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THE INDIE ROCK BLOG
The Indie Rock Blog is a collection of Sugartune Artist News and entries from our friends at the Rock and Roll Report. If sweet, sugartunes are stirring in your soul, keep your soul stirred with a subscription to our news feed. 
Just a quick post to let you know that Radio Dead Man is having a New Years Eve “Louie, Louie” marathon since as they put it “What New Year’s Eve would be complete without “Louie, Louie”?” It starts at 8:00 PM EST and basicaly runs until they run out of versions of “Louie, Louie” to play. Hey, it beats Dick Clark!
Later.
You looking for year end polls? Then Scott Woods over at Rock Critics Daily has found a great place to start. Check out FIMOCULOUS for every poll you could ever imagine.
Later.
Looking for some excellent rock and roll radio to listen to on a drab and dreary Monday night? Then check out Electrophonic Tonic on CKUW radio. Broadcasting from the junction of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada every Monday night from 8:00 to 10:00 PM, Electrophonic Tonic plays great rock and roll from the past and the present with a healthy dose of Canadian content thrown in for good measure. Electric and eclectic, Electrophonic Tonic is just the thing to get you through a Monday night and primed for the rest of the week. You can listen online to their streaming MP3 broadcast using most of the popular MP3 players. Later.
NEMS, Northern Songs, Seltaeb, Apple Corps. EMI. I have always been fascinated by the monetary and legal machinations behind the Beatle’s empire. Stock market flotations, Bankrupt supermarkets for friends. Massive merchandising deals at the height of Beatlemania. Purchasing Greek islands. Apple electronics. The Apple boutique. The Beatles created a financial kingdom that was the envy of many small countries and they still continue to earn money long after they ceased to exist. If you always wondered where the money came from and where the money went, Beatle Money is a good place to start. An interesting compendium of financial facts for the truly obsessed Beatles scholars out there.
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If you think that all record label owners live like Phil Spector (ok bad example. How about Clive Davis?) then check out this feature on Long Gone John and his label Sympathy for the Record Industry as the label turns 15 years old. A very cool record label best known for giving the White Stripes their start, I like Long Gone John’s answer when asked why he does what he does: “I love rock & roll.” These are the kind of people who live, breath and eat rock ‘n’ roll and put out the CDs to prove it. Give ‘em a spin with some of that Christmas cash and have a ball. Thanks to Coolfer for the link.
Later.
According to this article in the Washington Post, satellite radio is showing a steady growth in popularity and it’s hard not to like it: digital clarity, no interference, no commercials, lots of choice. Granted you have to pay for it but I suppose that’s the price of progress.
Later.
Do you want to be a rock and roll scholar? Then check out “University of Manitoba to be school of rock” for all the details of their new course offering this January “From Ragtime to Rock: A History of Popular Music in the 20th Century.” Sounds cool.
Later.
For those of you keeping track, here is the lowdown on “Online music’s winners and losers” according to CNET.
Later.
It’s been six months to the day that I started The Rock and Roll Report and the time has flown by. When I started writing this blog, I had the vague idea to publish the increasing amount of cool rock and roll links that I had been collecting for the benefit of people sadly mistaken that “classic rock” and “adult alternative” radio were the only way to get their rock and roll kicks. After six months I can unequivocally state that the amount of cool rock and roll record labels, radio stations, magazines and websites featuring tons of cool rock and roll bands number in the hundreds and quite possibly the thousands. While my tastes and your tastes may vary on a particular band or song, looking at the big picture confirms that rock and roll is still alive and kicking on the cusp of 2004 and you don’t need to listen to “Stairway to Heaven”, “Back in Black” or “Start Me Up” forty times a day on the radio to satisfy your rock and roll fix. As I take a break from writing for the next couple of days (don’t worry I still have a couple of rock and roll tricks left for the remainder of 2003, they will just be sporadically posted) I am looking forward to the hype, the excesses and the stupidity that the music world no doubt will be throwing our way next year because I know that in some garage, basement or rehearsal space somewhere out there, a guitar amp is humming, a bass is being tuned and cymbals are being polished in preparation to unleash another wave of timeless, niche free rock and roll on the world and man, I can hardly wait! Trust me when I say that rock and roll is far from dead, you just have to know where to look. As Frank Zappa stated when describing the musical “underground” of the sixties and which still seems appropriate today “The mainstream comes to you, but you have to go to the underground.” Join me for an exciting 2004 as we continue to search the “underground” for real, exciting rock and roll fun, have a couple of laughs along the way and maybe introduce some people to some really good (and really crappy yet strangely still good) rock and roll. Thanks for reading. Have a great 2004 and please, comments to the site are accepted and in fact encouraged. Attitude antennae up! Ears tuned to the underground! Turntables at the ready! Let’s go!
Later.
Are you stuffed to the gills from eating too much turkey and mashed potatoes? Exhausted from visiting relatives? Wasted from putting together the kid’s toys? Just have a Boxing Day hangover? Then relax, pull up a chair and take a trip back in time by visiting the Retrolounge. This is a very cool, very innovative website that will keep you busy for a couple of hours at least. With 12 different categories like music, architecture and paperbacks to visit, the Retrolounge is another example of a website designer with too much time on their hands. And I thank them profusely for it because this is one great website!
Later.
Just received an e-mail from Jason at Perfect Sound Forever who let me know that a new issue is out for your reading pleasure, and it is always a pleasure reading this great e-zine. He also let me know that he has written a round-up of the best music writing this year for Rock Critics.Com which you should definitely check out.
