vonnegut vonnegut vonnegut

another, along the samelines as the last

Something I do not understand is that we seem more and more discouraged--and unwilling--to have and to use imagination. Watching films even from 1950 is 'boring.' Reading books from then? Even worse. I should amend that. Most people I know read maybe a book a year. Or less. Not everybody but most. Everything is obvious, nothing is left to the imagination, we all have ADD. What do we blame? Society? Barney? I don't know but my kids are going to read a damn lot of books.

just a thought

I guess the reason the rapid progression of technology scares me is mostly to do with the fact that we seem to be trying to escape the human experience as much as possible.

Salinger Update

Oh Shit Read This Now

remiss

I am about to embark on an odyssey of attempting to sleep, but I should briefly mention my most recent reading.

1-Stephen King-Pet Sematary. It's known as being a terrifying book, and at parts it certainly lives up to that. But for me it's one of the best examples of King's real genius, which is capturing real, pure human emotion in such a way that the reader leaves the book actually having experienced the emotional depth of the characters. Here, it's more successful than ever, which is particularly astonishing given that the main subjects, grief and dread, are two of the hardest to capture without personally experiencing them. I really think a lot of the power of King's writing gets lost in all the "horror" and the film remakes.

2-JD Salinger-Nine Stories. While I was really not a fan of Catcher in the Rye, I decided to give this collection a shot. Turns out I was correct in doing so. When he gets less long-winded and limits himself to a few dozen pages, Salinger can spin out some truly incredibly snapshots. Not all of the way through yet, but my favorite so far is probably "For Esme--With Love and Squalor."

Slowing down.

I just spent an hour in washington square park hanging out with the squirrels, doing absolutely nothing.

Probably the healthiest and best hour I have had since I came down here.

I finally identified my problem. I have been slipping into the NY state of mind, which really just doesn't fit in my head. I feel under pressure to constantly be doing something. Go. Work. Create Value. What is missing is the ability to just stop and appreciate something. Today I was watching two squirrels. They were just chillin' about a foot away from my right big toe. I suddenly realized that I have no idea what their tails are for. They are about as big as the squirrels themselves but they seem completely impractical.

Along similar lines, I probably need a typewriter. I get too distracted trying to write on the computer. I also really wish I had a room I could just go to and think. Nothing there but books, papers maybe. Definitely no computer. For lack of a better word, a study.

my new favorite band (name)

IWRESTLEDABEARONCE-"Tastes Like Kevin Bacon"
Note the zany colored mic.

insomnia

Woke up in the middle of the night for no clear reason again. Felt like writing something.

I'm pretty excited about Jimmy Fallon taking over Late Night. It's a win-win, really; we don't lose Conan, as he is taking over Leno's old show (major improvement) and we get a new one hosted by Fallon, produced by Lorne Michaels, and with The Roots as the house band. Fuckin' right.

I had a conversation today with Tom in which we decided that it would be necessary to have at least one song with only one phrase for a lyric. Then he said just such a phrase. Am working on that.

Check out the new E6 album, Flashy, if you haven't yet. Some tasty stuff on there.

Yeah I'm young but I feel like I'm old
Yeah I'm older and older each day
And I built walls to keep out the cold
And the feelings that get in the way

Goodnight world.

Beck is a goof.

shit

Sorry, I got distracted.

I have a lot to say but I also have a midterm in an hour in a half so I should probably keep it to a few things:

1. If you haven't yet (you probably haven't) go check out J.D. Souther. If you don't know, he is the singer-songwriter who wrote basically all the Eagles' best songs, plus songs for Linda Ronstadt, etc. He also had a career of his own but preferred to kind of hang back and play small clubs because he is a true, legit dude. Anyway, he went on a 25-year "fishing trip" but is now back with a new album, If The World Was You. And it's crazy good. He's also on an acoustic tour right now. I had the good fortune to get into the over-packed show at Joe's Pub and hang out with J.D. backstage a few days ago. Seriously, what a cool guy. If I was J.D. Souther when I grew up, I'd be happy with my life. Anyway, if you get the chance to see him, do it. And in the meantime, the new album is pretty crazy. Uses a lot of horns and has sort of a jazzy feel mixed in with Southern California Folk-Rock vocals. Really cool.

2. Finally got around to seeing the film Stranger than Paradise. Goddamn, man. What a great movie. Very minimal, but the actors really do a great job of acting like actual people. The budget was probably like $5, but Jim Jarmusch really, really pulls it off with a minimal cast and setting.

3. We haven't found out yet about Peapod, but if they don't put out the record, we'll be getting it professionally made and putting it in stores by early December at the latest. Expect to see us on the shelf pretty soon. I can basically guarantee this will be the only pressing of those songs ever, so if you have faith we are going to make it big and want to be that dick who claims to have known about them before they were huge, well, now you can have evidence! Probably going to be like $6.

music? what is...

I alternate between really proud of the album and feeling like we could maybe have done it a bit better. Usually the latter is just when it's late and I feel all pessimistic. I do think we need to put a bit more thought into lyrics sometimes though. Like, say "frogs" which is a straight-up goofy song--intentionally--but really, that riff is damned good. If we had semi-serious lyrics for it, it would be a completely legit marketable song. The Heat is sort of the same way. I mean we were modeling it after Smells Like Teen Spirit obviously, but the thing is, the way SLTS works is that it talks about nothing while implying that it might, actually, be talking about something. Kind of like Backstabber, or Disintegrator.

Anyway, we're starting to move in different directions with our music now. We may start writing more things in the vein of Backstabber and Jellylegs, songs that rely much less heavily on gratuitously huge amounts of distortion. May even use an acoustic sometimes. GASP

In other news, I am officially having a love affair with Gretsch guitars. I love the twang you can pull out of a Corvette, and I don't know of any other guitar that plays as well as the Jet. Plus, the hollowbodies and the archtops... ohhhh.

