The formerly unknown artist Podington Bear, whom we have highlighted several times on Listening Post, has been revealed to be Hush Records owner Chad Crouch.

Someone entered "Poddington Bear Aka Chad Crouch" into the artist field in Gracenote's online CD identification database for his new CD, The End. When reviewers and fans inserted it into iTunes, Crouch's identity was exposed.

According to a Gracenote representative, the artist data in question could have been entered by his label (in other words, by Crouch himself), although he would have probably gotten the spelling right ("Podington" instead of "Poddington").

Stream Podington Bear - "Ebullience":

The other possibility is that one of the first people to insert the CD into a computer entered the data, because Gracenote gathers user submissions of album information. Regardless of who entered the artist name (we have an e-mail in with Crouch to clarify), Crouch outted himself as Podington Bear on his blog on Wednesday.

It was hardly a huge revelation, in retrospect; a June 10 e-mail sent to Listening Post from Hush Records to promotie the new Podington Bear CD was signed "Thanks for your consideration, Chad."

A substantive (ahem) interview with RocketBoom, embedded below, touches lightly on such topics as Crouch's species (human not bear), his label (Hush Records), his "helping bring up" of The Decembrists, his (relative) failure to record 156 songs in a year (it took 18 months, he finished on Tuesday), his plans to collaborate with the delightful Esperanza Spalding, whom we have comtemplated covering here before, and his love for DayTrotter. (Ironically, he had e-mailed us earlier, "I actually don't read the strict MP3 blogs. Listening Post stands alone!")

Continue reading "Podington Bear's Identity Revealed" »

When I interviewed cinema auteur David Cronenberg last year for Wired.com, an opera version of his 1986 sci-fi remake The Fly was still in the larval stage. But now it has evolved into a body-horror blockbuster in Paris, with the help of Howard Shore, David Henry Hwang and, yes, Placido Domingo.

But we're still afraid. Very afraid.

According to the Associated Press, Shore was convinced The Fly would make a freaky opera right when the film first dropped. For his part, Domingo saw the opportunity as one he couldn't pass up.

"Why not?" he told the AP. "I couldn't resist."

Cronenberg's operatic mutation celebrates its Parisian premiere Wednesday at the City of Light's Theatre du Chatelet, while the American strain will infect the Los Angeles Opera on September 7. It's a welcome return of sorts to sci-fi for the Canadian film legend, who's behind creepy brain-teasers like Shivers, Scanners, Videodrome and more. Lately, he's been crafting crime thrillers like A History of Violence and Eastern Promises, but that doesn't mean he's taken his eye off of outer, or inner, space.

"I know fans have nostalgia for the movies that they grew up with," he explained to Wired.com in December 2007, "but to redo that would be boring. On the other hand, I wouldn't ever rule out doing another sci-fi or horror film as a matter of course. If something came along that was intriguing and challenging, I wouldn't hesitate."

Photo: AP/Chatelet Theater, Marie Noelle Robert, HO

Looking to celebrate Independence Day? Try snubbing the majors and checking out some indies.

One of my favorites is Public Transit Recordings, Toronto's home of compelling future jazz, breakbeat, downtempo and other fine electronica deviations. PTR is celebrating a decade of survival by launching a free show on July 4 in Toronto featuring LAL, Moonstarr, iNSiDEaMiND and more.

Speaking of LAL, the conscientious chillout specialists released a sobering video for "Wasteland," at right, from their stellar recent effort Deportation. It's a creepy sequence, a stab at the beauty industry that is nevertheless delivered in the warmth of Rosina Kazi's soulful restraint. The look of the video is straight '80s, a cross between Sade and Massive Attack, and even boasts its own end credits. That's not something you see every day.

But the shorty is eminently worthy of attention, as is the band and its independent label. The world would only be a better place if more artists took LAL's road less traveled.

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Rapper Jay-Z capped off a mini-feud with Oasis's Noel Gallagher by covering their hit "Wonderwall" to kick off his headlining set at the Glastonbury music festival last weekend.

Here's the blow-by-blow.  First, Noel Gallagher told BBC News that a hip hop act never should have been selected to headline the traditionally rock-oriented English music festival.

"If it ain't broke don't fix it. If you start to break it, then people aren't going to go. I'm sorry, but Jay-Z? No chance. Glastonbury has a tradition of guitar music, and even when they throw the odd curve ball in on a Sunday night you go 'Kylie Minogue?' I don't know about it. But I'm not having hip-hop at Glastonbury. It's wrong."

Jaz-Z fired back, telling Radio One "If Noel Gallagher saw me perform... he wouldn't say that" elaborating to The Sun with a hip hop history lesson:

Continue reading "Video: Jay-Z Mocks Oasis at Glastonbury" »

From the moment it was released, Radiohead's landmark In Rainbows album has been available for free download, including, notoriously, from the band's own website. But until now, there hasn't been a way to stream it for free online from a legitimate, royalty-paying site.

As of Wednesday morning, every song on Radiohead's In Rainbows is available as a free stream on CBS's Last.fm. If you have yet to buy or otherwise download the album, the site now offers an easy way to find out what it sounds like, or to grab a quick listen when you're using a computer that lacks your own music collection.

"We felt this was a fantastic means of offering a new way for people to discover In Rainbows," said Radiohead's co-manager Bryce Edge. It's perfect timing for the band's current world tour."

Continue reading "Last.fm First To Post Free Stream of Radiohead's In Rainbows" »

The sordid saga of BurnLounge is one step closer to coming to a much-deserved end.

The Federal Trade Commission's civil suit against the company's CEO Juan Alexander and three of employees who helped promote the dodgy digital music store --  which forced affiliates to prepay for the right to set up doomed BurnLounge store fronts online -- has resulted in a judgment against Scott Elliott of Forney, Texas, one of the BurnLounge promoters named in the suit.

Elliott settled with the FTC on Tuesday for a $20,000 fine because he can't afford to pay the full $117,710.69 judgment against him. That amount apparently represents every penny he ever made from his extensive participation in the ill-fated company.

Why all the fuss? Because BurnLounge was a classic pyramid scheme, and those are illegal.

Would-be entrepreneurs were tricked into paying $30 per year for the basic package, $226 per year for the "Exclusive" package or $526 per year for the "VIP" package, encountering other fees along the way (the June 2007 Complaint, in .pdf format, explains the system in detail).

Continue reading "BurnLounge Crashes, Burns Promoter" »