Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid - Tongues; Free MP3s from the album

Quite often, I am just behind the curve on posting about new releases and hot items that I get wind of, just because I can't keep up with my inbox. The release of Tongues by Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid is one of those times. The album came out on March 20. Tongues is an explosion of improvisational sound, recorded live with no overdubs. Fans of egghead jazz, uncategorizable electronic experimentation, and plain weird sounds will be into this.

Domino Records has made two MP3s available from the album: "The Sun Never Sets" and "People Be Happy / Rhythm Dance (Audion's Highlight Mix)".

Social Networking And "Priming The Pump": An Article From Stylus Magazine

Stylus Magazine posts an interesting article on what Steve Savoca of Domino Records (think Arctic Monkeys, a perfect example of this phenomenon) calls "priming the pump": a marketing technique that gets social networking sites and blogs (hi there!) to generate buzz.

By priming the pump, the goal is to get enough info out there so that the consumer becomes the one hyping the product (in this case, the band). Following the growth of things like blog tags and MySpace friend counts, both the marketing personnel and the general population can track how popular something is getting. The consumer jumps on the wagon, and the marketing personnel get more money behind the buzzing product to keep the train rolling. With music, this allows a band to become recognized before it even releases an album (hi there, Lily Allen, we're talking about you), and without the assistance of radio play.

So, to paraphrase the article, as the fan consumes, she promotes. As the fan promotes, the audience grows, and the band develops a following. May the Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen be seen as case studies for "priming the pump."