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| From | Not Lame <popmusic@notlame.com> |
| Subject | The Toms struggling to be heard on the A-list? |
| Date | Fri, 14 Oct 2005 12:52:14 -0600 |
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> Well, considering Tommy Marolda's wife is in fact named Maria
>
> (according to http://www.tommymarolda.com/photo_gallery/photo_gallery.htm
> ),
>
> I call SPAM!
>
> Just to prove she didn't just discover this band on a local college radio
> station, here she is using the same email address while plugging another
> Tommy Marolda release TWO YEARS AGO!
>
> http://www.excellent.addr.com/cgi-bin/atuforum/atuforum.cgi?read=4127
>
> This is the same kind of tacky false "advertising" the majors have been
> known to engage in -- trying to drum up business by having employees
> pretend to be fans who are so taken with a song that they just have to
> post about it somewhere.
>
> C'mon lady, give us a little credit. If you're shilling for your
> husband, be honest enough to admit it. Your feeble attempt at deception
> suggests you don't have much faith in the music to sell itself . . .
(long post coming, I respectfully ask to given 'the floor' for bit here)
Well, I don't know what is truly going in here, honestly and I'm not going
to judge it beyond looking at it from my own (biased)
perspective....*and*.....well, I'm empathetic w/ the possible struggle going
on here. Coming from the label that put out this classic example of truly
indie/DIY power pop out in 1997 and added a bonus disc this year, on the
A-list, sometimes going to this degree to talk about *indie* pop is what it
takes, however questionable. It's a big 'ole shame The Toms' release does
not get mentioned here.
Let's face it, Ring Ding/Ding Dongs (I'm forever a Drakes man, for the
record) aside, there's not a lot of interest going on here w/ what's going
on the small indie/DIY front and most folks associated with recording it,
putting out, or that maybe a fan of of much of it - it's not easy to make
anyone give a huge amount of the indie releases going on at any given time,
the time of day...or a few paragraphs. ;-P
I may be wrong, but has anyone mentioned The Toms substantively or not here
since it came out in June? At all? I try avoid self-promotion here for Not
Lame label releases and try and respect the natural development of threads
here. I may very well by wrong doing that. We have a LOT going on w/ new
releases, for example. A lot. And they all, arguably, deserve mention here,
at the least. Whether folks want to talk about them or not...that's up to
y'all.
So I see this all above and it kind of makes me think I should re-think my
trepidation w/ self-promoting the label here and just post quickly and give
it a better try. ( I do post relevant URL's w/ what we carry when they come
up in the natural flow of conversation, though. I'm not shy there). Other
labels do and it's obviously cool. So if you see me do that here in the
coming weeks, well, I'm not spamming.
Let me throw this out: Worthy of discussion here is that while it's
*perfectly* okay to Big Star, Madness, Liz Phair, Rockpile, Macca set
lists here (all of which are recent threads) but getting any thread on a
small indie release, DIY band to stick is a rare happening on the list.
Why is that?
Well, a board like this is a reflection of the people who populate it and
they speak w/ their energies in words typed. I just think it's a shame
it's not given more 'energy'. But you can't force folks to care about what
they don't care or are indifferent about. And ya know? Sometimes,
frankly, if I'm honest, a *lot* of it does not merit a lot of discussion,
either!
But here's an recent example I'll throw out: a new Sugarplastic CD comes
out? No stick. *why* is that? Well, man....THIS deserves some talking
about! The band has put out some really, really creative, excellent music
for 11 years running now. While, for my ears, their best releases are out
of print ("Radio Jejune" and "Bang Goes The World!") their body of work is
always challenging and when they 'hit' the target, boy do they hit it!
Sure, XTC inspired, derivative....but they do it better than any other band
trolling this field. An indie band worthy of a short thread of meaningful
discussion. We can talk about Ding Dongs/Ring Dings, a subject I find
wonderfully amusing as I take my junk food more seriously than I should, but
a cool new release by SP is overshadowed by it.
And, well "yes!", the Toms deserve a few postings about their music here
beyond the above email, imho. My biased opinion, obviously. But does opint
to how hard it is get indie music heard now because there is just too much
of it and the good stuff is plain just taken for granted. Why can't this
list do its part to doing a better job of bringing the better stuff out into
the light?
Or does the Audities try and birth a baby....another list that that focuses
more on more indie pop 'n music and see if there's interest there? Well,
why not, I'd say. Why can't the A-list, which has changed a lot over the 9
years I've been on it, spawn a little 'list-child' that evolves out of it?
To be clear, I'm trying not to criticize here, this is an observation and
opinion. And one others share, I'm guessing. And if you do share it,
well, post it. Let's talk a bit on the subject. Kindly. This is a
(hopeful) thread that deserves a bit of traction, in my humble opinion.
Peace,
Bruce
@ Not Lame
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