This isn’t a political blog but just for the heck of it I thought I’d throw my two cents in on the democratic presidential debate tonight. And hey here’s some music too!

Dennis Kucinich- I am proud to call Denis Kucinich my myspace friend. I love Kucinich, I think he’s by far the best candidate, or at least has the best ideas… maybe he’s too liberal (and short?) to get elected. That said, people seem to like him, I watched the debate at an Obama sponsored event and people clapped for Kucinich as much as Obama that’s gotta say something.

MP3: Groovie Ghoulies- Kick Ass

Mike Gravel- Half of Gravel’s statements seemed to come out of left field but I really like him. Like Sharpton last time around he knows he’s not gonna get elected so he just says whatever he wants. Plus look at that smiling face and his last name is Gravel (how cool).

MP3: Millencolin- Random I Am

Barack Obama- A lot of people really love this guy. He’s charismatic, he’s ok on the issues (although like most of the candidates he opposes gay marriage), as a nation we could do worse. I just worry about his lack of experience, last time we elected an “outsider” and things haven’t turned out so well.

MP3: Catch 22- Sounds Good, But I Don’t Know

Hilary Clinton- I seem to be one of the few people without any strong opinions about Hilary. She seems ok, I worry that if she wins the primaries she might be too divisive to win the presidency but who knows.

MP3: Robert Blake- Ok, Not Great

John Edwards- Meh, like Clinton and Obama I have mixed feeling towards Edwards. He seems ok but his environmental record isn’t great.

MP3: Suburban Kids With Biblical Names- Trees and Squirrels

Joe Biden- Biden didn’t stand out during this debate and I doubt he’ll get too far, it seems like he’s gotten most of his press from putting his foot in his mouth.

MP3: Fugazi- Bad Mouth

Christopher Dodd and Bill Richardson- I don’t know very much about either and since they didn’t make much of an impression during the debate I’m not inclined to read up on them. I don’t think either is gonna be the next president.

MP3: Salaryman- Dull Normal

Buy: Groovie Ghoulies, Millencolin, Catch 22, Robert Blake, Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, Fugazi, Salaryman

I moved to Brooklyn a couple weeks ago so it’s about time I showed some blog love for a Brooklyn band. And since I have yet to find a job what better band than the Slackers? I think one of the most interesting Slackers albums is 2003’s Close My Eyes. More than typical party-ska Close My Eyes was written about the bands reaction to 9/11 and the events that followed.

MP3: The Slackers- Real War
MP3: The Slackers- Axes

Buy:
Insound
Amazon

A little haiku about the NJ punk band, Blanks 77:

Parties and moshpits
Catchy tunes, you’ll sing along
Pogo, my friend, DANCE!

MP3s:
Blanks 77 – Long Paper
Blanks 77 – Radio Hits
Blanks 77 – New Orleans
Blanks 77 – Little Girl Blue

Buy:
Radical Records

No music today folks. Today, June 26^th is a National Day of Silence for internet radio and the Housewives are showing solidarity.

“On March 2, 2007 the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), which oversees sound recording royalties paid by Internet radio services, increased Internet radio’s royalty burden between 300 and 1200 percent and thereby jeopardized the industry’s future.

At the request of the Recording Industry Association of America, the CRB ignored the fact that Internet radio royalties were already double what satellite radio pays, and multiplied the royalties even further. The 2005 royalty rate was 7/100 of a penny per song streamed; the 2010 rate will be 19/100 of a penny per song streamed. And for small webcasters that were able to calculate royalties as a percentage of revenue in 2005 – that option was quashed by the CRB, so small webcasters’ royalties will grow exponentially!

Before this ruling was handed down, the vast majority of webcasters were barely making ends meet as Internet radio advertising revenue is just beginning to develop. Without a doubt most Internet radio services will go bankrupt and cease webcasting if this royalty rate is not reversed by the Congress, and webcasters’ demise will mean a great loss of creative and diverse radio. Surviving webcasters will need sweetheart licenses that major record labels will be only too happy to offer, so long as the webcaster permits the major label to control the programming and playlist. Is that the Internet radio you care to hear?

As you know, the wonderful diversity of Internet radio is enjoyed by tens of millions of Americans and provides promotional and royalty opportunities to independent labels and artists that are not available to them on broadcast radio. What you may not know is that in just the last year Internet radio listening jumped dramatically, from 45 million listeners per month to 72 million listeners each month. Internet radio is already popular and it is already benefiting thousands of artists who are finding new fans online every day.

Action must be taken to stop this faulty ruling from destroying the future of Internet radio that so many millions of listeners depend on each day. Instead of relying on lawyers filing appeals in the CRB and the courts, the SaveNetRadio Coalition has been formed to represent every webcaster, every Net Radio listener, and every artist who enjoys and benefits from this medium. Please join our fight for the preservation of Internet radio.”

