Media Junkie

The Day the Record Store Died

 

March 10, 2011 saw the end of an era. 

In the beginning, there were the Little Guys.  The Little Guys were friendly, personable, knowledgeable, and had hoards of buried treasure that they shared with all.  Collectors and traders came from all around to sift through the vast riches on display, or perhaps make a discovery of their own.  Life was better then, simpler. 

Then came the Behemoth.

At first, the Little Guys tried to coincide with the Behemoth.  They wanted to live in harmony.  The Behemoth, at first, seemed like a way to share their treasures with everyone, even people from far, far away. 

Word of the Behemoth's kingdom spread far and wide, and the kingdom grew and grew, stretching out and ensnaring all in its sticky web.  The Little Guys had no choice but to adapt, so they agreed to live within the Behemoth's kingdom. 

Things were fine at first.  The Behemoth and The Little Guys coexisted peacefully, each providing their own services to the people.  But, as the saying goes, if something is too good to be true, it probably is.

Soon the Behemoth's expansive kingdom had grown so large it now encompassed the whole world.  The Behemoth offered treasures even The Little Guys couldn't have imagined, but instead of being personable and friendly, the Behemoth was motivated by greed. 

Oh, sure, you could find all you wanted in the Behemoth's kingdom, but it would cost you.  The Behemoth wasn't friendly or sympathetic, it was cold, mechanical.  Treasures untold lay in the clutches of the Behemoth's claws, held tight and fast, and many out of the reach of the kingdom's citizens.

Then the Behemoth unleashed its greatest trick.  It began offering similar, inferior goods for cheaper prices than The Little Guys.  Foolishly, people were blinded by the Behemoth's deception.  This wasn't generosity, it was genocide; a calculated attempt to wipe out all those who dared oppose the Behemoth and clung to old ways.

The Behemoth was sleeker, faster, and could provide all the citizens wanted without ever having to leave their houses.  Dazzled by the convenience and inexpensive prices, citizens cast aside their old traditions in favor of instant gratification.  Why spend hours sifting through The Little Guys' trinkets, when the Behemoth offered it all with the click of a button?

The Little Guy fought valiantly against the Behemoth, trying with all its might to hold it off, to fight the inevitable.  In the end, the Behemoth swallowed up all in its path, leaving only ruin in its wake.

So it was that Record Time, Metro Detroit's legendary independent record store, known the world over, closed its doors for the last time and fell to the Behemoth.  Gone is the friendly, personable service and knowledgeable staff.  Gone are the bins of records and compact discs.  Gone is the feeling of elation upon plucking a rare item at an unbeatable price from the bins.  Gone...but not forgotten.

The building that once housed Record Time at 27360 Gratiot Avenue in Roseville, Michigan now sits dark, dormant, but the ghosts of memories still occupy it.  Memories of Saturday afternoons spent with my older brother, sifting through bins of vinyl and CDs, hoping to find buried treasure.  Memories of conversations with friendly, intelligent employees, recommending CDs and discussing music.  The kindness of an employee offering us a discount on our purchases to help us rebuild our music collections after they were destroyed by a house fire, and letting a patron take a promotional poster for one of his favorite bands for nothing more than simply asking if he can have it. 

It's hard to believe Record Time is gone.  It's strange and sad to think that I can't hop on I-696 and return to the store I'd spent countless hours in since my youth.  It's like losing an old friend you just assumed would always be around, and I know I'll never be able to drive past that store's former home without feeling that pang of sadness and guilt.  Guilt because I was just as blinded by the Behemoth's offerings as everyone else, and sadness not only because I know The Little Guys are gone, but because I know in my heart there was nothing I could have done anyway.  What chance did a handful of men have against an entire kingdom?

After 27 great years, Record Time succumbed to the unstoppable internet Behemoth, but not without leaving its mark upon all who entered its doors.  Thank you for all the great music and memories.  You'll be missed more than you'll ever know.

Media Junkie's Best Albums of 2009

2009 was a rough year in so many ways.  Personal tragedies kept me from enjoying the things I normally do, including writing for this here blog.  Unlike last year, I don't even have a full-length review to link to for all ten albums, but I still managed to pick out the ones I felt were worth your time.  As I said last year, this is by no means a definitive list, but of the albums I listened to this year, it represents my personal favorites.

In order to choose my ten favorite albums of any given year, the CD must be released physically or digitally within the calendar year.  Re-releases (10th Anniversary, remasters, catalog releases, etc.) are not eligible (thus previously released US albums are not eligible simply because they appear on iTunes in a given year), nor are remix albums, Best Of compilations, DJ mix CDs, or soundtracks unless they are scores recorded specifically for a film (as opposed to a collection of tracks from various artists that appear within a film).  Only original compositions are eligible, in other words. 

