Catching The Waves

Street Busking

We weturn to the wonderful, wassailing world of Josh Woodward to weveal that he has a bwand new album, Bweadcwumbs Breadcrumbs, for you. (This is a cause for celebration, as I hope my previous review of his work will make clear.) The convention at such moments is to recommend the new album in the hope that you will download it, unwrap it, fall in love with it and then explore the artist's back catalogue. However, being a perverse sort of blog, CTW has decided to buck the trend and recommend an older album by Josh in the hope that you'll enjoy it, etc., etc., and then explore his new album. Contrary to my usual behaviour, I do have two good reasons for this apparently deviant thought process.

Firstly, Josh has just changed the Creative Commons licensing on all his music to Creative Commons Attribution 3.0, meaning that anyone can use his music for any purpose as long he is attributed. As he says:

"You're welcome to use my music, free of charge for your projects. This includes movies, ads, podcasts, YouTube videos, karaoke, background music for your grandma's 90th birthday celebration, anything. There's no problem using them for commercial purposes. You can use them as is - instrumental or regular, or you can hack them apart to use in your songs or projects.

What's the catch? Just one: you need to provide attribution. A simple mention of my name and the song title in the credits, with a bonus if you give my website URL. If for some reason this isn't practical, it's possible to arrange a paid license for my music through Jamendo."

Such largesse means that the Woodward back catalogue is now accessible to all and sundry to do with what they will. I hope this generous decision provides Josh with the oxygen of publicity and the H₂O of cash.

Secondly, Josh has remixed his 2005 album Crawford Street, something that pleases me greatly because such a superb collection of songs deserved a livelier recording. Before I wibble on about how Crawford Street is an avenue of delights, try this for size - it's suitable for anyone who finds zoos to be depressing places:

Josh Woodward - Twelve Monkeys

That's the thing about Woodward; not only does he write memorable melodies, he pens lyrics that stay with you. Here's some of the topics you'll come across in this collection: small and big-town prejudices (Can't Take Our Love Away); first loves and living/losing the American Dream (Thanks For Coming); an actor hates the violent B-movie he's making (Shower Scene); overhearing a "domestic" next door and falling in love with the battered woman (Hey Ruth) and religious fundamentalism (The Spirit World). All that may sound worthy and dull, but the winning lyrics, sparkling guitar work and butter-smooth vocals ensure that you'll soon be swaying with pleasure, like a cobra facing a snake charmer. Personally, I think Thanks For Coming should come with a free chaise longue and a bottle of Anjou/Thunderbird/Buckfast Cider.

A quick confession: in recommending free CC albums, I try to avoid over-egging the pudding. Just because a record is free, it doesn't follow that it's any good; I prefer to let the music speak for itself. Either you'll like it or you won't.

*takes anti-hyperbole pill, fails to wait two paragraphs before operating heavy machinery*

But I think Crawford Street (and other albums like the previously reviewed Dirty Wings and The Simple Life) place Josh Woodward firmly in a long line of modern American troubadours that include Dylan, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Leonard Cohen. His music should be better known.

Another name to drop: Bruce Springsteen. If The Boss had written Big Disco Ball, a sentimental and romantic encounter amongst urban decay, he'd be blinded by his audience's lighters/camera-phones. Find somewhere quiet and let this steal a few minutes of your life:

Josh Woodward - Big Disco Ball

*still waiting for pill to work*

Visit Woodward HQ and you'll find Crawford Street's songs and lyrics, seven other albums, photos, videos and a polite request for donations and sales. If the sounds find favour with you, please think about rewarding J. Woodward Esq. for his endeavours or at least send him an email with the subject line, "I thought you were a dirty, good-for-nothing hippie but now I've put your name on my organ donor card as a recipient". Or similar. Go on, you can do it.

*pill kicks in*

I'm not sure about the Autotuned vocals and eurotrash synths on Waiting Takes Time, the last track on CS. Hey, even Homer nods...off in front of the TV. Ah, a classical allusion and modern satire in one sentence. Anyone got an anti-ego pill? Edit: someone not unadjacent to JW says that Waiting Takes Time is a parody of Cher's infamous Believe. D'oh!

