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The Kills

The Kills are an indie/garage rock duo formed by American vocalist Alison "VV" Mosshart and British guitarist Jamie "Hotel" Hince that rose to public recognition at the dawn of the hype surrounding the "garage rock" and "indie rock" explosion of the early 2000s. Mosshart had been in the Florida punk band Discount and Hince in British rock band Scarfo. When these groups disbanded, the duo, who first met when Mosshart heard Hince practicing in the hotel room above hers, struck up a songwriting partnership. For months, the pair air mailed work tapes across the Atlantic; after this proved to test the patience of both artists, as it took days or weeks to get each others tapes, Mosshart upped sticks from her Florida home to fly to London. Wanting to cut themselves off from their pasts, Mosshart and Hince considered their new project to be Year Zero in their careers, so they renamed themselves VV and Hotel respectively and began writing sparse, minimalist songs together with the aid of a drum machine. In 2001 they showcased their new songs on a well received demo tape. In true punk rock fashion, however, the pair shunned approaches from major record labels. Recording as VV and Hotel, they contributed the song "Restaurant Blouse" to the compilation If the Twenty-First Century Did Not Exist, It Would Be Necessary to Invent It. Shortly after this they recorded their debut release, the Black Rooster EP, which saw release on British indie label Domino Records and was picked up for distribution by Dim Mak Records in the United States. Following international touring, they entered Toe Rag studios, where the White Stripes had recorded their album Elephant, to record their debut album Keep on Your Mean Side, mostly on 8-track, in just 2 weeks. Their second album, No Wow, was released by Domino records on 21 February 2005. Featuring an artier, less guitar rock sound, the record embraced New Wave and post punk influences and sounded even more stripped down than Keep on Your Mean Side. The first single, The Good Ones, from No Wow, was released on 7 February 2005 and reached number 23 in the UK singles charts. VV sang the song 'Meds' together with Brian Molko on the last Placebo album.

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The Kills
Technology

A Post-Download Era: What Happens When Apple Kills The iTunes Store

A Post-Download Era: What Happens When Apple Kills The iTunes Store

Source: HypeBot

Streaming is edging out downloading as the primary means through which listeners consume music, but many artists still depend on this legacy format for critical revenue, raising the question: What happens when Apple shutters the iTunes store? By  Mark Mulligan of the Music Industry Blog When new formats race to the fore it is easy to make the mistake of taking an eye off the legacy formats. This is risky because they usually still account for very large portions of existing ...

3
Music Industry

It's not just David Byrne and Radiohead: Spotify, Pandora and how streaming music kills jazz and classical

It's not just David Byrne and Radiohead: Spotify, Pandora and how streaming music kills jazz and classical

Source: Michael Ricci

More musicians are taking aim at the rates paid by Spotify and Pandora, and warning whole genres are in danger After years in which tech-company hype has drowned out most other voices, the frustration of musicians with the digital music world has begun to get a hearing. We know now that many rockers don’t like it. Less discussed so far is the trouble jazz and classical musicians — and their fans — have with music streaming, which is being hailed ...

68
Trends

A New Age of Extremes: Why the Social Media Hype Machine Kills What It Creates Too

A New Age of Extremes: Why the Social Media Hype Machine Kills What It Creates Too

Source: HypeBot

Are file-sharers killing the careers of artists that the record and music industries create? Or, are we? We—broadly defined as the social media hype machine that we've played our part in fueling—both as professionals and fans. It's as if our society has ventured into a new age of extremes. The traditional music consumption system is running on fumes; mainly, the momentum created by nearly ten years of MTV's Total Request Live. Everything else being played is new to the extent ...

82
Technology

Apple Factory Worker Kills Himself After Disappearance of iPhone Prototype Last July

Apple Factory Worker Kills Himself After Disappearance of iPhone Prototype Last July

Source: All About Jazz

An employee at a factory that makes iPhones in China killed himself after his house was raided and he was allegedly beaten up following the disappearance of an iPhone prototype.

Responding to the allegations (Wednesday 22 July 2009), Apple gave a subtle warning to its suppliers, insisting they are required to treat workers with dignity and respect. The dead worker, Sun Danyong, 25, worked in product communications at Foxconn Technology Group, a Taiwanese firm that makes many Apple products at ...

42
Technology

Analysis: Apple Finally Kills DRM

Analysis: Apple Finally Kills DRM

Source: PC Magazine

At Apple's final keynote address to the Macworld faithful today, the company made an announcement that should change the way music is purchased from now on—roll it back to the old, better way, I mean. Apple will no longer put DRM code on its iTunes music files. DRM, shorthand for Digital Rights Management, is the “protection" that is encoded into purchased digital audio files, such as songs from iTunes or the Zune Marketplace. The “rights' being managed and “protected" have ...

223
Music Industry

Blink-182 Drummer and DJ AM Critically Burned in Jet Crash That Kills 4

Blink-182 Drummer and DJ AM Critically Burned in Jet Crash That Kills 4

Source: All About Jazz

Mayor: 'It's Absolutely Terrible And Tragic'

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and celebrity DJ AM were critically injured in a fiery Learjet crash in South Carolina that killed four people, authorities said Saturday.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the plane carrying six people was departing shortly before midnight Friday when air traffic controllers reporting seeing sparks. The plane headed for Van Nuys, Calif., went off a runway, through a fence and crashed on a nearby ...

68
Technology

Judge Kills Privacy Rights for YouTube Users

Judge Kills Privacy Rights for YouTube Users

Source: Michael Ricci

Google Must Hand Over YouTube Data, Judge Rules

Raising major concerns among privacy advocates, a federal judge has ordered Google to hand over details about the viewing habits of YouTube users to media giant Viacom. The ruling came as part of a $1-billion copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Viacom in March 2007 against YouTube and its corporate parent, Google. Viacom, which runs cable networks such as MTV and Comedy Central as well as the Paramount Pictures movie studio, says it ...

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