Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Cheap Thrills 11.30.05

Knocking the dust off a few MP3s...

Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. In the event that you sample an artist here and like 'em, please support those acts by buying legal copies of their music and going to see their live appearances. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of the artists listed above and you would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

TiVo Alert

Congrats to the Kimmel show for finally breaking their string of weeks without a single decent musical act by having Beck on this Friday. Also, breaking some virgin territory is the Daily Show which will feature a rare musical act... the White Stripes. Will they actually play or is Jon planning to use his hard-hitting interviewing skills to get to the bottom of this whole "Meg and Jack are siblings" thing??

Tuesday - Alanis Morissette (Leno)
Wednesday - The Magic Numbers (Conan), Alanis (Kimmel)
Thursday - Bonnie Raitt (Letterman), Liz Phair (Carson Daly), The White Stripes (The Daily Show)
Friday - The White Stripes (Conan), Beck (Kimmel)

I'm Back!!

Hey gang...

Between the Thanksgiving holiday and a bad sinus infection that I'm still fighting, I haven't been able to spend much time at the computer. But I think I'm on the mend and there's a lot of blogging to do.

Did anyone miss me?

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Cheap Thrills 11.22.05

A cool White Stripes "B" side & lots of Ted Leo...

Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. In the event that you sample an artist here and like 'em, please support those acts by buying legal copies of their music and going to see their live appearances. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of the artists listed above and you would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

The Money Shot 11.22.05

Catching up on the news...

Edge's 'Music Rising' to Help New Orleans Musicians
The Money Shot: "The devastation wrought by the hurricanes of 2005 to the Gulf Coast region has threatened not only the lives and livelihoods of the region's residents, but the area's rich and spirited culture as well," says the Edge. "Providing replacement instruments through Music Rising will not only help thousands of professional musicians affected by the hurricanes to regain a foothold on their future, but will also ensure that one of the Gulf Coast's greatest assets, its music, rises again." (Music Rising website here.)

Coldplay Scalping Their Own Tickets?
The Money Shot: On Saturday, the band launched a special online auction through Ticketmaster.com, which gives fans the chance to bid on pairs of tickets to the first leg of shows on the band's upcoming North American tour. By Monday, the minimum bid on tickets for several shows was already as high as $400, and no bid was lower than $80 for a pair of tickets.

Courtney In Rehab
The Money Shot: She clearly had a dysfunctional relationship with others in her group, who often came to her when they were feeling weak. "I'd sit at a meeting and I'd say I feel like doing blow today and all of a sudden there'd be a line of people that wanted to do drugs with me and it would be like 'Relapse?' 'Let's call Courtney.'"

Sufjan Stevens: The Ultimate Indie?
The Money Shot: 'Corporations are run on principles of greed, and making the most money possible with the least work possible, and I think that's counterproductive to the health of human beings and society,' says Stevens, a half-confident, half-nervous figure with limpid green eyes who manages to seem distracted and deeply attentive at the same time. 'They create wealth but they destroy cultures and families. The World's Fair was the precursor to theme parks like Disneyworld, and the really sort of cheap, superficial promotional architecture that you see everywhere in the US. I think there's a danger when you start creating a civilisation that isn't meant to last.'

Jeff Tweedy's Not A Control Freak.... Yeah, Riiiiiiiiight.
The Money Shot: I don’t think I ever really had the energy or the interest in really exerting that much control. I mean, I know a lot of people have this idea of that being the case, and there’s certainly elements of truth to that, but one of them is not in being very dictatorial about what I want played.

Coming Attractions - Richard Thompson
The Money Shot: Details are finally coming to light about "RT - The Life and Music of Richard Thompson," which has been in the works for several months. Due Feb. 7 through the U.K.-based independent Free Reed Records and Music label, the five-disc collection set will trace the troubadour's career as a solo artist, with seminal U.K. folk act Fairport Convention, in partnership with ex-wife Linda and in other settings.

Monday, November 21, 2005

Cheap Thrills 11.21.05

The countdown to Turkey Day hits 3 days to go...

Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. In the event that you sample an artist here and like 'em, please support those acts by buying legal copies of their music and going to see their live appearances. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of the artists listed above and you would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Cheap Thrills 11.17.05

New Coldplay (a B-side), Ryan Adams top the list...
Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. In the event that you sample an artist here and like 'em, please support those acts by buying legal copies of their music and going to see their live appearances. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of the artists listed above and you would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

The Money Shot 11.17.05

Today's news highlights...

Jack and Meg Cracking Up in the U.K.?
The Money Shot: "Penny and I miss America, did you know? Maybe Penny should be Miss America? We miss the Grand Canyon, the Grand Tetons, and hundred grand candy bars.""Penny and I are sad that we have to take a break soon," he added. "It takes so long to play the whole world doesn't it? Why haven't we played in India? Why haven't we played more in Indiana? What is indie? What is mainstream? Is it sane to play mainly on the plains or only to the lonely?"

New Flaming Lips Track Hits the Net
The Money Shot: "You don't really know when the good stuff is going to happen, you just kind of have to be doing stuff and hope it turns out good and little by little. We kind of let some of it get out there and let people listen to it and we like getting some feedback. As ridiculous as that seems to go against the idea of an uncompromising artistic approach, you need some objective ideas need to be thrown your way once in a while because you get so caught up in your own world."

