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  • Fascinating. does this make us retro downunder!? Any number of good CD/record stores, book shops etc. within easy access here in Melbourne.
  • I think it does. Grand Rapids, MI, where I live, is not as sparse as where Greg is - there are a few useful used record stores in town, and a couple of places to buy new CDs. But only one of them has much jazz, none of them bother much with classical, and I am looking forward to a trip to Sydney in July partly so that I can go back to a couple of good record stores there.
  • edited March 2019
    I think the problem in the UK is that we have taken on board internet purchasing too much - it has one of the highest rates in the world (being an ex-academic I want to put my source - probably the Guardian!) Our only remaining national record/DVD chain (HMV) has gone into receivership twice and each time the new owners have reduced the number of stores. Outside the really big cities very few independent record stores can survive - some have found that the only way they can continue is to give up shop premises, which have a high rent and local tax regime, and concentrate upon online sales, often using Amazon or Ebay. High streets in medium sized cities are dying, being replaced by national multiples in out of town locations. What is left is often betting shops, charity shops, financial institutions and cafes/restaurants, and they are often struggling. Realistically, I buy more CDs from charity shops than from any other non-online source.

    As an indication of the way things are going, when we moved to our current town six years ago we had a small HMV store. That closed four years ago. The next nearest were 7 and 12 miles away, those are both due to close soon, if they haven't already. GP will know Peterborough, about quarter of a million population. HMV there recently closed, and the city has no other record store.
  • I have noticed the trend when visiting the UK. Last time I was also struck that even in places that had a HMV the range of what they actually stocked was tiny, making it hardly worth visiting anyway unless you wanted the current top ten or some cut price light classics.
  • @peterfrederics Ditto here in Chicago, where there are a dozen or so good independent record shops. The vinyl resurgence (fad?) has been a godsend, I think. Places like Dusty Groove and Laurie's are now largely given over to used and new LPs. There are no chain record stores left at all, that I know of.

    Dusty Groove is a beauty, btw...Well worth the visit for those passing through town. (And on the airport train line)

    Dusty Groove store
  • At my hotel room after an exhausting first day at Big Ears.
    More insanely great performances, artist talks, films, etc. to come...
  • rostasi said:
    At my hotel room after an exhausting first day at Big Ears.
    More insanely great performances, artist talks, films, etc. to come...
    Hopefully I'll make it back a third time, maybe next year. Have fun.
  • Hey, I'm at Big Ears.  Who else is here?
  • edited April 2019

    A Message from Charles Amirkhanian
    Last Saturday morning I found myself back on the air live at KPFA in Berkeley. I really enjoyed listening back to conversations with the 1949 founders of Pacifica Radio, and composers Lou Harrison, Laurie Anderson, John Cage, Frank Zappa, Henry Cowell, and John Adams.

    I’m guessing that a busy person like you didn’t have time to tune in. So I’m offering you a chance to hear the two-hour broadcast at your own leisure.
    - The John Cage bit is about 1:20 in.
    And Zappa: at 1:45
  • Thanks for the KPFA link.
    Charles is an interesting character.
  • edited April 2019

    For the past half-century Philip Glass’s music has permeated not only the classical sphere but also the broader pop music consciousness. From operas to film scores to symphonies and string quartets, he has written music for just about every occasion and instrumentation—except for the percussion ensemble.

    Until now, that is. "Perpetulum," Glass's first and only piece for percussion ensemble, receives its Pacific Northwest premiere this Sunday in the hands of Third Coast Percussion. Presented as part of the Town Music series, the concert features the much-anticipated percussion premiere alongside a handful of the ensemble's own Glass-inspired works.

    In this interview, Third Coast ensemble member and Executive Director David Skidmore gives us a sneak peek behind the scenes of the creation and performance of Glass's "Perpetulum."

    http://www.orangemountainmusic.com/  -  https://philipglass.com/recordings/all/

  • Ouch. PledgeMusic has gone under, leaving Tzadik records $200K in the hole: https://www.npr.org/2019/05/14/723225435/as-a-crowdfunding-platform-implodes-a-legendary-composer-rebounds

    They are selling a set of limited-run LPs to try to make back some of the money: https://tzadik.limitedrun.com/products/641195-jz-vinyl-collection
  • Repairman Trips On LSD While Fixing A Vintage Synth Covered In It - I wonder if you electronic music fans will recognize some of the names in this story

  • edited June 2019
    I feel sure someone mentioned on another thread, which I now cannot find, that 7digital are in trouble. Here is a detailed update just released today:
    https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/LON:7DIG/7digital/rns/LSE20190607154301_14103692

    I take the main points to be:
    - that they are creating lots of new shares for their creditors to handle debt and create a million plus in working capital.
    - that they plan to create lots of other new shares to raise 4.5 million in the next month or so for working capital.
    - that if either of these fails (a prospect described as “realistic, not remote”, they go into administration in a month or so.
    - that if they succeed their new strategy is not to be a media company but a technological platform provider (where have I hear that before?).