Think I am going to write today. There is a Minus the Bear show, but it is probably already too late for me to get in with my CMJ pass.

need a small bass combo. not sure what to get.

am coming out of an insane few weeks. have barely had a minute to myself. tonight am making chili and just chilling out.

also, i guess i was right all along:



barack obama is the bat-man.

maine

Until coming back home this weekend it never really struck me how much more I feel like I belong here. In NYC I feel really out of place, like some dude who came and crashed the party--alone--and then sat in the corner. I am just not a city boy. Here in Maine, life moves at exactly my speed. Here in Maine I feel like everybody's got my back. Feeling like an outsider has been a huge contributor to my stress level out in NYC. I just don't really belong.

Having accepted that, I guess that I will not be living right in the city once I am out of NYU. Maybe someplace just outside of Boston. Boston is basically Portland but bigger, and with room for an actual indie music scene. I just can't imagine what living permanently in NYC would do to me.

goodburger

I think Goodburger may have given me food poisoning.

What a disappointment.

It is nice out today.

Probably going to start writing a lot more. Most likely they will come out in short story ish format, as I have no patience but a ridiculous imagination.

Until I'm through reading this Lovecraft anthology I have, it's going to be a lot of crazy shiz. If there's anything good, I'll put it on here, probably.

just when you thought you could get a normal amount of sleep.

kind of pissed off at the ole subconscious right now for showing me some things i really did not need to see in a dream. woke up and it took me about 20 minutes to get up the nerve to sit upright.

also, before i had completely woken up i had already taken melatonin... which i had already taken to fall asleep the first time so we'll see how that works out.

finally, i have this inexplicable, painful case of hiccups.

lovecraft

Lovecraft spent a short while living in NYC, thinking that it would be an inspirational atmosphere and one in which he could focus on his artistic endeavors. He turned out to be dead wrong--he found the place depressing, lonely, oppressive, and "dead," and he was miserable until he returned to his native Providence, RI.



If there is one thing I have learned at school it is that I am not cut out for city life.





Edit: Also, Lovecraft always seems to name the cats in his stories some variation of the word "nigger" for whatever reason. This is not something I share with him.

uh oh.

sometimes, once in a long while, i have a time like this. i cannot form a coherent thought and what i do have are a million little worries fluttering around and glancing occasionnally off my consciousness. like standing in a cave full of bats that have just been startled. so it's not that i am cohesively upset about any one thing in particular, more that every insecurity my subconscious has to offer is suddenly sprouting up out of nowhere to say hello and I can barely keep track of them all.

the net result of this is that trying to sleep, as i have been trying to do since about 2 (12:30 if you count the first failed attempt) is failing miserably.

usually when this happens it pretty much keeps going and there's really no way to stop it untili just pass out from exhaustion. which doesn't look likely to happen soon.

i might just not sleep tonight.

insomnia, yet again.

I always find myself coming back to Radiohead's "How To Disappear Completely." I do not hear the words. I hear the guitar, and I hear a voice.

I hear the glides and swirls that lay in the background. I tend to think that they are whale calls.

The bass line, however, is what brings me back. I hear the bass line calmly musing behind the rest, and it's sort of paternal in a way. A steadfast prescence, not overbearing, but rooted firmly.

ugh.

This is definitely one of those days.

I've spent practically the whole time only half-awake, with my mind constantly being drawn back to things I've done that were exceedingly stupid, or things in the future that are terrifying, or ways in which the world will cease to exist, or any other thing that is capable of sticking in my head and keeping me from being whatsoever productive.

Not really sure how to get out of this.

Uh-oh... another one of those drastic shifts.

Never thought before about how awesome it would be to be a professional songwriter.

brainstorming...

Seriously? I mean, really?!

Worst. Idea. Ever.

statistics

there is no reason why i should sit down to work on stats homework at 10 pm WITH someone else working with me and not finish until 3 am.

there is, however, a reason why i'm still up and updating this blog:

red bull.

worst.

Crazy idea...

Have always wanted to live in a situation with a relatively large number of similarly-minded people in a freer sort of circumstance than is usually afforded by modern America (land of handshakes and "personal space"). Came closer than I had previously experienced last year with the F.A.M.E. floor, but it's really not quite there yet.

Imagine a 3-story building, in, say, South Boston. The first floor is one large room, nearly empty. The second and third seem like living areas--there are bedrooms and bathrooms and a kitchen, maybe two. There could be more than 3 stories; there could only be two.

The only remarkable thing about this hypothetical building, really, is what it enables its inhabitants to do. I imagine the bottom floor of this building to be a venue for the arts. I mean an art gallery and a concert hall, and a dramatic theater, and a projection hall. (I am thinking, to some extent, of SPACE gallery when picturing this). The residents of the building have a job: Run this space. It would, if carefully managed, pay for the whole building pretty easily, and could provide for its inhabitants just as any other job.

Imagine the room for creativity afforded to the people running this place. I don't know of any more positive atmosphere for artistic growth. Great things could be accomplished by these people. The photographers and painters and musicians and actors and directors and writers could all work in tandem--imagine the sorts of creations made possible by this situation. In addition to the events held downstairs, there could be magazines published, film distributed, sound recorded... the possibility for expression is limitless, and God knows the audience would be there. This would be the sort of thing that would be hailed by all as a Great Independent Art Center, and would actually manage to connect with people of all types.

I don't know if it is ever likely to happen. But it's something I really and honestly long for. Who knows?

and i'm allergic, too

the air in this city is incredibly shitty whenever it happens to rain. cigarettes and exhaust and fumes and grit and smog and industry and disease all stick to the water living in the air, dragging it down and making it something much less vital.

unfortunately, the rain is my favorite weather.


anyway,

into new realms!

clarification

Have you ever wondered why the protagonist of "A Clockwork Orange" is so focussed on Beethoven?



Basically, Beethoven was the first to really bring his own human passion to the music, imbuing it with his personal emotions. And he did it pretty damn powerfully. I mean he did the shit out of it.

While I'm at it, here's some Dvorak--one of my all-time favorite pieces of music:

most addicting song...

relabeled appropriately.

If you've ever seen the Nicholas Cage remake of the classic horror/suspense film "the Wicker Man," you will understand what I mean when I say that this is a much, much, much more accurate trailer.

