PRINCE, AC/DC AND BOB LEFSETZ

Ha, ha, Prince said he doesn't like the Internet. Whadda maroon. Whaddan ignoranimus.

"(What's next, is he going to rail against telephones and automobiles? Or tell us to stop using cell phones?)"

That's a quote from, who else, Bob Lefsetz. Going for the thuddingly obvious non-insight as always. "You can't stop progress. Change happens. And it's not good for everyone. Sure, it's hard being an artist and getting paid in the Internet era, but that doesn't mean you should become a Luddite and sign off. It's not necessary to utilize Foursquare, but when you rail against Twitter and other new media you just look like a square. So, keep up to date with technology, or shut up!"

But did Prince rail against Twitter and other new media? No. What he actually said (or what the reporter remembers him saying—the story specified that no recording devices, or even handwritten notes, were permitted) was, "The internet's completely over. I don't see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won't pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can't get it. The internet's like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you."

There are several components to that statement; some I agree with, some I don't.

"The internet's completely over" = clearly not true. Hard to understand in what sense he even meant it.

"I don't see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won't pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can't get it" = He's got a fair point here. Should he be expecting to get paid up front, like an old-fashioned label deal? No, probably not. But maybe he's the kind of artist who could make a deal like that with iTunes, or the Amazon MP3 store. After all, this is a guy who repeatedly fought with his label because they wouldn't let him release music at the rate he produced it. Clearly, if he could sort out a payment scheme that satisfied him, he'd probably be firing songs at the public like a musical version of the Deep Horizon well.

"The internet's like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated" = he's right about MTV, but the comparison between the two isn't a valid one, obviously, because the Internet isn't a single thing, it's a conduit. Rhetorically and possibly mentally, he's confusing individual websites with the web that hosts them.

"Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you" = here's the nub. See, Prince is not just a cranky, semi-reclusive artist. He's also a religious fanatic, and I believe part of his aversion to information technology is in some way Bible-based. And there's no arguing with fanatics. So don't bother.

While you're laughing at Prince for turning his back on the Internet, though, remember AC/DC. You can't get their music on iTunes, eMusic, or at the Amazon MP3 store. But they've been selling out stadiums and arenas across the planet for two straight years in support of their first album in eight years, and the soundtrack to one of the biggest movies of 2010 was composed exclusively of their songs. So is there a way to have, or at least sustain, a career without the Internet? You bet there is.

MUSIC I DON'T CARE ABOUT, JULY 2010 EDITION

(First in a periodic series, if I remember, or care enough.)

UPDATE: More names added!

Band of Horses
Justin Bieber
B.o.B.
CocoRosie
Das Racist
The Dead Weather
Devo
Drake
Eminem
Faith No More
Flying Lotus
The Gaslight Anthem
Gucci Mane
Harvey Milk
The Hold Steady
Ke$ha
Kode9
Konono No. 1
LCD Soundsystem
M.I.A.
Janelle Monáe
The National
The New Pornographers
Oneohtrix Point Never
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
Liz Phair
Prince
Refused
Robyn
The Roots
Scissor Sisters
Sleep
Omar Souleyman
Tokyo Police Club
Wavves
Wolf Parade (or any other band with Wolf or Wolves in the name, except the Swedish metal band Wolf)

THEY DID IT ON PURPOSE—AND I'M GLAD THEY DID

Every Metallica fan knows that the band's fourth album, ...And Justice for All, sounds extremely thin and crunchy, with almost no bass. The story's always been that then-bassist Jason Newsted's parts were turned down because they were hazing him. And that would have been one of the most horrifying examples of self-sabotage in the history of music...except that the album fucking rules.

That's why I don't like stuff like the YouTube clip above, or the bootleg ...And Justice for Jason, where some douche overdubbed his own bass parts onto the songs. See, I think the long, intricate, prog-thrash songs on AJFA work better without bass. I think the thin sound is a big part of what makes the album great—what makes it my favorite Metallica disc.

