Stephen Mejias

Drip.FM offers an interesting new way for music lovers to connect with their favorite record labels. The platform is free to participating labels, with no sign-up costs or usage fees; Drip.FM makes money when the participating labels make money, through a revenue share on sales. Labels set their own user-fees for access to a Drip.FM account. While content varies depending on the label, fans can expect to receive digital files (MP3 and WAV) of new titles on the day they are released (or sooner); randomly selected back-catalog titles; and plenty of enticing perks, such as exclusive, subscription-only tracks and remixes, and other giveaways (imagine: t-shirts, posters, LPs, CDs, concert tickets).

Back in June, AudioStream’s Michael Lavorgna reported on Domino’s new Drip.FM service.

Founded by Ghostly International and currently operating in closed beta, Drip.FM has also partnered with Dead Oceans, Dirtybird, Fool’s Gold, Luaka Bop, Mad Decent, Morr Music, Now-Again Records, Planet E Communications, Stones Throw, Wav.Pool, and now Jagjaguwar.

I recently signed up for an account with Jagjaguwar.

The word in">http://forum.stereophile.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=88273&an=0… our forum is that 90 percent of today’s popular music is crap. Need a little proof that real talent still exists in the world of pop music? Check out Janelle Monae’s performance on last night’s Letterman show.

In collaboration with the clever people at Buzz Media, creative electronic duo, Javelin (Tom van Buskirk and George Langford), roamed the streets of Red Hook, Brooklyn, with samplers and mics in hand, and created an interesting new track called “By Hook or By Crook.”

For just a few days now I’ve been receiving mysterious e-mails from “Jazz on the Tube.” At first I wondered if they were spam, and I was afraid to click on the links inside. But they all seemed harmless enough: A few kind and thoughtful words, a passion for jazz, a hand held out in friendship, a smile. So I clicked the link and was taken to a simple page with a narrow, white field against a black border and a YouTube video at the center.

Last night, AudioStream.com's Michael Lavorgna and I attended Jenny Hval's performance at the Mercury Lounge on Houston Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side. Because we first made stops to: browse LPs and chat with Daniel at Other Music, enjoy cask-conditioned ales at dba, and devour some incredibly delicious pies at Rizzo's, we were primed for a memorable evening of music.

Jenny Hval did not disappoint.

On the corner of Monmouth and Third, in the parking lot of the Genesis Educational Center, where">http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=317+Third+Street,+Jersey+City,+… the blood lines erase the color lines, a drummer needs practice. I wasn't expecting this. It might interfere with our listening session. The bad beats are hopping into my third floor window and making themselves comfortable, crowding the sweet spot. The singer, it seems, needs practice, too. And is that a preacher hollering the gospel, or a drunk abusing his wife? Around here, one can never be certain. Perhaps it's both...

We were bummed out when we heard that Steve Gritzan was closing down his wonderful and dusty record shop, Iris">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/iris_records_closes/">Iris Records, in downtown Jersey City, but heartened in knowing that he’d continue to sell albums at street fairs and at his outstanding Brooklyn Record Riot conventions.