Hella's Carson McWhirter discusses music, life, Nintendo and Zoroaster.

Experimental musician and Portland transplant Carson McWhirter would be a household name if your house was located between Sacramento and the fringe of existence. Having been a pivotal member of cult-favorite NES cover band The Advantage and perhaps more notably the collective form of math-rock outfit Hella, McWhirter's abstract approach to songwriting is punctuated with moments of monumental clarity. With an eclectic style and multi-instrumental proficiency, he can as easily perform ambient balladry and acoustic folk as he can keep up with drumming behemoth Zach Hill.

He recently gave us a little bit of his time to discuss everything from life and music to drugs and religion. We were really excited for the opportunity being that Hella's There's No 666 In Outer Space made our Top Albums of the 2000s list.

You've worked with some huge names, what's in store for the future? Can we expect an album, tour, side-project anytime soon?

Ha, huge names. That makes me wish that I had more friends with really long names like Philippus Theophrastus von Hohenheim. “Soon” would probably be the wrong word to use here. I don’t have any schedules or definitive plans currently. I have done a little recording and test recording recently for a couple of album projects. I typically spend lots of time on things (perhaps unnecessarily) and take epic breaks between project stages in order to gain perspective or to clear my mind of it.

I do want to tour a lot this year but I often become satisfied with playing guitar under the sun in the park or something, so touring seems like an awful lot of work. I have been talking to a friend of mine who might help me set up some shows in Asia. That would be awesome because I need to get out of this country for a little while. Shit is stagnant here. If a tour doesn’t fall in to place for me I’m thinking about backpacking the Pacific Crest Trail for a few months.

Do you think an Asian audience will have a greater appreciation for your music? What kinds of venues would you be playing?

Hmm, well I don't know anything about what the venues are like there. This is still sort of a pipe dream. I would be pretty darn nervous about playing shows in Asia - excited nervousness. For some reason I feel like playing in huge cities like Seoul or Tokyo ups the barre a little because it seems like they would have seen everything already. Maybe that view is more appropriate of Tokyo than Seoul, but I really don't know what to expect aside from the descriptions that various friends gave me.

So there's no burning desire or priority to release an album? Why not?

The most important aspect of music to me is just playing music. Making an album largely stresses me out. It's really difficult for me to put what I do under a microscope in that way. I wish that someone will just present me with a well packaged recording of all the best moments I've had of playing guitar in my room. That's where all the best versions happen and where I feel like I've really achieved something. Also, I don't have a really large back catalog of songs so it's kind of a struggle to choose what to work on in the studio and turn into more fully developed music.

On the other side of things, I do see the value of releasing a record. People that are interested in the few things that I have out there can get a little more of it. I can affect people. That seems really special. Yet, a lot of my music is so self centered these days and is not so universally valuable or relative to a wider range of experience. It's very narrow. Perhaps that's not for me to judge though.

McWhirter performs an acoustic version of his song "Watchers," courtesy TerrorEyes.TV

You've mentioned there was some difficulty with "666" and I think Zach mentioned that there were some problems with the tour. What made it such an obstacle?

You know, I can’t really put my finger on any one thing with confidence. I suppose there was just a lot of pressure and stress involved in the tour. There was a strange vibe for me. The whole time writing and recording and just hanging out as a band was great until we got out on the road and there was this extra responsibility to prove ourselves (Aaron, Josh, and I more specifically). Aaron got the worst of it. It was as if he was guilty – unless he was able to prove himself innocent – in the eyes of some of the more obnoxious and outspoken fans. That’s a lot of unnecessary pressure. I think we had all wished that we would’ve released that record under a different name so that it didn’t seem like such a drastic change for people. It was, in actuality, a different band with a different internal dynamic.

But, to be honest, the only true obstacle for me was myself. I was, and maybe still am, only a reluctant participant in professional music (meaning; utilizing a method of selling and promoting my creations). I felt an overwhelming pressure to become a sort of actor. It seemed that so long as people left the show feeling great, it didn’t matter how I felt. I did not feel like I was able to be honest or that people were, or are, even looking for honesty in the search of, and enjoyment of music. That’s sort of a double edged sword though. Should music be an honest representation of what is immediately observable or should it present a fictional landscape on which people can become their new experiences of themselves? It seems like most people accept the honesty of contrived performances. (I don’t use contrived in the derogatory sense, but to mean that some degree of action is preplanned).

In what way were fans of the duo Hella predispositioned against Hella the band?