If you haven't, you should. Just so that you understand the true meaning of failure in film.

theory homework break

I think this just about sums it up.

Whoa.

About 100 views on the facebook page from 4pm-midnight yesterday.

Damn.

The album is coming together great so far.

sweet.

Just got 8 chicken thighs for $4.89. that's a good 4 meals or so, right there. slap some sweet baby ray's on them, and I'm happy.

Day has drastically improved.

neuroses

I feel far better these days than I knew was possible a few years ago.

That said, I'm not out of the woods yet.

Did you ever feel like people were doing you a favor by being with you? Or duck out of a situation because you thought you knew that nobody wanted you there, anyway? Did you give up a perfectly good day of relaxing outside with friends to stay in and do nothing, just because of some unnamed fear?

I'm better about this now, but it doesn't change the fact that sometimes I get sucked down without even realizing it.

Think that may be happening now. Part of that is getting readjusted to NYC, sure. And part of it is definitely the fact that my grandfather's cancer is not going well. Just trying to keep my head above the surface.

back to school

I'm thinking this blog might start being more frequently updated now that I'm back.

News in brief:

New Tony Smokes & the Ladykillers album: recording is finished; working on editing it.

2nd street dorm: small, but comfortable.

Pork from Gristedes: Unexciting.

doot doot dee, daat daa.

This blog is becoming less and less interesting and frequent... Tends to happen with blogs. At least with those not passionate about "blogging."

Regardless, it will maintain its existence as a conduit for whatever the hell I feel like.

Rediscovered Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head. I always used to think I really disliked them... their singles were really not very exciting. They have some very interesting album tracks, though. Much better than "yellow" and its ilk. Think "politik" is my favorite of theirs at the moment.

The backyard show was officially the last one we're going to do. From now on we will be focusing on honing our act and performing at venues, if only for credibility reasons. We know we can get more gigs of that sort, we just haven't been putting in the effort to do it. Do have a gig coming up at SPACE gallery though, and potentially one at a festival down on the pier. Many new songs coming together quickly, quickly now. They are all getting to be much more sophisticated and better-written than some of our older stuff, which may mean that eventually after we put out this album we're working on "Frogs" gets retired, along with some others. We shall see.

Meuhhhh. Work tomorrow through tuesday.

the tribulations...

Have obtained Sonar.

Recording should commence, I would think, later this week.

I also would not think it would take more than a week or so to lay down all the tracks, as we are approaching it very simply.

Then I get to worry about coming up with dough for the album duplication.

Big-ass moth woke me up.

They come in through your bedroom window. Half-blind and confused, they seek the light.


Recording time fell through. Working on options. Determined to put out an album by the end of this summer.

politick politick

It turns out that $7.75 an hour, though not very much money, adds up to a decent sum when an inordinate amount of hours are supplied to the equation.

In other news the air is full of ozone. People are sick, people are dying.

BATTLE O DA BANDS

Tony Smokes & the Ladykillers placed 2nd in the battle of the bands tonight. Actually, all the bands there were surprisingly killin', but we were the clear crowd favorite, just behind a newly formed band from Portland which is one of the most stompass musical experiences I've ever had: Werewolves on Wheels. The vocalist, a big dude with a big beard, dumped water all over me and a few others. Good deal. Anyway, we are moving on to the finals I guess.

Sweet. We are moving up.

chum.

Realized something about myself today: I have no regrets. I really have made no decisions in my life that I could come to regret or be ashamed of, because in the situations I was in, I have always made sure I did what I thought was right. It's a heartening thought.

Battle of the Bands at the Big Easy tomorrow against a whole slew of metalheads. Whoo. That'll be a mess.

Whoa, how has it been this long?

Intense weeks have passed. This is exactly what I hope for.

Living intensely is the goal, ladies and gents. Play rock and roll, laugh, love, even sleep, but do it intensely.

Living in the city, you get pulled in a million different directions at once. My biggest struggle is just staying on one thing and doing it well, completely, until it's through. But I tend to succeed at that.

Will return to more regularly updating, I promise. It's been a wild time.

I have a job.

Do you ever get random moments of apparent intuition about things that, upon further reflection, couldn't possibly be true? Do you see someone walking down the street and suddenly realize that man is your brother, or that he will kill you someday? Do you see one car coming down the street at night and get a strange, inescapable foreboding?

Sometimes I feel asleep when I'm at my most awake.

I drive a Chevrolet...

...movie theater.

Past few days have been pretty out-there. Came to realization that aside from not presently having a job, I'm actually not really lame. Pretty much everyone spends a lot of time just kind of hanging out, watching movies or whatever. Did not have different image of "others," but never thought about it.

Have been seeing a lot of people I hadn't in some time as it's grad weekend, some good, some not. Hung out with Matt Farr today, which was excellent... then assembled a motley crue consisting of myself, Kegan, and three folks I know but never seem to hang with much (DeHaas, Gere & Kill). When we rolled up on the Gere abode, we found a scene that was all too familiar: three comatose-looking individuals watching Shrek 2. Aww yeah, Sunday night.

Unfortunately found no Squad kids to roll up on.

Fortunately was pulled over by cops due to my waving a random prosthetic leg out window of Tom's car. Had obtained it at yard sale for 10 cents. Cop was confused, let us go.

In closing: Must continue my reeducation in the ways of Son House. Have decided that if I listen to the old bluesmen more, I shall become the ultimate rock musician.

BONUS: If you can think of what the significance of GREENL is, you get a high five. If there is more than one, then, whatever.

cyberpunk

Watched A Scanner Darkly. Don't know what everyone was talking about as far as the animation pissing them off; it added a lot to the surreal nature of the film, and did a lot for the viewer's perception of the main character's drug-addled world. Like all cyberpunk, it was very out-there: that, of course, is half the point. But what I really appreciated is that the film made few concessions to Hollywood in translating over from the novel. Rather than something like Blade Runner (another Dick novel), which was demystified and clear-cut, A Scanner Darkly leaves you confused, startled, and maybe somewhat disturbed by its messages, and it takes a lot of brainpower to even follow it. Warner Independent Films is doing something very good here.

