Covering Old Gospel Songs: There is a Fountain Fill'd With Blood

   I don't listen to religious music, but it's hard to deny the Audience- Christian Rock, need I say more?  For the secular Artist there are issues incorporating Religious themes in secular music, but it's been done, over and over again, by rock artists, with huge rewards (U2).   I think the way to go is by either using old Gospel song lyrics/generally taking advantage of the 2000 year old Christian song writing tradition.  There are lots of "cool" old Gospel type songs- here's one it's called, "There is a fountain fill'd with blood."  How great is that?

Sampling Drums and Horns From National Jukebox Recordings

  I was watching the new Major-Lazer sampling Beyonce Video over on VEVO, and it caused on me to reflect on the nature of diverse source materials being recycled in the context of pop songs.

 Part of the endless quest for novelty is finding forgotten or ignored recorded music and taking elements that can be repurposed for popular consumption.  To take Beyonce's example, the Major Lazer sample is what you would call "dance hall": an influential genre on musicians but that influence is hardly matched by sales.

  One of the aspects of Dance Hall that I like is the military style drumming.  Listen to the Beyonce drum beat, and then listen to this charmer: The Battle of Killiecrankie:




   Tell me you couldn't put this drum beat right into a Beyonce cut.  Bring the bagpipe along for good measure.  Unlike most of early 20th century Popular Music, Marches had a quick drum beat, even if they lack syncopation.

Insound's Top Sellers of 2011 Now 15% Off!

   If you are wondering where to go to get all the hot, new, limited edition vinyl releases, you can do NO BETTER then the lovely folks at Insound.com (owned by Warner Bros.)  I know, from all the many, many orders I've personally placed with them that they are reliable and trustworthy, and that your record will make it to  you as quickly then as if you ordered directly from the source.

  They also run cool promotions, like this week's offer of 15% off the the Top 52 Sellers of 2011 so far.  There are some good titles up there-why don't you go take a look:

INSOUND TOP SELLERS OF 2011 15% OFF PROMOTION

Using Last.fm As A Measure of Audience Interest in Specific Music Artists

   The music business has always been obsessed with statistics and measurement, perhaps because the nature of the music industry means that music industry professionals have little or no day-to-day contact with the mass audience they seek for their products.

   Historically, Audience measurement has been more art then science, and it remains so today, however there are now many ways to measure Audience interest in a specific Artists and compare.

   Today, the overall Audience for a specific Artist can be divided into "paid" and "non-paid" categories.  In the past, most measurements of Audience for a specific Artist involved record sales, but clearly, the sheer volume of "non-paid" activity, whether it be stealing or using low per use services like Spotify, makes it important that the Audience contain those who listen to the Artist but don't pay for their recordings.

  Last.fm is useful because they keep updated statistics for "plays" and "listeners" allowing you to see both the total world wide fan base and the number of times the "average" listener plays tracks by that Artist.  Last.fm is popular in many markets where theft outruns sales, so it is easier to get a handle of how a rising Artist might be received on tour in exotic markets.

  Last.fm was introduced in 2002, and obtained widespread use after that, so the number of plays works better for new Artists- all Artists who sold records prior to 2002 are getting screwed, relatively speaking.  However, it's important to note that some of those Artists, particuarly pre-Rock or Rock era Stars, are really hurt by the recency of the Last.fm statitics, whereas bands from The Beatles forward seem to have held their position (the Beatles have 300 million spins on last.fm, and a listener average of 250 tracks per listener.


     Last.fm is a useful tool to quantify world wide Audience  interest in a particular Artist.  As a general rule, ANY progression is an achievement for a specific Artist.  For example, getting to 10 thousand is a definite win.  Getting to fifty thousand means that people are paying attention.  A hundred thousand is typically a band with a record or two out and some touring.  A half million is the benchmark for an active, professional band and the margins of success.  Anything beyond a million for an active band is a band where the members are possibly deriving a living.  More then five million spins is an Artist doing pretty well.  More then ten million spins is an Artist who has a record "on the charts."  Twenty million up is current chart favorites and hit makers of the past.   Very few Artists have 100 million or more.(Kanye West has 98 million, for example.)
  