Before I forget, here's the cover of Breadcrumbs because I'm not stingy and because some of you need visual prompts. ;)

Josh Woodward website, Crawford Street and Breadcrumbs

Whatever Floats Your Boat

Sorry about the small album cover. Come on, you've missed my traditional difficulties with graphics, haven't you? At least there are waves.

Paper Navy is a four-piece band from near Nashville, Tennessee, that draws its inspiration from be brave, you can do this Country & Western and American pop from the 70s. I think they've drawn their instrumentation from the past, too, because there's not a whiff of a synth, digital effect or anything with a microchip in it. Doctor Who could smuggle All Grown Up into a Nashville record shop circa 1972 and no-one would be any the wiser.

Pleasingly for those of us with OCD, today's recommended track, Swan Song, adheres to its title and is the last track on All Grown Up. It's a charming, foot-tapping folk song with a surprisingly bleak attitude and a jaunty whistled riff that will rest awhile in your cortex before continuing its search for a spaghetti western it can call home. (Somewhere, Sergio Leone is gnashing his teeth in frustration.) Have a listen via the first appearance at CTW of Bandcamp's media player:

(Apologies to feed readers: Google Reader hates me. Please visit the link at the end of the review or visit CTW and get grimy.) Apart from being unable to resist whistling that riff for the rest of the week, you'll notice from the lyrics that there's none of that twee "my jiggling dashboard Jesus will guide me through the roadworks of life" C&W nonsense. (Please note, anonymous angry internet person, that CTW respects all creeds from devout to aetheistic. I'm so fluffy.) Instead, All Grown Up takes an existentialist but pragmatic view of life. For instance, I Can't Read essays the following thought: Do we persist out of fear/The afterlife ever near/I'd be remiss were I not a critic/So God save the cynic.

The title song is a lament for childhood by someone who isn't too keen on adulthood. It's child-like guitars, rocking singalong chorus and Beatles-ish backing vocals will soon have you singing All Grown Up at work, shortly before you curl up in a foetal position and force the boss to call social services. But I regress digress.

If you're a fan of the album Homecoming by that quintessentially American folk-rock band of the 70s, America, then make a bee-line for Factories, where Shawn Anfinson's folky vocal harmonies about bitter-sweet love and longing should remind you strongly of that classic bit of, er, Americana.

Make Time is just about the simplest, most everyday love song I've ever heard. How's this for a lack of artifice: I'm not a superstar/but I can cut the grass and clean the car/And I'll make time for you/I love the woman I'm married to. That's either the apogee or the death of romance. Answers on a postcard, please.

To save this review turning into a boring list of song descriptions, allow me to be lazy inform you that  in All Grown Up, Paper Navy have produced an album that is more than the sum of its twangy Telecaster-laden parts; it's a beautifully produced set of hummable songs that display a questioning sensibility about modern life. Not all albums need the latest whiz-bang effects to make their point: music fans know that there'll always be a place for good melodies, harmonies and lyrics, pure and not so simple. Now, having avoided doing my job properly given this lovely album a thorough reviewing, it falls to CTW to encourage you to send some "thank you" emails to Paper Navy and ask Shawn how the band managed to record the tracks in his laundry room and yet still produce such a sparklingly pristine set of underpants songs.

I apologise for being so witty overdoing the strikethrough gag.

Paper Navy - All Grown Up (link to zipped album and individual songs in most formats)

Paper Navy website

In which I'm late, lazy and help a struggling band

Coldplay released a free live album nearly two weeks ago. Left Right Left Right Left places you in a front seat at one of their concerts as they reprise songs such as Clocks and Viva La Vida. You may have heard of them. Please note the album will only be available until the end of Coldplay's 2009 touring schedule.

And that's the end of my review. Everyone and his dog will already have reviewed this, and professional reviewers will make a much better job of it than I could - so I'm shutting up.

