I'm baffled by the attention given to the recent arrest of a Hamilton man charged with bootlegging (Toronto Star story here). Here, bootlegging = live concert recordings sold without permission of the artist =! alcohol trafficking or rock remixes of Jay-Z (at least not this time). From the derogatory language directed at this incident, you'd think we were dealing with a brutal, heinous crime. You'd think he was a sex offender or something.

Jann Arden takes the concert experience WAAAAYYY too seriously. Writing about the Orb earlier in the week, I largely dismissed the role of poor sound quality negatively affecting the listener's perception of a gig's "specialness". And last year (in reference to a 1994 Depeche Mode concert), I wrote how memories can be tarnished by hearing inferior gigs (*not* inferior sound quality) months or years after the fact. The best recording quality in the world wouldn't have cleared up Dave Gahan's heroin-ravaged croak.

The article goes to length to explain what a bootleg is, and how they are recorded. I suppose in the year 2004 there are people unaware of these details that I take for granted. All the talk about internet piracy must have turned the spotlight away from bootleggers to the point that their trade must be re-explained to the next generation. But the anti-filesharing tone still permeates many paragraphs in the article. It depicts bootlegs as yet another of the myriad ways that starving artists and record companies are losing money. Hmmm ... unless you're Pearl Jam (and give official releases to all your concerts) then you're not losing any money on bootlegs, you're just not gaining money on them. Oh wait, if fans are buying the bootlegs then they might want to stick with their dicey recording instead of the superior sound, pictures, and scores of extras on the similarly-priced DVD. Or so the story goes.

This is one case where the jam bands have got it all figured out. They encourage bootlegging, they have no problem with people openly making soundboard recordings of their shows and distributing them via tape or the internet. Somebody should tell Jann Arden that fans get increasingly excited and devoted to their fave bands when they get to hear more of their music. Sharing concert tapes and stories with similarly-minded fans makes concert-going MORE special, not the opposite.

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I recently heard cover versions (that were new to me) by Lush and Xiu Xiu, which prompted the following three-way battles:

1. "Ceremony" : New Order vs Galaxie 500 vs Xiu Xiu. G500 covers are fantastic. Their version exhibits their trademark largo approach to tempos, stretching the drama out over six reverb-drenched minutes. Xiu Xiu's is more or less identical to NO's original, with little of the crackle and sudden noise blasts that are so common with XX. The dominating force is Jamie Stewart's delivery -- he sings it a full octave higher, which actually puts the higher notes out of his range. So of course he just screams those notes at the top of his lungs, leading to several blood-curdling moments (whether you view those words as complimentary will depend on how you take to Stewart's voice in general. One could claim that his off-key straining and wailing wrecks the song, but then you'd have to claim that about most of his band's output).

Unfortunately for the copyists, "Ceremony" is one of the top three songs NO ever did. They rule. NO > G500 > XX.

2. "Outdoor Miner" : Wire vs Lush vs Flying Saucer Attack. Wire's original is arguably the closest they got to a conventional two-minute pop single. It stands apart from the ambience and general strangeness on "Chairs Missing". Lush drenched the song in a few more wads of guitar and their immediately recognisable dual-female lead vocals. Such a production could have only been made between 1990-1995, during the extremely short lifetime of grrl group semi-shoegaze. FSA's effort adds even more guitar -- it's a blistering attack of treble, even for him -- and buries the vocals deep beneath all that chaos. This was the first version I heard, and I hold a big mushy soft spot for it in my heart because it's one of my favourite singles of the 90's. Many a morning was spent blowing my brains into consciousness with this song (the rest of the e.p. is damned good as well). And I'm also a big softie for Lush's harmonies, so ... FSA > Lush > Wire.

I've got half of an Orb gig from Detroit in 1995, which would make it only a few days removed from their tremendous gig here (a mainstay in all of my Top Ten Gigs Ever lists).

The sound isn't too good, but when gigs are this great it doesn't matter. An OK gig can come off good or great on the bootleg if it's a well-done recording, but great gigs retain their greatness nearly irrespective of recording quality (factors such as crowd chatter, and inconsistent volume or frequency levels are exceptions to this).

