by alyssa coluccio
In the history of music, the record label and the music fan have not always walked hand in hand. In fact, the music fan has often condemned the label as being “the stifler of musical freedom” and “the corruptor of musical purity.” Some major labels aside, there actually does exist a world of labels that work for and with the band, that consider their roster a family, and that have not forgotten that the purpose of music is pure and innovative. These are the labels you should know, and these are the labels QC has chosen to feature in a little something I’d like to call: know your labels. To prove that our aim is true, we’re going to start off with a label that was actually created by fans. It’s called Merge Records. Maybe you’ve heard of it?
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by chuck bell
By the End of Tonight were about as unconventional as a rock outfit could be, which is probably the reason that they spent the entirety of their brief career in relative obscurity. BTEOT formed in Alvin, TX in 2003 as a four-piece instrumental group, consisting of Stefan Mach and Josh Smith on guitars, James Templeton on bass, and Jeff Wilson on drums. Wilson opted to play a toddler’s drum set in lieu of a standard kit, most likely for the extremely tight “pop” that he was able to get out of the tiny snare drum. They produced their first full length themselves, entitled …In a Letter to the Sandbox. This album was a sloppy, no-holds-barred exercise in spazz-core. Not only does each song sound completely different, but each song sounds different on a measure-to-measure basis. The opening track, “We Are The Cure For Blinking Lights!” misleads the listener with all 4 members screaming over machine gun-blast drums. After this one-minute track, no vocals are heard for the rest of the album.
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by kiki
Imagine going to college and being taught by Lily Allen’s music producer and Bird and the Bee member Greg Kursten. After a quick lunch (and a smoke break) you walk into second period and Blue Man Group drummer Peter Pollack is at the podium. After a stroll through the quad (and another smoke break) you walk into your final class of the day to listen to your master class teacher, Flaming Lips drummer Steven Drozd. It’s not a fantasy, it’s the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma which kicks off its inagural semester on August 12th.
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I take it as an ingenious educational initiative and a stamp of approval for the direction of independent music in the states. Sounds are expanding in the information age and the overflow is moistening the tips of pop culture. This school opening along with the participation of top music industry professionals signal a faith behind the growth of rock.
by kevin diamond
Here’s the short version: Wilco (the album) is better than Sky Blue Sky, but not as good as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The end.
It’s easy to imagine that the proceeding sentence will be true for the remainder of Wilco’s career. Unless you’re one of those eternal-Wilco-haters (and there are plenty of them), those two albums seem to have become the comparison points for the rest of Wilco’s career, for better or for worse. The near universal praise for YHF, coupled with the near-universal disappointment presented by Sky Blue Sky, makes it so. And yet I can’t help but feel guilty everytime I compare an artist’s newest work to that “one perfect album” they created in their hey day. It’s the same struggle I had when Sky Blue Sky was released.
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by cheryl santa maria
Due to the garbage collection strike that’s taking place in Toronto (now in its eighth day) the extremely stinky city has decided to cancel this Wednesday’s Canada Day festivities. Hooray for patriotism.
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I could go off on a rant about how it’s completely ridiculous to cancel Canada Day in the country’s most populated city, or express my dismay over the fact that no private businesses have stepped in to fund garbage collection for that day (which really says something about this city’s priorities, doesn’t it?), but I won’t. Quiet Color isn’t the place for ranting. Quiet Color is all about music and culture and the things we love so I’ll stop complaining, even though canceling Canada Day is akin to canceling Christmas .
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by katharine moore
People have always seemed unable to resist the temptation of gathering in large groups. As far back as 4500 B.C. in ancient Egypt there were religious rites and political fests that featured music and dance. Fast-forward to the 21st century and festivals have taken over summer social scenes around the globe, and yet the common themes remain - music, revelry, and the outdoors. Quiet Color is happy to report on the Wanderlust Festival, a brand new festival that seeks to engage not only the music lover in all of us but also the many aspects of the dynamic people we are.
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by marissa bea
The history of photography is not a long one, but for the short time that it has been with us, photos have changed the face of humans forever. From 19th century explorers, to early portraiture, to modern high fashion, photographs have become a part of our lives, and have created some of the fastest growing art stars in the world today. Lucky for our generation there has arrived a new breed of photographer, and it comes in the ever-changing shape of self-portraiture by Haley Jane Samuelson.
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by lora kolodny
US fans of Phoenix will be let down, severely, tonight (June 27, 2009) when Spectrum Music Festival finally announces the band’s cancellation as headliner at San Francisco’s Regency Center.
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While rumors were circulating about the cancellation as early in the day (Pacific Time) as 10:00 a.m., the venue, festival and band had failed to announce the cancellation. We smell a rat — whose corporate policy would allow three ballrooms’ worth of ticket-holding fans to arrive to such a buzzkill during the middle of Gay Pride Weekend in San Francisco?
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by charles poladian
Will this be a good weekend of sun and fun for the Reel? I hope so. The weather may not hold up, which is disappointing, but next week should satiate all your BBQ needs with patriotism to boot. It’s been an emotional week. Deaths have rocked the landscape and it is hard to digest something like that, but we are on the other side now. We’ve got some get-up MP3’s for you, so let’s get this wrap rolling..
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by james eskeldson
I think I’m having a “brand identity crisis.” I can’t decide what to do tonight. There are way too many options, too many directions in which I can take my night, take my life. What type of person / brand do I want to be? I think the choices we make on a micro level end up being huge indicators about how our lives will play out on a macro level. Every choice we make is important. We have “no time to waste” in becoming the person / brand we want to be. Case in point, it is Thursday night. Do I want to hit up the local bar scene with my bros, throw back some cold ones and mack on some ladies? Could be a fun experience. I will “feel more alive” than I will at home. I might meet some new friends who will open my life up to new perspectives and opinions. I may even meet some hottie who turns out to be “the one.”
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