{"id":667,"date":"2007-01-24T11:52:07","date_gmt":"2007-01-24T19:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2007\/01\/24\/todays-track\/"},"modified":"2007-01-24T11:52:07","modified_gmt":"2007-01-24T19:52:07","slug":"todays-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2007\/01\/24\/todays-track\/","title":{"rendered":"Today’s Track"},"content":{"rendered":"

"Intimate Secretary"
The Raconteurs<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Raconteurs did not get glowing reviews.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, many were positive, but not ECSTATIC!\u00c2\u00a0 So, I didn’t pay much attention.<\/p>\n

I don’t get the White Stripes.\u00c2\u00a0 Or maybe it’s that I’m sick of seeing them in their outfits.\u00c2\u00a0 And what’s wrong with having a bass player?\u00c2\u00a0 And although the sound is good, the MATERIAL is not up to snuff.<\/p>\n

And neither is this.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t track this down expecting to be blown away.\u00c2\u00a0 But if you’re cruising slow down the avenue, you’ll get hooked.<\/p>\n

I’m driving from here to there, it’s not important, listening to Sirius’ Left of Center, and a groove catches me.\u00c2\u00a0 I wasn’t putting a disc into my computer drive for evaluation, I wasn’t checking the readout to see who was playing, there was just a sound coming out of the radio.<\/p>\n

Now the Raconteurs are not hidden away.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not like they’re underground.\u00c2\u00a0 But they’re a step from the mainstream.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like they’re hidden in plain sight.<\/p>\n

YOU might think they’re a big deal.\u00c2\u00a0 But that’s because you’re an insider, or a big fan.\u00c2\u00a0 To the casual music consumer, or one not enamored of this type of music, the Raconteurs are part of the endless hype parade, written about by those critics who take the music too seriously, who lost our trust eons ago.\u00c2\u00a0 Both those in the newspaper and the magazines.\u00c2\u00a0 I mean have you read one of these rags recently?\u00c2\u00a0 They review SO many records that you don’t pay attention.\u00c2\u00a0 Especially since the last time you dipped your toes in, laid down your money or dedicated your time, you asked yourself WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?\u00c2\u00a0 And swore off music consumption.\u00c2\u00a0 The same way you swore off movies after a dozen opened every Friday, most were gone without impact, and those you did see sucked.<\/p>\n

Maybe if there were one theatre, that ONLY played the good stuff…\u00c2\u00a0 Then, they might win back your trust.<\/p>\n

But the movie theatre plays the crap for weeks, under contract.\u00c2\u00a0 And the art house, if it changes flicks, it’s such a tiny scene, it’s like Alternative radio, or Active Rock, or TOP FORTY!<\/p>\n

The niches have been split up so tinily, that most have tuned out.<\/p>\n

I don’t like listening to Alternative, because too much seems just jangly and…let’s say twentysomethings who are pissed they missed the classic rock era and are protesting by making this noisy music with rudimentary instrumentation and plain vocals.\u00c2\u00a0 And Active Rock, I wouldn’t visit a desert island without "Back In Black", I like Lynch\/Pilson, but too many of these records are too out there…<\/p>\n

That’s my PERCEPTION!<\/p>\n

And that’s the perception of the public.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve just tuned it all out.\u00c2\u00a0 So they’re not EXPOSED TO NEW MUSIC!<\/p>\n

Oh, they mix them up on Jack.\u00c2\u00a0 But that’s like living with your high school girlfriend forever.<\/p>\n

MTV used to have it right, mixing it up in the late eighties, before the "Real World," before the boy bands.<\/p>\n

In other words, where are you supposed to HEAR this stuff?<\/p>\n

We’ve let the audience down.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re so inside, we’re so busy selling our stuff to the distributors that are there, that we don’t question that distribution method.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only PHYSICAL distribution, but EXHIBITION!<\/p>\n

Doesn’t matter how good a record is, if no one hears it, it can’t sell.<\/p>\n

Most people haven’t heard "Dreamgirls".\u00c2\u00a0 Or "Daughtry".\u00c2\u00a0 They’re FAR from ubiquitous.\u00c2\u00a0 We insiders like to FEEL that they’re ubiquitous, but ubiquity left the planet at the turn of the century at the latest.\u00c2\u00a0 And some ubiquity must come back.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, we don’t HAVE a "Desperate Housewives" or "24".\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, we’ve got "American Idol", but that’s like parading Kong as a representative of humanity.<\/p>\n

In other words, if people HEARD some of the new stuff, they’d like it.\u00c2\u00a0 And, if they heard it again and again, they’d probably become fans.<\/p>\n

