Saturday, 12 August 2017

All Wikidding aside

by bryk 2 Comments on All Wikidding aside

How, exactly, does one solicit Wikipedians to update one’s Wikipedia entry? Is there a dark web where one leaves offerings of Chocodiles and Samwell Tarly fanfic in exchange for accuracy, if not flattery?

I hesitate to edit myself lest my neutrality or hell, notability be called into question. However, friends and complete strangers think I still live in Dar Es Salaam.

Let’s see… I’ve been back in the states since 2014, living in Durham NC for almost a year now. I’m doing very well under the circumstances. I will have some new music out there sooner than you’d expect and later than you think.

You’re welcome!

Wednesday, 31 May 2017

Thursday, 31 March 2016

Brike? Brick? Bryke? Bryck?

by bryk 1 Comment on Brike? Brick? Bryke? Bryck?

LOL after nearly three decades of hearing my name mangled every which way (my favorite being that Chicago Tower Records header card that read “David Bryck”) the bit that starts at 37:00 means an awful lot to me.

TAP #1.02: If It Feels Good Do It – A Sloan Tribute (pt. 1)

Welcome to the all-new Theme Artist Podcast, where we’ll feature honest-to-god record releases from fellow Theme People! This episode is about Futureman Records release If It Feels Good Do It – A Sloan Tribute and the many Themesters contained therein!

 

Monday, 28 March 2016

Monday, 14 March 2016

An open letter to Bernie Sanders.

by bryk Add Your Comment
Dear Bernie Sanders:
 
I love you, man. I love what you represent. I admire your directness and dissatisfaction with the status quo. I respect you for financing your campaign without superpac/soft/dark money.
 
However, six or seven straight days of begging fundraising emails is enough. If you have something new and interesting to say, let me know. But please don’t fill my inbox with one-paragraph, content-free, bullshit “updates” — likely composed by some mid-level apparatchik but signed with your name — followed by three fundraising paragraphs.
 
That, dear friend I’ve never met, is called American politics as usual.
 
It pains me to remind you that we, the people — your supporters — are NOT an ATM to be withdrawn from at will. I imagine the demands of campaigning can make even the best-intentioned candidate forget this. But I will assure you a weekly fundraising email will deplete my political spending budget quite nicely, thank you.
 
Now go on and win it all you crazy diamond!
 
Love,
Dan Bryk

Sunday, 13 March 2016

Pop Up Chorus sings She’s An Angel

by bryk Add Your Comment

I almost forgot about taking part in Durham’s delightfully eclectic Pop Up Chorus a few years back, gleefully conducted by my old peep (and Pop Psychology hornsmith) Seamus Kenney. I never actually make it on camera (look for my striped blue short sleeve shirt from behind) but you can definitely hear me in there. It was a great time, but the next morning I got a brutal kidney stone. Damn you, salty delicious barbecue.

 

Wednesday, 10 February 2016

Apple Music: Why does it got to be so damn tough?

by bryk 2 Comments on Apple Music: Why does it got to be so damn tough?
First, the search engine is awful. For example, I woke up singing Eddy Grant’s “I Don’t Wanna Dance” and thought “Gee, I’d like to hear that. And I wouldn’t mind playing Henry Electric Avenue or Give Me Hope Johanna either.”
So I searched for “Eddy Grant” and started off with this page of gobbledygook:
Screen Shot 2016-02-10 at 8.23.53 AM
5% of which appear to be “original artist” albums (none of which resemble the original album covers), followed by 45% cheap-looking soundalike records (sure, the Caribbean and especially Jamaica are famous for their scale of bootlegging, but doesn’t famously fastidious and litigious Apple have ANY quality control over their content? If not, at least over ranking?)  The remainder appear to be single tracks on multiple-artist compilations, yet interspersed between those are Eddy Grant or Equals (his original group) releases of potential interest. Trust me, it goes on for another page.
 
The best part, though, is noting Anal C*nt‘s “Everyone Should Be Killed” smack dab in the middle of the ranking. Turns out AC has a song called “Eddy Grant” (which loosely resembles “Electric Avenue” yet is nowhere near as funny as “I’m Not Allowed to Like AC anymore since they signed to Earache” or “Song Titles Are F**king Stupid.”) Apple’s search engine isn’t even sophisticated enough to exclude it from my ALBUM search.
 