Thank you to Coldplay for releasing a free slab of fun that, would you credit it, also doubles as a useful promotional tool. Give them an email address, admit to which country you live in and it's yours.

Thank you also to Kymberlie R. McGuire & Sean Fournier for their stint in Thunderbird 5 monitoring worldwide announcements of free albums. I do the heavy lifting in Thunderbird 2. If you're unfamiliar with the inhabitants of Tracy Island, prepare for an adrenalin rush. ;)

Coldplay - Left Right Left Right Left (link to zipped album)

Coldplay Home Page

His Appearance Is Quite Disturbing

Forgive the bragging, but I think today's post - at least, the part that I didn't write - is essential reading for amateur and professional musicians alike. Bear with me.

Jonathan Coulton is one of those strange types who gives his music away for free. He's met with no little success, not the least of which is escaping his former job as a computer programmer. I've been intending to write about him for ages but I was too lazy busy. To give him a criminally short summing-up, he writes folk-rock music with a geeky bent and specialises in two outmoded elements of song-writing: catchy melodies and witty lyrics. His website describes his music as: "Well crafted geek folk-pop. Hilarious but heartbreaking songs about mad scientists, robot armies and self-loathing giant squids." Just like Prince.

Before I go on to explain why I'm finally writing about him, here's a taste of the “JoCo” love juice. This track is charming, jolly and entirely good-natured – it's also extremely NOT SAFE FOR WORK:

Jonathan Coulton – First of May

Heh. I hope you didn't snort coffee over the screen.

A relative of mine heard this next song and asked, in all seriousness, whether Mr Coulton was quite all right. It freaked her out, whereas I think it's a scream. But then, I'm not all right.

Jonathan Coulton – Skullcrusher Mountain

Right, on to business - literally. Many music fans, be they consumers or musicians, are very sceptical of this whole “free music” idea. How on earth does that work, they cry? Someone, somewhere, must be getting their wallets pinched, surely? Like it or not, nefarious usage of technology has undermined the traditional entertainment paradigm; as I write, there's a copy of the new Wolverine film floating around the net a full month before its cinematic release. The genie is well and truly out of the bottle. If some ne'er-do-well is going to get hold of your music without paying for it, no matter what you do to prevent it, why not adapt to the situation? Why not give your music away for nothing, build up a following and make money that way? 10% of something is better than 100% of nothing. Also, with respect, there are quite a few budding musicians who will never get a sniff of a three-album deal, but if they give away their music then they've got a good chance of getting heard, a slim chance of getting paid and they're fairly certain to have some fun. Creative Commons and netlabel music could increase the number of musicians who can make a living from their passion. It's worth a thought.

Coulton has given his music away in order to attract fans and garner publicity. It's worked. People download his music because it's free, find they like it and then either donate in gratitude or pay for some of his commercial music. Apart from giving away a lot of his tracks for free, he also sells CDs through CDBaby, Amazon and at his gigs. You can buy mp3s from his own online store, iTunes, Songslide and elsewhere. There are also t-shirts, mouse pads, mugs, the inevitable thongs and plenty more stuff to buy. However, his ringtones are free because, as he says, “It's never seemed right to me that you should have to pay someone three dollars for a tiny snippet of a song you probably already own. So screw it.” There's also a wiki and lively forums. He's put a lot of work into giving his fans a lot of stuff to wade through enjoy.

He's also responsible for Still Alive, the end title song to Portal, Valve's hit computer game. That last sentence made me sound as though I'm smoking a pipe and leaning on a mantelpiece. Perhaps I am.

So, does all this ingenuity add up to more than a hill of beans? I'll leave the answer to JoCo, who has done yet another outmoded thing by writing honestly about how his different revenue streams have enabled him to make poop jokes a living as a musician. On 16th March he released a song, Blue Sunny Day, about a suicidal vampire (prime Coulton territory) and said, "As always, you have a choice: stream it, download it for free, or buy it." A week later, 1544 people had viewed the free download link, the song had been bought 179 times and it had earned him $196. His reaction:

Worst case scenario (every unique view = one free download), the ratio of paying customers to freeloaders comes to about 13.4% if you count dollars instead of purchases. That’s actually pretty good in my opinion. And maybe I just have my rosy glasses on this morning, but I’d guess that some of the people who bought Blue Sunny Day were tipped over into buying other stuff.

