This is an online music fan zine. Please support music and musicians by going to shows, purchasing CDs, buying a damn T-shirt!
All mp3s are posted here with permission from the artists/labels/PR folks, and for a very brief time. If you have any issues with content on this zine please email me; atartytart@gmail.com I'm addicted to my Iphone, darlins'... I'll get back to you.
If you like what's up here, it'd be nice to know about it, so leave me some comments, eh? You can always post me love notes and CDs and such at: Love Shack, Baby, PO Box 221235 Chicago, IL 60622 (note new addy)
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And you can find PuppetShow at enjoy.the.puppet.show@gmail.com
Two cool things happened this week: I got a job (well, two jobs really) and this little blog got recognized by some really cool people in the music blogging world. Well, this was a really lovely surprise! Love Shack, Baby has been made SoundCloud’s Blog of the Week over on their Tumblr. I had exchanged a few emails with Michelle, describing how I used the free service and how bands had reached out to me with their music using SoundCloud. Little did I know that I was in the running for their Blog of the Week feature! Hop on over there to read me blathering on about my blogging history and why I chose the type of music I do and how I think artists should promote themselves. I talk a little about the following: my special internet friends, one to whom I owe the very origins of this blog (Puppet Show), some Scottish bloggers who I didn’t mention by name either, but should have, The Waiting Room (source of all good music), some tunes I’m currently listening to from abroad, and a few Chicago bands I love. Not all of my submitted SoundCloud links made it to their blog (I’m sure they were limited by space, my damn answers were long enough!) So I’ve included them all here for you And thank you, SoundCloud people, that’s a lovely honor to be included! xoxo
(The kind folks at SoundCloud were also kind enough to upgrade me for a bit to test out their cool widgety players, what do you think of them? Oh and scroll all the way down to that last player, I didn’t include this track in my email to Michelle, but I so should have! This one is for you, Colin! xo)
(edit: oops, the track I pick has been removed! sorry! well, it was tUnE-yArDs’ “Sunlight” from her 2009 LP Bird-Brains. buy it here.)
Be Human mp3 The Break Welcome to Our Side …. go to their MySpace
I’m not sure you’ve heard about the latest upsetting practices going on in the world of music blogging, but I thought I’d take a minute to fill you in. Lately Google, which has bought up the popular blog tool, Blogger, has been acting in a draconian manner against some of the more popular MP3 blogs… blogs that rank in the highest rankings of importance, clout, influence and all that in our little corner of blogland. Here’s what Bill, from I Rock Cleveland, has been going through. I’ll refer you to this article at techdirt which lays it out nicely for you and also check out this recent post on Boing Boing. Basically, Blogger/Google receives copyright complaints and is obligated, by law (a stupidly made law wherein the burden of proof is laid on you to prove your innocence after you are punished) to inactivate your post. However, a week or so ago, Blogger/Google didn’t just take down a post or two from these blogs. It deleted the whole blog.
No backup. No warning. No apparent recourse.
Needless to say, bloggers were angry, scared, and panicked. If you’re very interested, there’s a timeline of how it went down, on Twitter. And coverage on Pitchfork and so Blogger had to respond, trying to save face, and eventually some blogs were reinstated and some recourse was made known. Yes, the law exists. Yes, copyright should be respected and artists should be compensated for their talent, time, and energy. But there are good blogs that do follow the rules and there are blogs which really are exploiting artists by leaking albums which I will take a stand against.
So, is this blog legal?
Here at Love Shack, Baby I try to post only tracks that are given to me by artists, labels, PR folk or that I find posted on websites that allow and encourage downloading (those are PR companies or label websites that put up MP3s, not other blogs.) That means that I get stated or implied permission from people to rehost MP3s on a host that I pay for so that you can download a song along with whatever words I write about the artist or album. I do this because I believe, as do many people in this industry, that hearing a song and being able to keep it on your Ipod and play it in your car will lead you to buy the album. Being able to give a copy of it away to your friend, to burn it onto a mix tape for your girlfriend, or being able to send it to your sister who’s away at college is an excellent way to get other people excited about music and more likely to buy a ticket when that band comes to their town. If I make you a fan of an artist by giving you their song, with their permission, I might make your friends and family fans too. And that can result in a lot more album sales and concert tickets than a TV commercial because you actually got something from me, something more than 30 seconds of visual aid. I’m hoping you might read 200 or 300 words about why this music is so fucking exciting to me too. I think that helps.
