This Is Not A Democracy

Now, I know not everyone on my flist is a Cobra Starship fan - some of you haven't a fucking clue who they are - but almost all of you are slashers, so you NEED - UNDOUBTEDLY, UNQUESTIONABLY NEED - to listen to this track. It's an affectionate piss take of Katy Perry's song, 'I Kissed A Girl' redone as 'I Kissed A Boy' and made much darker (I say 'affectionate' because I'm assuming that as she's their friend's girlfriend they don't share my opinion that she's the Anti-Christ).



For those who aren't familiar, the guy singing it is a 6'4" Jew from Uruguay, called Gabe Saporta and he looks like this:



( Warning: if you click this link you will immediately want to have sex with five whole new people. )

Oh, and when he sings this stuff? He's not really kidding...

There is one particular piece of music they use on the Sky TVGuide which REALLY reminds me of the W Hotel in Chicago.

It honest to God makes me want to be on holiday and it drives me insane with wanderlust every time I try to find something to watch. Dammit!

I've just been to an unexpected gig to see my cousin Stevie's band, Over and Out.

We checked my MySpace over dinner, at about 18.35 and were at the venue - remember that one at the end of my road? - within fifteen minutes.

While we were there, we discovered a band called Out of Sight. Their singer, Jake, is lovely - they sound like Spitalfield with a very young Patrick on vocals. You should definitely check them out.

We also discovered that at least two members of Over and Out live in the street that runs parallel to ours, which is really weird.

It was a surprisingly good day, today. We had a shit ton of fun. And we think Matte needs to come and live in Brighton, for serious.

Wow. That song is horrible. DX

I figured out the exact phrasing of what pissed me off about the last album, and what pisses me off from reports of the new album:

THEY'RE TRYING TOO HARD.

That just sums it up for me.

Does anyone else miss bands releasing real singles?

You remember the kind: you'd get all excited waiting for the release day, then you'd head down to the local record shop on your lunchbreak or after school/work, then you'd get home and actually put it in a CD player to listen.

And there would be B-sides! Actual B-sides! Other songs, not related to the album - not just remixes or cover versions - real, additional tracks from your favourite band. Bonus music for being dedicated enough to go and buy the singles.

Now, you get shitty, lower-quality versions on iTunes, no B-sides and you can't use it on more than a couple of formats. Yeah, they might be cheaper, but they're not tangible. When I buy something, I want to be able to hold it in my hand, y'know?

And what especially pisses me off is now Fall Out Boy are releasing their new album on iTunes track by track. Sure, there will be a CD on November 4th, but for those of us who prefer to do the ritual - the going to the shop, the peeling off the plastic and the reading the inlay booklet during that first listen; hearing the whole album in order, as it was planned to be heard - are fucked. Sure, we can wait for the new album to come out in the shops, but this is the internet age. This is the blog age, where people will be posting reviews within minutes of the tracks being made available. For anyone who doesn't want to be spoiled and want to discover the tracks in context by ourselves, it means avoiding the internet, or the comms where it would be likely to be discussed.

Yes, leaks happen; but with leaks, there is generally a divide between those who will wait for the official version, and those who will go ahead and download the music. If the music is made legally available ahead of time, presumably in an attempt to curb the leaks and promote interest, many more people will have access to it and will be discussing it openly, assuming everyone has heard it.

This may even be detrimental to the album sales (the single didn't even make the top twenty in Billboard's Hot 100, and in the Canadian chart has already dropped to #89 in its second week), because as soon as it is made available on iTunes, it can be decoded and leaked to the general public - which may result in lower album sales. Infinity on High was leaked a few days before it was due for release, but a strong moral section of the fanbase refused to download illegally and casual fans were unlikely to know with any great certainty where to access the leak. If more people have early access to the songs, they can be reposted more widely.

In a nutshell, I think this iTunes thing is a stupid idea and the more I see Pete promoting it, the more I want to shake him. People aren't buying the single because they already have it and there is no incentive to spend money on something they can get for free behind closed doors. To the best of my knowledge, the single doesn't have a CD release date (if it does, please tell me so I can go and buy it), and if that is a case there is nothing for fans who will have accessed the track already (almost all illegally, I'm fairly certain) to gain from spending money through Apple (who I dislike intensely anyway).

In fact, I resent being forced to give money to a company I dislike, just so I can hear music from my favourite band. I don't own an iPod, or an iPhone, I didn't even have iTunes installed until I wrote a review on it for HRE - I hadn't actually opened the programme since.

Why should I be dictated to about where to spend my money?

The more I think about this, the angrier I get.

( New TAI widgets )

...it's not quite complete yet...

So... the new TAI song, About A Girl doesn't sound like them at all; does sound like someone put 2005 on a CD, though.

It's not a bad song, it just doesn't stand out... It could be any number of bands from the last few years. And it does remind me quite a lot of the recently demised Spitalfield, in some ways. They grew up in the same scene, you know.

I can feel a little Jimmy Eat World in there, as well - which is interesting, because I was talking to someone on my flist about them, recently.

Mostly, I'm just a little O_o at the moment. I don't dislike it, and I could probably enjoy singing along to it, but I hope the rest of the album has more kick than this.

Oh my God. That was just amazing.

Ju - the second they announce a UK tour you'd better believe we're going!

I just downloaded - legally, as in, I paid and everything - songs by Estelle (American Boy) and... Kylie Minogue (Come Into My World).


Can someone get me a doctor, because there is clearly something very wrong, right now.