Philip K. Dick is one of a few writers in the genre I have been meaning to get much more into (Neal Stephenson is another), and I think I'll pursue it much more actively now that film got it on my mind.

Feeling tired.

Funny how words and phrases have complex, connotative meanings that are not, in fact, their meanings. "Wire" means laceration, perhaps someone with a certain fascination with cutting people in half. "Pie" is rubbery, while "Bank" is a robbery, or one that is waiting to happen. Maybe the only word that really sounds like just what it is (excluding, of course, our friends the onomatopoeia) is "rope," a reassuringly thick, taut word.

Under fishnet gale you beer reap, used to so it seems.

Avillia

Ally left another crash and a ride at my house after last rehearsal, so today I was like a kid in a candy store. Damn, drums are fun. I'm getting fairly legitimate at it, too--I can pull off most relatively simple (though not braindead simple) things solidly, but when it gets fast I get increasingly shaky. That, I imagine, will come with time. In the meantime, it's a damn lot of fun.

Revisited some Zoot Sims today in the car. Really solid sax man, with a really mellow tone. One of the less-appreciated of the great jazzmen. Dig him, if you haven't yet.

Also, rediscovered some of the Monk Quartet recordings they put up on the Youtubes. There is some wicked good stuff in there. Rouse is nuts, and is similarly underappreciated on the saxophone. See! This.

Feels good seeing the people I've been missing from back home. Cory, my cousin (a month younger than I am, and like a brother to me) is coming down on Thursday, which will kick some ass. Writing lots of music, several possibilities for jobs. It's working out.

Yeah.

Baby you can drive my... Cars...

Obtained ginger beer today. 2 new brands. Neither is that heavy on the ginger, but one tastes rather like sarsparilla, and both are rather tasty in their own ways.

I've had this weird drive recently to work on some sort of visual art, specifically some type of comic ish thing. I know I can't be spreading myself too thin, but it's something I've really been feeling like doing. If I end up getting anything worked out to the point of my satisfaction, then I'll put it up here.

Anyway.

Recently rediscovered the Cars. You know, I'm not really one for pop rock, but damn. Such good songwriting, it's amazing. The little things--say, the synth riff in "Just What I Needed" are just all spot-on, exactly what they need to be. And it's not just the singles--their entire albums are full of excellent, well-done songs, unlike many bands of their genre and period.

Also: Drums are goddamn fun. I need to pursue the drums more seriously, because they are goddamn fun.

(PS-excuse the title.)

Check in the appropriate box.

Rehearsal most of the day today with K-skeet & Ally. Ridiculously productive, resulting in two songs that will probably end up being better than anything we'd previously done. Just need lyrics now. We'll do some recording on Friday with Tom there.

Lyrics are fantastically hard, depending on what you decide you want to do with them. It's usually almost impossible to make them actually match the music, because music communicates differently. The best you can do is use words that go along with the general sense of the song. Right now I'm trying to work on one that just doesn't seem to have a specific set of words that will flow with it, and everything I do keeps coming out wrong. Arrgh.

Anyway, I've been feeling pretty shitty. Still no job, few leads on jobs, and though the band is coming along well, I keep winding up stuck in my house absorbing the stresses my family exudes (my mother and I create a damn lot of tension when we're in the same place). You know, I go upstairs or out to the park and read or practice, but I feel really lame and unproductive still unless I'm playing with the band or actively on the job search. Also having troubles because some of my old friends seem to be changing, and some seem not to like me anymore. I guess I still have some getting used to it to do.

Sly.

I definitely don't post as much back here in Maine for some reason. This runs contrary to logic as I have much more free time here in Maine.

Thoughts at the moment:

1) Don't hate me for having "blank wall, red paint" as the title of this blog. Yeah, it's a shitty title. But it's a shitty blog, and anyway, having to title the blog itself intrinsically kind of sucks. I could have gone with the classic "Owen yells about whatever," but. No.

2) I went on a walk/run for about 2 hours tonight. On this excursion, guess how many people I passed?

One.

Just one.

And it was only 9:30 or 10 at night.

.'. South Portland is very different from NYC.

3) TS&TL have several gigs piling up in June. I think up to 4 potential ones right now and that counts zero grad parties, of which there are likely to be many. Come check us out. We'll also be recording a demo starting... tomorrow, actually.

I'll try to make more of a point to get back here when I have something interesting to talk about.

A standing ovation. (in my pants...?)

Lionel Loueke is an African jazz-ish-kind of-not really guitarist and vocalist. Saw his trio tonight at the Blue Note. It was one of the most mind-blowingly intense musical experiences I have ever had. You definitely need to check this guy out. Even if you're not into jazz, you won't be disappointed.

Packing up and heading home tomorrow. Should be getting in around 8 or so. Feels kind of weird leaving this place.

Lucky day.

Bob Barr just announced his candidacy as a Libertarian.

Having a pretty well-respected, strongly conservative third party candidate could actually be a major factor in the fall. He'll take a lot of votes that would have gone to McCain, leaving the Democrats in a stronger position by far.

Shyeah.

Recog.

Whoa. Heard some Incubus on the radio in Downstein today, which reminded me that they existed. Remember those guys? It's been a damn while, but they were one of those bands that sort of defined the 90s. Have to give their stuff a re-listen soon; as I remember, they were pretty legit.

I've got you under my skin

Year is almost at its close. Trying to get the things done now that I never had time to do this year. Haven't made it to the Brooklyn bridge, but I'll try to do that tonight or tomorrow night. Funny how you can be in the city for two semesters by yourself and do less NYC-ish stuff than a tourist does in a weekend (particularly when you're broke--the bank account has officially dropped below $0).

I'm a little stressed out about leaving. Largely this is because I know I'm gonna miss her like hell. I know we'll be seeing each other a good deal, but it'll still be very different from living across the hall from one another. I know we'll adapt to it, though. Just might be rough at first.

Mother's day is today. Did you remember?

Finally saw Forrest Gump for the first time last night. It's a beautiful film.