Dirty Beaches Sort of Covers *When the Music's Over* by the Doors

  I USED TO GO TO SHOWS/
NOW I WATCH YOU TUBE VIDEOS.

  I'm just saying this is sort of a cover because he's only using the most famous lyric "We want the world and we want it now."  It actually sounds nothing like the Door's song *When the Music's Over.*

TECHNOPHYSIO EVOLUTION

Book Review
The Changing Body: Health, Nutrition, and Human Development in the Western World since 1700
by Roderick Floud, Robert W. Fogel, Bernard Harris, and Sok Chul Hong
New Approaches to Economic and Social History/
National Bureau of Economic Research Series on Long-Term Economic Development
p. 2011

    I suspect that this book will be considered notable for a number reasons. Perhaps the best shot Changing Body has for immortal glory is the coinage of the term "technophysio evolution" as a short-hand for the tremendous changes in human body dimensions in the last 12-15 generations (the "since 1700" of the sub-title.)  The POINT of Changing Body is to PROVE that human beings have gotten bigger and healthier over the last 400 years as a result of better nutrition and public health improvements (i.e. sanitation.)  It will perhaps disappoint many "obesity epidemic" obsessives that Changing Body does not focus more on the problem of 'over-nutrition' that has risen to prominence in public health debates in the United States over the last few years, but this book is more about showing the long trend, a trend which is overwhelmingly positive as measured by any possible metric.

   Changing Body does not lack for statistics or metrics.  In fact, the main reason that you can read this 350 page book in a couple of hours is that HUNDREDS of pages are occupied by the kind of statistics that you need an undergraduate degree in statistics or a professional degree in statistics based social sciences to fully comprehend.  That ain't me, though, so without the statistics you are left with the discussion of statistics and the summary.

  So, without further ado, here are the money observations:

1.   The most effective way to improve the health of the population as a whole is making sure pregnant women get fed properly, that they give birth properly and that the resulting children get fed until they are about five years old.  After that: pffft.  Fuck em.   Off...to...the...factory.

2.  Governments are useful in solving large scale public health problems like 'lack of sanitation' and "chronic diseases caused by swamps."  On the other hand, "private enterprise" is mentioned prominently in regards to public health challenges like "smoking."

3.  Human height and weight is determined by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, but the experience of the UK, Europe and United States all point to the fact that positive environment can overwhelm any genetic input within two to three generations.  This is most specifically illustrated by the weight and height gains by immigrant populations in the United States within the past fifty years.  In contemporary debate this fact often is taken from a negative perspective (i.e. in the childhood obesity dialogue.) but the tenor of the discussion in Changing Bodies is that this has been a hugely positive event, with "over nutrition" being a problem of very recent vintage.

4.  TECHNOPHYSIO EVOLUTION is an alternative way to describe the recent changes to the human body being more attributable to environment instead of genetics.  Based on current genetic theory, 400 years is too short a period for genetics to be altered significantly by Darwinian concepts like "natural selection."  Indeed, one of the main aspects of technophysio evolution is that it takes effect WITHIN a specific age group or "cohort."  One of the outstanding aspects of the statistics in Changing Bodies is the way they show that a single age group will improve on different measurements as they grow older, like they are larger at birth, they are taller at adult hood, they are healthier as seniors and they stay healthier for a longer period.

5.  Changing Bodies does not wholeheartedly subscribe to a "Whiggish" (progressive) historical viewpoint, even though the long time horizon biases the authors towards positive observations.  The authors seem to point to an "optimal" average height as about 6'1" for men an 5'9" for women: After that point health statistics do not demonstrate further improvement.  The maximum "average" human life time is stated as 130.  Obviously there are a lot of issues with establishing an upper limit to human life time since we haven't reached it.