So how does this work? I put out a new song and make $200? Obviously it’s a lot more complicated than that, because I’m making a pretty good living considering my recent output is about 2 songs per year. Even not considering that - I’m not getting rich exactly, but I make more money now than I did when I wrote software.

He concludes that it is the accumulation of all the previously mentioned revenue streams, spread across his catalogue, that enables him to keep his head above water. In other words, his online and gigging activities have now gathered enough momentum that the cents have turned into quite a few dollars. Another important point - he's his own boss and can record what he likes, when he likes: there's no longing for a record contract, no owing record companies huge amounts of money for studio time, promotion and cocaine, and no reluctant cancellation of, say, a heartfelt bagpipe operetta because a studio executive says it won't sell.

If you're interested, JoCo goes into more detail about his incomings in a blog post entitled Payday. Endearingly, he's rather relaxed about how his business model works; all he knows is that it allows him to be a full-time musician, and that's the important thing.

Anyone can attach a Creative Commons licence to their music and release it online. Jonathan Coulton did just that and is now earning more money than he was as a computer programmer. There's also the small point that he's now a, y'know, gigging rock star who tours America and Britain, gets to scream, “How ya doin', generic Mid-West town?!?” and no doubt gets the odd request to sign pert, abundant breasts. The man is patently an idiot.

However, we wish him and his beard well. His appearance is quite disturbing, but I assure you he's harmless enough. ;)

Jonathan Coulton Primer Page (for JoCo newbies)

Jonathan Coulton songs (Some are $1 each, some are free - look for the smileys.)

Jonathan Coulton main website/blog (A live concert DVD is imminent.)

Brad Sucks - Equality Doesn't

  

Picture credit: J.Howard Miller & anonymous Brad Sucks fan

We interrupt normal service to bring you an emergency announcement. Brad Sucks, proud recipient of two CTW reviews for his highly popular albums, I Don't Know What I'm Doing and Out Of It, has just released a demo song for desperate men who like women, women who like to laugh at desperate men who like women and, er, women who like women. (Actually, it's a rather disastrous sweet gift to help a friend with his wedding proposal.) Here it is:

Brad Sucks - I Command You To Be My Woman (demo)

It's rare that CTW writes about just the one song (I like to stack 'em high), but this is a fun song that you might enjoy sending to loved ones and friends. Or not. It's probably best not to send it to Angela Merkel or Margaret Thatcher. Michelle Obama? Britney? Your one true love? I'm not sure. Good luck, O brave one.

Please remember that this is just a demo - which hasn't stopped it from being a kick-arse rock song with a message that romantics/chauvinists everywhere will detest/adore. If you haven't heard of Brad Sucks before, please note that he isn't normally this sexist, but he is usually this good.

By the way, Typepad recommends that I use more obvious and self-explanatory titles for my posts so as to attract more traffic to Catching The Waves. It's a good idea but I write CTW for fun, not fortune, as you can tell from my lackadaisical posting schedule...

...and there's no way I was going to have "Brad Sucks - I command you to be my woman" misconstrued all over the internet.

Brad Sucks

The guitar's only natural enemy

In the above photo we see impeccable form from Robin Grey as he distracts a pesky dog intent on peeing on his guitar. Note the seemingly casual display of the wooden mirror frame as he interposes his body between the dog and its target of delicious, unsullied sculpted wood and strings. Will the dog take the bait and settle for micturating on the mirror frame, thus creating a work worthy of Duchamp, or will he shimmy past the folkster's crumpled trousers and play his own tune on the acoustic? Let's find out.