Country yard

Had one of the best days of my life yesterday. Spent most of the day in Central Park with Christea--we walked from the southeast corner more than halfway up before stopping around Belvedere Castle to hang around for a while. It was a great experience, but it also made me remember how much I miss the natural world. Everything here is artificial--even the nature is artificial. And there is something to be said for that, and it works for some people I guess. Myself, though, I recently realized that I can't live out my life in a place where you can't see the stars at night.

Also, NYC will probably be the first place bombed in WWIII, which looks like it could be coming before too long--dig the news as pertains to the Russia situation.

Anyway.

The year is almost done, so I gotta start packing. It'll be sad to see my room stripped bare of all the things that have made it feel like home for the past eight months or so, but I'll know I'm headed to a place where I have people to make music with and good friends to be with. I still don't have a job lined up, but I'm always working on that. Christea is coming up to visit a few times, and I'm going to try to make it down to Baltimore at least twice. Everything in its right place.

Show me the world as I'd love to see it.

I think I have started working out, to an extent, how drones apply to my music. I still like having drum or other rhythmic textures--but sometimes they end up being just that, textures. Vocals can be used like that, too. An obvious example of this stuff is Radiohead's "Sit Down, Stand Up (Snakes & Ladders)" which is a giant crescendo of mostly ambient sound leading up to an emotional, many-textured climax with only three words for lyrics--"The Rain Drops." I dunno, that may not completely encompass what I'm saying, but I am working on a project for my Synthesis class which I'm trying to turn into a good example of that, and if it turns out fairly well, I'll put it up online.

This semester is winding down finally. 2 finals and that project left, all pretty well spaced out. I can get some music in, definitely. Then home to work as much as possible wherever I find gainful employ, and to play with the Ladykillers pretty much every second I can. I have a lot of musical energy floating around waiting to get out... this summer is gon' be insane.

Next semester will probably be just as nuts, now I'm thinking about it. My schedule:

M: Theory III, Concert Management
Tu: Recording Technology, Stats
W: Theory III, Collegium, Music History III
Th: Recording Technology, Stats, Music Publishing

2 major perks for next semester:
-No class on Friday
-No class till 11 am anyday

Yeah.

Out with the old.

So, at some point I'll edit this up and make it much better. Feedback in the meantime?

In the fall of 2007, the record industry nearly had a heart attack. One of the biggest bands in the world, Radiohead, announced that they would be releasing their newest album online without the assistance of any record company—and that they would be allowing their customers to pay whatever price they wished in purchasing the set, including nothing at all. This move set off alarms across the business, and sounded a lot like "a death knell for the major labels, as Trent Reznor and Madonna immediately announced they would follow suit and find new ways to release their music" (Levy). After the initial, massively popular download period, Radiohead proceeded to release the album in a physical, CD copy—on very small independent record labels—and the business relaxed, at least somewhat. Still, the event was a major benchmark in the transition of music sales to a more digital-based market, and it's continuing to send out shockwaves.

Whatever else Radiohead's experiment may have been, it was a reflection of a music business that had lost track of where it was headed. The industry's reaction would almost certainly not have been such a negative one had it not been for the very dreary reality already facing record labels: their business is becoming less and less relevant. EMI, the fourth-largest of the world's record labels with an over 15% market share, was recently bought out by an investment firm for relatively little—and since that time, it's still been floundering; just recently, EMI's management announced plans for the near future such that "as many as 2,000 EMI employees--about a third of the label's staff--would be laid off" (Raymer). The reason, on the surface, appears simple: record sales have been in constant decline since the early 2000s (famously, over 1,000,000 copies of Robbie Williams's latest album were sold by EMI to "a firm that intended to recycle them into paving materials in China" after being returned by the retailers, unsold), and with less and less of their product moving with the same promotion and production costs, the labels are losing cash flow (Raymer).

However, that answer isn't as simple as it seems. There are a multitude of reasons why the labels are losing revenue; clearly, the diminishing quantity of actual sales is a part (with its own complex causes), but Radiohead's example shows us that the industry's current incarnation is not working so well on the artistic side, either. Joe Levy, in an article for the Rolling Stone, puts it succinctly (if a little harshly): "What's a label for? The old answer--manufacturing and distributing CDs and promoting them to radio--no longer holds much sway now that music has digitally dematerialized and radio has been deregulated into one vast strip mall. Everyone acknowledges that the labels as we know them are done" (Levy). Though Levy may have been exercising some hyperbole with his last statement—"everyone..."—there's certainly a lot of truth to the idea that many of the functions a label used to perform have become as obsolete as the 8-track cassette. David Byrne, legendary musician and songwriter, wrote an article in WIRED magazine which outlined the basic functions of record companies, then and now; essentially, the main functions were dependent upon the sales of actual, physical copies of the album, produced and distributed by the company. This was the foundation of the industry, and Byrne disagrees with it: "what is called the music business today... is not the business of producing music. At some point it became the business of selling CDs in plastic cases, and that business will soon be over" (Byrne). Brian Eno has an even more grim outlook on the record companies' role: "The only idea they have is that they can give you a big advance... that's all they represent now: capital" (qtd. in Byrne).

All of this, of course, would appear to mean one thing: the record labels need to start finding a way of operating that's more in line with the present market, which is increasingly in tune with digital sales as opposed to physical, singles as opposed to albums, and complete accessibility over a major-label dominated scene. And, if handled correctly, this movement could be a huge boon to the artistic community: the Internet provides unknown artists, without the financial backing of a record label, with the ability to present themselves and their music to the world (in addition to letting established bands like Radiohead release music themselves directly to their fans). Furthermore, Levy thinks Radiohead is exemplifying something else that needs to be done: "Radiohead's masterstroke was putting the audience in control. Control is something that music fans--many of them believers in the specious conspiracy theory that the record industry forcefeeds them garbage... haven't felt enough of" (Levy). Raymer agrees on the nature of the movement: "it's becoming clear that decisions about the future of the music biz won't be made by the majors but by consumers and artists" (Raymer). Such gains in control will inevitably be popular in the same way that Robin Hood's actions were—the record business has developed a reputation as a business composed of slimeballs and lowlifes, who take money from the poor artists and fans while pushing meaningless music; this will likely seem, to the public, to be their just rewards.

