Griff says; Dear Motorist, a boy needs a bike

Hello, Streetlampers. I've got something for the cycling fraternity tonight - it's an article first published in France in September 1973 under the title "L’idéologie sociale de la bagnole" in the magazine Le Sauvage. Written under the pen name André Gorz it was the work of Gérard Horst, an Austrian and French social philosopher and journalist who was originally an advocate of Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialist version of Marxism until after the May '68 student riots in France where he became more concerned with political ecology and environmentalism.

More commonly known under the title of 'Dear Motorist' in English speaking countries, and circulated in pamphlet form, the article delivers a devastating critique of the Western world's ideological obsession with the motor-car and has become a firm favourite in anarchist and cycling circles over the years. Here's a taster:

Why is the car treated like a sacred cow? Why, unlike other "privative" goods, isn't it recognised as an antisocial luxury? The answer should be sought in the following two aspects of driving:


1.    Mass motoring effects an absolute triumph of bourgeois ideology on the level of daily life. It gives and supports in everyone the illusion that each individual can seek his or her own benefit at the expense of everyone else.

2.    The automobile is the paradoxical example of a luxury object that has been devalued by its own spread. But this practical devaluation has not yet been followed by an ideological devaluation.


Interested in reading more? I hope so, as The Streetlamp have got a free pdf of Dear Motorist available for download 'here'. This came about as I was looking for a version of the pamphlet online recently and realised that the site which used to have it was no longer available.  Other sites did have it, but not as an easy to read pdf, so I decided that, given our recent success posting an anarchist cookbook for free download, we might as well give you this as well.

Now, of course, the obvious question is; "What music should you listen to while you're reading Dear Motorist?" Well, we here at The Streetlamp would like to recommend a recent single release by our old friends over at EardrumsPop. For newcomers to the Streetlamp we should explain that EardrumsPop is a netlabel specialising in warm and melodic folk-pop and indie-pop. The label is famous for working in close and sympathetic collaboration with musicians and illustrators to produce unique and beautiful pop artefacts which are all available on a free download basis. What could be better than that? As they say over at EardrumsPop:

"We believe in beautiful things you can see and hear, and we believe in working together, helping each other and getting good music and good art out to the public."

The particular digital single we'd like to recommend was released on September 12th and is by Kids on Bikes. Kids on Bikes is the electronic-surf-folk music project from illustrator, musician, surfer, skateboarder and bike-enthusiast Sean Mahan. For the past 10 years Kids On Bikes has been working on the forthcoming record set “77 songs of cycling”, an epic 4 LP veneration of Schwinn Stingrays, Raleigh collapsibles, and powder blue beach cruisers. Sean writes each song as an introspective adoration of the many wondrous aspects of getting on a bike. So , if you want three sweet and delicate popsongs, all with a bike-theme, look no further.


Kids On Bikes - ePop026 by EardrumsPop



The above digital single can be downloaded 'here'. If you're interested in Sean's work as an illustrator you may also want to visit his site 'here'.

Visual art, indie-pop, cycling, anarchism and creative commons downloads! I believe I've just hit the Streetlamp jackpot.

Griff
xx

Griff says; Saddle up for Lowpines

Back when we first started this blog we used to regularly point you in the direction of the wonderful, creative commons, indiepop netlabel EardrumsPop. For some reason, however, we seem to have rather neglected their output of late and I intend to make up for that tonight by reminding you of their presence by presenting their latest, free new single. The single in question is called 'Give Me A Horse' by the band Lowpines. From what I can gather, Lowpines is a duo consisting of Oli Deakon and Lyla Foy (pictured).

 Extreme indie-music anoraks might recognise both of those names in connection with Adventure Club Records. This is a label self-run by musicians, and over the last few years they have posted several free albums up in bandcamp by bands such as Bear Driver, Binko Swink, Olfar, Ian Williams & The Dead Flowers, Lee Scholfield and Brent Newman & The Broken Arrows.
Deakon and Foy were, of course, both in Olfar. Both, as far as I know, also continue to play play seperately in other bands - Foy in Binko Swink and Deakon in Bear Driver. The Adventure Time sound is generally in the Wilco/Sparklehorse mode. Namely, introspective and melancholy alt-Americana of the sort I've featured on these pages many times before. It'll be no surprise to learn then that the Lowpines single also fits that desription. Have a listen below:


LOWPINES - Give me a horse from EardrumsPop, the label on Vimeo.


As usual, the Eardrums download package contains; two other songs by the band, one of which is a cover of It's Not Happening by The Be Good Tanyas, a beautifully produced booklet, and a wonderfully illustrated cover art image. On this occasion, the artist is Sean Mahan.

Once you've paid a visit to the EardrumsPop page, please take some time to explore the various bands on Adventure Club Records, most of whom also have numerous songs available as free digital downloads.

Griff
xx

Griff says; Ready, Aim, Fireflies!

This month seems like a good time to bring the music of Lisle Mitnik to your attention. Lisle has been a presence on myspace since 2004 and throughout the last six years he has been steadily releasing his self-produced, twee, lo-fi, dreampop under the name of Fireflies. In September, Fireflies also became a presence on bandcamp. Currently, Fireflies have three albums and two EPs up on the site and you'll be delighted to learn that the EPs; 'Strange' from March 2008 and 'Butterscotch' from March 2009 are available as free digital downloads (the albums are also very reasonably priced).






