Getting the spins

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Tue Sep 16, 2014 1:29 pm

EdRomero wrote:U2 just released a surprise album today. And it's free on iTunes, I think. If I can figure it out. I'm old.

I've seen several people bitching about this on Facebook. How can you complain about a free album? People seem to feel it is an invasion of privacy or taking up memory. From what I understand, it is just a link to the cloud, and not actually stored on your phone or iPod. It is no different than sending an e-mail with an embedding link IMO. Does iTunes charge you for downloading it? If not, why are they doing this? Did Apple pay a fixed fee to U2 hoping to create buzz and maybe sway people away from Droids? I saw a commercial on fast forward on my DVR, and I didn't bother to go back and watch it.

Post by **brian** » Tue Sep 16, 2014 1:30 pm

People aren't happy unless they're complaining about something. Fin.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Tue Sep 16, 2014 1:32 pm

I can't tell you how many people at work complain about the free coffee. Granted...it sucks, but it's free. You can also buy Starbucks.

rass · Post by **rass** » Tue Sep 16, 2014 1:40 pm

The Sybian wrote:
EdRomero wrote:U2 just released a surprise album today. And it's free on iTunes, I think. If I can figure it out. I'm old.
I've seen several people bitching about this on Facebook. How can you complain about a free album? People seem to feel it is an invasion of privacy or taking up memory. From what I understand, it is just a link to the cloud, and not actually stored on your phone or iPod. It is no different than sending an e-mail with an embedding link IMO. Does iTunes charge you for downloading it? If not, why are they doing this? Did Apple pay a fixed fee to U2 hoping to create buzz and maybe sway people away from Droids? I saw a commercial on fast forward on my DVR, and I didn't bother to go back and watch it.

I think the issue was twofold. First, there is a setting somewhere in iTunes that will automatically download "purchased" content to your Apple devices (or a setting per device to do the same?). Second, since you didn't really "purchase" it, there initially wasn't a way to remove it from iTunes. Unless you fell into that group, there wasn't anything to complain about.

Even so...

brian wrote:People aren't happy unless they're complaining about something. Fin.

...yes.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Tue Sep 16, 2014 2:32 pm

If you don't want the stupid album and have to put in even minimal effort to get rid of it, its a negative.

EdRomero · Post by **EdRomero** » Tue Sep 16, 2014 9:02 pm

Well after listening for about a week, I'd say it's about the level of All that You Can't Leave Behind. Musically, I think it's better than that album, but Bono's lyrics are getting worse. I like that he went more personal with this album, which is an improvement over the last two, but just too much greeting card stuff.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 6:45 am

I guess I don't want music content pushed on me in that kind of officious way. Hit the "recently downloaded" during a run the other day, and realized I was hearing the U2 album - even though cloud only, it played as if I had accepted it. Really annoying.

rass · Post by **rass** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 6:51 am

In case I wasn't clear above, I was agreeing that it's obnoxious to have an album added to your devices if you didn't explicitly ask for it. I was also agreeing that in general people love an excuse to bitch about anything and everything.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 6:53 am

I do love to bitch and complain, probably moreso than the average, but, yeah, this was pretty sucky by Apple. Probably lower on the list than what they put humans through to make their products that I buy thereby adding to the human misery, but, still sucky.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 7:10 am

They gave a free album out. Sure, they could have had a screen pop up to ask if you wanted it, but that would have been just as annoying probably.

I listened to it. I'm not a huge u2 fan, but it was fine.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 7:14 am

AB_skin_test wrote:They gave a free album out. Sure, they could have had a screen pop up to ask if you wanted it, but that would have been just as annoying probably.

I listened to it. I'm not a huge u2 fan, but it was fine.

They didn't give a free album out. That would be like if you were walking down the street and someone offered you a free album, and you could says "thanks!" or "no!". They shoved an album into your hand or into your backpack or whatever. It was...weird. At some level, the tunes in ones library are kinda personal, and you make choices on what to have in there. This felt like a strange invasion of that.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 7:18 am

I've got two girls, so my library has anything from hannah montana to one direction to the arctic monkeys. It's not sacred to me anymore!

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 7:27 am

I'd much rather face judgment for "Dora's Greatest Hits" than I would for owning a 2014 U2 album.

rass · Post by **rass** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 7:43 am

mister d wrote:I'd much rather face judgment for "Dora's Greatest Hits" than I would for owning a 2014 U2 album.

