This week on New Sound Now, K Sawyer Paul talks about silent raves and how they can incite abuse of police power, BBC’s new top-1000 amalgamation engine Sound Index, Sony’s buyout of Gracenote, and a report from the financial times that artists are actually making money off the internet. Crazy, huh? Plus, videos by The Spinto Band, Black Ghosts, Teenagers in Tokyo, and Mates of State.
This week on New Sound Now, we talk about web streaming for music videos and concerts, sites that say they work in Canada but don’t, Bento boxes of food that looks like album covers, Phreak615’s “hack” on Much Music, and national record store day. Plus, videos by Death Cab, Lykke Li, and American Princes.
This week, K Sawyer Paul rants at length about the 2008 Junos awards. Plus, videos by Juno nominees and winners, including Wintersleep, Holy Fuck, Serena Ryder, and Jully Black.
This week on New Sound Now, we discuss the Rick Roll, how the Pirate Bay might get sued, how Sony BMG are pirates themselves, and how the recent physical assaults on emo kids in Mexico. Plus, three videos by Justice, The Acorn, and The Beangrowers.
This week, we take a look at making mp3s look like mixtapes, making customized music for that special someone, Dr Pepper’s odd gauntlet throw-down to Guns n Roses, more subscription-based music ideas, and how the Mozart Effect has been debunked.
Plus, new videos by the Raconteurs, Black Kids, and the Kills.
This week, we take a look at a (possibly) completely unfounded rumour, just how evil the RIAA really is, and how a public scandal can lead to a (possibly) illustrious music career. All that and videos by Portishead, Spoon, Foals, and PNAU on an all new episode of New Sound Now!
This week on New Sound Now: What happens when your boyfriend doesn’t let you listen to Bruce Springsteen, spotlight on the Contrast podcast, SXSW streaming, REM and iLike, and what happens when a music store slaps ads inside your mp3 in order to give them to you for free.
We7, the new online music store where everything is free! Well, for a price. See, every single mp3 is shackled to a 10 second ad. I don’t really have anything to add after the rant on the show, but if there’s something I’m either missing about the service or you’d like to defend it (or attack it further) then by all means leave a comment. I’d love to hear it.
This week, it’s all about the filth that we as a music-loving audience have to deal with when it comes to governments, journalists, corporations, and billionaires. Owen Pallett gets his OHIP taken away, Maxim magazine is making up articles, the RIAA is raking in billions, and Music 1.0 is apparently dead. But all is not lost. South by Southwest (SXSW) is fast approaching, and the site has put up its yearly mp3 grab bag, this year containing more than 700 free mp3s.
All this and videos by the Smashing Pumpkins, Nicole Atkins, and The Terrordactyls on a brand New Sound Now.
Due to a predictable February illness, there will be no show this week. Instead, I’m going to write out the show, with links and videos available.
This week on New Sound Now:
World’s largest record collection
-This guy is selling off 3 million records to the tune of 3 million dollars
-The story isn’t so much the bid or the collection itself in my mind. The fact that nobody has yet bid on it is. The post-CD nostalgia factor of albums isn’t exactly high enough to destroy the fact that music is primarily a digital thing, now, and nobody with a practical head on their shoulders would trade in a hard drive full of music for a record collection like this, impressive as it may be.
iBand
-Two ipod touches and a Nintendo DS make a band
-The idea that devices built for the purpose of consuming media has been transformed into machines that create it. While the video is amusing, it comes off as cutesy, but that’s because it’s only the beginning of something huge. It’s possible that we may soon be in a place where music becomes like youtube - user-created, free, and collaborative. But with more Game Boys.
Gap’s Sound of Colour videos
-Five different bands write 5 songs about a certain colour, which get sent to 5 directors who produce 5 videos based on the colour and the music
-A wonderful collaboration that feels absolutely inspired. It’s incredibly easy to forget that these were commissioned by the Gap, since they seemingly have nothing to do with selling clothes and everything to do with real feeling. Also, you can download all five songs for free.
Michael Showalter’s Mix Tape Store
-Documentary about Michael’s mixtape store as a promotion for the Plug indie music awards.
-The circle of mixtape life is finally complete. It may be that Showalter’s store will end up being more a grave site for the mix tape, but the passion that went behind putting this together is apparent. I don’t know if I’d ever buy anything at a mix tape store, because it would feel like going through other people’s photo albums, but I’d love to have one in my neighborhood just for bragging purposes.
Videos
“Death to Los Campesinos”
Los Campesinos
http://www.loscampesinos.com/
“Myriad Harbour”
The New Pornographers
http://www.thenewpornographers.com/
“The Royal Family”
Free Blood
http://www.myspace.com/freeblood
“Right Hand On My Heart”
The Whigs
http://youtube.com/user/TheWhigsband
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."
- Hunter S. Thompson
New Sound Now
NSN is a weekly video blog with a mandate to illuminate the music news normally swept under the carpet by other televised music news shows. Instead of talking about fashion or when a new album is dropping, NSN reports on topics about the industry as a whole, including both brazen new concepts and brutal failures.
Host K Sawyer Paul, former DJ and music columnist, provides an honest voice in the increasingly corporate venue of music reporting.
As well, every week we highlight several remarkable music videos that would normally fly under the radar.
