MDID

20.5 Things I'm Pretty Sure About

2008-04-17T18:43:00.001-04:00

1. The Cleveland Indians will not win the world series in 2008. (they haven't won a game since I purchased MLB extra innings for the season)

1.5 CC Sabathia is not worth 20 million dollars a year.

2. My life is likely 2/3 complete

3. I am the only one at my gym that works out to Laibach

4. I will never hear MDID on NPR

5. George Bush will go down in history as the worst president ever

6. John Mccain will be the next president, because not only are most Americans bitter and clinging to their religion, they are stupid too.

7. The stock market will rocket upwards as soon as I take all my money out of it.

8. There is no TV news worth watching

9. I will not live to see humans land on Mars, much as I thought they would have by now as I watched them land on the moon at 8 yrs old.

10. Scott Pickering is the best drummer ever.

11. I've had a constant stream of the best bass players ever in my band.

12. Trappistes Rochefort 10 is the best beer ever.

13. Cleveland will not "come back"

14. Subterranean won't have more than one video a month I'm interested in.

15. My wife will never be a baseball fan.

16. My wife will never be a Battlestar Galactica fan.

17. My wife will be elsewhere when either of these things is on the Tee Vee.

18. I could never be as saracastic as Atrios

19. Try as I might, I will never be a "morning person"

20. You'll never hear MDID on a car commercial

SXSW

2008-02-19T22:03:00.003-05:00

Yes the rumors are true.. MDID will be at SXSW this year for the first time!. Hard to believe we've never done it before in the 24 yrs of being a band.. but there you go - there's a first time for everything. Joining the band this time around will be Billy Buckley on bass and Scott Pickering on Drums.. The show will be at Habana Calle 6 on Friday March 14th at 1 am (guess that's technically Saturday)... Hope to see you there! God knows it's way past our bedtimes..

A couple other shows on the horizon over the next few months.. pls check the MySpace page for updates...

A few new songs in the can and hopefully a new CD by the end of the year.. As we get decent demo versions I'll probably post a couple at MySpace too...

Other random thoughts:

Seems there are 2 types of people that go to the gym, those that go out of self loathing (that's me - surprised?), and those that go out of self admiration (that's why they have those big mirrors everywhere..).

The 30 yr old Samantha Morton was just not believable as 16 yr old Deborah Curtis in the movie Control, although Sam Riley was a dead ringer for Ian Curtis. Like most rock band movies, it focused disappointingly little on the creative process and more on the personalities. Quite a different view of Tony Wilson than you got with 24 Hour Party People though.

Many people have compared MDID to J.D. a lot over the years. And where I admit the obvious musical references in the single note guitar lines and simple drumming, (It was upon hearing JD that I realized "hey I could do that") I've always felt like MDID's influences were more midwestern US than northern UK. JD's music seemed strangely alien and distant in the world of late 70's punk. I think it's the production of Martin Hannett that gave Curtis' voice that horror-movie croon, and made an average band sound completely new with the odd EQ's on the drums, the up-front bass and the scratchy in the next building guitar sounds. JD would have been a completely different (and very likely much less well known) band without his production. I know he's passed on but anyone know of any film or books of Hannett describing how he got the sounds he got on JD records?

End of September

2007-09-30T21:35:00.000-04:00

Spent at the Carrboro Music Fest today, enjoying the sweet southern tones of The Kingsbury Manx behind the town hall on a beautiful sunny day.. A most pleasant way to wrap up the summer months. The Manx is great live, and I tip my hat to them despite their lack of response to my fan email to their My Space page.

I've recently become aware that most of the MDID digital catalog except for the Homestead stuff is now up at E-Music, Insound, Rhapsody, Yotta Music, M-Traks, Virgin Digital (for you Brits), MTV-3.fi (for you Finns), FNAC Music (for you French), Musicload (for you Germans), and god knows how many other MP3 download sites out there.. so now you have no excuses for not being able to find the music!... (Except fot the Homestead stuff - which of course you can still get here)

Keep an eye on our own My-Space page for a few unreleased goodies popping up now and then.. Right now you can hear the only song on the Hello CD that was not re-released, an apocalyptic party number called Dark Age Revival.