Coming Attractions... The Hives!
The Money Shot: The Hives' next album should be out by autumn 2006, the band have said. The group have a number of new songs for the follow-up to 2004's 'Tyrannosaurus Hives', but are resisting playing the tracks live.

Cash on "Walk The Line"
The Money Shot: Sadly, Cash died before he and Phoenix could meet face-to-face. But to the end, the legend appreciated and returned the love that such younger artists had for him."I'm aware that some of them do [admire me]," he said at the time, before acknowledging the crushing loss of his soul mate just three months prior. "My little world has been kind of limited lately, since June's death. I've kind of hung close to home here; yeah, I did hear from Kid Rock through Hank Williams Jr. that he would like to meet me."

Coming Attractions... Belle & Sebastian
The Money Shot: Veteran Scottish rock act Belle & Sebastian will release its new album, "The Life Pursuit," Feb. 6 via Rough Trade in the United Kingdom and Europe. The set will arrive the next day in the United States via Matador.

Interview with DBT's Jason Isbell
The Money Shot: Luckily for Isbell, the other members of the band accepted him, not just as the new guitar player but also a songwriter alongside Hood and co-founder Mike Cooley. "If I came in with a song that sounded like fucking Bauhaus, as long as it was a good song, they probably wouldn't mind, though Cooley would probably give me shit," Isbell said. He also found that the band had established a tight rapport. "If there's a song that's not strong enough for a Truckers' record, the person who wrote it will usually be the one to cut it. I think it's just a matter of the chemistry we have in the band."

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Cheap Thrills 11.16.05

Awesome acoustic Tweedy songs top the day's list...
Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. In the event that you sample an artist here and like 'em, please support those acts by buying legal copies of their music and going to see their live appearances. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of the artists listed above and you would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

The Money Shot 11.16.05

All the news I feel like blogging...

Laura Veirs: To Tour or Not To Tour?
The Money Shot:"It's a job, and I can feel it wearing on me," she said from the Arizona desert. "Touring is kind of fun but tough. We just got through with a 12-hour drive. It's not good on your body, and there's all this sitting around waiting. When I go home, I do yoga and eat well, but then I get back out here and I'm immediately smoking and drinking again. It's a very topsy-turvy existence."

Not Content to Bash Coldplay, The Darkness Takes a Pop at Doherty
The Money Shot: "I'd say firstly (Pete) doesn't do rock music, and secondly, he only sells records because people are curious as to what a junkie sounds like," Hawkins told Orange World. "I think that's really wrong and really irresponsible...I think he's a talentless waste of fucking skin!"

Road Trippin' with Supergrass
The Money Shot: U.K. rock quartet Supergrass will return to North America for a 15-date tour that begins Feb. 6 in Toronto. The trek will be in support of the group's latest Capitol album, "Road to Rouen," which debuted in August at No. 9 on the U.K. album chart.

Jem's a Whore?
The Money Shot: "I'm like prostituting myself," Jem joked. "No, I think it used to be a sort of dodgy thing to do, but I mean as far as I'm concerned, as long as it's done creatively ... I don't want my music on like a dodgy food ad or something, but I think that I'm really flattered and its catch is huge. I did write the album to be heard."

Coming Attractions - Morrissey
The Money Shot: The singer, has been mixing the follow up to 'You Are The Quarry' in Rome with producer Tony Visconti and has set a release date of March 20, 2006 for the LP.As previously reported, a single will precede the LP in early February.

Road Trippin' with the Decemberists' Colin Meloy
The Money Shot: For the second January in a row, Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy will embark on a solo tour as his bandmates recuperate from another busy year on the road. The hardy Meloy will play nine cities on the trek, starting January 18 with a West Coast run that includes the Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

and finally, because sometimes dreams come true...

Destiny's Child Plays Final Show
The Money Shot: The trio also gave its first and apparently last public performance of the new single "Stand Up for Love." Asked by Kimmel if the split would be permanent, Rowland seemed to leave the door open for a future reunion. "You never know," she replied.

Music That Sucks 11.16.05

In stores just in time for the holidays! Personally, I'd rather get a truckload of coal in my stocking on Xmas day than any of this dreck...
  • Journey - Live in Houston 1981: The Escape Tour (Journey live? Because my wish for Journey dead is yet to come true...)
  • Santana - A&E Live by Request (More toothless, 'Smooth' lite rock from a legend who's cashin' in...)
  • Loggins and Messina - Sittin' in Again at the Santa Barbara Bowl (I think I liked them better when they were broken up...)
  • Various Artists - This Is Mullet Rock (Just guessin' but somehow I don't think this is going to include anything from those early but unfortunate U2 bad-hair days...)
  • Jimmy Buffett - Live at Fenway Park (OK everybody... Close your eyes & picture your frat-boy boss drunk, wearing a flip-flops and a Hawaiian shirt and "rockin' out" to "Cheeseburger In Paradise."... Nuff said.)
  • Mariah Carey - The Emancipation of Mimi - Platinum Deluxe Edition (Features an interview entitled "Mariah Carey In Her Own Words"... ooooh, somebody call Mensa!)
  • Carrie Underwood - Some Hearts (File next to Justin Guarini?)
  • Rod Stewart - The Great American Songbook Box Set (All four CDs together in one box... uh, because four of shit is still SHIT?)

