Feist Music Video Explodes My Brain

Has anybody noticed that most music videos suck out loud now? If you flip to MTV, you've only got a 1 in 5,000 chance of actually seeing a video instead of some kind of bizarre faux-reality show. If you win the cable lottery and catch a video, it's probably just strobe lights or a 4 minute close-up of spinners (maybe with a few strobe lights for good measure.) Where are the great music videos of our time? Where are our Thrillers? Our Virtual Insanities? Well I just caught the full version of Feist's video for "1 2 3 4" off her new album The Reminder and it's one-shot glory gave me new hope in music videos. Check it:

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Amazon launches new MP3 download service

Cheap and quick - it's how all of us expect to get our music delivered nowadays. Internet megasite Amazon.com has released their new service, AmazonMP3 to meet our expectations. Rivaling other services like iTunes, Rhapsody, and Napster, AmazonMP3 aims to provide a plethora of music downloads for relatively low prices. With currently over 2 million songs, there is surely something to please everyone. What's the difference between this and iTunes? Not everybody has an iPod, and therefore not everybody uses iTunes. The great thing about AmazonMP3 is that it provides DRM-free files that can be played in any media player and on any media device. Also, like other services, AmazonMP3 provides all the necessities - 30 second samples for each song, embedded album art, and high quality sounds. The best part, however, is the difference in price. Here is a chart comparing it to iTunes and Napster:

Service	Song price	Album price	File format
iTunes	$0.99	$9.99	AAC
Napster	$0.99	$9.95	WMA
AmazonMP3	$0.89-$0.99	$6.99-$9.99	MP3

What's the catch? There isn't really a catch per se, but the service does require you to download the Amazon MP3 Downloader software onto your computer. Fortunately, this is a quick and painless process. You simply choose your artist and song, pay for it using your Amazon account, and the download automatically begins in the MP3 Downloader. High download speeds will get you your music before you know it. Happy downloading! Link: AmazonMP3.com

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Currently listening to

	Atreyu
	Our Sick Story

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British Sea Power release new track

This summer I found myself asking anyone I knew if they had heard anything about British Sea Power lately. After two stunning releases they seemed to have slipped off the radar. Well, today I was granted a present while scouring the music message boards: "New British Sea Power Track: Free download" HELL YEAH! So I've listened to the song a handful of times already and it really does deserve multiple listens. I'm not going to flesh out a review because it's only one song. All I can say is don't be fooled by the Strokes-y guitar and bass... BSP offer much more. So download it already: British Sea Power - Atom (Right/Control click and select "Save to disk" to download the 6.5MB MP3 file)

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L.A. Not The Weirdest City (...at least not musically)

As a place known for its crabs (yum), murder rate (1 every 29 hours), and football (we don't talk about the O's when they suck), BALTIMORE sure has a weird music scene. Imagine a city sprawled out on a harbor full of east coast history and urban decay. The ingredients: 2 cups Prep 3 pints Gangster 1 tbs. Suburbia 4 oz. Business 1/2 cup Homeless 1 Dash of Old Bay 2 Pinches of Art It kind of makes you wonder how such a city spawned bands and artists that are so far removed from the norm (or maybe it's exactly the kind of place you'd expect anything but the norm). Oddness aside, growing up in the suburbs, I wasn't even aware a music scene existed in Bal'mor. I mean, we had maybe four music venues, a couple of rock fests, and that Orchestra my parents raised me on (not to mention the Peabody Choir I sang in... I got beat up a lot...). Who knew there was a quirky collection of artists hiding amongst the ghettoed victorian row houses and towering concrete business structures. It wasn't until I moved to such a vibrantly musical city like Los Angeles that I started to notice how a lot of the music I was getting into out here was actually coming from my good ol' hometown of Baltimore... and it was the oddest of the odd. Dan Deacon (video below), Animal Collective (all over KSCR airwaves), Spank Rock (nasty lyrics indeed), Cex (mp3), Frank Zappa (duh, he's a freak), and Beach House (tamest of them all), just to name a few Bmore artists that have been receiving more and more attention, both from me and the rest of the music universe. Even Tupac kind of got started in Baltimore (do some research). With the exception of Pac and Beach House, you have yourself some of the weirdest (or most brilliantly unique?) people making music ever. Maybe L.A. isn't the place for you, Mr. Hipster. That is to say, even Pitchfork did a special on Whartscape. If it's the one of a kind you want blasting through your stereo, scaring all those mainstream listeners away, then head to Baltimore and pick up a demo off the street. It seems like it might be weirder than anything you'll hear here... Unless you go to the Neighboorhood Fest. Here's Dan Deacon performing without a crazy crowd fucking up the video (youtube some more vids of this guy and you'll know what i mean).

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