The versions and setlist order are pretty much the same as I remember them. "Towers of Dub" had a four minute beatless intro, and when the bass finally hit, the tension in the club completely exploded. Swaying and dancing ensued and the hippies who were camped out in the bass speakers completely lost it and started leaping up and down with the beat.

Then there was the fake ending. The song wound down, only to spring up again from nothing with the bass ever huger than before, but this time accompanied by live drums and percussion. The strange thing is, I'd completely forgotten about this ending -- it had slipped my mind literally for years -- but upon hearing it again it instantly sounded familiar again. And of course, with my memory freshly jogged, I now remember this moment from the gig. If it doesn't exist already, there *needs* to be a name for this phenomenon. It's like not seeing or thinking about an old friend for years, but subsequently running into them in the street and remembering them instantly as well as every silly prank you pulled together in grade 11 English class.

I've spilled a bunch of e-ink on the subject of 15-years worth of diversions on the path to hearing "Disintegration", but upon further thought, my record with ALL Cure albums is nothing to brag about. I didn't hear "Wish" in full until a few years after it's release. Despite seeing them live on the "Bloodflowers" tour, I have never heard the album. Compilations and live albums aside, the only other Cure album I own -- and have heard at all, for that matter -- is "Kiss Me x3".

Until this week, that is. Now I can add two others to the list: "Pornography" and "The Cure". The latter only came out a few weeks ago, now how's that for turning over a new leaf?

I hadn't planned to write anything about the former, but after hearing the new album, suddenly the two don't seem all that different. Almost nothing the Cure have done since "Pornography" can match the smothering, black, depressive cloud that it creates. But both albums sound so incredibly heavy -- the pounding drums, thick bass, messy and hazy guitars -- they're produced to sound more like metal albums than just about anything else in their catalogue. On the newest, thanks should be given to Russ Robinson. The press leading up to the release date intoned along the lines of "The Cure's latest self-titled effort is the fruit of a long-awaited collaboration with Ross Robinson", to which I self-intoned "who???" in response (I'm supposed to know who's been producing Korn's albums? As if). At first thought, a Cure album produced to sound like Korn appears disturbing, but producing something to sound like Korn isn't the same as, you know, actually sounding like Korn. Because laying down the heavy like this makes the Cure sound fantastic. The music thuds into the sternum. This is not the dreary goth music we grew up with, this is a snarling vicious beast of an album with Robert Smith wailing over it to help remind us that this really is a Cure album. "Pornography" isn't nearly this huge.

"Lost", the opener, vaguely recalls Smashing Pumpkins "Bodies", with its slow and steady build, balls-out conclusion, and a one-line chorus/mantra chanted throughout and screamed with crazed abandon by the end. "The End of the World", for reasons I can't explain, comes off miles better than I remember it from their Leno performance (its familiarity is the leading candidate to explain this). Overall, it's a blistering collection and Cure fans certainly needn't worry about making excuses for it (except for the cover, perhaps).

Contents of the late afternoon 5CD tray:

1) LFO -- Sheath. I sometimes wonder whether those who praised this album last year heard its predecessor, "Advance" (inasmuch as a record can be a "successor" to something after more than seven years. With Gaz leaving LFO for good, Mark keeping busy breathing techno-fied life into Bjork and Depeche Mode, it was more like coming out of retirement). "Advance" is louder, funkier and nastier than "Sheath". It's a sequence of rumbling, churning crescendos. In terms of speaker rattling bass quakes, it's also a no-contest. Other than "Blown", the astounding opener, "Sheath" generally doesn't hit those sorts of highs (at least that's one thing the albums have in common -- the best track comes first). It's an album of perfectly acceptable techno tracks such as "Mum-man", which build to something good and constantly threaten to explode into something wonderful, but they never do. Perhaps he was recording the real follow-up to "Advance" but the neighbours got tired of the noise and rebelled, forcing Mark Bell to strip away several layers from each track in order to finish the album.

In a sense, this makes it a sister album to Speedy J's "Public Energy", i.e. a techno-funk that's mostly lightning but without the thunder and hail (although in Speedy's case, he ended up getting it right with the follow-up, as opposed to the predecessor).

