If you’re at all like me, you’re trying desperately to make sense of the sh*tstorm that we call our nation’s economy. I found this recent interview with Ray Dalio in Barron’s (by Sandra Ward) to be very enlightening:
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB123396545910358867.html
Mr. Dalio is the Chief Investment Officer of Bridgewater Associates, one of the larger hedge funds out there. He was one the earliest people to sound the alarm about “the dangers of excessive financial leverage.” He does a great job describing the deleveraging and deflationary process that has been happening around the world…what he calls the “D-Process”. Batten down the hatches everyone…we’re in for a fun ride over the next couple of years. ~ Chris
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Suddenly, Everything Is Right In The World...
Well, maybe not everything. But the Doves just posted "Jetstream," a new track from their forthcoming album, Kingdom Of Rust, and I'm pleased to report that it's excellent and, as with most music by the band, keeps getting more excellent (excellenter?) with each listen. Download it for yourself.
I'm an absolutely massive Doves fan, and I don't quite know why. I guess it's something intangible that just hits me right here. They're just three dudes from Manchester, but the sum is infinitely more than the parts. I was telling someone yesterday that Doves may be the only band that I would follow around like a Deadhead. Something tells me that that scene would be a little less, shall we say, colorful than the one fostered by JerBear & Company. I can see it now: a bunch of record store clerks in hoodies standing around mumbling about B-sides and bonus tracks, not making eye contact. [shiver] Now that I think about it, I think seeing Doves in LA will be sufficient.
Anyway, back to "Jetstream." It's a bit of departure for the band, with more of an electronic influence, but it's still classically Doves. If the rest of the album is this good, it's gonna be a corker.
This was supposed to the year that I went to England with some friends, including a pilgrimage to Manchester, the home of a great many of my favorite bands. Sadly, the economic apocalypse has thrown a wet blanket over that idea. But at least I'll have a new Doves album in April. Hell, that + a few pints of Guinness and I can just pretend I'm in Blighty. It'll have to do for now. And I'm OK with that. Kinda. ~ Tim
I'm an absolutely massive Doves fan, and I don't quite know why. I guess it's something intangible that just hits me right here. They're just three dudes from Manchester, but the sum is infinitely more than the parts. I was telling someone yesterday that Doves may be the only band that I would follow around like a Deadhead. Something tells me that that scene would be a little less, shall we say, colorful than the one fostered by JerBear & Company. I can see it now: a bunch of record store clerks in hoodies standing around mumbling about B-sides and bonus tracks, not making eye contact. [shiver] Now that I think about it, I think seeing Doves in LA will be sufficient.
Anyway, back to "Jetstream." It's a bit of departure for the band, with more of an electronic influence, but it's still classically Doves. If the rest of the album is this good, it's gonna be a corker.
This was supposed to the year that I went to England with some friends, including a pilgrimage to Manchester, the home of a great many of my favorite bands. Sadly, the economic apocalypse has thrown a wet blanket over that idea. But at least I'll have a new Doves album in April. Hell, that + a few pints of Guinness and I can just pretend I'm in Blighty. It'll have to do for now. And I'm OK with that. Kinda. ~ Tim
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Glasvegas!
Call me a sucker for a thick Scottish accent, a female drummer and gratuitous use of reverb, but I just can’t seem to get enough of the new Glasvegas recording. Dylan aside, it’s the best thing to come out on Columbia in quite some time. You can check out the band here…http://www.glasvegas.net/us/frontpage - Chris
Friday, January 23, 2009
Oh, 9!
"This place, is coming like a ghost town
No job to be found in this country
Can't go on no more
The people getting angry
This town, is coming like a ghost town"
Those words were sung by The Specials in 1981. The band was lamenting the depressed state of their native England, deep in the throes of Thatcherism with nothing but darkness on the horizon. But those words (soon to be sung again at the band's reunion shows) do an excellent job of describing the current situation we Americans find ourselves in.
And speaking of ghost towns, we were in Vegas earlier this month for the Consumer Electronics Show. The place was (relatively) deserted, with half-built hotels flanking The Strip. It was eerie.
As you may have read, attendance at CES was down about 25% which, despite being a bummer for the CEA, actually made the show a much more pleasant experience for attendees. The usual cattle call was replaced by something resembling a dignified gathering of CE professionals and various hangers on (ahem). We were able to park with ease in the Hilton garage (score!) and experienced very few lines. What struck us though was that every single person we met with said the same thing: "I hate Vegas." Seriously. Everybody. Now, Brandracket's disregard for Sin City is well established, but I always figured that most people liked it. Turns out that's not the case. Frankly, I think the whole "adult Disneyland / 'what happens in Vegas...'" schtick is played out. Do I need to go to Vegas to get drunk or cheat on my wife (hi, honey!)? Not really. I can get thoroughly debauched in my own zip code. So why go? Gambling? Yeah, right. The shows? No thanks. In fact, it's been really entertaining reading the positively brutal reviews of Criss Angel's Believe show.