The labels, unsurprisingly, see it differently; what is surprising is the way in which they are handling this shift of control to the consumer. As the majors gradually lose their stranglehold, they seem to be falling into two strategies: 1) try to find and adapt to a new, more viable model, and 2) try to keep the current model as relevant as possible. Both of these strategies seem to make sense (the former, perhaps, more than the latter); the way in which they have tried to attack them, however, is questionable at best. The main effort being put forth on the traditional model front is, unfortunately, the infamous RIAA lawsuits; rather than try harder to market albums over singles, or any such thing, the labels have decided to try to "scare the public away from new markets and technologies" (Raymer). This clearly isn't helping their Sheriff of Nottingham image much—by "putting the law above the people," and showing their willingness to single out individuals and sue them for more than they can possibly afford, the industry effectively shows that they do not care for the average consumer (Guzman).

On the adaptation side, the majors seem to be faring equally poorly. The main new concept floating around between the major record industry players at the moment is something called a "360" or equity deal, in which the label deals with not just record sales, but touring, merchandising, publishing, clothing lines, and anything else they can think of for their artist, essentially building them into a brand. These new tasks represent both new functions to replace the outdated ones (an honorable concept) and new revenue streams to supplement the falling record sales income. However, there are inherent flaws in these strategies, not least that while the label would be taking a significant chunk from each of these streams of income to the artist, almost none of the labels doing these deals actually have the capacity to handle all of the angles covered in a 360 deal. They would simply be contracting out the jobs, just as the artist normally would, and taking a cut (leading to the criticism that "the strategy is just another way for the majors to take money out of an artist's pocket") (Marshall). Furthermore, if a label is engaged in all aspects of an artist's career, it'll be putting forth money for every side. The upshot of this is that a) the labels won't be willing to sign nearly as many bands, instead preferring to cultivate and massively promote only a few; b) those bands chosen by the labels will be singularly mass-market types of acts in the vein of a Hannah Montana or a Nickelback, and c) the artists signed to a 360 deal will be unlikely to have much creative freedom (Byrne: "I doubt that creative decisions will be left in the artist's hands... The equity partner simply has too much at stake).

Not that the "band as brand" concept is inherently wrong; it's just not a model that will work for the majority of artists. One of the most successful of the branding artists, Sean "Diddy" Combs, had this to say on the subject: "It takes a certain type of superstar who understands at all times what it takes to be in the middle of a 360 situation. This is not going to solve the labels' problem" (qtd. in Marshall). Indeed, it's very hard to imagine a Suicide or a Pixies signing a branding-style deal—though they are some of the most influential bands of the 20th century, a Frank Black cologne line is simply not realistic. But right now, the major labels are only interested in signing new talent to these all-inclusive career deals. The end result of the 360 system, then, would be fewer, more commercially driven well-known acts—this in a time when the general movement is toward public and artist control. It remains to be seen to what extent the commercialized pop music coming from these deals will exacerbate the labels' problems, pushing the public more into the domain of independent artists and of control on the Internet.

An important question remains unanswered: Why the decline in sales? The record labels still receive money for sales over iTunes and its ilk. There is not, as yet, a clear cause; many point to internet file-sharing services, but it's noteworthy that since the advent of audiocassettes, piracy has been a very common practice; though it is a factor, it is not enough to account for the sharp decline that continues to be seen each year. Raynor provides a fairly simple explanation—the "proliferation of viable alternatives to the established business model"—but it's really too vague to help altogether that much; does he refer here to the tendency of iTunes users to grab just one track from an album or artist rather than investing in the whole album, or maybe to the new downloading subscription services which have begun to be launched?

The answer, however, may be even more basic than that. On the first day of any economics course, and on the first page of any economics textbook, one finds a discussion of the nature of the word "economics," defined as "the study of choice under conditions of scarcity," that is, the way in which people allocate their resources; the relative scarcity of, or difficulty of access to, a product gives it its value (Hall & Lieberman). Is it not, then, possible that people have begun to see digital copies of music as not having monetary value? There are, after all, infinite copies awaiting the consumer of any given piece of music. In addition, this would explain the continuation of piracy, certainly, and why it seems relatively tame compared to most crimes, even when called a form of stealing (a survey taken in 2005 found that "more people consider parking in a fire lane a serious crime" than illegal file-sharing) (Guzman).

At the same time, however, the example of Radiohead gives compelling evidence that people still value recorded music, even in the intangible form of a download. Out of 1.2 million copies of the album downloaded in the first few weeks, the average price paid per download was about $6 US (excluding those who downloaded it for free, who comprised around half). These first few weeks' sales netted the band more than their prior album, Hail to the Thief (2003), had made them altogether—almost $3,000,000. Of course, as Thom Yorke of Radiohead said, "the only reason we were able to get away with this, the only reason anyone even gives a shit, is that we've gone through the whole mill of the business in the first place" (qtd. in Byrne & Yorke). By that, of course, he means that Radiohead is by far one of the most popular bands in the world today, and they knew that they had their fans' respect. Still, it says good things about the consumer's view of the value of music that the download performed so well.

Which brings us, of course, to the essential question: what is it that Radiohead, or any musician, label, or other purveyor of music, is actually selling? This may be an unanswerable question, but what can, perhaps, be discovered is why we buy copies of that music, or what it is that we value therein. Byrne, of course, hopes that the industry will move away from "the business of selling CDs in plastic cases"; as he said, "that business will soon be over" (Byrne). He suggests, rather, that what the record companies should be valuing more—and, perhaps, what their audiences value—is "the relationship and the emotional thing," the intangible connection between artist and fan. As the Internet allows the artist, like Radiohead, to deliver their music directly to their audience, maybe it's that connection which will become the new focus of the music business at long last.

Works Cited

Levy, Joe. "Just $9,250 a Song!" Rolling Stone.1038 (2007): 83.

