Alright- you all know I love The Slackers- I’m like a Dead Head for this group. I’ve traveled far and wide to catch their shows- and I have an extensive collection of their bootlegs. On this very blog, I’ve interviewed 3 of the 6 current members. The Slackers have expressed again and again, a desire to find an online distribution model beyond MySpace. And I’ve always wanted the fellas to find a way to release more “Official Bootlegs” along the lines of their Ernesto’s albums.
Now Whatevski Records has found a solution to both of our requests. The Slackers have released the most recent of their infamous Booze Cruise shows for download via Whatevski. For five bucks, you get 2 sets- 25 tracks! The Slackers get a little bit of rent money and we get a whole lot of content. Win/win.
There are still some kinks in the download process, but Tom from Whatevski gave me a prompt response and I had the whole set with very little trouble. The files are of a high bit rate, all zipped up in one easy package. Despite a few mic scratches at the beginning, the overall recording is heads above even the best Slackers bootlegs. All in all, totally worth it.
Keep your eyes peeled for more Whatevski releases of The Slackers- and Tom Whatevski says,
“The label is going to be about the live show outside of the Phish and Grateful Dead Jam scene. As long as it’s good music, and we like the band and the people in it, there’s a spot on the Whatevski roster. I’d expect to see some more Soul/Reggae, some older NYC Hardcore classics, some indie comedy, some indie music – a spread of nicely curated stuff at a price that’s easy.”
I’m all for it.
August 14th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
The only issues I see with this so far is the low bit rate (160 mp3 file), which when questioned “Tom Whatevski” that said that since the source recording wasn’t very good it didn’t matter if they over-compressed it (I’ll give them honesty points for straight up admitting that the recording isn’t of particularly good quality).
The other oddity is the 50¢ “Shipping & Handling Fee” that is added onto bill when you check out (er.. it’s a download, what shipping or handling?). When asked Tom said that’s just the way their going to work, and that they hadn’t received any other complaints so far (a few hours after they went live!) I actually wasn’t complaining so much as asking why they didn’t just build that 50¢ into the advertised price.
August 14th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
I lose points for the “their/they’re” mistake. :hangs head:
August 15th, 2009 at 6:34 am
Much thanks for posting this link; it took me all of 2 minutes before my tracks were downloading. You’re not alone in your slacker “deadhead” status. I saw them in Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria this summer and they blew my mind and made me dance my ass off every night. I even turned my girlfriend into a ska convert in the process which makes me happy. And now I have another album to add to my serious slacker collection, happy times!
bassman
August 17th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
I’m comin for you slackers!
toronto (two shows) and buffalo!
what did folks think of the new tracks?
August 17th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Just want to clarify that commenter Jon hasn’t purchased the recording, and unless he pirated, he hasn’t listened to it either. So, let’s pass the grains of salt around for everyone.
As I write this, no one else has complained about sound quality, or about our extra fee which is built in to cover any taxes or other external payments ( and is explained in our FAQ on the site. )
http://whatevski.org/whatevski/pages/about
Cheers,
Tom
August 17th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Oh, and once we clear up more bandwidth our next release will be 256kbps MP3.
August 18th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
good to hear the quality will be raised..but quality on this recording was not bad at all and I appreciate the availability of it.
Its far better than the one I taped in Ithaca last year..but that was also through the air.
cheers!