Day For Night

Because Supply and Demand is the Problem...

…with the music industry (oh lord), itunes has been forced by the major labels to change their model and raise prices. The big wig execs see growth in download sales coming from itunes and figure now is the perfect time to stand by their outdated ideas, to try and squeeze every penny out of an approach even if it risks systemic failure. Seems to me the best thing major labels can do is let some of their dinosaurs go; maybe those people can find new jobs at AIG.

By Keith on Mar 28, 2009

A Character Named Lord Humungus

Last night I watched Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. I always thought that there was something kind of awesome about it. The simple vision of a post-apocalyptic world was certainly intended to be a comment on civilization in the twentieth century (the age of consumption). Humankind had lost it’s way, and would kill for oil (literally). Having not seen the film in several years, I couldn’t stop giggling at the silly representation of the sexually deviant villains. The most prominent of these characters being a twinkish man-boy, his mohawked lover and Lord Humungus (the uber dom). And to top it off, they run around the wasteland clad in used sports apparel and leather chaps with no underwear. I hope the future isn’t that bad.

By Keith on Mar 18, 2009

Sampling and Borrowing the Melody

Some of my very favorite music from the last quarter-century utilizes sampling. I can remember an era when the very concept of sampling someone else’s music was up for debate. Public Enemy was a group who sampled more heavily than any of their contemporaries and in doing so created an undeniably original sound. But times changed. The debate about sampling was a red herring and was much less about ethics of borrowing than it was about corporations recognizing an opportunity to cash in. Here Chuck D. and Hank Shocklee of Public Enemy talk about the era.

So where is the ethical line in sampling? What is the difference between homage and just plain thievery? Recently, Lady Sovereign dropped a track called So Human. The hook to the better part of the song is borrowed from the The Cure. As is the entire chorus melody. And presumably, all proper sampling and publishing rights were accounted for. More likely than not, Robert Smith of The Cure wouldn’t mind her doing so. Is this art talking to art? Is it just lazy poor pop music? I can’t help but to think that when the entire hook of the song is lifted and so is the vocal melody for the chorus, nothing has significantly been changed except for the lyrics. Isn’t that what Weird Al Yankovic use to do. At least he had the grace to call it parody.

By Keith on Mar 17, 2009

Karen Carpenter Was A Monster Drummer

I didn’t first come to appreciate The Carpenters until I saw Todd Hayne’s cult film, Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story while in college. At the time, the movie was something of underground culture and to have heard about it was almost as rare scoring a copy. I was fortunate enough to borrow a VHS copy from my film mentor that had already been dubbed down many generations. Using Barbie dolls as stand-ins for actors, the dramatic rise and fall of Karen Carpenter was detailed on super-8 film. Something about this evocative approach to storytelling truly allowed me to hear the music of The Carpenters with fresh open ears. I guess I’ll always think of their cheery AM music second to the sort of ironic dark underbelly that existed. What I had no idea of though until recently, was that Karen was an amazing drummer.

Here Karen sings and drums Dancing In the Street, complete with a hot little solo. And here, Karen shows off her rhythm skills with only a snare and kick drum.

By Keith on Mar 12, 2009

Bono's Joyless Division

For a long time I use to argue with my brother that while Bono hasn’t written decent music in ages and has the world’s worst Jesus complex, he as one person has done a lot of good in this world. I guess I started thinking differently about this when his project (RED) spread across the world. Completely against my ethical beliefs, he ushered in a campaign that’s soul purpose was to encourage people to buy shit that they don’t need in the name of fighting AIDS. By my logic, if this is the only way for both individuals and corporations to take some action of social responsibility, then we are truly screwed. Solving world issues shouldn’t be as simple as making purchases on your credit card, unaware of the very campaign that one just contributed to.

U2 have played the super bowl. They’ve marketed their own version of an ipod. There may even be a Bono action figure; U2 is now first and foremost an industry. They have generated gobs of money. In fact, Bono is literally the richest man in Ireland. This all strikes me as hugely contradictory coming from the guy that I once saw walk out on a stage in a silver suite with a matching cowboy hat preach like a Southern Baptist in great parody. Throughout the Zoo Station show, he swaggered with game-show host appeal condemning the “big brother-like” video images of our nation’s president, George Bush Sr. I can recall him pretending to prank call the President, ordering a pizza to the White House. Many early fans of U2 considered this zeal to represent the beginning of the end. Earnings would demonstrate that it was the beginning of one of the most profitable rock acts of all times. Despite their ostentatious image, I thought the band avoided creative repetition and boredom as they continued to make very different sounding albums, all the way through their album appropriately named Pop.

