We're fighting through another cold week here in Central Wisconsin by bringing you some hot tunes this week from fresh new artists like Nakatomi Plaza, featured below. Let me know if you've got any requests for coverage or if there's someone out there I should be listening to by contacting me at truthandmusic@yahoo.com.
Terror network: For today's marketers, desperate times call for desperate measures
By Adam Hanft for the Boston Globe
Last week, there was a successful terrorist attack in Boston. The perpetrators were Turner Broadcasting and the Cartoon Network, and they succeeded in hijacking something that every American holds dear: our attention. For a moment, Scooter and Baghdad and Mary Cheney's pregnancy were shoved aside by a talking milk shake, fries, and meatball.There's nothing at all complicated about the desperate ideology that hatched this plan, dispersed 38 LED devices across the city, and splattered "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" across our cultural windshield. It's an ideology fueled by a fear of irrelevancy. As jaded consumers grow resistant to conventional messages and techniques, marketing becomes terrorism by other means.
The theory is simple. If a commercial message is "ambient" -- meaning, in the industry jargon, that it's expressed through an unexpected medium in an unexpected place, say a device stuck on an overpass -- it's more likely to sneak past our mental screening devices and warning systems. In this way, the Cartoon Network is not alone; it's actually just one of many thousands of marketing jihadists dreaming up new ways to get around our perceptual defenses, whether the message is painted on foreheads ("headvertising") or calling out to us from an airplane tray table.
But what happened last week was more than a reaction to the hardening of consumer defenses. It was also a reaction to profound changes in the way media is consumed. Time and place are shifting, audience segments are turning into shards, and media people are starting to sound like the Joint Chiefs, speaking of "non-linearity" and "asynchronous" strategies.
So don't blame the Cartoon Network for last week's panic. Blame the remote control, the Internet, PlayStation, TiVo, Slingbox, and every other attention-fragmenting technology. After all, if viewers were watching TV the way they were meant to, curled up on the couch and doing just one thing at one time instead of indulging in promiscuous multitasking, there would have been no need for the Cartoon Network to go to all that trouble...[READ MORE]
Music News
OKKERVIL RIVER RE-RELEASE BLACK SHEEP BOY, AT WORK IN THE STUDIO,
ANNOUNCE SXSW PERFORMANCE
(Press Release)While some of the news coming from the Okkervil River camp is sad,
today, we're packed with exciting new information!
But first the bad news. As you may already know, Will Sheff has been forced to cancel his late-February/early-March solo tour in support of Josh Ritter due to a lost voice and some doctor's orders not to strain - or really even use - his vocal cords.
While it's disappointing that Will won't be participating on this tour, it's way more important for him to make a full recovery so that he's able to use his voice in the studio, as Okkervil River is currently working with producer Brian Beattie ("Black Sheep Boy," "Don't Fall In Love With Everyone You See") on songs for their much-anticipated follow-up to "Black Sheep Boy." The new album is due for release later this year.
Additionally, we're thrilled to announce the re-release of "Black Sheep Boy (Definitive Edition)". This deluxe 2xCD package includes both "Black Sheep Boy" and "Black Sheep Boy Appendix", as well as the song "The Next Four Months" (originally released on the "For Real" CD single), the "For Real" video, and a new video of a magical alternate slower take of "No Key, No Plan". It will come packaged with a big fat booklet and a gold-embossed sleeve. Combining style and substance like never before, this release does Okkervil proud. It'll be released on March 6.
Music
Featured Artist: Nakatomi Plaza
Nakatomi Plaza - "The Strikes"
Nakatomi Plaza - "Not Hopeless"
Wisconsinites, you can catch Nakatomi Plaza February 24 in Beloit, WI at Pearson's Hall @ Beloit College (700 College St.)w/ Modern Life Is War.
Nakatomi Plaza website
Featured Artist: Mixel Pixel
Download "Coming Up X's" (mp3)
from "Music For Plants"
by Mixel Pixel
Kanine Records
Buy at 
Buy at 
Download "Scorch" (mp3)
from "Moments In Movement"
by Macromantics
Kill Rock Stars
My Bloody Valentine - "Lose My Breath"
AC Newman - "Miracle Drug"
Lily Allen - "Friday Night"
Sigur Ros - "Untitled 8 (Pop Song)"