Get on Your Boots!

EdRomero · Post by **EdRomero** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 8:35 am

I'm happy to get a new U2 album that I like for free. But I have misgivings about how they did it. On Apple's end I see it as an attempt to become stronger in the market somehow, which would eventually lead to them fucking over the consumer. On U2's end, it's this quixotic battle to return to relevance (even dominance) like the 80's/90's (and a chance to cash a really big check from Apple). I'd rather have them slide into irrelevance and put out good albums without trying to force it. I like how REM, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, and probably a lot of others put out quality albums late in their careers that didn't dominate charts, but pleased fans and got casual fans to appreciate that they made some good music. I guess Bono prefers annoying a lot and gathering all the attention (and $) that comes with it over quietly pleasing a few.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 8:37 am

Am I allowed to make the slippery slope argument where having iTunes could eventually lead to a "Song of the Day"? Basically music spam where the onus is on you to ignore and delete.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 8:48 am

mister d wrote:Am I allowed to make the slippery slope argument where having iTunes could eventually lead to a "Song of the Day"? Basically music spam where the onus is on you to ignore and delete.

Yes.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 8:54 am

And then everyone marries their dog.

EdRomero · Post by **EdRomero** » Thu Sep 18, 2014 6:53 pm

Bono tells TIME he hopes that a new digital music format in the works will prove so irresistibly exciting to music fans that it will tempt them again into buying music—whole albums as well as individual tracks.

http://time.com/3393297/u2-apple-new-digital-format/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So, yes, Apple is working on a new way to screw over consumers.

EdRomero · Post by **EdRomero** » Fri Sep 26, 2014 7:32 pm

20 years ago, Under the Table and Dreaming was released
I liked this article: https://www.relix.com/articles/detail/u ... ant_record" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I find something about this occasion surprising. Have you heard anything about UTTAD’s anniversary? Not really, right? Nothing substantial from the band or its management. With the practically mandatory 1990s nostalgia-induced remembrances of records released a score ago, there hasn’t been much reflection on the undeniable breakthrough and genre-shifting success of one of the biggest American “rock” outfits ever. Outside of this piece, it seems there’s a noticeable lack of rose-colored lookbacks at what it means for DMB to arrive the way they did; to sell more than 2 million albums almost out of nowhere in less than a year’s time; to do it with unconventional methods toward publicity; to bloom a fan base, and keep it, in that tried and true, bottom-up way.

To date, there haven’t been inklings of reissues, remixes, box sets or new vinyl pressings. (In a way, this is refreshing.) The Dave Matthews Band’s red-letter day is certainly nothing like what Oasis, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Weezer, Outkast, Green Day, Wu-Tang Clan and others have been lauded with regarding their noteworthy album vicennials in recent months/years.

Yet DMB has outsold all those acts and is arguably occupying the largest American fan base of any of them, evidenced by the like-clockwork touring revenue the group brings in every friggin’ year. They do this despite offering average ticket prices that are much cheaper than other annual touring breadwinners who cluster the top of Pollstar’s lists. The playful irony here is, while plenty would say few “alternative” bands from that era evoke more of a 1990s aura than DMB (and we know you’re still out there, Gin Blossoms and Spin Doctors), the truth is, Dave and Co. monetarily hit their prime a decade later. DMB earned more money touring in the aughts than anyone: $530 million, which, given the economy, is likely a record for any artist in any decade.

And in 2014, the tours and money and fans keep on. DMB is still relevant to the modern music landscape, they just happen to singularly occupy fairly large, previously unowned territory.

Despite the band continuing to tour, record a studio record every few years and put live albums up for purchase/download with the turning of each season, for whatever reason, it long ago stopped being cool to overtly like -- or even hate -- Dave Matthews Band. (Community viewers will note the show made reference to this notion last season.) The band’s fans aren’t yet old enough to claim seniority status like Springsteen’s equally devoted concert-counting vets. The group doesn’t take drastic artistic chances/isn’t the critical darlings like a Radiohead. They aren’t as market-savvy or as hellbent on publicity as a U2 or a Coldplay. Even Pearl Jam, who once was synonymous with music-purist instincts, seems to have been more aggressive in presenting their music and image with their past two record releases than DMB.