Unfortunately, some of this year's best records are ineligible due to various reasons.  One of the rules I did not stipulate last year is that EPs are also ineligible, so though they are fantastic records, The Envy Corps' Kid Gloves and The Silent Years' Let Go cannot make the cut.  In addition, promotional copies do not count, so All Thieves' stunning debut is not on the list due to that technicality. 

Keeping that in mind, this year's winners are...

Record Store Day '09 at Rock-A-Billy's

For the second year in a row, independent record stores across the country have united to celebrate their continued existence in the age of digital downloads and big box stores.  This event, known as Record Store Day, is meant to show a mutual appreciation between the customers who frequent these small shops and the stores themselves. 

Local and national artists throw their support behind the event, offering exclusive freebies or purchases that can only be found at a store that belongs to the Coalition of Independent Music Stores.  This year, the likes of The Flaming Lips, My Morning Jacket, and New Order all had special items you could only get at your local indie shop, and many stores celebrated with amazing discounts and in-store performances.

One such store was Rock-A-Billy's in Utica, Michigan, who had a day of live music set up in the tiny stage area at the back of the shop.  As one might expect, these were all local artists including - who else - The Silent Years, who played a nifty four song acoustic set of material from their upcoming EP, Let Go.

Jason Lytle - "Birds Encouraged Him" Acoustic Performance

In my ongoing effort to help promote ex-Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle's solo debut, Yours Truly, The Commuter, I now present an acoustic performance of one of the album's tracks - "Birds Encouraged Him".

This performance was recorded live at Maps, an Italian radio show, and features Lytle on vocals and guitar, and his good friend Rusty Miller (from the band Jackpot) on tamborine.

You can also head on over to the official Maps site to check out a two part interview with Jason, as well as download an mp3 of the acoustic performance.

Yours Truly, The Commuter will be released May 19, 2009 on Anti- Records.

Grassroots Promotion: Jason Lytle - 'Yours Truly, The Commuter'

With the upcoming May 19th release of Jason Lytle's first solo album, Yours Truly, The Commuter on Anti- Records, the former Grandaddy mastermind will become a semi-permanent featured artist here at Media Junkie. 

As a Grandaddy fan, I believe Jason Lytle has written some of the most honest, evocative lyrics of any songwriter - lyrics that touch upon familiar subjects in an intimate, introspective manner, which makes them easy for listeners to relate to.  And so it is with great anticipation that I await his first solo record.

As some of you may know, this blog is a labor of love.  I review music, movies, and the occasional book, because they are all things that I am passionate about.  I receive no compensation for my reviews, I receive no ad revenue from this blog (as there are no ads featured), and I do not take requests to review or promote anything I do not already have an interest in.

Last summer, I was contacted by a promotional group to feature a Comcast-sponsored Dark Knight post, which I agreed to do because The Dark Knight was very clearly a film I was anxious to see.  However, when that same firm contacted me several weeks later to feature a new video-on-demand website, I declined.  I have no interest in promoting things I am not passionate about, which is why it is with great pleasure that I present to you the following two videos.

These two videos, originally found on the Anti- Records official blog, comprise the electronic press kit (EPK) for Jason Lytle's solo debut.  In them, Jason discusses the album's title and songs, and you'll get a glimpse of him in the studio, as well as his new Montana homestead and neighboring landscape.

In the coming months, there will be more features about Yours Truly, The Commuter.  In the meantime, I urge everyone to check out my review of Grandaddy's classic record The Sophtware Slump, as well as the rest of the band's music.

Media Junkie's Best Albums of 2008

2008 was a year of discovery for me, with half of my favorite records coming from newly discovered artists.  As always, it was tough to narrow the list down to ten choices, and this is by no means a definitive list. 

In order to choose my ten favorite albums of any given year, the CD must be released physically or digitally within the calendar year in the United States.  Re-releases (10th Anniversary, remasters, catalog releases, etc.) are not eligible (thus previously released US albums are not eligible simply because they appear on iTunes in a given year), nor are remix albums, Best Of compilations, DJ mix CDs, or soundtracks unless they are scores recorded specifically for a film (as opposed to a collection of tracks from various artists that appear within a film).  Only original compositions are eligible, in other words.

Don't forget, you can sample selections from these albums, and many more, in my Best Songs of 2008 playlist.  So, without any futher delay...

An Open Letter to the RIAA

written by Levi Weaver

An Open Letter to the RIAA:

Congratulations. You've taken one more step in choking the industry that pays your bills. You are the proverbial Commodus, reveling in your power, not realizing that you, hand in hand with Clear Channel were the cause of the end of Pax Romana.