It seemed like a few people had some really intense experiences with the music on the first couple Hella albums and couldn't snap out of it enough to see the good points in all the other Hella music. I'm sure there were different disappointments for different people, but in general it just seemed like there were a lot of people that just wanted to see things the way they wanted it. This happened to the point that they ended up insulting the people that they were there to support. It may have seemed that me and the other newer members were infiltrating the band in some way, without realizing or taking into consideration that we were all friends and had respect and admiration for each other for longer than Hella had existed.

What made you decide to not only collaborate, but also to tour?

There was a certain point early on in my musical career when everything felt kind of easy and destined. I never had to book shows because we were always offered shows. I was getting paid $200 to pack out a tiny coffee shop when I was 20 years old. That world didn't last long though. Everyone ran out of money quick it seemed. I never hear of that sort of treatment happening these days.

I've never really been a big player in the professional music world. I was in The Advantage and Hella because we were friends and we lived together and hung out together and we could all play music and talk about crazy shit. The Advantage had an in because Spencer and Zach wrote a couple of rad records and that gave each of them some clout for a bit. I just sort of ended up riding that wave. While I was there I did my share of work, but getting to that point was never my doing.

Did you ever feel out of your element?

At first when I was playing out and touring I felt sort of empowered. Everyone else was out of my element and I was hoping to show people something different. Now, I feel completely different. I don't know how to sell myself to people and I'm torn between that realization and the feeling that I absolutely need to sell myself to everyone, all the time.

I often have conversations with other musician friends of mine about the best ways to give a project momentum in the business. It's as if you need to break into a self-perpetuation cycle in order to get going. If you have a label or a popular album then you can more easily get a publicist and a booking agent, but how can you get a label if you don't have a popular album and how can your album become popular without a publicist. There is the old method of just being in an awesome band and touring around punk-style for a super long time in order to build up hype and then gradually getting better and better shows, but fuck if it isn't expensive to travel around these days. There is no better way to be successful than to be undeniably good at what you do. Although there are plenty of obstacles in the way of achieving that.

Who would you like to/who do you see yourself collaborating with in the future?

You know, there are a lot of people I would love to make music with, some of whom are completely out of my reach currently. I would love to improvise with Cecil Taylor and/or Han Bennink but the likelihood of that is slim.

However, unless they just fall in to place, collaborations don’t usually occur by my effort. I’ve always thought that Mick Barr, Zach Hill, and I could make some wicked music together. Ches Smith would be a fun drummer to play with because I love his grooves and his dynamic voicing.

I’m not an easy person to collaborate with; I’m guarded, particular, and prone to uncomfortable levels of anxiety.

McWhirter performs with Zach Hill in studio.

A lot of the work you do falls into the "math rock" subgenre. How do you feel about the label? How would you label or describe your own music?

I don’t really describe my own music very well. I think other people are better at that.

Although I do remember the numbers of repetitions of parts, I rarely count out time signatures any more. I never write music based on an attempt to make things complicated or off-time or whatever it seems like people think about in regards to the term math-rock. I’m usually trying to reach a point of physical and mental fluidity in conjunction with the mysteriously occurring decisions that I make along the way. I write so many different styles of music because I feel so many different styles of ways. I don’t often play the same set twice or in the same fashion so it’s hard for me to choose a label. My music is simply the byproduct of something else that I’m working on that no one (including myself) will ever have a complete grasp on – until after I die I suppose.

You're incredibly proficient with a number of instruments. How did you get to the level you're at, and what instrument do you feel most comfortable and expressive with?

Hmm, tough question. I don’t really trust my own impression of the path I took to get to this point. One thing that I can say with reluctant confidence is that I’ve always just bounced around from idea to idea, instrument to instrument, depending on whatever whim or fancy I happen to be riding at that time. This finicky quality has brought me to lots of different forms of expression. I don’t worship instruments and therefore I’m able disrespect them or forget about them entirely. Sometimes making music is something that happens in my head completely.

I’ve always felt that music would be limited if I were to painstakingly devote all my effort to one instrument or area of music. However, I can see the downside to this view. Because of my finicky, and sometimes flighty, approach to music I have never felt completely comfortable with any one instrument. I will only play guitar in certain situations, piano in others, and bass in others, etc. I use them each for something different.

Piano is an instrument that I’m much more expressive with in the moment, where guitar is something that I have involved in a slower path to expression. Guitar is often more thought out. I rarely write fully fleshed out songs on the piano. These roles shift at times though. Lately the majority of my practice time is spent improvising on the guitar as opposed to writing out songs. I rarely write songs any more in general. Songs usually come from manic episodes in which I write out a song mostly in one sitting, this only happens a few times throughout the year.

Are any of your contemporaries an influence on you?

