CHIRP: Chicago Independent Radio Project

Dan Wallace is….
Posted by Dustin D. on September 8, 2008 around 11am

Seeing as my house is on the corner of a fairly busy intersection here in Chicago, I tend to get a LOT of flyers and menus stuck to my door. Most times it’s just another Thai or Pizza place wanting me to order their delivery. Yesterday however I got something slightly out of the ordinary. Tucked nicely into my door frame was a 4×9 card advertising an upcoming CD release show show for an artist named Dan Wallace at Martyrs’.

There was a nifty little press quote that describes Wallace’s music: “If you listen to Dungen, The Shins, The Eels and Zappa, then add this man to your collection of unerring folk pop music.” - Glasswerk National.

Admittedly i’ve never heard of Glasswerk National, but I do like Dungen and the Shins….not sure how Zappa fits into the equation.

As with most things (ok, everything) stuck to my door, I was about to throw this away, when I noticed a hand written note on the back side
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Indie rockers: lazy and selfish?
Posted by Tony TB on September 5, 2008 around 2pm

According to a new study from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh:

Indie: Devotees have low self-esteem and are not very hard-working, kind or generous.
However, they are creative.

My experience has been a little different.

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Dear Radio
Posted by Carolina W. on September 2, 2008 around 11am

Dear Radio,

You’ve changed. You’ve left me wondering why I need to hear ‘I’m Bringing Sexy Back’ 20 times a day. Perhaps Shakira’s ‘Hips Don’t Lie’, Rhianna needs her ‘Umbrella’ and it is ‘Too Late to Apologize’ but my ears bleed from your bland, repetitive and mindless melodies.

Do you remember what you were born to do? Do you remember when you weren’t watered down? Think about the Fireside chat or Ike’s farewell speech. Remember? How can we be better? Can you express your uncensored views, your dissent, or maybe just the local news? Sure I listen to your Public Radio, it is my muse, luring me into traffic and weather.

Could we have that again? Can we start over? It was so thoughtful when you split from AM and she let me have you completely. I could find you everywhere, all over the dial, happily singing with melodies so soothing, with words so righteous. AM was generous, she saved you from Rush Limbaugh, Imus and Jerry Farwell. FM, I know this brings back some fond memories. Are you there, can you hear me? Please reflect on what we had; consider coming back to a free, expressive state.

Have you been sleeping with someone else?
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Pandora May Pulling The Plug Due To Increasing Royalty Rates
Posted by Julio P. on September 2, 2008 around 10am

It’s becoming clear that the crunch is on to remove the influence Web radio is having on the music industry. The promotion and distribution channels have been disrupted, and the recording industry is making every effort to regain control, so they can peddle homogeneity in a medium that is anything but. The RIAA has been at it for a while and it looks like the disproportionate fees levied against Webcasters is beginning to effect one of the more popular Webcasting services around.

Because of the increased royalty rates going into effect next year, fans of Pandora may find their personalized radio stations shut down as the fees begin to reach nearly 70 percent of Pandora’s projected revenue. The per song royalty rates, according to a ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board, have increased from 8 cents in 2006 to 14 cents in 2008, and is set to increase an additional 4 cents starting in 2009. This is an immense cost for a service like Pandora, which allows for hundreds of thousands of songs to be played simultaneously, unlike traditional radio where one song is played at any given time. 2009 was slated to be the first year Pandora would rise above operating costs, but due to the increased royalty rates pushed through by the RIAA, Pandora founder Tim Westegren has been quoted as saying, “we’re approaching a pull-the-plug kind of decision.”
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Know your enemy and know yourself
Posted by Dustin D. on August 27, 2008 around 9am

“Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.” ~Sun Tzu

It’s absolutely no secret that I hate the Counting Crows. And it should come as no surprise that I also hate Adam Duritz, his stupid puffy face and his ridiculous white boy dreads. That being said, a friend recently sent me this:

Which of course led me to search and see if there were MORE idiots willing to emblazon my enemy on their skin.
Turns out there is.
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Who brought a gun to band practice?
Posted by Dustin D. on August 19, 2008 around 4pm

I have listened to a lot of exceptionally weird music in my day. I’m not saying that to brag in any way, but seriously, in my music collection you’ll find such exceptional gems as Shooby Taylor the Human Horn, Farmers Manual using the hum of refrigerators as their source material, Matmos sampling plastic surgery tools on A Chance To Cut (which is on Matador of all labels), or the Sonic Catering Band, which as their name implies play “music” by contact micing dinner parties.