2. Xiu Xiu -- Fabulous Muscles. I've got it figured out -- if the stuff people said about Radiohead was actually true, then they'd sound like Xiu Xiu. Paranoia and self-loathing? Go home, Radiowimps, Xiu Xiu is the Colonel Kurtz of paranoia and self-loathing (RIP Marlon Brando). Xiu Xiu didn't just listen to a couple of Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada records and proceed to whine on top of his best approximation of them, he brought the window-cracking NOIZ and proceeded to whine and scream on top of three-dollar drum machines.

3. SFA -- Guerilla. I finally remembered to rewind from track 1 in order to hear the hidden track. It's a worthy prologue. Still a killer album. And as I lamented at the time, I remain exceedingly doubtful that they will ever top it. Short of one A++ single ("Juxtapozed With U", the pinnacle of their career, about which there are not enough words in the language nor hours in the day required to trumpet its greatness), they haven't come close.

4. System 7 -- s/t. A strong contender in the "early 90's techno album that hasn't dated well" sweepstakes. With The Orb, Hillage's guitar parts were far more remote in the mix. Like with all great dub, it would drift in and out, as if the guitar were just another sample. With S7, the guitar takes a prominent role, leaving us with guitar solo wankery plus a drum machine.

With a bit of post-production to freshen up the sound, "Strange Quotations" could probably be a radio hit today.

5. V/A -- LANding. (lots and lots of noise here)(Perhaps I'd say more about it if I could read the liner notes (in German)).

Out of curiosity, I watched some of Canadian Idol tonight. OK, the truth is I had been watching supergeniusknowledgemaschine Ken Jennings win for the 21st time on Jeopardy and it just happened to come on afterward (in the same way, I am now watching The Simple Life 2, albeit with the sound off and the Delgados blasting. I see no reason to *listen* to Nicole and Paris when I can just stare at them from time to time while playing great music).

There is no way I can go on watching Canadian Idol until the final five or six at the earliest, because I cannot sit through weeks of watching the judges smooch the asses of such unremarkable talent. It's only the round of 32, there's weeks of this hyperbole to come! And it can only get worse when the fat is trimmed away!

The way they gushed over Theresa Sokyrka, you'd think she was the finest voice to ever emerge from west of Thunder Bay (seriously, how many times did they remark at her Saskatchewan upbringing, as if she'd appeared on the stage straight from a remote, unexplored tundra). What makes this even more embarrassing is how CanIdol, in it's never-ending quest to rip off AmerIdol to the very last nuance, even featured the same SONGS that prominent contestants sang on the US show. Theresa did "Summertime", which was the song that Fantasia sang during the finale that blew everyone away, and, by slowing the momentum that Diana had built to that point in the show, essentially cinched her the title. In comparison to Fantasia's gritty and passionate performance, Theresa's version was forgettable cocktail lounge stuff (OK, I'll say it, it was whiter than Wonder bread).

We also heard "Me and Mrs. Jones" (sung by George Huff during finale pre-show) and "Open Arms" (sung at least once during the last season by one of the female belters, I think it was LaToya). All these performances were significantly inferior to those by their American counterparts, yet were praised to the heavens.

Jacob Hoggard was praised for his "star quality", or something to that effect, but the man is a clown. His mannerisms are identical to the unfortunate laughing stocks from "Superstar USA", who were trying so hard to dance and emote and emulate the stars they'd seen on TV to the point of becoming pantomime parodies of their fave crooners.

As a sleeper pick, I'd recommend Bernard Quilala, whose smooth tones recall the restrained sound of AmerIdol winner Ruben Studdard. Zach claimed he had zero charisma, which I totally disagree with. He was relaxed and confident, and there was plenty of emotion in his facial expressions. Charisma does not equal animation, which is worth remembering, particularly in the early stages of a competition like this.

I saw the greatest video ever last night. It's "BEP Empire" by the Black Eyed Peas. I had not a smidgeon of care for the song, but the "DiscoverHipHop" infomercial OWNZ. The parody was spot on, perfectly executed with the finest collection of prepped-up honkys this side of Wimbledon, and the finest assortment of trailer trash that money can buy (yeah, I know they are all actors. I can suspend my disbelief, can't I?).