Only The Missile is a 10-track album that will appeal to lovers of Leonard Cohen, folk music, introspection, pointed lyrics and open hearts. If you're stuck in a factory, office or general urban sprawl, listening to it will feel like you're warming your feet in front of a peat fire while sipping huge vats of Guinness the beverage of your choice. If you're stuck in open country, call the emergency services.

Hackney (East London, guv) resident Grey has filled his marvellous outing, released on modifythevan netlabel, with all sorts of familiar instruments that will enable him to play on when the electricity runs out: acoustic guitar (minus dog), banjo, ukelele, mandolin, double bass, organ and some tasteful percussion. That list will give you some idea of his sonic universe, although it doesn't hint at how the album's transparent mix warms the listener's ears while giving centre stage to the understated vocals. Nor will that list hint at how Robin Grey can be feisty as well as fluffy. For instance, The Last Time I Saw David, an unflinching tale about overcoming religious hypocrisy to reach an atheistic/agnostic state of mind, ensures that Robin will not be booking a gig in America's Bible Belt any time soon. It's refreshing to hear a heartfelt song that isn't all: "I wuv 'oo; 'oo wuv me."

Then there's the soothing lullaby of The Finchley Waltz (play it to any baby and watch them drop off), a quintessentially English response to the terrorist bombings in London on 7/7:

I daydreamed for hours in the traffic jam

As the good guys and the bad guys stopped play

There's more lyrical puckishness in Women, where the words "women" and "money" are used in place of what one imagines to be an extremely rude word. Women themselves might want to note that the entire song is a perfect encapsulation of the male mind. To digress: imagine Women remixed as a hip-hop track. Catchy, non?

Our besuited protagonist admits that he's still finding his voice (which is mostly right on the money), and I think that's evident in Every Waking Hour, where the vocals sound a little strained.

As I've found it impossible, despite much pleading and wringing of hands, to extract a single mp3 from the album's listing on Jamendo (this blog hangs by a thread most of the time - I think the internet is witchcraft), you lot out there get the chance to use Jamendo's dinky media player. I could recommend any track, but I'll be unoriginal and suggest the opener These Days, an uptempo mandolin and banjo-laden number with a paradoxically slow but optimistic chorus that will get you singing in the bath and, if you've suffered because of the credit crunch, because you've taken a bath.*

The title track is a toe-tapper with some wailing harmonica - do harmonicas ever do anything else but wail? - and Your Man is another in a seemingly endless supply of huggable love songs. Swan Song and Five (featuring some very welcome ethnic percussion - bongos, tablas, that sort of thing) bring things to a dreamy close - they're the aural equivalent of a favourite jumper.

Goodness, what a lovely album. It never ceases to amaze me at what talent is lurking in the darker corners of the net - though in this case I must whistle innocently and hide my blushes by thanking the scrumptious Free Albums Galore for recommending Only The Missile months and months ago. (CTW's motto: "Last with the first.") I urge the lumpen but sexually attractive mass of CTW readers to visit FAG, a wonderful asset to the internet, let alone the netaudio community.

Only The Missile is available for free from Jamendo, but you can also buy the mp3s at iTunes and the CD from Robin Grey's website. Please think about sending him a little cash, or, failing that, bake him a cake. He likes cake. A lot. Finally, if I may venture a little advice to Mr Grey: tuck your shirt in, young man. This is the internet - we have standards.

*thinks*

Maybe it's all that cake.

Robingrey.com (for bags of downloads, lyrics, interviews, photos, etc.. Exemplary.)

modifythevan netlabel

*High-falutin' financial terminology. Thank goodness that banks paid stratospherically high salaries so as to "attract the talent". Just think what might have happened if greedy idiots had been in charge of the markets instead...

Jitney Cheers

 

Colds love me. Manflu adores me. It was only a month ago that I had to don my night-cap and gown and retire to the four-poster with nothing but pints of Lemsip and my harem for company. Yesterday, Disease kindly donated a spare plague to me, and so I found myself yearning for something warm and comforting, like hot chocolate or a good rock album. Or my harem. Fortunately, Casey Meehan aka Jitney administered eleven doses of medicine via my (ultra-cool) mp3 player's headphones and made me feel less nauseous.

