| Comma: Voices of New Music Silence: the John Cage Discussion List |
- -
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 00:25:40 EST
From: Acousticlv@aol.com
Subject: distribs
In a message dated 11/28/00 2:12:53 PM, you wrote:
<<CuneiWay@aol.com wrote:>>
hi all,
and seeing the above name reminds me
i forgot to mention the other distributor i buy from
who often has otherwise unfindable improv, and lots of great
mexican proggies which i'd buy from him if i didnt spend more
time in mexico d.f. than in nyc. glad i got the ltd ed (50) lol coxhill
while it existed from wayside, and discovered the series of
italian angelica festival discs, snippets and all.
.....steve koenig..... n.p. pbs documentary on um khalthoum
- -
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 00:29:08 -0500
From: "Risser Family" <risser@cinci.rr.com>
Subject: Re: Amazon et al Supporting your Local Record Store
> SO to sum up, are people here pro -local record store, or not?
As far as I know, there is no record store here (Cincinnati, Ohio) that
carries such things on a reliable basis. Internet ordering is generally the
only way for me to get anything that isn't available at the local Sam Goody.
Just ask my wife and mom who are currently scouring the internet trying to
dig up a copy of Shots in the Dark, the Mancini tribute.
Peter
- -
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 21:49:06 -0800
From: Tosh <tosh@loop.com>
Subject: Re: ennio morricone plus tidbits
I would also get 'More Mondo Morricone.' Those two collections are
wonderful. And of course the Zorn recordings of Morricone's music
>
> -
- --
Tosh Berman
TamTam Books
http://www.tamtambooks.com
>
>
- -
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 01:13:31 -0500
From: Steve Smith <ssmith36@sprynet.com>
Subject: Re: Amazon et al Supporting your Local Record Store
sinkas wrote:
> I was thinking that in light of the nature of this list, which i would consider to some degree "outsider" music, why is it that people appear happy to support these huge web based record stores.
As often as not, it's because it's the only option available to many who don't live in "major markets." Even in the USA, such stores are not common. They depend upon a dedicated shop-owner (like DMG's Bruce Gallanter) and a steady and
dependable clientele to assure their continued existence. In New York and Chicago and the Bay Area (and even Houston, TX, where I grew up), this isn't a problem. But you're not likely to find a mom'n'pop shop that carries such outsider music
outside such major markets.
(Steve Koenig provided a useful and interesting insight into the equivalent experience online in his subsequent post. It's now possible to do your online shopping at "indie stores" as well. I plan to take heed.)
> I think for the most part the people who may most benefit form them are those, who like me live outside the USA, I am wondering if the prices are really any cheaper to the US comapre's as opposed to them buying form thier local record store.
In many cases, the big net stores and the big chain "brick and mortar" stores (as real-world record stores are known in the music biz) can very easily underprice indie stores, since they're better able to cut deals with the record labels to
lower the price they pay to keep merchandise in stock. The big guys "pass the savings along" to the consumer. For example, I recently paid $7.99 apiece for a pile of CDs by Charles Mingus, Joni Mitchell and the Grateful Dead during a sale at
Tower Records.
But recently, some of the larger web shops (Barnes & Noble in particular) have ceased offering the deep discounts, an accurate reflection of the relatively low sales generated online so far. Believe me, as a former record company drone, the
online stores like BN and Amazon and CDNow sell FAR less than they want anyone to believe. And they've all at one time or another been on the brink of ruin as a result (although Amazon has been much smarter than the others at concealing this).
> I really like it when I can but a record directly form the artist, or from the label (web of Mimicry et al) as I feel there is alt least a chance the artist will see some benifit.
This is the best scenario, agreed. But it's not always available. And furthermore, if an artist is recording for an actual record label - major OR indie - as opposed to releasing discs him-or-herself, then this, too, is a factor in the bottom
line. Only recently has it been possible for artists who sell CDs at shows to report their sales to Soundscan, the company that tabulates sales for the Billboard charts. And even if an artist has no chance whatsoever of appearing on the
charts, still, Soundscan numbers play a huge (some might say inordinate) role in the American recording industry.
> Sure beat going to Virgin only to be told "We dont carrry any Tzadik recrds", hhmm, i think you mean you dant carry any MUSIC.
Here in New York you can find the entire Tzadik catalog in both of the Virgin megastores. It depends on where you're shopping, clearly.
> SO to sum up, are people here pro -local record store, or not?
I think, given the opportunity, that everybody would favor a record store that carried exactly what they wanted, and was staffed by people who could tell them more about the music and then point them towards still further music to discover.
But even here in America, that's pretty rare, and that's why I so treasure Downtown Music Gallery and Other Music.
But it's also why I tend to turn to the Zornlist, more than any other source, to sway my shopping list. More than anything else, the ability of the employees to make informed recommendations is what's missing from the CD superstores in the
real world. By contrast, the online shops at least offer a modicum of advice, as well as often letting Joe Q. Public post a review that appears in the same font and text size as the words of the "experts." In my opinion, that's the best thing
they've got going for them. So I get my suggestions from the Zornlist, and then it's up to me to figure out where to track this stuff down.
Finally, to give testimony to my own buying habits, I've only ever bought one disc online from a "superstore," a disc I couldn't have found in a store even here in New York, since it was deleted before it was shipped to most shops. In general
I simply lack the patience... when I want something, I want it NOW. And that is, I think, the final testimonial as to what stores suceed or fail here in the USA.
Steve Smith
ssmith36@sprynet.com
- -
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 23:44:54 -0800 (PST)
From: Scott Handley <thesubtlebody@yahoo.com>
Subject: gert-jan prins (review, + rec requ.)
I'm now listening to the E-rax LIVE AT THE BIMHUIS
"field recording" CD (which I thought was CD-R, but it
looks nice, permanent, and sounds great; recorded by
Thomas Lehn). The band is apparently an offshoot of
the Loos Ensemble (the insert directs us to
http://www.loosensemble.nl ), and includes Gert-Jan
Prins, Thomas Lehn, and Peter Van Bergen. Van Bergen
is here heard only on wind controller and sampler. By
process of elimination, I think I can peel apart who
is doing what, but the effort is tiresome and maybe
fruitless. Fans of Lehn's BART record would probably
enjoy this, though the textures on LIVE somehow seem
less rough; the three (plus) voices seem to blend into
a polymorphous timbre organism; the music is often
shorn with blasts of static and (Lehn's?) electronic
clatter, which sounds like a hive of synthetic popsand
crackle; also plenty of digital popcorn. The record
is really not much of an assault, and seesm to start
more rambunctiously than it finishes. There seems to
be relatively little fat, and the places that
virtuosity and chance operations collide, the sense of
risk that infuses the moment, feels every bit the
tight-rope act. Even the noisiest, most static-soaked
instants seem thoughtful, imperative, and unfailingly
contrasted with timbre, timbre, timbre. Great stuff!
Could anyone recommend other Gert-Jan Prins-related