Well, I respect more musicians than those I wish to collaborate with. Influence opens the flood gates. I’ll just list a few people that I respect, or that have influenced me in some way (ways that might be non-musical too), Mick Barr, Zach Hill, Jonathan Hischke, Seth Brown, John Niekrasz, Robby Moncrief, Teddy Briggs, Spencer Seim, Ben Milner, Andrew Joseph Weaver, Thomas Bonvalet, Ian Hill, Kenseth Thibideau, Rob Crow, Zac Nelson. I hate ending these kinds of lists because they truly continue on indefinitely. I know I’m going to forget someone that influenced me a lot or that I respect from the bottom of my heart.

As a musician in the digital age, how do you feel about piracy? Also -- vinyl or digital?

Well, I’m totally broke. That’s partly my fault for not releasing tons of albums. But, for instance, I haven’t seen a dime from that Hella album “666”. Could that be because of people downloading it instead of buying it? I can’t really be sure about that, but it seems likely.

The opposite side of that is that I download as my main method of acquiring music. I only buy vinyl. I didn’t own a working cd player of any kind for more than a year. The drive in my computer was busted and I don’t own a stereo that can play cds. I didn’t miss cds. I’m still annoyed that I own any at all. Although as a broke musician it’s much easier and cheaper to release a cd than vinyl in the quantity that it would take to make a little profit. However, if there was just a little bit more money to be had on tour I might actually be touring regularly. It’s almost too hard these days. Every time I consider going on tour I have to consider whether or not I can keep my room in my house.

Your music is pretty high-concept and experimental. What are some non-music influences on your work?

Through a natural attraction to spiritual music and culture I often return to studying spirituality. Most of what I do is related to this. It all ties in to my ongoing quest to understand myself and the predicament of life. I read a lot about this quest and practice various methods of being. I’m very interested in C.G. Jung’s ideas about psychology and spirituality. Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Zoroastrianism, and Sufism are all things that continually pop up. I can see myself reading about these topics for the rest of my life. It’s entirely fascinating to me how many different ways people have attempted to illustrate the human condition, and yet in-between the differences there are always similarities.

I’ve always been interested in studying in some way or another. Before I tried my first hallucinogens I read a lot about them and tried to have an idea of the affect they might have on me. But, it was the study that I did after I began experimenting that became more a part of me. Robert Anton Wilson and Timothy Leary wrote things that sparked my mind and put a fire under my ass for a time. I’m still working through Wilson’s recommended reading. Everything from James Joyce, Ezra Pound, to Israel Regardie, Aleister Crowley, and Alfred Korzybski. There are so many interesting ways of thinking and dealing with the mysteries that are abound.

I’d say I’m more easily excited about esoteric thinkers than I am about art or music separately. Ah, and then there’s neuroscience. I’m keeping my ears open for news about the neuroscience experiments that the Dali Lama is funding. Now we know that meditation can affect the physical structure of the brain, but it’ll be interesting to see how far this can go. Mind over matter is real, it’s just really really slow working.

I think it's pretty safe to say that experimental music and hallucinogenic experimentation go hand in hand. How specifically do psychedelics influence your creative process?

I've become more and more disillusioned about the mystical nature of hallucinogenic experience in the last few years, but I have had some experiences that will stick with me for quite a while. I have phases in which I smoke an awful lot of weed and write lots of music and learn new things about myself. My psychedelic phases are farther and fewer between. I used to get powerful visual stimulus from drugs that would totally change my artistic direction. Now, I think my interest in drugs is more emotional than aesthetic - well it always has been, but I'm paying attention to that solely these days. I only do psychedelics a few times a year I think - depending on your definition of psychedelic.

I just smoked Salvia again the other night. I was laying back on some pillows on the ground with my eyes closed because I wanted to meditate through the trip. Salvia always starts out with a drastic confusion of the sensory input. The music coming from my clock radio became a physical and colorful object that was holding on to my right side (the side the radio was on). If I didn't stay in my mind to a certain degree I probably would've tried to swat the music off of me (psychedelic freak out), but instead I was able to turn myself into a conscientious observer of my own experience. I then began to trip out on what it meant that an experience could be "mine" and not of someone else. I had the sensation that I was being controlled from behind my body and that what I normally experience of my world is more closely related to looking in the eyepiece of a video camera. I began to be able to step back out of my body to observe myself looking through my senses and then I had the eerie feeling of being around other people. The feeling that came next is hard to describe but essentially I caught a glimpse of an infinitely expansive tiered structure of experience (of all things, living and not). All experiences at one level are connected to nodes (which is just a wider degree of experience) of the next higher level and so on. Almost like an infinitely large card house structure, but of experiences and realities. My most narrow reality is controlled and determined by higher level realities that encompass all of the possible immediate realities. Ok, this is way tripped out I know, but it felt really great to be able to view my thoughts and sense input as just a piece of something more connected. I often lack that feeling in my day to day experience. I didn't write a song about it this time, but I've been inclined to after similar experiences in the past. This trip wasn't as musical as others I've had.