Marshall, Samantha. "Diddy on the Art of 360 Deals." Crain's New York Business 23.47 (2007): 3.

Raymer, Miles. "Give Up the Ship." Reader 37.19 (2008): 45.

Reporter, Monica G. P. "Music to our Arrrs ; Sure, Pirating Songs Off the Internet is Illegal, but Music Execs Need to See that this is a Populist Rebellion." Seattle Post - Intelligencer May 24 2007: C.1.

Byrne, David. “David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists — and Megastars.” WIRED Magazine 18 Dec. 2007. 20 Apr. 2008. http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/magazine/16-01/ff_byrne#

Byrne, David, and Thom Yorke. “David Byrne and Thom Yorke on the Real Value of Music.” WIRED Magazine 18 Dec. 2007. 20 Apr. 2008. <>

Lieberman, Marc, and Robert E. Hall. Macroeconomics: Principles and Applications, Fourth Ed. Mason, OH: Thomson Higher Education, 2008.

uh-oh. a top ten list?

Alright, I've been meaning to do this for some time now. Trying to get this in order--these are, as of this very moment, my top ten peices of recorded music.

1) The Beatles - "Because" - Abbey Road (Lennon/McCartney)


2) Led Zeppelin - "Since I've Been Loving You - Led Zeppelin III (Page, Plant, Jones)


3) Antonin Dvorak - Symphony no. 9 in E minor (New World Symphony) - Fourth movement


4) Radiohead - "Nude" - In Rainbows (Radiohead)


5) Beck & Jon Brion - "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime" - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind soundtrack (James Warren)


6) Tom Waits - "Heartattack and Vine" - Heartattack and Vine (Tom Waits)


7) Miles Davis - "In Your Own Sweet Way" - Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (Dave Brubeck)


8) Herbie Hancock - "Chameleon" - Headhunters (Hancock, Maupin, Mason, Jack)


9) Radiohead - "Just" - The Bends (Radiohead)


10) Count Basie - "Vine Street Rumble" - Kansas City Suite (Benny Carter)


That was painful, but felt like it needed to be done. Runners-up:
Prince - "Black Sweat"
Pixies - "Planet of Sound"
The Vines - "Mary Jane"
White Stripes - "Jolene"
Spoon - "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb"
Silver Apples - "Gypsy Love"

Maybe I'll come back and explain myself at some point. Right now, in the words of my good Italian friend Alberto, it is time to study.

Don't you hear them falling?

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but regardless, it bears repeating.

Led Zeppelin's "Since I've Been Loving You" is, in my opinion, the absolute most perfect sound representation of sorrow ever created. It is possibly my favorite song of all time (gives the Beatles' "Because" a run for its money). You just cannot pack more raw emotion into sound than they do here. Bonham's pounding beat just drags and drags you down further as JPJ's organ lines whirl around in this insanely heart-wrenching torrent of blues. And of course, there is Page's solo in the middle, which is probably the single most emotionally affecting use of the electric guitar ever. It can't really be fully described, so please just go listen to it (not the shitty quality ones on youtube; find a real copy); turn the bass up so you can hear the heaviest bass lines ever written, and just let it wash over you.

I can't listen to that song all the way through without coming fairly close to tears at several points. God damn.

We knew they would find a way.

At the top of this election cycle, it seemed as if the Democrats had enough political momentum behind them stemming from the general public's disdain for Bush to turn them into an unstoppable juggernaut in the election. But there were always comments thrown around in jest that they would find a way to ruin it all.

And that they have, in the form of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Rather than bow out of the race and help the party build up its strength against McCain, Clinton has decided that the only way for her to be the nominee is to break down Sen. Obama until he is unelectable, all the while disregarding the fact that she herself has been regarded as trustworthy by less than half of America in recent polls. Rendering both herself and her opponent politically crippled, unless she gets out of the campaign almost immediately, Clinton will have managed to hand yet another election to the Republicans.

Patience now, they're gonna string you out.

Thanks to a comment by Tom, I have just begun yet another festival o' listening to The Vines' 2002 Highly Evolved LP. What an incredible set. You can hear just as much Pink Floyd as Nirvana... and the songwriting is so, so much more sophisticated than what you tend to hear these days.

The fact that they managed to pull this together while Craig Nicholls was going around with undiagnosed asperger's syndrome, made worse by all the weed he was smoking, is absolutely incredible. The man's a kegitimate musical genius of the kind you don't really see often, and it's a shame that the band's legitimately messy actions before Nicholls's diagnosis have alienated them so much. They are, however, still making music, and I'm still hoping the industry will get over themselves and give the Vines a shot at a major comeback. There is a lot of potential there that remains, for the most part, untapped.

Giving Winning Days (2004) another shot, too. The sense I have had so far is it's a lot more forced-sounding, but you can still hear a lot of the same intelligence and distinct feel. Haven't made up my mind. also need to get a hold of Vision Valley (2006), which came after Nicholls got help.

OH MY HELL JESUS FUCK.

Return to Forever is on tour this summer. They will be both in Boston, which is as close to someplace people care about as we New Englanders have, and in Maryland, which both is someplace people care about and is where my lady lives. I guess there are tix for $25. Obviously I have very little money, but this is one show I really cannot miss. It's probably the last time they'll go on tour, and I mean, they're one of the original ridiculous fusion groups. Stanley Clarke may as well have invented the electric bass, and Chick Corea... fuck it, I'm not gonna try and explain it, just dig this.

Did I mention the Flecktones open at least one of the shows?

Uplifting Gormandizers...?

The term which would set off a musical revolution.

Erroll Garner is probably the classiest musician ever. You hear five notes and you just know he is about to woo you with the sweetest sounds you have ever heard.

My keyboard did something awesome the other day. I was writing an email when it suddenly went "aaaaaaaaaaaaaa" and then the "a" key stopped working. So, every time I have to use the letter "a" I am using ctrl+v, since I have that letter saved to copy & paste. Pain in my ass of course, but with $10 in the bank account, I can't afford a new keyboard.

