The Points North: I Saw Across the Sound

The Points North are a band local to my studio in Jamaica Plain (Boston) MA. In fact, I met songwriter/guitarist Chris Alspach when he made a cappuccino for me at City Feed, my local organic market/cafe. Point: you never know who you’re going to meet where, and how they can help your career in music. In any case, we got to talking and he told me about TPN. We’ve been in touch off/on since. Now The Points North are about to release a new album, I Saw Across the Sound. When they emailed me an advanced copy, naturally I wanted to hear it.

The Points North are an acoustic trio comprised of Christopher Alspach (Lead vocals, octave mandolin, nylon string guitar), Regina Peterson (Irish and silver flutes, reed organ, vocals), Dylan Clark (Drums, vocals) on GrindingTapes Records. They describe themselves as “play[ing] minimalist folk that can best be described as a soundtrack to the harsh yet strangely nostalgic New England winter” and I think that sums it up as best I’ve heard any band do.

I Saw Across the Sound contains 12 tracks, which you know I think is a few too many. They are, nonetheless, haunting and beautiful; evoking a quiet passion that you have to listen to hear. Too often music like this is intended to be background to daily life, to be “ambient”. This music is “old school” like Dark Side of the Moon, demands to be the sole focus of your attention, or you’ll miss the whole thing. Chris’ lyrics make you search your soul for that quiet place where your real truths live, if only you’d look there.

Go, now, get your headphones, set aside an hour to do nothing but listen.

Joel Tenenbaum: Jury Awards $675,000 In Boston Music Downloading Case

Joel Tenenbaum: Jury Awards $675,000 In Boston Music Downloading Case.

So, Joel Tenenbaum, whose parent’s obviously should have raised him better, thinks it’s OK to repeatedly steal work from hardworking musicians, engineers, and producers. But it’s OK, because really it’s only the stinking labels that are getting hurt, right? No, we’re all being hurt by loss of sales and the de facto devaluation of our hard work. More importantly, and insidiously, the longer this rampant stealing goes on, the more young people see no problem with the situation. Of course, they’ve never had to work…yet.

The really scary part of this article is not just Mr. Tenenbaum’s flagrant attitude, but the comments that follow the article. There are very few level-headed responses. See the gum-ball analogy poster for one. Most, however, just rave about how unfair the RIAA is, and how it’s all just a power play by “The Man”. While it is true that the RIAA doesn’t directly represent me or my clients, and that the practices of the Major Labels have been despicable at times, let’s face it: the RIAA is the only organization with deep enough pockets to do something, anything about piracy. Since piracy affects my industry, and my clients, I’m actually rather grateful to the RIAA for taking abusers to task.

Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business

I’m not sure what to think here. Chris Anderson is well respected and writes emphatically, though his previous theory, The Long Tail, has by his own admission, not worked out with regard to the Music Industry. His comments here largely dismiss recorded music entirely as yesterday’s news. Thoughts?

At the age of 40, King Gillette was a frustrated inventor, a bitter anticapitalist, and a salesman of cork-lined bottle caps. It was 1895, and despite ideas, energy, and wealthy parents, he had little to show for his work. He blamed the evils of market competition. Indeed, the previous year he had published a book, The Human Drift, which argued that all industry should be taken over by a single corporation owned by the public and that millions of Americans should live in a giant city called Metropolis powered by Niagara Falls. His boss at the bottle cap company, meanwhile, had just one piece of advice: Invent something people use and throw away.

Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business

Help me decide the time for the Fridays at Digital Bear Entertainment events.

PC Pro: News: TV star busts AT&T bill with Twitter

PC Pro: News: TV star busts AT&T bill with Twitter.

So does this help us?  Does this tame AT&T into greater humanity?  Or, does this just reinforce that “Stars” can get away with anything?

Clearly, $11k for web surfing is extreme, but “forgiving” his bill doesn’t necessarily change their onerous billing practices.

What my Daughter and Tic-Tac-Toe can Teach Us about the Music Industry.

When my daughter was 5 years old she learned and readily mastered Tic-Tac-Toe. It is a game we all know, relatively simple in nature, and if you’re paying attention, always leads to a draw. For this reason, adults who are not playing with children, rarely if ever play Tic-Tac-Toe. Yet, at age 6, she managed to distill out of the game a life lesson, a keystone for rebuilding the Music Industry, that most adults never conceive.

Now, my daughter often says things that stun me with their worldliness. For example, the other day we had a memorial ceremony for our departed pet fish. When I suggested that we flush the toilet in salute, she said, “no, that’d waste water, “ so we made flushing sound effects instead.

