So I was thinking of celebrating the near-end of my insane work schedule by writing a “Best albums of 2006” column, but it’s almost March and I still haven’t heard all of the albums from 2006 I wanted to hear. Besides, my list would probably look a lot like most cool on-line indie zines, except mine would be way better. In any case, I agree with most of what’s become consensus – TV on the Radio’s “Return to Cookie Mountain” was the best album of the year, the Roots made a fantastic return to form, the Dears made their best album yet, Pearl Jam released their best album since whatever-your-favourite-PJ-album is (for me, it’s “Yield”), and there were some promising newcomers (The Horror The Horror, Voxtrot). All in all, not a bad year for music.
But I don’t really want to write about that.
I want to write about musical piracy and why it’s so awesome.
Some back-story: When I was at university, I downloaded a ton of music because I was broke and Kingston doesn’t exactly have a ton of good student-friendly music shops – I remember paying $24.99 for Pearl Jam’s “Live on Two Legs” at Indigo, for example. There were some used stores, but they pretty much only stocked scratched Tragically Hip and Dave Matthews albums. Anyway, in 2nd year I heard rumours of Napster, downloaded it, and discovered heaven. I downloaded anything and everything, even getting banned from Napster for having a live version of Metallica’s Battery. I knew it was sort of wrong, but I was broke and didn’t really have much of a choice. That’s what I told myself, anyway.
Napster ended up getting shut down around the time I graduated. Having a good job and living in Ottawa, I finally had money and access to some really great music stores, so I pretty much stopped downloading music. I like album artwork, and I really like the whole process of going to the store, finding what you’re looking for, excitedly popping it in for the first time… the whole deal. Plus, I always felt sort of bad getting all my music for free – didn’t seem right.
I used to spend almost every Saturday in Record Runner, going home with 3 or 4 albums, listening to them non-stop all week, then going back the next Saturday. I was obsessed. When Record Runner closed, I moved on to Organized Sound. Not as much selection and I sometimes left empty-handed, but they still had some good stuff, and I liked the guys who worked there – they knew a ton about every genre, and they even once sold me their pre-release store copy of a Wagon Christ album, which I thought was pretty cool. Of course, they closed too.
I don’t know of any other good music stores in Ottawa. With nowhere else to go, I started going to HMV. It turned out to not be as bad as I remembered, as there were often some surprisingly good discs in their 2 for $25 deals. It’s ultimately not a very good store, though – anything over 2 years old is like $26 for some reason, and their selection is spotty at best. Still though, it’s all there is around here…
Having bought a house last year, I didn’t have a whole lot of time or money to buy music, but once Christmas was over, I wanted to get back on the horse. With a list compiled from some trustworthy sources, I headed out to pick up as many of the albums I wanted/needed from 2006 that I could find: Hot Chip, Junior Boys, Guillemots, Of Montreal, Peter Bjorn & John, Neko Case… and I found none of them.
With nowhere else left to turn, I returned to my forgotten friend, piracy. Sweet, sweet piracy.
Now, I haven’t become one of those people that downloads non-stop and has 1000s of songs on my computer that I’ve never even heard. I only download albums I can’t find and that I’m not sure I want anyway. I won’t steal anything that I know I’ll be able to find and that I know I’ll love (new Do Make Say Think and “Neon Bible” by the Arcade Fire, as examples).
So far, it’s been all gravy.
I’ve discovered a few bands I think are really outstanding that I probably would have let slip by (Voxtrot, Peter Bjorn & John).
I’ve discovered some amazing songs on some sub-awesome albums (“The Past is a grotesque animal” by Of Montreal, “Boy from School” by Hot Chip).
I’ve saved myself the disappointment of buying some really mediocre albums that I probably would have bought (the Good, the Bad and the Queen and the second half of the new Bloc Party).
I’ve discovered that every Explosions in the Sky album sounds exactly the same.
In any case, I think if used responsibly, piracy is a good thing. Not just for the obvious reason of not paying for anything, but as a means of discovering the hard-to-find and to avoid the disappointment of buying a crappy album. That’s what I’m telling myself, anyway.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, the new Modest Mouse with Johnny Marr on guitar has leaked and I want to see if it’s any good. I’ve heard it’s crap, but I’d like to judge it for myself…
Last 5 songs: “mothers, sisters, daughters and friends” – voxtrot; “sway” – voxtrot; “pass the hatchet, i think i’m goodkind” – yo la tengo; “black swan” – thom yorke; “in the morning” – junior boys
Jessie - “There were some used stores, but they pretty much only stocked scratched Tragically Hip and Dave Matthews albums.” Brilliant!
Mark, you need to check out the new record store in Ottawa. It’s called “Sounds Unlikely” 5 Arlington at Bank. Here’s their blurb:
Sounds Unlikely Grand Opening
Submitted by darrenp on Wed, 2007-01-31 21:40.
Start: 2007-02-03 10:00
End: 2007-02-03 18:00
Timezone: Etc/GMT-4
On Thursday February 1st, Sounds Unlikely opens it’s doors to fans of eclectic music and hard to find film. A new independent record store located at 5 Arlington Ave. on the corner of Bank St., Sounds Unlikely will have a wide range of new and used CDs, LPs, and DVDs to choose from.
The store will specialize in the following genres: Indie-rock, global sounds, jazz/improv, electronic, experimental, out-sounds, funk/soul, reggae, roots, african, contemporary classical. DVDs will include everything from music to foreign, independent and experimental film.
The staff will be made up of long-time members of the Ottawa music community: Tony Daye (Organised Sound, CKCU), Ian Cooke (Music Director CHUO ), Dave McMurran (Ottawa Fair Trade Network, Hi Life Records), Joni Sadler (CHUO/CKCU, Kelp), and Nathan Medema (Sul Pont, Pleasure Through Sound). Their combined passion and knowledge of various genres of music and film will make Sounds Unlikely an inviting space where customers can find a diverse and evolving collection of CDs, LPs and DVDs.
Sounds Unlikely will open on Thursday Feb. 1st at 10:30 a.m.
In addition, there will be a grand opening on Saturday Feb. 3rd. The general public is invited to come and celebrate the launch from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Further information:
Phone: 613-565-1661 / 613-231-2924 (Tony Daye)
Fax: 613-565-3232
Email: sounds.unlikely@gmail.com
contributor mark - ooh… nice. sounds good.
the new Modest Mouse – not so good.
Todd - Mark, do you do any of your music exploration on the web, any sites that you visit regularly, any podcasts that you listen to?
I know more and more indie acts are getting their music ingested into the mainstream services where they can be downloaded and compensated, but then you have to deal with the issues of DRM and compatibility.
contributor mark - yes, yes and no (not big on podcasts).
“mainstream services” – you mean like iTunes and the new napster? I haven’t bothere with the new Napster, but I do use iTunes from time to time. Their selection, while getting better, is still somewhat lacking.
Todd - I’ve found a couple podcasts that I have enjoyed, but for the most part it’s tough to find a consistent one. Also the good always seem to disappear.
Yep “Mainstream Services” = Napster, iTunes, Puretracks, eMusic and more and more everday.
Napster is good, if you don’t have an iPod, subscription service is nice especially if you like to try different music. $15/month for as much music as you want to transfer to your portable device, but stop paying and your tracks won’t work any more. I think this may be the way that music goes in the future, more of a subscription than a pay per track. But who knows, things are going to change or the major industry players aren’t going to last. Cd sales for January were down on average 10% to 20%.