AURAL INTERCOURSE

Thursday, May 15, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Aural Intercourse: A bite of the Apple

By Mike Prevatt

No one wants to admit it, but music downloading on the Net has become a cumbersome practice of late. Since 2000, file sharing--through cyberposts such as Napster, Kazaa, Morpheus and Limewire--has become both a boon to music fans and a headache for the revenue-shrinking record companies. But given the amount of industry-corrupted files and viruses flooding the trading servers of late, scoring free and listenable music has been a discouraging endeavor.

However, music fans and the Big Five (Sony, EMI, BMG, Warner and Universal) are toasting the recent success of Apple and its new iTunes Music Store. Two weeks ago, Steve Jobs' Little Company That Could launched iTunes 4, the latest version of Apple's easy-on-the-eyes digital jukebox, along with its online store, which offers more than 200,000 songs at a buck a download (or $10 for nearly all album downloads). It's the first legitimate download hub endorsed by the Big Five, undermining their own subscription-based failures (Pressplay, MusicNet).

Much to everyone's shock but Jobs, Apple sold more than 1 million downloads to Mac users in the service's first week, surpassing the combined number of subscription-based songs ever downloaded through the Net. Given that Mac makes up only 3 percent of the U.S. computer market, PC users won't be able to use iTunes until later in the year and illegal file trading still dominates online music distribution, those first-week numbers are astounding.

What about iTunes Music Store makes the kids want to pay for music again? It's the user-friendliest service to date, allowing rips, CD burns and easy transmission to portable iPod players without subscriptions. Every song can be previewed for 30 seconds. Exclusives are offered by a variety of different artists (U2's acoustic version of "Stuck in a Moment" was the week's most downloaded song). The quality of the music is pristine, thanks to the new AAC-encoded audio files. It takes no more than two clicks and 10 seconds to obtain a song through a high-speed connection. And it's legal, so you don't have to worry about the henchmen of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) suing you.

It's not perfect--some album songs, as well as download-contentious acts like Madonna and the Rolling Stones, are not offered--and it won't take the fun out of Net music piracy. That aside, it's fucking brilliant, and if any music service will supplant Kazaa and its ilk, it's going to be Apple's high-tech, low-maintenance work of genius.

Jam on

Now that garage rock is starting to lose cool points, early British punk and New Wave are enjoying their resurgence. It was celebrated at this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and it also can be heard in several emerging bands, from Hot Hot Heat to the Libertines.

This comes just in time for a re-introduction to The Jam. Many on these shores haven't heard of the British trio, but over in England it's as beloved as the Clash or the Sex Pistols, and during its too brief five-year run, it was arguably more popular than both of those punk innovators. The Jam were actually less punk and more pop, borrowing as much from old American R&B/soul as it did from '60s-'70s rock bands like the Small Faces. Its influence can be heard in English neo-mod bands such as Oasis, Blur and Ocean Colour Scene, and endures through former lead singer Paul Weller, who as a solo artist boasts a sizable cult following.

Interscope recently issued two timely, outstanding retrospectives on the band: The Sound of the Jam, a 20-song best-of compilation, and The Complete Jam on Film, a two-disc DVD. The former is an energetic collection of engaging and unabashedly rhythmic tunes, from the Stones-esque "David Watts" to the Motown-worshipping No. 1 hit, "Town Called Malice." The latter is an exhaustive archive of the band's filmed output, including television performances, taped concerts, music videos, interview footage and documentaries. Few bands have received or even earned this sort of comprehensive treatment. For the curious, the Anglophile, the completist and the Jam fan, these two releases are must-owns.

Quickies

Second stage acts have been announced for this year's Lollapalooza tour. They include the Music, the Mooney Suzuki, Cave In, Steve O (from MTV's "Jackass"), Kings of Leon, 30 Seconds to Mars, Burning Brides, Pharoahe Monch and the Bellydance Superstars. During previous Lollapaloozas, the second stage was where the next-big-things played and got their first breaks, which included acts like the Pharcyde and The Donnas, the latter graduating to the main stage this year. The outdoor festival will miss Vegas, but you can check it out Aug. 16 in Glen Helen, Calif., just three hours down Interstate 15. ...

Thank God one electronic music figurehead is pissed off and not taking it anymore. Following the sneaky passing of the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act (formerly known as the RAVE act, and hushedly piggybacked to the kidnapping-related Amber Alert bill last month), Texas producer/DJ D:Fuse has vowed to create awareness and campaign against it. For his upcoming tour, he'll pass out fliers with U.S. Senate contact information, encouraging clubbers to speak out against the bill. He also has benefit shows in the works. The act makes venue operators and event promoters responsible if any illegal narcotics are detected anywhere on the premises.

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