So, yeah, I don't really know why anyone would want to go to Vegas. And I sincerely hope that the CEA will consider moving it to a different locale. Like one where I don't feel like I need to take a shower just by being there.
In other news, I'm finding it hard to contain my excitement at the fact that the Oval Office is now occupied by a smart, articulate, exceedingly competent human being who claims to like Wilco. Finally, I feel like the POTUS may actually be the smartest guy in the room. Here's hoping that our man lives up to his potential. My gut feeling is that he could be one of the greatest ever, but only time will tell.
Now please excuse me, I'm stimulating the economy. Are you?? ~ Tim
No job to be found in this country
Can't go on no more
The people getting angry
This town, is coming like a ghost town"
Those words were sung by The Specials in 1981. The band was lamenting the depressed state of their native England, deep in the throes of Thatcherism with nothing but darkness on the horizon. But those words (soon to be sung again at the band's reunion shows) do an excellent job of describing the current situation we Americans find ourselves in.
And speaking of ghost towns, we were in Vegas earlier this month for the Consumer Electronics Show. The place was (relatively) deserted, with half-built hotels flanking The Strip. It was eerie.
As you may have read, attendance at CES was down about 25% which, despite being a bummer for the CEA, actually made the show a much more pleasant experience for attendees. The usual cattle call was replaced by something resembling a dignified gathering of CE professionals and various hangers on (ahem). We were able to park with ease in the Hilton garage (score!) and experienced very few lines. What struck us though was that every single person we met with said the same thing: "I hate Vegas." Seriously. Everybody. Now, Brandracket's disregard for Sin City is well established, but I always figured that most people liked it. Turns out that's not the case. Frankly, I think the whole "adult Disneyland / 'what happens in Vegas...'" schtick is played out. Do I need to go to Vegas to get drunk or cheat on my wife (hi, honey!)? Not really. I can get thoroughly debauched in my own zip code. So why go? Gambling? Yeah, right. The shows? No thanks. In fact, it's been really entertaining reading the positively brutal reviews of Criss Angel's Believe show.
So, yeah, I don't really know why anyone would want to go to Vegas. And I sincerely hope that the CEA will consider moving it to a different locale. Like one where I don't feel like I need to take a shower just by being there.
In other news, I'm finding it hard to contain my excitement at the fact that the Oval Office is now occupied by a smart, articulate, exceedingly competent human being who claims to like Wilco. Finally, I feel like the POTUS may actually be the smartest guy in the room. Here's hoping that our man lives up to his potential. My gut feeling is that he could be one of the greatest ever, but only time will tell.
Now please excuse me, I'm stimulating the economy. Are you?? ~ Tim
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Here Comes The Fear...Again
A lot is being made of the current "economic downturn", but those of us toiling in the music sector have been witness to a slow-motion apocalypse for nearly a decade now. The phrases "job security" and "career in music" are rarely uttered in the same sentence, but lately things seem to be getting a lot worse, a lot faster. It's kinda like when a ship sinks - once the stern is vertical, you know you'll be wet soon.
Just today Viacom announced the down-sizing of 850 people, including a number of cuts in the NYC office of the Rhapsody music service. As someone who's actually been down-sized by Viacom (back in '01), I can attest to the fact that getting laid off really sucks, and my heart goes out to those folks.
The thing that really interests me is the number of "music professionals" that are / will soon be out on the street trying to find jobs in music. Frankly, I don't think our industry - which is relatively small and insular - can sustain them, and I suspect that many people who've spent their entire professional lives parked at the intersection of Music and Business will soon be exploring new career avenues.
That's a tough pill to swallow. What if you were a pastry chef and suddenly someone told you, "That's it - out of the kitchen!" Yet, that's what's happening. The technological disruption occurring in the music space - and the resultant file-sharing - is unprecedented and it's making a lot of people either 1) unnecessary or 2) redundant or 3) unemployable.
We here at Brandracket take some comfort in the fact that we don't pay our rent selling music. We're essentially a service business - helping brands find and license music for a variety of purposes. Lucky for us, brands will always respect copyrights (thanks to the armies of lawyers they employee...), and they will always need someone to help them navigate the musical waters.
