Speaking of music, I’m listening to Cities 97 today while I work. Why? Bribery. It’s–sigh–U-2sday (shudder) on Cities 97 today, which means when they play a U2 song you can call in and try to win tickets to the upcoming, sure-to-be-sold-out U2 show. I know my chances are slim, but they’re probably about as good as being able to buy tickets through Ticketmaster. Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10:00 a.m. and will probably be sold out by 10:09 a.m. Plus I’ll be in Green Bay on Saturday. Oh, I mean the tickets go on sale at 11:00 a.m.–yeah, that’s it. Don’t bother trying at 10:00. No sirree.

So I’m listening to crappy radio. And since they’re giving away tickets when they play U2, they’re not playing much U2. Oh, how I miss The Current. Cities 97 keeps playing the same songs they always play, and the commercials, oh, the commercials. I swear the DJ must be living in a mansion after all the stuff they just personally endorsed. I did notice that now they tell you how long the commercials will last, in most cases with a line like, “back to the music in three minutes.” I can’t help but wonder if that’s a direct result of the success of public radio.

Why can’t a Twin Cities church do this? (CMS has the full story on that one)

Update: No U2 tickets yet, though I did notice they played Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” at 11:08 a.m. and 3:23 p.m.

And Maroon5’s “Sunday Morning” at 11:01 a.m. and 4:26 p.m.
And “Crazy Love” by Ray Charles and Van Morrison at 10:06 a.m. and 3:44 p.m.
And “Lady” by Lenny Kravitz at 1:06 p.m. and 4:54 p.m.
And Jet’s “Look What You’ve Done” at 11:19 a.m. and 5:17 p.m.
And Carbon Leaf’s “Life Less Ordinary” at 9:17 a.m. and 1:21 p.m.

All courtesy of the “last 97 songs played”, their online song archive. So much for their “wider variety” claim.

Update: No free U2 tickets for me. Bah. So long Cities 97–it’s back to the Current as fast as my little legs will carry me. I guess I’ll just have to try my luck on Saturday at 11:00 a.m.–yeah, 11:00 a.m.

Minnesota musician Sara Groves just released an indie album, Station Wagon: Songs for Parents, available online. I’d tell you all about it, but I’m cheap, and no one’s sent me a free copy to hype, so you’re out of luck. You can check out CT’s review, though based on my thoughts on Groves’ last album, I’m sure this one is worth a listen.

There seems to be a mini-trend of rockers releasing indie projects available only from them. Justin McRoberts released a web-only live disc at the end of 2004. Too bad neither of these projects are available on iTunes.

Following in the footsteps of Five Iron Frenzy (quite literally), the Supertones will be calling it quits by the end of the year, taking 2005 to say goodbye. The article reveals their financial woes thanks to a manager stealing from them, an upcoming worship project and their greatest hits project, Unite (which includes rerecordings of the songs “O.C. Supertones” and “Adonai” from their original album).

From Believer magazine:

“The Arcade Fire consists of a group of startled young North American citizens who probably had little idea that Funeral, the album they created and assembled for Merge Records in 2004, would generate a storm front of such magnitude in the world of popular music. … I first saw the Arcade Fire in Cambridge at the front end of their tour, just before they began moving their shows to larger venues, but after word about Funeral had spread. They played on a stage that was approximately the size of a napkin, in a club that was exactly the size of a restaurant-style napkin holder. To say ‘the club was packed’ would do a grave injustice to the people who survived the event, each of whom is now more aware than ever of the full spectrum of scents it is possible for a human body to spurt from its pores when under duress. There was a palpable tension in the air, as though something dangerous or terrible was about to happen.”

Now that’s a concert review. And it goes on from there, including one of my favorite lines, “…but the woman was already staring straight ahead, balancing on tiptoe, straining for a glimpse of the band through the humid thicket of contemporary American haircuts.”

Last November I heard a song by a British group called Embrace during a Radio1 segment that featured U2. Despite Radio1’s propensity for talking over the final minute and a half of a song–whether or not the vocals are finished–the song “Ashes” by Embrace stood out. It had a real piano- and choir-backed rock feel. I tried to find out more about the band, but it seemed they had yet to cross the pond. No record store carried their album (including iTunes), Out of Nothing, and you’d have to pay import prices on Amazon to get it (though now you can buy a used copy for under $10).

Well today their single “Ashes” showed up on iTunes as a pre-release. I snatched it up (thank you Pepsi) and am enjoying the anthemness. Sadly, it’s the only song iTunes has, though I’m hopeful that its status as a “pre-release” means there’s more to come.

Update: And more has come, now that the band has released their album in the U.S.

I’m watching the Grammy’s tonight (Why? Not sure. Missed U2’s performance, though I did enjoy Green Day) and I’m wondering how many lifetime achievement awards they’re going to give out. Every few minutes they’re dropping another one. I’m expecting to get mine any minute now.

Yeah, looks like I’m watching the Grammy’s and blogging a bit.

Right now some guy (Anthony LaPaglia) is introducing the All Star Tsunami Song–sheesh. This guy can’t read a teleprompter to save his life. Is it that hard to memorize what you’re going to say? You can buy the song on iTunes tonight? Cheese-o-rific, but that’s pretty cool (let’s see how long it takes them to put it up. As of 10:27 CT it’s still in production). These all star things are so hilarious. Who’s the old guy? And look, it’s Slash! And go Bono, leading the back-up vocals so we can be sure to hear you.

Norah Jones: “That’s still a great song.” You mean even though that crowd just butchered it?

And what was up with U2’s acceptance speech for “Vertigo”? Anybody know what Larry was talking about with the band almost not performing tonight or for the rest of the year? (UPDATE: “The band’s guitarist, the Edge, dedicated the latter award to his young daughter, Sian, who is reportedly suffering from leukaemia, although the band had not commented on the matter.” from Reuters — sounds like that may be the reason.)

Looks like someone tried to take a bite out of Sheryl Crow.

All I have to say about the Best Album of the Year award is thank goodness we didn’t have to watch Kanye West accept another award.

The Media Drop has some nice Grammy blogging.

Since I’ve been listening to 89.3 The Current (best radio station ever) I’ve been discovering all sorts of new music. At one point last week I couldn’t take it anymore and decided I must purchase said rock. I had $5 cash and a quick trip to Cheapo delivered $10 more. Not enough to buy the three albums I lusted for, but never fear, iTunes is here. With $15, iTunes and the insight of 89.3 I expanded my musical horizons. Join me for a musical journey of my purchased singles…

Continue reading $15 Musical Odyssey →

Last night I picked up the much-anticipated debut CD from Eisley, Room Noises. It’s a lot of airy, breathy, melodic rock from a bunch of Texas siblings and their neighbor. And they’re all somewhere in their teens–the youngest one started writing songs when she was 8 (and they were better than everyone else’s attempts at writing–so they let her in the band).

It reminds me a lot of the late, great Sixpence None the Richer, only with more Leigh Nash-style vocals and lots of harmonizing.

The sad thing is that iTunes only has a partial album, comprising one song–the same song that’s available on two of the band’s previous three EPs, which are all available in their entirety on iTunes. Bah.