Tom McRae – My Vampire Heart August 14, 2007
Posted by admin in : Songs, Videos , 2comments“Here we are, in the darkest place. To keep from forgetting, I picture your face. And I wonder, while we count the cost. Which is sweeter, love or it’s loss….so I curse you, my vampire heart, for letting me you love you, love you, for letting me love you, from the start….”
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Willard Grant Conspiracy – The Trials of Harrison Hayes August 6, 2007
Posted by admin in : Videos , add a commentI was lucky enough to see the lead singer of Willard Grant Conspiracy, Robert Fisher, live last year. This video of Robert playing one of my favourite WGC songs live should give you a taste of what it was like….
Can you feel the hairs on your neck rise?
Songs For An Evening In… August 6, 2007
Posted by admin in : Songs , 2commentsI’ve gained myself a reputation for my music tastes – too depressing, too melancholic, too downbeat. I often beg to differ – Outkast, Fleetwood Mac, quite a lot of very-similar sounding emo, and a vast range of 80′s music fight for place on my MP3 player (“Stand and deliver, your money or your life”….ah, Adam Ant, where are you?).
However, I’ll admit that often, I like nothing better than to find time for myself, put on a little Tom McRae or Red House Painters, and get my melancholy on. So, here are two songs for anyone out there like me. Two songs that have gotten me through the best and worst times. One a song of the acceptance of life and all it brings, the other a song of the acceptance of an end.
Colin Hay accepts, whatever happens…..”And still this emptiness persists, perhaps this is as good as it gets. When you’ve given up the drink and those nasty cigarettes, now I leave the party early at least with no regrets. I watch the sun as it comes up I watch it as it sets, yeah this is as good as it gets”….while Willard Grant Conspiracy blame themselves for what’s happened….”I guess that leaving town, is the best thing I can do. This is my last attempt at loving you. Everytime you hurt me, I say that it’s alright.I’m all thats left to blame the morning after another lonely night”….
Get your melancholy on…
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Willard Grant Conspiracy – Another Lonely Night
Social Networks “Lure Music Fans” August 5, 2007
Posted by admin in : Articles , add a commentA very interesting article on the BBC website….
Social networks are changing the way people consume music at a time when piracy is on the rise and the rate of growth of legal downloads has slowed. Those are the key findings of a new survey conducted by analyst firm Entertainment Media Research.
The survey found that some 53% of people actively surf social networking sites to find music. A further 30% said they went on to buy or download music that they had discovered on a social network site. On popular sites such as MySpace and Bebo, the numbers of people who use sites to find music rises to 75% and 72% respectively. Some 46% of those surveyed wished it was easier to purchase music they had discovered on social networking sites, for instance via a “buy now” button on the site.
John Enser, head of music at the law firm Olswang that co-authored the survey, believes social networking sites could represent a new platform for the music industry. “Surfing these sites and discovering music is widespread with the latest generation of consumers but the process of actually purchasing the music needs to be made easier,” he said.
The survey – which interviewed 1,700 music consumers aged 13-60 – found that music was increasingly key to social networkers. Some 39% have embedded music in their personal profiles. Seventy percent said they did this to show off their taste, with half saying it was a good way of reflecting their personality.
The survey found the number of people claiming that they illegally download music tracks has risen, from 36% in 2006 to 43% in 2007. At the same time, it found that the rate of growth of legal downloading was in decline. Following a dramatic 40% increase in the number of legal downloaders between 2005 and 2006, the survey identifies a much more modest 16% growth in the number of consumers happy to buy digital music over the same period in 2006 to 2007. In addition, 22% of legal downloaders admitted that they had not paid for a track in the last six months, while the same number said that they had only ever downloaded one legal track.
The survey identifies some reasons for this. Firstly, it found that those surveyed are less concerned that they will be prosecuted for illegally downloading music than last year. Falling CD prices have also played a part in eroding people’s perceptions that digital downloading was a cheaper way to purchase music.
Russell Hart, chief executive of Entertainment Media Research said the findings represented a new era of “democratisation” in the way consumers interacted with music and artists. “Social networks are fundamentally changing the way we discover, purchase and use music,” he said. “While there is no direct link between piracy and music on social networking sites, it is a new discovery platform and if it isn’t integrated with a purchase function, people will go elsewhere, including illegal downloads, to get the music they want.”
My comments: How very true. I’m finding myself more and more exposed to music – through social networking sites, through speciality sites such as LastFM, LivePlasma and Pandora, through friends at work who use the same platforms, or other platforms, to broaden their own tastes, and by proxy, mine. And the easier it is to purchase that music, the more I’ve found myself likely to buy it there and then. Broadband really has changed the face of music – more artists, more music, more access. I’ve also found myself getting music off my friends, and purchasing it if I like it – I believe that downloading music (legally or illegally) opens up choice, and allows artists to reach a wider audience than if it didn’t occur, if that audience are willing to purchase the music they like legally. Whether they do or not is the big question…
Best Gig Ever? August 1, 2007
Posted by admin in : Articles, Songs , add a commentIn November 2002, Ryan Adams played two nights in the Olympia theatre in Dublin. Download night one here and night two here.
I was at the second night, and it now stands as the greatest gig I’ve ever been at. Ryan himself appeared on stage with a half-empty bottle of red wine, staring blearily around, as the crowd grewquiet. He stumbled over to a piano, sat down, and started to play. When he opened his mouth, the entire audience went deathly silent. It’s impossible to describe those first few seconds. Even now, almost 5 years later, the entire concert is etched in my memory. But those first few seconds….
He played Sweet L’il Gal, a song from 2001′s Gold. On CD, a nice song. But on November 28th 2002, a crowd of a couple of hundred people had the closest thing to a group epiphany I’ve seen. And for over two hours, through two encores, and eventually the venue security forced to turn on the lights and escort Ryan off the stage to make him stop singing, the crowd was taken from piano to guitar, and back again; some sparce backing vocals; several humorous (and rambling) anecdotes; and the most perfect representation of an artists work I’ve ever had the privelege to witness.
Listen to Sweetest Decline, his cover of Beth Ortons song, and one of my favourites, from the the first night….
“So, anyway, there I was, just sitting on your porch, drinking in your sweetest decline, your sweetest decline….
What’s the use in regrets? They’re just thing we haven’t done yet….What are regrets? They’re just lessons we haven’t learned yet….”
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