In my other life – the one where I’m not a world-famous music blogger - I work in the tech industry and pay pretty close attention to the ins-and-outs of the Valley. It’s pretty cool when my worlds collide, both because I’m duly interested in anything having to do with music and tech, but also because the havoc surrounding the music industry and its fights with individuals downloading MP3s, file-sharing services and little ‘ole bloggers like ourselves, is one of the most interesting challenges and potential battles of our age.
Where the hell is music going? How can musicians still get paid for thier craft? When will the record companies release their iron grip on the collective nut sack of American music fans? It’s a seriously interesting story, complete with heros and villains, corporate profit versus a motivated citizenry.
ReadWriteWeb, an outstanding tech blog, recorded a great podcast on the subject, with executives from iMeem, Yahoo! Music and RealNetworks discussing the current state of online music services and the future of the music industry in general. It’s a fascinating discussion with five (including the hosts) very smart people and something near and dear to all music fans’ hearts. Take a listen below:
So, just in case you didn’t get enough of trodding around in a park, spending money like it was free, for days straight last weekend, we have the cure for you this weekend: Slow Food Rocks. It’s a bit unfortunate, because with Gnarls Barkley, Ozomatli, Phil Lesh & Friends and a good supporting cast, this is a good lineup. It’s just that whole matter of that other show last weekend – it may have people a bit worn out and festival-weary. (UPDATE – Thanks for the tip from fellow SF music blog Hippies Are Dead: Looks like the Slow Food Rocks folks have discounted tickets by 20 percent. Timing is everything, people.)
Anyway, here’s what else is happening this week. Uncle Corey’s pick: !!! at The Independent. Awesome live band – you’ll dance your ass off. Also, check out our full San Francisco concert schedule.
8/26: Ice Cube @ The Fillmore. Ice Cube may be bordering on parody at this stage of his career, but there’s no denying his impact.
8/27: James Blunt @ The Fillmore. Wow. Have fun at this one.
8/27: !!! @ The Independent. These Brooklyn-based freak funkers (I made that up on my own!) are incredible live. Fun, uninhibited and just awesome. Get really drunk and boogie.
8/28: Shearwater w/ Wye Oak, Neal Morgan @ Great American Music Hall
8/28 & 29: Lee “Scratch” Perry @ The Independent. I saw him waaaay back and this is one weird dude. He walks back and forth, mumbling and screaming into the mic and … well, it’s pretty awesome.
8/30: Slow Food Rocks Festival: Gnarls Barkley, Ozomatli, The New Pornographers and Medeski, Martin & Wood @ Fort Mason. Party like it’s 2006 with Gnarls Barkley! You’ll go crazy! Kidding. Cee-lo is the best, actually and this is a very solid lineup. If you can’t get down to Ozomatli, you’re a fascist.
8/31: Slow Food Rocks Festival: Phil Lesh & Friends, G. Love & Special Sauce and John Butler Trio – Fort Mason. Also good stuff.
There’s no doubt about it – Radiohead is the finest band in existance right now. The band’s show last night at Outside Lands (barring two inexcusable sound failures) was amazing. There were far too many people and several annoyances with the festival (which may stem from me not liking festivals), but as Thom Yorke said after the second time the sound cut out: “In the end, it’s all about the music, right?”
Yep.
The music was sublime – played to perfection and nearly flawless. The band tore through an amazing set, starting with “15 Steps” then blasting through “Reckoner,” “Fake Plastic Trees,” “The National Anthem,” “Paranoid Android” and the set-closing “Everything In Its Right Place” among others. Here’s a setlist, courtesy of 58hours. The lighting was also spectacular, especially during “Everything In Its Right Place.” It was, regretably, my first time seeing Radiohead and I can’t wait to see them in a more friendly, personal venue, but for a good taste of what a real show would be like, Friday was hard to beat.
It’s finally here. Though the months of anticipation, Outside Lands-related posts and Radiohead worship have been fun here at the Stranger Dance, it’ll be nice to get this bitch done with, so we can have some fun. So, in the spirit of community, good citizenship and milking this high-traffic cow one last time, we present the Stranger Dance Outside Lands Survival Kit. This will (hopefully) be everything you need to survive the day, minus the tickets, money, booze and drugs … if you’re intothat type of thing.
This commercial for the United States basketball team is incredible. It features Marvin Gaye’s version of the Star Spangled Banner mixed in with video of the US Team getting ready to reclaim gold in Beijing. Frankly, it doesn’t get any better than this. I bow to you almighty Nike.
Unfortunately I could not find an MP3 of Gaye’s performance - if someone has it, please share!
Here’s the third and final installment of our Outside Lands Festival preview. Today, we bring you songs by all of the artists appearing on Sunday of Outside Lands.
You can find the two previous installments here: Friday & Saturday
With our fancy new media player, you can even hit the little play button next to any song and listen to it as a mix without downloading anything.
If you’re a music fan, or merely an interested drinker, swing on by. Cousin Chris will have CDs for sale, we’ll have lovely Stranger Dance t-shirts for sale, and it should be a good time. You can even berate The Stranger for his unhealthy Tom Waits obsession … wait, that’s what I plan on doing. Sorry. Hope to see you there!
Here’s the second installment of three for our Outside Lands Festival preview. Today, we bring you songs by all of the artists appearing on Saturday of Outside Lands. You can find yesterday’s installments here: Friday lineup
With our fancy new media player, you can even hit the little play button next to any song and listen to it as a mix even without downloading anything.
With the Outside Lands Festival coming up this weekend, we thought it’d be awful helpful to pull together playlists for each day of the festival so you can sample to a bit of each artist before you go. I’ve tried to find representative and/or live songs for each artist to give a good idea of what you’re in store for.
With our fancy new media player, you can even hit the little play button next to any song and listen to it as a mix even without downloading anything.
Here is the first of three days. We’ll post a new playlist each day. Enjoy:
I have a good feeling about these picks despite their unlucky number. Who would have thought that Peter, Bjorn and John’s new LP Seaside Rock would be an instrumental? Not I. But then again they’re from Sweden, so I guess that makes it ok.
I was also inspired by today’s David Byrne & Brian Eno release to post “Glass, Concrete and Stone,” the highlight of the In Good Company soundtrack that makes me shutter with fear of corporate America. And yes, I finally gave into all the Okkervil River hype - although I’m not completely sold on the whole album, “Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe” isn’t all bad. Check it out and judge for yourself.
MP3s on this site are available for a limited time and are for sampling purposes only. If you like the music, please support the artists. If you represent an artist or label and would prefer that we remove a link to an MP3, please send an email to MP3@StrangerDance.com. Thanks and enjoy.
