It looks like some work is paying off and distribution of de'fchild releases are finally flowing into better retailers around the planet. At the moment, one can find our vinyl at:

Word and Sound (Germany)
Juno (UK)
InBeat (Montréal Canada)
Watts Music (US)
Technique (Japan)

and in San Francisco at:

Open Mind Music
Amoeba

interesting little article on old pop reissues done right.

Finally some sanity in the crazy world where fileswapping and taping are killing the music. It more likely that suckyarsemusic™, the Recording Industry's oligopolistic fiefdom and outdated business models, that are poorly aligned to modern ways of experiencing and making music, are really what is killing the music ... if you insist on its mortality. I don't.

Nevertheless, this French judicial activism matters because of France's position in the global music industry. France, and Paris in particular, is one of the most important musical/cultural meccas for artists/musicians in continental europe, from Western Classical traditions in the 19th century to Montmartre in the '20s and '30s for Jazz, to the ultra-modern IRCAM for experimental research in and creation of contemporary music.

Hopefully some of this momentum will trickle back across the pond, meet up with some Canadian common sense and finally have an impact stateside.

Oh yeah, did you know that the RIAA's chairman and CEO is a former chief of staff of the Republican National Committee, circa 1998?

Check out this massive mixtape and post of some serious early “noughties” (aka recent) ragga riddims and the finely detailed accompanying playlist.

Currently listening to the Bushy Bushy Riddim with the Mexican and Rice & Peas riddims on deck. Correct!

Check out these chill new jams by Eddie's zer0g crew of Smartypants and localfields released on the foundsound records net label unfoundsound.

Bill Gates predicts *yawn* that cellphones running his mobile OS will beat out the iPod (assumed, of course, to be a stagnant, non-evolving device).

I'm not even a huge iPod fan (I have a rocking iAudio), but where do I even start ?? First of all, aside from this being essentially a marketing wish disguised as some kind of candid forecasting, there are so many problems with his approach to predicting the trends of technologies like the iPod. People think that because the iPod has transistors and is electronic that it is subject to the same rules as other strictly technical devices ... WRONG!!!

First of all, we'll excuse the marketing wish, I mean that's his job after all, to promote his stuff, by talking shmack and giving his take on desired directions. We'll also excuse him for his dodgy track record for predictions from the directions of the interweb back in the day to the Tablet PC and stuff like Passport, just to name a few.

What Bill doesn't seem to get (and this can sometimes be hard to get) is that the iPod is FASHION!! People don't buy iPods for the brilliant acoustics (try those earbuds on a train in a tunnel @ 50 mph) or the loads of harddisk space (check the success of iPod Mini and iShuffle).

People buy iPods 'cos they're sexy and it is fashionable to have 'em dangling on your person. People wanna style, and unlike most tings strictly technological (like the impact of transistor mismatch on the speed/accuracy/power tradeoff of analog CMOS circuits), fashions and tech-style trends are much more difficult to predict on the kind of time-scales that Bill is attempting .... he'd be much better off attempting to predict the directions for Miu Miu's or Valentino's 2006 Spring/Summer collections.

*ahem*

Posted some new coolpix (and overhauled oldpix with gallery) from my longarsehaul across the continent last week. Lots of open spaces and plenty of big sky country. Lots of time to reflect on the move, recent developments in la vida loca and major schemage for the future. Not much else to do seated on your duff for 15+ hours a day trying to stay awake and away from crazy drivers.

The trip was memorable and something I've wanted to do for a while. Although this solo incarnation was waaay rushed and stressed out (re: where's your head at). Would've been much better to go with a crew and take a route other than I-80, which while convenient isn't the most scenic around.

Anyway, enough chitchat, here's the roundup:

• The Reason: consolidate vida y trabajo in San Francisco.
• The Ride: 2004 Buick LeSabre, a surprisingly good ride, smooth and stable while fully loaded with all my junk, handled great in a snow storm in the Rockies and well on the plains versus the large and mercurial semis!
• The Route: Québec, Ontario, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, California.

• # road hours logged: 47
  
• # miles logged: 3002.3 miles
  
• # stops for petrol: 9
  
• # hours of sleep per night: 4.5
  
• # of Flood Watches: 1
  
• # of Snow Storms: 1
  
• # of ferocious seagulls demanding McD french fries: 1
  
• Caffeine: 5 large cappuccino/coffee things, 10 energy drinks
  
• Car Inspection at the border: 25 mins
  
• Best roads: Nevada
  
• Best rest area: Iowa 80 (the largest truck stop in the world!)
  
• Top serene moment: watching the sun rise in my mirror @ 6am on Day 3 cruising through Western Nebraska

I'm back now in SF from my longarsetripacrossthecontinent from Montréal. Will be posting coolpix and travelogs as soon as I can dig them out from the other debris cluttering la vida.

So some great news on the distribution front, picked up a distribution deal with Watts Music in NY. Now that USA based distribution is more or less in the bag between Forced Exposure, Syntax and now Watts, I'm going to be focusing energy on plugging dcp into Canadian (Fusion3), UK and continental European channels!