Buy These Now 11.16.05

Here's your weekly shopping list... Go get the Springsteen disc now. I saw some of the 1975 concert footage on the big screen Monday night & it was truly amazing to see Bruce tear it up like he was the missing link between the garage bands of the 60's and the punks of the late 70's. If you've always judged him based on the icon that he's become, watch this and then picture yourself seeing a performance like that at your favorite small hole-in-the-wall venue and you'll start to understand how he became "The Boss" in the first place.

Between the Springsteen reissue, the live Wilco & Green Day CDs and the U2 DVD, I gotta give this bountiful week an "A+".
  • Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run: 30th Anniversary Edition
  • Bright Eyes - Motion Sickness: Live Recordings
  • Green Day - Bullet in a Bible
  • Wilco - Kicking Television - Live in Chicago
  • Various Artists - MySpace Records Vol. 1 (featuring Weezer, Dashboard Confessional, Against Me! and others)
  • Original Soundtrack - Cry Wolf (featuring Bloc Party, Cake, Low and others)
  • Original Soundtrack - Walk the Line (the Johnny Cash biopic)
  • Original Soundtrack - Screaming Masterpiece (featuring the Icelandic music scene including Björk & Sigur Rós)
  • Original Soundtrack - The O.C. Mix 5 (including the Kaiser Chiefs, LCD Soundsystem, Gorillaz)
  • Guided by Voices - The Electrifying Conclusion: The Final Concert, New Year's Eve 2004 (DVD)
  • U2 - Vertigo// 2005: Live from Chicago (DVD)

Sony BMG Recall

We covered this here and here. The NY Times reports that Sony BMG's trying to get in front of this by recalling the CDs, but will it be enough? I don't think so...

For some critics, the recall will not be enough.

"This is only one of the many things Sony must do to be accountable for the damage it's inflicted on its customers," said Jason Schultz, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group in California.

On Monday, the foundation issued an open letter to Sony BMG executives demanding, among other things, refunds for customers who bought the CD's and did not wish to make an exchange, and compensation for time spent removing the software and any potential damage to computers.

The group, which has been involved in lawsuits over the protection of digital rights, gave the company, which is jointly owned by the Sony Corporation and Bertelsmann, a deadline of Friday morning to respond with some indication that it was "in the process of implementing these measures."

Mr. Schultz said: "People paid Sony for music, not an invasion of their computers. Sony must right the wrong it has committed. Recalling the CD's is a beginning step in the process, but there is a whole lot more mess to clean up."

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Cheap Thrills 11.15.05

If you don't have those Replacements songs, get 'em!
Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. In the event that you sample an artist here and like 'em, please support those acts by buying legal copies of their music and going to see their live appearances. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of the artists listed above and you would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

Monday, November 14, 2005

The Money Shot 11.14.05

Everything you needed to know...

The Darkness Takes on Coldplay
The Money Shot: "During Band Aid, Chris swanned in, stayed for about 20 minutes... we were there for two days and worked our behinds off."Hawkins told The Sun, "He obviously didn't care. I got the sense he was just doing it to raise his profile."

Beck Does The Robot
The Money Shot:"They have such an unbelievably fluid range of motions, so Beck and I just had to work out an elaborately choreographed number for them. I think it took the programmers in Japan about three weeks to program the routine into each robot."

Road Trippin' with Bob Mould
The Money Shot: His latest effort, Body Of Song, showcases his wide-ranging musical resume and he's been supporting it with a full band on the road this summer and fall. Next up, however, is a solo tour that will take him from Morgantown, W.Va., November 10 to Brooklyn, N.Y., December 3, with a dozen U.S. cities on the schedule.

Steve Earle's New Addiction
The Money Shot: "I'd been touring Australia and discovered the strongest heroin I'd ever taken. So when I got to New Zealand I went down K-Road and my usual MO was to find a prostitute, as they could always hook you up with what you wanted. But there was nothing available and it was a total shock to my system."

Death Cab Breakups
The Money Shot: After a couple more records I don't know what we're going to do. I guess I'm just going to have to keep breaking up with people. But I kind of want to hold on to this one I've got right now. So if it's really a record for each breakup, maybe that means we've only got three more albums and then we're done.

Road Trippin' with The Strokes
The Money Shot: As the Jan. 3 release of their third RCA album, "First Impressions of Earth", draws near, the Strokes are about to set off on a worldwide promo tour that will feature secret club shows in several cities. The outing will begin Monday (Nov. 14) in Tokyo and proceed to Sydney, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Berlin, Milan and Madrid through mid-December.

Pearl Jam Gets Aggressive
The Money Shot: "It's easily the best stuff we've done but also some of the hardest stuff. It's very aggressive, because again, it's kind of a product of what it's like to be an American these days. It's pretty aggressive, especially when you turn it loud."

Costello, Toussaint Team on New CD
The Money Shot: Elvis Costello is slated to head into the studio the week of Thanksgiving to begin a collaboration with songwriter/arranger/pianist Allen Toussaint. Joe Henry will produce the album for Verve Records. Henry likens the project to Costello's 1998 pairing with Burt Bacharach, "Painted from Memory".