Also thanks to Tom Gatzen in CT for a 1991 Record store video.. We'll try to get a song up from that sometime soon on the You Tube. Still to be converted are vids from a show in Germany in 1989, one in Nashville in 1995, and a couple of others from the early days. I'll renew my call for anyone that has video footage of the band to pls email me at the link to the left.

Thanks also to all those who emailed with your support re: my brief illness and hospital stay in Sept. Not entirely out of the woods yet in that regard, but will know more after this coming week.

Another one bites the dust

2007-08-12T01:10:00.000-04:00

I've officially sold the last CD copies of Everyone Wants the Honey, Shiner, and Chopping Down the Family Tree, so you can now add these to the out of print MDID catalog. 'Tis a shame. H0wever, all are still available for download at I-Tunes and E-Music.

Hasn't been a whole lot going on band-wise, which I"m sure you've figured out via the lack of posting these last couple of months.

Haven't given up the ghost quite yet, but the muse is on an extended vacation for the time being.

Chapel Hill

2007-06-02T12:09:00.000-04:00

Thanks to all the homies that showed up for our Local 506 show on the 27th. It was lots of fun, sweaty, loud, string breaking rock action. It was also cool to play some of the oldies again, although I chickened out on the songs off "Everyone Wants the Honey" because they just wouldn't sound the same without Matt and Shayne. Thanks also to Tim for guitar work and Laura for booming drums on her new invisible kit. I still haven't found a way to match the set prep with the peppering of shouted requests. They are always for the songs we didn't practice. Ultimately I should probably try and fill up Mr. Roboto's positronic brain with some version of every song I've ever done (supposedly he can hold up to 500 songs...) to satisfy the cravings of the average show-deprived MDID fan. J videotaped some of it... We'll try to get one or two up on the You Tube eventually...

Fun with an arm gas

2007-06-02T12:01:00.000-04:00

Geez, you could waste an afternoon on this. I think its pretty funny that a My Dad Is Dead anagram is "Dad Dismayed", which I'm sure he is, wherever he is, that I chose that for a band name all those yrs ago. Personally I like "Dadaism Dyed" the best..

Then again, it's kinda creepy that "One of the Worst Presidents Ever" produces "One then woes for desert vets, RIP".

Bumps

2007-04-22T23:27:00.000-04:00

Time flies... a few bumps in the road as far as getting the "rarities" compile done.. seems all the 'master' CD's I created have some sound issues.. not sure yet if it's the recorder or the media, but in any case, I wasted about 40 hours compiling material onto what ended up being unusable masters. Since the band will be playing a few shows again this spring/summer, and hopefully recording new songs, the whole rarities/compile thing has been put on the back burner for the moment.

The good that came out of it is finally the conversion of the few videotaped concerts I had into a digital format. I went through the self taught learning curve and got a couple things up on the You Tube. More will be forthcoming, but the transfer/upload of each file takes an afternoon, so it will take some time.... By the way, I've had a couple of folks in comments offer to get me copies of videotaped concerts, one in Chapel Hill in 1991 and another record store concert somewhere in Connecticut.... I would still very much like to have those, and any others that may be out there.. Please email me at the link on the left.

Thanks to all those that attended our Cle show in March.. It was very nice to see some friendly faces and play a lot of the older tunes again. We're working on getting a live drummer for the whole set in Chapel Hill in May, hope it works out.. otherwise Mr. Roboto will heed the call.

If Sonic Youth can do it...

2007-01-12T23:09:00.000-05:00

Regular readers of this blog will know that I've toyed for awhile with releasing a live/rarities compilation. For the rarities, many of the better ones are already posted for free on the site. However, there are still some studio recordings that haven't seen the light of day yet. For the live material, problem is that much of the quality of what's available is not so great. Even if the performances are energetic, or different enough from the recorded versions, the sound quality of the live tapes is often abysmal, mostly recorded on hand-held devices. However, seeing as how these are the only recordings of MDID in the 80's that exist (to my knowledge - I also put out a call to everyone reading for copies of any live recordings/videos to please contact me, which yielded nothing that I didn't already have..) I suppose I shouldn't rule out that some fans out there might not be interested in them. So..... I'm posting 3 examples of live tunes in the quality representative of what I have. If you would be interested in hearing more.. pls add your notes in the comments, or email me.. Ultimately what I'm aiming for is a limited edition double CD (probably 300-500), one with rarities and studio outtakes and one with these live performances, and hopefully a decent sized booklet.

