Best Music of 2009

by: danps

Fri Jan 01, 2010 at 07:59

'FOOD, Inc.' Exposes Horrors of the U.S. Centralized Food System

by: GeoBear

Mon Jun 15, 2009 at 13:15

Factory food sickens humans, livestock and the environment

What we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than in the last 10,000. So asserts Robert Kenner's new film, FOOD, Inc., which opens nationwide June 19th.  The vast bulk of food production is now controlled by just a few mega-corporations with one value: profit. Relying on genetic engineering, pesticides and antibiotics, factory food is cheap, requiring little land. But the external costs to our health, the environment and the natural food industry are enormous.

Director: Robert Kenner
Producers: Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
Co-Producer: Eric Schlosser
Released by Magnolia Pictures, with Participant Media and River Road Entertainment
93 minutes

FOOD, Inc. is the single most important film of the decade. Transcending hype and industry muzzling, the film exposes some of the cruel and unnatural aspects of industrial farms and food processing. It links epidemic rates of US obesity and diabetes with our intake of genetically engineered food.

NPR called it this summer's "suspense thriller."  

The film condemns how workers and animals are abused. Illegal immigrants, who cannot complain about working conditions, comprise most of the workers at industrial food plants. They are vulnerable to raids and deportation. No corporate executives are arrested.

Well researched and well scored, the film debunks the pastoral fantasy spin. Industrial food is not grown, raised or processed on a farm. The animals see no sunshine, are kept immobile in cages, and are genetically or chemically modified. Those that are somewhat mobile are bioengineered to plump their bodies faster than their bones and muscles can support. They flop helplessly to the floor when trying to move.

Read the full review, with images, at http://snipurl.com/k4s6d  

Change Brings Change

by: The Opportunity Agenda

Wed Feb 18, 2009 at 16:52

The project isn't completely new.  Bill Moyers sat down with the producer, Mark Johnson, last October.  The video was recently released on iTunes, and I can't stop watching it.  You can watch it for free at Playingforchange.com.

Best Music of 2008

by: danps

Sat Dec 27, 2008 at 05:47

God Bless Americana: Singing Political Victory

by: Living Liberally

Mon Sep 22, 2008 at 13:15

Sitting in an old oak pew in Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium, "the Mother Church of Country Music," I'm waiting for American roots music apparitions to rise from the dark pine floors and whisper to me the secret key to a rebirth of a progressive nation. A guy can dream.

You may think my hope grandiose and based on idle superstition, but you would be wrong. The occasion is this week's 2008 Americana Music Festival, and I'm giving witness that the spirits rose, and they told me their secret. More on that in a minute.

Pandora to Shut Down - Go Democrats Go!

by: tatere

Mon Aug 18, 2008 at 15:44

Giant of Internet Radio Nears Its 'Last Stand'
By Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 16, 2008

[...]

Last year, an obscure federal panel ordered a doubling of the per-song performance royalty that Web radio stations pay to performers and record companies.

Traditional radio, by contrast, pays no such fee. Satellite radio pays a fee but at a less onerous rate, at least by some measures.

As for Pandora, its royalty fees this year will amount to 70 percent of its projected revenue of $25 million, Westergren said, a level that could doom it and other Web radio outfits.

This week, Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Calif.) is trying to broker a last-minute deal between webcasters and SoundExchange, the organization that represents artists and record companies. The negotiations could reduce the per-song rate set by the federal panel last year.

The two sides appear to be far apart, however, with Berman frustrated.

"Most of the rate issues have not been resolved," Berman said. "If it doesn't get much more dramatic quickly, I will extricate myself from the process."

If anyone can explain that comment of Berman's I'd be interested to hear it. Does he want them to show up in costume? A musical score, perhaps? No, too many licensing issues.

I do love this as an example of DC in action. First, I pass a law saying that Joe can claim your head. Then you complain that you don't want to cut off your head. Joe insists. I "facilitate" negotiations between you and Joe. Joe says, "Give me your head." You say, "No!" I throw my hands up and say, "If you two can't manage to reach some kind of Reasonable Compromise here, well I wash my hands of it." Brilliant.

Best Music of the Year

by: danps

Sat Dec 29, 2007 at 05:31

Introduction

This is a CD's worth of the best new music I heard this year.  God bless the Internet - I doubt I'd have heard any of them without it.  I deliberately forced myself to stay under 80 minutes so they all could fit on a single CD.  In a way it's an arbitrary limit but if you're going to share a "best of" list you shouldn't overwhelm your listeners.  I know from experience that restraint in these matters is greatly appreciated.  There are some songs I loved that didn't make it as a result; I've listed some of them in the comments.  If you like my picks I recommend tracking them down as well.

Stragglers

I heard these for the first time this year but they were released earlier.  I'd have probably made room for each if they'd have qualified.

"Uh Huh" - Method Man (Buy). Method Man has forgotten more about good beats than I will ever know.

"The Ride" - Joan As Police Woman (Buy).  A beautiful song beautifully performed.  You can keep your divas, chanteuses and drama queens.  I'll take Joan As Police Woman.

"Drama" - H.I.T. (No artist info).  This song has a gigantic, colossal Godzilla of a beat, stomping through your city and knocking over buildings.  Run for your lives!

"Through The Backyards" - Au Revoir Simone (Buy).  Mesmerizing.

"Hardcore Days And Softcore Nights" - Aqueduct (Buy album).  I don't write this lightly: A worthy successor "Louie, Louie".  Like the prototypical garage rock anthem, this one has a happy little keyboard riff dancing on top of a drum kit getting worked over like a loanshark deadbeat.  Retroactively awarded 2005 Best Xylophone.

