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Category Archives: Music

Ownership vs. Subscription Economy

by Kevin D. Hendricks

I’ve realized lately the entertainment industry is undergoing a pretty radical shift.

Duh.

OK, so this isn’t ground-breaking territory. But I’m seeing the implications in my daily life much more than I have before.

So there are a few ways to get entertainment content, which vary slightly depending on medium:

  • Experience – You go somewhere and you experience your entertainment. This happens primarily with music and movies. You go somewhere and either watch a movie or see a concert. You’re paying for a one-time experience. I suppose this method has pre-dated all technology.
  • Broadcast – The entertainment is free, but you have to watch ads. This is the commercial-supported model of TV and radio. Again, you’re only getting a one-time experience.
  • Ownership – As media has become cheaper and smaller, ownership has become a relatively recent option. You can purchase your entertainment in your preferred medium and enjoy it as long as you like.
  • Subscription – This is the newest model championed by Netflix and Hulu Plus for movies/TV and Spotify for music, among others. You pay a monthly fee and get access to a nearly endless archive of on-demand music, TV and movies.

… Read more

4 Comments | Posted: March 12, 2013 | Filed Under: Books, Movies, Music, Technology, TV | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Free Christmas Music 2011

by Kevin D. Hendricks

I like Christmas music and I like free music, so I must double-like free Christmas music. And yes, I do. I’ve shared some free Christmas music in the past, but this year there are a few offerings worth mentioning:

  • Justin McRoberts: Right now you can get the Christmas Songs EPs from acoustic folk rocker Justin McRoberts for free from NoiseTrade. You do need to hand over your ZIP and an email, but otherwise it’s free. One of Justin’s songs made it on my top 5 list of Christmas songs, so it’s worth checking out.
  • Eisely: Over at Facebook you can download the Dupree Family Christmas Bundle, which is a collection of Christmas songs recorded over the years by members of the Texas-based band Eisley. How to describe Eisley? Hmmm… female-fronted, melodic-melancholy rock with a lot of harmonies?
  • Amazon’s Advent Calendar of Free Christmas Music: Every year Amazon gives away a song a day until Christmas for 25 days of free music. Some of it is worth a pass, but there are some gems here, including something for all tastes. We’re talking Bing Crosby to Twisted Sister, Leigh Nash (of Sixpence None the Richer) to the Flaming Lips, and Brian Wilson to Fitz and the Tantrums. Give it a try.
  • Five Iron Frenzy: OK, it’s not very Christmasy (at all), but I’d be remiss not to mention the new Five Iron Frenzy (they’re back) single you can get for free: “It Was a Dark and Stormy Night.” It’s free and it’s close to Christmas, so let’s call it a Christmas present. (OK, if you really want some Five Iron Christmas, you’ll have to shell out for “Gotta Get Up.”)

Hope you enjoy yourself some free Christmas music.

And if you’re up for spending a few bucks on your Christmas music, I strongly recommend the Sufjan Stevens’ Songs for Christmas. I could rock around the Christmas tree to that indie-rock wonder collection all night long.

0 Comments | Posted: December 19, 2011 | Filed Under: Music | Tags: , , , ,

Five Iron Frenzy Is Back

by Kevin D. Hendricks

The Internet and the power of social media has breathed new life into the corpse of disbanded and broken bands, allowing reunions of the long lost music of your youth. When record company economics made it too difficult for those struggling bands, the Internet has found a way. Of all the recent reunions, none has excited me more than the rise of Five Iron Frenzy. And none has garnered the stories.

A ska-driven, nerd-core band of Christians, Five Iron Frenzy haunted the edges of the Christian music scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s, never quite finding full acceptance due to the two extremes of their off-beat humor and honest explorations of faith. But they had a rabid fan base.

That fan base proved itself by supporting Five Iron’s return, fully funding their Kickstarter goal of $30,000 in just 55 minutes. The band has since raised nearly $170,000 from more than 2,700 fans to fund their next album and tour. You have until Jan. 21 to support their effort.

Plus, you can get a new song, “It Was a Dark and Stormy Night,” for free.

In typical Five Iron fashion, it’s all a little weird. The headlining video on Kickstarter—usually a crucial marketing piece that should be well planned and produced—is a nearly 8 minutes of Five Iron lead singer Reese Roper wandering around in the desert pretending to be on a survivor show. It’s not until the final minutes that he actually talks about the reunion. Or there’s the second Kickstarter video from drummer Andy Verdecchio, a much shorter and—if possible—weirder video that tries to spoof pledge videos. (Though from the times I’ve interviewed both Roper and Verdecchio, I wouldn’t expect anything else. One time I was interviewing Verdecchio and two other band members and Verdecchio never said a serious thing in the entire interview.) There’s also the Relevant magazine interview with Roper made it sound like the band got back together because they had nothing better to do.

But it’s also Five Iron. Glad to have them back.

