Tell me if you hear something here.<\/p>\n
I got this e-mail from a guy down under.\u00c2\u00a0 Here, I’ll reproduce it.<\/p>\n
\nDear Mr Lefsetz,<\/p>\n
I am writing to you from Melbourne, Australia and wanted to say how inspiring your letters are.\u00c2\u00a0 Sometimes I feel like it’s a lost cause, trying to keep hope for rock and roll alive, and I’ve made it hard for myself by choosing to push the music I love rather than regurgitate what the local A and R sycophants a getting a boner over this week.<\/p>\n
That’s why we formed our own label to put out our music the way we want to.\u00c2\u00a0 The band’s called "Cinematic" and I was wondering if I could send you a free copy of the new album?\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t actually expect you to do anything with it, other than hopefully listen to it for interest’s sake.\u00c2\u00a0 I guess I just wanted you to know that the problems music lovers face are global, but your message is being heard.\u00c2\u00a0 And from what you’ve said, I think you might dig our stuff.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just breaking on college radio in the US at the moment.<\/p>\n
Anyway, thanks for your time, and I’m looking forward to the next episode in the Lefsetz letters.<\/p>\n
Cheers,<\/p>\n
Adam Friedman
WiseMonkeyRecords \/ Cinematic
22 Hope Street South Yarra
Victoria Australia 3141
Tel: (03) 9866-8864
Fax: (03) 9866-1697
Mobile: 0411-122-888
Email: adam@wisemonkeyrecords.com<\/a>
www.cinematicmusic.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nWhat the fuck do I want with a CD?\u00c2\u00a0 Especially of an indie band from halfway around the world?<\/p>\n
So I told him to send me an MP3.\u00c2\u00a0 He did.<\/p>\n
One great thing about MacMail is you can listen to the file right in the e-mail message.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t have to download it, save it, import it into iTunes or pull up QuickTime.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s much easier.\u00c2\u00a0 Although you do have to wait for the file to come down from the server.<\/p>\n
Now, you’ve got to know, the stuff people send you always sucks.\u00c2\u00a0 Stunningly, these people THINK it’s good.\u00c2\u00a0 Especially if they’re businesspeople involved.\u00c2\u00a0 They get angry if you don’t love it just like them.\u00c2\u00a0 Makes you almost not want to listen.\u00c2\u00a0 But one little guy in Australia?\u00c2\u00a0 I’ll play one of his MP3s.\u00c2\u00a0 Especially since it’s almost no effort in MacMail.<\/p>\n
Malcolm Gladwell posits in "Blink" that an expert knows.\u00c2\u00a0 Can interpret authenticity and quality in an instant.\u00c2\u00a0 Can divine greatness without having to think about it.<\/p>\n
I’m an expert.<\/p>\n
And if I don’t immediately want to take something off, if it intrigues me, resonates, I know it’s real.<\/p>\n
I was really kind of stunned.\u00c2\u00a0 This track "Alone" this Adam Friedman sent was GOOD!<\/p>\n
Oh, save me the hate mail.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re into rap.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re into punk.\u00c2\u00a0 If you believe music should be edgy you won’t like it.\u00c2\u00a0 But, if you were into album rock in the seventies, you’ll hear something here.<\/p>\n
"Alone" is not a hit.\u00c2\u00a0 But it almost fits in a Charlie album.\u00c2\u00a0 Or the first Ambrosia album, the one on 20th Century, the GOOD ONE!<\/p>\n
So I went to the site Adam linked to hear more.\u00c2\u00a0 And it ALL was good.\u00c2\u00a0 I downloaded every MP3.\u00c2\u00a0 Listened all afternoon.<\/p>\n
And what did I decide?<\/p>\n
I’d do the vocals a bit differently.\u00c2\u00a0 At times the music is too schmaltzy.\u00c2\u00a0 But other times, there’s an otherworldly feeling, which is an element of so much great music…like it inhabits a parallel universe, one where hunger, war and politicians don’t exist, where it’s only about experience, tactile and aural.<\/p>\n
I can’t imagine a major label signing something like this today.\u00c2\u00a0 Because I didn’t hear a hit.\u00c2\u00a0 And a major only wants something with a hit.\u00c2\u00a0 A hit is immediate, it’s straight to the heart, it WAKES YOU UP!\u00c2\u00a0 But what if you don’t want to pay close attention, what if you want the music to accompany you, what does THAT sound like.<\/p>\n
Kind of like the music of Cinematic.<\/p>\n
Try "Alone".\u00c2\u00a0 And "How I Get Over You".\u00c2\u00a0 "This Is News".\u00c2\u00a0 "Love That Never Dies".\u00c2\u00a0 "Don’t Know If You Know".<\/p>\n
There’s something about the changes.\u00c2\u00a0 Reminds me of the early Genesis, when they made great music, before they had hits.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe even that Toto album I love, "Fahrenheit", the one with Joseph Williams as the singer.<\/p>\n
If you consider yourself hip.\u00c2\u00a0 If you need to know the name of the latest cutting edge band, if your music has to have an element of turn-off to be a turn-on, you won’t like this, it will make you puke.\u00c2\u00a0 But, if you lived through the seventies, you may not love it, and I don’t either, but I think you’ll definitely find something here.\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s THIS that’s exciting.\u00c2\u00a0 That some guy is following his own muse, creating MUSIC, not a marketing sensation.<\/p>\n
Music available at: <\/p>\n