Those songs don't work as well live (as listening to Live Shit: Binge & Purge proves) because they need that edge. I think when they play Justice songs live, the bassist (whoever it happens to be at the time) should unplug, or walk offstage, for the duration. Thin and fierce—that's how it's supposed to sound.

THE WARLORDS IS HELL (IN A GOOD WAY)

The Warlords is an astonishing movie. Flawed, but still spectacular. It's not a five-hour epic like Red Cliff, though both feature Takeshi Kaneshiro; it gets in and out in under two hours, but almost all of that time is well spent.

Kaneshiro, Andy Lau and Jet Li play two thieves and a soldier who become blood brothers and swear undying loyalty to one another. Unfortunately, their bond is repeatedly tested and found wanting. Li was a military officer whose entire command was massacred after being betrayed by a rival army; he recruits Lau and Kaneshiro, and their men, and begins a decade-long plan to take over the Chinese empire from within. It almost works.

There are some amazing (and amazingly gory) battle scenes in this movie, and it's really not all that heroic a saga, in the end. Li proves himself to be a vengeance-crazed megalomaniac, and it's some of his best work ever—there are a few moments where he abandons his usual reserved demeanor to such a degree he's almost channeling Klaus Kinski. And the closer he gets to what he wants, the more he becomes a Michael Corleone figure (though I enjoyed this more than I've ever enjoyed the chunks of the Godfather movies I've been able to sit through). Lau is the movie's moral center, though he's not a Mary Sue character by any means.

The one element that should have been excised was a pointless love triangle featuring Kaneshiro, Li, and a woman of absolutely no consequence. That aside, The Warlords is a terrific movie well worth your time if you like massive battles, betrayal, corruption, etc., etc.

THIS QUARTER IN JAZZIZ

The new issue of Jazziz is out, and it's really good. I'm not just saying that because I write for them, either. There are several articles in this issue that I plan on reading—a profile of violinist Regina Carter (who I wrote about for the Village Voice back in March), one on pianist Orrin Evans, the cover story on David Sanborn (no, seriously), and a piece on Analog Africa, Soundway and some of the other labels currently seeking out and reissuing awesome music from 1970s Africa.

I have a couple of items in the issue, too, of course—a short piece on P.E. Hewitt, a dude who composed, arranged and recorded three albums of pretty impressive small-group jazz back in 1969-72, and whose work has now been boxed up by Now-Again Records; a column looking at four new solo horn albums, some better than others; and a review of Brad Mehldau's much-discussed Highway Rider.

Here's how that last one went:

BRAD MEHLDAU
Highway Rider (Nonesuch)
Brad Mehldau has never been a particularly extroverted pianist. But on the new double disc Highway Rider, he turns his signature introspection into numbing enervation.
Mehldau augments his regular trio with second drummer Matt Chamberlain, saxophonist Joshua Redman and a full orchestra, not to mention the heavy hand of producer Jon Brion, best known for making artsy pop with Fiona Apple and Kanye West. The labor-intensive results offer little more than a pale imitation of 1970s Keith Jarrett—in whose quartet Redman's father Dewey played.
On tracks like "Don't Be Sad" and "The Falcon Will Fly Again," Redman tootles along as Mehldau attempts to bolster the saxophonist's melodic lassitude with baroque indulgence. The latter track features a small choir chanting "la-la-la, la-la-la-la" in its concluding moments, as well as studio dialogue that includes the sounds of a happy child—presumably Mehldau's, as Highway Rider is dedicated to him.
Arrangements shift from solo piano and quintet to duos and trios And two tracks feature just the orchestra, which, ultimately, keeps Highway Rider stuck on the soft shoulder of the road. The string players offer little you couldn't hear over the closing credits of a second-tier romantic drama, leeching sorely needed energy with over-sweetened arrangements. At nearly two hours, this release is simultaneously overstuffed and idea-starved.