Before I bang on about this album (entitled 86-300 - the only duff note about the whole enterprise), please listen to the very short opening track, Fin, and tell me if it doesn't immediately give you that warm and toasty feeling that is exclusive to utterly reliable down-tempo folk-rock.

Jitney - Fin

Thought so. The grizzled rockers out there are already reaching for their bottle-openers and rocking chairs. Heh. Written, arranged and performed by Casey Meehan with occasional help from various musician friends, 86-300 is shot through with rock influences: in his more soulful moments, Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy) would have loved to sing the chorus of Butterfly Knife; Tricky Be reminds me of the Fab Four and anyone from ELO to Supertramp; and Long Time Coming's opening comes straight out of The Doors before settling in to a Ray Davies/Kinks frame of mind. (Please note that I'm a blob of mucus at the moment, so I may be talking complete tosh. I'll probably come to in a few days and find that I've been listening to a harpsichord concerto.)

Love Draws Blood will draw listeners like a solid rock song should. Listen to Twilight a few times and you'll soon be irritating insomniacs everywhere by reminding them not to mistake the twilight for the dawn. (You can't beat homespun folk-rock wisdom.) Unfortunately, I can't get on with Get Lost Kid - the beat is so laid-back that it doesn't sound in the pocket. Laser Battle is one minute of synth/guitar-laden When The Levee Breaks-type drumming. Nice.

Casey's vocals (helped by a sensitive mix and mastering) are warm and rich - he keeps to a comfortable range and thus sounds more powerful than some tonsil rattlers I could mention. He's also fond of stapling electronica-ish fade-outs to some of the tracks, just to keep listeners on their toes. The album ends with Walk (dreamy guitar/flutes/winsome vocal) and Coda, which features just Casey and his acoustic guitar before eventually bursting into a feel-good rock song. Yay.

You want more? Ok, see if you can spot the ghost of Phil Lynott in the chorus of:

Jitney - Butterfly Knife

Casey Meehan & Co. recorded 86-300 for Rock Proper netlabel from Chicago/Illinois. I'd like to thank them for supplying a bowl of chicken soup for the ailing folk-rock fan. Jitney cheered me - I hope they do the same for you. Of course, you could always flirt with Rock Proper's "Donate" tab and thank them all properly...

Jitney - 86-300 (link to zipped album & individual files)

Casey Meehan on MySpace

Rock Proper netlabel

This Just In: Free Music kicks Credit Crunch in face

The title of one of CTW's first posts, "Free Music is Rubbish, isn't it?" summarised the general public's position regarding music that is given away free of charge. If the music is given away for nothing, ipso facto it must be worthless and therefore not worth downloading. Why else would millions of people prefer to copy and transfer thousands of pirated commercial mp3s on bit-torrents? Even though the music they receive illegally is now free, it was once worth something - so it must still be worth listening to, even though it is now, erm, free. We have arrived at a situation where all songs are free but some songs are more free than others.

*CTW explodes in a mish-mash of pretentious paraphrasing and poor grammar*

Similarly, how are musicians expected to earn a living if these amateurish Creative Commons bozoes are going to barge in with their free albums and entice tone-deaf customers away from them? Isn't free music going to destroy the music industry?

Well, no, not if you're talented, famous and slap a Creative Commons licence on your album.

According to Creative Commons.org, the top-selling album at Amazon's mp3 store in 2008 was Ghosts I-IV by Nine Inch Nails. Ghosts I (nine high-fidelity and DRM-free tracks plus a PDF full of gorgeous photos) is available completely free of charge from NIN's website, but millions of people chose to pay for it and II-IV, either as a show of solidarity, as a gesture of gratitude or simply because Amazon made it convenient for fans to splash the cash. Should those lovely, generous people care to investigate further, they'll find that the entire opus, Ghosts I-IV, is also available from the capacious archive.org for precisely no money whatsoever.

