The Week In... Excess
As editor and publisher of BigYawn, I consider it my job to keep an eye on other sites, see what the “competition” is up to. I re-stumbled on www.prefixmag.com this week, and man was I bummed. They do nearly everything we do, only better. More CD reviews, better looking features, waaaay more organized news. OK so they stole those buttons at the top from Wired's site. We all steal a little here and there on the internet, it is a way of life. Now, they have been around a year longer than BigYawn, according to www.archive.org, my favorite place for scoping out other sites and their sordid pasts. (ok, I admit it I go backwards in time hoping to find typos. So shoot me.) But that one year seems to have made a big difference. Which leads me to openly wonder, are these guys professionals?
I don't have the answer to that question. I'm sure I could easily find out, one quick e-mail to prefixmag founder Dave Park – using the special communication decoder ring all of us web publishers get – and I'd know the truth. But I'm not sure I want to. In this case I feel ignorance is bliss. Since, at least at this point, I am not a professional website editor, promoter or journalist, I am only playing one on the web. And so are all the folks who write for our site. Hell, we all do our best, try to put up the best material we have. The reality of the situation is, there is always going to be a website that does something better than us, that has folks involved who can spend more time on it. You know what, I'm totally ok with that. I don't really view any of these other sites as true competitors anyway. We all tend to have different niches in some way or another. When I find the next prefixmag out there while surfing the web, I'm gonna be excited, because that means I have another resource to feed my insatiable musical appetite. So the prefix's, the tinymixtapes, even the popmatters, I love and recommend them all. I do however, get a little head-rush when we scoop Pitchfork on a CD review!
www.prefixmag.com
Stuff I've been listening to this week:
-Though it has been out in Europe since October, DK7's Disarmed hit these shores in February. Coming from two different corners of the electronic world – dub and techno to be precise – this is probably not the album either member of this European duo imagined making. Stylistically, this comes from the early 80s. Joy Division and early Depeche Mode would be the most relevant. But, if you can believe it, most of this album is actually more inorganic that Depeche Mode, though electric and acoustic guitars can be heard from time to time. Surprisingly though, there is some real pop sensibility here. A damn good album, I highly recommend the title track or “Heart Like a Demon.” It is a tad too restrained, a few more crescendos would have made it even better, but still well worth the listen. The good new is you can stream the whole album off their site.
www.dk7.nu/index.php?menu=news#
-At the other end of the musical spectrum is Eastern Youth, one of my favorite Japanese bands who also have a new album out, 365-step blues. They are big fans of the Dischord sound, though far more melodic than most of the bands actually on Dischord. You can stream 4 songs, including 2 off the new album on their myspace page. Notice, the newer stuff is a tad softer. Like all too many aging punks -- the band formed in 1988 – it sounds like they may be going soft. Still some amazing energy.
www.myspace.com/easternyouth
-Pearl Jam have a new self-titled record coming out in May, and Worldwide Suicide is the first single. Eh, I'm not loving it. But with Pearl Jam and me, it can be quite hit or miss. Listen for yourself on the Ten Club myspace page. And if you don't know about the Ten Club – and I'm not a member BTW -- and you like Pearl Jam, do yourself a favor and sign up.
www.myspace.com/tenclub
-Speaking of other albums coming out, a slew of bands have announced upcoming releases.
Sonic Youth's Rather Ripped will be out in June.
Tool have a new album called 10,000 Days, apparently out in May.
DJ Shadow is finally putting the finishing touches on a new album due out sometime this year.
And you can watch a video on his myspace page
www.myspace.com/djshadow
Paul Simon and Brian Eno (Simon and Eno?) are finally going to release an album's worth of songs they previously recorded together. I'm not really sure what to expect, but with those two minds together, it can't be bad.
Snow Patrol also have the first single off their new album out and about. To me, it sounds just like Snow Patrol. Take that any way you want to.
Hands Open
Another rather fetching week of shows, ah, I love the Spring:
Monday
-Yeah Yeah Yeah's w' Blood on the Wall @ 9:30 Club
Tuesday
-Slim Cessna's Auto Club @ DC9 (props to my RI homeboy)
Wednesday
-Dinosaur Jr. w' Dead Meadow @ 9:30 Club
Thursday
-Two if by Sea @ DC9
Friday
-The Apparitions w' Gun @ Iota
Sunday
-BigYawn show -- High Dials with The Positions @ DC9(Burnside Project canceled, working on sub)
-Neko Case w' Martha Wainwright @ 9:30 Club
Busy week for me outside of the music world, so I for one can only guarantee being at our own show. Last week's Exit Clov show at the Mojo in Baltimore was canceled due to some sort of liquor license snafu. In other words, I didn't see anything.
-One last note, if you haven't yet read the Rolling Stone piece on Pete Doherty, you need to. Rather eye-opening