More Mould... Surprise! He Wants His Music to be Heard
The Money Shot: At 44, Mould celebrated a career milestone of sorts when his new single "Circles" received airplay on the indie rock-friendly, teen-loving hit Fox television series "The O.C." "It feels good," Mould said. "Did you ever have 20 million people listen to your music?"

Coming Soon... David Bowie DVD
The Money Shot: Serious Moonlight, which will hit stores March 13, captures a performance at the Pacific National Exhibition Coliseum in Vancouver, British Columbia, during Bowie's 1983 Serious Moonlight World Tour in support of that year's Let's Dance. The DVD features the original film as well as an extended version of the the tour documentary Ricochet.

Springsteen Comes Clean on O.C.
The Money Shot: "My obsessive/compulsive nature, which crippled me through much of the rest of my life, does come in handy once in a while," said a chuckling Springsteen. "And it came in handy at that moment. I wanted something unique that you couldn't hear in the live show."

Why The Dandy Warhols Love Their Record Label
The Money Shot: "It's really hard to interface with a big, fat, bloated, desperate, irresponsible company, so you've got to really focus on finding two people, three people there that will work for you. You find the people that understand — find the least stupid people and you fucking go into business with them. The company itself is going to be frustrating. They're all a joke. Every big label is just, like, bad and fucked up."

Hey Hey! We're The Arctic Monkeys...
The Money Shot: "Our greatest achievement?" muses ex-tiler Cook, fiddling absent-mindedly with the zip of his flimsy anorak. "Gettin' this far without 'avin' a fist fight. Seriously. It's a miracle."

Road Trippin' with Sigur Ros
The Money Shot: Experimental outfit Sigur Ros has a new U.S. tour on the books for February. The Icelandic group, which is touring Europe through the end of November, will land in Portland, Maine, February 6 and proceed across a dozen states throughout the month.

Liz Disses Critics
The Money Shot: But the 38-year-old contends that the critics were misguided when they lauded her for Guyville's so-called confessional songwriting. "I'm actually more honest and confessional in my material now," she said. "In my early [work] I was a lot more clever about disguising [the meanings] with metaphors, and I think that was really exciting to those brainiacs."

Coming Soon... Josh Rouse
The Money Shot: Josh Rouse is pleased to announce that he will release the Bedroom Classics, Vol. 2 EP on November 15 exclusively via iTunes! (Perhaps you’re one of the lucky fans to nab a super rare copy of the Bedroom Classics, Vol. 1 EP — only 750 printed and going for over $200 bucks on eBay.) According to Josh, “Bedroom Classics, Vol. 2 consists of 5 tracks, some instrumental and some with my voice. I’m excited about it, it’s really moody and different from anything I’ve put out.”

To hear these artists and more, click here.

TiVo Alert

This week in late night appearances by Musical Justice artists... the Jimmy Kimmel shutout reaches 5 weeks (unless you count an visit this week by William Shatner, but since he's not performing music that's close but no cigar!). Nothing too exciting except for Patti Smith this week.

Monday - Brian Wilson (Leno)
Tuesday - Melissa Etherridge (Leno), Patti Smith (Late Late Show)
Wednesday - get some sleep!
Thursday - Amos Lee (Late Late Show)
Friday - Sheryl Crow (Leno), Alanis Morissette (Conan)

Cheap Thrills 11.14.05 (part 2)

More great stuff... priceless (but very rude) Mojo, a great Death Cab cover, live Franz, Ryan Adams/Elton John duets. Check 'em out!
Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. In the event that you sample an artist here and like 'em, please support those acts by buying legal copies of their music and going to see their live appearances. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of the artists listed above and you would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

Cheap Thrills 11.14.05 (part 1)

Getting back in the swing of things here. So much stuff that I'm splitting this into a couple of posts...


Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. In the event that you sample an artist here and like 'em, please support those acts by buying legal copies of their music and going to see their live appearances. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of the artists listed above and you would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Nirvana CD and a last chance to win $50

This was just posted to the Musical Justice mailing list & I thought that regular readers of this blog who haven't signed up might still be interested in entering the contest outlined below...
Congrats to our winners from last week's bulletin board contest. We're doubling up the prizes so that we'll have 2 winners of "This Bird Has Flown: A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul" instead of just one. Also congrats to all those who went out to the Musical Justice website and found the "Contest" button. Initially, we planned to just give out 25 mix CDs, but the response was so good that everyone who clicked the button and emailed us before the deadline will get a CD! In case you're curious, here's the track listing for the limited edition mix:
  • The Hustle – Marah
  • Juicebox – The Strokes
  • All the Money or The Simple Life Honey - The Dandy Warhols
  • I Predict A Riot – Kaiser Chiefs
  • Permanent One – Eugene Edwards
  • The Fallen – Franz Ferdinand
  • Onions – Heartless Bastards
  • Waitin' For A Superman – Iron & Wine
  • Middle of Nowhere – Hot Hot Heat
  • Collide The Tide – Chin Up Chin Up
  • Ain't No Easy Way – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
  • Help Me Suzanne – Rhett Miller
  • Why – Gina Villalobos
  • Last Nite – The Detroit Cobras
  • Bandages & Scars – Son Volt
  • Cool Water – Laura Veirs
  • Lottery Winners on Acid – The Crimea
  • Walking With a Ghost – The White Stripes
  • Halloween – Matt Pond PA
  • No Surprises (live acoustic) – Radiohead

This week's contest is for the latest Nirvana offering, "Sliver – The Best of The Box" which features rare mixes, demos and live versions of classic Nirvana songs including Smells Like Teen Spirit, All Apologies & Come As You Are. Again, all you've got to do to be entered in the drawing is go out to the Musical Justice bulletin board and add your 2 cents in a posting. The contest will be open until next Friday, November 18th at Midnight EST. As a bonus, you'll also be entered in our drawing for a $50 Amazon gift certificate which also ends at the same time. The more you post, the more entries you get in the drawing.

