motel de moka

In the ordinary use of discourse - for example, in a discussion between two friends - the interlocutors use any available ammunitions, changing games from one utterance to the next: questions, requests, assertions, and narratives are launched pell-mell into battle. The war is not without rules, but the rules allow and encourage the greatest possible flexibility of utterance.

From this point of view, and institution differs from a conversation in that it always requires supplementary constraints for statments to be declared admissible within its bounds. The constraints function to filter discursive potentials, interrupting possible connections in the communications networks: there are things that should not be said. They also privilege certain classes of statements (sometimes only one) whose predominance characterizes the discourse of the particular institution: there are things that should be said, and therea re ways of saying them. … performativity in businesses. Bureaucratization is the outer limit of this tendency.
- Jean-Francois Lyotard. The Post Modern Condition. pp 17

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Here we are sitting in 2007, second half of first decade of new century. Something happens. I am bored and this means trouble. Second, it seems from commercial statistic the record industry is experiancing market collapse. [1] And I want a nice summer posts for Indie.

So how do these conditions have anything to do with good music and blogging?

My quick take: for a long time the structure of pop music interpretations was dictated by elite group of people who have privilage access to music, be it early releases, listening sessions or simply the fact of geographical proximity, which all tied to big labels controls of the distribution and marketing channel. It worked nicely for 3-4 decades because of one fact: music had to be delivered on physical media. Vinyl, cassette, or CD. It is possible to monopolises this medium. Looking at indie history there are various attempt to change this: underground bootleg exchange, mixtapes, DIY small record labels, etc. But efforts in the 70’s and 90’s all ended up in same trend: everything in the hand of less and less number of ever bigger labels. As of now we have 4 labels left (Universal, Sony/BMG, WMG, EMI), about to turn 3 left after WMG/EMI rumored merger.

Enter digital era. Suddenly music is another strings of bits. Everybody has their own blog. And uploading 50-70MB files on the net is free with services like megaupload.com or sendspace.com. This on top of P2P. The lazy explanation taken by records company: people steal music…. well partly, but hardly root cause. What really happen is the big labels lost their ability to monopolise and dictate what people should like, listen and buy. People suddenly are free to explore and whatever music they happen to be intereted in instead of what’s on MTV or radio. Want to hear folktronica 24/7 or 70’s psych-rock instead of classic rock? fine. Google it. Fan and people in the know are doing their own things. What’s on MTV is only a dwindling domain of teens trying to be cool.

The question then becomes ‘what happens when everybody has access to all types of music?‘. What conversation can exist, can we finally have real and sustainable indie scene. What can bloggers do? Show the music.

Hence this “mini Carnival“. It’s my early attempt to figure out what form of interesting posts, conversation and music can happen on the blog. history, side notes, blurbs, playlists, etc… essentially go out, play and find out.

Carnival List.

01. Riot Grrrl (& Indie)
Quick note on riot grrrl movement. DIY at its best.

02. the Pout Education Hour: INDIE!!1
a mini-historial perspective of the realm that is indie.

03. Summer Web Search (& Indie)
Common places on the net to find indie rock blurbs and tracks

04. Indie Bop
Some indie promo tracks with 80’s electro flavor.

note: My first mini carnival, so be patient. It’s late, material is not tight. but hopefully next one will be better. Plus it’s summer, maximum slacking mode. Thank you Tayler for playing along. go click his blog, Tunes Consumed

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“Lunch Time Indie Pop vs. Summer”

01. The Turtles - Happy Together
Happy Together (Sundazed Music Inc, 1967)
02. Phonorama - Zio Bossa
Cafe Lounge: Royal Strawberry Milk Tea (Incense, 2007)
03. Roni Size - Heroes (kruder’s long loose bossa)
The K&D Sessions (1998)
04. Nouvelle Vague - Teenage Kicks
Nouvelle Vague (Luaka Bop, 2005)
05. Cansei de Ser Sexy - This month day 10
Cansei de Ser Sexy (Sub Pop, 2006)
06. Sara Tavares - Bom Feeling
Balancê (Times Square Records, 2006)
07. Le Tigre - Les And Ray
Le Tigre (Mr. Lady Records, 1999)

Note: The hardest indie list to make is actually popular tunes, because just about everything that is easy to listen to is owned by the majors. So enjoy this list before I dive into scary math-rock. Oh yeah. Lunch pop tune.. bla bla. bon appetite.

see also: merz, untitled Record.
image: [1,2,3,4,5], [1,2,3,4,5], Franckie