0 Comments | Posted: December 15, 2011 | Filed Under: Music | Tags: ,

M83 Backup Singer Audition

by Kevin D. Hendricks

So the other day I watched this video of a guy trying out to be a backup singer for M83. I don’t know anything about M83, but it was kind of a funny video. The best part is that Lexi and Milo were watching it with me and started singing along.

A few days later, the song, “Midnight City,” came on the Current and Lexi and Milo both started singing the backup part. Hilarous.

New in Nov: M83 Vocal Audition (Nov 3rd) from DaveAOK on Vimeo.

0 Comments | Posted: November 10, 2011 | Filed Under: Children, Music | Tags: , ,

Third World Symphony: Just One Song

by Kevin D. Hendricks

A friend of mine*, Shaun Groves, released an album yesterday. It’s called Third World Symphony and it’s pretty good. I scored an early digital copy on Kickstarter and got my CD in the mail yesterday. I am 1 of 462 unique fans.

Gosh I love the new music industry.

Anyway, I think you should check out Shaun’s album. It’s good stuff. But rather than point you to the entire album, I think you should just check out one song. It’s called “Enough.” It features a whoop (the word ‘ruckus’ comes to mind), fine mandolin picking (do you pick a mandolin?) and some nice rises and falls that just make it shine. Take a listen:

Enough by shaungroves

The rest of the album isn’t quite like that (the ruckus part), but it’s still good (lots of mandolin pickin’). So check it out.

*While Shaun Groves is a (soft) rock star, I’ve also had dinner** with him and talked to him on the phone, so I think that qualifies as a friend.

**If “dinner” qualifies as a cherry Coke and some chips and queso at Chili’s. He offered to buy me dinner***, but I wasn’t that hungry.

***OK, now I’m just bragging. Sorry.

1 Comment | Posted: August 31, 2011 | Filed Under: Music | Tags: ,

Why I Love The Current

by Kevin D. Hendricks

It’s pledge drive time again at Minnesota Public Radio, which means my default station, 89.3 FM The Current, is full of pleas for cash. But that’s OK because The Current is the best music station ever. When people say radio is dead, they don’t listen to The Current.

I’m not a big fan of pledge drives. I can’t listen when the news side of MPR does their pledge drive. But I can endure it for The Current, mainly because they make it fun. It also helps that I’m a founding and sustaining member, so no guilt.

While listening to their pledge spiel today I started thinking about all the great bands and music I’ve discovered thanks to The Current. Here’s a quick list of music I discovered thanks to The Current (in no particular order):

Arthur Yoria, Arcade Fire, The Postal Service, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Death Cab for Cutie, Rilo Kiley, The Magnetic Fields, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Cloud Cult, Sondre Lerche, Mark Mallman, Kaiser Chiefs, The Heavy, Hot Hot Heat, The Raconteurs, Nada Surf, Rainer Maria, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Gossip, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Cold War Kids, M.I.A., The Fratellis, Regina Spektor, Bloc Party, The Big Pink, Art Brut, MGMT, Metric, Mumford & Sons, Avett Brothers, Gogol Bordello, Jonsi, Lady Sovereign, Ladyhawke, Lily Allen, The Decemberists, The Rural Alberta Advantage, The Thermals, The New Pornographers, Trampled by Turtles, Apples in Stereo, Ida Maria, Haley Bonar, Mates of State, Rancid, Tilly & the Wall, Tullycraft, Blonde Redhead.

Every band in this list has at least one song in my iTunes that I’ve listened to more than a dozen times (at the bare minimum). In most cases I bought something by this band because I heard it on The Current and liked it. In several cases The Current gave it to me for free (and then I often went on to buy more of it). Some of these are obscure hipster bands, but others are well known bands that I certainly heard about before hearing them on The Current, but I didn’t listen to their music until after hearing them on The Current.

Radio is not dead. Go check out The Current. You can listen online.

0 Comments | Posted: May 11, 2011 | Filed Under: Music | Tags: , ,

Father Revisted by Justin McRoberts

by Kevin D. Hendricks
Father Revisted by Justin McRoberts

Father Revisited

Justin McRoberts is back. Never mind that he already put out an album this year (welcome to the new musician-controlled music industry). Now he’s revisiting his second album, Father, originally released a decade ago, and offering rearranged versions of four songs from that release. You can get them for free from NoiseTrade (you can also score $3 off his latest covers album).

Twelve years ago this month Justin lost his father to suicide and depression. These songs explore his father and the experience of losing him. But this time around there’s something deeper:

“Every May 6th since has a surreal quality to it; as if the day should have been retired for all its wear and tear. But this May has a different shade to it than the past 11, as my first child, a son, is due May 31.”

So this collection marks the end of an old era and the beginning of a new one. As a father myself, that’s pretty cool. I started listening to Justin McRoberts more than a decade ago (has it been that long?!), and it’s been cool to watch him stretch and grow as an artist and person.

