Category: Music

The Power of the Mixtape

In 1996, I made a mixtape for a young guy I knew at my church. He was really into music; in fact, he was a musician. Eight years later, Jason is fronting a band called China Jean. My friend Jay and I went to see them playing at the Horseshoe Tavern last night. Jason had told Jay quite recently that my mixtape had influenced his tastes, so if China Jean finds any measure of success, I’ll be quite gratified.

Digging around, I found a track listing of the tape I made for him. It amazes me that every single band is from the UK or Ireland. I think I’m much less of an Anglophile these days. I also included some great dialogue bits from the animated series “The Tick” and the Coen brothers’ film “Raising Arizona.”

Side A

Suede – Stay Together
Morrissey – My Love Life
PJ Harvey – Hardly Wait
The The – I’ve Been Waiting for Tomorrow
Elastica – Smile
My Bloody Valentine – Soon
Sleeper – Bedhead
Pulp – Babies
The Wedding Present – Blue Eyes
Billy Bragg – The Saturday Boy
The Smiths – What Difference Does It Make?
The Tick – A Psychic Journey of Self-Discovery
Raising Arizona – Diapers and Balloons

Side B

Joy Division – Disorder
Bauhaus – Ziggy Stardust
PJ Harvey – Man Size
The Only Ones – Another Girl, Another Planet
Elvis Costello – Lipstick Vogue
The Police – Roxanne
Elastica – Blue
The Waterboys – The Big Music
The Cranberries – I Can’t Be With You
The Wedding Present – Give My Love to Kevin
Morrissey – Interesting Drug
Sinead O’Connor – Jerusalem
Billy Bragg – A New England
Mike Scott – What Do You Want Me to Do?
Depeche Mode – Black Celebration

Songs, Those Crazy Songs

Ok, you’ve probably already seen this list from McSweeney’s, entitled Possible Follow-Up Songs for One-Hit Wonders (if not, go and then come back, mmkay?).

But I’ve been thinking of another sort of list. Not-Quite-Actual Songs That Should Have Been on the Soundtracks of Actual Films. This actually happened, when Albert Brooks convinced Simon and Garfunkel to change the lyrics to “Mrs. Robinson” for inclusion in his film, Mother (1996). Here’s a start:

I [heart] Pedro

From a song called Foregone Conclusions, by Pedro the Lion:

“You were too busy steering the conversation toward the Lord,
to hear the voice of the Spirit saying shut the fuck up.”

I’ve spent the last few weeks/months/years trying to listen instead of speak about these things. It’s very hard not to become completely discouraged. Silly but telling example: Last night, I watched the first episode of the new series of reality show The Amazing Race. One couple, noted by their onscreen graphic as “Models/Dating”, also made a big deal of declaring they were “committed Christians” and the guy is making an ass of himself already, talking about “trusting the Lord” with their decisions. Buddy, you’re on a GAME SHOW! His whole attitude reminds me of a quote that’s on my “Faith” page:

“I’ve often wondered if being a Christian was something we could, or should, claim for ourselves; that if being a Christian meant incarnating the love of Christ in my own life, then maybe it would be best to let others tell me how well, or how badly, I’m doing”

—Kathleen Norris, The Cloister Walk

I’m almost afraid to watch the rest of the series…

And, oh yeah, this, too.

Concerts I Want To Attend In The Short-Term

For someone who considers himself a bit of a music junkie, I attend relatively few live shows. I’ve averaged maybe three a year over the past five years or so. I’m really hoping to change that, especially now that I’ve seen a couple of shows with Carla and Josie.

So here are a bunch of shows that I want to go to this year. Note that I have no idea when (or even if) any of these bands are coming to Toronto. If you know something, enlighten me. Just for kicks, I’m also going to suggest a song from each band, so that if you haven’t heard of them, you might, ah, be able to, uh, find someone who owns a legal copy of the song, and, er, you know, ask them to let you hear it.

  • Spoon — The Minor Tough, from A Series of Sneaks (1998) — My favourite band, these SOBs haven’t played my town since September 2002.
  • The Apples In Stereo — Baroque, from Velocity of Sound (2002) — I’ve never seen these guys live, and since I’ve been listening to them a lot lately, I would like to. Spoon once opened for them, or maybe it was the other way around. That would be a great double bill! UPDATE: Coming May 3 to the Horseshoe! Who’s coming with me?
  • Pedro The Lion — Rapture, from Control (2002) — I’ve been getting into Pedro in a big way lately. So soulful at times but edgy, too. Great spiritual music, and very cathartic for me. UPDATE: Coming June 24 to the Horseshoe! Who’s in?
  • The Shins — Caring is Creepy, from Oh, Inverted World (2001) — I actually saw The Shins a few years ago opening for Modest Mouse. I was so dumb I thought they were called The Chins. Now I would pay money to see them again.
  • The Postal Service — The District Sleeps Alone Tonight, from Give Up (2003) — This is a side project for Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and Dntel’s Jimmy Tamborello, so it’s unclear whether they’ll tour. They apparently did tour just after Give Up came out but it’s unlikely that they’ll get up here without a new record to promote.
  • The Oranges Band — OK Apartment, from All Around (2003) — I’ve known this band since their singer Roman was filling in on bass for Spoon. They opened for Spoon on some US gigs but for some reason, the entire band ended up selling Spoon merchandise here in Toronto and not playing. They are an awesome band and really nice guys and you need to discover them right away.

Canada: File-Sharing Paradise?

Well, the big news today (and it doesn’t appear to be an April Fool’s Joke) is the court decision that passively making songs available for sharing over the internet is not illegal under Canadian copyright law because the user isn’t actively distributing or advertising their availability.

A few excerpts from the decision: “No evidence was presented that the alleged infringers either distributed or authorized the reproduction of sound recordings. They merely placed personal copies into their shared directories which were accessible by other computer users via a P2P service.”

“The mere fact of placing a copy on a shared directory in a computer where that copy can be accessed by a P2P service does not amount to distribution. Before it constitutes distribution, there must be a positive act by the owner of the shared directory, such as sending out the copies or advertising that they are available for copying. No such evidence was presented by the plaintiffs in this case. They merely presented evidence that the alleged infringers made copies available on their shared drives.”

Sites like DownhillBattle are imploring Canadians to start file-sharing like mad (“If you live in Canada, you now have a moral obligation to share major label music 24/7”). As CC readers must know by now, I’ve always been willing to share my musical taste and if you’ve met me, chances are you have probably received a number of mixed tapes or CDs over the years. File-sharing is just an extension of that sort of generosity. The fact that it’s happening on such a huge scale is threatening the old order; namely, the major record labels are teetering on the edge of irrelevance. Good riddance, I say. There are many better models for making sure that musicians are compensated fairly, and the internet can make this happen.

If you love music, support the musicians you love. This is relatively easy for us indie-rock types. Independent labels are usually fairer to their bands to begin with, but just to make sure, go and see the band live when they come to your town, and if possible, buy your CDs at the show. I guess I’m lucky in that I live in a large city and most bands eventually get up here (though I haven’t seen my boys Spoon in far too long!). If you’re not as lucky as I am, then the internet is here to help. I recommend checking out the following sites who are trying to overhaul the music “business” to make it fairer to the people who create the music: