Thom Yorke assembles a crack band including Flea on bass for his solo material and plays a small club in LA… you gotta check these videos out. The audio/visual quality varies, but they’re still a great way to get a feel for the show:
“who would have thought three guys that were so wasted would ever sell millions of albums a few months later”.
It’s always cool to catch a band “before they were big”, but its even cooler when that band is a pre-Nevermind Nirvana. The good people at TrendWhore have posted a gold mine of Nirvana MP3’s from their September, 1991 performance at Montreal’s legendary Foufounes Electrique. One of the more notable aspects of this show is the intense and fresh performance of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” before everyone and their little sister knew the words.
Download “Smells Like Teen Spirit” here, and then head over to TrendWhore for the rest of the MP3’s from the concert.
In honor of their 10th anniversary as a band, here is a bootlegged video of a performance by The Strokes before they released their acclaimed debut, Is This It? Included are numerous unreleased tracks and goofy stage banter:
From TorrentFreak.com:
Joss Stone, who won a Grammy last year, loves music, but hates the the music industry. In a recent interview she said that - unlike herself - most artists are brainwashed by the industry, and she encouraged people to share her music.
After the show a reporter asked her what she thinks of piracy, and people who download her songs off the Internet. Her response baffled the reporter, as she simply told him: “I think it’s great…” There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, the reporter probably expected to hear something else from her. “Great?,” he said.
“Yeah, I love it. I think it’s brilliant and I’ll tell you why,” Stone continued. “Music should be shared. […] The only part about music that I dislike is the business that is attached to it. Now, if music is free, then there is no business, there is just music. So, I like it, I think that we should share.”
“It’s ok, if one person buys it, it’s totally cool, burn it up, share it with your friends, I don’t care. I don’t care how you hear it as long as you hear it. As long as you come to my show, and have a great time listening to the live show it’s totally cool. I don’t mind. I’m happy that they hear it.”
Stone went on to say that most artists have probably been “brainwashed” by the record labels, when they discourage their fans from downloading music. Of course, Stone is not the only artist who actually wants people to share their work. Last year rapper 50 Cent made some positive remarks about filesharing, and Nine Inch Nails takes it even further, as they upload their music onto BitTorrent sites themselves.
These artists are spot on, in fact, several studies have shown that artists actually benefit from filesharing. The more music people share, the more CDs they buy and the more concerts they visit.
I came across Def Leppard’s First Strike EP, basically an album released in 1984 to cash in on the band’s massive Pyromania success… but then pulled and hard to come by. Until, of course, YouTube.
God f****g bless YouTube. As a big time Def Leppard fan growing up I would have given an arm and a leg (all right, bad one) to get my hands on this:
1. Heat Street 2:53
2. Answer to the Master 3:24
3. See the Lights 3:38
4. When the Walls Come Tumbling Down 3:48
5. Wasted 3:30
6. Sorrow is a Woman 3:38
7. Glad I’m Alive 4:09
This came courtesy off Adrenalize87, a YouTube user. His/her page was loaded with other old-school Def Leppard.
- Medicine Man - basically Rock Rock ’til you drop from Pyromania
- Misty Dreamer (Tomorrow Seems Like Yesterday) - the first version of Sorrow is a Woman from On Through the Night, though there are tidbits of When the Walls Came Tumbling Down, too.
- War Child (massive epic track). Imagine if On Through the Night had 10 tracks like Overture… you know, the Black Sabbath meets Led Zeppelin influences. War Child was Led Zeppelin, big time. For Black Sabbath, that would be:
- Ride into the Sun. This was part of the Def Leppard EP, along with Overture and Getcha Rocks Off.
You can argue all you want, what was better Pyromania or Hysteria. Heck, even Adrenalize had its moments and were it not released in 1991, when grunge was just taking off… I suspect that could have been just as successful as Hysteria, but no true Lep fan can argue that High n Dry and On Through the Night stood out as classic rock albums, as well.
Frankly, sometimes I think that if I had to choose just one album, it would be High ‘n’ Dry… all depends on the mood.
If you liked On Through the Night, then some of these tracks will bring a smile to your face.
God bless Def Leppard. God bless YouTube. God Bless Adrenalize87.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2008/03/07/artists-raid.html
Canadian musicians and songwriters are applauding an RCMP raid on a company accused of being a modern-day pirate operation and one of the biggest music bootleggers in Canadian history.
RCMP investigators raided the Winnipeg-based shop of Audiomaxxx.com on Wednesday and seized 200,000 CDs and DVDs as well as computers, label-making machines and burning towers capable of copying 11,500 discs a day.
“We’re looking at cube vans and U-Hauls worth of CD and computer equipment. It’s a lot,” RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Line Karpish said.
The material seized included recordings by big-name artists such as Nelly Furtado and Shania Twain, but also smaller artists, the RCMP said. The RCMP’s three-year investigation began after the Canadian Recording Industry Association received a flood of complaints.
Association president Graham Henderson estimated one-third of all the pirated music in Toronto may have originated from Audiomaxxx.com. The bootlegged goods were also being shipped to North and Central America, Europe and the Caribbean, according to an RCMP news release.
