Subject: Sound Recording Industries

• Congrats To KUCI And Cold War Kids...

  ..for honorable nominations in this year's Plug Awards. Wha Plug? Indie backpatters sez: PLUG is different from all of the institutional accolades for the music industry – the American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Radio Music Awards, GRAMMY Awards, Teen Choice Awards, MTV Music Awards, etc. etc. Those are all devoted to recognizing the mainstream hits. Very rarely do these honors reach, let alone embrace, independent music or the community of artists and fans who now represent mo

  November 15, 2006

• R.I.P. CDs

  A recent article from The Lefsetz Letter site waxes foreboding about the CD's imminent demise and the inevitable restructuring of the music industry. Reading it induces a bit of schadenfreude in anyone who remembers when record companies introduced the format in the early '80s. Major-label moguls proclaimed that the CD would make us all eagerly dispose of our vinyl, as the smaller silvery disc promised "perfect sound forever." Turned out that forecast was awry, as CDs proved merely to offer "imp

  June 6, 2007

• For Sale: Sympathy for the Record Industry

  After putting in 19 years and releasing over 750 records, Long Gone John is fixing to sell his Long Beach-based label, Sympathy for the Record Industry. He’s asking for $650,000, which is a downright steal, if you take into account the rich back catalog. The price includes all of SFTRI’s assets (master tapes, existing stock, distribution deals, website and mail-order business). The company—which is a beloved haven for underground garage, psych and punk rock—had an uncanny knack for snag

  July 23, 2007

• Rick Rubin: Music Biz Savior?

  The New York Times Magazine's Lynn Hirschberg ponders this crucial matter and concludes that Rubin, the Def Jam impresario/producer (Jay-Z, Beastie Boys, Slayer, Dixie Chicks, Johnny Cash and 17,000 others) who's now employed by Columbia Records, just may be the mensch to prevent this Titanic from sinking. Or is he merely rearranging the deck chairs on said vessel? I dunno; I can't think of anything right now except for Rubin's beard... But seriously, the feature's interesting, especially if

  September 4, 2007

• Radiohead to Release New Album, Shift Paradigm (Possibly)

  October 1, 2007

• "Vinyl May Be Final Nail in CD's Coffin”

  Oh, sweet, sweet irony. Remember in the mid-'80s when major labels crowed about how the advent of compact discs would hasten the death of vinyl? A quarter century later, it looks like the (turn)tables are reversed: vinyl's popularity is resurgent while the CD's fortunes are looking as bleak as Iraq's, according to this article in Wired by Eliot Van Buskirk. Vinyl's sonic superiority long has been an axiom among audiophiles and Neil Young; now the format's popularity is rising, along with sal

  October 29, 2007

• The 2007 Idolator Critics Poll

  Two irrefutable facts about music critics: they have opinions about the shit they've heard over the course of a year and they're ever so lovable. Okay, maybe one irrefutable fact. Anyway, music blog Idolator has tabulated the results of nearly 500 music scribes for its second annual critics poll, and the outcome may be of interest to the geekier readers of Heard Mentality. You can find my ballot here. Take notes, whip out your credit card and get purchasing, so as to help the terminally ail

  January 28, 2008

• The Grammys: Drunk on Winehouse

  Every year the Grammy Awards ceremony proves—among other things—how far out of step my tastes are with mainstream music, a state of affairs with which I came to terms, oh, in the early '80s. It also reveals the dearth of imagination/adventurousness of the nominating committee. Most of the music that charts and excites people of mainstream sensibilities just strikes me as bland and insipid. Must be the way I'm hard-wired. I like weird, edgy shit, generally speaking, the sort of stuff the powe

  February 11, 2008

• The Raconteurs Rush Release Album Next Week

  In a further swipe at the face of Music Industry giants, The Raconteurs have announced the release of their sophomore album... next Tuesday. No promoting. “March 25 became the soonest date to have it available in EVERY FORMAT AT ONCE. The band have done no interviews or advertisements for this record before this announcement. The group added that they wanted the sudden release so that everyone, fans and media, got the record at the same time “so that no one has an upper hand on anyone e

  March 18, 2008

• Because You're Ugly: Heard Mentality Edition

  This alternative to the oh-so-boring standard briefcase is made of printed polyester with leather accents and a purple interior. Although probably not appropriate for every office job, the Boombox Briefcase should definitely be noted by those working in the lucrative music industry or “alternative” office jobs (yay, Weekly!) where something like this could fly. Designed by Paul Smith, this rockin’ beauty will set you back a cool $425. Unfortunately that means most people in “alterna