And, at this age playing Tic-Tac-Toe, when neither she nor I could ever win, she really hit upon the essence of the game. I made the “mistake” of admitting once to letting her win. She knew she could not win on her own; a draw was an inevitability bore out by countless, fruitless games. This is not unlike most artists’ careers in music if we’re honest about it. Suddenly, she let me win a game. Then I let her win another. She gleefully accused me of letting her win, so she let me win the next one.

My six year old was pointing out the obvious: in a closed system, no one can win all of the time. Furthermore, the effort of trying to win all the time was wasteful, disheartening, and ultimately fruitless. Tic-Tac-Toe was much more fun when we played to let each other win in a pleasant and reciprocal fashion. We both got to enjoy a game that we had otherwise thought was a dead-end.

So, what has this got to do with music? Everything. The uber-competitive, “I have more talent than you,” scrambling over each other in the muck mentality has to stop. It is counter-productive, like trying to win at Tic-Tac-Toe. Cooperative, fair play leads to a better experience for all. Whether we are discussing musicians getting their music ripped off by self-righteous consumers, or studio owners having unsustainable rates forced on them by musicians unwilling to pay enough to cover the studio rent, it comes to the same thing. The world is getting smaller, people will do better, get along better, enjoy life better, make better art if they learn to value each other as participants and contributors to the game we are all playing.

JT’s Picks: Laurie Larson — A Striking Resemblance

If you’ve ever wondered what it’d sound like to cross The Doors with Kate Bush performing deep sounding but essentially meaningless songs, here’s your chance. Check out Laurie Larson’s 2008 A Striking Resemblance. This is well performed music with touches of Raitt-esque slide guitar and other country-pop elements. The problem is that her vocals are weak and masked in dreamy reverb. Combined with the pedal steel or slide guitar, the effect is an out of place surf vibe. A Call to Action is a slow dreamy piece that channels Clannad (go figure). The title track, A Striking Resemblance, again evokes The Doors, but now with a chanteuse fronting the band.

It doesn’t do it for me. The disconnect between the music bed and the vocals is beyond me to get past. Maybe some of you will “get it”. Check her out at www.laurielarson.com

NYT: Isle of Man Plans Unlimited Music Downloads

I’m not sure it this is a good idea. However, it is a novel approach to a serious problem, and this community seems like it’ll be a great test bed to see if it works. There’s a wise caveat part way through from Mr. Nash at Warner, that we wouldn’t want to actually lose revenue in favor of sales with any new model. It sounds like the majors are doing some interesting nee good thinking. Hope there’s a solution soon

NYT: Isle of Man Plans Unlimited Music Downloads

WSJ Editorial on IP Theft and Who Is Behind It All.

Finally someone who says what needs to be said about stealing IP. It’s suddenly dawning on everyone that the music industry is not all that’s at stake. The whole house of cards is shaking at its foundation. Especially in the United States, a country founded on ideas, and whose economy, such as it may be, is moving from the tangible to the intangible, IP is all there is!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124199933659205011.html

JT’s Picks: The Radio Knights — Happen

The Radio Knights and singer Matt Dahan send their latest EP “Happen”. These are local boys from the south shore of Boston, and they recorded and produced this effort themselves (I assume at home, though they didn’t indicate). This record sounds good. Well recorded and well mixed; nice guitars, good harmonies. Good job! You get extra points for making an EP up front. After listening to your stuff on disc and on myspace, I’m wondering why the myspace mp3 actually sound better than the disc? Remastered maybe?

Occasionally the drums could use some work, occasionally the lead vocals could be stronger. However, my lingering qualms stem from confusion over who these guys are (as a band). They called themselves “power-pop” on their entry form. The EP cover has dark colors (blacks and browns) with yellow images of the band, the city, and other hard to identify stuff; the band is also hard to discern but the one visible guy looks like a Wolverine wannabe. So I’m already confused. The cover, and even their name, suggests 70s scag rockers, the form makes me anticipate bubble-gum, huh? The music is straight up pop-rock; a bit too smooth for me; makes me think of The Gin Blossoms or 3 Doors Down. Of course, the piano evokes Billy Joel who they mention as an influence. Again, it’s really well executed – it’s a great listen – just a bit background-y for me. A lot of “I really love you” songs and “we’ve gotta get outa here” songs. Is there any need for those after Bruce? These guys are really talented, now let’s push the envelope a bit, shall we?

Check them out yourselves at myspace.com/theradioknights. (BTW, every band should have their own website, not just a myspace page).