50 Foot Wave / Kristin Hersh

It's way better than those chunks of dung.

Mmmm, NOPE. (But Golden Ocean is awesome awesome awesome.)

Friday, June 10th
7th St. Entry

50 Foot Wave
Maps of Norway (my band)
The Slats

10 adv/12 door
Doors open 8pm, we probably won't go on until around 11 or so, maybe a little before...

local promotions for stuff kind of sucks, I didn't even know the show was happening until that day and I couldn't make it. blah.

haha no i'm not in 50 Foot Wave...I was in the local Mpls opener Maps of Norway.

In any case, the show went FANTASTIC.

Ned, a guy from the Current promo dept who was there doing there said Maps of Norway reminded him of the Chameleons, and I thought of you : )

Pretty much totally full....got to meet Kristen and the bass player dude (can't remember his name) who I think was in Throwing Muses as well....very nice folks.

People seemed to like us, and were at least paying attention and standing up front, which is nice for an opening band. Had a lot of fun.

Download, share, stream, blog, etc. Let's rock.

I was way too slow in getting a copy of Golden Ocean, finally did so last month. Predictably fab.

I think I prefer David N's drumming, but the 50 Foot guy flails away most enjoyably.

The band will be offering FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) files as well as hi-resolution mp3 files. The band is also encouraging fans to seed BitTorrents and set up CD burning trees to ensure that people without time or technology may also receive the free music.

The band states its goal as simply to circumvent the 'money cycle' and get high quality (free) recordings into the hands of a maximum number of people for evaluation at their leisure.
[...]
The band's manager, Billy O'Connell, says, "The capacity for reaching new ears with unknown music has become so diminished that we felt we had to try a new approach. It has become prohibitively expensive to reach people via traditional marketing means (radio, press, retail promotion) - lately, CD distribution costs and even touring costs have gone through the roof.

"This project is simply attempting to tap the power of the network -- we're asking individuals for their enthusiasm rather than their money. It's an experiment we're eager to see play out."

The band's founder, Kristin Hersh, explains, "Money has so polluted the music world that my overwhelming urge right now is to divorce money from recorded music. Over the last 2 years we've been relying on standard 'industry' channels to help us educate listeners about 50 Foot Wave and we've met resistance every step of the way -- caused by little other than money -- and to an extent I've never seen before.

"So we're sending free recordings off into the world to do their work. If people enjoy these songs and are excited by them, we ask that they share them with others. The music business is about fame and huge profits -- egos and greed -- music itself, is not."

Kristin's son Dylan finally has a band of his own, too. Good Morning L.A., I think they're called.

http://www.throwingmusic.com/freemusic/FreeMusicPhotos/FreeMusicPhoto2small.jpg

apparently there's a new kristin solo album out in january!

It's called "Learn To Sing Like A Star." Cute song title: "Christian Hearse" (actually a short interlude of her son playing guitar or something like that).

the grotto has become one of my favourites. i've been playing a lot of the songs myself on my electric w/ distortion and tremolo which makes them sound wonderfully spooky. they're incredible songs for pacing and dynamics, esp. 'deep wilson'

Here's a picture I took of KH outside the ICA 13 years ago (at the 13-Year Itch show! Blimey - another decade and a third just went by) - just after she'd dyed her hair for the first time.

http://static.flickr.com/53/133765068_db3e168a92.jpg

in-studio with new songs

i interviewed kristin over the phone a few days ago. she's easily, i mean like far and away, the nicest, funniest and most instantly likeable famous person i have ever encountered. which makes it all the better when you see her walk onstage and start screaming like she's possessed.
-- J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, September 4, 2006 7:21 AM (9 months ago) Bookmark Link

i love that. why is she the nicest ever?

i'm just now listening to 50 Foot Wave, and loving it. I'm not surprised, really, but it's always amazing how much she puts out.

the songs on this are off the hook, but i keep wondering why the vocals aren't louder - i know sometimes she does that, but on this first listen i'm really wishing i could hear some of the words better.

Kristin's son Dylan finally has a band of his own, too.

!??!!? OK Liz Fraser's daughter singing with Mahogany, and now this. Grumble. Olllld.

everything this band has ever done is now available for free at http://50footwave.cashmusic.org/ including a pretty spectacular new ep called power+light. /streetteam

Apparently not free anymore. A shame that you have to go through this to get the new stuff. When our inevitable 00s poll comes around, I will be repping HARD for Golden Ocean.

what? it's all still there, just click "free music" at the address upthread. or if you just want power + light, right click "mp3".

Apparently everything she does is released under a Creative Commons licence these days, downloadable in 128kbp mp3, 256 kbp mp3 or FLAC, with cover and (!!) mix parts, one's work on which can be uploaded to the so-called "rw" (read/write) section... songs for next album made available as they are recorded etc -- this is a pretty awesome way of doing stuff I think!

Oh jeez, the night I was so drunk I couldn't download free music.

lol the beautiful struggle

I will be repping HARD for Golden Ocean.

yeah, fuckin fantastic record that

She's good value on Twitter btw. One of the few musicians worth following.

She's the only "celeb" I follow thesedays. And you, obv, Dorian.

golden Ocean is just like, really good and straightforward. kinda wish the vocals were mixed higher.

her twitter! i need to get on this

Yeah, her Twitter is awesome. She's DMed me a few times in response to things I've written to her, so assuming I'm not special, she's good about the interaction and not just posting to hear herself talk.

My personal assesment of Golden Ocean is that it is what Nevermind wished it was.

Oh, and some of the works in progress available here:

https://www.kristinhersh.com/Releases/50-foot-wave_night-blooming/

More at same link now?

grungy goodness.

new fippy foop: https://soundcloud.com/hhbtm-records/50-foot-wave-gods-not-a-dick

uhh how did i not realize this band until now

feel like an idiot. wow incredible songs. she's like 60?? just wow

she's only 57! and is probably one of the most prolific artists working today... Throwing Muses album in 2020, 50 Foot Wave album in 2022, solo album in 2023, plus she writes amazing books!

been a throwing muses / solo fan for years - the prolific-ness is quite insane. def enjoyed the 2020 muses record, will check out the solo from last year.

i keep finding that my gratitude for Kristin will not relent