Although this trip sounds kind of intriguing, I want to warn people that haven't done this drug before that it's actually very intense and to be really smart about when and where to do this. Definitely read up on it before trying it. Not very many people enjoy this drug. I'm one of only a few people I've ever met that chooses to do this.

Speaking of influences -- what inspired you guys to cover NES game music?

For me, I got involved in that at a time when I wasn’t so much playing video games but was still close enough to them that they were fresh in my mind. I just started recognizing the music and imagining how rockin’ it would sound if a live band performed some if it. I wish new games would have music like the old ones again. I miss 8 bit.

Ha, as a side note I just got a DOS emulator for windows so that I can play this one older 16 bit computer game called Stellar Conquest III. No animation, no music. Pure space war strategy. Other than that I haven’t gotten into video games for a few years. Well, that’s not true either…when I was home for the holidays my family was getting sort of competitive over Mario Kart for Wii.

Any plans for an Advantage or Hella collective reunion?

No plans that I’m aware of, but there is occasional talk.

Wire: The Fall of Troy "calls it a day" with final tour

Tom Erak of experimental/post-hardcore act The Fall of Troy announced via the group's Myspace page today that their upcoming tour with Envy on the Coast and Twin Atlantic will be their last. No break, no indefinite hiatus. Just done.

"I always hold true to the fact that it's better to go out in style, to ride off into the sunset, than go down in flames," Erak said, ensuring fans that the impending break-up was completely amicable. "...[I]t has come time for us to call it a day. After everything's said and done, there is no drama, there is no blow out, it's simply the three members of this band are on three different paths in our lives."

Read the full release here, and check out upcoming tour dates on their myspace.

Pipeline: Addendum

• Lovedrug announced an April release date for a new album.
• Aqualung has an April 20th release date for his new album Magnetic North and an impending tour.
• Deftones released their new single, downloadable from their Myspace.
• Portugal. The Man have a new downloadable single from their upcoming release American Ghetto which you can download from their web site.
• Minus the Bear is planning to release their new LP Omni in early May.

Featured Playlist: Vision

Alright, here's this week's playlist. I meant to get it up a little earlier today, but I just found the time now. This week's theme is "vision," which is pretentious, yes... but really what we do is just pick a word for thematic consistency to keep ourselves from going all over the map with each list. If I had to pick stylistic themes, I'd say this list is more down-tempo, emotive music with pretty guitar or synth parts.

Live Music: Does the music make the show or does the show make the music?

When I was in high school I lived in a small, boring town. My classmates found entertainment in after school clubs and sports, parties, even bible studies. None of these activities held any interest for me whatsoever, so I found myself spending a lot of time staring at my ceiling, listening to music, or watching John Hughes movies. I think it must have been my sophomore year when I discovered The Backstage at the Capital Theatre in Olympia, Washington. The details escape me, but I imagine that my friend Joe and I were aimlessly wandering the streets and found ourselves drawn down the graffiti covered alley way by the raw, distorted riffs of local bands.

This was in the 90's, right before Olympia's popularity blew up with Kill Rock Stars and K Records leading the charge. As a teenager I was drawn into the gritty nightlife of the local music scene - but more importantly I became enamored with live music. I found myself thrashing in punk rock mosh pits, swaying to acoustic folk sets, and mesmerised by larger than life hippie rock. What I discovered was that the genre of music didn't matter to me, it was the passion with which the artist performed. As I grew up and became employed, I found myself going to any and every concert I could. I have been lucky enough to have seen amazing bands that faded away, bands on small stages that soon would be playing stadiums, and even legends. Of all these shows, I have found that my opinion on a live show has very little to do with the released albums, or even my predilection for the band at all. Actually, I have found that some of my favorite acts to see are bands whose recordings I would never actually listen to even after seeing live.

I first realized that there was a disparity between albums and performances when I saw Blink 182 live. To this day, I do not own any of their music. I can't even remember the last time I listened to one of their songs, and I really can't even stand Tom Delonge's voice, but their live performances are among my favorites. Musically, they are true to their recordings, which I can't say of many of the bands I have seen; but more importantly, they are highly entertaining because they are so comic.