Good luck everyone!

Thursday, November 10, 2005

The Money Shot 11.10.05

From my fingertips to your eyeballs...

Tweedy on Tweedy
The Money Shot: "I think it's senility. I can't keep my train of thought going on one topic anymore. Actually, I think at some point I became bored with trying to sing a straight narrative; and, ironically, the songs that I felt comfortable singing and emotionally invested in over time ended up being the songs that were the most open-ended. It's basically like leaving escape hatches. I think the songs have been given a longer life since I started doing that."

Coldplay Hitting the Road with Apple, Ashcroft
The Money Shot: Fiona Apple (Jan. 25-March 5) and former Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft (March 20-April 6) will split time as the support acts for the tour; Ashcroft opened for Coldplay in Europe this summer and joined the band to perform the Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" during the London segment of the Live 8 concerts.

Roskilde Victim's Family Claim Denied
The Money Shot: Pearl Jam were originally blamed by Danish police, but after questioning a number of witnesses, they backed off. It was later discovered that the sound was not traveling well to the back of the arena, which in turn caused the fans to push forward in order to better hear the performance.

Hard-Fi Crankin' Em Out
The Money Shot: Despite their busy schedule the band have still managed to pen songs for their next record.Archer told XFM: "We've got about 30 songs written over the last year after the last album. But I don't know if they're any good yet. I'll have to sit down and have a look at 'em."

Sufjan on Fahey Tribute
The Money Shot: Many of the tracks are full-band, electric interpretations of Fahey's compositions. Such worthies as Ward, Banhart, Sufjan Stevens, Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Howe Gelb of Giant Sand and Pelt (which includes guitarist Jack Rose, possibly Fahey's most gifted admirer) plumb the guitarist's repertoire.

Cheap Thrills 11.10.05

I think today's highlight is the U2/Killers duet...
Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of those artists and would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Music That Sucks 11.08.05

Hmmm... in spite of the slim pickins for the "buy" list, there's no shortage of music that sucks this week. Go figure.
  • Gordon Lightfoot - Harmony (Awww hell... this one's too easy. Nevermind.)
  • Britney Spears - Remixed (Garbage in. Garbage out.)
  • Various Artists - Soul Jazz Beatles (Because nothing says 'soul jazz' like the pasty white lads from Liverpool.)
  • Kenny Chesney - The Road and the Radio (Just because we'd be wondering if he was thinking about Renee or Peyton...)
  • Peter Gallagher - 7 Days in Memphis (Yeah, let's let the O.C. guy sing because CDs by actors are almost always a good idea...)
  • Il Divo - The Il Divo Gift Pack (Just in case you ever wondered what Simon Cowell actually likes...)
  • Original Soundtrack: Doom (Uh... so you can listen to the game noises on your iPod when you're detached from your joystick?)

Buy These Now! 11.08.05

It's a short shopping list this week, but that's probably how's it's gonna be for the next couple months as nearly all the major holiday releases will be in the stores by next week. In spite of a cool dB's tribute and rare Sexsmith, I'm giving this week a "C-" due to the slim pickins.

  • Harvey Danger - Cream and Bastards Rise EP
  • Various Artists - Stand-ins for DeciBels: A Tribute to the dB's
  • Ron Sexsmith - Rarities
  • Patti Smith - Horses: Legacy Edition

The Money Shot 11.09.05

Coldplay comes out for '06 while Trent says "Show me the money!" and Noel Gallagher tries to convince everyone he's still relevant...

Reznor PO'd about 'Hate Machine' Re-release
The Money Shot: However, Reznor recently told the Toronto Sun Ryko isn't satisfying him as far as money goes. "I'll do the extra songs. I'll redo the packaging. Everything. But I'm not willing to do it for free," he says. "They're not willing to pay, so they put out whatever they put out. That's that."

Noel Gallagher - Jealous or just a dick?
The Money Shot: Speaking on Australian radio station Triple J the Oasis guitarist blasted the likes of Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, and Kaiser Chiefs."Let's call it what it is - it's indie shit, is what it is," he said. "None of them are trying to make it big. They're all trying to make it small or medium - that's it. "Don't get me wrong - I kinda like Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs [but] Bloc Party are just appalling. None of them strike me as trying to be in the biggest band in the world or the best band in the world - it's just indie rubbish."

Coldplay's Not Done with You Yet
The Money Shot: Coldplay will return to North America for a spring 2006 tour, beginning Jan. 25 in Vancouver. Set to run through early April, the trek is gradually being unveiled on the Web site Talkthetour.com, where a new show is confirmed for every 33,000 hits. At deadline, half of the 26 shows had been announced.

