Music Blog : Indie-rock

Coldplay accused of plagiarism...again.

professor.knowsitall@evpl — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:42:00 GMT

In a June 2008 interview with MTV UK while promoting his band's upcoming album, Coldplay's singer-songwriter Chris Martin stated: "We look at what other people are doing and try and steal all the good bits. We steal from so many different places that hopefully it becomes untraceable."

Upon the album's release a couple weeks later, indie band Creaky Boards made headlines by accusing that the album's title track borrowed liberally from a song of theirs. They claimed that Coldplay's song Viva La Vida was a rip-off of their track The Songs I Didn't Write (IRONY!). Creaky Boards frontman Andrew Hoepfner claimed that Martin saw them play in an October 2007 concert where they performed the song, writing:

"We were flattered when we thought we saw Chris Martin in the crowd that night. He seemed pretty into it. Maybe too into it."

Coldplay immediately denounced the claims, as they'd recorded a demo of Viva La Vida in March 2007, prior to the alleged concert. In fact, Martin couldn't have been at the October '07 concert, as he was in London recording. Hoepfner retracted his claims, intelligently stating...

"I must have been mistaken about seeing Chris (Martin) at the show because all British people look the same. I lived in London for six weeks and I seriously thought every third person on the corner was Coldplay."

Wow, just wow.

So Coldplay's off the hook, right? Nope.

In court papers filed on December 4, 2008, instrumental guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani claims that Viva La Vida (the same song!) copies "substantial original portions" of his 2004 song If I Could Fly. As the court papers have been filed, his team of lawyers thinks he has a case.

What peeves Satriani is that If I Could Fly isn't just any song. It's a composition, a love song dedicated to his wife, he'd been laboring over for more than 10 years before recording it. According to him:

"Everybody assumes I'm trying to go after these guys in Coldplay, as if I'm doing this with malice. That's the furthest thing from my mind. I'm just doing what I need to do as an artist, to protect what's mine, to protect those feelings I put down in song.

"I did everything I could to avoid a court case with this situation. But Coldplay didn't want to talk about it. They just wanted this whole thing to go away. Maybe they figured this little guitar player guy will leave them alone after a while, I don't know.

"But we're talking about a piece of art that I created, and that's something I feel is important. I think everybody should feel that way."

Listen to the songs in question via the YouTube links below or by checking out the CDs. What do you think? Is Coldplay a fraud? Mere coincidence? Or did all these songs rip-off Cat Stevens' Heaven? Sound off in the comments section!

	YouTube	EVPL Collection
Viva La Vida by Coldplay	Music Video	Check availability of album Viva La Vida
If I Could Fly by Joe Satriani	Listen (Skip to the 50sec mark)	Check availability of album Is There Love in Space?
The Songs I Didn't Write by Creaky Boards	Listen	Not available

More Info

Joe Satriani speaks about Coldplay lawsuit: Hear what Satch says in this December 7th interview.
Did Coldplay copy Joe Satriani? Let's Do the Music Theory - PART 1 & PART 2: Those with an understanding of music theory should check out these two vids.

"Bridging the Distance: A Portand OR Covers Compilation"

HoodooVoodoo@evpl — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:38:00 GMT

Every once in awhile I stumble upon a hidden gem when looking for music. This happened recently when I was doing a search for the bands the Minus 5 and Loose Fur, both side projects for Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, and found Bridging the Distance: A Portland OR Covers Compliation.

Bridging the Distance is almost exactly what the whole title eludes to, a collection of cover songs from Portland OR area bands. The bands enlisted for this album aren't household names. In fact, before checking it out I had only heard of three of the bands before: The Decemberists, The Minus 5, and Blitzen Trapper. The songs on the other hand are quite recognizable. Most of the songs included were famous chart toppers of the 70s and 80s from artists like Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, and Led Zeppelin.

As with most cover albums, there are some hits and misses. Some of the standouts on the album include The Decemberists rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "Think About Me" which has been stuck in my head for days, and Whip's slow folky interpretation of Billy Idol's "White Wedding". The hits outweigh the misses, but the glaring cover that could have been skipped is Lacktherof's cover of Michael McDonald's "What a Fool Believes". Of course, this fool believes there is no appropriate version of that song and it would've landed on my miss list no matter who covered it, but don't let that deter you from checking out this steller compilation album.

Lake Street Dive - Prize-winning Song-writing and a Unique Sound

Bufkinite@evpl — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:56:00 GMT

My daughter turned me on to this group, and the recording In This Episode..., and I was completely taken in by them. Everyone with whom I've shared this recording has been similarly impressed. Lake Stree Dive is comprised of vocalist Rachael Price, trumpeter and guitarist Mike Olson, Bridget Kearney on bass, and Mike Calabrese on drums, guitar, and keyboards. The band gained prominence when Kearney's song "Sometimes When I'm Drunk and You Are Wearing My Favorite Shirt" won a Grand Prize and Lennon Award in The John Lennon Songwriting Contest. The prize resulted in increased exposure for the band, a Midwestern tour and this, their first recording.

