Song Of The Day

This is a kick ass live version of a song called Stars and Sons by Broken Social Scene.

I have never heard this song before tonite. I found it on The Hype Machine.

I have never seen Broken Social Scene live. I must do that now.

Stars and Sons (live) - Broken Social Scene

Comments

[Brian]

Fred:

Wait. Are you saying you've never heard of Broken Social Scene?!! Given your musical tastes, I find that very hard to believe, unless you just got into music in 2004. Please tell me you've heard/own You Forgot It In People (the last album was rubbish)

[fred]

That’s not what I am saying

What I am saying is I can’t recall ever hearing that song

I’ve listened to them a bunch and like them

[Matt]

Fred,
You might also dig Joseph Arthur. Saw him at Bowery Ballroom a couple weeks ago and he puts on an awesome show (Michael Stipe came by for a duet). Check his newest album.

[CD]

This is a great live recording. Makes me want to listen to You Forgot In People tonight.

[Peter]

this dude (http://yermamontoast.blogspot.com/) has talked about loving BSS live in Manchester. 15 people rockin - each steppin in and up at the appropriate times. pretty consistent with everything i've heard about BSS. but also heard you may not know who's going to be at any given show - because each band member is part of two or three other Toronto based collective bands that are all insane, too.

being from Toronto pretty much means they're incredibly stupendously famously awesome, by definition. if SV is the mecca of new tech/VC, then Toronto is the mecca of indie rock - SV, NYC, India and other all rolled into one locale.

i didn't get the hype about BSS at first. to me, it was just too noisy. turns out i was just not listening on proper speakers. you have so many instruments movin and jammin, you gotta have some definition. 'almost crimes' was the worst offender, but now it's my fave.

p.s. shout out to some Crooklyn fools i saw over the weekend (http://www.myspace.com/theoxfordcollapse). reminded me of CYHSY - a very good thing.

[Peter]

i lied - 9 people on stage at a time.

http://yermam.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!3A7FA58C279083A7!1583.entry

[Allyson]

BSS is coming to the East Coast next month, but the only nearby shows to you are Philly and Providence (I already have my tickets, so I don't mind telling people). Providence is Thursday 11/8 and I think Philly is 11/9. This is a band I have been looking forward to seeing live for a long time.

[Andrew]

Saw them live in SF. With Feist. One of the best shows I ever saw.

[jackson]

Personally, I'd never be in a band with more than 5 people, but hey, if it works for them....

[EthanB]

BSS is definitely a vanguard of good pysch-pop. There are some excellent videos of them on YouTube, especially a performance on [I believe] Conan, performing the 7/8 song [from the s/t record]. Really good. The new album isn't as good as YFIIP but the companion EP has the highlights for sure.

Note that they self-produced their records and financed the last one with a grant from the Canadian governement. Too bad the GOP gutted the NEA or we might have a similar program in place. A whole class of self-produced musicians could be thriving here as control over high-quality recordings has become extremely diffuse.

The thing is to note is that the digital music revolution has not been limited to distribution; it's happened in a big way on the production side, too. Multi-million dollar recording studios are a caricature of themselves. Absolutely wasteful. You can't tell the difference between Capitol studios in Hollywood and a $30k home-based studio. Believe me, I've taken the Pepsi challenge as a player and engineer.

Ethan

[jackson]

Ethan - I agree that govt funding of the arts would be a cool thing for American musicians, but to say that you can't tell the difference between a recording made at a big studio and one made in somebody's bedroom simply means you aren't listening. Instead of the Pepsi challenge, I suggest comparing sound files.

I am an audio engineer with my own studio, and though we get very close, there's no comparison to the sound of an SSL or Trident console with Universal Audio (LA-2A) compression, Neumans, and talent - stress on the later. Digital audio has made lazy musicians who don't practice because they can copy and paste.

Your notion would be absurd, except most of the music buying public is as ignorant about sound as you seem to be.

[EthanB]

Excuse me, Jackson?

Stress on the talent, my friend. Exactly. I'm not saying that the bedroom is going to work for the score to the next Lord of the Rings. But are you telling me that, given a good sounding room and someone who really knows what they are doing, like you, you can't record an acoustic jazz combo, or a 3 piece rock band, as well as Capitol for 30k in smartly purchased [no Guitar Center prices; use the DIY SSL 2-bus, oktava capsule mods, etc] equipment?

How about with a Mac Pro recording at 24/96, a couple channels of Chandler/UA 610s/whatever else for the budget, some Royers, some 57's, a Jim Pearlman U47, Waves Diamond Bundle, maybe a couple channels of good outboard compressors/ limiters and some monitors you know?

You're saying you can't come dangerously close???

We can all have a blindfold test if you'd like.

The fact that you are part of the "audio engineering" establishment has a lot to do with your desire to prop up the idea that we all need to pay through the nose for time with an SSL.

I just did a session in a great studio on a SSL 9000 onto 2 inch and its easy and sounds great. My point is that for the price you are paying for that, there are VERY diminishing returns. So much that even someone with my experience finds the expense hard to justify without a borderline wasteful budget.

I'm 90% sure Dave Newfeld [BSS's producer] did both records in a warehouse with no budget and without tape. Some of my fav engineering on those records.

How about this: You can't tell the difference between a $350k studio and a multimillion dollar studio. Still have a problem?

By the way, you have NO IDEA what my ears are like.

Lazy musicians can make a decent product now via cut and paste, but they don't get hired for real work unless the budget is huge. It's still more time consuming to edit in post.

Blindfold me,

Ethan

[Andrew]

Forgot to mention this earlier, but now that your taste for BSS is budding, check out Do Make Say Think and Stars. You have probably crossed their paths before, but give them another listen. They are often members of BSS. Also, if Do Make Say Think hits your sweet spot, then check out Fly Pan Am, another band on the Constellation record label.

[EthanB]

Anyways, on the "cheap recording sounds great these days" tip, I just think that it's a great great asset for musicians and music lovers in general. The very best fidelity will ALWAYS be expensive. However, I will trade fidelity for creativity any day, and advances in recording technology and efficiency has greatly distributed access to great sounding recordings these days.

I am very curious about how the other posters and Fred would react to some different sound samples of recordings made for various budgets and how that affects their perception of the music and its producers.

Thanks

Ethan

[Allyson]

The BSS show last night in Providence was fantastic. I had very high expectations and the band surpassed them. J. Mascis even joined them onstage for a couple of songs which was great. Their horn section is so good - at one point last night, I counted 13 performers on stage. If I were you, I'd take Gotham Gal and the kids to PA for tonight's show, as this is going to be their last tour for a while.