So in line with my love of absurd music, the photo below makes me wonder at how awesome this band might actually sound…. (more…)

Reg Kehoe and His Marimba Queens
Posted by Dustin D. on August 18, 2008 around 3pm

In the early days of “soundies”, movie makers often found larger-than-life vaudeville style musicians like Roy Smeck to showcase the medium. I’m a gigantic sucker for the musicians of the 30s and 40s as the level of musicianship is of a quality that is rarely seen today. Luckily alongside such amazing record labels as Yazoo, a smattering of archival film preserves this amazing period in music.
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Elastica Setlist
Posted by Dustin D. on August 18, 2008 around 10am

In the mid 90s, amongst a small and relatively cool group of my friends there was this whole anglophile divide between fans of Oasis and fans of Blur. I was most definitely in the Blur camp, as I felt they were much more weird and punky than their middle of the road competitors. Somewhere in all that Brit-Rock fever was the band Elastica who released their self-titled album in 1995. I’ll readily admit that I thought Connection was an incredibly fun and catchy song made even more appealing by the fact that I found Elastica’s lead singer Justine to be incredibly dreamy.

The group played a show in Chicago on June 3rd of 1995, which I sadly did not attend. I did however attend their 2nd show that year, which was on October 31st at the Metro. This was in the days of my overzealous youth, so of course I arrived as soon as doors opened, and staked my front row realty. Near the end of the show, Justine invited the crowd to join the band on stage, and she reached her hand down to help me up. The stage filled quickly and as the band tore into Connection I jumped around like a madman….giddy with the excitement of dancing on stage with Justine. Years later, in a box of old papers, I found that I had snagged the setlist from the stage that night, and I present it to you here.
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The Birth of Buttflower
Posted by Dustin D. on August 11, 2008 around 10am

The final day of the Pitchfork Music Festival 2008, was a hot and sweaty affair filled with an exceptional array of talent. As the day wore on, folks hoping to catch a set by Cut Copy were told that the band had been delayed at the airport. Many immediately filed away in hopes of catching a prime spot for Spoon who were playing at the opposite side of the festival. Those who stayed were treated to an impromptu set by a band comprised of King Khan (of King Khan & the Shrines), Bradford Cox (Deerhunter), and Jered from the Ponys on drums. At first the band struggled through perhaps one of the worst renditions of a Bo Diddley song ever played. But as more and more people left the stage area, the band got better and better. At one point they were joined on vocals by Jay Reatard, who tore himself into a fit, flailing about wildly while writing on the ground. After his guest stint, Jay Reatard retreated to the side of the stage, only to emerge later with a bouquet of flowers that a fan had brought up for King Khan. Jay Reatard promptly pulled down his pants and stuck the flowers into his butt before throwing the flowers into the audience. Stage hands wrangled him back behind one of the speakers where they stood guard to make sure he did not make another appearance.

Witness the birth….of Buttflower
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The Homage Thing
Posted by Luscious Gris on August 11, 2008 around 10am

The tribute album came and went. Now it’s more aptly termed a “trite homage” album. The same vaguely indie bands show up, the same non-indie bands that don’t mind some extra cash, the same regrettably uninspired targets. What deserves a bit of attention in this calculus is: what is homage?

The Webster Dictionary defines it thus:

Pronunciation:
\ˈä-mij, ˈhä-\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English, from Anglo-French homage, omage, from home man, vassal, from Latin homin-, homo human being; akin to Old English guma human being, Latin humus earth
Date:
14th century
1 a: a feudal ceremony by which a man acknowledges himself the vassal of a lord b: the relationship between a feudal lord and his vassal c: an act done or payment made in meeting the obligations of vassalage
2 a: expression of high regard : RESPECT —often used with pay b: something that shows respect or attests to the worth or influence of another : TRIBUTE

Let us then pause to consider what would rightly constitute a recorded testimony to the worth or influence of an artist. One might write and record a song in the style of person being paid homage, implying some core truth in the adage that the sincerest form of flattery is mimicry. It would appear that writers enjoy this form of homage from time to time, visual artists do not, and musicians are somewhere in between.
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