Simon Chamberlain’s library weblog

To the Luminaire last night for a rare performance by 72-year-old surf guitar legend Dick Dale (haven’t heard of him? You probably heard his music in Pulp Fiction).

The usual weekend upgrade work meant the Jubilee Line was closed. A 20 minute walk in the rain from Kilburn Park wasn’t ideal, but hey – it’s for Dick Dale, right?

The tiny Lumi was full of a mixed, excited crowd – old rockers, metalheads, 20 and 30 something indie kids - by the time Rhonda, Matt, Alex and I got there, just before the main support act. SmallGang were an interesting choice to support Dick Dale; being more of an indie-rock outfit. Opinion was wildly divided: Alex couldn’t stand them, Matt thought they were great, and I was somewhere in-between. Given the right kind of luck, I could see them being big – there’s definitely an audience for their Snow Patrol/Bloc Party/Interpol style tunes. That stuff doesn’t really grab me, but I can’t deny that they did it well. What might lift them above the mundane is the presence of two singer-guitarists. I’m guessing each singer sings his own compositions. Those sung by the second singer have more to them, a sort of edgy, angular sound that reminds me of Pavement. They’re on Youtube (Wrong Side; Cockpit) and MySpace (listing Will Oldham, the Smiths, Smog, Beefheart, Wilco and others as influences, which I couldn’t really hear, but whatdoiknow?).

A short wait spent arguing the merits of SmallGang was followed by a burst of distorted lead guitar from offstage, and a drummer and bassist took their places on stage, before DD himself strode through the curtain. The crowd went mental and DD launched into his set. He kicked off with some of the old style surf guitar instrumentals, before switching to covers of classic tunes, twisted up and spat out with his signature tremolo picking. He ranged over the whole range of 20th century American popular music: Fever, Smoke on the Water, House of the Rising Sun, and, gloriously, California Sun, heavier even than the Ramones version, which had me jumping around with a huge grin on my face. He bantered with the crowd, he improvised constantly (the drummer and bassist were basically following along with his shouted directions, as he played) and he finished 90 minutes later with a version of Amazing Grace that nearly had me in tears. Breathtaking.

I’m a regular gig-goer. These days, I tend to go to a lot of quieter gigs. Maybe someone like the Fleet Foxes; maybe a smaller act playing a 200 capacity venue like the Luminaire, often a solo artist.

One of the obvious features of attending a quiet gig is that, if people in the audience start talking, the rest of us really notice it. I’ve seen the Fleet Foxes three times, and each time audience noise has detracted from the performance. When they supported Neil Young, there was nearly a fight in the audience between someone who insisted on talking loudly, and another fan who was telling him to shut up.

On the other hand, some venues attract crowds who respect the band, and each other: the San Francisco Bath House in Wellington is excellent in this respect – thinking of gigs by Andrew Bird and (again) the Fleet Foxes where the crowd is quiet (but equally I’ve seen the Black Lips and Broken Social Scene at the same venue, and people have no problems making some noise). I’ve seen Jeff Tweedy from Wilco perform unplugged (completely without amplification) and the entire audience stand silently, so that everyone could hear.

Some venues like to encourage the crowd towards silence, notably the Luminaire in North London, which takes a fairly extreme approach:

Labels “concede file-sharing isn’t so bad”, sign deals with social networking music site (Techdirt).

Warner is going to sell DRM-free MP3s on Amazon (BoingBoing).

The SixtyOne is a music discovery game – could be an interesting way to find new music (via BoingBoing).

And a shout-out is due to the iLike application on good ol’ Facebook, which might just give last.fm a run for its money – like last, it allows users to share their music tastes, check out upcoming concerts, download free MP3s, (and of course do all this socially, so you can see what concerts your friends are going to). It also has a nifty news service – basically a river of news from your favourite bands, including details of new albums, tours, and bulletins posted by the band. Very nice (and, of course, it’s embedded in Facebook, where the users are already…. ).

Music producers are now mixing for MP3 (Rolling Stone). Obviously, mixing for low(er) quality speakers has always been an issue (referred to by one producer I knew as “big JBL land” – what sounds good on the nice JBL speakers in the studio might sound different on a cheap home system or Walkman*). But mixing for MP3s? Ugh. I want music mixed for people who want to listen to the music, not hear it as background noise. (Actually, why not mix it both ways? That could be a bonus for the person buying the CD – a mix designed for the CD).
*It was the 1990s – no iPods yet…

Kristin Hersh is an American singer-songwriter known for her work with Throwing Muses (the best hope of the 4AD label, until a little group known as the Pixies came along). She’s currently leading the way in exploring new models for making and sharing her music, and for receiving something back from her fans at the same time.

The project is the cleverly titled CASH Music (Coalition of Artists and Stakeholders). It begins with Hersh posting her music to the website – but not just music: MP3 and FLAC audio, sure, but also lyric sheets, cover art, and even the ProTools stems of each song. It’s offered free, with a polite request that downloaders consider making a financial contribution. But she’s not just suggesting a financial contribution – users are also “asked to interact with this output, assess it, be inspired by it, enhancing it’s value. Once that value is perceived you are asked to contribute accordingly — your money, your ideas, your effort, or all of the above.” Already, fan-created remixes are showing up on the site, along with new cover art, or images inspired by the songs.

Enthusiastic fans can also subscribe to the site (getting bonuses such as rare demos on CD, or places on the guest list for a live show), or sponsor Hersh’s recordings, receiving in return a visit to the recording studio or a credit on her CD.

This is great. It’s putting the control of the music in the hands of the artist, and the fans, and letting the fans become involved in the making of the music. Who needs record companies?

Hersh says she intends to open the site up to other artists, with Donita Sparks, formerly of the rather good L7, as the first name mentioned.

I was lucky enough to see Kristin Hersh perform a few months ago in Wellington. It’s great to see someone be able to sustain and develop their art under their own control.

(via BoingBoing)

Couple of music posts: on Radiohead’s online album sales, and on new business models for bands. Some discussion at Metafilter, where Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails) reveals he was an active member of the file-sharing site Oink, recently shut down by the recording industry. My comment, giving a proposal for a new business model for music, is getting ignored here.

Meantime, universities are giving content away for free.

Lots of interesting developments in the music industry, both in digital rights management and in the nature of how music is sold.

An executive from Yahoo! Music tells music industry executives that he won’t sell music with DRM.

Following Radiohead, bands rush to release free, self-distributed music.

Ed Felten points out that pretty soon, we will be able to carry all music ever recorded around with us. At which point, the present economics of the music industry become impossible.

From Techdirt, another reminder that big record companies are becoming less and less relevant as sources of funding for musicians.

From the National Library, an insider’s view of the development of the Be Heard Forever project (which promoted new legal deposit requirements to NZ musicians via MySpace). Previously blogged here (post since lost in the great server crash of July07).