HIPSTER RUNOFF

Check out this article at the Guardian about how MP3 Blogs are sabotaging profits for independent labels and ruining the music industry.

HIPSTER RUNOFF is definitely another blog lost in the shit storm of new MP3 blogs (AKA "Music blogs") that are interested in cultivating readership by reposting popular songs from hypemachine. Hopefully our differentiation strategies are evident.

Here are some good quotes from it:

MP3 blogs - fan-run sites offering free downloadable music MP3s, typically operating without the consent of artist or label - are pretty popular right now. One blog is no big deal. When brought together by something like The Hype Machine - a central hub that tracks and conglomerates activity on hundreds upon hundreds of MP3 blogs - the situation looks pretty different. It is, in short, an HMV store's worth of music, offered up for absolutely nothing, every day.

and on how blog searching compares to torrent searching:

Blogs, by comparison, are quite a comfy affair: a bit of purple prose, a nice picture rustled up on Google Images - hey, you could probably read that 'Please support the artists' disclaimer at the side, pass the link onto a friend and fool yourself into thinking you're spreading the good word. You're not, of course. You're just cementing the idea in your own mind that it's acceptable to take music for nothing.

It's a pretty good article.

If you're a 'music blogger' it definitely makes you look inside of yourself. Am I trying to accumulate readership, or am I trying to generate traffic? Does being a Top 20 blog on HypeMachine mean that I am a Top 20 blog in terms of tastemaking ability? Is it REALLY necessary to have a post with more than 2.5 MP3s? Why do I even bother writing a stupid blurb about the artist I posted? Do I even like the artists that I blog about?

Why do I blog? Do I have good taste in music, or do I just know how to use HypeMachine really well? How long do I need to wait before I 'rip off' hot tracks from other blogs? Am I going to go to jail in 1.5 years?

I try to focus on new artists and new songs, staying a step ahead of what most of the blogosphere is blogging about. Here's an awesome song by a new French band called Justice. I haven't really researched them much, but I think they're going to be big in 2008.

[MP3]
Justice D.A.N.C.E

The Tough Alliance is probably my favourite band of the moment. Just some great electronic pop out of Sweeden. It's like post-post-post Animal Collective, in a way. Is The Tough Alliance the next Animal Collective? Maybe.

It's the kind of sound that made me enjoy Lo-Fi-Fnk so much over the past year.

VIDEO: "HOLIDAY"
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR30W1B-Zrs]

The rest of Tough Alliance is a lot like BIG COUNTRY before the lead singer killed himself.

Anyways, check out this Tough Alliance cover of The Embassy's "Some Indulgence."

MP3: The Tough Alliance - Now That's What I Call Indulgence
MP3: The Embassy - Some Indulgence

Buy Tough Alliance's "New Chance" at Amazon.

One business model/record label that I think it doing a great job of penetrating the blogosphere is Italians Do It Better. They have some great bands that really sound appropriate, collectively with a disco meets modern arpeggios. Glass Candy, Mirage, and the Chromatics are great. I wonder when they're going to form a super group.

I think the Chromatics Remix of "Running Up That Hill" is one of those MP3s that is as good, if not better than the original.

MP3: Chromatics - Running up That Hill
MP3: Chromatics - Night Drive

Myspace: Chromatics on Myspace

Also Check out the Italians Do It Better blog.

I remember the first time I heard "For Kate I Wait", I played it over and over again. It really made me wait for Kate. I'm not an Ariel Pink historian, but from what I've gathered, he is some guy who has spent nearly half a decade recording some of the best lofi tapes in history.

In other recordings, he uses samples of his dad calling him worthless. He uses a 4Track, and gets some pretty INTERESTING RESULTS. Anyways, you might want to check out his albums if you like these songs. Start out with "Hanted Grafitti" and work your way into "Worn Copy."

MP3: Ariel Pink - Gray Sunset I really like the last 30 seconds of Gray Sunset.
MP3: Ariel Pink - Strange Fires

Buy The Doldrums at Amazon.

Ariel Pink

Alternative Celebrity, Buzzband

Ariel Pink is a 'lofi genius/wizard/mastermind' who has transitioned his brand to 'relevant indie buzzband status' in 2k10.

Lists: Producers, drug users, lofi, indie hunks, Californians

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