Much Music Video Awards! I don't think I've never done a diary for this show.

A little background for those who've never seen the MMVA's -- it's a billion times more interesting and original than any other North American awards show (in concept, anyway). All the typical conventions of a Major Awards Show -- the host, the large hall, stage at the front and the audience in the back, the mismatched celebs woodenly reading dumb jokes off of the teleprompter -- all these staples are thrown out the window with MM's annual bash. Here, the VJ's collectively host the show (often dressed in their Halloween best). They turn up for their MC'ing stints on stage, but also on rooftops, in the streets, and among fans. There's no music hall -- all this takes place on several stages and runways inside and outside the MM building, in the parking lot, and on the street, all amongst thousands of screaming fans. Once in a while between all the craziness, celebs show up on stage to shoot the shit with a VJ and present an award while they're at it. A lot of wannabe edgy awards shows like to advertise that "anything can happen", but the MMVA's hyperspeed pace and crazed atmosphere really makes this seem true.

Pre-show: On the red carpet everyone does their best to look nonplussed (huh, it's only Canada, so it's not like anyone's going to see the show so there.s no point in hamming it up) while the VJ's go out of their way to be friendly and inviting.

9:00 The Beasties open the show ... amazing that they're still fun despite STILL caning their ONE rap style (everyone shouts a one-syllable word on the on the four count). It must be the years between albums that keep it fresh. First, they drop "Check it Out" (aside: I love the bonkers video. Beastie Boys deserve some sort of award for having the Most Fun Looking Videos, all of them look like they were a blast to film and this one is no exception. The Mr Dressup video concept doesn't go out of style). Then they play "Intergalactic", which already feels like a golden oldie, again, let's chalk it up to years between albums.

9:10 The hottest VJ of the night (besides Amanda although that cartoonishly large rose is straight out of one of Carrie Bradshaw hats on season 3 of "Sex and the City", and really must be destroyed) = Sarah and her plunging neckline frilly thing.

9:13 Didn't crowd surfing go out of style years ago? Didn't bands like whose fans crowd surf go extinct along with it?

9:15 The sets look amazing ... they're a cross between the Parthenon and the International Space Station. The presenters have to walk an aisle to come up and present awards, which provides a bit more time for fawning and ogling.

9:18 Billy Talent win the MuchLoad Hard Rock award ... great, more punks whose asses I'd like to kick.

9:24 Just hearing the word "emo" makes me cringe

9:27 Fefe Dobson = Toronto's own Joan Jett. Great, it works for me!

9:32 Rick desperately tries to get dirt from Hillary Duff. What's the over/under time for her first scandal? 14 months?

9:36 Nelly Furtado isn't there to accept for Best Pop Video. Last I heard, she was in Portugal for EURO 2004 (not to mention that she wrote the official song for the Portuguese team) so that's an excuse I can live with.

9:41 Sum 41 are shrimps. They're shorter than Amanda. I don't care if she's wearing five inch heels. And they are stoned/stupid/not in the mood to be there. I'd be concerned/insulted/disappointed if I cared about them with one cell of my being. So, Best International Artist goes to "Crazy In Love", and the voiceover right before the acceptance (like with the Brit awards) espouses "(the song) dials into the hot sensual vibe between Beyonce and Jay-Z". Ugh. I so did not need to hear such language. These purple prose statement adorn every award presented tonight and they are the weakest component of the show.

9:46 Hoobastank's "The Reason" is a perfectly decent song. Their name is abhorrent though.

9:50 I like how all these music and video stations that caned Creed for years and played their sludge every five minutes are now making fun of them. The joke's on them for pimping Creed for all these years. On a different note -- Jen, please never say "the hood is here" ever EVER again.

10:01 Kanye West brings the gospel choir and rocks the death out of John Street. This is the MTV awards all over again, with hiphop artists bringing the goods so strong that they humiliate everyone else on the show.