Mother and Child This one was recorded on the last show of the Pixies tour, in Denver.

Time Has Come Today Recorded in May of 1990 in Cleveland, Peabody's Down Under, opening for Throwing Muses

Whirlpool Recorded sometime in 1989 on tour with Prisonshake. Not sure of city.

The Emerald City

2006-12-23T11:34:00.000-05:00

Just finished reading Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, a Washington Post writer who spent nearly 2 years in Iraq from the time of the infamous felling of Saddam's statue to the end of the reign of the "Coatlition Provisional Authority". It's fascinating, disturbing and outrage-inducing reading. I'm sure those 30% out there who still support the war will find it offensive because of the truths it shares, but I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand how we got to be where we are in this conflict now.

The main keys to gaining employment for the CPA were loyalty to the Bush administration, and belief in certain conservative principles (anti-abortion, flat taxes etc..). The post-war plan consisted mostly of pie-in the sky ideas by 20 something conservatives, many of whom had never set foot outside the U.S. before, but were hired to help remake Iraq in the Bush administration's vision of America due to their connections to conservative think tanks and politicians. Their focus was on a grand-remaking of Iraq in an American Conservative utopia, rather than getting the country back on it's feet in a practical fashion. As a result, months and millions were wasted, resulting in rushed "solutions" so as to be ready to claim significant progress in time for the November 2004 elections.

Chandrasekaran ends several of the chapters with extremely telling anecdotal vignettes, from the Halliburton managers who ordered all cats in the Green Zone killed (supposedly for fear of disease, a fear not entirely justified according to a State Dept biologist who had spent time there), to the CPA staffer who declined offers of historical books on Iraq from native translators in favor of his dog-eared 1970's tourist guide to the country, about which he said, "Everything I need is in here". Perhaps my favorite of the vignettes was a joke written by CPA staffer Joshua Paul, as it seems to sum up the entire messed up situation...

Why did the Iraqi Chicken cross the road?

CPA:The fact that the chicken crossed the road shows that decision making authority has switched to the chicken in advance of the scheduled June 30th transition of power. From now on the chicken is responsible for its own decisions.

Halliburton:We were asked to help the chicken cross the road. Given the inherent risk of road crossing, and the rarity of chickens, this operation will only cost $326,004.

Muqtada as-Sadr:The chicken was a tool of the evil Coalition and will be killed.

US Army Military Police:We were directed to prepare the chicken to cross the road. As part of these preparations, individual soldiers ran over the chicken repeatedly, and plucked the chicken. We deeply regret the occurrence of any chicken rights violations.

Peshmerga (Kurdish militia):The chicken crossed the road, and will continue to cross the road, to show its independence and to transport the weapons it needs to defend itself. However, in future, to avoid problems, the chicken will be called a duck, and will wear a plastic bill.

1st Cavalry:The chicken had no right to cross the road as it did not have the correct identification. Thus, the chicken was searched and detained. We apologize for any embarrassment to the chicken.

Al Jazeera:The chicken was forced to cross the road multiple times at gunpoint by a large group of occupation soldiers, according to witnesses. The chicken was then fired upon intentionally, in yet another example of the abuse of innocent Iraqi chickens.

CIA:We cannot confirm or deny any involvement in the chicken-road-crossing incident.

Translators:Chicken he cross street because bad she tangle regulation. Future chicken table against my request.

Missing in Action

2006-10-28T12:40:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I know it's been awhile since the last post.. A lot of things keeping me busy and away from making music the last few months..some family related, some personal, but hopefully the chill autumn air will re-awaken the muse.

This October is a month full of anniversaries..

I passed Go for the 46th time, collected (almost) 300 MySpace "friends". Although a couple of mysteriously deleted profiles have the friend count back to 299. How much is a MySpace friend worth? More than a Monopoly dollar? I've had discussions with some of my non-virtual friends recently about the whole internet networking phenomenon, and whether any actual networking is actually taking place.

My wife also passed Go, the day after me, I'll play the gentleman and let you all guess how many times it is for her.