The good news is that Fireflies attempt to grab the attention of the indie-pop world continues apace during October. I'd like to introduce you now to the Bubbletone Club 7 Digital Singles Club. What is it? Well, essentially, on the first day of every month Bubbletone release one, sometimes two, freely downloadable digital single(s). That's right, just like a seven inch single, except for the inches. So go ahead grab one for free right here, it's all yours. Enjoy and share with your friends and family. The Fireflies tracks featured are 'New November Leaves' and 'Pale Flashing Light'. We here at the Streetlamp are especially fond of the latter. Have a listen below:



And there's more! As you will hopefully be aware the lovely people at EardrumsPop have recently made a commitment to release a free digital single on the 10th and 20th of every month. Every single will include two songs by the band, and in addition several will include a cover-version of a song the band think deserves more attention. The cover art will be made by the label's favourite illustrators, and they would like the public to see the single as a split-release between the band and the illustrator. For this release the beautiful cover illustration comes courtesy of Minkee. The singles will vary in style, from acoustic folk-songs to noisy indiepop and covering everything in between, but always warm and melodic. The 10th of October saw the release of ePop005 by Tiny Fireflies. You may remember Tiny Fireflies featuring on EardrumsPop’s 'Between Two Waves' compilation earlier this year. Basically, Tiny Fireflies are Lisle (from Fireflies) and Kristine (from Tiny Microphone). Indie know-alls may also recognise that both are also members of Chicago-based weePOP! band Very Truly Yours. Those self-same indie know-alls will also recognise three superbly crafted dreamy pop-songs when they hear them and will rush to download this here. My own personal favourite on the single is the otherworldly cover of 'The End of The World' but then I've had a soft spot for this particular song for a very long time. Have a listen:
Tiny Fireflies - ePop005 - digital single by EardrumsPop



So there you go, two brand new releases and a wonderful back catalogue to boot. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Fireflies (and Tiny Fireflies)!

Enjoy.

Griff
xx

Griff says; 'It's time to make your Eardrums Pop!'

Today I'd like to introduce you to the wonder that is EardrumsPop. Basically, it's my favoutite net-label and is closely related to the music blog Eardrums. Their mission statement reads;

“We love warm and melodic music of all kinds, we believe in beautiful things you can see and hear, and we believe in working together, helping each other and getting good music and good art out to the public. We do not believe in money, so all our releases are given away for free. We HOPE that instead of paying for these releases directly, you can visit the websites of the bands you like, buy their albums, go to their concerts or most importantly, just spread the word about these wonderful bands and artists. All our releases are made in close collaboration with the artists and illustrators. A donation to a charity of your choice is also a good way to pay for our compilations. Do something good!”

By now, I hope you’ll have realised that these are the same principals, or at least broadly similar, that drives our own little project here at ‘The Streetlamp’.

The newest Eardrums project is the excellent 'Between two Waves’. I’m a little late in telling you about this as it was officially released on April 19th but I’m sure you’ll forgive me the lapse when you hear what’s on offer. 'Between two Waves’ is the fourth compilation-project from EardrumsPop. Knut, the founder and living heartbeat of Eardrums, started this latest project based on an idea that it would be interesting to start a creative process between bands, specifically he wanted to see what the result would be when two bands created something new together. To further extend the collaborative aspect of the project, two of the artworks are made as collaborations between illustrators
The project consists of 3 volumes each with a slight difference in style.

Volume A contains 14 songs and is definitely a POP volume.

COVER ART for ‘Between Two Waves – Volume A ’ BY Seniorita Polyester and Roller Monkey (collaboration)

Volume B contains 12 songs and is quite acoustic, relaxed and folky. (this is Griff’s favourite)

COVER ART for ‘Between Two Waves – Volume B’ BY Julia Pax and Ronald Scharf (collaboration)

Volume C contains 14 songs and is a bit dreamy and jangly.

COVER ART for ‘Between Two Waves – Volume C’ BY DANIEL NOVAKOVIC

Most of the bands have chosen new names for their projects, so you may not recognize the band names at first, but look at the free tracklist in the beautiful booklet which comes with Volume A and you will see who is behind the projects. Lots of interesting artists!
You can download the free 3 volume album 'here' (40 songs, 40 collaborations, 80 bands)

If you’d like to listen before you do your free download, you can stream the songs below. Never mind the buy-link in the music-player, – the album is only available for free, and clicking it will take you to the eardrumspop.com website.

Between Two Waves - Volume AbyEardrumsPop

Between Two Waves - Volume BbyEardrumsPop

Between Two Waves - Volume CbyEardrumsPop

Top quality free music! You may be thinking; What’s the catch?. Quite simply there isn’t one. I’ll let Knut explain in his own words;

“I am often asked ‘Why do you do everything for free?’. The answer is that we reach a lot more people that way, and one of our main goals is to spread the word about good bands we think deserve more listeners. With a paid model, we might reach 1000 people, maybe, but now we reach a lot more. Our most downloaded compilation has been downloaded over 17000 times! It’s also a lot easier not having to take care of economy, and to be honest, money is not one of life’s prettiest things. We have expenses for servers and stuff, but not more than we can handle. As it is now, we’re very satisfied doing things for free.”

Amen, to that!