Download: Bill Janovitz and Crown Victoria

Background

I remember when Napster started; I also remember when they shut its ass down. MP3s were controversial beasts back then, and were surely going to destroy the music industry as we know it. The RIAA believed it. Lance Bass believed it. They argued it only exists to distribute pirated music for no cost and pulled its plug. The influence on artists: negligable. Then they were bought up by Bertlesmann, the conglomerate behind Sony BMG, and made into a pay service.

Yeah, there were new FTP programs since those innocent days: you could get KISS on Kazaa, Moby on Morpheus, or Los Lobos on Limewire (a truly excellent program, by the way, with no spyware) . . . but can you make the argument that they help the artists? If you're like me, you'd say no, but if you're like me, then you're also a smug, greedy bastard and will do it anyways.

(Bear with me, this is going somewhere.)

So what if you want to download free music on a clear conscience?

There used to be a fascinating site once called MP3.com. I say "fascinating" because they would feature tracks posted by new, unproven artists, broken down by category and marketed as adventurous new sounds. I've bought albums based off of downloads off of this site; the gamble pays off for these acts. However, I also say "used to be" because they were bought up by Bertlesmann, the conglomerate behind Sony BMG, and made into a pay service.

So now the site to visit is Download.com, which operates like the old-school MP3.com with artists arranged by genre or location. It's a massive spawl of musicians and styles, and of course, some are good, some are bad, but you've got to take the time to fish. At least before they're bought up by Bertlesmann, the conglomerate behind Sony BMG, and made into a pay service.

And so . . .

I've honestly never come across Bill Janovitz before, and now I'm wishing I had much sooner so to track his earlier material down. He's been playing for over fifteen years, has earned indie praise during all this time, and even has a book on the Stones coming out. The Download.com selection is just a couple of cuts from his one of two bands (Buffalo Tom being the other one.)

The first song, Almost Beating, is good. Nothing incredibly fancy, mind you, just solid ensemble playing, folksy poetry lyrics and a solid-but-smokey voice. If you grew up listening to Tom Cochrane, you've heard this before, and it's something I'd enjoy best, say, car-tripping. It's that kind of song.

One, Two, Three on the other hand . . . sweet Jesus. I can not get this song out of my head for trying. From the sweet, subdued drumming that leads in to all the instrumentals kicking in, to the bittersweet love story in the lyrics ("We’re just the notches on the Fahrenheit thermometer, the third degree / The first, the second child, the third was me") . . . this is exactly the kind of song that you can hear cold and then want to hear more. It's haunting, then catchy, then honest, then passionate. Janovitz runs the entire gamut through this song and doesn't pander while doing it. It sounds like something Elvis Costello would do if he wasn't obsessed with classical composition . . . wait, no, he did try it.

Do yourself a favour and try one or both of the tracks . . . it's worth your time. If you disagree with me, delete them, but you still gave them a chance.

As for me, I'm itching to buy some of Janovitz' discs . . . all because of some free MP3s. Now why is this concept so hard to understand, Lance Bass?