We enjoyed our 5th anniversary in October as well, and the day again was one of the coldest of the month for Chapel Hill, as it was in 2001. We had a wonderful and expensive dinner after which we were too full and sleepy to do anything else.

It's also the one year anniversary of my latest "baby" (all of my records are my babies) A Divided House, which just this past week officially passed the 300 mark in physical sales. It's a far cry from the number of CD's I used to sell in the 80's, but given the current marketplace conditions for a sole proprietor label with minimal airplay, no promotion, no video, no advertising, well, it's a tribute to all the MDID fans out there who have done the work to actively seek us out.

And, finally, of course, still to come, my wife's favorite holiday, Halloween. We'll be skipping the Franklin Street mayhem this year, although I'm toying with the idea of posting a picture of me in my Frylock costume from a couple of yrs ago on MySpace. ("Do I look fat in this honey?" "You're dressed as a box of french fries, how do you think you look?")

Oh, and for all of you in my former state, please do the right thing on Nov 7th and send that nutjob Blackwell to his political grave.

M. Night takes a bath

2006-07-23T15:29:00.000-04:00

Having been a fan of most of M.Night Shyamalan's previous efforts, (except for the last half or so of "Signs") my wife and I were excited to catch his latest in the local plex, "The Lady in the Water". Don't be fooled by the quick edits in the trailer, this one's scariest moments come when the sprinklers in the lawn start up. It's got lots of M.Night's common theme of ordinary people, who can in fact do extraordinary things, even though they would never believe themselves capable of them, but the over the top goofiness of the myth presented (when the lady, Story, announced herself to be a "Narf".. my wife and I giggled the remainder of the film about when she was going to "Narfle the Garthok") lessened the impact of any of the action taking place within. Being someone who's indeed very afraid of dogs, especially snarling, growling, teeth baring dogs, I still found the one made out of grass in this movie too cartoonish to arouse the fright it did in the major characters.) His earlier films, while still leaning on the extraordinary heroes hiding in ordinary bodies theme, were at least grounded in more "believeable" situations, and therefore, for me, carried more weight. Although I must admit it is a powerful scene when Paul Giamatti's character, (named "Cleveland Heep" in what must be another one of those inside Cle jokes that none of us born Clevelanders seem to be in on), realizes the only way he can help Story is to confront his own wrenching sadness over the death of his family. Critics seem to hate this movie for some reason, might have something to do with the know it all film critic that ends up being "Scrunt" food in what turns out to be the biggest laugh of the film.

We're more backer

2006-07-23T15:26:00.000-04:00

OK, the downloads are back (most of them - some of the "rarities" are still missing.. will work on that over time, but haven't any one burning a hole in the email box about it..), as are the discography and lyric pages. The audio streamer still needs some work. Hopefully have that back soon.. thanks again for your patience!..

We're Back

2006-07-13T17:20:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the absence... Server crash pretty much wiped out the site last week... I'll be slowly rebuilding over the next couple of weeks...Currently the blog and store is back up... thanks for your patience!

Grant McClennan 1958-2006

2006-05-21T13:14:00.000-04:00

(photo by Jeanne Snodgrass)

It hasn't been a good start to 2006 for my seminal underground rock heroes...first Nikki Sudden (Swell Maps) on March 26 and now just finding out about Grant McClennan's (Go Betweens) very untimely passing May 6. I suppose as I pass mid 40's this kind of news becomes more and more likely, but it doesn't make it any less jarring. McClennan's work with the Go-Betweens has stuck with me throughout my life after my rock and roll "rebirth" in the late 70's, and I was overjoyed to see them live again last year (6/12/05) after the release of Oceans Apart. The small crowd at Cat's Cradle allowed me to absorb their poetry and grace more intimately than I had been able to previous times I had seen them. They delivered a set that was warm, funny, poetic, and absolutely without any pretense. They were unfazed by the small turnout and genuinely grateful to perform a long set of both new and old favorites, and it was a memorable concert that I am grateful to have had the chance to attend. I regret never having had the chance to play a show with them or meet them personally, but their music stirred emotion for me in ways that very few bands/artists have the capacity to do. Thank you Grant, and may you find peace in the afterlife of your choice...

Housecleaning

2006-03-19T00:19:00.000-05:00

A couple of people told me in emails that the link to Everyone Wants the Honey on the store page wasn't working properly.. that's been fixed. Sorry if anyone got a copy of Out of Sight that was intending to order EWTH, although I haven't had any complaints about that to date..