Just a note on another act…<\/strong><\/p>\n

I received this e-mail:<\/p>\n

\n

I manage "The Section Quartet" among other bands.\u00c2\u00a0 They made it on to the Coachella bill last year ’06 as the main stage opener.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re a string quartet cover band and they played string covers of other Coachella acts that followed that weekend (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Franz Ferdinand, Tool, etc. and other past acts like Radiohead, Muse, etc).\u00c2\u00a0 Interesting stuff…check ’em out (links below) and they’re not that bad to look at either.\u00c2\u00a0 They just got a deal with David Novik over at Decca and are recording an album with Linda Perry and Jon Brion producing.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re also studio monsters, providing string tracks\/arrangements for many of the latest releases…<\/p>\n

The Section Quartet<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

You know I’d rather listen to strings than much of what passes for alternative.\u00c2\u00a0 So I checked this out.\u00c2\u00a0 And as soon as they hit the riff in this video, I CRACKED UP!<\/p>\n

So the Section Quartet plays Coachella AND STILL NOBODY KNOWS!\u00c2\u00a0 That was my point about Coachella last year.\u00c2\u00a0 Not that the music is bad, but that the festival is just not as mainstream as the promoters and attendees believe.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not like Woodstock, where every act that appeared suddenly got traction.<\/p>\n

Oh, save me the bile.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t have a problem with you going and having a good time.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m just pointing out the PROBLEMS!\u00c2\u00a0 If only acts broke at Coachella and could tour nationally, theatres rather than clubs.\u00c2\u00a0 Could build their audiences outside radio.\u00c2\u00a0 If only Coachella were a SPRINGBOARD!\u00c2\u00a0 But Coachella is a niche.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s for the people who attend.\u00c2\u00a0 So something can be great there, meaningful, just not Madonna hyping her tour, and it’s like a tree falling in the forest, er…sand blowing in the desert?<\/p>\n

Go to: The Section Quartet<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Listen to some of the audio clips.\u00c2\u00a0 Try "London Calling".\u00c2\u00a0 Or "Dazed and Confused".<\/p>\n

Now if this act were on Simon Cowell’s label, they’d be stars.\u00c2\u00a0 You see if you want to make it, you have to image, you have to promote, you have to market.\u00c2\u00a0 And this can turn people off, and not many acts can survive\/live up to the hype, but if you’ve got a novelty act, if you’ve got a HIGH CONCEPT ACT, like this, especially featuring attractive people, you’ve got a hook, you can break through the clutter, you can MAKE IT!\u00c2\u00a0 This is the kind of shit Cowell did with Il Divo!!<\/p>\n

They don’t need originals.\u00c2\u00a0 The instrumentation, the concept is enough to carry them.\u00c2\u00a0 An album of well-produced covers could break the Section Quartet.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, I’d go to see them.\u00c2\u00a0 Real strings?\u00c2\u00a0 Not the phony ones that come out of synthesizers?\u00c2\u00a0 Like what Paul Buckmaster does?\u00c2\u00a0 Hell yeah!<\/p>\n

CD sales<\/strong><\/p>\n

CD sales are down 14.7% from the corresponding week last year.\u00c2\u00a0 And THAT was a shit week.\u00c2\u00a0 Who cares if Daughtry outsold "Dreamgirls".\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t that like caring which kiddie soccer team won on Saturday afternoon?\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t that MISSING THE POINT?<\/p>\n

The SoundScan numbers have become a sideshow.\u00c2\u00a0 Like the movie grosses.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, we cared for a while, but no longer.\u00c2\u00a0 Just give us something good, that we can sink our teeth into.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, people are buying "Dreamgirls" as a souvenir, but a Supremes-like number burning up the airwaves, played at the Super Bowl?\u00c2\u00a0 Oh no, we’re getting the ancient Prince at the Super Bowl, because nobody new CAN HOLD AN AUDIENCE!<\/p>\n

E-Mail Of The Day<\/strong><\/p>\n

Phil Evans:<\/p>\n

\n

Here’s something scary.\u00c2\u00a0 My 12 year old daughter has never bought, nor asked for a CD.\u00c2\u00a0 She has never put one of mine in the car CD player.<\/p>\n

Where is she finding her new music?\u00c2\u00a0 Movie and TV soundtracks – then she listens to them either in real time on the Internet or downloads them – but often it’s in real time.\u00c2\u00a0 She has no need to own any physical representation of the music.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

"Intimate Secretary"The Raconteurs The Raconteurs did not get glowing reviews.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, many were positive, but not ECSTATIC!\u00c2\u00a0 So, I didn’t pay much attention. I don’t get the White Stripes.\u00c2\u00a0 Or maybe it’s that I’m sick of seeing them in their outfits.\u00c2\u00a0 And what’s wrong with having a bass player?\u00c2\u00a0 And although the sound is good, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-aL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}