Still, the band’s carefully cultivated and absolutely dedicated, massive fan base -- as well as all the other ever-young high school-age bros who continue to pass down the regrettable tradition of showing up to shows just to stupefy themselves in the parking lots of amphitheaters across the country -- show no signs of diminishing. The machine keeps churning, leading the band to amass millions of records sold and setting unprecedented album-sales records in the process.

Putting that in context, it’s clear Sept. 27, 1994, is a significant date for American music. It signaled the arrival of a band comprised of a lineup unlike anything that had ever been signed to a major label: a crowd-pleasing, goofy-yet-physical freak of a black violin player; a mysterious sax maestro; a shy teenager on bass who looked like he lived in the band van; a lanky South African frontman who didn’t play electric guitar and preferred to wear pajama pants on national television; and the oldest guy in the band, oh by the way, would prove to be one of the most dynamic and talented drummers in the history of popular music.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Fri Sep 26, 2014 10:34 pm

Remember Two Things was a better album.

TheHumanComa · Post by **TheHumanComa** » Fri Sep 26, 2014 10:52 pm

I listen to Spoon albums until i can't listen to them anymore and always think I won't like their newest release because I would be tired of their sound, but they seem to deliver every time. The new album 'They Want My Soul' is just as awesome as everything they have ever done. Spoon, Yo La Tengo, and Wilco, keep delivering when you can't imagine they have anything left.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Fri Sep 26, 2014 11:46 pm

Remember Two Things was not a better album.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Mon Sep 29, 2014 2:39 pm

And now for something completely different. I don't know much about the Hippity-Hop, but this guy sounds like he is good at the rapping.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Fri Oct 10, 2014 12:14 am

Betty Wright, Lenny Williams, The Roots.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 4:00 pm

And, now for something completely different...

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Fri Oct 17, 2014 10:48 am

back to the Canterbury Scene.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 8:31 am

sancarlos wrote:And, now for something completely different...

Not even with your dick...

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Tue Oct 21, 2014 5:04 pm

A companion piece?

howard · Post by **howard** » Tue Oct 21, 2014 6:41 pm

Fan of Boardwalk Empire, eh.

Post by **brian** » Wed Oct 22, 2014 11:16 am

Finally getting caught up on some music especially with the Life Is Beautiful festival coming up in downtown LV this weekend and I'm blown away by this new Bear Hands album (Distraction). Possibly the best album I've heard in the last couple of years.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Wed Oct 22, 2014 11:26 am

howard wrote:Fan of Boardwalk Empire, eh.

Well found it somewhere else, I have to catch up, been slacking with the newborn and all that.

howard · Post by **howard** » Wed Oct 22, 2014 6:46 pm

Rush2112 wrote:
howard wrote:Fan of Boardwalk Empire, eh.
Well found it somewhere else, I have to catch up, been slacking with the newborn and all that.

bugsy Siegel sang it in Sunday's episode

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Thu Oct 23, 2014 8:09 am

On a scale of 10 to 10 or 10 to 10, how terrible or awesome is Run For the Roses by Dan Fogelberg?

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Fri Oct 24, 2014 2:40 pm

I know that there aren't many reggae fans here, but I highly recommend Chronixx's new album.

Modern roots reggae with some fine dubs tacked on at the end.

TheHumanComa · Post by **TheHumanComa** » Sat Oct 25, 2014 8:07 pm

Saw these guys live a few weeks ago, made me love them even more. Here's a song from their new album, no actual video yet but great album.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Thu Oct 30, 2014 4:25 pm

The Fall are definitely one of my favourite bands of all time.

35 years of scathing, odd and sometimes abusive music, they are led by a 60 year old alcoholic who has a tendency to marry and then divorce his bassists or keyboard players. In fact, every five years or so he fires his entire band and starts again. Last couple albums have been "meh," but on his day Mark E. Smith can pump out some of the greatest music I have ever heard.

here's a taste - as Smith leads one of the better Fall lineups in one of their greatest tunes ":What About Us" - a song about East European immigrants to England and a mass murdering English physician named Harold Shipman. The band kills it in front opf an audience of indifferent Norwegians.

Hope you like it.

TheHumanComa · Post by **TheHumanComa** » Thu Oct 30, 2014 10:16 pm

I don't normally listen to dancy music like this but Calvin Harris' Summer is awesome! and i heard he's doing a song with Haim so it makes me like him even more.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Fri Oct 31, 2014 12:29 am

This

and this is greatest thing ever.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Fri Oct 31, 2014 5:00 am

Rush - those are two classics.

Fela is king!