Also, most of the catalog is now up at Audio Lunchbox . We're still working on the new one and the first 2 at I-Tunes.

Nice short new review up at the Chicago Tribune.

New Stuff

2006-03-07T18:13:00.000-05:00

No Psykick Dancehalls posted for awhile due to problems with the CD burning eqpt at the station. But some of my favorite new things over the last couple of weeks (with links so you can check 'em out yrself..)

New Tracks from the upcoming Built to Spill CD, You In Reverse. I've heard Liar and Conventional Wisdom and they're both pretty great songs..BTS was one of those bands I missed out on in the mid 90's.. too busy being my own kind of rock 'n roll failure..

...and the 80's revival continues.... Listening to "Beast Life" by The Numbers and can't help but be reminded of 80's "all girl band" (my wife hates that phrase) Liliput.

Not particularly 80's, more like early 90's sounding is Wintersleep. From Halifax, I think I first heard them on NPR a couple of months back... but recently picked up their new CD and especially like "Jaws of Life" and "Insomnia".

Not new, but just re-discovered, a great song by The Kills, Fuck the People.. can't find a direct link to it, but it's from "Keep on Your Mean Side"

Also digging a couple tunes especially from the upcoming Yeah Yeah Yeah's "Show Your Bones"... I like "Dudley" and "Turn Into". I'm sure lots of their old fans will think it's too "poppy", but I like the change.

The Mitchells are promising a new CD.. and the advance tracks they've posted on their website are pretty damn good.. To me, their sound is like Slovenly's lead singer fronting Polvo.

The Rakes have a great old Rough Trade/Postcard kinda sound going on... Some people might hear Franz Ferdinand but those of us who remember where FF come from will hear other folks...They've got a web page where you can listen to lots more than one track..Check out Binary Love, 22 Grand Job, or Retreat

I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness has a new CD out today. More 80's sounds.

More British Invasion with the sample sprinkled funk pop ditties of Grand National. Try "Playing In the Distance"

I-Tunes

2006-02-12T23:50:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Robert over at Scat, half the MDID catalog is now available at I-Tunes.. We're still working on the first 2 CD's and the new one... hopefully those will be there too within a couple of months. Not sure about the Homestead era releases yet. Anyway, I'm most pleased that "For Richer, For Poorer" is once again available for sale, even if it's only an electronic format. For Richer is probably the most "sunny" CD the band has ever done and it has some of my favorite songs from the catalog on it. It's also been out of print for about 5 or 6 years now. Other CD's now there for sale are Engine of Commerce, Everyone Wants the Honey But Not the Sting, Shiner, Chopping Down the Family Tree, and Out of Sight, Out of Mind.

We're also working on getting the catalog up at Audio Lunchbox. Right now, only Out of Sight is available there, but the others should be shortly.

Unbelievable

2006-01-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

I don't normally like to make judgements about people before ever meeting or talking to them, but this is just ridiculous. Some one on Ebay is attempting to sell a promotional copy of Divided house for $28 bucks. He's even so bold as to put it up with a picture of the promotional one sheet sent with the disc. I can tell from the picture that this sheet is the radio station promo sheet. This seller is located in GA. I only sent one radio promo to GA, to WRAS. Take that info for whatever it's worth.

If there is anyone dumb enough out there to pay this, I guess they get what they deserve. If you're out of the country or otherwise disposed to buy the CD via Ebay, might I suggest a slightly more reputable seller.

Happy New Year

2006-01-02T23:29:00.000-05:00

Ringing in the new year with a couple of bonus tracks.. I finally rescued the MP3 of the 1990 John Peel session version of Nothing Special from the old website (Right click and save as to download). This features Doug Gillard (GBV, Gem, Death of Samantha etc) on sweet lead guitar. I'm actually playing drums and singing on this, which I did on about half the songs in the set for that European tour. Glad I found this again, because the "orginal" cassette I had of these songs had been damaged.

