Oct 152009
 

Is that all there is?

I guess for being an all-around good guy eMusic rewarded me with 50 bonus downloads that I need to use by the middle of November. These are on top of my standard 30 downloads/month. I’ve enjoyed my eMusic subscription over the last 2 years for enabling me to build a collection of mostly instrumental and foreign non-rock music that I otherwise would rarely take a chance on. For instance, I’ve been able to download everything available by one of my favorite minimalist musicians, Terry Riley, whose music I’ve been collecting since the pre-digital age. As for stuff I otherwise would have been reluctant to take a chance on you may recall my excitement over new additions to my collections, thanks primarily to eMusic: that Ethiopian stuff, Amon Düül 2

I’ve downloaded just about that entire 20-CD collection of Ethiopian stuff and all of the Terry Riley I could get my hands on that I didn’t already own. I may be crossing the line if I go any further than the four Amon Düül 2 (and one Amon Düül) records I’ve already dowloaded. The question for the Hall is, Where do I go next?

Sorry to bring you into this, homeboy.

I’m constantly unimpressed with the indie rock selections eMusic suggests that I try, like all those bands with album covers featuring a folk-art painting of a sparrow perched on a branch. Man, that thumb-sucking, hushed-tones crap really needs to be banished to the same eternal $1 bins alongside discarded copies of Asylum Choir II. I’ve been tempted to download the new Kurt Vile album that everybody’s raving about, but anytime I check out one of the “Rambling, warped lullabyes from a Philly lo-fi rock troubador’s big coming-out party,” as eMusic describes the album, I’m left scratching my head and feeling like a total schmuck for not being able to muster any enthusiasm for a local guy who sounds like a perfectly good dude as both a person and rock lover.

Because I’ve downloaded my share of instrumental, Eno-ish/Krautrock/obscuro prog stuff and garage rock, eMusic is also recommending that I download ’70s audiophile dick music, like Jean Michael-Jarre, and the entire Dionysus Records catalog of stupider-than-I-can-usually handle fourth-generation garage rock. In most cases, no thank you.

This week I downloaded my standard 30 songs and 9 of my 50 bonus dowloads. That leaves me with 41 bonus downloads and nothing I can find to spend them on. I’m hoping you can help me, Rock Town Hall, choose my last 41 downloads. Can you point me in the direction of an artist or song available through eMusic that I might take a free shot on? The Townsperson who directs me to the best song will be rewarded handsomely!

A couple of months ago, when eMusic made its deal with the majors, restructured its model, and brought in the catalogs of the likes of The Boss and Outkast, I thought I might be able to pick up some more tracks by Classic Rock and New Wave bands that I may have never bought on vinyl in years past, but eMusic still doesn’t carry the likes of the Traffic catalog or late-period Eric Burdon and the Animals – no CD bonus cuts of “San Franciscan Nights”-era outtakes for me! The last time I checked, The Cars, who wouldn’t be bad to have a half dozen songs of, were not available through eMusic, and the only song I wanted to download by The Romantics, “What I Like About You,” which my boys think is cool, could only be downloaded as part of the entire album. Are you kidding me?

If you’re interested, my downloads for the month, which I have not yet had the chance to play, have included a song from a band called Royal Bangs that sounded like early XTC in the 30-second clip I sampled; a 17-track collection of ’60s sunshine pop auteur Curt Boettcher (The Millenium, Sagittarius), Another Time; a couple of tracks by someone names Seth Kauffman; an entire album by a duo I’d never heard of before called The Generationals; and the one Hall and Oates song that I wish had been included on their standard Greatest Hits collection, which I own, “How Does It Feel to Be Back.”

I look forward to your suggestions, Rock Town Hall!

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  13 Responses to “41 Bonus Downloads and Nothing to Spend Them On”

  1. BigSteve

    Have they recommended the various permutations of Cluster/Eno/Roedelius/Moebius? All that stuff is on there.

    All of the old Al Green albums are there, and the older Funkadelics as well.

    There’s some cool early Ike Turner stuff, actually more early blues and R&B than I know what to do with. Same with jazz. You probably need more Sun Ra. I’ve been recommending his Jazz in Silhouette lately.

    I’d also recommend the Monochrome Set’s Eligible Bachelors.

  2. Mr. Moderator

    I’ve got a ton of that Cluster stuff, BigSteve – already had a good deal of it on vinyl and have since downloaded some more on eMusic. It’s funny you recommended that, though, because just about 30 minutes ago a solo Moebius or Roedelius album that I’d never previously heard of was recommended to me, and I made note to check it out.

    I’ve got a lot of Al Green and Funkadelic, although I should keep my eye out for a solo album that one of the Funkadelic guitarists – maybe a Michael someone? – put out in the ’70s. I heard a little bit once and liked it.