10:06 The Beasties get pushed big time with an awesome retrospective of clips from their career. They're receiving a Trail Blazer award. The crowd chants for them. They remember them? Are the Beastie's still over so big with the youth crowd that wasn't born when their debut was released and had to buy the Spike Jonze DVD to see "Sabotage"? George idiotically puts them on the spot by asking MCA to sum up the last 20 years point blank. How's he supposed to reasonably answer that off-the-cuff, and in an environment not suited for heartfelt speeches to boot?

10:09 Amy Lee and Ed show up on my TV screen and I nearly leap off the floor in anticipation of the destruction that is sure to follow when Ed interviews this stuck up prude. He admits straight out that Evanescence come with the package and he has no interest in talking to them, all while repeatedly commenting on her hotness. She looks insulted. Aren't they breaking up anyway? Her eyes dart around looking for a way of escaping Ed. This segment delivered on its anticipation.

10:16 Outkast's "Hey Ya" wins Best International Video by a Group. They air Andre giving a pre-taped, very sincere message showing his appreciation. That might normally look perfunctory, but we all saw his Grammy speeches, so I say he really was quite honoured.

10:18 FInger Eleven -- dammit, we've got to stop already with the groups with numbers in their names. "One Thing" sounds like the kind of stuff that Marcy Playground used for defacing grunge's grave back in 1995.

10:26 Justin Hawkins speaks with Sara, and on second thought, her outfit looks like something he would wear. He wouldn't look as good in it, but he's one of the few male music stars who could pull it off. Bewildered by the scene but amused all the same, he gives a great snarl after announcing "here are the nominees" and that's why he's a pop star.

10:30 F11 win Best Video. There's no speech from them (darn) because they face the wrong way on stage, can't hear what Sarah is saying (a common occurrence with all VJ's tonight, the crowd noise literally doesn't let up for a second during the entire show) and they need to abruptly cut away to her fellow MMVA virgin, Devon. Who I must say is looking quite comfy in the role tonight (not as a virgin, but as a competent and entertaining VJ in this madhouse awards show).

10:33 Someone remind me again why Hillary Duff has a singing career. Her voice has no power or presence, no range, it's nothing but a monotone that would honestly make the blooper reel in the first episode of the American Idol tryouts. She's got a decent band to help mask her inadequacy, but make no mistake, the emperor has no clothes.

10:36 Avril feels right at home with Ed's barbs. She's got her brother and sister and the sis looks like Avril's clone. They're so similar it's creepy. We're talking the Hilton sisters here.

10:41 Tom Green is quite possibly the most annoying person ever born. Billy Talent induces a unwanted fourteen person mosh pit. It must have been the Misfits t-shirt that drove them to it. Oooh, so naughty.

10:48 The C-list talent continues on with Nickelcrap announcing that the People's Fave Artist = Avril. I've got to hand it to her, becoming famous hasn't made her grow up and forget that Canada and the MMVA's exist (unlike other breakthrough Canuck artist). In a similar manner, Nickelback deserve their props too.

10:50 Jen chats with Sam Roberts and Hawksley Workman. Both of them are wearing "Stop Harper" buttons, which is announced by Jen without editorialising, with no follow-up question. First of all, I don't like Stephen Harper, so I have nothing against the sentiment behind the actions. Second, anyone has the right to walk around and put him down via a button if they wish (obviously). But MM is supposes to be non-partisan in these elections, which is the whole basis behind getting all major party leaders into the Much environment for interviews (which they have been doing for over a decade). Thus, this was a totally irresponsible move by Jen (or whoever it was that put these three people together in this segment and potentially told her to make such a comment), continuing her error-filled night.

10:52 Fave International Artist goes to Usher - "Yeah". Why are songs getting nominated in these "artist" categories? Usher gives a pre-taped speech from his basement. Man, at least make it look like you couldn't come to the show because you were on tour or in the studio, not too lazy to get out of bed.

10:53 Best Canadian Group = Simple Plan. I groan at first, but then remember that I probably hate the other nominees F11, Billy, Nickel, and 3Days Grace even more. And apparently there were no CanGroups that weren't crap punk this year.

10:56 Fave International Group goes to Linkin Park. Why do they do this one last when nobody's ever there to accept it? Why not present Best Canadian Group last to really put over the homegrown talent? If MM sees them as a step below the first class, then why should their viewing audience feel differently?

