Epitonic New Music Newsletter: Vol. 5, No. 4 'FCC Paves the Way for More Media Consolidation'
06/02/03
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News and Updates

A handful of terrific updates appeared on Epitonic this past week, all of which are featured in this week's newsletter along with some other interesting bands. Make sure to watch the site next week, when we'll have many more updates as well as some cool contests.


FCC Relaxes Media Ownership Rules

This morning in a close 3-2 vote along party lines, the Federal Communications Commission authorized a set of sweeping changes to American media that eliminate many current media ownership restrictions. The new deregulation opens the door still wider for monopoly media interests, allowing a new wave of corporate buyouts and mergers and still further reducing the number of corporations which control your access to news and information. Conservative and liberal groups alike recognize this for what it is: a profound threat to the heart of American democracy, which could have a deleterious effect on the diversity of opinions which makes our society thrive.

  • For more information and resources, read our article about the FCC rule changes: FCC Ruling Looms

  • If you want to contact your elected representative about the issue, check out MoveOn.org's Stop the FCC campaign
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
"Crowning of a Heart" by ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
This Austin, Texas foursome lives up to its lengthy, fearsome name with awe-inspiring sonic ambition. Trail of Dead abandons indie rock formulas in favor of building awesome, precarious towers of sound that are like nothing you've ever heard before.

Dntel
"(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan (Lali Puna Remix)" by Dntel
This odd blend of glitchy electronics, melancholic ambience, and variety of voices from indie rock's upper class makes for a most decompressing listening experience.

Josef K
"It's Kinda Funny" by Josef K
Scotland's Josef K represents one of the crucial links between the punk explosion and the birth of indie pop as we now think of it. Echoes of their singularly gloomy but cheerful brank of dancey post-punk-pop can still be heard in much of the music being made today.

Crispy Ambulance
"Bardo Plane" by Crispy Ambulance
Less celebrated but no less excellent than some of their Factory Records post-punk label mates of the early '80s, Crispy Ambulance has come out of retirement in the new millennium to offer more of the same engagingly dark and rough-hued rhythmic guitar rock that distinguished them the first time round.

Virgil Shaw
"Clock on the Wall" by Virgil Shaw
Singer-songwriter Virgil Shaw emerges from the acclaimed and wacked-out counry-rock band Dieselhed to paint wistful watercolor portraits of rural life at dusk, of the dusty empty highways of the heart, with his delicate, personal folk songs.

The Dishes
"Dirty Highway" by The Dishes
The Dishes don't mess around. They offer up raw rock and roll -- straight, no chaser. Once you gulp it down you remember how much you missed it and all you want is more.

Crooked Fingers
"When U Were Mine" by Crooked Fingers
Fans of Eric Bachmann's old band, the angular and dissonant Chapel Hill combo Archers of Loaf, may be surprised by his new solo project, Crooked Fingers, which sees Bachmann turn his sights toward bluesy down-home roots music, to stunning effect.

Quix*o*tic
"Ice Cream Sundae" by Quix*o*tic
The askew pop of DC's Quix*o*tic hints at Christina Bilotte's previous punk band Slant 6, but stays very mellow, minimal, and eerie.

Microphones
"The Moon" by Microphones
A swirling miasma of dreamy pop and fuzzy noise. Microphones construct small, essential vignettes, carnival music for a shuttered, fog-enshrouded boardwalk.

LCD Soundsystem
"Beat Connection" by LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem's blend of get-down disco, jittery new wave, and raw funk creates the ultimate electroclash experience, which will get the most uptight stiff running for the dance floor to join in the revolution.

Daedelus
"Quiet Now (with Busdriver)" by Daedelus
Santa Monica-based Daedelus is a representative of the new breed of bedroom artists, a cut-and-paste wizard with his thumb on the pulse of the future. His whimsical brand of abstract electronic is deeply nostalgic for bygone eras while maintaining a stunning originality that looks decades ahead.

Adult.
"Nite Life" by Adult.
The enigmatic Detroit duo Adult. are boundary pushers of the highest order, orchestrating a spectacular collision between synth-based electro sounds and punk ethics, and doing so with compelling insouciance and swaggering panache.

Enon
"Natural Disasters" by Enon
Enon sounds so different and so good, its easy to imagine history viewing them as progenitors of a whole new popular music movement with a name like "New New Wave" or "Millennial Pop." Their blending of college rock and collage rock is one of the more exciting developments in independent music in recent memory.

Groove Armada
"M 2 Many" by Groove Armada
Groove Armada fuse latter day funk with modern day technology from their studio embedded deep in the English countryside. Their hearthside house has been the subject of much media hype, and for good reason.

The Maxwell Implosion
"L'Homme en Peluche (Interference Mix)" by The Maxwell Implosion
This German DJ and his international stable of assistants sets the laidback, sensual mood for the ultimate hipster's cocktail ball with a swanky signature style that encompasses funk, bossa nova, soul, jazz, downtempo, and more.