You'll be the last one standing, you know, in your old graveyard of an industry. When you look around and see that despite all your efforts to "save" the music industry have totally destroyed it, I hope, nay wish, that I am in the room to see your bankruptcy papers signed, and celebrate by popping a bottle of the cheapest beer I can find, just to emphasize that your reign of Cognac and Cristal has come to a bitter and beautiful end.

You can continue to be "The Enforcer" behind all things overproduced and under-felt, sticking up for all the Kevin Federlines and 50 Cents of the world, clinging to the carcass of 1992 with all your disgusting might, but a change is coming, and has come. As one of the artists you claim to represent, I'd like to give a firm, resounding, "No Thanks." I didn't ask you to take any of the steps you've taken to try to kill my career in the name of "representing" me.

Pandora has been a tool of such great help that a value cannot be put on it. And your complete and total incapability to recognize anything that was not a source of income in your college professor's "Industry" will kill you. It will kill you, and to that I say that the day of your death cannot come soon enough.

Even if you last for another 20 years, your relevance has been fading for quite some time. You're dying even now, even as you celebrate your victory over another rebel website, another single mother, another college student, another evil 13-year old. You're dying. And right under your nose, in the echoes of your death rattle, a new music industry is growing. An industry without a name, chaotic, beautiful, bordering on anarchic. You have no control over art, over music, over fandom. So you take your top-40 radio and have fun with Leona Lewis and the Jonas Brothers for as long as it lasts.

We the people will be creating our own system. We'll be in tiny little bars and back porches and dirty basements, and eventually the mainstream will catch on, and turn their backs on you and your over-marketed bilge. (they are already turning their backs; if you would look up for one second, you would see a lot of back pockets that are already out of your reach)

And when they do, when the exodus is complete, and your stadiums are empty, and your radio stations abandoned, When your buildings are foreclosed upon, your castles in ruin, your moat filled with piss and spray paint, rancid and festering, I'd like to be among the first to say you will not be invited to have any part in this brave new world. When your world is in total ruin, I hope the music that we listen to, that reminds us of the beauty amidst the crap, the music that tells us something more than "dance dance dance", the music that was forged in the fires of discontent and destruction, and speaks of hope to the heart of those in disarray...

...I hope you never get to hear one more note.

Not one note.

-Levi Weaver
info(at)leviweaver(dot)com

Editor's Note: Levi Weaver is an American independent folk singer/songwriter.  This post originally appeared this afternoon on his MySpace blog and has been reposted, completely unedited, with his permission. 

I feel it is an important statement and I hope it reaches as many people as possible.

Find out more about Levi and his music at his Official Website and his MySpace page.

The Double-Edged Sword of Illegal Downloading

Let's face facts - illegal downloading has been around for a while now and it's not going anywhere.  For every peer-to-peer program the Recording Industry Association of America shuts down, three more arise in its place.  For every user they slap with a lawsuit, millions more are accessing these programs, downloading torrents, or logging onto their newsgroup servers to download the latest and greatest music. 

It's true that digital distribution is the wave of the future.  Apple's iTunes store has proved that and has contributed to the steady decline of CD sales year after year.  While I have made my thoughts on digital distribution clear in the past, I stayed away from the slippery slope that is illegal downloading.  Yes, I too have dipped my foot in those waters.  Some may even consider the playlists I have posted on this very blog a form of piracy, though I find the idea ludicrous, because the artists are given no royalties and their record label receives no revenue for each person who listens to them.

As with any tale, there are two sides to every story.  For all the horrible, evil things the RIAA would like you to believe about illegal downloading, there is an upside.

The Digital Distribution Age

Do you remember the portable CD player?  For those of us even older, the original Walkman, which played cassette tapes?  As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, it changes everything, including the way we listen to, and even purchase, our music.

Like it or not, iPods and other personal media players are becoming more prevalent in our society.  Many automobiles now come with integrated iPod docks to allow you to listen to the device through your car's speakers.  On a single device, you can potentially store over 10,000 songs, which is generally more storage than the casual music listener who visits the iTunes store on a regular basis to download new mp3s will ever require.  Your entire music collection can fit in your back pocket or the palm of your hand.

The Britney Effect (Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying & Love Pop Music)

I'm going to be honest. I had no idea the MTV Video Music Awards were even on this past weekend. MTV has become such a ghost to me that I don't even notice it when I'm flipping through my TiVo guide to see what's on. As Stephen Colbert would say, it's dead to me.

It wasn't until I went to work on Monday morning and all I heard about was Britney Spears' spectacular failure of a comeback attempt that I even realized that the channel that stopped showing videos years ago held their music video awards show.

After being compared to a train wreck in nearly every article I read, the first thing I did when I went home that night was seek the video out online. Luckily, it's not exactly hard to find.