Scripted Failures

Robert Smith’s sentiments about the Radiohead Model have been reported pretty widely recently. I have to admit that, while I actually agree with him on a point or two, I’m pretty disappointed in his overall notion.

It’s true that the Radiohead model can’t work for everyone, and it’s true that it may be bad for the industry (if the industry is thought of as the record labels). But I disagree that giving your art away in some way devalues it. Rob Spectre at Dream Not of Today has a good take on it:

Ultimately, Radiohead is doing the best thing for Radiohead. Pay-what-you-want won’t work for the Jonas Brothers, won’t work for smaller independent artists and probably won’t work for The Cure. But both as artist and as businessman, Robert Smith should be at worst ambivalent to the release of In Rainbows. His criticism from both perspectives are hallow [sic] and coarse. Radiohead clearly valued their art sufficiently to bear the brunt of its writing, recording, mixing, mastering, and digital distribution entirely on its own.

Art is sacrifice. Radiohead put a lot of work into their art. I would go so far as to say that by doing art for the sake of art, even by giving it away, they are valuing their art at such a high pinnacle, they are willing to sacrifice money in order to give more people a chance to experience it. Of course, they made money, but it was a huge risk, and if they hadn’t made money, I don’t think Thom Yorke would’ve cried himself to sleep. Art for art’s sake.

Side note: I have to disagree with Rob’s assessment that The Wrestler is art and Madea Goes to Jail is not (and thus should not be valued as such). It’s a common conception that art has to be serious to be art, but I think that’s short-sighted (and maybe a little elitist). Being entertainment does not preclude a work from being art. Art evokes emotion; humor and happiness are emotions. And in the U.S., right now, humor and happiness are what we should expect to see from a lot of art, as is historically the case in hard socioeconomic times.

So, in the vein of Radiohead, Bloc Party have a pre-order up for their third record “Intimacy”, whose cover I’d post if I could find a picture of it. I just found out about it yesterday (the album and the pre-order), through a Facebook update, so I assume this has only been going on since Monday when Bloc Party apparently had a webchat with their fans, and revealed the album news.

It goes like this: When you pre-order the album, you can either just get the digital copy for $10, which you’ll be able to download tomorrow, or get the physical/digital bundle for $20, which will allow you to still be able to download the album tomorrow as well as get the physical copy Oct 28th. Apparently, the physical copy is going to have some new or different tracks on it than the digital copy. I’m not sure what exactly that entails, because, according to an interview with Kele Okereke, the lead singer/guitarist, that Rolling Stone conducted, the band doesn’t even know what it entails yet. Let’s hope it’s possibly another CD of tracks a la Radiohead’s “In Rainbows”

Now, don’t worry, Bloc Party aren’t being dicks (Wait I’m gonna explain it). I know some of you have gone to the site to pre-order the album and noticed that if you get the physical/digital bundle you’re paying $10 for the digital copy plus $10 for the physical copy. I know nearly all of you who just noticed that are thinking exactly what i thought: Greedy fucks. They aren’t though. I checked and the physical/digital bundle, if you live anywhere in the world besides the Americas, is only ten pounds. Now that makes a helluva lot more sense huh? I was quite relieved when I saw that, because it assured me that Bloc Party weren’t being the greedy fucks i had so quickly and wrongly assumed. Although, Kele Okereke, the lead singer, did say he didn’t want to give away for free because he wants to get paid in the Rolling Stone interview mentioned above (He also said it was a break-up album).

So, basically, the shitty dollar strikes again! Yes, folks, since they’re British and we’re American we get to pay double their price. Or if you’re more cynical, Bloc Party are greedy fucks. Personally, I fall somewhere in between. I say if you’re ordering the Physical/Digital bundle then by all means the digital side of things should be free. So given that the Physical only is 8 pounds, that’d be basically 16 dollars. Well, you know, on second thought, I think I’ve just fallen squarely into the shitty dollar category, because I don’t mind paying four bucks to get to listen to an album a little more than two months before it comes out. However, you could argue that the Physical copy should just be $10 bucks, regardless of where you live. On the other hand though, a band does have to make money to survive, especially when they’re still tied to a label. Point is, this debate could go round and round, and is mostly, if not wholly pointless. After all, it’s all about the music.

