arizona, vinyl

Trunk Federation: Winnie 7-inch

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Another record swap meet came and went on Saturday, which can only mean I spent far too much money adding to a vinyl collection whose weight I will curse if I ever have to move it.

Nevertheless, I’d call Saturday’s haul a success. Included in the bunch (list below) was a 7-inch by former Phoenix band Trunk Federation, whom I’ve written about before here and here. If I were you, I’d do my best to track down Trunk Federation’s 1998 record The Curse of Miss Kitty.

Anyway, this 7-inch (for low price of $3!) is called Winnie, and credits show it was recorded in the fall of 1994. Holy moses: That was 14 years ago. Doesn’t matter: Trunk Federation’s unorthodox pop probably would be better appreciated in these times than in the early ’90s.

Here’s the tracks converted from the vinyl:

  • Side A: Trunk Federation | Beanie’s Soft Toy Factory
  • Side B: Trunk Federation | Jello

Also purchased at the record swap meet (all 45s … Side A / Side B):

Salt-N-Pepa: Push It (remix) – same both sides; label says ‘Side A’ on both sides.
Fred Wesley and the JB’s: Doing it to Death / Everybody Got Soul
Harry Nilsson: Coconut / Down
The Turtles: You Showed Me / Buzz Saw (picture sleeve … Buzz Saw sampled awesomely/famously here)
Cat Stevens: Morning Has Broken / I Want to Live in a Wigwam
Ike and Tina Turner: Please, Please, Please Pt. 1 / Pt. 2
a-ha: Take On Me / Love is Reason (picture sleeve! with story board pages like the video!)

hip-hop

People Under the Stairs: The Om Years

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I really need to pay better attention to the weekly Tuesday release lists because it’s inevitable I’ll miss something like the jam-packed goodness of People Under the Stairs’ The Om Years collection, which came out this past week.

Granted, “the Om Years” lasted for just three records and various singles. But great records they are from Double K and Thes One, who are planning to release their sixth album, Fun DMC, in September on Gold Dust Media.

Of course, I’m never sure what to make of best-of collections – a throwaway contract obligation usually is my first thought. “Hey, here’s all the songs you already have plus one more! Buy it again, won’t you?” Weak. At least PUTS’ The Om Years (available on eMusic) comes with a second disc full of B-sides and rarities. Emusic even separates the discs into separate album downloads so you can just snag the second disc if you already own the released goods (I do).

And if you don’t own anything by People Under the Stairs, this is a fine way to introduce yourself. These guys are the epitome of California cool – laid-back beats and verses that celebrate the mellow side of West Coast living and obsessive crate digging.

Stream the The Om Years collection here.

  • People Under the Stairs | Big Daddy Brown

(From B-sides/rarities side)

  • People Under the Stairs | Youth Explosion

(From first disc and originally from Question in the Form of an Answer)

administrative, general

Cease and Desist update

2 Comments

Thanks to everyone who commented and offered advice regarding my cease and desist letter from a Travis song I posted.

People sure do love to hate the RIAA, IFPI and record labels. My post was linked at numerous spots: Tech Scoop, Tech Dirt and this other site written in Italianwhat I think is Spanish (any translators out there?). Nice to see everyone fighting the good fight. Thanks for the exposure (and hopefully Travis gets a push out of this).

I wrote the IFPI back (again) regarding this situation yesterday with some of your advice from the comments. I have not heard back yet, but when/if I do, I’ll post the response.

Thanks again.

hip-hop, video

Public Enemy: Rebel Without a Pause at Pitchfork

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I feel a little less peeved about not being able to make it to Chicago this year for the Pitchfork Festival now that the blossoming media conglomerate is offering high-quality videos taken from its live feed of the event.

Man, I wish Public Enemy, performing It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, would take this show on the road … um, well, not that they’d really want to ever come back to Arizona.

This looks just awesome, even if Flavor Flav is just a caricature of himself … whatever that self used to be.

hip-hop

New Murs and 9th Wonder: Sweet Lord

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URB drops the news of an upcoming (free?) Murs and 9th Wonder record called Sweet Lord.

That’s some smart marketing by Murs, whose major-label debut, Murs for President, drops (allegedly) in late September. Judging on a few of the comments after I posted the lead single off that album, y’all might be happier with this 9th Wonder collab.

Murs keeps it real for all you gearheads: “I hear you talkin’, I hear you fools / ’cause we left Cool Edit and switched to Pro Tools.”

UPDATE: Get the full album for free at mursand9thwonder.com (Thanks, Chris).

  • Murs and 9th Wonder | Sweet Lord (the intro)
general, sales

Stinkweeds’ Top 10: July 15-22

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Here’s the top sellers at Stinkweeds for the week of July 15-22.

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1. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive (Vagrant)
2. Beck – Modern Guilt (DGC)
3. Sigur Ros – Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust (XL)
4. Fleet Foxes – s/t (Sub Pop) // MP3: White Winter Hymnal
5. Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer (Sub Pop) // MP3: Language City
6. Melvins – Nude With Boots (Ipecac)
7. Hercules and Love Affair – s/t (DFA)
8. Daedelus – Love to Make Music To (Ninja Tune) // MP3: Touchtone
9. Earlimart – Hymn and Her (Shout Factory) // MP3: Song For
10. Patti Smith/Kevin Shields – Coral Sea (Pask)

ALSO: If you’re interested in picking up either the Fleet Foxes ($7.99) or Wolf Parade album ($5.99), check out Amazon’s sale on the Sub Pop catalog. (FYI, that is not a commissioned link, so click away!)

arizona, general

New Calexico: Two Silver Trees

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This one is making its way quickly around the Internets, but with Calexico being from Arizona and all, it’s my duty to spread the wealth.