So while I am sure ICE (Grant’s original label) and Sony (North American licensee) are probably more to blame for Apple Music’s lack of decent releases than Apple is, it does lead one to question — couldn’t Apple have at least one person on staff to browse through the notable artists and make sure they have at least one legitimate, half-decent catalogue best-of? And if not, present the label(s) with a laundry list. If Apple Music is being sold as a best-of-class product, it needs quality catalogue.
I already feel guilty enough for likely reducing the short-term income streams of the artists I like (though I still reflexively buy/download records by the ones I LOVE — it certainly helps when I know they are their own label or work with fair, equitable partners) so why add all this UX friction to the mix?
And could Apple PLEASE poach a few people from Google Search to improve their search engine? (There’s no excuse for how weak iOS App search is, either.)

Tuesday, 9 February 2016

“Moneylenders Out!”

by admin Add Your Comment

This is without a doubt the best political essay I’ve read in ages, polemic or not. It crystallizes the issues with sharp and hilarious lines reminiscent of Taibbi or Bai or hell, Thomas Frank.

If Millennials are coming out in droves to support Bernie Sanders, it’s not because we are tripping balls on Geritol. No, Sanders’s clever strategy of shouting the exact same thing for 40 years simply strikes a chord among the growing number of us who now agree: Washington is bought. And every time Goldman Sachs buys another million-dollar slice of the next American presidency, we can’t help but drop the needle onto Bernie’s broken record:

The economy is rigged.

Democracy is corrupted.

The billionaires are on the warpath.

Sanders has split the party with hits like these, a catchy stream of pessimistic populism. Behind this arthritic Pied Piper, the youth rally, brandishing red-lettered signs reading “MONEYLENDERS OUT.”

And despite being a proud, self-identified millennial (imagine that!) it’s not even all about her. Mostly. So why are you still here and not already reading this thing?

Feeling the Yern: Why One Millennial Woman Would Rather Go to Hell Than Vote for Hillary

Stumping for Hillary Clinton this weekend in New Hampshire, hedge fund manager Madeleine Albright squawked, “There’s a special place in Hell for women who don’t help each other.” When the Democratic National Committee chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, was asked earlier this year why she thought Millennials resist Hillary Clinton, she…

Thursday, 4 February 2016

Cherry Berry b/w Yrreb Yrrehc

by admin Add Your Comment

One of the great things about having an online distribution partner is when they take the initiative and upload catalogue tracks to YouTube in (in this case, optimistic) hopes of click-through streaming royalties.

Sometimes, though, the results are unexpected.

I forgot all about the B-side to Cherry Berry until someone emailed me asking if this was for real. (That person is apparently the ONE listener thus far.)

The idea was utterly, unapologetically ripped off from the flip of Napoleon XIV’s “They’re Coming To Take Me Aaway, Ha-Haaa!” (I mean, they are both novelty songs fronted by pseudonymous authority figures, right?)

If you have no idea what any of this is about, there’s this:

Love In an Elevator

Okay, this is easily the single greatest song ever written about a state commissioner of labor. Yep, the smiling face of North Carolina Labor Commissioner Cherie K. Berry has inspired a song. A really funny song. Actually, just a great song altogether.

Tuesday, 2 February 2016

A New Song. No, really.

by admin Add Your Comment

I contributed a cover of “I Hate My Generation” to an upcoming Sloan tribute record. How upcoming? It drops this Friday the 5th on Detroit’s Futureman Records. They’re even taking pre-orders.

I Hate My Generation, by Dan Bryk

from the album If It Feels Good Do It – A Sloan Tribute

It’s an admittedly highly interpretive take on the original, and I managed to sucker an amazing band into it: Josh Hicks on the sticks, Joe Giddings (ex-Star Collector) and Steve Della Maggiora on guitars, Frank Padellaro (you may know him from King Radio or the Scud Mountain Boys) on bass and Brandi Ediss on shouting.

And me on harmonies. Lots and lots of harmonies. Do you remember how Moxy Früvous’ Get In The Car basically ripped off the intro (and uh, general vibe) of Pen Pals? You don’t? Well, I sure as hell do!