Economic rants aside, I couldn’t help but purchase it! After all those new tracks might be exclusive only to the pre-order. Plus, I love both of the old Bloc Party records, ESPECIALLY “A Weekend in the City”, and the thought of getting a new Bloc Party record to listen to TOMORROW, which will help get me through another day at work, was too good to pass up.

I shall be listening to this record tomorrow, provided it arrives before I head into work, because my network connection at work is terrible. I’ll try to have something up about it on Monday. If any of you kids decide to do the same feel free to leave some comments over the weekend on this post, or wait and leave some comments on the actual review post, which, like I said, should be up Monday.

PS Forgive me for the weird economic rant. Not quite sure where that came from.

News!

Radiohead is going to be on Late Night with Conan O’Brien tomorrow (Wedesday) night.  Set your DVRs!  They’ll allegedly be playing “House of Cards” off of the new album.  I’ll try to update with a video link to it on Thursday in case you miss it.

Alkaline Trio has a new EP out today entitled Agony and Irony.  I’ll be picking this up whenever I get to the store next.

Winnipeg’s The Paperbacks are still alive!  After finding their Facebook page, I found the news bulletin from last Thursday saying the following: “Major announcements will be coming soon! This year will be very
interesting for us, particularly heading towards the autumn.”  Sounds good to me.  I never got around to buying their second album, but I would if they’d a) sell it around here or b) tour down here.

For those Decemberists fans out there, they’re going to be on All Songs Considered this week.  Either listen on your local NPR affiliate or straight from their website.

That’s all for now.

Death Cab for Cutie released (streaming from their MySpace) the first single from their forthcoming album, Narrow Stairs.  It’s an 8 and a half-minute jam called “I Will Possess Your Heart,” where the at least the first half is a bass-infused groove reminiscent of a more mid-tempo, jammier, “National Anthem.”  It’s pretty good.  The lyrics strike me as typical Gibbard fare.  I think it could’ve been shorter, but they warned us.  People are already preemptively calling this Album of the Year, which is a bit far to go after one single, but it definitely has promise.

Honestly, though, it’s not quite as much of a change as I was expecting, given the original promises/threats.  Take a listen:

Mood Mix

1. Mew, “Am I Wry? No”
2. Radiohead, “Lucky”
3. The Junior Varsity, “Get Comfortable”
4. The Cure, “Homesick”
5. Jeremy Enigk, “Been Here Before”
6. Circa Survive, “Act Appalled”
7. Foo Fighters, “Up in Arms”
8. Armor for Sleep, “Remember to Feel Real”

Friday Mixes is a weekly feature that showcases a mix of songs from various genres that usually share some common theme.  If you have an idea for a theme, email us at feedback@scriptedfailures.com and maybe we’ll use it.

EMI is still sore about In Rainbows, so they’re doing the only thing they can do: trying to milk as much money from the Radiohead properties they do control as they can.  They’ve already released all the old albums in a box set.  What else can they do?  Oh, yeah, a Greatest Hits album.

How can you blame them?  If I owned stock in a major record label, I think I’d be on the phone with my broker right now.  Granted, not everyone can afford to take the Screw You approach that Radiohead did, but it’s definitely becoming less and less important to have a deal with a major.  The music industry is in a tizzy over the fact that technology is just plain making them unnecessary.  It makes sense.  Home recording software has been lessening the cost of getting quality recordings, and the internet/digital media have made distribution methods cost nothing.  Scripted Failures has been recording pretty good DIY recordings for years, and we have practically no funds.  With just a little money spent on the right equipment, we could probably make a pretty good sounding album at home.

So this Greatest Hits thing.  It’ll sell.  It’ll sell well.  If you casually like Radiohead, you’ll probably pick it up.  If you’re a die-hard fan, and you own all the original albums, you might still pick it up, as Justin says, “just to have”.  Radiohead can’t do much about it, but drummer Phil Selway doesn’t seem to pleased about the prospect: “It’s well within their rights to do it. *sigh* So we’ll have to see.
But as I say, for us the main thing is that we’re excited about the
process of releasing In Rainbows and what we’re doing, around the
touring, around the way we’re able to release it, and most importantly
around the music itself.”