11:00 The Good Charlotte idiot blatantly ogles Amanda, and they trade badly conjugated and pronounced French comments about dogs and requests for sex. All this knocks her down a bit in my books, but I'll forgive it. Finally, we send it to Evanescence to blast the finale to bits with a furious performance. What's Jesus' take on corsets and cleavage anyhow?

As usual, the crazed nature of the show made two hours fly by in what seemed like five minutes. There were some excellent performances courtesy of Kanye, Beasties and the Amy Lee Band, as well as some horrid ones (pretty much everything else). With format of the MMVA's, I don't think it's possible to put on anything less than a thumbs up show because there always seems to be a million things happening and it does a great job of escaping the rut of every other awards show. Imagine how good it could be if they could convince more A-listers to come up here!

There was a short piece in this week's NOW on one of my favourite subjects, vinyl vs CD (vs Claude Young, in this particular case). A few notes:

The article implied that the retro-fixation is unique to techno, but the house scene is similarly backward-oriented, not to mention the 80's revivals, electro revivals, the return of indie dance (encompassing billions of bands from the ubiquitous Franz Ferdinand to Junior Boys), and so on. So it's misleading to single out techno as being leadfooted.

MP3's are even lighter than CD's and vinyl, if we're going to talk about the portability benefits. And the lighter the load, the crappier the sound. Funny how that works (I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt for a high bit rate MP3 played at high volume over an average club's sound system, but techno on MP3 sounds SOOOOOOOO awful played at home). And there's nothing about CD's that allows you to add loops or FX -- a sampler and an effects box will take care of that, medium independent.

"Much of techno's resistance to change is about how we define underground". Again, I don't think this exclusive to techno at all, rather, one could say "the persistence of vinyl is strongly linked to a need to keep the music underground". Turntables are pricey (moreso than CD players), and vinyl shops cater to those in the know. This serves to keep away all but the hardcore devotees.

Not much is happening music-wise, as I continue to buy music with money I don't have and sit around sometimes wondering wtf is wrong with $0u1$33k when I try connecting these days. It slows down my whole computer! There had better not be anything up with my computer.

Michael Jackson paid out $23 Million in the civil suit against him in 1993. Feh. Yeah, it's a lot of money, but if the allegations are true, then he's scum, so who cares if he has to pay. If he did nothing wrong, then the lawyers and accusers are scum. I can easily envision a scenario in which the latter is true. We know Michael's messed up and likes sleeping in beds with kids, which isn't illegal but is obviously suspicious. So his lawyers said to him "the whole thing looks too freaky, don't take the chance of going to jail, just pay up cuz you've got the cash". Hmph.

Techno is dead in Toronto. Finished. The techno vinyl in Kops has dried up, is in the process of drying up in Metropolis, Rotate This sells basically indie-tronica and microhouse these days, ... perhaps I'll say more another time (such as after I help lighten the load at the sale for Metropolis' upcoming move).

Life is sad sometimes. A crap day at work, I couldn't get tickets to any Do Make Say Think Shows, MUTEK is on and I'm not there, and Richie Hawtin is playing tonight which of course means there's no streaming allowed.

As for the first, well, stuff happens.

As for the second, it's my own fault for not getting around to getting tickets sooner. On the way back from uptown, I biked by the venue (The Music Gallery, aka a church) to find info about tickets at the door for the other shows, and since the doors were wide open, I stood outside (with my bike and my none too fashionable lycra attire, the first time I have "attended" a gig dressed as such) and caught the last few songs of the night. Compared to the only other show I saw there (Tim Hecker, vfu), in which the meagre sound volume was almost embarassing, they've done wonders with the sound setup. The band was huge (literally, there were both brass and strings this time, plus their usual double drums + guitars arrangement) and boasted the crushing volume to match.

As for the third, the reasons for this have already been discussed, and the fourth is consistent with Richie's performance last year. Perhaps tomorrow I can rock along with them deep in the night from afar (my apartment). Maybe when all the streams show up in the MUTEK archives, I can recreate the entire festival for myself. I guess I'm just full of ideas for strange and unusual musical experiments lately.