Rose Screams About Indie Music

We acknowledged that Beyonce did not need our help in charting. At all. But she did cool things, and honestly, the week she dropped her album was a very, very slow week for adds. We added it for the art part. Mark is the real advisor here and he basically brought my station into the 21st century. It's very technical what he did- but damn if it isn't fancy and easy to use. We gotta appease Mark in some way. You know Grimes? I really liked her new album, but the whole department hated it. Frankie Cosmos is the other thing the promoters are losing their shit over and everyone laughed at it. If I had a dime for every time I heard "That's not indie," I would be filthy rich.

Anyway, I did go back and double check in our music received log and apparently The Arkells was sent our way in 2014 (before my time) and passed on. I did see they were in SXSW this year though. Go them.

 

We interrupt this program to bring you RADIOHEAD SINGLE MAN

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI2oS2hoL0k[/video]

THIS IS SO GOOD???

 

I was so excited and we're being serviced this album and maybe getting a physical if one's released at which point I'll cry

I love Radiohead

 

FULL ALBUM DROPS SUNDAY AT 2PM EST. I'M GONNA BE IN A CAR. I'll have a download when I get home but AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH

 

The new Radiohead album is like a very expensive, soft blanket that I just want to wrap myself up in and feel things.

 

So, I'm not doing much as far as reporting or listening to new things now that it's summer and I'm home from school. It's a bit harder to do. Austin is still holding down the fort this summer and reviewing all the shit that gets sent in by himself. RIP.

I'm here though to talk about this:

CMJ is the company that holds that conference and also where we sent in our charts and reporting. They're the reason we're getting music to begin with. The problem is, they suck. They have sucked for a while. The system doesn't like to recognize records we add that don't get serviced through the promoters, sometimes still charts full records as singles, and won't let you edit your charts once you submit them, so you have to do them over again. It's a nightmare.

They looked kind of like they were going to go under for a bit, then they brought in a new CEO with a business degree from Harvard... whose business strategy was to make an app, and increase social media presence.

The CMJ Music Marathon is a corporate gem for them, and made things sorta better for a bit. Like putting tape on a sinking ship. Okay. But get this- they haven't announced jack shit about the Marathon for this year. Last year's lineup and dates were announced mid-April. The info on the website still reflects last year's dates and info. The promoters apparently haven't heard anything about it either, and they haven't gotten a decent update on their end for promoting. We've been saying for years CMJ would bite the dust, and that's looking more and more like a reality and probably this year. Yikes.

So we'd have to report somewhere... we're talking maybe Spinitron. Our CMJ subscription ends at the end of June so we're trying to figure out if it's worth renewing. It's silent on the end of CMJ, and Austin's talking to Spinitron to get a trial run. I don't want to end up switching for nothing to happen, or for it to go down later than expected and we're not having promoters send us anything so we're forced to get everything ourselves and only the shit we know will be good.

... not that bad, but it would hurt the artists that aren't big but really good from getting anyone's attention. RIP.

 

One thing I forgot to mention was that almost everyone had quit from the radio division....


"Almost everyone" changing to just "everyone" today. I'm watching a company crash and burn. We got hooked up with a Spinitron free trial for a few weeks that may end up being needed sooner rather than later.

 

So since a bunch of people are doing it, I thought I'd come in here for a bit and tell you about my top 10 albums of 2016 (so far!!!)

1. A Moon Shaped Pool (Radiohead) Critics are putting this below Beyonce and while I think Lemonade is GREAT, this was was a nice glass of wine after a long day of work. This was a soft blanket you wrap yourself up in while you're feeling sad. This was a PHENOMENAL album.
2. Lemonade (Beyonce) Why is this not at the top? Well kids, it's a song called FORMATION. I love it to pieces, but it seems... tacked on. Like someone said "you need a single!" so she listened and wrote a good one... but it doesn't quite work with the rest of the album. You feel?
3. Human Performance (Parquet Courts) I'm so GLAD this is getting praise on places like Pitchfork and Spin, and that people love this as much as I do. What a great album that introduced me to them. God I love it.
4. Painting With (Animal Collective) I've sung the praise of this album to high heaven in this thread, honestly. I'm sad not as many people liked it as much as I did.
5. The Hope Six Demolition Project (PJ Harvey) Another album that introduced me to another great artist. It's political and tongue in cheek at times, but her voice is so lovely and passionate. It's fabulous.
6. Love Yes (TEEN) This came out the week that Painting With did, and it's a very fun album as well. I'm always here for more singing ladies as well.
7. Commontime (Field Music) This was an excellent album that I almost got see performed live... but then the problem of being under 21 came up. Whoops.
8. Pussy's Dead (Autolux) Honestly, I had a shitty week that this came out, and it was great to listen to something actually good among the crap I had to sort through. It's super cool electronic stuff.
9. Love Letter for Fire (Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop) That same week was when this album came out. Apparently this was called a "good week" for everyone else but me. But this came out while I was complaining about that Sturgill Simpson album everyone is singing praise of that I absolutely hated. It was sold to me initially as country as well, but this is much more like Bon Iver and Iron and Wine. AKA, not disgustingly country sounding.
10. The Life of Pablo (Kanye West) This is NOT as high up as other critics are putting it, mainly because I do see it as a little bit self indulgent. It's very good, no lie, and I Love Kanye holds a special place in my heart, but Kanye here does rub me wrong a bit sometimes.

I'm too tired to do 25 albums, and a bunch of the critic darlings (Frankie Cosmos, Sturgill Simpson, White Lung, even the new Car Seat Headrest) were kind of overhyped to me. Frankie was bad poetry, Sturgill I mentioned, and the White Lung sounded like the 90s making a return and not in a good way.

Why no Blackstar? That's not something I hadn't really listened to yet besides Lazarus. That's on my list of things to do.

 

Small updates for this week:

• Paul Simon: Look at the old man go... still being kind of cool and relatable. Stranger to Stranger is good either way.
• Beck: I think he sold out? I don't know? That single "Wow" is strange. What are you doing, Beck. This is not how you follow up a FUCKING GRAMMY YOU STOP THAT.
• Tegan and Sara: I still don't know which one is Tegan and which one is Sara. I still don't know what to do with the album and getting it into rotation, because this is... so pop-y. Ridiculously so. I'm just confused. Are they still indie? Or are they on that fringe of popularity that Lana's on but they're so forgettable that no one cares about them?
• Whitney: A debut album that has reached my top albums! It's so good! Such easy listening, such well done instrumentation! I don't like to follow the hype machines but oooooo. This has earned its hype. @Jonno it's a Jagujaguwar album. It may pop up on your radar?

I have a place to put my song recommendations now. It's called Cymbal, and it's pretty damn cool. Just share music with each other. If you want to hear what I'm jamming to, that's the place to go.

 

Probably going to see The Julie Ruin on Wednesday. Talking with their promoter to get tix. Helpful things: having your old GM of the radio station move about 10 minutes from where you work.