So yes, for the most part, this blog is legal. I might make a misstep here or there, unintentionally. I try to only post the approved songs. And if I don’t, I appreciate an email asking me to remove the offending track. That is NEVER a problem and I act very quickly to remedy that. And as you saw at xmas, I did throw caution to the wind a little, putting out some rare, naughty xmas songs. The temptation was oh so strong, my dears. Remember also though, this blog always, always, includes information (when at all possible) for where to purchase the album, right up next to the track. You have no excuse to not push that button and support that artist. And I take down all my music every two to three weeks. No one needs to give away their hard work for too long. Each of my posts has one, maybe two tracks. I never post an entire album and I never will. Many new artists will give their EPs and albums away and I’ll gladly link to them for you. If they’re on bandcamp.com, please remember you can always contribute money to them there, you don’t HAVE to take it for free.
So, long story short, we are getting fewer MP3s from the big indie labels and none from the big, mainstream labels. You will see more posts here with widgets, asking you for your email address to get the download, and more posts without download tracks at all, and well… that is the way the world works now. You will also see, however, more posts on unsigned and local bands who are more than eager to have you hear and take their music. I hope my ear for talent matches up with your tastes. Let me know, eh?
Most importantly, if you are or know any PR folk or label people, let them know that copyright holders (who don’t use EMI as their distributor) can submit their permitted tracks to jeremy@ifpi.org to have them removed from their bot list. This will greatly reduce the DMCA notice abuse to blogs like this who post legal MP3s, that is, MP3s for which we have been given permission to give to you, dear readers.
(Isn’t it crazy that a bot comes round your blog and alerts them as to what files you have that are in violation?! How does it know whether or not you’ve got permission? In a word, it doesn’t. And in Bill’s case, the offending track wasn’t even working for ages.)
By the way, this track that I’m giving you today is from a band I saw last month. They were pretty cool. I was relatively impressed. And then they played their last song and really tore things up and I looked over at my friend Daniel and he looked over at me, and our faces lit up and we couldn’t stop clapping when they finished that last song. It was incredible. These guys really pulled it off! I went up to Sean, the lead singer, after their set to congratulate him and was absolutely floored to see how young he is. This band, The Break, is certainly one to watch for. You heard it here, maybe first.
Go see The Break:
Mar 5 2010 7:00P Beatles Night Park Ridge, Illinois
Mar 6 2010 7:00P Beatles Night Park Ridge, Illinois
Mar 7 2010 5:00P Subterranean Chicago, Illinois
Apr 1 2010 8:30P Ottos Night Club Dekalb, Illinois
Apr 25 2010 3:00P Reggies Rock Club Chicago, Illinois
Well, I didn’t really mean to abandon you for a week there! Ooops! But Happy New Year, darlings.
And for your pressie, I bring you the Contrast Podcast’s final installment of the Festive Fifty, wherein this Tart introduces the #11 song of the year: Mumford & Son’s “White Blank Page” from their very popular album, Sigh No More Go over there and listen to all the great intros!
The choices on the Festive Fifty are pretty amazing. They range from Grizzly Bear to Withered Hand, its very eclectic. Just pop over to Tim’s site and you can download this final podcast and the other two in the series as well. Next week’s podcast will feature New Year’s Resolutions. If you want to be a part of it, there’s instructions there as well. All you need is a computer and a microphone and you’re all set to join the crazy team there.