But that said, don't think for instant that we're not battening down the hatches over here. The looming economic storm is gonna rain on everyone's parade, including ours. So we're doing everything we can to keep existing clients and aggressively (but nicely!) go after new ones. Ultimately, that's really all we can do.
And if it doesn't work, we'll just ask for a bailout. :)
Enough hand-wringing. Last time I checked, none of us are in a Turkish prison, so let's keep things in perspective. (Apologies to anyone who actually is in a Turkish prison. Keep digging.) If I don't get around to writing something here before the end of the year, we wish you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season. See you in '09! ~ Tim
Just today Viacom announced the down-sizing of 850 people, including a number of cuts in the NYC office of the Rhapsody music service. As someone who's actually been down-sized by Viacom (back in '01), I can attest to the fact that getting laid off really sucks, and my heart goes out to those folks.
The thing that really interests me is the number of "music professionals" that are / will soon be out on the street trying to find jobs in music. Frankly, I don't think our industry - which is relatively small and insular - can sustain them, and I suspect that many people who've spent their entire professional lives parked at the intersection of Music and Business will soon be exploring new career avenues.
That's a tough pill to swallow. What if you were a pastry chef and suddenly someone told you, "That's it - out of the kitchen!" Yet, that's what's happening. The technological disruption occurring in the music space - and the resultant file-sharing - is unprecedented and it's making a lot of people either 1) unnecessary or 2) redundant or 3) unemployable.
We here at Brandracket take some comfort in the fact that we don't pay our rent selling music. We're essentially a service business - helping brands find and license music for a variety of purposes. Lucky for us, brands will always respect copyrights (thanks to the armies of lawyers they employee...), and they will always need someone to help them navigate the musical waters.
But that said, don't think for instant that we're not battening down the hatches over here. The looming economic storm is gonna rain on everyone's parade, including ours. So we're doing everything we can to keep existing clients and aggressively (but nicely!) go after new ones. Ultimately, that's really all we can do.
And if it doesn't work, we'll just ask for a bailout. :)
Enough hand-wringing. Last time I checked, none of us are in a Turkish prison, so let's keep things in perspective. (Apologies to anyone who actually is in a Turkish prison. Keep digging.) If I don't get around to writing something here before the end of the year, we wish you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season. See you in '09! ~ Tim
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
OMG: DBT
I contend that Drive-By Truckers is currently the best band in America. Over the last two decades, this Alabama-by-way-of-Athens, GA outfit has honed its songwriting chops to a knife's edge, as witnessed by its latest platter, Brighter Than Creation's Dark. Yeah, I know, the album came out in January, but I'm still listening. It's good, people.
There's no musical slight of hand occurring here, and no incredible production job. There is simply a group of super-gifted songsmiths with an uncanny knack for putting just the right words to just the right music.
DBT represent the melding of Skynnrd-inspired Southern Rock with a northern/western/eastern indie rock sensibility. But where they depart from current indie rock - and where they earn the title of Best Band In America - is with their lyrics. DBT do not traffic in irony, or witty turns of phrase. Their lyrics are literal; you know exactly what they're talking about. It's this ability to articulate their thoughts in a down home, funny, poignant and more than anything human manner that puts them far ahead of their peers.
I challenge anyone to read this horrifying story about the murder of ex-House Of Freaks singer Bryan Harvey and his family, then listen to "Two Daughters And A Beautiful Wife" from Brighter Than Creation's Dark, and not shed a tear. Of course, the story itself is an unfathomably sad tragedy, but the way in which Patterson Hood answers the event - not with righteous anger or calls for blood, but with a heartbreaking vision of Harvey and his family - is truly poetic.
Two other songs on BTCD deal with the emotional and mental cost of the war in Iraq, a topic that most American bands seem to avoid like the plague. "That Man I Shot" is a harrowing first person account (with an awesome Afghan Whigs-inspired riff) of the enduring horrors of war, while "The Home Front" is a Springsteenian portrait of a wife and mom struggling to keep it together in the face of her husband's deployment. In both cases, Hood paints detailed portraits of lives torn asunder by a morally ambiguous war. [NOTE: for another heartbreaking commentary on the Iraq conflict and its aftermath, check out "Dress Blues" from ex-DBT Jason Isbell's album Sirens Of The Ditch. It's one of my favorite records of the year.]
I could go on with my praise for DBT and try to convince you of their greatness, but it's late and I gotta work in the morning (I'm sure Patterson could write a great song about that). The band is currently headed to the West Coast with another lyrically gifted American band, The Hold Steady. Do yourself and favor and check 'em out. ~ Tim
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