. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt. 1, The Flaming Lips
34. Smokes Quantity, Boards of Canada
35. It's Summertime (Throbbing Orange Pallbearers), The Flaming Lips
36. Ashes Of American Flags, Wilco
37. What Does Your Soul Look Like, Pt. 1: Blue, DJ Shadow
38. Rose Rouge, St Germain
39. One Very Important Thought, Boards of Canada
40. Kaini Industries, Boards of Canada

Imagine libraries of TIFFs of phono-records available through the Internet Archive, available for downloading and processing into Ogg or MP3 files. Keep the TIFFs handy and you can re-rip them into new formats as they emerge. Imagine bulk-feeding phono-scanners that automatically feed stacks of wax through and turn them into digital music, rescuing and restoring entire libraries of music... Gosh, this is cool stuff.

You wanted to hear Aloha? You’re in luck: http://www.insomniaville.com/aloha/sounds/.

Is that one of those guitars that’s, like, a heart-shaped triple guitar?

I'm black and I'm going to do anything I want to do. Then it'll be black because I did it.

Half of the Pixies' Fort Apache demo tape was released as “Come On Pilgrim”. The other half is just out with the title “Pixies”.

I'm just blown away by the whole thing, still; that it happened, that we accomplished what we did, and that we survived, and survived as friends, and that it was as positive an experience as it was.

We went to Mammoth to do some songwriting, but it started snowing really hard. And we made a toboggan out of a plastic trash can. We’d get three of us in it. We kind of went through an embankment and straight down into this culvert. We all landed on Chris [Derson, drummer] and broke his arm. We had to walk to the clinic in the snow... Victor’s [Krummenacher, bassist] dad was a pharmacist, so he kind of needled the doctor into giving Chris more and stronger drugs than he really needed. So we bought some beer, walked home in the snow and popped some pills. That is when we decided to record Tusk.

As seen on slashdot, the future of Internet radio just might be decentralized “swarming” networks of p2p hosts which broadcast copies of the stream they’re enjoying. streamer: pirate radio for the digital age; OPENdj: GPLed swarming streamer for Linux. Thanks to Cory for both of these.

I’ve never heard of Aloha, but on the strength of this review I sure will try: Sugar high (Metro Times Detroit).

Good bands make good live albums. Bands that are not so good can make albums that initially sound okay, but which become increasingly sterile the more you listen to them. Here are some of the great live rock and/or roll albums.

"I get into a zone," says Mr. Ince. "I can see them bopping their heads as they walk past. They don't see me, but I can see them hearing it. It's beautiful."

Recent compositions include a bubbling symphony of boiling tea kettles, the gentle hiss of blank tapes being played through a stereo and the soft bumps of helium balloons hitting the ceiling.

One recent album was so quiet, listeners wondered whether it actually contained any sound at all.

The MC-5 is a whole thing. There is no way to get at the music without taking in the whole context of the music too- there is no separation. We say the MC-5 is the solution to the problem of separation, because they are so together. The MC-5 is totally committed to the revolution, as the revolution is totally committed to driving people out of their separate shells and into each other's arms.

I'm talking about unity, brothers and sisters, because we have to get it together. We are the solution to the problem, if we will just be that. If we can feel it, LeRoi Jones said, "feeling predicts intelligence." The MC-5 will make you feel it, or leave the room. The MC-5 will drive you crazy out of your head into your body. The MC-5 is rock and roll. Rock and roll is the music of our bodies, of our whole lives- the resensifier (sic), Rob Tyner calls it. We have to come together, people, "build to a gathering," or else. Or else you are dead, and gone.

The MC-5 bring you back to your senses from wherever you have been taken to hide. They are bad. Their whole lives are totally given to this music. They are a whole thing. they are a working model of the new paleo-cybernetic culture in action. There is no separation. They live together to work together, they eat together, fuck together, get high together, walk down the street and through the world together. There is no separation. Just as the music will bring you together like that, if you hear it. If you will live it. And we will make sure you hear it, because we know you need it as bad as we do. We have to have it.

The music is the source and the effect of our spirit flesh. The MC-5 is the source and effect of the music, just as you are. Just as I am. Just to hear the music and have it be ourselves, is what we want. What we need. We are a lonely desperate people, pulled apart by the killer forces of capitalism and competition, and we need the music to hold us together. Separation is doom. We are free men, and we demand a free music, a free high energy source that will drive us wild into the streets of America yelling and screaming and tearing down everything that would keep people slaves.