What has the past year meant to me here at the Shack? Well, you, dear readers, have been so kind as to put up with my ramblings on so many topics and bands and songs and shows. I’ve covered everything from the good old Southern Rock of The Lonely H to the crazy, electronica of Deastro. It’s been a really fun ride and 2010 promises to be even more of a weird and wonderful roadtrip to who-knows-where. I anticipate Puppet Show doing some more album reviews here and there’s loads of great bands coming through Chicago which I hope to cover. So, stick around, this week off has given me plenty of time to reassess just where I want this blog to go. And that direction is pretty much the same forward-looking, wide scope, new-music oriented trajectory that I’ve been on. Thank you for your kind words in the comments. Thank you for reading. Thank you for making 2009 a year worth blogging. And thank you most of all for supporting new music, for buying records, t-shirts, tickets, and showing up to hear unsigned bands play. Go up and shake a musician’s hand and tell him or her how great they sound; they need to hear it. That’s what the Love Shack is all about, ya know. xoxo
Oh, so many lists this time of year! One of my favorite ones is over at the Contrast Podcast and you all should go check it out because it truly does reflect a very wide array of opinions from all over the bloggersphere and beyond. There were scores of folk who cast their votes, not just bloggers, listeners too. And Tim, our fearless leader, has compiled it all and collected intros for each and every song on the list. I doubt you’ll find a more diverse one out there, honestly. (and in the coming weeks you’ll soon hear my introduction for a special track that I love) xoxo
… and some fine Scottish bloggers award their top albums of 2009. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you The Scottish Bloggers and Music Sites Award 2009′, a.k.a., the ‘Scottish BAMS Award 2009‘
The following folks contributed to voting:
17 Seconds, AyeTunes, Dear Scotland, Earz Mag, Elba Sessions, Glasgow Podcart, Hooligans Lament, Jim Gellatly, JocknRoll, Jockrock, Kowalskiy, Last Years Girl, Love Shack Baby, Manic Pop Thrills, My Portiswasp Says, Off the Beaten Tracks, The Popcop, Products of a Gaseous Brain, Song By Toad, The Daily Growl, The Spill, The Steinberg Principle, The Vinyl Villain and Under the Radar.
Each of us submitted our top ten albums of 2009. Some of those names you will recognize as commenters and friends here in the Shack. The whole thing was put on by Lloyd of Peenko.com and he compiled the votes to determine that the winner is……..
2. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion
3. De Rosa – Prevention
4. King Creosote – Flick the V’s
5. Withered Hand – Good News
6. The Twilight Sad – Forget The Night Ahead
7. We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls
8. Beerjacket – Animosity
9. Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
9. Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
11. My Latest Novel – Deaths and Entrances
11. Malcolm Middleton – Waxing Gibbous
13. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – s/t
14. You Already Know – s/
14. Broken Records – Until the Earth Begins to Part
16. The XX – s/t
17. The Antlers – Hospice
18. Sufjan Stevens – The BQE
18. And So I Watch You From Afar
20. Wilco – The Album
The Phantom Band has this to say: “This makes us feel very honoured because the opinion of people out there giving opinions is what matters most, rather than the financially influenced press. It always amazes me that people would take it upon themselves to go out and champion a band or an album or a band for no material gain, but it gives me faith in human nature. Blogs and reviews have been the only advertising we’ve ever had. Apart from all those people who got online and promoted us, we’d like to thank those little almost-stale doughnuts you get in big tubs from Sainsburys for keeping us fat during the recording. We obviously also have our Producer Paul Savage and the wonderful people at Chemikal Underground to thank for letting us do what we want. These guys are the quiet heroes of Scottish music for sure.”
It really was an honor to be part of this project, and to see that more than a few of my top ten made the list. All those who participated were more than kind to allow me to be involved, being the only one on this side of the pond. My love for Scottish music really owes a debt to Matthew of Song, by Toad and to JC, the Vinyl Villain who both introduced me to some fine artists, and continue to heavily influence my taste. They’ve also been lovely to share to all their friends I have found on their blogs and in their comments sections.