Cheap Thrills 11.9.05

Interesting stuff today... Death Cab, Cat Power and Babyshambles' recent UK hit...
Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of those artists and would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

The Money Shot 11.08.05

All the news fit to blog...

U2 Can Be A Killer
The Money Shot - Earlier in the show, Bono hinted at the unannounced collaboration during 'A Beautiful Day' when he sang the lyrics, 'I've Got Soul But I'm Not A Soldier' from The Killers' hit single 'All These Things That I've Done'.

Black, Sweet & Others Go Back To School
The Money Shot - But if you want to hear a bunch of indie rockers covering 80s soundtrack hits, then scoop up High School Reunion: A Tribute to Those Great 80s Films when it hits stores on December 1. Featuring tracks by Frank Black, the Dresden Dolls, Kristen Hersh, Matthew Sweet, John P. Strohm of the Blake Babies, and many more, the compilation is the brainchild of power pop labels American Laundromat Records and Face Down Records.

Coming Soon: White Stripes 'Ghost' EP
The Money Shot - The White Stripes will on Dec. 6 release the EP "Walking With a Ghost" via Third Man/V2, featuring a cover of Tegan & Sara's title song plus previously unreleased live versions of "Same Boy You've Always Known," "As Ugly As I Seem," "The Denial Twist" and "Screwdriver." "Ghost" will debut Nov. 14 via Apple's iTunes Music Store.

QOTSA Talk About The Future
The Money Shot - Homme says that the UK was the first country to embrace QOTSA because of its "dry sense of humor." For a band that describes its music as "equal parts stupid and cerebral without pretension," dry humor is a must. That and lots and lots of, um, substances.

Cheap Thrills 11.08.05

Today's pick of the crop... Lots of Radiohead, Iggy and Bowie. But don't miss the Laura Veirs topping the list!

Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of those artists and would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

Monday, November 07, 2005

TiVo Alert

Goose eggs this week from Letterman & Leno as far as interesting musical guests go... and have you noticed that Jimmy Kimmel consistently has the worst music? In four weeks of doing this scan of the late night musical guests, I've yet to see one of note. Paul Anka and Switchfoot both make Kimmel appearances this week, if you needed proof. Fire whoever books the music, Jim, ok?

Monday - nada
Tuesday - zilch... zippo
Wednesday - Patti Smith (Conan)
Thursday - The Bravery (Carson Daly)
Friday - Green Day (Conan)

The Money Shot 11.07.05

Fresh off the presses and delivered to you...

Tweedy's Wingin' It
The Money Shot: Since he has no bandmates in tow who need to learn songs that were co-written and/or recorded by different sets of musicians on 1995's "A.M.,'' 1996's "Being There'' or 1999's "Summerteeth,'' Tweedy can just wing it onstage, and cull songs from the band's entire catalogue - not to mention songs he wrote for Uncle Tupelo in the 1980s and early '90s.
"This way, I can do any of the 200 or so songs I've written over the years,'' said Tweedy by phone from his manager's office in Chicago. "And it allows me to change it around every night, which is also part of the appeal - it'll be fun to just get up there without a firm set list.''

Coming Soon: Rhett Miller
The Money Shot: "The songs on The Believer are about sex, war, love and death . . . but mostly sex,” Rhett Miller says of The Believer, his second solo album and his Verve Forecast debut. “Before going into the studio, I thought I’d be making a punk rock Ziggy Stardust, but I wound up with George Gershwin does T. Rex's The Slider.”

Junkies' Subtle Protest
The Money Shot: "One of the things that surprises us is that not that many artists out there are commenting on it musically, which is one of the reasons we decided to go back to the songs of the '70s, because it seemed every artist was doing it back then," Anton explains. "Music has become so commercialized and corporate now that a lot of artists would be pressured not to get involved in this sort of thing."

Coming Soon: Tori Amos
The Money Shot: Six live recordings stemming from Tori Amos' spring and fall solo tours of the United States and England are being bundled together in time for the holiday shopping season. Due Dec. 6 via Epic, "The Original Bootlegs" brings together a set of discs that were released separately earlier this year and sold exclusively online, plus one that's previously unreleased.

Jimmy Page Gets His Stripes in London
The Money Shot: The famous guitarist, who Jack White is often compared with, was spotted watching the gig from the side of the stage throughout the 90 minute set. Unfortunately hopes of a duet failed to materialise because that was as close to the stage as the founding member of Led Zeppelin got.

QOTSA Playing Big & Small Gigs
The Money Shot: "The one in Austin was strange because I felt really ill. We showed up and people had been waiting inside Waterloo for an hour, and there was nothing set up at all. We had to set up in front of them watching. There was a drunk, 16-year-old girl there who tried to heckle and I had to destroy her with my telekinetic powers."

Devendra Banhart Busses Your Table?
The Money Shot: He's the wanderer, he may never drown, and he may just be fooling around. He's a man out of synch with any specific time, but he says all the right things. When asked what he would be doing if he weren't singing and playing music, he thinks a moment before concluding, "Wiping carrot dressing from your table in a restaurant."

Daltrey Next in Line To Diss Doherty
The Money Shot: "It's a waste of a life really, because he's got talent," Daltrey told the Sunday Mirror. "He seems to be feeding of it, now he's become infamous for his drug addiction he seems to think 'that's what I do so I've got to do it', it's very sad."

