Industry

The Asthmatic Kitty label, home to Sufjan Stevens and a bunch of other cutesy indie rockers, has got a little sass in its pants today. A not-so-hot review on Pitchfork has inspired them to try a snarky-sounding experiment in CD pricing. From a press release today:

Sure, there's been a lot of focus on you, the people who buy the music. But while we were reading Pitchfork's review of Grampall Jookabox's new album, Ropechain, we started to wonder: who's thinking about the music critics here? Everyone is looking to the consumer for guidance on pricing in an Internet-driven world, but don't music reviewers deserve some attention?

I usually don't give a shit about the Grammys but must admit I was thrilled to find this email in my inbox this morning. I have been gushing about M.I.A. for some time and it seems mainstream audiences didn't get around to her killer, genre-hopping, world-flavored, lady gangsta single "Paper Planes," and the equally awesome album Kala, until the song was used recently in the Pineapple Express trailer. Perhaps exposure on the Grammys broadcast -- somebody still watches, right? -- will increase her profile. M.I.A. is one of the most exciting and brilliant young artists on the global stage. She should be playing arenas not tiny little sold-out clubs on Frenchmen Street, which was the case this year at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Pretty much any time a music critic of my, um, seasoning takes a stand against something trendy, he (she) runs the risk of being labeled an old fart. But I don't think I'm succumbing to old-fartism when I say that the rampant use of Auto-Tune in today's pop music is a scourge that I hope ends up in the dustbin of bad fads after a few more mouse clicks.

Auto-Tune? You may know it by its previous incarnations as a Vocoder or Talkbox. It's an audio processor developed by Antares Technologies that corrects vocal pitch, but its trademark effect is the robotic sound it can add to singing.

The main perpetrator of the scourge is T-Pain, a hack who sings, near as I can tell, everything through Auto-Tune. He's been highly rewarded for this gimmickry with several hit albums and a bevy of guest vocal appearances on hip-hop singles. In fact, Diddy reportedly paid T-Pain a royalty to work Auto-Tune "magic" on his new recording.

Britney Spears, who has totally regained her hottie status, is back, and playing the St. Pete Times Forum on March 8. Here's the info:

(TAMPA, FL) - Britney Spears will bring her highly anticipated The Circus Starring Britney Spears 2009 Tour to the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, FL on Sunday, March 8.  The 27-city North American trek, her first arena tour in five years, follows hot on the heels of Spears' long-awaited sixth studio album, Circus. Emmy Award-winning choreographer and director, Wade Robson, is helming the incredible tour production, which also features special guests The Pussycat Dolls.

Tickets will go on sale Monday, December 8^th at 10:00am and can be purchased at the McDonald's Box Office at the St. Pete Times Forum box office and all Ticketmaster locations, via Ticketmaster charge-by-phone at 1-800-745-3000, Ticketmaster Express at 866-448-7849 (automated only self service line) or online at Ticketmaster.com. Tickets are subject to applicable service charges and event time and date are subject to change.

The massive AEG campus in downtown continues to expand. In addition to the Staples Center, Club Nokia, the Nokia Theater and the Conga Room (and a bowling alley with the strictest dress code I've ever seen), it's now home to the Grammy Museum. It's only fitting that a museum of an award show ends up in Los Angeles.

Full info about all the opening events after the jump...

A story at Billboard.com states that rockers Creed are planning a reunion tour in 2009. The band last performed in 2004 before singer Scott Stapp went on to a solo career that fizzled out quickly and the other guys formed Alter Bridge that had limited success.

I guess they got tired of singing the song of a career that goes nowhere and will get back together. The band sold 26.1 million albums -- though I'd debate that most of their songs sounded the same.

Here's a list of the winners from last night's American Music Awards. It makes me weep for the future of music...

Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist -- Chris Brown
Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist -- Rihanna
Favorite Pop/Rock Band, Duo or Group -- Daughtry
Favorite Pop/Rock Album -- "As I Am" by Alicia Keys

Favorite Country Male Artist -- Brad Paisley
Favorite Country Female Artist -- Taylor Swift
Favorite Country Band, Duo or Group -- Rascal Flatts
Favorite Country Album -- "Carnival Ride" by Carrie Underwood

Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist -- Chris Brown
Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist -- Rihanna
Favorite Soul/R&B Album -- "As I Am" by Alicia Keys

This one isn't exactly music-related but the impact is potentially huge. As of today, the Metro Red Line is running until 3 a.m.. I know to you New York-types this doesn't seem like that big a deal, but to public-transportation-phobic Los Angeles, this is a tremendous step in the right direction.

This is more about photographs than it is about music, but these are photographs of musicians so I think it counts. Anyway, on Friday night the Zune Bar on Beverly is hosting the opening of Peter Beste's True Norwegian Black Metal exhibit.

If you remember, Beste just put out a book of the same name featuring his photos, which document the black metal scene in Norway. Obviously Norway is home to some of the craziest metal the world has ever seen, and Beste's photos do a great job of capturing it without being exploitative or ironic.

Full details on the party after the jump...

After years at the helm of one of the more influential radio programs in the country, KCRW's Nic Harcourt has left Morning Becomes Eclectic. Harcourt served as Music Director of the station and host of the daily program. It's basically been required listening for Angelenos for the last 10 years, and while the news comes as something of a shock, longtime listeners probably aren't all that surprised.

Harcourt increasingly found himself with extracurricular work, including voiceovers for Land Rover commercials and music supervision duties for movies and tv. And this seems to have directly led to his decision to leave the station. However, he will continue to host a show for three hours on Sunday nights.

According to KCRW's General Manager Ruth Seymour, the station is still trying to fill the music director position.