The MC-5 is that source. The MC-5 is the revolution, in all its applications. There is no separation. Everything is everything. There is no thing to fear. The music will make you strong, as it is strong, and there is now way it can be stopped now. All power to the people! The MC-5 is here now for you to hear and see and feel now! Give it up- come together- get down, brothers and sisters, it's time to testify, and what you have in your hands is a living testimonial to the absolute power and strength of these men. Go wild! The world is yours! Take it now and be one with it! Kick out the jams, motherfucker! And stay alive with the MC-5!

Dear Jess, Thank you for the old lady guide to being cool in 2002. I didn't even know the Breeders were touring again. Shows how much I know. I'm glad you had fun at the show . . . Love, Joanna.

Robert Christgau on international hip-hop.

It's a curious phenomenon -- all over the sunny Southwest, Latino teens enthralled with the mope-rock saint of Manchester -- but it's no weirder than middle-class white boys thumping along to "Fuck Tha Police." Alienation knows no borders. And it's thrilling to see it, a subculture free of all the strained nostalgia and wink-wink irony that accompany most retro trends. These kids aren't in it for the camp. They love the Smiths.

There is a lady in my life that I love. She was with me before, during and after my trial and conviction. A great deal of the album is an ode to her very existence. I've made plenty of mistakes in the past. Writing songs to her and about her was progress in healing those wounds. You ask me later on in the interview if I have any regrets, one — I wish I would have kissed her more.

Thanks to Ishkur’s Guide, I finally understand electronic music – every artist is a genre!

The Village Voice reviews Cornershop’s new Handcream for a Generation.

With mp3s and CD burners commonplace, the art of the mix is being revived. Burn, Baby Burn! (closed), a “blogger CD swap”, met with unanticipated interest upon being linked from MetaFilter and has closed registration early. The responsible MeFi thread spawned (predictably) an already popular MeFiSwap and also points to a handful of similar projects around the net. I’ve got a couple hundred blank CDs looking for a purpose so I plan to get my hands into as many of these as I can:

• frykitty's greenshoes
• CD mix of the month club
• secret DJ
• midsummer night's burn (european)

Furthurnet “is the first and only 100% non-commercial peer-to-peer network of legal live music created by fans for fans!” They’ve got java-based clients for Windows and for Linux and OS X.

HERMENAUT: The B Side of Paradise: The Ten Best Jazz Records for Driving

boom selection/bsXtra

“The bootleg scene is … one of the most interesting things happening in music right now,” he said after listening to exactly part of exactly 2 different tracks. He didn’t, you’ll notice, indicate whether he particularly cared for the music itself.

One good thing about music, when it hits you
Feel no pain (repeat)
So hit me with music, hit me with music
Hit me with music, hit me with music now
I got to say trench town rock
I say don't watch that
Trench town rock, big fish or sprat
Trench town rock, you reap what you sow
Trench town rock, and everyone know now
Trench town rock, don't turn your back
Trench town rock, give the slum a try
Trench town rock, never let the children cry
Trench town rock, 'cause you got to tell JAH, JAH
You grooving Kingston 12, grooving, Kingston 12
Grooving woe, woe, it's Kingston 12
Grooving it's Kingston 12
No want you fe galang so
No want you fe galang so
You want come cold I up
But you can't come cold I up
'Cause I'm grooving, yes I'm grooving
I say one good thing, one good thing
When it hits you feel no pain
One good thing about music
When it hits you feel no pain
So hit me with music
Hit me with music now
Hit me with music, hit me with music
Look at that
Trench town rock, I say don't watch that
Trench town rock, if you big fish or sprat
Trench town rock, you reap what you sow
Trench town rock, and everyone know now
Trench town rock, don't turn your back
Trench town rock, give the slum a try
Trench town rock, never let the children cry
Trench town rock, 'cause you got to tell JAH, JAH why
Grooving, grooving, grooving, grooving

Kestrel’s Nest solved a mystery I’ve been wondering about for a few weeks—the Shonen Knife website had been appearing in his referrer logs too, and Anita informs us that it’s a fake entry left by the Proxomitron, a “universal Web filter” (Windows only) written by a Shonen Knife fan.