The group combines playful lyricism with creative arrangements, and Price's voice is unique enough - pure and rough-edged, earthy and sweet all at once - to be recognizable the next time you hear it. They've just recently released a second recording, entitled Promises, Promises, but you'll have to wait if you want to check it out from EVPL

Here's a link to the group's MySpace page.
Here's a link to Lake Street Dive recordings available at Amazon.com, where your purchase will benefit the Public Library Friends

And below is a YouTube video of the group's prize winning song, "Sometimes When I am Drunk and You are Wearing My Favorite Shirt." Sound quality isn't the greatest, but it'll give you an idea of this creative group's sound and creative dynamic.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Blitzen Trapper - "Furr"

HoodooVoodoo@evpl — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:04:00 GMT

Portland, OR group, Blitzen Trapper, recently released their album, Furr (2008), on Sub-Pop after receiving nationwide acclaim for their last album, Wild Mountain Nation (2007). While their last album seemed to be a little disjointed at times, Furr on the hand, is melodic masterpiece that evokes wild mountain sounds and lo-fi psychedelic indie rock that will have you bobbing to the beats long after you turn the music off.

It's hard to describe Blitzen Trapper's sound. They list bands like Pavement and artists like Neil Young as influences on their sound (and you can definitely tell), but you can also hear shades of Beck, The Kinks, and New Riders of the Purple Sage. Furr has more of an alt-country sound and quite a few slow numbers than its predecessor, but the sonic squalls and feedback are still there, just not as heavy. This drop in the mix has produced a very good album and one that I highly recommend. You may not have heard of Blitzen Trapper before, but remember the name, because you hear it a lot in the future.

Reserve your copy today!

Blitzen Trapper's Homepage

Blitzen Trapper's MySpace Page

Sorry, the group doesn't have any videos out for the new record, but here's the video for "Wild Mountain Nation" of their last album with the same title. Most of the rocking tracks off "Furr" sound a lot like this.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Conor Oberst's Mexican Getaway

HoodooVoodoo@evpl — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:28:00 GMT

I've never listened to a Bright Eyes album before. This revelation usually comes as a surprise to most of my friends who know my musical tastes. However, for some reason I decided to give Conor Oberst (aka Bright Eyes) a shot. Maybe it was the fact that Conor used his real name for the album, I don't know and it doesn't matter, but what matters is that this album is very good.

Singer/songwriter types are usually hit or miss for me. Bob Dylan for example is my musical hero but artists like Jackson Browne or James Taylor just don't do it for me. I'm a big fan of Ryan Adams (although that is souring), Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, Mason Jennings, and Steve Earle, but not Paul Simon or Jack Johnson. It's a fine line with me, but this album has struck that nerve.

Conor Oberst, using his birth name for the first time, gathered a group of musicans he called the Mystic Valley Band and headed down to Mexico to record the album. The album itself has some references to Mexico in it but the music has more a country-rock feel. There are a few melodic slow songs and some raucous bar beauties in this twelve collection. I recommend this album to anyone who enjoys good music, because that's what it is. Good music has no catergory or label, it's just good and so is this album. Check it out or reserve your copy today.

"Souled Out" off Conor Oberst's new self titled album:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Neutral Milk Hotel - An "Unknown" Band with a Huge Following

Bufkinite@evpl — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 19:18:00 GMT

Neutral Milk Hotel hasn't released a new recording in ten years, and yet the album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea remains as fresh and inspiring as any indie recordings coming out right now, and established singer and guitarist (and the band's chief songwriter) Jeff Mangum as one of the creative talents of the decade.

Early recordings of the NMH tend to include an amalgam of whoever Mangum was playing with at the time, which is obvious on the EP recording Everything Is (originally released in 1994), but by the time On Avery Island (1996) and Aeroplane (1998) were released, the band had gelled a bit and featured Julian Koster on banjo, bass, and saw; Scott Spillane on horns; and Jeremy Barnes on drums.

If you like R.E.M., Elf Power, Radiohead, Modest Mouse or The Apples in Stereo, you should give NMH a listen.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Here's a video with the song In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.
The official Neutral Milk Hotel web site.
Buy Neutral Milk Hotel CDs from Amazon with your purchase benefitting the Public Library Friends.

Dr. Dog - "Fate"

HoodooVoodoo@evpl — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:41:00 GMT

Dr. Dog, a Philadelphia-based band, released their fifth album Fate (2008) in late July on indie label Park the Van Records. Dr. Dog began it rise on the national scene when Jim James of My Morning Jacket picked them to open for his band in 2004 after someone slipped him a copy of one of their earlier independent label albums.

When describing Dr. Dog's sound one can't help but invoke musicians and bands of the past. After I got a copy of their album, We All Belong (2007), my usual sales pitch to friends was "it's like a stew consisting of David Bowie, Elton John, and The Band, but it sounds new,". I've read a lot of reviews of Fate and many have invoked The Beatles' Abbey Road and 1960s pop in their descriptions and while I don't think it's fair to compare the two, I understand why. Fate almost flows as one singular piece than a collection of eleven songs and some of the guitar riffs sound like George Harrison was playing on the album.

Dr. Dog fully excepts the comparions of "sounding and feeling old" with their promo depression-era pics for the album and constant references to all things old in their lyrics, but somehow they manage to sound new (at least to my ears anyways). I highly recommend this album. Check it out or reserve your copy today!

For more information on Dr. Dog check out the following:

Dr. Dog's Official Home Page

Dr. Dog's MySpace Page

"Hang On" from Dr. Dog's new album Fate

(Please visit the site to view this media)