A Solid Call 2.0

: We Have a Winner! Congrats to Dizzee Rascal on winning the Mercury Music Prize 2003 for his debut album Boy In Da Corner. I love this album, but none of my friends do.

: Video Music: It's always a pleasure to get direct video links without signing up for some site's embedded player. So that's what I got for you right now for OUTKAST!

Outkast - "Hey Ya"

Real 300 Real 56

WMA 300 WMA 56

Outkast - "The Way You Move

Real 300 Real 56

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Thanks to Arista Records for the links. This albums The Love Below and Speakerboxxx are both mad dope if you don't already know.

: Bring It On: For your enjoyment, I pass along this link to the Kill Bill Soundtrack player: http://www.maverick.com/kill-bill/. I am playing it now and it's pretty cool. With the genres, QT mixes it up. Just like I like it. I can almost feel how good the movie's going to be by the soundtrack -- but that's what the marketing is supposed to do.

: Content: I don't even know who this is... but oh well Check out these behind the scenes footage of My Morning Jacket.... http://rcarecords.com/media/my_morning_jacket/video/it_still_moves_128.ram http://rcarecords.com/media/my_morning_jacket/video/it_still_moves_128.asx http://rcarecords.com/media/my_morning_jacket/video/it_still_moves_300.ram http://rcarecords.com/media/my_morning_jacket/video/it_still_moves_300.asx http://rcarecords.com/media/my_morning_jacket/video/it_still_moves_56.ram http://rcarecords.com/media/my_morning_jacket/video/it_still_moves_56.asx

: Radiohead Rorschach: "An innocent fifth grader's picture is worth a thousand-word critical analysis." By Rob Harvilla: I saw this linked in the Epitonic Newsletter - a fantastic and hilarious piece about how a 5th grade teacher Mitsi Kato played Radiohead for her class and asked them to draw what it made them think of. "For the first few songs, the kids hardly move, scarcely even changing facial expressions. One girl plants her head on her desk face-first. The 'hold your head in your hands and look completely confused' look is extremely popular." The article includes the drawings made by the young critics. Most are pretty desolate. "I hate my life" ??? Maybe music is to blame after all. It's a really cool idea, and on top of that one fact shines brightly. There is a 5th grade teacher. Named Mitsi. Who likes Radiohead. My friend Steve may want to delve deeper into this issue.

: More Free Links: My pals at the publicity agency Girlie Action sent me some links to cool free content in the hopes that I would write a feature on these artists, but what speaks louder than the links themselves. So here you go: "I have sent you A cd by newcomer Rachel Yamagata, a fiona apple-ish singer songwriter with a goregoues [sic] lush sound who also appears on the WB's Charmed soundtrack. Check out this ecard, and let me know if you will be using this cd, and to talk about more. Thanks [...] Rachel Ecard - Rachel Ecard Other music I am working on.... + Junior Senior [Full song stream] + The Intellect DJ interviews and tutorial DVD series [Video trailer] + WB's Charmed soundtrack, being released to coincide with the show's new season-which I sent you also [Ecard] + Brookville - which features Andy Chase of the band IVY and collaborations with James Iha and others. I can offer and MP3 for download off of this record. [Ecard] + Gaby Kerpel, Moby's Agentine twin, who fuses Argentine folk music with electronics and programs, sent you that one too, to peruse... ;-) + Also sent over Bleu's "Redhead" he is on tour now with Switchfoot [Ecard]

: Exclusive Chems: In my Chemical Brothers research, I found this "rarity".. an unreleased track called "Otter Rock" from Astralwerks. It's a droning but upbeat spacy instrumental track that gets sweetly melodic. There are some extremely odd drum hits if you listen closely. Oh right... this is from the limited edition bonus disc from the singles collection.

: Video Music: I could not be more excited about this news - Palm Pictures is putting out a DVD called The Work of Director Michel Gondry. It comes out Oct 28. I am already excited about the Chemical Brothers DVD featuring his videos for the Chems which should be available any day now. "Let Forever Be" is my favorite music video of all time. So...good times. Update: Here are some links to the Chem Bros. DVD: Musicmatch, Barnes & Noble, Yahoo! Shopping.

