Nothing can save music retail stores

For a long time, I've trusted my local f.y.e. store so I could buy stockloads of cheap anime for low prices. However, my love for music stores is coming to an end.

F.y.e. has turned into a dump for scruffed up entertainment, defective electronic equipment and deceptive discount deals.

There was actually a time when music stores were the best shops in the area. The stores always kept some of the best stockpiles of pop, jazz and classical music. It actually was a place where entertainment geeks could relish themselves in peace with the music.

Of course, that was way back when stores such as Tower Records and The Wherehouse were at their prime. However, everybody hated the stores when they sold exclusive, copy-protected CDs in order to prevent people from copying solid music onto their computer. CDs such as the Foo Fighters' double-disc album suddenly became worthless artifacts of an ancient era.

The stores slowly dipped downhill from there. After Tower went out of business, f.y.e. took over the retail entertainment business with some truly deceptive discount deals. The store's backstage pass is a ripoff deal, in which consumers have to pay $10 every month. And now the store is keeping a whole collection of outdated mp3 and computer equipment that doesn't even work.

The store is desperately trying to regain ground in these awful economic times, but their unethical business practices are turning the music business into a corrupt world. Businesses are now searching for ways to cheat consumers out of their money.

I still believe in the value of the compact disc and the vinyl record. It's the most concrete way of keeping your own treasured copies of personal entertainment. Unfortunately, stores such as f.y.e. turned the retail business of CDs and DVDs into a cutthroat world of sucker punches and corruption.

However, maybe it's not fair to say that it's all f.y.e.'s fault. Retail stores just can't settle with selling only plain old entertainment anymore. They have to expand the variety of items in stock, but they can't win consumer confidence if they sell us defective items that are worthless.

As Nickelback once sang, they need a hero to save them, so that they can hold onto the wings of the eagle and watch as they all fly away. They need a miracle, but I don't think that'll ever happen for f.y.e.

Free Starbucks Tuesday Music - Delta Spirit

Every Tuesday, some Starbucks coffee houses give out free iTunes downloads on ittle paper cards by the pick-up counter. So every week, I'll present you some of the hip tunes that are available for free.

Today's selection is a song by Delta Spirit, a four-person, Americana rock band from Long Beach, California. They're a relatively new group, started in 2005 by Jonathan Jameson and Brandon Young, who played together in many other bands. I've seen this band pop up in a wide range of clubs in the area, including DiPiazza's.

Their selection from their second album, "Bushwick Blues," is an invigorating mix of stadium power chords and mellow vocals. It brings me great memories of the Kings of Leon in their heyday, before they tried to copy U2's overused style of epic rock.

The band is named after a company owned by Jameson's great uncle, the "Delta Spirit Taxidermy Station of North Central Alabama." They've toured with two pretty well-known indie bands, Cold War Kids and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Hopefully this download card will get the band some more recognition for their new album, "History from Below."

Here's a live acoustic version on YouTube.

Music reviews for the soul

It seems awkward for me to write about all my thoughts on music in a online journal-style thing, but I need all the writing practice I can get. This free online publication will be the perfect place to hone my uber music writing skills.

I'm not a stranger to music reviews. In fact, I've reviewed loads of pop music CDs for the Daily 49er at Cal State Long Beach. I'm a big aficianado of indie rock and rap music.

So anyhow, look forward to reading blog reviews of whatever music I can scrounge up with my meager allowance.

Just to give you a sense of what I like, here's a list of my five favorite albums, in no particular order:

1. Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique

This is a masterpiece, by every definition of the word. Everything in this album sounds like a trip through the Twilight Zone, from the random samples to the hard-hitting rhymes. I'm still waiting for the Dust Brothers to produce another Beastie Boys album to top this one.

2. Radiohead - Kid A

Radiohead morphed the entire alternative rock landscape with technological sounds that challenge the limits of popular rock. I can't stop listening to "Kid A," a marvelous blend of keyboards, subtle electronic sounds and vague lyrics about emotional instability.

3. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

If Radiohead is the British band of the new millennium, Wilco serves as a wonderful American alternative to Radiohead. This album proved that it's okay to blend American folk rock with the technological malaise of abstract techno.

4. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

I'd never even heard of this French band until the television commercials kept playing the band's single, "1901." This peppy band somehow manages to blend the catchiest pop rock with complex lyrics about their personal frustration with the economic recession.

5. M.I.A. - Arular

Although M.I.A.'s second album made her into a household name, Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam truly took over indie radio with her first album. In "Arular," M.I.A. samples loads of infectious dance beats and sound effects to musically express her opposition against ethnic cleansing and poverty around the world.




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