Bandcamp app

Bandcamp now has it's own iphone and android app

As ever, Bandcamp get it pretty much spot on:-

- generally seems easy to use and it all works properly

- the app itself is less than 1MB.

- it seems to be perfectly happy streaming albums over 3G. It worked fine when I was sat at my desk at work. Was even more impressed to find I could walk into town to get my lunch and go in and out of shops etc without a single glitch.

- it's really good on privacy as it only asks for network access instead of full access to everything on the phone like some apps do.

Ecocide - Eye Of Wicked Sight

Sounds a bit like a slightly more straight forward, thrashier Death

Los Pecadores - Escape From Uranus (surf)

One for fans of Man Or Astroman?, Satan's Pilgrims, The Huntington Cads, Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet, Estrus Records, Dionysus Records, The Ventures, Dick Dale, Surfaris etc etc.

Total surf worship. Maximum reverb on the guitars and silly sci-fi samples.

The soundtrack to an evening in a tiki bar that's been squatted by punks. Cocktails served in halved coconuts and umbrellas but with Buckfast as the main ingredient.

The LP is limited to a mere 100 copies so be quick.

Vampire - s/t 7" (death metal)

One of the highlights of Live Evil fest. Hadn't heard of them before but they were great live. Real presence. Swedish death metal stuff. Lovely.

Satanic Dystopia - Double Denim Shotgun Massacre

Another bit of heavy metal for Live Evil. One of Fenriz's bands of the week so that's a somewhat trustworthy seal of approval. Raw thrashings.

Midnight - Satanic Royalty (Hell's Headbangers)

Bought this a while back but never got round to reviewing it. Posting it now as I'm off to see them at Live Evil fest. Midnight are in the vein of Venom/Bathory/Judas Priest etc. Heavy fucking metal.

The Love Triangle - Clever Clever

Messy, scuffy power-pop stuff. The label blurb explains it quite well:-

Heretofore, the Love Triangle's recordings have been marked by a particularly raw, aggressive, and even ugly take on classic power pop. Sure, the choruses were huge, but the recordings were ear-splittingly raw and aggressive. However, they've changed things up a bit for their first long-player, opting for a cleaner recording that assures nothing is lost in the translation to wax. The essential elements are still there--Tim's four-on-the-floor drumming, Josh's meandering walking bass lines, and Louis's thrillingly melodic vocals and guitar--but you can actually hear them all rather than just inferring their presence through a wall of feedback and fuzz. The effect is a full-length that recalls the classic songwriting of Nuggets greats like the Electric Prunes and the Seeds as much as it does the more melodic end of the '77 set like Protex, the Lurkers, and the Boys. An LP so good that we don't even need to tell you this is ex-Shitty Limits to get you to buy it.

There's a genuine bit of songwriting nouse going on here under the jerkiness and fuzz. Good stuff.

Plini - Sweet Nothings

Instrumental widdly tech prog-metal stuff. Coming from a similar place to Sithu Aye, Chon and Save Us From The Archon. However, it's also got a bit of a 70s/80s yacht rock thing going on as well. You could imagine it as the background music in Diagnosis Murder for a flashy guy driving a Ferrari. Or maybe Columbo going into some exclusive hotel swimming pool bar on Hawaii in the 70s.

Connections - Body Language

Bit of a Guided By Voices thing going on. Just great, slightly rough indie tuneage. I'd recommend trying Late Shift as a taster. Had that on repeat a few times.

For some reason there's no option to buy it. In the unlikely event of any of the vinyl making it's way to the UK I'd probably buy the LP. However, not going to bother getting crappy mp3s from amazon/itunes. Oh well.

Motion Sickness Of Time Travel - The Perennials

pleasant synthesizer doings

Culo - My Life Sucks And I Could Care Less (Deranged)

For some reason I'd written this off as yet another generic d-beat 'noise' punk thing. My mistake. It's more like Career Suicide or something like that. Hardcore with a bit of actual songwriting going on in the riffs.