Then what ensued was just poop; the band chose to market diet advertising-friendly shadows of their earlier work. This move turned a fortune into an empire. What I had failed to realize as a young teen was that even when he seemed to be mocking everything wrong in the world, it was all a show that was obviously about the cult of his personality. Last year, I read several reports about how U2 had hidden many millions of dollars of earnings in Dutch banks, thereby averting their due taxes. I can’t hate him for caring about world issues related to poverty, violence, and health. But I am absolutely sickened by his destruction of the Joy Division classic Love Will Tear Us Apart. The band performed the song while sharing the stage with the Arcade Fire. Not knowing the lyrics is one thing but he is painfully off key to boot. 

By Keith on Feb 16, 2009

Hatchetfish Are Watching You

Off the top of my head, I can rattle off a handful of reasons that hatchetfish have started to interest me lately: the fact that they’re bioluminescent (would that only I could make random parts of my body glow at will), that they travel in migratory nocturnal packs that aren’t so much schools as gangs, that they are shaped like…well, hatchets. That’s all pretty good on its own but even better is the fact that, head on, they seem to photograph like desperate, lonely souls trapped in boundless, watery purgatories. Other face-forward images of these fish I’ve found have the same eerie, pleading quality to them. It’s just a striking look on so many levels, from the starkness of what’s featured in the surrounding darkness to the sadness—even grief—that seems to stretch across their faces. Nature is the coolest weirdo ever.

By Kali on Jan 13, 2009

Meeting Erik

We have some big news. After countless pints thrown back and endless hours of working on music together over the years, we are sad to say that Bill has departed DFN to focus his energies on another project. We wish him well. In his absence, Kali and I have turned to another musician of exceptional talent. We first collaborated with Erik Snyder some time ago on a photo shoot. We were as impressed with his passion for music as we were with his skills behind a camera. Erik’s unique stylings are already having a profound impact on us. We are working on new material and hope to present it with new dates and recordings in a timely fashion. Stand by for something different and new; in the mean-time check out this gorgeous image that Erik just shot in New Orleans.

By Keith on Jan 08, 2009

Now We Have A Chinese Democracy

Chuck Klosterman has reviewed the long awaited Guns N’ Roses album, Chinese Democracy. Klosterman likens the act of reviewing the album, which took over a decade to produce to reviewing a unicorn.

By Keith on Nov 21, 2008

Standing By Obama

My fingers are crossed that tomorrow turns out well and that Mr. Barack Obama becomes our next US President. So in honor of his valor and great inspiration throughout an historic race, I want to share a wonderful uplifting video that a friend sent me. Street musicians all around world were brought together to create a killer version of Ben E. King’s Stand by Me. Some how this feels appropriate to me the evening before the election and with the passing of Obama’s grandmother.

By Keith on Nov 03, 2008

John Lydon Hocks Butter for Bread

I guess these days musicians really do have to drop their standards to make some bread. Punk hero and Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon must be pretty strapped for cash. Since his years in the Pistols and PIL, he has been known for giving hilarious interviews in which he slams society’s conformity, his disdain for all that is commercial and his politics. Holy shit! The apocalypse really may be upon us. Johnny Rotten just did his first TV ad selling butter.

By Keith on Oct 02, 2008

For Realsies?

So John McCain wants to “suspend” his campaign to head back to Washington and (get this) fix the economy. Really? Really? I’m sure I’ll get an angry email from him in which he calls me a “cunt” (Cindy and Sarah take so much abuse from that man) after I post this, but I cannot censor myself right now. The truth is, John, this move would seem totally genius if it wasn’t already so f’ing played out. What—do you think we’re all morons who haven’t already experienced eight years of this Rovian bullshit? I know that metaphorically walking and chewing gum at the same time makes you worry you’re going to fall down and break your hip (and at your age, granted, that is a valid concern), but this just makes you seem weak. And unable to compete. And unprepared to lead. You’re going to have to do better, John. This just isn’t going to cut it.

I leave you with this.

Love,
Kali

P.S. Can with the POW shit already. We got it first eleventy billion times.

By Kali on Sep 24, 2008