: Live Music: As seen on FMBQ, tour dates for 311. I really can't stand 311, but my boys Alien Ant Farm are "supporting" most dates. So it could be good: go on early, and no pretentious encore. (I hate encores). Wait, San Diego is not on this list... what the...? 10/12/03 - San Bernardino, CA, California St. University 10/15/03 - San Francisco, CA, The Warfield 10/17/03 - Boise, ID, Big Easy 10/18/03 - Bozeman, MT, Valley Ice Garden 10/19/03 - Rapid City, SD, Rushmore Theatre 10/23/03 - Ypsilanti, MI, EMU Convocation Center 10/24/03 - Harrisonburg, VA, James Madison Univ. 10/26/03 - Nashville, TN, Municipal Auditorium 10/27/03 - Columbus, OH, Ohio State University 10/29/03 - Birmingham, AL, Boutwell Auditorium 10/30/03 - Orlando, FL, Hard Rock Live 10/31/03 - West Palm Beach, FL, Sound Advice Amphitheatre 11/01/03 - Tampa, FL, Vinoy Waterfront Park 11/04/03 - Clemson, SC, Clemson University 11/05/03 - Charlotte, NC, Grady Cole Center 11/06/03 - Richmond, VA, Siegel Center 11/07/03 - Winston-Salem, NC, Lawrence Joel Vet. Mem. Coliseum 11/10/03 - Portland, ME, Cumberland Civic Ctr. 11/12/03 - Worcester, MA, The Palladium 11/13/03 - Providence, RI, Dunkin Donuts Civic Center 11/14/03 - State College, PA, Bryce Jordan Center 11/15/03 - Atlantic City, NJ, Borgata Hotel / Casino 11/17/03 - Normal, IL, Illinois State University 11/22/03 - Mount Pleasant, MI, Central Michigan Univ. 11/28/03 - Asbury Park, NJ, Convention Hall

: New Music: You can stream a track from the new Unkle CD at their page on PeopleSound in the UK. I am very excited about this release, though understandably disappointed that DJ Shadow is not part of this project -- it's mostly James Lavelle and Richard File. I will pick it up as soon as I find it. Update: It's just a dumb old preview clip.

: Bloody Right, Sir Paul! New version of Beatles' "Let It Be" coming. This is exciting! Kudos for Steve Jobs for putting this out... oh wait Apple?? Doh!!

: New Music: These are the links to the Deftones "Hexagram" video, in 6 tasty flavors: http://www.maverick.com/deftones/med/deftones/deftones_hexagram_56.asx http://www.maverick.com/deftones/med/deftones/deftones_hexagram_100.asx http://www.maverick.com/deftones/med/deftones/deftones_hexagram_300.asx http://www.maverick.com/deftones/med/deftones/deftones_hexagram_56.ram http://www.maverick.com/deftones/med/deftones/deftones_hexagram_100.ram http://www.maverick.com/deftones/med/deftones/deftones_hexagram_300.ram

: The King Is Back: Elvis #1 Again! It's called Rubberneckin' baby, and that's all right with me.

: Granola Not Included: NEWS.com.au picks up a crackpot claiming that | CDs 'sound better' with fungus. A story on an aussie (pseudo?)scientist invites us to "hear [...] music in a completely fresh, possibly spine-chilling way" by spreading yogurt on a CD. Before you get too excited, know that they are not claiming an improvement in sound quality - just that you can get subtle freaky effects by sending a CD laser through a fungus fractal. The article points out that it might be a way to get new sounds to sample. I can just imagine a lawsuit against someone creating a "derivative work"... Yanni on Yoplait anyone?

: Some People Like Beck: Greg passes along this flavorful nugget from Billboard: "Beck Hitting The Studio With Dust Brothers" I suppose this is real good news for Beck fans.

: Oh Yeahhhh: No posts in a while, but I had to share this one from VH1.com: 'Macho Man' Savage Cuts Rap LP, Tells Hulk Hogan To Be A Man: "'Used to be hard, Hulk, now you just turned soft,' Savage scoffs. 'Doing telephone commercials I seen ya, dancing in tights as a ballerina/ I knew all along you had those tendencies, 'cause you been running from Macho like I had a disease.'"

: It's About Time: Universal Slashes CD Prices. "Beginning in the fourth quarter, UMG will eliminate the $16.98, $17.98 and $18.98 Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price, in favor of $12.98." I wonder what the wholesale price will be.

: Out of Whack: An amazing post over at Lawrence Lessig's blog really hits home how tilted the legal playing field is towards large corporartions. California energy companies cost the state $9 billion and pay a $1 million fine. One person shares a song online and is on the hook for $150,000. As Lessig writes, it's "cheaper to defraud Californian’s of $9 billion than download 10 songs from a p2p server." (I think he means "share" rather than "download".) It feels like a punch in the gut.

: New Music: This was passed along by Steve with the simple comment "and she's hot...": Indicia. I don't think she's that hot. Indie electronica? Update: My take: The production is very unpleasant - something in it feels like needles in my ears, but the compositions are interesting, if not hits. Indicia's vocalist rather good. Which reminds me: Whatever happened to Kosheen? Oh right a new album, Kokopelli, just came out in August -- but not in the States. I can't afford more imports, so lucky for me it's supposedly tepid shite.

: Vote Often: Warner Brothers' devious ploy to pad their Grammy voter ranks is slightly humorous, but undeniably weak.