This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject , potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral.(August 2020) |
Type of site | MP3 blog |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Owner | Sean Michaels |
URL | www.saidthegramophone.com |
Commercial | No |
Launched | 2003 |
Current status | Active |
Said the Gramophone is an mp3 blog launched in 2003, one of the first of its type. Founded by Montreal novelist Sean Michaels, as of 2016 the site is maintained with contributions by poet Emma Healey, zine-maker Jeff Miller and Mitz Takahashi. Its past editors were Toronto-based actor Dan Beirne (2004 to 2014), and Jordan Himelfarb (2004 to 2012), who subsequently became an editor at the Toronto Star. [1]
Said the Gramophone is strongly associated with Montreal's indie-rock scene. The site charted the rise of bands like Arcade Fire, [2] Wolf Parade [3] and Tune-Yards [4] and has been credited with introducing them to a wider audience.[ citation needed ] It was also among the first outlets to write about Beirut, [5] Nicolas Jaar, [6] Basia Bulat, Yeasayer, [7] Feist, [8] and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. [9] [10]
Besides its longevity, Said the Gramophone has been recognized for its "inventive, literary style" [11] — using metaphor, anecdote and even short fiction to describe the way a song "feels" to the listener. [12] It is also notable for the way it has never accepted advertising, subsisting on occasional funding drives from its readers. In 2009, Time Magazine selected Said the Gramophone as one of the 25 best blogs in the world. [13]
Guest contributors to the blog have included Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear, Beirut, Silver Jews, novelist Jonathan Lethem, and critics Sasha Frere-Jones and Carl Wilson, among many others. [14]
Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's touring line-up also includes former core member Sarah Neufeld and multi-instrumentalists Paul Beaubrun, Dan Boeckner and Eric Heigle. Each of the band's studio albums features contributions from composer and violinist Owen Pallett.
An MP3 blog is a type of blog in which the creator makes music files, normally in the MP3 format, available for download. They are also known as musicblogs, audioblogs or soundblogs. MP3 blogs have become increasingly popular since 2003. The music posted ranges from hard-to-find rarities that have not been issued in many years to more contemporary offerings, and selections are often restricted to a particular musical genre or theme. Some musicblogs offer music in Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) or Ogg formats.
Richard Reed Parry is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, best known as a core member of the Grammy Award-winning indie rock band Arcade Fire, where he plays a wide variety of instruments, often switching between guitar, double bass, drums, celesta, keyboards, and accordion.
Tim Kingsbury is a Canadian musician and member of the indie rock band Arcade Fire. He plays bass guitar, guitar, and occasionally keyboards.
Howard Bilerman is a Canadian musician, sound engineer, and record producer based in Montreal, Quebec. He co-owns the hotel2tango recording studio, and played drums for the band Arcade Fire.
Antonia Zerbisias is a Canadian journalist associated with the Toronto Star from 1989 until she took early retirement from the paper on 31 October 2014. She has been a reporter and TV host for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as well as the Montreal correspondent for the trade paper, Variety.
Michael James Owen Pallett-Plowright, known professionally as Owen Pallett, is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist. Under their former pseudonym Final Fantasy, Pallett won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album He Poos Clouds. Pallett is also known for their contributions to Arcade Fire, having toured with the band and been credited as an arranger and instrumentalist on each of their studio albums. In January 2014, Pallett and Arcade Fire member William Butler were nominated for Best Original Score at the 86th Academy Awards for their original score of the film Her (2013).
Wolf Parade is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 2003 in Montreal. The band released three full-length albums before taking a five-year hiatus in 2011. They announced their return in 2016, releasing a self-titled EP in May of that year, and a fourth studio album, Cry Cry Cry, in October 2017. Their fifth studio album, Thin Mind, was released on January 24, 2020.
POP Montreal is an annual music festival occurring in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the early fall, usually at the end of September or the beginning of October. More than 400 bands are scheduled to play in more than 50 venues across the city, mostly located in the Mile End area. Along with music, POP Montreal has music-related film, art events as well as a conference and a cultural fair called Puces Pop. The initial festival in 2002 saw 80 musical acts performing in 40 venues around Saint Laurent Boulevard.
Sasquatch! Music Festival was an annual music festival held at The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington, United States. It took place on Memorial Day weekend, running for three to four days.
New York Noise is a one-hour indie-rock music video television program which aired from 2003–2009 on NYC Media in New York and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. It was created, produced, and edited by Shirley Braha and funded by New York City under the Bloomberg administration. The show was "devoted to music videos, live footage, and high jinx from bands that ride the L train." It is no longer in production since the station's rebranding in 2010, despite a petition and campaign which attempted to save it.
Dan Boeckner is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist and podcaster. He is best known as one of the frontmen of Wolf Parade, which he helped found in 2003. Since 2013, he has also been a member of the Montreal-based band Operators. Boeckner began his career in the Victoria, Canada music scene, playing in multiple bands including Atlas Strategic. Since that time, he has been part of projects including Handsome Furs and Divine Fits with Spoon frontman Britt Daniel.
Yeasayer was an American experimental rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2006. The band consisted of Chris Keating, Ira Wolf Tuton, and Anand Wilder. They announced their split on December 19, 2019.
At Mount Zoomer, the second full length LP from the Canadian indie rock band Wolf Parade, was released on June 17, 2008.
Sean Michaels is a Scottish-born Canadian novelist, music critic, and blogger, based in Montreal, Quebec. Michaels’ first, Us Conductors won the 2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize. His second, The Wagers (2019), was named “a wistful and wonderful adventure” by Booklist. His third, Do You Remember Being Born?, was praised by the Globe & Mail as “wildly unique…it might be the forebear of a whole new genre of writing."
Golden Silvers were an English band from London signed to independent record label XL Recordings. The line-up consisted of vocalist and keyboardist Gwilym Gold, Ben Moorhouse on bass guitar, and Robden Alexis Nunez on drums.
Rebecca Foon is a Canadian cellist, vocalist, and composer from Montreal, Quebec. Foon currently records under her own name, as well as the alias Saltland, and is a member and co-founder of the modern chamber ensemble Esmerine.
Young Empires was a Canadian rock band that formed in Toronto in October 2009. Initially, the group was composed of vocalist and keyboardist Matthew Vlahovich, bass guitarist Jacob Palahnuk, and guitarist Robert Aaron Ellingson. After a stint with Fritz Helder and the Phantoms, drummer Taylor Hill joined the line-up in late 2011. In February 2013, the band separated from Robert Aaron Ellingson, citing philosophical differences, and wrote and recorded their only album as a three piece. The band released music until 2016, and quietly disbanded in 2022.
Us Conductors is a debut novel by Canadian writer Sean Michaels. Published in 2014 by Random House in Canada and Tin House in the United States, the novel is a fictionalized account of the relationship between Léon Theremin, the inventor of the theremin, and Clara Rockmore, the musician regarded as the instrument's first virtuoso player.