To hear these artists and more, click here.

Cheap Thrills 11.07.05

Damn, these MP3's sure can pile up over the weekend.
Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of those artists and would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

Friday, November 04, 2005

Friday's Random 10

One last post before I head out the door... almost forgot my random 10!
  1. I Can't Leave You - Jack Ingram
  2. Doublewide - Southern Culture on the Skids
  3. Like Eating Glass - Bloc Party
  4. Soul Refreshing - Robert Randolph & The Family
  5. Collide The Tide - Chin Up Chin Up
  6. Radio - Rancid
  7. Irrelevant - Matthew Ryan
  8. Candy Everybody Wants (live) - 10,000 Maniacs w Michael Stipe
  9. Tabloid Magazine - The Living End
  10. Persuasion (live) - Richard Thompson
Feel free to play along in the comments.

Cheap Thrills 11.04.05

Lots of goodies here... a bunch of live Decemberists, a great audience recording of an entire Stripes show in Paris, live Beck, rare Franz Ferdinand... Enjoy!

Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. In the event that you are one of those artists and would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

The Money Shot 11.04.05

I'm off to St. Louis to see my Philly bros, Marah, tonight. Any day you get to see Marah is a very, very good day...

Vek Barnstorms States
The Money Shot: The band generated a good deal of hype with packed shows in New York City, Philadelphia and Los Angeles earlier this year, and now the four-piece is aiming to take the whole country. Tom Vek's fall dates run from November 4-23, beginning at New York City's Knitting Factory and hitting 14 major cities in the U.S. and Canada. The tour wraps in California at West Hollywood's Troubadour.

X Hits the Road
The Money Shot: After successfully exorcising their well-honed honky-tonk demons by resurrecting their alt-country alter-ego the Knitters for a reunion album and tour, legendary L.A. band X is grabbing guitarist Billy Zoom and painting the town punk.

Stripes: 'Denial' in the U.K.
The Money Shot: The White Stripes are set to make live recordings from their forthcoming UK dates available to fans.The band, who kick off their sold out British dates at the Hammersmith Apollo on November 5, will record a live version of song 'The Denial Twist' every night which fans can then download

Pete Doherty: Crazy or Just Nuts?
The Money Shot: "Yes, these are the things that were haunting me since I was a kid. Hallucinations or something. Long before I took drugs. I didn't take drugs till I was quite old. I think I took a couple of bad blows to the head, and ever since I've suffered bad hallucinations from an early age."

Damon Albarn Blurs the Lines
The Money Shot: When a reporter asked him about criticisms that he was "too clever for his own good," Albarn incredulously responded: "Are they saying it's better not to be intelligent and have no knowledge of other things outside pop music? How can anyone be too clever?"

Road Trippin' with Death Cab
The Money Shot: When we first started playing, you'd look out and you'd see all your friends, that was cool. And then it was great to go to a different city and have there be no one there that you knew. So, it's been an extension of that ever since then. Now, we play in some foreign country - around the world - and you're like, "How do people know about us in Singapore?" That's strange. I don't understand that, but that's cool. I like that.

Coming Soon: Beth Orton
The Money Shot: British singer/songwriter Beth Orton will release her fourth studio album, “Comfort of Strangers,” Feb. 7 via Astralwerks. The 14-track set was produced by Jim O'Rourke (Sonic Youth, Wilco), and features his accompaniment on bass, piano and marimba in tandem with drumming from noted Chicago musician Tim Barnes.

To hear these artists and more, click here.

The Boss Circa '75 - One Night Only

If you're a Springsteen fan, circle Novemeber 14th on your calendar 'cause this is gonna be a special one-time only chance to roll back the clock 30 years and see the Boss on a big screen from 1975. Even if you aren't a big Bruce fan, you might want to check this out because it'll be a very cool way to see one of the greatest live performers at the peak of his power.

Here's the gig. To mark the release of a new 3 disc version of Born To Run complete with a DVD of the only known video footage of an entire Springsteen show from that era, they're going to do a special one-night showing of about 90 minutes of the 1975 Hammersmith Odeon show. The song list is below.
Hammersmith Odeon, 1975 Song List:
1. Saint In The City
2. She's The One
3. Born To Run
4. Rosalita
5. Detroit Medley
6. Quarter To Three
I was able to get advance tickets ($10 each) by purchasing them online through Fandango. If you're interested, I'd suggest you go to this website to find the nearest location and contact the theater for ticket details...

Good luck!

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Cheap Thrills 11.03.05

Get 'em while they're hot!
Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. In the event that you are one of those artists and would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

Sony BMG Fallout Continues

Wired Mag speaks out on the recent Sony BMG copy-protection debacle. Didn't I say that they're gonna get sued?
By deliberately corrupting the most basic functionality of their customers' computers, Sony broke the rules of fair play and crossed a bright line separating legitimate software from computer trespass. Their actions may be civilly actionable.

Sony may even have committed a crime under the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which can carry fines and prison terms for anyone who "knowingly causes the transmission of a program ... and as a result of such conduct, intentionally causes damage, without authorization, to a protected computer." Corrupting Windows so it misreports the contents of a hard drive sounds a lot like "damage," and the click-wrap license agreement on the Sony disk amounts to pretty thin "authorization" -- disclosing only that "this CD will automatically install a small proprietary software program ... intended to protect the audio files embodied on the CD."