  April 2, 2008

• What a Bunch of Knobs

  Dynamics—they used to be a given in recordings cut during the analog era. Now, apparently, we need an organized body to notify the music industry's tastemakers and consumers weaned on MP3s that a song not compressed to hell is not fatally flawed. What the fucking fuck?! Read all about this tragic state of affairs here, while the old grump typing this post tries to decompress (rimshot). The money quotes from Turn Me Up!™'s manifesto: Turn Me Up!™ is a non-profit music industry organiz

  June 10, 2008

• Vinyl Considered Groovy—Again

  An employee at a Fred Meyer store in Portland, Oregon mistakenly ordered vinyl LPs of R.E.M.'s latest album, Accelerate, instead of the CD-DVD version, and a funny thing happened: 20 of the vinyl copies sold the first day they were put on the shelves. Now this retailer is going to stock the format that the music industry hoped would die a quarter century ago in 60 of its stores in Oregon, Washington and Alaska. “It's not just a nostalgia thing," Melinda Merrill, spokeswoman for Fred Meyer,

  June 20, 2008

• Napster Up Your Asster

  June 29, 2000

• Righteous Riffage

  August 3, 2000

• LowBallVideoChatter: LynnMarie & the Boxhounds, "Squeeze Box" (plus Grammy rant)

  God, I hate the stupid fucking Grammy Awards, an annual music industry wank-off that I've seriously been railing against ever since I was 12 -- in 1980, the year wus-pop icon Christopher Cross swept all the big awards, beating out classic recordings like Pink Floyd's The Wall (which somehow flew under the radar of crotchity Grammy voters to score an Album of the Year nomination) and the Clash's London Calling (which wasn't nominated for a single damned thing. The Clash were finally given an hono

  December 4, 2008

• [Sound Guy] The Union Line and Avi Buffalo: Signed, Sealed, Hopefully Delivered

  October 22, 2009

• The End Times Are Near, and the Race to Hell Tour Hurries Them Up

  September 18, 2008

• OC/LBC Bands Head to South By Southwest

  March 12, 2009

• Del the Funky Homosapien Gives It Up for Free

  April 2, 2009

• [Aural Reports] Garden Grove-Based Online Shop Smartpunk Serves the Savvy Punk/Metal Fan

  August 7, 2008

• A Week of Bad Manners

  November 4, 1999

• Aural Reports

  The Past Is Prologue: Bill Davidow readies for the Next Big Thing

  September 13, 2007

• Royalty Pains and Net Prophets

  As online radio faces possible financial doom, Pandora thinks outside the box

  June 21, 2007

• Trying Not to Cough It Up

  Fishbone

  May 24, 2007

• Working-Class Heroes

  Radio Saints claim to be the peoples band

  March 29, 2007

• Medusa; LD & Ariano; Hochii

  April 23, 2009

• Black Kids

  The Glass House

  April 23, 2009

• It Was Free Cuz I Stole It

  WEB EXCLUSIVE!: The Year In Unfair Shares

  December 28, 2006

• Vinyl Countdown

  August 31, 2006

• Old School That Way

  DJ Quik on and off the charts

  June 8, 2006

• Best Mogul

  Long Gone John

  October 20, 2005

• To Major-Label Hell and Back

  January 8, 2004

• Pounding Out The Passion

  December 11, 2003

• The Fly Life

  September 25, 2003

• KaZaA Kiddie Porn?

  September 25, 2003

• Confabulous!

  September 4, 2003

• Downloaded

  October 17, 2002

• Falling Up

  March 28, 2002

• All Rise Together

  January 17, 2002

• We Gotta Get Out of This Place

  June 28, 2001

• Your Rainy-Day Reader

  March 15, 2001

• Cashed Out

  February 22, 2001

• Were Bad, Were Worldwide

  November 23, 2000

• What's Buzzing Through the Skulls of Orange County

  May 18, 2000

• The Launching Fad

  February 24, 2000

• House in Motion

  December 23, 1999

• Hes Big in Germany

  June 17, 1999

• Konstitutional Krisis

  September 10, 1998

• Ways Record Companies and Bands Rip You Off

  October 19, 2000

• High Profile Ex-OC Prosecutor Launches Private Practice

  Defense Attorney Brian GurwitzBrian Gurwitz, a former top local prosecutor, announced this week that he is opening a solo private practice for both criminal defense and civil clients.While in the Orange County District Attorney's office for 13 years, Gurwitz worked on numerous high-profile cases including ones against Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo (misuse of office), Superior Court Judge Ronald Kline (child pornography) and the infamous Haidl gang rape trial. He's testified as a legal exper

  June 9, 2009