indiePulse

Are Chicago shows always better?

Last week I was up in Milwaukee with my family for a cpouple days to visit some family and a friend met us up there on Monday night to see Jack White. The sound at the venue was crappy but the show was good - loud, energetic, and the sold out crowd was fired up. A couple nights later Jack played Chicago and local station WXRT livestreamed the show over the air and on the internet. Sounded incredible and the setlist was awesome. Afterward my friend sent me a text saying that we should have gone to the Chicago show instead. I feel like you should always go to the Chicago show instead. Artists will always be psyched and ready to play Chicago. Shows here should be better than any other Midwest shows [unless maybe its a hometown like Detroit for Jack. I'm sure he blows the roof off when he plays Detroit]. What do you think - are Chicago shows always better?

Artist of the weekend: Jack White

Every weekend I highlight one of my favorite artists on my Tumblr. I saw jack White play a long, high-energy set to a sold out Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee last week. He followed that up with an awesome set in Chicago on Wednesday that was live-streamed over the airwaves at WXRT and the web. His new record is fantastic. Nobody does it like Jack White. Jack is my artist of the weekend.

The first Vinyl Me Please arrival

I recently received my first installment from Vinyl Me, Please - a monthly record subscription service. I had signed up a while back and waited as I came through the waiting list. I was really excited to receive my first installment but I have to say my expectations were modest - I figured a record would arrive with a cocktail recipe and a a piece of art. I was really blown away by the quality of it all. The record sounds great and all of the printing and packaging is really well done. Thanks to everyone at VMP - can't wait to get next month's installment.

Here's what the unpacking looked like..

Greeted by the LP-sized art print and some information on the record and a personalized signature of the packer:

Flip that tab over to reveal this month's print [from Van Holmgren] and cocktail recipe:

Removing the print reveals this month's LP - Sylvan Esso:

Removing the LP reveals more information from the visual artist on the print:

 

Location aware music

I watched this for the first time over the weekend and think it's an awesome idea. A music project that uses your phone's location to pick the tracks you hear. It's a soundtrack that changes automatically to enhances what you are seeing around you. Think about all of the applications for this. What ideas come to mind?

 

How I listen to music

From time to time I am asked "how do you find all of this new music?" I planned on doing this post for a week or so and I saw this interesting piece recently on Hypebot about how graduating high school students listen to music.

I do listen to Pandora but not as much as the kids. I usually listen to Pandora on Sonos when I'm doing chores around the house on the weekends.

I have a long commute to the office every day so I listen a lot in the car. I'm an Amazon prime member and I still buy CDs, so I have those in the car with me. I use my ipod classic a ton to listen to downloads and also podcasts. I regularly listen to a few music podcasts: NPR's All Songs Considered, KEXP's Music That Matters podcast, Ninja Tune's Solid Steel podcast features awesome long form DJ mixes, and David Dye's interviews on the WXPN World Cafe. I don't read a lot of reviews. I pay attention enough to know that a certain record is appearing all over the place in reviews but I don't usually read them. I'd rather just listen. I usually buy one of my most anticipated records of the month on vinyl. I recently subscribed to Vinyl Me, Please, a startup record subscription service. I use Soundcloud a lot and use it mostly to post songs to my Tumblr. I follow a few folks on Tumblr that post great new music. And, as I've been writing lately, I am trying to figure out how Bandcamp fits in with all this.

Insights: SXSW panel on A&R for music tech

This panel from SXSW addresses an interesting topic of how labels and music companies are now looking at music tech startups to partner with as way to spread the word and connect with fans. It's interesting how similar these music industry professionals sound like VCs.

 

Good to be back

I recently changed registrars and had some technical issues. I think everything's back up now.