A bunch of little things…
What's up…instead of making like 5 little posts dedicated to a link or a thought, I figured I'd knock them all out right here. So, this is just a bunch of random shit concerning music, links and joy.
First off,
If you wanna peep clips from my new album "Interludes after Midnight", Ninja tune is steaming them from their site:
http://ninjatune.net/release/blockhead/interludes-after-midnight
Now, I realize the album has been leaked. And While hearing this (or just reading it right here) will no doubt lead to more than a few of you just going to find a download link right now, there's nothing I can really do about it. Albums get leaked. It's happened before and it will happen again. Do I like it? not really. I think I'm more bummed that it's supposed to drop on May 5th so having it leak this soon is a bit early for my taste. On one hand, it's cool that people are into it so much that they're rushing to download (it was the #1 download on what.cd yesterday) but it's hard to separate that from the fact that no one's gonna buy the record. But, that's what making music in 2012 is like so all i can do is accept it. So, if you downloaded it (and enjoyed it), do me the solid and come to a show when I'm in your town. Then we're even.
For those of you who do still buy music, there will be a vinyl release as well as a bonus 7″ featuring two songs that didn't make the album. Those two songs will also be available digitally via I-Tunes and the Ninja Tune Website.
Regardless of how you hear it and when, I hope you enjoy the album. I put in a lot of work on it and all I can ask is that , if you do download it today or tomorrow, actually listen to it. Don't do that thing where you listen to the first 20 seconds then skip to the next track. My albums don't work like that. Every song is constantly evolving. The songs have a beginning, a middle and an end. This isn't a mixtape by Gucci Mane.
Oh and to all the people asking me how it leaked, the blame lies on the press. Ninja tune sent out press copies last week and within 4 days it was upped somewhere. So, whoever did that, you're a dickhead and your blog/magazine/whatever-it-is-you-write-for sucks. I understand it's fun to share but have some consideration for the artists. I mean, if your job is to review music, that must mean ,on some level, you both enjoy and respect music. Well, in the future, try and do that without being an album leaking asshole. It's really not that hard. I realize it sounds like I'm scathingly bitter right now, but really, it's all part of the game. I understand that. I feel more like disappointed father who just found his son jerking off to granny porn.
Some of them got uploaded to youtube already…Enjoy.
Also, here's a little video the good people at Mushpost put together showing highlights of a recent show I did in Burlington AKA THE BURL.
Blockhead + kuxxan SUUM. Club Metronome, BTV from Brandon Jones on Vimeo.
Oh, hey, you like to laugh? Continuing with my on going campaign to big up sir Jarlsberg, here's a link to hilarious radio interview the man himself did (featuring friend Lord Richard) on Benchwarmer radio. It's a sports talk show but the first half is pretty much a total bug out session. If you like sports, stick around for the second half as well.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bench-warmer-news-radio/2012/03/20/bench-warmer-radio–31912
If you've ever looked at the cover art for my album "The music Scene" and thought "hey , that shit is awesome" then I'd like to inform you that the artist ,Owen Brozman , just illustrated a graphic novel called "Nature of the beast". It's written by the same guy who wrote "Go the fuck to sleep".
Anyway, it's awesome and , if your a graphic novel type of person, I think you should go buy that shit…
http://www.amazon.com/Nature-Beast-A-Graphic-Novel/dp/1593762453/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1332256175&sr=8-9
Last but not least, my boy Billy Woods just dropped the first single off his upcoming album "History will Absolve me". It's fucking ridiculous. It features Masai Bey and Roc Marciano and it's produced by Willie Green. As far as I'm concerned this is one of the best beats I've heard all year. Thunderous shit…Here's a link
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/MP3–billy-woods—-Body-Of-Work–Ft–Roc-Marciano—Masai-Bey.html?soid=1102260497929&aid=7mAmtqqQ5sk
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39 thoughts on "A bunch of little things…"
aaron russo on March 22, 2012 at 11:24 am said:
New album sounds dope Block, can't wait to cop that.
Ben Tompsett on March 22, 2012 at 12:03 pm said:
I really feel for you Blockhead. Releasing a record must be one of the most exciting things you get to do and it's such a waste when somebody just leaks it. All the fuckin'effort you put into creating incredible records, you deserve the fun of puttin'it out there on your terms. I'm sure Ninja Tune and other people involved in the records must be frustrated too, but ultimately you're the guy that really feels it when an album leaks like that. You're gettin'robbed of the fun stuff and it makes me sick. I am in complete support of you and I'm so excited to hear the new album, but part of the fun is the anticipation and excitement when the days start to tick down towards release. May 5th will be a beautiful day. The first play of fresh wax is the stuff that makes me happiest, I'd never give that up.