Gogol Bordello is another example of a band whose show I will never miss, but whose music I have yet to own. I had never even heard of Gogol - a friend of mine offered me a ticket if I would drive him to the show; never one to turn down a free show, I went and subsequently had my mind blown. Here is a band whose albums are unrefined at best, and whose videos look like sheer, chaotic nonsense. To see them live, however, is a musically exquisite experience. The pandemonium of Gogol's performances is a harsh contrast to the precision of their intricately arranged instrumentation. Violinists and accordian players dance around scantily clad women playing large bass drums. One of my favorite Gogol moves is when frontman Eugene Hutz plays percussion on water buckets that are suspended in air by the feet of his dancers. The frenetic energy of the band is overwhelming, but through the stunts and the choreography comes flawlessly played music - their shows are political, passionate, and nothing short of awe inspiring.

Conversely, I have seen Eric Clapton play live. His recordings are amazing and yet his performance was one of the worst I have ever seen. For a legendary guitarist, I expected, oh, I don't know....a performance. I don't know if he was sick or depressed or what his problem was, but he sat down on a stool in the center of the stage at the Tacoma dome and didn't move until the set was over. In all seriousness I'm not even sure if his fingers moved. For all I know he was lip synching, and I had REALLY good seats. Even the crowd was lame. They sat in their chairs smoking pot and barely moving. I remember the opening band was a saxophonist named Curtis Stigers - he was a one hit wonder at the time. I was so dissappointed at the end of this show that a one hit wonder had upstaged a legend of guitar.

Since I have been attending concerts I have held the belief that the performance should be something special. If I want to listen to a band's music being perfectly played, I will buy the album. When I go to a show I want creativity and passion as well as good artistry. I don't want to see an artist play through a routine cadre of hits. I want to hear new songs and old songs sprinkled with stories the way I do at Leo Kottke and Bruce Cockburn shows; I want insanity, humor and antics like Gogol Bordello, Sum 41 and Blink 182 offer; I want to be moved to dance the way I am at Neil Diamond or Sky Cries Mary; I want to be rocked the way I am rocked at Incubus or Tool. When I go to a show, I am not impressed unless the performance is magic.

Pipeline: Bygones release Spiritual Bankruptcy EP

Zach Hill and Nick Reinhart (of Hella and Tera Melos, respectively) release their second studio output from their punk-heavy side project bygones today. Markedly terser than their previous effort by-, it's got all the jagged riffage and raw energy you'd expect. It's short though. Damn short. It clocks in at around 10 minutes long, and you can stream it in one sitting on the group's bandcamp page.

TAKE A LISTEN:

• bygones - Spiritual Bankruptcy EP (Sargent House)

Featured Artist: Here Is There

Tulsa natives Here Is There are in a league of their own, and it's not just because they're the only band I've ever heard of from Tulsa. These guys are in their early twenties but they've been playing together since middle school, and have been finding an increasingly more sophisticated sound over the last couple years.

I fell in love with their demo in 2007 and some of their Myspace-exclusive tracks because of the sheer level of dynamics in their sound. The four (now five) piece band brims with mathy instrumental proficiency and a soulful demeanor they marry to traditional progressive rock. The result, however, has more the panty-dropping potential of The Strokes than Yes.

Now they've taken on a whole new beast, bringing on board rapper Victor Alonzo to share the bill with mighty lead vocalist Zach Edmondson. Hopefully the coming year will bring us some new material -- I'm interested to see where they're going with this, considering they've removed all their former work from their Myspace. Check out some of their older stuff.

• March 2007 Demo
• Here Is There's Myspace page

Pipeline: Impending Joanna Newsom, Portugal. The Man releases

If Bjork-ish vocals and epic polyrhtymic harp excursions are your thing, Joanna Newsom's new triple-disc meditation Have One On Me will undoubtedly whet your nichey appetite. Slated for a Tuesday release, the album leaked about 48 hours ago. If you're industrious enough, you can find it. Her new Disney movie-via-medieval chamber opus "Kingfisher" was released a few weeks ago, and you can listen to it here.

Portugal. The Man, in an effort to avoid another album leak, has nixed all promotional copies of their new record American Ghetto, although they did play the entire album through live a couple months back. Some painfully short clips are available on Amazon.com if you just can't wait.

Pipeline Update: Circa Survive, Gorillaz

The year's off to a great start, there are some potentially great new releases coming in the next month that we're really stoked on.

Circa Survive's dropped their very dramatic new single "Get Out" from their forthcoming Blue Sky Noise, which they just announced an April 20th release date for. Fans who pre-order the album will receive a digital copy a week early. It's probably the edgiest they've ever sounded, although it's consistent with their special brand of Hot Topic experimentalism. Still worth a listen.