Later.
This article on the ABC News website gives us the RIAA’s reaction to their legal setback last week. Now I know that illegal file swapping is a big problem but do you ever get the feeling that the amount of effort expended would be better re-directed to, oh I don’t know, actively searching out promising new bands that aren’t just a bland copy of those Justin/Brittany/Christina/American Idol dudes and dudettes? Just a thought.
Later (after Christmas).
The Village Voice has a good, brief article on the current legal landscape for downloading music in both Canada and the United States. I would get quite concerned with a bill exempting any industry from anti-trust laws. The panic has truly set in.
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The OC Weekly has a nice review of 3 artists that have released “Best Of” compilations that you might want to check out. The article Joyful Noises looks at the recent releases by Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen and R.E.M. Keep this in mind for Boxing Day.
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Courtesy of the Audities list, Salon has an article claiming that December 10th, 1969 was the greatest week in rock and roll history as far as records in the top 10 goes. A good read and certainly hard to refute but keep in mind that if you are not a Salon subscriber you will have to watch a 10 second advertisement before you can read the full text.
Later.
Check out this interview on Murmurs with Peter Buck By Víctor Lenore, Rockdelux translated to english by chorima (a scan of the original article can be found here). I tend to agree with his “non-definition” of rock ‘n’ roll but I can’t say I’m into hip hop but, like jazz, that may be just because I’m ignorant (quite likely) but I definitely agree with broadening your musical horizons by listening to something other than rock and roll all the time like the blues or bluegrass. The more the merrier as far as I’m concerned. This is what he had to say:
WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT ROCK MUSIC?
“I think that rock’n'roll has been there for so long that it’s becoming harder and harder to define it. If you go to a shop, you find under that label artists as different as Bryan Adams, The Strokes or Mercury Rev. Who’s ‘more rock’ for you: Bryan Adams or The Chemical Brothers? Howe Gelb, for instance, plays country, but in essence he’s a rock artist. Five years ago, I thought that the gender was going to disappear; I’m not exaggerating. Well, I thought that it would be like roots music, something that would just interest people over 40. That’s why I find it so surprising that the new generation has gone back there and that they make it sound so great: I speak of the Dirtbombs, The White Stripes, The Detroit Cobras… But, as a listener, I don’t limit myself to rock. I also listen to electronic music, things like DJ Shadow. I also like hip hop quite a lot, for the richness of the rythms, but I find boring 90% of the raps (too uniform, besides I don’t connect with the lyrics). What I just can’t stand is commercial pop. You have to move piles of garbage to find a decent refrain”.
Later.
Here is a good chuckle amidst the hustle and bustle of getting ready for Christmas!
Later.
According to this article on Rolling Stone’s website, the website Momomentsintime.com is claiming the Beatles reunited (twice) in the seventies but the reunion ended in acrimony. Beatles management claims that this is a load of bollocks. I know that Macca and John Lennon did jam together at the Record Plant in LA in 1974 but I don’t think this reunion thing actually happened. Or did it?
Later.
Microsoft and a company called Loudeye are partnering to allow any company to open an online record store. Hmmm, “The Rock and Roll Report Record Emporium featuring only the finest in loud, obnoxious rock ‘n’ roll”? Sounds intriguing…..I’ll check with my investors and get back to you.
My investors are currently shopping, things are not looking promising. I’ll keep at it though. I will not take “Are you f#$king crazy!” for an answer!
Later.
In an interesting setback to the RIAA a federal appeals court ruled that the special subpoena power claimed by the RIAA to fast track their lawsuits against illegal file swappers has itself been deemed illegal. This decision does nothing to change the fact that file swapping is illegal and wrong, just that the RIAA can’t side track the regular provisions of American law and use the DMCA to compel ISPs to identify illegal file swappers. This will make it more labour intensive on the RIAA but it doesn’t mean that the lawsuits will stop so keep that in mind the next time you are on Kazaa, at least in the United States. Were there enough acronyms in this post for ya? I’ll post again ASAP.
Later.
A quick post about a very cool web magazine I came across called Drowned in Sound. In particular their article Sony and BMG to Merge: Indies To Be Further Marginalised was very well thought out and the ensuing debate in the comments section very interesting. Check it out.
For anybody interested in the history of rock and roll radio check out the article GREAT UNSUNG HEROES OF ROCK’N'ROLL RADIO on an excellent site with a very cool name called In Music We Trust. If it wasn’t for guys like Alan Freed, Murray the K and Rodney Bingenheimer, rock and roll radio would be a very different and more than likely very boring place. I will post a bit more about In Music We Trust since it also consists of a record label that I want to check out. Looks like good stuff.
Later.
If you are looking for some really incredible rock and roll then check out the amazing power pop of The Blondes (they have been compared to Big Star) and their album Swedish Heat on an incredible record label called Teenacide Records. Really great, fun rock and roll that just begs to be blared from the radio of a cool convertible in the summertime. TeenAcide Records also has some other cool records that I want to check out by The Checkers and The Shakes, plus their website has some excellent links that require further investigation. And don’t forget Jamie’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Playground! Ah the joys of the rock and roll treasure hunt! What next will we discover?
Later.
Just a quick note to everybody that the new version of Winamp has been released and both the free and “pro” versions look to be a winner. You can download them here.
Creature
Moonshine Orchestra
The Snitches