Anonymous on March 22, 2012 at 12:13 pm said:
looking forward to the vinyl man, keep rekkids alive!
casey h on March 22, 2012 at 12:19 pm said:
I will be illegally downloading your album, but then buying the vinyl when it comes out in May. And if you come back to my town (Athens, ga) I'll be there again forcing conversation on you. It sucks your shit got leaked but number one download for the day on what.cd is pretty cool.
Daniel Flowers on March 22, 2012 at 12:42 pm said:
Just curious, do you make money from streaming sites like Spotify? I actually prefer Spotify for most of my music since it syncs to everything at once and I don't have to use hard drive storage. I pay 10 bucks a month and have maybe 30 gigs of music. I've got all your albums on my playlists, and hopefully you'll have Interludes. up on the release date.
Do artists actually benefit from subscription services like this? In my opinion, shit's way better than pirate sites since you basically get any music you want instantly, and it doesn't give your computer STD's.
Blockhead on March 22, 2012 at 3:35 pm said:
I honestly don't know how that works. I've never really asked. but , i assume that , unless people are buying it digitally, I'm not seeing much $ from it.
Hey Blockhead, I think it really sucks that shit leaks like that from supposed professionals. I often wonder about this so I'll ask your opinion. Would you rather someone download your album illegally and hate it so they never end up buying it or would you rather someone pay for the album and end up hating it? Keep in mind this is a general question to you as an artist. I'm not insinuating that your music sucks at all (I have all 4 of your solo albums as well as all of Aesop's stuff and a whole bunch of other albums that you did production on and I paid for all of them. And I'm glad I did). Do you think it was okay for people to dub tapes back in the day? I realize that doesn't even come close to getting an album off a blog but I'd be interested to get your take on that. Do you care if I burn one of your cds from a friend (at least you know one of us paid for it)?
I used to buy a lot of music. I mean every time I got paid I'd buy at least two or three cds and sometimes way more than that. This was before downloading a song took 5 seconds, when it wasn't so easy to preview shit and before I really had a lot of financial responsibilities so I could afford to risk buying something I wasn't completely sure I'd like. At the time none of my friends knew anything about good hip hop (unless I put them on to it) and I ended up buying a lot of wack shit that I wish I could get my money back for. Because of this, I felt justified in downloading music when I caught on to the blogs and shit and I downloaded a TON of music (mostly old stuff I'd never find in stores). I haven't even been able to listen to it all and probably never will. It wasn't until I started seeing albums leak that weren't even supposed to be out yet that I really started to think more about how this was affecting people like yourself. I downloaded Music by Cavelight. At the time I didn't even know who you were (even though I was a big fan of Aesop) but I came across your music on some blog or another. For what it's worth, I recently bought Music for Cavelight from you at one of your shows which was the only one of your official albums that I didn't already have. But if I didn't like the album, I definitely would not have paid for it. I would've just deleted it (like I have with a lot of music that I downloaded). Would that bother you?
By the way, since I'm rambling, I'm constantly finding out that you produced songs on albums that I've purchased before I knew what the fuck a Blockhead was. I didn't start checking for producers until a few years ago. I guess I never really thought about it. All of a sudden anytime an album was about to drop I'd keep hearing "who produced it?" and I would just think "who gives a fuck?". I always hated playing a song for someone that I thought was dope and having them dismiss it because the beat isn't their cup of tea. I'm like "yeah, but are you listening to what this dude is saying?".
Shit has gotten fucking ridiculous though. Man sometimes I download an album I already have just to quickly get it on my computer without having to dig through thousands of fucking cds.
adapo on March 22, 2012 at 2:54 pm said:
damn son. games dirty, ima buy that shit cus i want it, and not cus of pity, stay up blocks!