Gorillaz are apparently back from the dead after a 5 year hiatus, with the imminent release of their new record Plastic Beach. Like its predecessor Demon Days, Beach contains a myriad of hip-hop collabs and inexplicable cameos. Even Lou Reed joins the virtual group for the track "Some Kind of Nature." Being that Demon Days was one of Cam's picks for the last decade, we're adequately excited for this one. Their Miami Vice-tinged new single "Stylo" featuring Bobby Womack and Mos Def has all the makings for a good driving song.

Although it's slated for a March 2nd release, there's talk of Portugal. The Man's new LP American Ghetto leaking in the next week or so. Apparently lead singer John Gourley's iPod with complete album was stolen along with a lot of their equipment not too long ago, although a leak has yet to surface.

Erykah Badu released two tracks via her twitter this month. She's got a psychedelic new video for "Jump Up In The Air (Stay There)," her first promotional track, featuring Lil' Wayne (we know...). Normally we'd be skeptical, but the song is stompin'. Her first official single "Window Seat" is a bit more of the jazzy/neo-soul vibe she's known for. Apparently her new album, New Amerykah Pt. 2: Return of the Ankh, the follow-up to her remarkable New Amerykah Pt. 1: 4th World War, will be a lot less political and more danceable.

The Mars Volta auteur Omar Rodriguez-Lopez released his first of likely several solo albums to come this year. This one, performed by his new acoustic trio, is entitled "Ciencia De Los Inutiles" or Science of the Useless Ones and showcases a much, much mellower side of the hard- and punk-rock influenced guitarist. All the vocals are in Spanish, gorgeously performed by his girlfriend and creative partner Ximena Sarinana.

Zach Hill's side-project with Tera Melos guitarist Nick Reinhart, bygones drop their second LP this coming week entitled Spiritual Bankruptcy, a mere six months after their first release. It's sure to be full of the mathy goodness its pedigree would suggest -- Hella and Tera Melos are two of the coolest experimental bands around.

GIVE A LISTEN:

• Gorillaz - "Stylo" ft. Mos Def and Bobby Womack
• Circa Survive - "Get Out"
• Erykah Badu - "Jump Up In The Air (Stay There)" ft. Lil Wayne
• Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - "Jueves" ft. Ximena Sarinana

Wire: Sasquatch Line-up, May 29 - 31

Sasquatch returns once again for this Memorial Day Weekend, May 29-31. Looks like the line-up just got posted.

My Morning Jacket / Massive Attack / Pavement/ Ween / Vampire Weekend / MGMT / Band of Horses / The National / LCD Soundsystem / Tegan & Sara / Broken Social Scene / Passion Pit / Deadmau5 / She & Him / Public Enemy / Nada Surf / The New Pornographers / The Hold Steady / The xx / Dirty Projectors / OK Go / Drive By Truckers / Kid Cudi / The Long Winters / Minus the Bear / The Mountain Goats / Quasi / Camera Obscura / Fruit Bats / Brother Ali / Midlake / Dr. Dog / Caribou / Simian Mobile Disco / City & Colour / No Age / The Temper Trap / Vetiver / Mike Snow / Portugal. The Man / Telekinesis / Mayer Hawthorne / Why? / Girls / Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros / Wale / The Lonely Forest / Japandroids / Boys Noize / Yacht / Freelance Whales / Laura Marling / Patrick Watson / Past Lives / Cymbals Eat Guitars / The Low Anthem / The Very Best / Phantogram / Neon Indian/Nurses / The Tallest Man on Earth / Fresh Espresso / Mumford & Sons / Jets Overhead / tUnE-YarDs / Shabazz Palaces / Fool’s Gold / Morning Teleportation / Z-Trip / Dam-Funk / Hudson Mohawke / The Middle East / Local Natives / Avi Buffalo / Booka Shade / A-Trak / Yes Giantess / Craig Robinson / Rob Riggle / Garfunkel & Oates / Luke Burbank

*Bold = Blue Sky recommends.

Featured Playlist: Isis

Given that this is Black History Month, we thought it'd be appropriate to celebrate with some of our favorite neo-soul, funk and old-school Motown picks. They run the gamut from socially-conscious to just plain funky.

Featured artists include The Fugees, Erykah Badu, Arrested Development and Betty Davis. Let us know what you think, and always look for a new playlist every Tuesday.

Piracy vs. Purchasing: What's Next?

Music piracy is not so much of a two-sided argument anymore as a many-layered conversation. I think ten years ago it was pretty easy to have a cut-and-dry opinion about the matter, but now that artists have adapted to and even embraced the internet as a forum for music distribution, the debate has been muted.