Also found a "throwaway" from the Details sessions, recorded in 1987. This is called The Homecoming. This, like all but one bass part on Details, is a "solo" track, in that I play everything. It was originally written based on a Vietnam story told to me by one of my brothers, who served in the Navy during the war, often on ships not too dissimilar to those that made John Kerry and his group of political assassins so (in)famous last year. A buddy of his was scheduled to come home in a week when their boat was attacked, and he was killed. It also has some eery implications for the current environment of soldiers being kept well past their "due" dates. I had forgotten all about this song until recently, finding a cassette version of it among some other demos and rough mixes. I believe it was intended to be the last song on Let's Skip, but clocking in at 7:38, it was cut for time considerations.

More Lyrics

2006-01-01T14:10:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the tip from Bryan in the comments.. I found electronic versions of both Details and Taller lyrics, so it only took a few minutes to cut and paste them into an HTML document (and make a few important corrections.. no skipping the details for me on the lyrics...). The other stuff might take a bit more time, since it will be a matter of typing them up. I also threw up a makeshift index page to provide links to all the lyrics and allow for enhancement later.

Lyrics

2005-12-31T00:31:00.000-05:00

A couple people have asked... so here's the lyrics for A Divided House. Being a self-financed project, cost considerations kept me from adding an extra couple of panels or a booklet to print them with the CD. Maybe next time if I can keep the recording costs down I'll do this. Also, the lyrics for Engine of Commerce have been on the site for awhile, but I don't think I've ever pointed out the link.

I'll work on getting the lyrics up on the other records sometime next year if anyone's interested.

Other news.. got an email from 3wk that they've added Unmade and The Ladder to their playlist. If you haven't heard this online station, they are worth checking out for the more well known current indie rock along with some more obscure things.

If there's anyone out there that cares to listen in to the Psykick Dancehall live as it happens (still on Monday nights but moving to 9-11pm eastern starting in January), WCOM now has a link for online streaming at their homepage.

Press time

2005-12-18T15:54:00.000-05:00

A few of those promos sent out in Mid October are finally bearing fruit as reviews... See this one in Splendid before it goes away on 12/31.. Another on-line one at Hybrid Magazine. There's also reviews in the latest print issues of Magnet and the Big Takeover, although neither of those post full content online.

Also tried an experiment the past week and took out some blog ads on a mix of a few music blogs. So far Large Hearted Boy music blog has proved to be the best value in terms of ad clicks per cost of ad. Stereogum is second in terms of ad clicks, but their ad was 3x more expensive than LHB. None of the ads have resulted in any direct sales, though, so apart from additional visibility, I can't say for sure that blogads for a week were a worthwhile expense.

Anybody have a favorite music blog or site that they think would be effective to advertise on.. pls add in the comments.

3 New Dancehalls and other stuff

2005-12-02T17:05:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since I've posted a radio show.. here's three at once.. Happy Holidays... (yes, I guess I am a participant in the War Against Christmas). Sometimes the stupidity of cable channel propagandists leaves me stupified myself..

Remember, nothing lights up your holiday celebrations like a record by the festively named My Dad is Dead. Buy one of each for the whole family! (and some people think I'm a socialist..)

Speaking of good new records.. check out Black Taj, featuring 1/2 of one of my old fave bands, Polvo. I miss Ash's "weirder" tunings.. Dave was always the more conventional guitar player. But it's still a great rock record with cool riffs, something missing from a lot of the more antiseptically popular stuff these days, like, say Pitchfork and now NPR darlings Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. If you haven't heard the NPR piece about how the internet "made" this band, it's worth a listen for a few chuckles. I'm sure, after that broadcast, there are now at least a million more bands who are lining up for lottery tickets for the ever elusive "internet buzz". Seems only one blogger has picked up on the genius that is MDID.. I'm counting on you, my army of loyal fans, to get busy with the email this month...

Other stuff I'm digging this month: The new Standard CD.. This band has really matured over the last couple of records.. The vocalist might be a bit of an acquired taste for some, but it's worth the investment.

Controller.Controller has a sound that reminds me of those old Pacific Northwest bands like the Blackouts or Three Swimmers, mixed in with a little G of 4.. It's a pretty 80's sound, which an old fart like me appreciates very much..

The new Idaho is pretty underwhelming. You'd have to be a dedicated fan of the band, I think, to get into it much. The guitars are nearly 100% gone now, in favor of mostly piano, slowed down and reversed feedback, and oddly effected breathless vocals. I still bought it, primarily because I like supporting those bands that are in it for the long haul, growing and changing creatively, even if I'm not crazy about the direction, I can respect it as a musician..