… Read more

0 Comments | Posted: May 12, 2010 | Filed Under: Music | Tags: , , ,

Through Songs I Was First Undone

by Kevin D. Hendricks
Through Songs I Was First Undone by Justin McRoberts

Through Songs I Was First Undone by Justin McRoberts

You know what’s embarrassing? Reviewing a cover album when you’re not familiar with any of the original songs. That’s where I find myself with the new release from Justin McRoberts, Through Songs I Was First Undone. I believe that makes me a musical dork.

Justin picks a wide range of songs from The Rolling Stones to Tom Waits to Nine Inch Nails (unfamiliar with the ‘Stones? Yep, musical dork.). He makes them his own, like any good cover project needs to, but you can still feel some of the original artist coming through (I could easily pick out the Nine Inch Nails and George Michael songs).

The best songs on the album are perhaps the most intimate ones, “Gerogia Lee” (by Tom Waits) and “Head Like a Hole” (by Nine Inch Nails). Both songs are honest explorations of truth, the kind of thing Justin is good at. It also might help that I’ve read Justin’s blog posts about both songs (Georgia Lee: Part 1, Part 2; Head Like a Hole: Part 1, Part 2).

Perhaps my favorite part of the album was the bonus tracks you get for buying the album, which included a cover of U2’s “First Time.” Now there’s an original I’m familiar with! A lot of people rightly think it’s sacrilege to cover U2, but when it’s done well I appreciate a good U2 cover. They’re perhaps never as good as the original, but when you start with such good material you end up with something pretty good. That’s the case with Justin’s cover.

0 Comments | Posted: April 8, 2010 | Filed Under: Music | Tags:

Easter & MLK

by Kevin D. Hendricks

I love church on Easter Sunday. It’s a party. The music rocks harder. People dance. Everybody comes in smiling. And after six weeks of a quiet, somber end to church,  we get to say Alleluia again.

Last year Milo banished us to the cry room and Lexi threw a fit when we went up for communion. This year Milo seemed to want to sing in the choir, even though we don’t have a choir. Lexi did fine at communion, pausing to lean Pinky against the kneeler before she stood at the communion rail. After church I didn’t have much time to talk to anyone because Milo made a beeline for the door and we spent a while playing in the grass.

This year the sermon closed with a reading of John Updike’s “Seven Stanzas at Easter.” I’d never heard it before and find Updike to be very hit or miss, but this was good. The poem focused on the importance of Christ’s bodily ressurrection—that Jesus literally came back from the dead. Updike focus more on the reality of it, but a few lines reminded me of the very Buffy the Vampire Slayer nature of the ressurrection. The grave was empty. The body was gone. And he was walking around. Not all putrified zombie corpse, but whole and restored. That’s crazy. And that’s the point. From Updike:

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping, transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door. …

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.

… Read more

0 Comments | Posted: April 4, 2010 | Filed Under: God, Church & Stuff, U2 | Tags: , , , , , ,

A Soundtrack & a Prayer for Haiti

by Kevin D. Hendricks

We could all use some joyous piano rock. Especially after this week.

Which works nicely because Ian Axel’s “This is the New Year” is the free weekly download from iTunes. I think they switch out the freebies on Tuesday, so you’ve got a couple more days to grab this gem for free. The video nicely captures the spirit of the song.

I’ve been playing the song on repeat while working on a project to help relief efforts in Haiti. It’s an ideal soundtrack:

A cross stands amid the ruins of the Eglise Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart Church), in downtown Port au Prince, Haiti. Photo by Lane Hartill/CRSCause in the end we have each other,
and that’s at least one thing worth living for,
and I would give the world to you…

Lets tear the walls down that divide us
and build a statue strong enough for two…

This is the new year
A new beginning
You made a promise
You are the brightest
We are the voices
This is the new year

Yes, it’s a lot of generic, fluffy, over-the-top, pop lyrics, but sometimes that’s exactly what we need as we lift our arms in prayer for our fellow brothers and sisters in Haiti:

Almighty Father, God of mercies and giver of comfort, deal graciously, we pray, with the people of Haiti in the midst of the great suffering caused by the catastrophic earthquake. May they cast all their care on you and know the consolation of your love.

Give us the courage, zeal, wisdom and patience to assist them, not only in these first days and weeks of urgent need, but as they continue to need the care and partnership of all their sisters and brothers around the world in the long and difficult work of healing and rebuilding.

Grant eternal life to those who have died, healing to the injured and strength to all the survivors, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

[By the Ven. Dr. J. Fritz Bazin Archdeacon for Immigration and Social Concerns Diocese of Southeast Florida. Posted by the Sisters of St. Margaret (an Episcopal order located in Boston) who run the Holy Trinity Cathedral and School, the Foyer Notre Dame and the St. Vincent School for the Handicapped, all in Port au Prince and which my church has supported. The Holy Trinity facilities and St. Vincent's were destroyed and the Foyer damaged. The picture is of the Sacred Heart Church in Port au Prince, photo by Lane Hartill/CRS.]

0 Comments | Posted: January 16, 2010 | Filed Under: God, Church & Stuff, Music | Tags: ,