Distribution methods are dynamically changing, and it seems recording artists are always a step or two behind. Only in recent years have labels embraced online sales transactions, but major distribution outlets like iTunes and Amazon still sell digital music for prices comparable to buying a compact disc at a major discount store like Wal-Mart or Target.

Of course the world of internet piracy is more sophisticated than ever. Major torrent trackers like The Pirate Bay and Mininova (RIP), now the prime target of RIAA's legal efforts, have developed ways of circumventing international copyright laws to provide users with terabytes upon terabytes of digital music free of charge, and merely a click away. Although they frequently fall victim to crippling litigation anyway, smaller and private trackers provide access to even bigger libraries provided the user is savvy enough to access them.

Not to mention the exponentially increasing popularity of YouTube, whose original stated purpose before becoming subject to the internet establishment was to host every music video ever created. While artists like Prince have taken offense to the concept, and major labels like Warner Music Group have taken huge efforts to moderate its content, the site remains the world's largest cache of music videos and single songs, albeit at substantially compressed bitrates.

Myspace (remember, it was that social networking site that USED to be ubiquitous) is now the most popular form of music promotion, allowing artists to upload entire discographies worth of streaming audio as well as a ready-made community with which to network and share their art. The problem of course is that Myspace itself only provides a source of exposure, not income.

Now that major recording artists like Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead have all but shunned the concept of major label distribution and its archaic business model, people are starting to reconsider whether this is such a black and white issue. The inherent problem is -- are these the right people to be listening to?

I think its nothing short of admirable that Trent Reznor and Thom Yorke have been so vocal about their dismay for major labels, but they are at somewhat of a luxurious position, being that they are hugely successful and at liberty to explore more experimental methods of distribution that may or may not be successful. While nothing's changed for smaller, independent artists, who still struggle just as much now for exposure as they did when they couldn't land a record deal before, I'm wondering what effect the rise of internet piracy has had on the middle ground, or even the upper echelon. It seems that even alternative radio is catering more and more to the mainstream, becoming more of the Middle 40 to contrast less and less with the Top 40.

Typically the only artists you hear clinging to the archaic business model that major labels provide and practice are the ones who have negotiated extraordinary contracts, such as Metallica and Pearl Jam as Camas mentioned. More often than not, the recording artists of themselves see a very small percentage of the royalties from their record sales, and a more popular motion now is to sell directly to the consumer for discounted rates. The inherent problem is that there is no centralized marketplace for such transactions, and introducing one would once again subject the artists to a commission a hence a large portion of their royalties. I forsee this becoming the next major beast.

There are other artistic considerations to take into account that mainstream consumers consider trivial. The continued cult popularity of vinyl records demonstrates that a lot of people still have consideration for the artists entire output -- listening to the entire album in context with lyrics and full-sized album art in-hand. The realm of digital music will continue to marginalize this subculture into the fringe, but they'll still be there.

Another consideration is sound quality. Last time I checked, most of what iTunes sold was in proprietary MPEG-3 format, at bitrates as low as 192 kbps. No self-respecting artist would release audio at such a fraction of full quality. Even the aforementioned NIN and Radiohead have taken this into account -- when they famously released their albums free of charge, they were in compressed audio formats, whereas lossless formats were available for charge. For now the distinction is only pertinent to audiophiles, but as the mainstream music consumer becomes more tech savvy, I imagine audio quality will become a more pertinent consideration.

The big question is -- what's the solution? Well if I had one, I'd be rich, but I have my fantasies. I think the direct-from-artist model has some serious merit. I'd like to continue seeing music at low bitrates provided free of charge. This allows people to try full albums, to get a feel for them before making the investment of a purchase. It also hopefully circumvents the potential for singles to take centerstage and obscure exposure to the merits of the rest of the artist's work, or the album as a whole if it's intended to be experienced as such.

I think the real future has to be in a centralized outlet/promotional forum -- something combining the merits of Myspace and iTunes but without the relatively extravagant cost to both the consumer and the recording artist. Services like Bandcamp are huge leap forwards, allowing people to stream audio from the browser and purchase it in a variety of compressed and non-compressed formats, the price of which are left to the artists' discretion. If this concept was super-imposed on a social networking site like Myspace (or hopefully Facebook), I think it'd have huge potential for success.

It's been a rough ten years for the recording industry. Now that the war between two giant beasts is almost ending in victory for the internet, perhaps the final death knell of the major label is imminent. In the meantime, the best way to show support for your favorite artists is to see them live. Artists retain a much higher percentage of the ticket price than revenue from their record sales, and its one service the Internet can never provide.

