Music isn’t all about forthcoming LPs, multi-city tours, and special haircuts. Once a week XLR8R likes to turn its attention to the more obscure and sometimes bizarre news from last seven days. Today we bring you some music industry politics, groundbreaking (literally) discoveries about ravers, and one or two items that are just plain weird.

On Monday, the Norwegian customer ombudsman (which, according to a certain managing editor, is “kinda like an advocate/mediator for legal/government shit”) declared iTunes illegal in his country, citing Apple’s violation of consumer protection laws as the reason. But what will they do when they realize how many headaches are caused from operating Zune?

Meanwhile, evidence of mankind’s first ravers has been unearthed, during excavations in Durrington Walls, U.K. Archaeologists found dwellings supposedly dating back to the time when Stonehenge was built, including a “feasting assemblage” that, according to Mike Parker Pearson, was where prehistoric folk “went to party–you could say it was the first free festival.” Wonder what the neolithic ravers would think of all this new-rave hoopla.

And for anyone who ever had the balls to hop the fence surrounding Michael Eavis’ farm, a Glastonbury documentary is set to play on Friday, March 2 at Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley, CA. Relive the glory days of the UK’s famous music festival–that is, the days before you were required to submit a passport photo to even be eligible for purchasing tickets.

Lastly, we leave you with the supposed acceptance speech from The Knife at this year’s Swedish Grammis Awards (their version of the Grammys), and hope you have less time on your hands than the person responsible for making this video.

Have a safe, nutty weekend. 

Long Gone John (born John Mermis) has accomplished a lot for someone who struggled to make ends meet from an early age. He spontaneously began Sympathy for the Record Industry in 1988, a label that sought to maintain a diverse artist roster including the psychedelic drone of Skullflower, country-flavored goth of Gun Club, offbeat punk from Turbonegro, and even the first three White Stripes albums.

As if running a label with over 700 releases in the last 19 years weren’t enough, Mermis further solidified his image as a cult personality by starting Necessaries Toy Foundation, which has released work from Camille Rose Garcia, Fawn Gehweiler, and Mark Ryden.

The Grand Central Art Center will dedicate a Saturday night to Mermis on February 3, where Pictures of the Gone World will air from 7-10 p.m. The film documents Mermis’ eccentric art and musical obsessions, includes a complete tour of his house, and at the same time provides a broader take on the world of indie culture through interviews. It will be shown alongside the first public appearance of “A Pirate’s Treasure Dream,” a Todd Schorr painting that features Mermis.

Pictures of the Gone World runs February 3 – March 18, 2007.

CSUF Grand Central Art Center
125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, CA
thetreasuresoflonggonejohn.com

Cameron Octigan

Andy Dixon (a.k.a. Secret Mommy) has made what he calls, “the most anti-electronic electronic album” for his latest full-length Plays. It follows then, that his visual take on the tracks is steadfastly conceptual. For one distorted image after the other and more bizarre color combinations than a light show at an illegal rave, check the video for “Kool Aid River,” now playing at XLR8R‘s Video Section.

Plays is out now on Ache Records.

Kent Lambert (a.k.a. Roommate) starts 2007 in much the same way he left 2006, when he released Songs The Animals Taught Us. That album was packed with pointed lyrics on profiteers, the economy, the plight of the middle class, and other such ailments of the modern age, and his forthcoming digital-only EP, New Steam, simply picks up where Songs ended.

Don’t write him off as another angry artist on a political soapbox, though. Lambert also takes great pains to craft the music itself–from the electronic flourishes to the down-home instrumentation–in evocative compositions, incorporating shades of Neil Young, Xiu Xiu, and Dntel into his own moody musical structures.

Snippets of the EP will be available via the Plug Research Podcast on Tuesday February 6. You can also hear the track “New Stream” in its entirety here.

The New Stream EP is out in digital format only February 27, 2007 on Plug Research.

Jennifer Marston

Photo by Haley Murphy.