Black Swan Songs

As tempting as it is to purchase the vinyl 12″ remix singles that Radiohead has been releasing this summer, BlackSwanSongs is going to wait until October 10 when we’ll be able to stream all of them on Spotify. (The collected remixes will be released as TKOL RMX 1234567 on October 10 in the UK and on October 11 in North America.)

» Read the rest of this entry «

Francis Ford Coppola pays the bills with his day-job: making wine. Photo via Grazia Magazine

In a recent interview, auteur film director Francis Ford Coppola alludes to a future where the  intersection of art and commerce resembles our past more than it does the present.

Interviewer Ariston Anderson asked, “How does an aspiring artist bridge the gap between distribution and commerce?”

We have to be very clever about those things. You have to remember that it’s only a few hundred years, if that much, that artists are working with money. Artists never got money. Artists had a patron, either the leader of the state or the duke of Weimar or somewhere, or the church, the pope. Or they had another job. I have another job. I make films. No one tells me what to do. But I make the money in the wine industry. You work another job and get up at five in the morning and write your script.

This idea of Metallica or some rock n’ roll singer being rich, that’s not necessarily going to happen anymore. Because, as we enter into a new age, maybe art will be free. Maybe the students are right. They should be able to download music and movies. I’m going to be shot for saying this. But who said art has to cost money? And therefore, who says artists have to  make money?
- Francis Ford Coppola

» Read the rest of this entry «

Although Weezer’s last 3 or so records have been big, silly pop radio affairs, the first 2 albums - Weezer (The Blue Album) and Pinkerton – are legendary. And frontman Rivers Cuomo – Harvard grad – has always been very smart concerning his good taste.

Recently Cuomo took the time to remind us all about how good his taste is by having his band learn a near note-for-note cover of Radiohead’s epic from OK Computer, the now-classic Paranoid Android.

Cover bands with poor chops the world-over are weeping.

…meaning Adult Contemporary.

We love Death Cab for Cutie at BlackSwanSongs.com. Probably seen them play live about 8-10 times. Following their history for so long is how we’ve noticed their fandom and marketing move from indie rockers, to teens during their The O.C. plot point days, to Adult Contemporary radio format-listening VH1 Storytellers viewers.

And for y’all aging hipsters who will be at home attending to newborns and young children this evening, tune in to VH1 at 10 p.m. central time zone.

And don’t get it twisted. We realize that Death Cab are aging into adults quite gracefully. After all, we can’t all rock-out with the verve of adolescence well into our 60s like The Rolling Stones.

Ironically you can interpret that headline several different ways in regards to BlackSwanSongs.com.

We had some down time this weekend. The new WordPress 3.1 install didn’t sit pretty with my servers…until today.

Anyways, your favorite writer that spends more time playing music than writing – that would be me for the uninitiated – is back up in it.

Probably the third interpretation of Down for A Day includes the fact that I was so sick during South by Southwest Music Conference, I only purposefully got to see 2 bands play: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Kanye West (and friends).

You can read my Kanye review in the Austin American-Statesman.

And I shot a little video of the Pains… instore at Waterloo Records. You can check that below:

Thurston Moore mid-solo!, originally uploaded by Black Swan Songs.

As we go through the BlackSwanSongs archives, we keep finding little gems hidden in the dark corners.

Hopefully these rediscovered gems – like this photo of Thurston Moore – and many short stories will shape themselves into a book prior to the year’s end.

Link to Sen. Yee’s petition

Join BlackSwanSongs.com in signing the petition started by California state senator Leland Yee calling for companies like Domino’s Pizza to stop advertising on the radio show of the ignorance-mongering pill addict, Rush Limbaugh.

The shock jock recently mockingly disrespected all Asian people by ignorantly imitating the President of China.

Editor’s note: See the comments section for a response from Domino’s Pizza.

Leave it to M.I.A. to shoot 2010′s final parting volley in the musical war for hearts and minds.