So the music side of my life is starting to really come together. I keep getting one gig which'll lead me to another, at which I meet two more people who want me to play, through whom I meet two more... Getting my name out there, which is, of course, the goal. Provided people keep liking my work on the bass, I'm in line to actually get some respect (and maybe even get paid) as a musician before too, too long.

Coming to the realization that I really would love to be an artist... here's my projected career path:

1) Work in a label or publishing house for some time. Maybe set one up myself.
2) Constantly be working on my music. If my career as an artist takes off, go with it.
3) Use my position in the industry to leverage my way into being a producer as well.

Or, I may just open a venue later on in life from which I run a small indie label. We'll see what happens.

This one's optimistic.

I feel a change coming on in my musical direction. As I learn more and more about synthesis and drone music, I've been getting more experimental in my writing... almost nothing I write anymore sounds like traditional pop-rock or straight jazz. The probem with this is that I am pretty limited in my ability to do these things as I have limited equipment. I do have my Juno-D, which I'm going to become much more friendly with this summer. We'll see what happens.

On a similar note: I've been realizing that Kid A is one of the most beautiful albums ever written.

for LIFE!

Dear anyone who ever said simplicity doesn't work:

"SCIENCE!"

Have been trying to set up music myspace for some time now. Will post a link once it's done. Difficult as I have few good pictures of myself performing, and fewer still demos of my own music (some that I've written but performed with TS & TL). Need to record a demo. Will probably put up a jazz track, a rock track, and a couple of weird ones.

Speaking of weird shit, just got done with my latest project for my Electronic Music/Synthesis class. Had to compose a 3 minute piece entirely using the Buchla synthesizer (1960s piece o' work, full of oscillators and fun things) and analog tape. I created this thing based around the horror film cliche of the creepy-ass funhouse. It's pretty badass. If I can get it from the DAT tape onto my 8-track (will mean fucking around with the mixer in the synth lab, which I am not supposed to do), I'll probably put that up on my myspace. I'm pretty proud of it. It lulls you into a false sense of security, then gets heinous, noisy and awful, in all the best possible ways.

Have been becoming more and more into noise music. You can get such a great effect with a loud, heavy atonal drone... If I even get successful in music, I'll probably wind up pretty experimental (though I won't lose sight of simplicity or groove).

In the meantime, I will dig on some Thomas Dolby whilst trying to get my ACE homework done.

My Generation

What will the 2000s be remembered for musically? Some great music has come out, but aside from the 2001-2 garage rock explosion, there hasn't been any semblance of order--VH1 won't have any idea how to assemble their top 100 list. Much of ths has to do with the fact that there's no strong cultural identity for us to attach to. In the '90s, grunge and the alternative bands that followed came in as part of a general movement toward detachment and irony. But we're in the post-post-modern era, and even irony seems reprocessed--where does that leave us?

Obviously this question goes far past the scope of music. There's hardly any sense anymore of what is "cool" in any realm--I guess you could argue that it's cool to be young... and female, or a gay man. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that human sex appeal is a constant and continues to be the driving force behind most marketing at this point (I actually saw an electrician's van the other day parked on 10th street with a stock photo of an attractive woman smiling next to the logo) and less to do with any actual identity. Some would argue that that's a good thing, and I definitely agree that there are upsides. But I think it is also a state that lends itself to apathy, since nobody is in synch enough with each other to get pissed off or very happy about anything.

Anyway, historians will work that one out. In the meantime... I just wonder what they'll say was the song of our generation. The 90s had "Smells like Teen Spirit." What'll ours be? "Umbrella"?

Chocolate Jesus.

New Breeders album is really solid. Very chilled-out, but stays very Breeders. I am pleased. The last track is really fuckin' weird, which I like.

Getting more into Modest Mouse of late. They have some truly crazy moments, and are always very musical with what they do. I'd like to see them someday. They're on tour right now with REM, but the tix are expensive as shit.

Whenever a track ends, I can hear my suitemate Steven practicing showtunes in the other room. It's a funny contrast.

Kegan got the Small Stone pedal today, which I'm excited about. Tony Smokes & the Ladykillers has a pretty simple and high-energy sound for the most part but it's good to have a few variables. I'm adding my Big Muff pedal this summer for crazy bass antics, and Kegan's expanding his setup a bit, so we'll diversify a little bit, though we'll still keep it pretty garage-rock (the old setup was bass-straight through the PA and guitar-distortion, OD, Whammy).

Speaking of the band, I've been meaning to post this: you can download our first EP thing, Wear a Helmet, for free. It's from back in the days when we were really goofy, had a keyboardist (Dante left for creative reasons), and were known as The Cheese Grater Experience Version 5 Featuring Major Vader. It's kind of ridiculous but fun, so enjoy.

Be my... Capri Sun?

I used to think Electric Six had hit their prime early with the album Fire. Having given all the others an extensive listen by now, though, I've worked out that Fire was a far less mature band. They had crazy energy of course, stemming from the sexually charged lyrics, Dick Valentine's ridiculous voice and the sheer loudness and groove of the music; but in their later music, when they graduated from pure sexuality to general strangeness and some sexuality, they got a lot more musically sophisticated--and it's really more enjoyable to listen to for a long time. I can put on Senor Smoke on repeat for three hours and still be diggin' it.

As predicted, Spoon kicked my ass all over the place. If they ever come anywhere near you I highly, highly recommend that you go. It's usually pretty cheap, but they're one of the better live bands around. They sound pretty chill on their albums... but really... no. No, they stomp some ass when you see 'em at what they do, though not in the traditional "we gon' play some loud guitar and hit some cymbals, FUCK YEAH" type of way. They're not really a guitar band per se, but occasionally Britt Daniels will get down for a minute to fuck with his pedals, then stand up, and take the most ridiculous 16 bars of noise solo you've ever heard. Ohhh. Also, if I haven't already said so, I can't recommend their latest album enough. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is the type of album where you turn on the first track and go "Yeah, I love this one!" but, then it ends and the next one begins... and you do the same thing. For every single one. They're all very distinct sounding works, but they all could be singles and do well. