Friday, March 12th, 2010
Happy Birthday to me.
Nothing today. Just awesomeness.
Have a nice Friday.
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[mp3] Jonah Matranga – Birthday (Sugarcubes Cover) from Songs I Hope My Mom Will Like (1999)
Monday, March 8th, 2010
In the busiest time I have ever had with Kata Rokkar, I have been lucky enough to find two more like-minded writers/music lovers to assist me with the website. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Tanner and Jared; the two new contributors to Kata Rokkar. Already active in the Bay Area music scene, both will be giving an added variety to the website.
Jared has lived in San Jose for about 16 years; his current favorite bands are The Mars Volta, dredg, Portugal. The Man, and Minus the Bear. One of his favorite concerts was Bonnaroo 2009 and dredg playing all of Leitmotif and El Cielo in Santa Cruz at the Catalyst.
Tanner grew up in Omaha, Nebraska and has been living in San Francisco for about 3 1/2 years. He tends to like music with eclectic influences and at least a tinge of pop. He also enjoys seeing his favorite acts in intimate settings, for instance, Why? at Hotel Utah a couple years ago. Tanner and I will be covering SXSW this month, so stay tuned for that.
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
About a month ago Paste Magazine asked the questions, “Is Indie Dead?” I have since been asking myself that question and have been involved in an in depth conversation with other music blogs about the subject. Here is my input to the question, feel free to add to the conversation:
What is indie?
To me indie rock which describes the do-it-yourself attitudes of the artists and bands. The less major corporate labels are part of the decision-making processes, the more ‘indie’ and autonomous the music is. The spirit of indie rock is supposed to be free to explore sounds, emotions, and lyrical subjects that don’t appeal to the mainstream or mass profit. While mainstream music is, “What do people like now? Lets do more of that and milk this cash cow ’til it’s dry. Then we’ll find the next trend, dumb it down, and do the same. Over and over.” While with indie rock, “What do people like now? Who cares? We’re going to do what we like and hope people like it as much as we do.”
what has been done?
It’s been a slow process but I think with the internet, the recent collaborations with high profile artists with ‘indie’ acts, the rising success and commercialization of festivals, and sudden departure from traditional record distribution, bands that wouldn’t get exposure a decade ago are now getting recognized for their talent. However, we have a long way to go before we see Joanna Newsom playing the Grammys. Only time will tell what this all means.
what has it achieved?
With Vampire Weekend as #1 on the Billboard and the Twilight 2 soundtrack, the term ‘indie rock’ is being used as ‘music I don’t hear on the radio.’ The real achievement is that there is more hope that creativity is being more appreciated. This paves the way for more acts to experiment and emerge with some truly original ideas. Now is Vampire Weekend as #1 on the Billboard and the Twilight 2 soundtrack a good thing? The new VW is trite and annoying and the T2 soundtrack was boring aside from a handful of tracks…but it could be a whole lot worse. What I’d like to achieve is that we scrap the term indie rock and reserve it for the definition of the movement alone. I shouldn’t have to describe Grizzly Bear as indie rock, but as a mellow rock band. I cringe every time I have to use the term because it’s way too broad of a definition. I really don’t know what it’s going to take to phase it out, but I’m trying to do my part. (which I kind of fail at because I used it in my last post).
Where is it heading?
Gradually it’s heading in a good direction. Whether you like VW, AniCo, M.I.A., or The xx, it’s better than the current state of popular music and its eventual self destruction. My other thought is, “Do I want this music to be popular?” It’s kind of a high school mentality, but when I see The Swell Season play in San Fran to a sea of middle aged, over emotional, ex-hippies with disposable income….I can’t help but wish it wasn’t so. Actually,….you know what? …. I have no idea where it’s heading. But I have to admit, it’s a pretty exciting time.
Friday, December 25th, 2009
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[mp3] Judgement Day – Carol of the Bells (Orchestral) from Acoustic EP (2008)
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
image by steve robbins
Sorry that we’ve been really slow lately. I’ve been catching up with a lot of things back home and I’ll be heading back to NY for family.
During the week though, I’ll be having a special “If You Could See This Song” week where I will be posting pictures that my brother has taken over the years with a song that best describes it (in my opinion of course). He recently shipped off to Coast Guard boot-camp and I am very proud of him.
Monday we’ll be back in full force. But for now, check out the blogs on our blogroll and have a safe weekend.
be well,
shawn
Ólafur Arnalds – 
3055 from Eulogy for Evolution (2008)
Friday, September 25th, 2009
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Kata Rokkar is a place where you can download free mp3 from artists and bands that I currently love and listen to. They are only for sampling purposes and to influence you to go out and support these artists by purchasing their records and going to their concerts. If you are a record company or an artist that is displeased with a song being displayed, feel free to contact me and I will remove it ASAP. Thank you and enjoy!
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