The Money Shot 11.3.05

Coke, vicodin and the end of rock radio...

Jack & Coke
The Money Shot: "I've been offered the opportunity to write a song in a way which interests me as a songwriter. I certainly wouldn't want a song that I'd already written to be used on a commercial. That seems strange. "But to be asked to write something particular along one theme of love in a worldwide form that I'm not really used to appealed to me. I've written a song and I wrote it really quickly and it's an interesting commercial that's been made. I was inspired by the commercial."

Queens Take London on New DVD
The Money Shot: "I took enough Vicodin to kill a small child," he says with a laugh. "I didn't want to cancel again. That would have been seven shows, and people start using the word 'curse' after that."

Morrissey's Producer Brags on Next CD
The Money Shot: "I am two-thirds of the way through one of the best albums I've ever worked on, with not only Morrissey at his best, but the plot has twists and turns which somehow involve film composer Ennio Morricone and an Italian children's choir."

Shout Out Louds Hit the NY Times
The Money Shot: "I really like pop music," Mr. Olenius said, "but you have to damage it a bit to make it something new."

Sun-Times Reviews Wilco Benefit
The Money Shot: Not so long ago, the image of Tweedy grabbing the mike stand and just singing was unthinkable: He was the greasy-headed, frog-throated frontman of a roots-rock band. Here, though, he seemed vastly more comfortable with his backing players, more trusting of his urge to let space into his songs, and -- not least -- more adept as a vocalist. The greasy head remained.


and finally...

The End of Rock Radio?
The Money Shot: Unlike his bosses at Infinity, the acerbic Carolla believes K-Rock's switch from rock to talk is part of a larger trend that's likely to continue. "I don't know what year folks are living in," he says. "If you want to hear music, get an iPod. If you want to hear talk, get a radio. That's my feeling." (Or maybe a computer and Musical Justice?)

Bidding For Britney
The Money Shot: The London-based record producer/manager has taken to eBay to auction off his share of the Britney Spears single "Everytime." By his estimation, it is the first time someone has used the site to sell a copyright interest in a certified hit by an A-list artist. "I thought this would be a groundbreaking thing to do," Adams said Tuesday.

To hear these artists (except Britney) and more, click here.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Are Sony BMG Copy-protected CDs Hiding Hackerware on YOUR computer?

Sony BMG has reached a new low in their efforts to copy-protect their content. According to Brian Krebs at the Washington Post, that new Ricky Martin CD you just bought could be hiding a big nasty surprise in addition to music that sucks.

"Sony BMG has configured some of its music CDs to install antipiracy software that uses techniques typically employed by hackers and virus writers to hide the program from users and to prevent them from ever uninstalling it.

The CDs in question make use of a technique employed by software programs known in security circles as "rootkits," a set of tools attackers can use to maintain control over a computer system once they have broken in.

People may differ over what exactly a rootkit is, but the most basic ones are designed to ensure that regular PC monitoring commands and tools cannot see whatever has been planted on the victim's machine. Because rootkits generally get their hooks into the most basic level of an operating system, it is sometimes easier (and safer) to reformat the affected computer's hard drive than to surgically remove the intruder.

Sony's anti-piracy program installer pops up when you drop one of these content-protected CDs into your drive. If you agree to install it, there is no "uninstall" feature. Russinovich was able to use his knowledge of rootkits and the Windows operating system to zero in on the offending driver files needed to run the software. Unfortunately, he found that removing the program also erased the system files that power his CD-ROM drive, rendering it useless. "


Here's the blog of the guy who discovered the unauthorized program, Mark Russinovich. For those who might be interested, there is a way to disable the Autorun feature on your PC and keep a program from starting without your OK. Annoyances.org outlines it in this article.
When an Autorun-enabled CD-ROM is inserted into a CD-ROM drive, Windows automatically launches the program contained on the disk, whether you want it to or not. Similarly the audio CD player pops up whenever you insert an audio CD and starts playing it immediately. This is cute the first or second time, but soon gets infuriating. What's worse, is that if you double-click on the your CD icon in My Computer, the autorun fires up, instead of a folder window as you'd expect. This is especially irritating on slower computers, where you have to wait for what seems like an eternity for it to load some ridiculous welcome screen. Here's how to do it:

Any OS
If you hold down the Shift key when inserting the CD, the autorun is bypassed. (although it's not exactly graceful trying to insert a CD while holding down keys on the keyboard.)

There are more details on how to protect your computer from underdesired programs at that website link. There's also a more detailed examination of copy protection here by J. Alex Haldeman, a Princeton computer sciences student.

People wonder why there's a market for illegal downloads (or legal ones, for that matter)! As Krebs points out...
I understand Sony's desire to protect its intellectual property, and piracy certainly is a problem. But installing software that opens people up to further security risks and potentially destabilizes the user's computer can't be the best way to address that problem.

In truth, most antipiracy programs created thus far (and this one is no exception) place limits on legitimate users, but usually do little to prevent determined users from getting around the copy protection altogether.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if this ends up in a major class action suit that goes all the way to the Supreme Court. Mark my words.