So while our beleaguered police force are being told not to bother prosecuting for certain crimes (such as knife related) because of prison overcrowding, they’re instead concentrating their efforts on populating the last few remaining places on catching the most heinous, nefarious, despicable and despised people society has had the arrogance to cough up:  people who share music.

Cleveland police have today confirmed that six people have been arrested for allegedly sharing music files via the defunct BitTorrent tracker OiNK.cd.

More over here.  Unreal.

And on the subject of sharing, here’s something worth listening to.

This year seems to have been pretty shit for new music. In fact, it’s becoming difficult to find anything new worthy of a listen, a situation which has become increasingly worse over the years with the demise of bands like Hot Snakes, Fugazi, and so on. A quick trawl through what’s popular on Indietorrents shows the majority of it to be bullshit folk-esque wank. As another example, let’s take a look at what’s on Pitchforkmedia’s “recommended new music” list going back for a few pages:

Daft Punk - Alive 2007

No.

Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
“Zach Condon’s horn and ukelele…”

Horn and ukelele? No ta.

James Blackshaw - The Cloud of Unknowing
“… acoustic guitar music…”

Acoustic guitar music. No.

Bowerbirds - Hymns for a Dark Horse
“… folk …”

Folk. Fuck no.

A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Scribble Mural Comic Journal
“Philadelphia tweegazers keep up ambient-pop’s ethereal flame…”

Tweegazers? C’mon. Fuck that.

And so it continues over tens of pages. Grim. Seriously, what’s happened to all the good stuff that used to come out of DC, Chicago, et al?

Here’s a worthwhile read while you’re avoiding work this morning. It’s a thread started by Steve Albini on a gambling site’s message board - he’s known for being a pretty hardcore poker player - covering all aspects of his music ‘career’, including working with Nirvana, Pixies, The Jesus Lizard, and so on.

I have traveled in the music scene as a musician and recording engineer for better than 25 years. I have worked on a couple thousand records, some of them with famous rockstars, though most of them you’re probably never heard of. I know a lot about making records, recording technology, touring, being in a rock band and the like. I own Electrical Audio, a 2-studio recording complex in Chicago, Illinois, where I make records every day.

It’s classic Albini - there’s some extremely insightful posts buried in there covering everything from what it’s like engineering records for various bands to commentary on downloading and how the distribution of music is changing, and of course the usual caustic responses to stupid questions such as ‘vinyl or digital’:

Neither. I go straight for the vagina. You find them on women.

There’s even a few posts on poker playing.

Speaking of The Jesus Lizard, I’m half-deaf (and tired as fuck) this morning after seeing David Yow’s new band ‘Qui’ last night. I shot a few photos, I’ll upload tonight if I manage to stay awake long enough.

* Update - here’s a couple of my favourite pics from that show:

I’ll keep this short - ATP was fucking ace. Butlin’s was a real surprise (in a good way) and the lineup was unreal. I’m up for going to the next one but I’ll be amazed if the bands playing are half as decent…

Highlights were definitely seeing Shellac play twice (three days if you count me seeing them on Thursday in London), Trans Am’s set which was extraodinary thanks to Phil Manley’s skills in the absence of any working keyboards, and the drinking binge that kicked Friday night off and then destroyed most of Saturday for some.

We also experienced by far and away the worst kebabs ever, got poisoned by Burger King (what do you expect at 2am in the morning), and Boothy made friends with some ducks. Speaking of the Booth, he also managed to fulfill his lifelong ambition of making out with a rock star.

Can’t wait for the next one.