On New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2010, M.I.A. graced her fans with Vicki Leekx, a free, 36 minute, polemic-fueled mixtape banger. She enlists Diplo, Switch, Blaqstarr and all of the usual suspects and co-collaborators for production. And while Vicki Leekx isn’t as much of an art-damaged dragonslayer as her previous full length, /\/\ /\ Y /\, Vicki Leekx shows M.I.A. has been busy (on top of being a mom and newlywed wife) chopping, pasting, mashing-up…and keeping up…with current events.

Happy 2011!

This is a public service announcement: M.I.A.'s Vicki Leekx mixtape is a straight-up banger!

Oh, to be as industrious as Damon Albarn. The guy and his band Gorillaz released “The Fall”, a rock-solid album today that is available to stream for free (and free to download for fan club members).

And for additional one-upsmanship, he didn’t build a million dollar studio on his tour-bus and record this in the lap of modern studio luxury. Albarn recorded the entire 15 track album on his iPad.

Check the details below from his website:

All tracks written and performed by Gorillaz using the iPad and additional instruments: Korg Vocoder, Ukelele, Microkorg, Omnichord, Moog Voyager, Melodica, Guitar, Piano, Korg Monotron. Except track 13 written and performed by Gorillaz and Bobby Womack. Recorded between Montreal and Vancouver over 32 days on the Gorillaz North American Tour 2010

1. Phoner To Arizona
   Recorded in Montreal on 3rd October
2. Revolving Doors
   Recorded in Boston on 5th October
3. HillBilly Man
   Recorded in New Jersey and Virginia on 10th and 11th October
   Additional Guitar: Mick Jones
4. Detroit
   Recorded in Detroit on 13th October
5. Shy-town
   Recorded in Chicago on 15th October
6. Little Pink Plastic Bag
   Recorded in Chicago on 16th October
   Additional Keyboards: Jesse Hackett
7. The Joplin Spider
   Recorded in Joplin on 18th October
   Additional conversations with: Darren ‘Smoggy’ Evans
8. The Parish of Space Dust
   Recorded in Houston on 19th October
9. The Snake In Dallas
   Recorded in Dallas on 20th October
10. Amarillo
    Recorded in Amarillo on 23rd October
11. The Speak It Mountains
    Recorded in Denver on 24th October
    Stream and forest recorded in Santa Fe on 25th October by Mike Smith
12. Aspen Forest
    Recorded in Santa Fe on 25th October and in Vancouver on 3rd November
    Additional Bass: Paul Simonon
    Additional Qanun: James R Grippo
13. Bobby In Phoenix
    Recorded in Phoenix on 26th October
    Vocals and Guitar: Bobby Womack
14. California And The Slipping Of The Sun
    Recorded in Oakland on 30th October
    Train station announcement recorded at LA Train Station. Additional conversation with: Darren ‘Smoggy’ Evans, Mick Jones, Jamie Hewlett and Tanyel Vahdettin.
15. Seattle Yodel
    Recorded in Seattle on 2nd November

If web 3.0 will be all about curation, you’ll notice BlackSwanSongs.com has been getting its start on web 3.0 with our last several entries.

Creative entries and analytical blog posts have given way to the curation of videos as BlackSwanSongs brings not one, but two bands to life right here in little ol’ Austin, TX: Norushi Minx and Paraguay.

Most of the stuff on PitchforkTV does not sync up with the taste of BlackSwanSongs, but an acoustic performance from Mac MacCaughan and Jim Wilbur of Chapel Hill, N.C.’s venerable indie rock band, Superchunk, is must-see BlackSwanSongs TV.

Curation, curation, curation: in the future when everyone has Google TV, AppleTV (or something similar), you’ll be able to come to the main page of BlackSwanSongs.com and just watch – or listen – to the tunes and videos we’ve assembled especially for people with immaculately cool taste.