(Read the full interview with Analogue here)

I’d like to issue a minor correction to my previous “In Rainbows” review.  After buying the physical copy at FYE, and listening to it again, I can honestly say that it ranks up there with their last few albums.  “Not that great” was a bit of an understatement.  I was disappointed because my expectations were too high.

I still don’t think it’s “Ok Computer,” but it’s definitely “Hail to the Thief.”

I’ll just rest easy knowing that I wrote that short-sighted review on an indie blog that no one will ever read, and not after we become huge.

Also, for people that haven’t heard somehow, Radiohead released some live studio footage on New Year’s Eve.  It contained the entirely of “In Rainbows” performed live in the studio.  As you would expect, they changed up the songs quite a bit from what I’ve heard.  Justin and I are planning on watching it tonight.  I’m highly looking forward to it.

I’m having a good day today. It’s beautiful outside and I went out to lunch so I got to feel a bit of it.  Alabama is really nice this time of year.

Enough!  Onward!

So.  In Rainbows.  There’s not a lot to say about this record that a few million other bloggers haven’t already said, but I’m gonna go out on a limb here and just say it: not that great.  Now, I don’t mean “eh, not that great,” but more like “not that great.”  The record is good for a Radiohead record.  I hold them to pretty high standards because, well, they’ve proven what they can do (Ok Computer), and I expect no less from each release.  Radiohead has gotta get graded hard.  They’re one the smartest students in the class, and they should never fail to try their hardest.

The acclaim I’ve been hearing about it being as good or better than Ok Computer is absolute rubbish.  In Rainbows is a good record.  It’s enjoyable.  It’s pleasant.

And I like it.  But Ok Computer it is not.  It feels to me like they mixed Hail to the Thief (which I loved) and The Eraser (which I didn’t particularly care for).  There are times where it feels black and white, like a huge white canvas with drums, Thom’s voice and the other instruments just barely covering any of it; those parts feel kind of empty to me.

That said, I like it.  If I’m being mostly negative here it’s because the positive has all been said and done.

1. 15 Step: Probably my favorite song at the moment.  The lead guitar line is pretty. I like the low-tone muted effect a lot.  It could go a lot of places that it doesn’t go, though, which is frustrating.
2. Bodysnatchers: Repetitive, a little bland, but pleasant enough.
3. Nude: Big Ideas.  Parts of it are good, but overall, it’s not stellar. It’s just another “Scatterbrain”-like song with a Rhodes, but much less original.
4. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi: Catchy, poppy, radio-friendly.  The beginning sounds like it could be a Sea and Cake song. Unfortunately, this song also seems kinda repetitive.  It’s almost a minute of buildup before the vocals even come in.  Has Thom been listening to too much Cure lately?
5. All I Need: My least-favorite song right now.  What does this song have to offer, really?  It’s a bit like “National Anthem,” the way it adds layers and gets louder, but it never changes chords at all. It’s just variations of the same 4-bar measure.
6. Faust Arp: This one is pretty good, if a bit of a rehash of “Wolf at the Door.”  Super short, but good, folky fun while it lasts.
7. Reckoner: Another good one.  The lead guitar uses the same effect as “15 Step,” which wouldn’t bother me as much if it didn’t have the same two-note sliding, panned 100% left just like that song did.  The vocals are different, so that makes up for it.  And I really do like that muted effect.  I kinda want to turn the tone all the way done on my guitar just for fun.
8. House of Cards: *snores* [Cue the "Oh no he di-ihn!"]
9. Jigsaw Falling into Place: This is another catchy song.  Guitar still panned left, but a different tone.  And I love the violins.  Should’ve been put closer to the beginning of the album.
10. Videotape: Pretty and haunting.   This will take a while to get into, because by the end of the album I’m getting a bit bored with it, so I’ll have to start out on this track a time or two to fully get into it.

The album is short, but it’s not too short.  If it were any longer, it wouldn’t hold my attention.

That said, I’m moderately happy with it.  It’s well worth your listening time.