The band recently teased us with a video trailer for the new album, Carried to Dust (due out Sept. 9 … two days after my birthday … just sayin’.).

I’ve always loved Calexico for staying true to its Tucson/Arizona roots. I’ve said it before, but I think Calexico is the rare band that actually offers a sonic representation of its hometown. Calexico just sounds like the Southwest.

Here’s the tracklisting for Carried to Dust:

1. Victor Jara’s Hands
2. Two Silver Trees
3. The News About William
4. Sarabande In Pencil Form
5. Writer’s Minor Holiday
6. Man Made Lake
7. Inspiración
8. House of Valparaiso
9. Slowness
10. Bend To The Road
11. El Gatillo (Trigger Revisited)
12. Fractured Air (Tornado Watch)
13. Falling From Sleeves
14. Red Blooms
15. Contention City

As always, for more on what’s happening in Tucson, visit the outstanding Catfish Vegas.

controversy, general

My First Official Cease and Desist

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Well, it’s been approximately three years of writing this blog. In that time, I’ve gotten one friendly request from a label to take down an mp3 — and that’s been my closest run-in with the law.

That is, until a couple weeks ago. I got a beautifully impersonal letter from the IFPI in regards to a new Travis song I posted here.

A couple things to note: The letter says they sent me a previous notice on June 24. I never got it; you’d think I’d probably remember that. Also, the letter references the mp3 in question as a song by Hercules and Love Affair, a band about which I never ever have posted here. It was clearly a shoddy cut-and-paste job on the part of the IFPI.

I actually wrote Travis about this and singer Fran Healy responded. First, the letter in full:

01 July 2008

Somuchsilence.com
Email: somuchsilence@gmail.com
Ref: R25147
Re: http://www.somuchsilence.com/mp3/travis_jsmith.mp3

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are contacting you concerning the above-referenced site that we originally brought to your attention in our letter of 24 June 2008(please see attached e-mail). As you have been made aware, the IFPI is a trade association whose member companies are some 1,450 major and independent record companies in the US and internationally who create, manufacture and distribute sound recordings. Under penalty of perjury, we submit that the IFPI is authorized to act on behalf of its member companies in matters involving the infringement of their sound recordings, including enforcing their copyrights and common law rights on the Internet.

We have learned that your service is hosting the above files on its network. These files contain sound recordings by the artist known as Hercules and Love Affair. These sound recordings are owned by one of our member companies and have not been authorized for this kind of use. We have a good faith belief that the above-described activity is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. We assert that the information in this notification is accurate, based upon the data available to us.

We are asking for your immediate assistance in stopping this unauthorized activity. Specifically, we request that you remove the infringing files from your system or that you disable access to the infringing files. In addition, please inform the site operator of the illegality of his or her conduct.

You should understand that this letter constitutes notice to you that this site operator may be liable for the infringing activity occurring on your service. In addition, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, if you ignore this notice, you and/or your company may also be liable for any resulting infringement. This letter does not constitute a waiver of any right to recover damages incurred by virtue of any such unauthorized activities, and such rights as well as claims for other relief are expressly retained.

You may contact me at IFPI Secretariat, 10 Piccadilly, London W1J 0DD, United Kingdom or email Notices@ifpi.org, to discuss this notice. We await your response.

Faithfully,

(NAME REDACTED) [I just always wanted to do that.]
Head of Internet Anti-Piracy
IFPI
10 Piccadilly
London
W1J 0DD
United Kingdom
Email: Notices@ifpi.org

I was slightly perturbed because Travis singer Fran Healy had encouraged sharing of the song on the band’s forum at its Web site.

So I sent a MySpace message to the band. Healy responded within a half-hour:

“I guess until they get the correct song you can keep on posting it. You definitely have my blessing as one of the 4 holders of the copyrights to that specific recording. I actually think this is bogus.
Anyways thanks for posting that on your site. It was lovely to see it out there doing the rounds. We didnt take it to radio so your helping with the pollenation of the nation.”

There you have it. Despite Healy’s blessing, I’m trigger-shy in reposting the song because I fear the next step will be the IFPI going after my site’s server host, thus shutting down this party.

I’m more baffled than angry, really. And I feel validated in posting the song in the first place after reading Healy’s response.

Anyway, I wanted to share. More music to come.

hip-hop, Sundays with Tribe

Sundays with A Tribe Called Quest: Vol. 4

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A lot of folks were buzzing about the news that Lil Wayne copped a sample by A Tribe Called Quest from a fairly unknown remix album for new song A Milli.

This YouTube video attempts to explain it all:

The Tribe track comes off a remix album called Revised Quest for the Seasoned Traveller. It’s not as rare as the YouTuber makes it out to be (I have it on CD and vinyl). It was released on Jive in 1992 so the tracklisting contains early Tribe material, including a remix of If the Papes Come (never released on a proper Tribe album). The album is worth tracking down if only for the “Hootie Mix” of Bonita Applebum.

Anyway, the song in question is I Left My Wallet in El Segundo (Vampire Mix), which contains one of the more intriguing credits on the album: “Remixed by Norman Cook.” Yeah, that Norman Cook.

My guess is that if Lil Wayne robbed the sample without clearance, he probably has the cash to cover the costs.

(Thanks to Eric for the heads up.)