I've heard one great song off Chris Brokaw's new CD, but have yet to get around to picking it up.. maybe this week..

Snail Mail

2005-10-23T16:11:00.000-04:00

Thanks to all of you who have ordered the new CD via the website. It's been a busy few weeks, filling orders and getting out the promos to radio and press, and the CD's to distributors for in-store sales.

There's a new snail mail address for those of you who are still wary about internet payments, or who don't have credit cards, or who want to send us stuff. If you send paper checks, pls make them payable to Mark Edwards, not to MDID or the label.. thanks

PMB# 232
3604 Witherspoon Blvd Suite 111
Durham, NC 27707

I've gotten email from a few folks who have just discovered the website, and the fact that MDID didn't disappear after the Homestead days. It always surprises me the number of people that thought the band broke up after Taller You Are... Just goes to show what a coordinated promotional effort by a well known label can do for a band's public "presence".

I was commenting to my wife this weekend, as we sat at the kitchen table stuffing envelopes, MDID has come full circle, back to being a truly DIY thing. Sometimes I think it's a good thing, other times I mourn the lack of "access" to a wider audience for the songs. I think that the whole concept of "indie rock" has also come full circle, and many of the same barriers to audience access exist now that existed before the indie explosion in the 80's. The internet has made things more accessible to the individual, but the vast amount of music now available on the web is intimidating to most to sort through (it certainly is to me, and I have an above average interest in seeking out new bands and sounds), and the ready availability of free music on the web has made many people less willing to pay for music at all. What rises to the top, just like in pre-internet days, is those bands that have a promotional budget in the thousands of dollars, thousands more dollars to spend on video production, and dedicated employees to push the product out to the blogs, e-zines, internet distributors, and cable outlets that matter. Nothing has really changed for the truly independent D.I.Y. artist trying to sell their own music. It's always an uphill struggle. I am thankful, that for now at least, it's not an economic life and death situation for me like it was in the early years.

At some point I will have to decide if selling a few hundred copies of a CD is "worth it" in terms of the time and energy that goes into making a saleable "product". Thanks to all of you who have written with encouragement in this regard. In a large fashion, you can share in the credit for motivating me to get "A Divided House" out on my own when many of the larger indies out there took a pass on it.

Rehash the Gift

2005-10-08T13:51:00.000-04:00

We saw the Gang of $ (interesting that the $ is above the 4 on the keyboard eh?) Thursday night at the Cradle. They were good, though Andy Gill has inserted a rather large pillow over his previously biting/slashing guitar sound. I went sans earplugs for the evening, and nary a hiss or buzz afterwards. The lack of treble in the entire mix dampened what would have been a fantastic trip to retro-land. Though I still wish they had re-united under the banner of all new material. The years have dimmed their energy level somewhat, but they still can deliver the goods with more style and power than any of their subsequent imitators. Highlights were the eerily still relevant as ever "To Hell With Poverty" (In this land, right now, some are insane and they're in charge), the encore of "I Found that Essence Rare" (which as mentioned earlier, does not appear on the "Rehash the Gift" CD.) and "Paralyzed"

By the way, the MDID CD's are here.. all pre-orders have been shipped.. We're working on getting the CD out to press and radio, and getting some distributors lined up so that it gets into regular CD stores. Of course, you can buy it anytime online from the MDID Store.

Haven't had a chance to burn and put up last week's Psykick Dancehall but here's some of my listening favorites this week...

Giant Drag - This Isn't It and Slayer (is it already time for a 90's revival?)

Broadcast-America's Boy (No, let's go back to the early 80's, when the Roland TR606 first came out)

Levy - Rotten Love (It sounds like Coldplay, only better)

Editors-Munich (Joy Division? who's that? We think Interpol is the best band ever)

Dirty on Purpose-Monument (my wife pointed out how similar this was to "For Lack of A Better Word" from Taller.. I didn't hear it at first, but now I do...)

Foreign Born - The Entryway (and the 80's revival continues...)

Olof Brostrom - Now I sit on a porch trying to make sense (future? past? can't tell....)

Pela-Episodes (80's.. definitely 80's)