Here's a taster: 1 Ghosts I, which is not a speaker-busting avalanche of outrageously heavy rock music, and 8 Ghosts I, which is not a somnolent piano piece with added ambient flavour. Piquant, non?

I'm not denying that Trent Reznor's fame gives him a huge advantage over the common-or-garden CC artist. But kudos to NIN for releasing the album in such a fashion and delivering a roundhouse kick to the smug features of the ghoulish credit crunch. If only they could do the same to the greedy and idiotic bankers and politicians responsible for the mess.

If you'd like to pick up another free album that reminds you of Nine Inch Nails, you could always try the completely free, new, and CC-licensed album The Slip, from the world's most accurate tribute band, Nine Inch Nails. Yes, they're at it again.

Goths, grungies and emos: ho!

One last thought: what would you rather have "CC" stand for?

Nine Inch Nails

Creative Commons

Archive.org

Woodward Wules The Wacetwack

Wegular weaders - sorry, regular readers of Catching The Waves will know of my fondness for the music of Josh Woodward. I reviewed his music a while back, discussed a song, I Want To Destroy Something Beautiful, recommended another, Shadows In The Moonlight, and gave another of his songs, Stickybee, the unmatchable honour of first dibs at the unveiling of this site's shiny new Yahoo Media Player. The more I've listened to Josh's work, the more I've come to value him as a songwriter and singer. How can I put this?

He. Is. Talented.

Was that last sentence of mine irritatingly pseudo-trendy and patronising? Look, it's the internet - the twin graveyard of grammar and good manners.

...anyway, Audiosurf is a rather good computer game that adapts music, the actual mp3 files of songs, to produce racetracks for people to race around and have fun on instead of doing some work and saving the global economy. The chart of "Most Played Songs" (click image to enlarge), taken at 1500 GMT today, shows that the most popular "racetrack" is I Want To Destroy Something Beautiful. Stickybee is at No.3. Methylchloroisothiazolinone, a hairy-chested rock song, is No.4. And there are a couple more of his songs in there too. (Even Jonathan Coulton sticks his oar in. I'm a fan of JoCo but I've been too lazy to write a review.)

Coldplay gaze up in awe from their lowly eleventh place. It's great to know that Josh is getting run over. Repeatedly. There's only one thing to do. Press the button and have a listen to one of his most beautiful efforts:

Josh Woodward - Gravity

Many congratulations to Josh - he's finally gathering some momentum thanks to his talent, hard work, and the decision to release his music under a Creative Commons licence so that people could hear his music for free.

See, folks? I knew he was good.

Either that or his music is only good for driving over.

Josh Woodward

Audiosurf (a clever, cheap, fun game that uses indie music. Hats off!)

I Feel Like Johnny Mnemonic

 

(Sorry if this picture appears as enormous in RSS feed displays - I really don't have a clue about html, the internet, life, etc.)

The above photograph, taken yesterday at one of Manhattan's most exclusive bars, offers a glimpse into the lives of my readers at the very moment that they first experienced the glory that is CTW's new media player. Nearly every article at Catching The Waves now contains, where possible, at least one playable track. (Just press the little arrow when one appears next to a song title.) For example:

Josh Woodward - Stickybee

(If you liked that track from the album Dirty Wings, you'll find a review of Josh's stuff here.)

I hope that you'll find something to your liking and thus go on to visit some of the many starving talented artists featured in this humble blog. Additionally, I've repaired any broken links and done some invisible housekeeping. Please tell me if any part of the website is not working properly. And get me some aspirin.

There's just one more thing to mention before I collapse onto a chaise longue and call for the nurse: due to my limited computer skills, it's very easy for visitors to overlook some of the older reviews at Catching The Waves. If you travel to the very bottom of this webpage you'll note an "Older" link - this won't take you to music suitable for old age pensioners (if there is such a thing), but it will introduce you to other pages of CTW's reviews that you might have missed. Once on a new page, please use the playlist on the media player to listen to a few tracks at a time and confirm what you've always suspected: I have terrible taste in music.

Terrific, I meant terrific. Nurse, get me some absinthe at once. I hate html...