| Wear Your Music
The charity bracelet trend has finally hit the indie rock world, and no, we don't mean those black plastic wristbands you bought to support Hot Topic. Relix magazine and Azu Studio have come together to create Wear Your Music bracelets, fashioned from the very guitar stings played by musicians such as Ben Harper, Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard and Ziggy Marley. Retailing for anywhere between $99 for strings used by Gibbard up to $150 for legendary Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh's strings, the bracelets are handmade, designed by Azu Studio and bound by a durable silver seal. All profits from the bracelets are donated to worthy arts and community charities like Headcount, the Rex Foundation, Seva and Rock 'N' Wrap It Up! New artists are constantly being added to the already impressive list of participants, which already includes Ziggy Marley, Michael Franti, String Cheese Incident, the Goo Goo Dolls, Guster and Ben Harper.
CD Review: Built To Spill - You In Reverse
Indie rock guitar god. Boy does that read funny. What's it supposed to mean? Even the term "indie rock" is tough to nail down. Sort of like "emo", but louder? Or more serious? Or something?I wrested with these issues back when I first listened to Built To Spill's Time Trap compilation. It turns out that Doug Martsch is my kind of guitar hero. Sure, the man's got the chops, but it's his conceptions that really get me going.Unless you're thinking about the music that's been labeled "post-rock" (Godspeed You Black Emperor, and others), one element usually missing (or more likely: avoided) from indie rock is the long song form. While bands from the art rock era loved to extend things to well beyond ten minutes, the "modern rock" crowd tends to stick to shorter songs, tighter construction.Doug Martsch and company manage to split the difference with their music.
Old rock rolls nicely on iPod
My son bought an iPod several months ago. Since that time, we have revisited some of the greatest songs to rock, crank, schmooze and snooze the music scene of the last four decades. On his current playlist are artists as diverse as Louis Armstrong and Lenny Kravitz, Steve Perry and Brad Arnold. If you don't know who Brad Arnold is, just ask the folks in Escatawpa, about 3 Doors Down. Lots of things happen when middle-aged mamas and daddies listen to the music of their youth. One of the more remarkable results is their children are forced to endure lots of air guitar solos and sad attempts at dancing. .
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