“The largest seizure that I can remember was about 10,000 discs seized from a commercial operation in Toronto a year ago. This was 20 times as big,” Henderson said.
Independent producers and smaller record labels, including some from the Caribbean, played a big part in pushing the industry and the police to investigate, Henderson said, because their market was being undercut by the material made in Canada.
There has been big buzz about the bust at Canadian Music Week, the country’s international music conference, taking place in Toronto this week, he added. “At all levels, I’m getting high fives.
“This was striking at the livelihoods of independents and music publishers and songwriters, as well as the Celine Dions and Sean Pauls of the world. They’re very, very pleased,” he said.
Keri Latimer, Winnipeg-based singer-songwriter with the alt-country quartet Nathan, was happy to hear an alleged pirating operation had been shut down.
But the success of such companies is a sign of the times, she said.
“Kids that are downloading music, they’re used to doing that for free,” she said. “I think it’s hard to change that sort mindset — once you’re used to doing it, you can’t see anything wrong with it.”
Winnipeg musician Steve Bell, who co-owns Signpost Music, agreed, saying he doesn’t think people value music as much as they once did.
“I think more and more music products are being devalued, and that’s really frustrating, especially for small producers, guys like me who are trying to make a living off of selling tens of thousands of CDs, not hundreds of thousands,” he said.
“Basically a company like that couldn’t survive if people weren’t wanting a lot for a little, and that kind of mentality is hurting a lot of people.”
Lindsay Gillespie, who owns a company in Toronto that manufactures CDs for independent artists and labels, said the income lost to music piracy is crucial to many of his clients.
“The amount of money that they can make at the merchandise table … can mean the difference between a hotel room and sleeping in the van, ” he said.
Charges are pending against a 31-year-old Winnipeg man, and police are investigating three other individuals.
The Audiomaxxx.com website was not working Thursday evening, and the company’s owner and his family did not return phone calls.
Under Canada’s Copyright Act, it is illegal to copy CDs and DVDs for sale, rent, distribution or public exhibition without the copyright owner’s permission. It is legal, however, to make copies of music recordings for the copier’s private use.
With files from The Canadian Press
Ever wondered what the result of a collaboration between Queen and Clipse might sound like? Or perhaps the Commodores and Lil’ Kim? Maybe even Lena Horne and 50 Cent? DJ Axel answers those questions and more with his full length mashup album, Breakin’ The Law. Now in its third pressing, Breakin’ The Law is an underground hit sure to keep building momentum. To get the scoop, see assets below, including audio stream and YouTube video link for first single “Push It Fergasonic” (Fergie vs Salt N’ Pepa vs JJ Fad), press release and more.
“Push It Fergasonic” audio:
http://www.djaxel.com/DJAxel.com-Push*tFergasonic.mp3
“Push It Fergasonic” video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBvPxP1KmFw
DJ Axel has released an all mashup album titled “Breakin’ The Law” on his own label Holden Records. The mashups combine Hip Hop, Rock, Disco, Funk and Ballroom combining artists as diverse as Van Halen vs T.I., Lena Horne vs 50 Cent and Stevie Wonder vs Snoop Dogg. “Breakin’ The Law” is now for sale at over 25 stores in major markets across the USA. Since the CD is an unlicensed bootleg album, most distributors are unwilling to carry the title. Axel took it upon himself to distribute the album by calling and visiting independent record stores. Retail and consumer response has been so positive that “Breakin’ The Law” is now in its third pressing.
“Whenever I play Axel’s CD in the store someone says how great it is and buys it, 2 times I didn’t even get through the first song before I sold it.” – Chris Seibert, Manager of Just Play Music, Santa Barbara, CA
Live shows, radio airplay, blog coverage and in-store play are driving the album’s success. Club Bootie, America’s only all mashup club, hosted Axel’s album release parties in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Burning Man. “Breakin’ The Law” has been added to over 150 college radio stations and has appeared on various CMJ charts. The album reached #1 on the playlists of six different major market college radio stations.
DJ Axel is a mild mannered finance guy by day and a crazy mashup DJ by night. His tracks have been featured on radio stations across the globe including Indie 103 (L.A.), Live 105 (SF), DC 101, and XFM Radio London. Axel has a monthly residency at the Viper Room in Los Angeles and is hired to DJ at high profile clubs and special events for clients including Warner Bros, Estee Lauder and New Line Cinema.
Official Site:
http://www.djaxel.com
and on MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/djaxel
Sir Elton John claims the internet is ruining the careers of artists and the lives of active users.
Artists, he says, are creating music at home, which is ruining their chances at longevity in the business, and frequent users are spending less time with family and enjoying life.
To read more of Sir Elton John’s comments, go here.
John Sykes is one of the most underrated guitarists of all time, partially because David Coverdale shafted him and kicked him out before 1987 exploded.
Watch this and see what I mean, the keyboards are too loud but when John’s solo comes on, it’s on.
I’d been hearing about this performance for a while and wondered if I’d ever get a chance to see what it was all about. Thanks to numerous people who attended the show and came together to make a video of the entire performance you now can.
Check out the mindblowing set here from Urb.com
PLAY
