The band that continues to push boundaries is stirring it up once again. Radiohead is offering their first album in four years as a pay-what-you-can download.
Recently Simon Jenkins reported in the Guardian Weekly that moral panic is spreading at CEO mansions of large record labels as CD sales drop 23 percent. He also wisely points out that cultural shifts have other sides, such as the live concert scene skyrocketing in attendance as of late.
While some musicians and corporate lackeys spend sleepless nights worrying about "protecting" the industry, progressive bands like Radiohead forge ahead and embrace new ways of sharing their art. Their fans will only love them for it and I suspect will even remunerate it appreciatingly.
So, on October 11th, visit inrainbows.com, which is the name of the new album, and follow the links to pay. Eventually you will be asked to "pay what you can." There's even another button for the confused, who are used to getting greased by a hyper-commercial industry run amok that says, "no really, it's up to you."
Eat your heart out, Dylan, you shameless sell-out.
Posted by Ezra Winton on October 3, 2007 in
Just a few weeks ago Emily Carr performed at a small café in Montréal’s NDG. The show was pure melody as one would expect from listening to the few tracks available on her MySpace page. I had the opportunity to ask Emily a few questions, and invited her to play on air, on CKUT’s Dykes on Mykes in early October, available to all via podcast.
Mél Hogan for Art Threat: In my CD collection, my favorite songs are the ones that tell a story, but just a part of it. They leave you feeling like you're in on something--they are intimate--but leave you insatiate. You do this in all your songs, which makes me think you are not new to song writing. Tell me about what makes you write... how thoughts become songs.
Emily Carr: When I started singing original music I was in high school. I was in this punkish band and the lead guitar player wrote all the songs. I was the singer, I was trying really hard to scream and yell and rock out but shamefully, I’d go home and listen to Jewel and Lisa Loeb, and oldies radio. I started writing songs myself out of frustration. I wanted to sing songs about my own feelings and experiences. The first songs were painfully slow and awkward. I would go the open Mike at the Cock ‘n ‘Bull and get booed off the stage…
When I sit down to play guitar I’ve usually got a specific feeling, happiness, anger, frustration, sadness, and often a few words in my mind. I wind up using my life experiences to illustrate the emotion. When people ask me what my songs are about I usually say they’re about nothing. That’s not really true, but the meanings change over time. Sometimes I just want to play something fun. I’ll write some really quickly, those are always the songs people like the most. The songs that take a long time to write usually don’t even make it to the recording.
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FULL STORY + COMMENTS
Posted by Mél Hogan on September 1, 2007 in
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