LENNY: I think that you look good on the dance floor.... for a jewish girl
KAREN: you've never seen me on the dance floor
LENNY: i've seen you do the interpol dance to “slow hands,” and i saw you on pbs dancing to elton john
KAREN: i did my fair share of dancing at sxsw, but it was mostly with security guards as i tried to sneak radio people into the arctic monkeys show
LENNY: that song is soooo growing on me, whatta smash, i like it more every time i hear it
KAREN: it's doing great--got kpnt, wrax and kcxx today, among others
LENNY: i think it is going to beat interpol and be the biggest charting indie song ever
KAREN: hawthorne heights "saying sorry" is going to do that first
LENNY: that's a smash also, but i am betting that the monkeys (hey, hey) are gonna end up the biggest. but i do have a topic to discuss this week: i would like to discuss the emergence of female led rock bands and their growth even against a radio system that is only letting them get so far
KAREN: here's the thing--each of the female-fronted bands that are currently making waves at PoMo radio sound NOTHING like each other. yeah yeah yeahs sounds nothing like flyleaf, which sounds even less like damone, who will never be mistaken for the sounds, yet they are all lumped into the same category
LENNY: and add morningwood to the list, which sounds nothing like the others.... altho this yeah yeah yeahs song sounds a lot like tegan and sara
KAREN: if they were channeling siouxsie and the banshees and pj harvey
LENNY: but my point is that all of their growth and future careers have exceeded their love from radio, yet they all continue to grow and thrive
KAREN: radio will figure it out: wfnx, live105, kndd and now wbru and wbcn are all playing damone, which impacts next week
LENNY: the damone song is incredibly catchy, and noelle is a legitimate rock star.... and the song already has phones in seattle
LENNY: so..... IS IT TIME FOR RADIO TO OPEN THE ANTI-FEMALE FRONTED ROCK FLOODGATES????
KAREN: i don't think it's that cut and dried. they're going to play songs they think are hits. and i think the post-lilith fair backlash they kept referencing was more of an excuse than a reality
LENNY: morningwood's “nth degree” was a MAJOR HIT on more than a handful of stations, yet hit the anti-female wall, as have flyleaf
KAREN: both will prevail and have big careers. i think radio has lost its way a bit. it's very hard to have both perspective and foresight when there's so much corporate pressure and so few resources, although it's hard to have empathy when you can't get them on the phone!
LENNY: and you are not allowed to email or i.m. either
KAREN: we're all queing up for our shot at radio, and the meaningful bands will have their day, whether it's coheed & cambria or morningwood or 30 seconds to mars or elefant or people in planes or atreyu...
LENNY: it's about breaking the band, not just about breaking a song....
KAREN: that's why sxsw is still fun--radio people genuinely want to see bands
LENNY: and bands are breaking—internet, tv placements, commercials, touring, et al.... are mattering more than ever.... and people like "discovering"
KAREN: i've had lots of renewed interest in spoon's "i turn my camera on" ever since the jaguar spot started airing
LENNY: flyleaf, for example, is selling far more than its radio exposure would suggest
KAREN: but their biggest sales are in airplay markets. flyleaf will be as big as evanescence.
LENNY: spoon song is everywhere, and they won a zillion awards in austin, they are important to people, with or without radio smashes
KAREN: they're certainly important to me! but i definitely credit krox and kgsr's airplay on spoon (for the first time in the band’s career) as a catalyst for the band's multiple austin music awards
LENNY: and huge press support, which i find is finally starting to be a factor, after all these years
KAREN: "I turn my camera on" wouldn't have won "song of the year" had krox not played it over 1,000 times!
LENNY: then there you go.... maybe when ALL the elements converge in a market, magic occurs. have you seen the american eagle commercial using morningwood's “nth degree”... it is great
KAREN: american eagle makes the softest t-shirts, btw
LENNY: i agree
KAREN: have you heard the sounds? morningwood is opening for them.
LENNY: yes, i have heard about them, but do not have their music yet
KAREN: they're from sweden and i love the new single "song with a mission." it's very blondie-meets-cardigans-meets-cheap trick
LENNY: where are they meeting?
KAREN: my house tomorrow night to watch america's next top model, then we can go to the morningwood/sounds show
LENNY: cool.... i'll be teaching at ucla... we have a big night with michael rapino, rob light and irving azoff speaking
KAREN: will irving utter his famous line?
LENNY: about how he hates that the artists take 85% of his income?
KAREN: that's the one
LENNY: or the one about how management would be a great business if it weren't for the artists
KAREN: the cool thing about sxsw this year is that i saw a million bands and they were ALL GREAT. not one band sucked
LENNY: eggselent.... then close out the column with a list of your faves
KAREN: besides arctic monkeys, spoon, morningwood and damone, i loved morrissey, chris stamey, the southland, editors, people in planes, forward russia and superchunk, to name only a fraction of the bands i saw! no time for shopping or food, unfortunately.
LENNY: sounds great
KAREN: and i never did get to see andy pratt
LENNY: sorry about the no shopping. now say goodnight, gracie
KAREN: achoo--i got the flu on the flight home. so i'll sniffle through my goodnight, gracie now.