name on March 22, 2012 at 3:45 pm said:
I remember downloading an advance copy of aesop's non shall pass, it had conservatively placed and slightly subtle overdub messages saying " this record belongs to so and so" randomly throufhout. Must have been the name of whoever was given that advance copy. Now that i think of it, there was a similar messaged dropped over his Fast Car EP. U ever consiser doin shit like that? It seems like that would put more risk on people posting it up before release, although clearly it didnt phase that person. I liked it though, cause i got to calm my impatient ear until release, but without the super loud annoying DJ echo voice in the mix. For what its worth, i download due to impatience, but always buy regardless out of respect and a desire to sustain the option of u (artists) makibg more
Anonymous on March 22, 2012 at 3:48 pm said:
Regardless of it being on the interwebs or not, I will be buying a copy. These jams are no good to me when they aren't on a vinyl 🙂
CannedMilk on March 22, 2012 at 4:20 pm said:
Yo Block,
I think I'm one of the last people that prefers to buy a hard copy of music; ie: Cd or Vinyl. I'll buy both versions of this because I frame all my vinyl (I've sent you a picture recently). I also get to the point that when Amazon takes to damn long shipping stuff I'll go to iTunes and buy the digital copy and when the CD comes it goes on the shelf (waste money much?). But I do this to support the artist, and yes, I know, artists don't make much on record sales…they make it touring (and once again, I'll ask this, if you tour this album and come to Atlanta/ Athens, make sure to have some shirts (XL please) because I'll buy that shit, too) but if the record company loses money then the artist has lost, too because who says the record label will want to release any more work by that person.
In regards to people downloading albums…they are thieves….and there is no argument to that. They are stealing intellectual property. The only albums I've downloaded is stuff that is impossible to find because it's out of print and isn't available to purchase on iTunes or was never released officially….a perfect example, Bilal's 'Love for Sale' album, which after it was leaked was then shelved due to the fact that the record label didn't see much point in pressing and releasing an album that was already available for free….it's sad. I can continue to rant about this but I'll spare everyone.
Looking forward to the new album!!!
chips on March 22, 2012 at 4:38 pm said:
never woulda guessed that you are in on what.cd and all that. if you want an invite to some other site i could hook you up cause then i could say i invited blockhead haha
Oh, I'm not on it. I was just told by people who were and sent a screen shot.
Ninja need to get their shit together. I love them, but every major release has leaked because of advanced press copies. Surely press reviews aren't that important in this era?? Social sharing, personal recommendations and organic discovery (shazam/last fm) is how I discover almost all music today. Not by following what some publication says.
Fact is that consumers want music on demand. If i hear something i like, i will instantly buy it. I used to pirate most of my music, but nowadays i will buy everything because it is much more convenient – except with advance leaks because there is no other option other then piracy.
Needless to say I pre-ordered the album on iTunes before i downloaded it.
MrWhiteSky on March 22, 2012 at 7:16 pm said:
Hey BlockHead,
I have the same opinion as you, it's really sad that your album has been leaked before the release ..
It's probably difficult for you to see people download your production in advance.
That is why, support BlockHead !! He is an artist of rare quality, therefore go to these concerts or buy the new album when it goes on sale.
Thank you for making us dream !
PS : Sry for my english, I'm French.
Zo on March 22, 2012 at 7:41 pm said:
got a paypal?
iMpatient Phan on March 22, 2012 at 11:00 pm said:
I still plan to buy. Any way to release sooner on iTunes? I imagine there WERE reasons to want to synchronize the physical and iTunes releases after a mighty publicity blitz but now that the cat is out of the bag why make the paying customers wait?
I think it's too late. it's set in stone and they're sticking with it. On the bright side, the links have been getting taken down so , at least the leak has been tempered.
If I find any links still up, would you like if I emailed them to you? Can you work toward having them removed?
Blockhead on March 23, 2012 at 12:27 pm said:
It's all good. people are on the case. Any links that are up now will get taken down pretty quickly.
turd on March 23, 2012 at 4:48 am said:
clearly almost everyone downloads, whether it's out of print shit, or advanced shit, everyone's checking out some shit for free………….my only question is why the fuck is anyone still giving full albums out for blog/critic review before the release date? Granted the day of radio singles and all that shit has far passed, but what good can giving a full album vs. a sample EP really do for an album? Taking into consideration the obvious assumption that any album given out before it's official release date will at some point too soon end up available for mass "gimme that shit for free"-dom, why would any label even consider giving anyone the whole album for any reason? seems to me like they're just accepting that inevitability and hoping to use it as it's own promotional tool. If i get it for free early, and spread it to ten people's ears, there's a good chance that at least 3-4 of those 10 will potentially go out and buy it, or i'll burn it for those for 3-4 and they'll end up playing it, and 2 or 3 of the people they know will hear it and go out and buy it, or some shit of weird "degrees of separation" type of shit. i could be way off base, but i'm just trying to find a logic to sending out, to anyone, a full version of any unreleased album. (i apologize for my english, it's 5:45am where i'm at, i'm american, and i'm kinda drunk).