-Savenetradio.org

A friend lent me Luna’s album Rendezvous a couple of hours ago and I already have a burning desire to tell the world about it. I don’t know how I missed this band before, they’ve been around since 1991. Anyway I highly recommend Rendezvous, singer Dean Wareham’s voice is a nice complement to the jittery music and the lyrics are simple and beautiful.

Buy:
Insound
Amazon

Greatest. Album. Title. Ever. Which is appropriate that the band I Against I would be really creative with their album name on account their band name is stolen from a Bad Brains song (a hella good song). Anyways, back in their heyday, I Against I hailed from Holland, and never really caught on over here in the States (I’ve read it’s because of their “Dutch” sound, but I have no clue what the fuck that even means. I didn’t know they were from Holland for years). Regardless, the one album they did release in America “Headcleaner”, is a really solid poppier punk album (and one of the first punk albums I’ve ever owned). Some really catchy songs by this band.

Buy Stuff.
Epitaph
From Headcleaner:
MP3: I Against I – Maybe Tomorrow (my favorite)
MP3: I Against I – Stumble and Stare
MP3: I Against I – Top Of The World

From I’m A Fucked Up Dancer But My Moods Are Swinging:
MP3: I Against I – Nothing Happened

Vanderslice, go ahead, say it out loud, Vanderslice! What a great name. To be honest I get kind of bored by his recorded work but I’ve seen him open for the Mountain Goats at a few shows and each time his energy and showmanship have astounded me. TinyMixTapes has a fantastic interview with Mr. Vanderslice up where he discusses, among other things, the new ease of finding music.

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, I really don’t take the time I used to with new albums, there’s so much to listen to that if something doesn’t hit me in the first few listens I forget about it. How many great albums have I past up just in the last week? Vanderslice had some interesting things to say on the topic:

“Maybe it’s a zero-sum game. If you grew up in the vinyl age, maybe your record collection was 25 albums… and that was a sizable collection! And maybe half of them were David Bowie records. In a sense, maybe you have a Cream album and a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album, so in your world those albums have tremendous weight to them. And I think it is zero-sum because now… yeah, maybe it’s more difficult, there’s more white noise, but also maybe there’s 400-500 records on your iPod, and I guarantee that 100 to 200 to 300 of those are really worth talking about!

Or worth thinking about. But the thing is that as we go further down this road, everything is gonna mean less, but there’s gonna be more that means something, and I think that’s zero-sum, and I think that’s also beautiful, because anything that brings you towards a pure democracy is good.”

MP3: John Vanderslice- Promising Actress
MP3: John Vanderslice- Peacocks In The Video Rain

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Amazon

Adem Ilhan is most well known as the bass player for Fridge but beginning in 2003 he began recording indie/folk under the name Adem releasing Homesongs in 2004 and Love and Other Planets last year. Although some track have quite a bit of instrumentation they still have a sparse beauty. His crooning reminds me of Kid A era Radiohead, especially the song Crashlander.

MP3: Adem- Launch Yourself
MP3: Adem- Crashlander

Buy:
Insound
Amazon

silverunity:

It’s no big surprise that we housewives love Melt Banana, although I never thought I’d be saying this… Melt Banana is punk rock as all hell, and Bambi’s Dilemma proves it. Bambi’s Dilemma, which Melt Banana released last month, was under fire from longtime fans, saying that it wasn’t experimental enough, and some even went as far to call it poppy. While I wouldn’t go as far to call it “poppy” (the chord progressions and experimental nature of the songs are still too damn random to be enjoyed by mainstream audiences), the songs definitely are more accessible, and I don’t mean this in a bad way.

Songs such as Type: Ecco System prove that Melt Banana is still about the random soundscapes (and there are about 7 other songs on the album in the same vein), but there are plenty that any punk fan would like, even if you’ve never been a big fan. I wanted to review Cell-Scape as well, but I’ll save that for another post.

MP3: Melt Banana – Spider Snipe
MP3: Melt Banana – Blank Page Of The Blind
MP3: Melt Banana – Heiwaboke Crisis
MP3: Melt Banana – Green Eyed Devil

MP3: Melt Banana – Lost Parts Stinging Me So Cold
(From Cell-Scrape, but it’s my favorite MB song… so I couldn’t resist. Oh and if you want to sing along to this one… Here are the lyrics.

Buy:
Bambi’s Dilemma
Cell-Scape

I like Spoon’s new album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga like I like the rest of Spoon’s albums, in small doses. It’s really great catchy music and Brit Daniel’s crisp voice is the perfect complement to the tightly orchestrated parts. The problem is by the end of the album it all starts to sound the same, there’s not a lot of variation. That being said, I do have a few favorites (below) and if you’re gonna stick with one sound this is a pretty damn good one.

MP3: Spoon- The Underdog
MP3: Spoon- Don’t You Evah

Buy:
Insound
Amazon