Happy Holidays! I’ll be posting my own list of most-listened to albums of 2009 shortly. xoxo
so I did a little guest post over at my friend Sandy’s blog…. you should wanna maybe go check it out and perhaps go pick up a mixtape there that might put ya in the mood for some smoochin, xoxo
The Bony King of Nowhere: Alas My Love
Jessica Lea Mayfield: Kiss Me Again
Amanda Zelina: Love Leads The Way
J. Tillman: Earthly Bodies
Still Life Still: Planets
Jogger: Napping Captain
Pure Reason Revolution: AVO mp3Amor Vincit Omnia (click on that link and buy it for yourself or someone you love!)
Apse: Blown Doors
School of Seven Bells: Iamunderdisguise
Warpaint: Elephants
The Depreciation Guild: Dream About Me
Oh darlings, there’s so many great blogs out there who are giving out xmas music this year! I’ve got friends everywhere doing such great mixtapes, festive fifties, playlists and Christmas series. It’s about time I’ve given them a shoutout, many of them have been very kind to link to me and to even send me some cool music. So without further ado, here’s some wonderful bloggers you should know: (update: added Songs: Illinois, who has a great playlist, scroll down for details)
17 Seconds is doing a fine job of celebrating the season in Scottish style! Ed always has some great stuff to offer in the way of new music on his blog and his label, and it’s lovely to see him digging into his collection of older tunes, as I am, for the holidays. Go argue with him about why Joni Mitchell’s “River” is definitely not a Christmas song!
Across The Kitchen Table, hailing from Scotland, has succumbed to the Christmas spirit finally and given us a post. His blog is a rich resource for Northern Soul, and if you don’t know what that is, you’d better google it because you’re really missing out on a genre that is truly inspiring!
Jim, my blogger friend who lives in Paisley, and writes over at Ayetunes, has a gorgeous Christmas series on. He’s recently been viciously attacked by a pack of wolves,a 13 year old troll, a nasty blog critic, so go pop over and tell him how fantastic his blog is (it IS by the way!)
Can You See The Sunset From The Southside, a fellow Chicagoan, has a 12 Days of Christmas Songs series running and it’s fantastic! The latest entry is punk songs, yay!! Eric knows his shit when it comes to punk and pop-punk music and he’s an awesome guy as well.
Chromewaves, our favorite Toronto blogger, has a great post up on a new Peanuts Christmas album that’s just hit the airwaves. It’s “a tribute album that features a wide cross-section of Canadian artists re-interpreting the Guaraldi record” and done for charity, all proceeds going to the Daily Bread Food Bank. Please go get immersed in Frank’s blog. It is, by far, the best written music blog on the net; not only because I love the music he picks but because he inspires me to write about music intelligently as well as emotionally.
Earfarm has a holiday charity album, Do you EAR what I EAR?, out on it’s label, to benefit Assoiation to Benefit Children Please consider popping over there and spending your $5 to help some kids out and to get some pretty cool tunes, from the Tom Tom Club, Asobi Seksu, Sean Bones, Sharon Van Etten, and many more, including the one I’ve posted above.
Agnes, of It All Started With Carbon Monoxide, out of Brisbane (? oh no, I should really know this!) oh it’s somewhere in Australia, has a Christmas mixtape up, labeled #1 which I assume means she just might have another one coming out soon. She’s a lovely lady with a quick wit and a cool blog and who has wonderful taste in music. Oh and she loves Withered Hand as much as I do, xo
mp3hugger, out of Dublin, has his annual Indiecater Christmas compilation album out and it is just lovely this year. I’ve reviewed a track off it last week, by Boca Chica, remember? Do go buy it from his site, it’s well worth the small payment. And you can stream it entirely before buying. Kevin is a real gem, his musical taste is wide and generous and I’ve found much good music on his site.