Piracy vs. Purchasing: Who's Right?

The discussion of the ethical grey area of piracy is in no way a new conversation. For as long as people have created art, other people have tried to fashion a way to get it for free. Piracy as a headline-making crime, however, gained attention with the advent of free music downloads, most notably with the Napster's popular free service in the late 90s. Now, personally, this is not a subject I have really followed closely over the years. I remember the crazy court cases involving members of Metallica and Pearl Jam and I watched with mild shock as teenagers were prosecuted for piracy.

I guess I never really formed an opinion on the topic; most likely because I never engaged in Internet piracy. I don't currently download pirated movies, books or movies. I have never really examined my motives for the lack of engagement in this 21st century past time. Pretty much, I've just been a combination of lazy and scared. I'm the one who will get caught and I'm too short for prison. Not to mention, I'm much too lazy to figure out how to even go about it.

Does this mean I'm innocent of piracy? Certainly not. I have bootlegged albums, movies, etc that friends have given me over the years, and I'm more than happy to take free art off their hands. But if forced to pick a side...well, I just don't know.

I did some cursory research on the topic, and what interested me most was that a good deal of the articles and/or blogs written about piracy vs. purchasing have everything to do with royalties and industry income. People argue back and forth on whether or not the music industry will come to a grinding halt as a result of Internet piracy. I think enough time has passed now that we can all agree this will NOT be the case. The amount of money that labels are losing is really negligible, it seems. And truth be told, maybe it's time we do away with labels for the most part anyway.

My understanding of the fiscal breakdown is that a record label takes the biggest chunk of the money made from albums sold; presumably because the label is responsible for the artists' work making it to the hands of the public. It is, in fact, a giant machine. The bigger the machine you climb onto, the bigger the potential profit. The problem, however, is that signing with a label is a gamble. They invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into a band with the stipulation that the band will pay them back via royalties.

In essence, major labels are loan sharks. So, if the band is totally convinced that the gamble will pay off, then perhaps this is the best route to follow. The problem, and this is the part of the conversation I really don't see a lot of, is that once a band signs with a label, they lose most (if not all) creative freedom. Most labels aren't focused on creating good art, they are focused on making money. So if a band is in the "fair to middlin'" arena and signs with a label, they could lose out on the chance to have a career in music altogether. If their album sales don't match the label's financial output, then the band will undoubtedly be dropped. If these same middle of the road bands self-promoted via the Internet with the ultimate goal of just "making a living," then perhaps we would see more bands rise to moderate popularity. In order for this to be achievable, however, the buyers have to respect the art enough to pay for it.

When push comes to shove, the conversation needs to steer away from money and head towards respect for art. With the above scenario in mind, I believe that ideally we, the purchasing society, would be able to create a system in which music labels (of which I have a pretty low opinion) went the way of the rotary phone. With the increasing usability of the Internet, there is absolutely no reason that a perfectly talented band shouldn't be able to make a decent living producing art. That means, though, that we the fans need to start coughing up some dough. We like music (books, movies, etc). We like to be entertained. And for the greater population, we depend on the more talented set to take care of fulfilling these needs. The artists deserve money for their contributions to society- otherwise we will cease to have art. Imagine being a talented musician with only a few spare hours here and there to craft art. This is not the formula to advanced talent and skill. This is the formula for mediocrity.

If we the purchasing public continue to "steal" music, the bands will be forced to continue to hop on the industry machine. Really, it's a sick sad cycle. I think one solution is that the people start paying the artists directly for the music and that the artists lower their expectations for income. Unfortunately, the egomaniacs of the world will likely never allow this to happen. The P.Diddy/Puff Daddy/Sean Johns need their Hummers and their Lambos and their mansions and their video girls.

For bands with the intention of producing art, though, maybe we could make this happen with a commitment to paying for the art we get. I remember interviewing Chris Hall back in the day. He had a great attitude. His band had had a couple of hits over the years; his attitude was that he was totally happy because he was able to do what he loved and he only had to make coffee for someone when he wanted to. If more fans paid for art and more artists approached their work as though it was a medium for expression rather than a route to fame, maybe we could do away with the corporate bullshit altogether. Just maybe we'd begin to see music and art with more integrity begin to rise up.
**http://www.music-law.com/musiccontracts.html

Featured Playlist: Somnambulism

The inaugural theme of our first weekly featured playlist is "dreams." These are songs that invoke that creative vibe you usually only feel right before you enter the realm of the sub-conscience. Among the featured artists are Radiohead, Patrick Watson and MGMT. Tell us your favorite sleepy-time songs.