The intro is doing my head in because I'm sure I recognise it. Sounds like Delia Derbyshire or John Baker or one of those other BBC Radiophonic Workshop people. If they made it themselves then they definitely need to do an album of that kind of stuff.

Vhol - s/t (Profound Lore)

Okily dokily, this is on Profound Lore and it's got John Cobbett of Hammers Of Misfortune playing guitar. That alone should tell you how good this Vhol record is.

What about this from the press release?

What VHOL have created is a whirlwind of upbeat raw, un-polished vicious cross-pollination where old-school hardcore, dbeat fury and punk collide with classic old-school metal (‘70s era Judas Priest meets “Show No Mercy” era Slayer/”Kill Em All” era Metallica).

It's all that and more. One of the most unique metal records I've heard in ages. They totally create their own sound. Y'know, actual creativity rather than just being a pastiche of an older, better band.

Man Or Astroman? download card

Went to see the reformed Man Or Astroman? the other night. They were fucking awesome.

On the merch table they had something I hadn't seen before but have long argued bands should have - download cards! A fiver for their new album. Half the price of the CD and a 1/3 of the price of the LP.

Portal - Vexovoid (Profound Lore)

Hurrah! Profound Lore have finally put this up on their bandcamp page. Works out at about a fiver in proper money. Worth every penny. Listened to my soulseeked copy on my headphones loads.

If you're unaware, Portal are filthy filthy filthy death metal. Filthy, fucked up and weird. They have a penchant for dressing up as possessed grandfather clocks and demented catholic priests.

They're music is just as bizarre. Certainly not run of the mill death metal stuff. It oozes and pulses in a quite peculiar way.

Beast As God (Unruh/Catharsis/Acme worship)

Beast As God = total Unruh/Catharsis/Acme/Integrity etc worship. They've got a demo coming out soon on Viral Age. Heard an unmixed/unmastered version and it's definitely going to kick your head off. In the meantime, this little live clip will have to suffice.

Ex-Dead In The Woods by the way

LSE report on filesharing concludes that it really isn't killing the music industry

The London School of Economics has whole load of research into digital media.

They've just issued a new report on the effects of filesharing called Copyright and Creation: A Case For Promoting Inclusive Online Sharing. It shows that the music industry really isn't dying and that filesharing isn't killing it.

Obviously, the music industry likes to point out that orange line showing the decline in recorded music sales. That blue line at the top, however, shows that overall revenue is increasing. The LSE's argument is that the mid-2000s slump was due to the music industry sticking their heads in the sand about digital distribution and that the uptick at the end shows they're getting their head around the idea.

And here's the bit showing how much digital has increase:-

And here's a few key lines from the report:-

"The music industry may be stagnating, but the drastic decline in revenues warned of by the lobby associations of record labels is not in evidence. "

The music industry has experienced overall revenue growth in recent times. In 2013, for the first time, UK revenues from online music were higher than revenues from CDs and vinyl combined (55% for online and 45% for CDs and vinyl of total revenues from sales of recorded music)

Revenue from online sources including recorded music sales, streaming, online radio, subscriptions and other is increasing, both absolutely and as a percentage of overall revenue.

Insisting that people will only produce creative works when they can claim exclusive ownership rights ignores the spread of practices that depend on sharing and co-creation and easy access to creative works; this insistence privileges copyright owners over these creators.

Targeting individual internet users is not likely to reverse the trend toward an online sharing culture, and there is an urgent need for independent verification of claims of harm to the creative industries as a result of individual copyright.

Vladislav Delay

Fact Mag have a rather good run down of the essential Vladislav Delay.. From that, I discovered that Vladislav Delay has a bandcamp page with loads of his albums and EPs on.

Vladislav Delay is pretty much essential if you're into electronic music and the more experimental end of techno. it's all ridiculously well produced and thought out.

Worth tracking down the issue of The Wire with a massive interview with him. Just look at these pictures of his studio!