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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 2004)
2003 had plenty of standout CDs Whether it's because of a sorrowful moan, a bowel-shaking scream, or perfectly syncopated hand claps, there are moments in music when the fre quency of the sound waves creates a certain energy. What's created is the exact energy required for sound parti cles to enter the ear canal, vibrate off the eardrum, and send the noise straight to the heart, tickling the back of the throat, before finally being pumped through the aorta. Helen Schumacher Notes from the underground On that note, here is a recap of some of the albums from 2003 that possessed those moments. Last year, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs came dangerously dose to being over-hyped. Singer Karen O's ripped fishnet stock ings had the band receiving pages of press long before they had even released their full-length debut, "Fever To Tell." However, the band was still able to im press audiences with the album, one of the most energetic releases of the year. Karen O, along with guitarist Nick Zinner and drummer Brian Chase, made a beer-stained album that's equal parts glamour, sleaze and guitar lick The best songs on the album are the last three: "Maps," "Y Control" and "Mod em Romance." These songs have an inti macy that differs from the rest of the charged dance numbers on the album. Another new band to make a name for itself this year was Broken Social Scene. The Toronto-based collective's album "You Forgot It In People" begins far away with a distant, airy drone, but doesn't quite reach its destination until the galloping percussion of the second song, "KC Accidental." This draws the listener toward something more elu sive with each swell of music. By the third track, you're unself-consciously clapping your hands and shaking your head. On the song "Anthems For a Sev enteen Year-Old Girl," Emily Haines' vocals, although hushed and childlike, sound sinister as she repeats the lines "Park that car, drip that phone, sleep on the floor, dream about me" over vi olin and banjo instrumentation. Al though "You Forgot It In People" is overall an outstanding album, there are a couple of tracks where it's hard not to feel embarrassed for the band. This past year, two seasoned folk sters released noteworthy albums. Bonnie "Prince" Billy came out with "Master and Everyone," a recording that almost sounds like an Appalachi an lullaby. Although "Master and Everyone" comes up short when com pared to some of Billy's previous work, it remains a beautiful album — a sparse meandering through a back woods of comforting timelessness. Similarly, last year's "You Are Free" by Cat Power is a great album, but not their masterpiece. From her twisting and contorting lips behind a curtain of thick bangs, band leader Chan Mar shall's voice manages to produce goose bumps. However, there are moments that are lost to a more radio-friendly, straightforward singing style and slick production. As a musician, Marshall's greatest asset is her aching warble, which sounds best on the track "Good Woman," a breathtaking song that per fectly fuses all the best elements of "You Are Free" into one melody. Rounding out the list is The Shins' graceful second album, "Chutes Too Narrow." It's nearly impossible to sep arate the perfectly blended parts and describe them. This proves just how talented the band is. All of the aforementioned albums have a way of inducing a psychosomat ic effect on me. But The Shins' release produces the most dramatic response. In the song "Mine's Not a High Horse," the way lead singer lames Mercer's voice drops and sings "You want them all on your side/ that just makes more for doubt to slaughter," makes the space around my eyes well up. As Mercer qui etly sings "But your memory is here and I'd like it to stay warm light on a winter day" in the song "Pink Bullets," a feel ing of nostalgia chums my stomach. The tracks "Kissing the Lipless" and "So Says I" make my heart strings shiver with delight. Contact the Pulse columnist at helenschumacher@dailyemerald.com. Her opinions do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald. MISSION MEXICAN CUISINE To go fc charga card extra 610 E. Broadway (At the corner of Broadway & Patterson) • 686-8226 Fitehouse promotes music using ingenuity, not industry Using creative marketing and ‘open source music/ the band aims to resist major industry conventions By Ryan Nyburg Senior Pulse Reporter For some bands, promotional material is a way to sell albums. For the Baltimore-based band Fite house, the promotions are part of the message. Performing a number of self-styled "media blitzes," the band has attempted to get its music out to the general populace without the assistance of the music industry. With the release of their "The Bomb EP," the band has taken things a step further. The songs are not only free to download, they are also free to sam ple, remix and build upon. Called "open source music," the idea is that the music, right down to the individ ual instrumental and vocal tracks, is free for others to use and even to sell. All the lyrics, chords and recorded works are available on the band's Web site, www.fitehouse.com, and the band even invites people to send in remixes - to post on their site. As a REW1EW band, Fite - house is an odd assem bly. Founded by guitarist Josh Cohen and vocalist Gabe Gilligan — who formed the band after "doing the corporate thing" for a number of years — the band also includes bassist Edward Plant and drummer Eduardo Cecena. Plant is a jazz/fu sion veteran, while Cecena, the band's third drummer since its for mation, previously played in a funk band in Mexico. Combining a mix of publicity stunts, accessible music and market ing experience, the band decided to take a route outside the music indus try after some poor experiences with radio and recording outlets. "Even when I was in college, if you had some music and wanted to get it on the air it wasn't too hard to take it down to the local radio station and have some friends call up and request Courtesy it," Cohen said. "If it was a local enough show you could get airtime. Then we had the Telecommunica tions Act of 1996, which allowed a lot of consolidation in radio and that re ally changed things." Further consolidation of the radio industry, particularly through com panies such as Clear Channel Com munications — which owns more than 1,300 radio stations nation wide according to the company's Web site — meant less focus on lo cal music and more on nationally popular acts, Cohen said. "We had a fairly good-sized fol lowing, but we just couldn't get air time," Cohen said. "We sent CDs and stuff to local radio and realized we didn't know who we were send ing it to and who could make the de cisions. We were trying to figure out how to crack that nut and we decid ed we had to be creative about it." Through such creative arts, Fite house acts less like a band and more like an example to other bands. "We started to think of ourselves as more than just a band, though I know that sounds like a cliche," Gilligan said. "But we started think ing that maybe we can bring our oth er influences into the mix, such as marketing, rather than just playing bars all the time." Fitehouse has been adept at self marketing since the beginning. One of the band's original projects was the creation of an official rock anthem for the city of Baltimore, leading to a song named after the city that was in spired by "a night of drinking beer and listening to Journey," Cohen said. While the song got little airplay and only a lukewarm endorsement from Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, it did get the band rolling on some oth er projects. One of these projects is an ongoing campaign against the Recording In dustry Association of America, partic ularly the RIAA's fight against music file sharing. Through a series of serio comic postcards mailed out to a vari ety of media outlets, the band pro moted themselves while simultaneously attacking the RIAA's practice of filing lawsuits against file sharers. Cohen also self-published his own manifesto against the recording and radio industry entitled "Com mon Musical Sense," and the com parisons to Thomas Paine's famous pre-Revolutionary War tract "Com mon Sense" are not accidental. "I find great inspiration in the colonial period," Cohen said. "Then the issue was not necessarily being part of England, but England dictat ing to us without sufficient represen tation of our citizens. I see an analo gy in our cultural life, with really only five large record companies that dictate our cultural options and tell us how we're going to get it and how we're going to pay for it." Fitehouse's efforts are starting to attract the attention of others in volved in the fight over large record company dominance. Among these is the Electronic Frontier Founda tion, a legal organization that has been providing defense for people sued by the RIAA for file sharing. "I think they have an inspiring ap proach," EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann said. "What they recognize is that for bands that aren't well known, the record labels don't offer many options. They're finding a new way to be noticed." The band hopes that others will take up the example they are trying to set, that musicians can make mu sic outside the regular music indus try. Or, as Gilligan said, "If we can do this, you can do this as well." Contact the senior Pulse reporter at ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com. 444 E.3RD • 484-1017 • MON-SAT ll:30AM TO CLOSE _South end of Ferry St. Bridge ALL DAY 1 EVERY PAY/ What do I know about me? I’m informed. I’m healthy. I take cafe of myself. www.pphss0.0r5 Free birth control, supplies and services to those who qualify. P Planned Parenthood 1670 Hi^h St.. Eugene 344-9411 79} N. Danebo, Eugene 463-9731 225 Q St.. 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