My Morning Jacket announced two things this week: 1) new West Coast tour dates and 2) what they are calling the "Spontaneous Curation Series," an opportunity for fans to help determine which songs get played each night. MMJ will use their Twitter account before each performance to engage with fans and accept requests for that particular show.

What is a little unclear is whether Twitter fans are making suggestions for their encores or for their entire set. It may be vague because certain festival shows, particularly in Europe, can't accommodate their generally lengthy encores. But what is clear is that Fan Club members get an additional opportunity to help decide the opening song.


I really love this "Spontaneous Curation Series" idea for a few reasons. For fans who participate, it will make them feel involved in the performance far more than a "passive" attendee and each show will truly be special and unique. (Which may also drive ticket sales for fans looking to experience a different show each night.) From a social media perspective, it will strengthen their audience, certainly in terms of online engagement but also likely in total number of Twitter followers. That's akin to a social media slam dunk - reward and engage your core followers while attracting new ones in the process!

MMJ's "Spontaneous Curation Series" reminds me of a 2012 hi-tech version of Elvis Costello's "Spectacular Spinning Songbook." During his 1986 "Revolver Tour," Costello brought a game show style wheel with him on stage and let fans spin the giant wheel to decide the next song. Costello resurrected the concept in 2011 and recently released the Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook CD/DVD recorded over two nights in Los Angeles. Perhaps the MMJ "Spontaneous Curation" shows will lead to a live album as well...

This is the big week that we have all been waiting for. No, I am not talking about the new Coldplay. The world must wait one more week for the album destined to be the biggest album of the year. I am still not sure how Coldplay became as big as they are. I really remember selling the import of their first album almost 10 years ago, back when nobody knew who they were. Now they are the biggest thing ever. I really don't think Coldplay needs much help in selling records. But iTunes has partnered with Coldplay and plays the commercial with the new single about 100 times per day. I have gotten a little sick of the Coldplay...but for some reason I like their new song. I guess it is the power of Apple. I had resisted getting a Mac for so long but am now so happy to finally have one. I guess they somehow got a hold of me. I guess I am not as strong as I thought I was. I was always strong enough to resist commercials and advertising in the past, but I guess I just gave in.

So what is really out this week is the new album from My Morning Jacket. It is called Evil Urges. I know that I have talked about My Morning Jacket a lot lately --at least I feel like I have. Some of those conversations have for sure been in my head, but I know I have also mentioned them on my blog a couple of times. I had held out for a while on My Morning Jacket as well. They got their start back in 1998 and it seems to have taken me almost 10 years to get into them. It took that little movie called I'm Not There to finally bring me around to falling in love with My Morning Jacket. I have slowly given time to each of their four albums and fallen in love with all of them.

I have been really obsessed with My Morning Jacket lately. We still have a couple weeks to wait for the new album, but I get more and more excited as the weeks go on. I picked up most of their albums last year after I got obsessed with them, and it was all because of that little Bob Dylan movie called I'm Not There. It just came out on DVD last week and I really recommend that you check it out if you have not done so yet. Most people who have seen it either love it or hate it -- there is not much in between. I really loved it, which says a a lot since I am not really a big fan of Bob Dylan. I respect the man and am glad that he exists and I understand his effect on millions of people, he is just not really my kind of musician. But I am a big fan of the biopic. Maybe I am just too lazy to read that many books, but I love learning about musicians lives and seeing their stories up on the big screen, even if it is just narrowly based on some sort of reality. But the movie did really get me into My Morning Jacket, which is great. I always worry that I have already discovered and gotten into all the bands that I am going to like. I know that there will always be young new bands that I like, but it is just a different feeling to find some band that has already been around for 5 or 10 years. I don't really feel like I should of liked them earlier. I don't feel embarrassed or get mad at myself that I didn't like them right away. There are simply too many bands out there to like them all at once. I listen to a lot of music but still do not have the time to devote to everything that I might like. Some bands fall through the cracks, but it almost makes it more exciting to go back and explore their old albums. It is sort of like intentionally missing a whole season of a TV show just so you can look forward to watching the entire thing when it comes out on DVD. The anticipation somehow makes it better.

The Black Angels are another one of those bands. Their second album comes out this week. It is called Directions to See a Ghost. I didn't really intentionally wait until now to listen to them. It just sort of happened that way. I can't really remember if I ever listened to their first album Passover which came out in 2006. It may have been playing at work when I was in the room but I don't remember paying attention or ever intentionally listening to them, so I was not really expecting to like this new album when I put it on a couple of weeks ago. I just had it in my head that they were a band that I was not going to like. I really was surprised and was immediately a brand new fan of The Black Angles. They had quickly converted me by the second song on the album. It is always a little humorous to me when you first get into a band, because I really knew nothing about them. I knew they were somewhat popular but didn't really know anyone personally who was a fan. I knew they were on the label Light in the Attic, but that was about it. I had never seen pictures of the band and I had no idea they were from Texas-- and by the time I was done listening to this new album, I was convinced the lead singer was a woman. It really was not a very typically feminine voice but I still pictured a woman singing all the songs. I thought her voice was really unique and sort of dark and deep. I didn't really ever question myself and think that it might be a man. Of course, I was wrong. I had to go watch some videos and actually see Alex Mass singing to be fully convinced that he was indeed a man. It sort of makes more sense now.