Today is May 6, 2009, and my cupboards are empty of food, yet I still possess some thought!

You may have heard some rumors lately about the local band The Alramists.  Believe nothing, only this.

Here’s the daily scoop:

The Alarmist release “Rhyme & Reason” on their Myspace page – The Alarmists Myspace Page

Local musicians are mostly hit or miss. - Hamline Oracle (via Gimme Noise)
(Any press is good press – such is the old saying.  But exactly what constitutes “good” when a scribbler clumsily heaps praise upon ten local bands at the expense of the larger scene?  Some men should be stripped of their pens.)

All The Pretty Horses’ Venus DeMars recounts glam band’s history – City Pages
(This is a very well-done interview/article. Check it.)

Chris Cornell Talks Twitter, Timbaland And Backlash Over His New Album – Gibson.com

Interview: Chan Poling and Myron Johnson of Venus – Decider

The Triumph of Art Rock (A blog post by David Byrne) – Davidbyrne.com

Here is an excerpt from Byrne’s post that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I’m somewhat fascinated by the factory approach. Terius Nash and Christopher Stewart wrote most of “Umbrella” — a song many of us can’t resist. Nash was interviewed in the New Yorker, saying, “I usually don’t do second verses… I just do the first verse and do the hook.” (On that song he made an exception.) [Link to article] Doesn’t do second verses! Wooo. From a certain standpoint, he’s right. If you haven’t got the listener by the first verse and chorus/hook you might as well quit, because the regular pop fan won’t even make it to the second verse. And once you have the listener hooked, you can say pretty much any old thing in the second verse as long as it fits melodically and metrically.

Byrne then identifies this as “less like music than some kind of sonic mind fuck.”  Hilarious, but human nature will be human nature.  Tell me again why so many people like new country?

posted May 6th, 2009 at 2:16 pm Music News News