The Story

While filming something with my good friend Darius Bashar, I accidentally left my camera standing on a tripod in his car while we started driving. All it took was one hard turn for the camera to fall down and for one of my fears to come true: my microphone was broken. In reality, the functionality of the microphone was still intact, it was just now impossible to mount it onto the camera even after countless attempts to superglue the cold shoe pieces back together.

I went on for months sort of sulking about my loss – the RODE VideoMic is $230 + tax on the regular, and it seemed stupid to buy another just because of the cold shoe. I did the stupidest thing I could think of and resorted to taping the microphone on whenever I was filming something – making me look rather unprofessional and making my tiny camera look even worse than it already was.

Finally, last week while filming with Andrea Liew, she asked me “Why didn’t you just buy another one of those parts you broke? I’m sure you could buy it for a couple bucks, it’s plastic!” After hearing that, I immediately cringed due to my extended stupidity and shot out an email to the Canadian service agent for RODE products: Audio Distributors International.

Within a couple hours, I received back an email from Eric Lasnier telling me they would not only replace the part, but they would do it for free! Well, the package came yesterday with two, count them, TWO cold shoe replacements!

I am quite impressed and appreciative of the prompt response and service that I was given by ADI, and they’ve probably just made a customer for life. Thanks guys, you’ve saved my life (and career!)

Here is the description of Field Music from their Last.FM:

Field Music is an experimental pop band from Sunderland, UK, formed by brothers Peter and David Brewis and their schoolfriend, pianist Andrew Moore. They have recently reconvened after an extended hiatus with a new line-up featuring guitarist/keyboardist Kev Dosdale and bass player Ian Black (Andrew having taken time out to train as a chef). A new double album is due to be released in February 2010.

The band’s first album, the eponymous “Field Music”, was released in 2005, followed in 2006 by a collection of b-sides and early tracks entitled ‘Write Your Own History’. During this time they toured with fellow bands from the North East England, such as Maximo Park and The Futureheads, as well as sonic adventurers from further afield, including Melbourne’s Architecture in Helsinki and Portland’s Menomena.

In 2007, they released ‘Tones of Town’, a critically acclaimed song cycle, which captured a particularly English variety of post-industrial frustration. However, sensing that a quick follow-up could lead to a dilution of ideas and purpose, the band announced a hiatus shortly after the album was released. In this time Peter and David each released solo albums as The Week That Was and School of Language respectively.

All of their albums were self-produced at their own ‘8Music’ studio in Sunderland.

As usual, the stream is below. Enjoy!

Here is the description of Holly Miranda from her Last.FM:

Holly Miranda is a Detroit born musician, raised between Michigan and Tennessee. Besides being trained in piano, Holly is a self-taught guitar and trumpet player. In 2001, She recorded “High Above The City”, a 20-track solo album available only at shows. In the fall of 2003, Holly met and teamed up with Alex Lipsen, producer and keys player. The project evolved into The Jealous Girlfriends, a four piece band based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She also recorded and performed as Raven Mayhem.

Holly has recently released an EP and has a solo album coming out some time in 2009 . It was produced by TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek and Celebration’s Katrina Ford.

Very different from what I’m used to, but very chill music. The stream is below, hope you enjoy!

Wonderful album, very relaxing, along the same lines as I have been posting as of late (Nujabes, Woodblue, Smooth J, etc) and I really hope I can keep finding these kind of albums. The stream is below, enjoy!

Here is the description of Built By Snow from their Last.FM:

Catchy keyboard rock with an explosion of velcro melodies and magnetic pop hooks that hit your brain like an Atari blasting out of a bazooka.

Short and sweet! This album is very poppy and I love that, give it a listen with the stream below. Enjoy!

Terrific second part to the album I posted last week, the stream is below, enjoy!

Indie pop with distorted vocals, very happy music. Enjoy!

Wonderful downtempo album, along the vein of the same kind of people I’ve been posting as of late – DJ Okawari, Nujabes, Michita, and the rest of them. Take a listen, and I’ll probably be posting North Source next week, which is the other half of this album. The stream is below, enjoy!

Here is the description of Electric President from their Last.FM:

Electric President is made up of Ben Cooper and Alex Kane, both natives of Jacksonville, Florida. Ben is pretty awesome, but Alex is a piece of shit. He’s good at bass, though, so Ben puts up with him for that and that alone. Both of them are very fond of pizza, but Ben’s stomach is easily twice the size of Alex’s and he can eat much more of it per sitting. Alex also drinks Diet Coke due to having diabetes since he was a little kid, which is embarrassing (the Diet Coke … not the having diabetes part). Ben must have the patience of a Saint to put up with that guy.

They’ve recorded two albums and one EP under the Electric President moniker, all released under the German imprint Morr Music, with a third to be released this in early 2010, set to be released by Fake Four Inc. They’ve had songs on television (two on the OC, which was canceled shortly after – coincidence?) and in various short films. They both came from pretty DIY ideas of making music, and as such record all their music in a tool shed and a bedroom with a handful of recording gear. Apparently, this gives them cred.
They hope to one day be incredibly rich from their music so they can buy an airplane and set it on fire without ever using it. To burn that sucker simply because they can, and to stand by and drink expensive wine and laugh manically until it explodes.

This is a really chill album – I played it this morning while I was getting some work done and the CD finished before I even noticed. Check it out, the stream is below, enjoy!

What an album. Uyama Hiroto does a lot of work with Nujabes and has a very similar style to him – therefore, I instantly loved it the minute I started listening to it. Give it a shot, let me know what you think in the comments, and as per usual, the stream is below. Enjoy!