It's pretty simple. They give the whole thing to press so they can review it. That's 100% the reason. You can't give a reviewer 1/2 of an album and expect them to write a good review. It's that reviewers job to NOT leak the material though and they constantly fail at that.
nicolauz on March 23, 2012 at 12:45 pm said:
I'll definitely stream it from the Ninjatune website and purchase it as well ! Just promise to make it to the Chicago/Milwaukee area sometime soon !
I actually got an offer to go play Milwaukee in may…So keep an eye out.
Benpachi on March 24, 2012 at 10:13 am said:
my week was pretty shitty until i was able to hear this. many thanks and keep on
Anonymous on March 24, 2012 at 11:22 am said:
"do me the solid and come to a show when I'm in your town"
That's always been my justification for downloading music is that, if i like it, i'll go to a show and buy a shirt. Do you consider that an even trade, as the artist?
Blockhead on March 24, 2012 at 11:25 am said:
Well, I don't usually have shirts for sale but I think coming to the sow is a good trade off. Even better when the person buys a cd or record at the show.
filler on March 25, 2012 at 2:26 pm said:
I ain't gonna lie, I'll listen to the leaked album. I've purchased all of your albums and will continue doing so, I'm just impatient and don't want to wait any longer than I have to.
I know the new album will be available digitally, but will I be able to get it in 320kpbs?
I'm assuming it will be available in 320 but I honestly don't really pay attention to that kinda stuff.
filler on March 26, 2012 at 3:59 am said:
it's pretty fucked up, that if you go the illegal route. You can get music in any format you want(flacc/ape/mp3/ogg/etc) and in any quality. Yet you don't get the same options if you pay for it. Most online stores don't offer 320kbps, which is the minimum quality I go for.
Anything special going on with the cd packaging?
SeanFloyd on March 27, 2012 at 12:09 pm said:
Heard the new album on YouTube and it is straight heatrocks. It took me a couple listens to get into your frame of mind, but I am glad I did. Some of the vocal samples caught me off-guard (amelodic, more spoken than sang), but I let them drift to the back of my mind.
That breakdown in "Hungover Like Whoa" is afuckingmazing. You know I'll be hitting you up anywhere in AZ if you tour.
No tour dates set just yet. I'm thinking I'll go out a lot in the fall.
Sam on March 27, 2012 at 8:48 pm said:
This album continues to prove why you are the most talented and intricate producer of all time. In my opinion, Emancipator and Bonobo are the only two producers that rightfully deserve comparisons to your abilities. "Pity Party" sure is getting a run for its money in my personal "best song ever" category after giving these tracks a thorough listen. Hopefully these vinyls ship FAST. Yo Block, answer my prayers and give Northwest PA some love with a show! I dreadfully have to miss out on your Buffalo performance (which was only an hour and a half away) because of student teaching and a few of us in Erie, PA need a chance to experience a live show before we are old and gray. But most importantly, keep making music knowing how inspirational your sound can be, even to the second graders in my classroom.
Tommy on March 29, 2012 at 3:19 pm said:
Yo Block, I really think "The Robin Byrd Era" is your best song to date. It's just got that feel to it, perfect outtro. Do you see any movie, game, or commercial licensing in your future with that song? The first half is perfect man, and this CD just reaffirms why you're my favorite artist hands down. Thanks for doing what you do, you bring good vibes to a lot of people and should be proud of yourself.
Ryan on April 3, 2012 at 11:14 pm said:
If it's any consolation, there are pages and pages of comments on what.cd now, and people appear to be LOVING the album. Pretty much all positive things to say, which is kinda rare in that community. I'll definitely be seeing your shows, and buying your merch.
Blockhead on April 3, 2012 at 11:59 pm said:
Any way you could take some screen shots? I'd be curious to read that stuff. I wanna get an idea of which songs are the most popular so I can integrate them into my live shows.
Ryan on April 4, 2012 at 12:51 am said:
I will try. Most of the comments are about the album as a whole being good, but a couple people have specifically mentioned "Panic in Funkytown" as being amazing.
Blockhead on April 4, 2012 at 8:53 am said:
Ah, good to know. Thanks.
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