Slowcoustic, from Calgary, is a great blogger who features a lot of cool folk music. He’s got a nice playlist up for the season, check it out. Give his site some patience, I know he’s had some web hosting issues lately. And check over there for a guest post from yours truly in the coming week
The Blue Walrus, from London, is written by Tim, (a wonderful flirt) and Lauren (who I’m just getting to know through her lovely reviews), Hamish and Tom (who I’ve not got the slightest about, sorry) and let me say, this site is a beauty! Tim has a lovely Christmas playlist up here. Get over there and explore right away!
Brian, over at Raised On Indie, from Vancouver, BC (now joined by Lana, from Calgary, Alberta) has a nice Christmas post, look for more over there too, I’m guessing. ROI is a fantastic Canadian site that features all sorts of indie music and interviews with an emphasis on Canadian artists.
Songs Illinois, from just outside Chicago, has a very nice and huge Christmas playlist which he updates occasionally over on his site. Please go get comfy over there, you’ll spend days finding all sorts of americana, and indie music.
And finally… I’ve no idea who this blogger is, but they have been linking to me, and daily compile a whole slew of Christmas songs from friends of mine and blogs of great quality. So if you’re in the market for good Christmas music, go see Santas Working Overtime! And if you are that blogger then please do leave a comment so I can get to know you, xoxo
(I know I’ve forgotten people here…. let me know in the comments and I’ll add them later today)
What Whorse You Wrote Id On mp3 Owls s/t buy it (incidentally, Owls is a now-defunct, Chicago band, once comprised of brothers Tim Kinsella and Mike Kinsella [on vocals and drums, respectively], along with guitarist Victor Villareal and bassist Sam Zurick. This is from their only album. You might recognize Mike Kinsella’s name. He now performs under the moniker, Owen.)
Oh, I tell ya, the internetz are lovely sometimes and give forth wondrous presents to lucky people like me! I sat around and wasted time last night and while endlessly checking my twitter feed, I suddenly saw a DM from the one and only Jesse Priest of Under The Dog. He and I chat often, about all sorts of things: politics (no, really!), life, cars, relationships, blogging, music, all of the things we have in common. And let me tell you, he is one of the few bloggers out there that I would not hesitate inviting over, sight unseen. You know, after talking with someone for a time, they’re just as my family says “good people.”
Well, apparently Jesse has come to the same conclusion about me, cause he’s made me a mix tape over on his blog. I was bowled over with surprise and flattered. So go check it out, it’s pretty cool! His blog is way different than this Shack, but it features music I love (maybe more than he knows, even). But he’s picked some very interesting tracks for me. I think you’ll like some of them!
i hate these posts where people tell you how sick they are, but damn it all to fucking hell… i can’t listen to music, i can’t go anywhere, i can’t even read much more than 10 minutes at a time. i’m flattened. i’ll be back soon, my lovelies, once i’m a human being again, xoxo
in the meantime, please do visit some of my friends on the left side of my page (including the newly added Glasgow Podcart folks who’ve said some kind words about me and some of my Scottish friends) … they are all people, or (nasty toads,) who i read, you should too!
Girl In A Room mp3 is what i am today…. it’s a nice, quiet song, and with my reduced capacity i think it’s good. let me know your thoughts on this sunday afternoon. find Antiqcool on last.fm that’s all the info i have on this pretty little song, perhaps he’ll write in and tell us more.
photo credit: Chris Corwin (that’s an armadillo, by the way)
Then my good friend Sandy over at the fantastic blog, Slowcoustic had to go and post it on his blog, and well, I didn’t want visitors to not think I wasn’t grateful to be listed, and…. well you know how it all kind of snowballs. So twitter was a little crazy yesterday with this tidbit of information. And well, thanks guys! I’m really quite speechless to be on a list with such folks as this. Honest, I just do my thing here. It’s very cool to think that people appreciate it. And even cooler to think that folks actually go to concerts because of something I write; that is why I do it. For reals.