Honorable Mention

"White Like Heaven" - Gowns (Label's homepage).  Shows what's possible when a talented and ambitious group creates something cool and then just opens it up and lets it breathe for a while.  It definitely isn't for everyone though.  As much as I like it I have mixed feelings about it because I'm pretty sure it will end up inspiring a landfill's worth of pretentious tripe.  My advice: Get into it now before the imitators ruin it.

Late breaking news:  I just started listening to "Shame" by Shannon Hurley in the last week and I suspect I just found my first Straggler for 2008.

Best music of 2007

And yes as proof of concept I burned them on to a CD using Winamp.

22. "See And Be Scene" - The Hard Lessons (Band info).  Synthesizers can sound great when featured in a song..  You can hear them in dance, electronica and hip hop but in the pop/rock world it's as though the first Cars album never happened.  Here's hoping The Hard Lessons start a reversal of that trend.

21. "Swallowed A Pill" - Salt And Samovar (Band info).  This one builds and builds and just when it seems ready to take off into an extended Who-like whirlwind...it ends.  Happily the abruptness doesn't come across as contrived like it did for another cultural event this year that I will only elliptically refer to and certainly won't hyperlink to because I've already heard more about it than I need to for three lifetimes and if you don't know what I'm talking about please forget you even read this sentence.  Here it just sounds like that's where they wanted it to end.  Fair enough.

20. "There's A Reason" - AA Bondy (Buy).  This was actually released November 30th 2006 but I allowed a grace period; the songs I find don't exactly come storming out of the gate in a blaze of publicity.  Sometimes it takes a while to come across them.  Anyway, some slow songs are compelling and some are catatonic.  I don't know what causes them to be one or the other but this one just forced me to tune in.

19. "Paper Planes" - M.I.A. (Buy).  This one cleaned up at the awards show: Best Mess With The Audience's Head, Most Contemporary, Best Living Up To The Hype and Best Shotgun.  Don't strain your back hauling all that hardware home!

18. (2007 Best Gibberish) "320" - Project Jenny, Project Jan (Buy).  "320" really crept up on me.  The first few times I thought it was OK, then suddenly it clicked and I was bouncing all over the car.  You weren't using that mailbox were you?

17. "Enabler" - Japancakes (Buy).  Simply gorgeous.  They fade it out too early though.  I'll be first in line when they release the twenty minute EP version.

16.(2007 Best Hand Claps) "B.O.O.T.A.Y" - Bangers And Cash (Buy (Clean version (though really why bother?))).  A less refined Sir Mix-A-Lot.

15. "Shake Ya Boogie" - Mocean Worker (Buy album).  I know cowbell has become all ironic and meta but when it's done well it still sounds just fine to me.  This is Exhibit A from 2007.

14. (2007 Runner Up - Best Hand Claps) "Solta O Frango" - Bonde Do Role (Buy).  This is a loopy song, but the good kind not the bad kind.  It isn't "I'm so embarassed this guy is my President I could just die" loopy but "a bunch of wacky kids got together, grabbed an instrument and discovered they could play them" loopy.  We've been gorged on the former and are starved for the latter.  Help make up the deficit, won't you?  Check out this song.

13. "Sunset" - Benji Cossa (Buy album).  This song produced the following image for me:  Tiny Tim on the early 70's Carson show with a Hawaiian set and a couple of hula dancers behind him.  Whatever that does for you, give it a listen.  It was my unofficial "driving home from work on a nice summer Friday afternoon" song.  Now that winter has arrived I can listen and still catch some residual warmth.

12. "Wonderlust King" - Gogol Bordello (Buy).  Frankie Yankovic meets Sid Vicious meets a gypsy caravan.  I understand why they aren't more popular but I still wish they were.

11. "Lil'King Kong" - Simple Kid (Buy).  Banjo on top of a hip hop beat?  (Cue clichéd cop buddy movie vibe:)  "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"  Oh yes he can.  Straight into my heart and onto the list.

10. "The Opposite Of Hallelujah" - Jens Lekman (Buy).  If melodies were animals this song's would be a basket full of puppies.  It's hard to overstate how insanely catchy this song is.

9. "Die Die Die" - The Avett Brothers (Buy).  If loving harmonies is a crime then lock me up and throw away the key!

8. (2007 Vocal of the Year) "Small Town Crew" - The Brunettes (Buy).  I believe I'd enjoy listening to this girl sing the phone book.

7. "Rud Fins" - Robert Pollard (Buy).  In just over two minutes this song provides a full week's supply of the FDA's recommended allowance of rock and roll goodness.

6. "Adrenaline" - Emma Pollock (Buy). Immature artists imitate, mature artists steal.  Emma shows her maturity by stealing the piano from "Clocks" and dropping it into her own wonderfully crafted pop song.  Well played, Lady Pollock! (Cue country club applause.)

5. "It Just Takes One" - The Hudsons (Buy (registration required)).  Simple, clean, lovely.

4. "What You Need" - Galactic (Buy).  Oh my dear sweet Jesus does this song rock.

3. "Bone" - Map Of Africa (Band info).  If this song doesn't go to your nether regions from the very beginning please see your doctor immediately.

2. "Bushels" - Frog Eyes (Buy).  Usually when artists take a big chance it's a train wreck.  Here is a teriffic exception.  Frog Eyes goes way out on a limb and to my ears succeeds wildly.  If you just hear a train wreck fair enough.

1. (2007 Song of the Year) "New Shoes" - Blitzen Trapper (Buy).  A smile set to music.

And finally....

Happy New Year everyone.  Peace.

The End Of The World - Amazing YouTube Video

by: TValley

Sat Dec 22, 2007 at 15:30