    I’ll check out the Sun Ra album you recommended. I have very little of his stuff, and I’ll also dip my toe back in on the Monochrome Set. I heard one of their albums with a silver cover many moons ago during a smoking lunch break, and I really liked it. When I revisited the album a few years later it wasn’t quite as good, but I do like their guitar riffs.

  3. I see my favorite album of ’09 is on emusic.

    http://www.emusic.com/album/Wussy-Wussy-MP3-Download/11428207.html

    I only listened to it once, but I am underwhelmed by the Kurt Vile CD too, Mr. Mod.

  4. I’ve got the Sundazed (ahhhh….Sundazed, how wrong are you…)Curt Boettcher stuff. The complete Milleneum as well as the Sagittarius record (Gary Usher, anyone?). It’s good poppy pop stuffs. Somewhere in the liner notes it tries to sell you on the idea that Brian wilson was in awe of Curt. I don’t buy that propoganda, but I do enjoy those records. I particularly like the Sagittarius album.

    TB

  5. BigSteve

    I can’t vouch for the later Monochrome Set, and Eligible Bachelors seems like the only album from the early line-up available there.

    I’ve got downloads waiting for me today, and I’m going to fill in my Sly and Patti Smith collections.

  6. Mr. Moderator

    I grabbed a few album tracks from the two early Sly albums I never bought (I think Stand is the first one I own), but I was disappointed that I couldn’t find more worthwhile deep cuts. I never dug that Fresh album, or whatever it’s called, the last-gasp one with the creamy cover and Andy Newmark on drums – you know, the one more cultured Townsman like dbuskirk and probably yourself, BigSteve, can appreciate.

    I should download some of the second and third Patti Smith albums, if they have them. I never bought them, but each of them have a couple of keepers.

  7. Here’s value for the money. Grab the title track of Sun Ra’s Disco 3000 album. 26 minutes for one free download. Can’t beat it. More like noisy Krautrock than jazz, but that might be right up your alley.

    I just downloaded the whole album on an e-music free trial. It’s sort of hard to get although it was recently released, usually goes in the vicinity of $49 or up.

  8. BigSteve

    Speaking of Sun Ra, I was checking the title of his best-of so I could recommend it (it’s called Greatest Hits: Easy Listening for Intergalactic Travel), and I noticed that emusic also now has the Singles collection. It’s a lot of credits, but that stuff is incredible.

  9. alexmagic

    Mod, perhaps you might consider using some of these 41 downloads for Hall purposes. I’m thinking something like Bowie recommendations to see if anything can push you over the 30-song Bowie Cap you have, or maybe attempting to enter the world of Steely Dan. Or perhaps, since you drafted Homme on your rock football team, a few Queens of the Stone Age songs, as I don’t recall seeing many discussions about their music here.

  10. Mr. Moderator

    Alexmagic, great ideas, but unfortunately eMusic only carries recent releases by Bowie and “the Dan,” and I ain’t going there! They’ve got nothing by Queens of the Stone Age either, which is a bummer. I should hear that band someday.

    So far I have download the long Sun Ra track Geo suggested and a few songs that caught my ear on the Sun Ra album that BigSteve suggested. I also downloaded four songs from that old Monochrome Set album. I still like their guitar playing, but the singer’s voice gets into that Morrissey territory, with free-ranging, highly English melodies that can grate on me in short time. I’ll come back to the rest of the album if these first four tracks hit the spot.

    I downloaded the second track from the Wussy album, one with the woman singing lead. The songs with the guy, from what I could tell in the 30-second cliips, weren’t happening. Other songs sounded a lot like REM – in a good way, but I’ve never bought a single REM album and I’m not ready to buy an album that, at its best, often sounds like REM. I’ll see how the one song I downloaded grows on me.

    Thanks for your suggestions so far. I’ll keep checking out what’s recommended.

  11. Mr. Moderator

    A new Dozens feature showed up on my eMusic page today, a pt. 2 of Sound of Philly stuff, which is always welcome in my ears. I downloaded a handful of songs from an album Laura Nyro did with LaBelle. I’ve always loved LaBelle’s version of “The Bells,” which they do together. The album is all covers of early ’60s stuff, done pretty much in the original style but with touches of Gamble and Huff’s TSOP/MSFB production.

    Only 26 downloads left to spend!

  12. BigSteve

    Do you have Inspiration Information 3 yet, the album from Ethiojazzer Mulatu Astatke and the Heliocentrics? It’s my favorite record of the year.

  13. Mr. Moderator

    Yes, I did download that a couple of months ago. I think you and Oats recommended it. It’s very good. Thanks.

    Right now I’m listening to a couple of Harmonia & Eno tracks that I downloaded on sammymaudlin’s recommendation – yes, more of that Eno and Cluster (and Neu!)-related stuff. For anyone who likes that stuff, I always recommend the Eno & Cluster record with the microphone set up in a field (blanking on the title).

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