You all are really the …”Superstar” (Sonic Youth) and once more, for good measure, ”Superstar” (Shock of Pleasure) because afterall, it’s the musicians of the world and you who love them as much as I do that inspire us to write about it the way we do, xoxo
And the winners are . . . [in the words of ClickitTicket,... I put in the names of folks I know]
1. Pampelmoose Music – Pampelmoose Music is indie at heart and they show it with their expert reviews and thoughtful commentary. [Dave Allen and friends]
2. The Music Slut – A little brazen and a little risqué (NSFW) but worth it. TMS has a lot of great album reviews and music videos. [Matt and Jen and Jamie]
3. Just Like Music – A bright and energetic site that’s easy to read. Our favorite part is the recommendations at the end of every review.
4. Too Much Happiness – The best aspect of this informative blog is sample mp3s from the albums they review.
5. The Decibel Tolls – The Decibel Tolls features plenty of well written reviews as well as “off center music solutions.”
6. A New Band A Day – This site has a great look and feel to it. We really enjoy the menu that utilizes images of old school cassette tapes.
7. Randomville – Randomville is “killing indie creed one reader at a time.” Don’t know what that means but they do have poignant reviews and a plethora of music samples.
8. Indie Rock Café – A very professional site that’s the place to go for everything indie music.
9. Spinning Platters – A bunch of Bay Area nerds have banded together to create a fascinating blog about their local music scene.
10. love shack, baby – Focusing on the Chicago indie music scene, love shack, baby is a well written and informative blog.
11. Slowcoustic – Slowcoustic reviews Americana/alt-country/folk/indie/down-tempo music. It’s a nice site with a very relaxing layout. [Sandy!]
12. The Music Ninja – A bright blog that reviews independent music from the past and present. The site contains lots of music samples
13. Pot Holes In My Blog – Their name is a take on De La Soul’s “Potholes In My Lawn.” This blog expertly reviews a plethora of hip hop music.
14. Everybody Taste – A very unique site that is built on the principle that music is meant to be shared.
15. Hear Ya – A sleek blog that cuts through the clutter of indie music to give you honest and worthwhile reviews. [Chicago folks!]
16. Deckfight – They bill themselves as “indie rock & lit with a southeast bent.” Deckfight has a clean, simple layout that’s inviting and easy to read.
17. Twang Nation – A well written and sagacious blog about country music, alt-country, roots music and Americana.
18. Atlanta Music Guider – You may not live in Atlanta, but they review the same musical acts that are headed to your town. A great resource for music lovers of all kind.
19. Music Zeitgeist – A serious and hardworking blog dedicated to indie music.
20. Quirky NY Chick – Yes this site is quirky and yes it’s written by a chick, but it also has tons of reviews and news. If that wasn’t enough, it’s a great place to visit for news about the live music scene in NYC.
Two cool things happened this week: I got a job (well, two jobs really) and this little blog got recognized by some really cool people in the music blogging world. Well, this was a really lovely surprise! Love Shack, Baby has been made SoundCloud’s Blog of the Week over on their Tumblr. I had exchanged a few emails with Michelle, describing how I used the free service and how bands had reached out to me with their music using SoundCloud. Little did I know that I was in the running for their Blog of the Week feature! Hop on over there to read me blathering on about my blogging history and why I chose the type of music I do and how I think artists should promote themselves. I talk a little about the following: my special internet friends, one to whom I owe the very origins of this blog (Puppet Show), some Scottish bloggers who I didn’t mention by name either, but should have, The Waiting Room (source of all good music), some tunes I’m currently listening to from abroad, and a few Chicago bands I love. Not all of my submitted SoundCloud links made it to their blog (I’m sure they were limited by space, my damn answers were long enough!) So I’ve included them all here for you 
And thank you, SoundCloud people, that’s a lovely honor to be included! xoxo
(incidentally, Owls is a now-defunct, Chicago band, once comprised of brothers Tim Kinsella and Mike Kinsella [on vocals and drums, respectively], along with guitarist Victor Villareal and bassist Sam Zurick. This is from their only album. You might recognize Mike Kinsella’s name. He now performs under the moniker, 
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