    I wonder what happens to the skeletal remains of emusic’s content library if 7digital goes under in a month - my understanding is 7digital provides the content, no?
  • edited June 2019
    Interesting....
    >>>>>>>>>>
    Fan can purchase the minidisc collection via Radiohead’s Bandcamp page (note: It’s only for 18 days, and the mp3 download is a hefty 1.8GB in size).
    Those interested can also check out this Google Doc, made by a group of Radiohead fans on Reddit, which meticulously notes all of the song versions that appear throughout the minidiscs.
    >>>>>>>>>>

    I admire the detail/dedication of the Radiohead fans who parsed the original leaked version of the 'hacked' recordings and put that Google Doc together.






  • Why Captain Beefheart’s ‘Trout Mask Replica’ Still Sounds Like Tomorrow. The iconic album remains one of the ultimate tests of how far you are willing to go to give yourself up to music.

    "Released 50 years ago, on June 16th, 1969, Trout Mask Replica — the third studio album by Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band — still sounds like a tomorrow that has not arrived, a music created at a crossroads of sound and language so far distant it continues to defy definitive summation and universal translation."

    That's right, The Mascara Snake, fast and bulbous!
  • We're pleased to announce eMusic shareholders have led a majority investment in @7digital_UK as part of a campaign to push forward our #Blockchain Project, to decentralize the #digital #music infrastructure for the benefit of artists & audiences. For more: http://ow.ly/UclD50uNrWD 
    from

    That link to "more" only points the the old Whitepaper PDF, though.
  • So they have got some money somewhere then?
  • One suspects a majority investment in 7digital doesn't cost too much these days. Still, I had wondered if the looming demise of 7dig was the beginning of the end of the end for eMusic
  • - "Undercurrent was premiered Greenwich Peninsula, London in July 2019. Marketed as London’s new flashy residential neighbourhood and cultural hub, Greenwich Peninsula promises to become the new hot destination for art, design and architecture, and to launch this initiative the Turning Tides festival took place, featuring many live music performances, DJ sets, food, dance and all manner of celebratory events!

    Undercurrent was a sound walk, heard on wireless headphones, that accompanied the 9-metre-high elevated walkway The Tide, flowing through native trees, providing a unique landscaped route for running, walking and meditation. It was designed by Diller and Scofidio, the very same architects who created New York City’s The Highline if you’ve ever have the chance to visit this amazing location. Over several months I collected recordings from beneath the ground, capturing the sounds that we never hear. From earthworms burrowing their way through the soil, to fish in the Thames, to the electrical hum of machinery deep beneath the surface, Undercurrent celebrates a world invisible to the eye but ever active. Collaging these into a cinematic work for the ears, the listener was encouraged to traverse the walkway and tune into this unique world of sonic exploration, where even in the seeming silence there is a magical sound world.

    Now you can enjoy it on your own walk, or even just sit still and immerse yourself in this other universe."

    - Scanner, aka Robin Rimbaud.


  • Didn't want to overburden bremble's podcast thread, so I thought I'd answer greg's question here.
    I'm in Dallas and the cRaZy weather continues all over the country - and especially with the record heat in Europe, it seems worldwide! Much of the difficulties surrounding sickness and/or deaths from heat stem from lack of preparedness and so in Texas it's natural to have air conditioning practically everywhere and we've learned to live on iced tea all day. But, when I was in Europe during that record-breaking heatwave in 2003, it was not as hot as in Dallas on an average summer day, but it was incredibly beastly because most of the restaurants and hotels not only had no A/C, but no electric fans with all of the major stores sold out and none expecting stock for many more months. I remember leaving my Frankfurt hotel room at 2:30 in the morning just to wander the streets in hopes of a gentle breeze or going down to (the late) Woolworth in the afternoon just to take in the icy cold A/C in there. It was a similar situation in 2007 when I was in Kassel for the documenta 12. You would go into the bathroom, grab a large towel, wet it down with cold water, and then drape it over the top of your naked body for, maybe at the most, 90 minutes at a time just so you could get little overnight "naps."

    The climate shows itself in unexpected "opposite" ways as well: waking up the past 3 or 4 mornings to lower 60s (15-18C°) in July has not been a North Texas normal for many decades.
  • Thanks rostasi - much of our part of Europe had its hottest ever day in the middle of the week - Germany, Holland, Belgium, and UK amongst them. France had its hottest day a month or so ago. We are not geared up for this sort of temperature. I saw an estimate that if the weather we've had this year is indicative of the future it will cost us £400 Billion to improve the infrastructure - eg rail lines that do not melt in the heat etc, plus adding aircon in public buildings. Don't tell me Global Warming isn't happening now!
  • Another hot one today ... and we still have about 4 more hours
    until it reaches maximum heat for the day! I feel sorry for all of
    the guys on top of our roof right now.


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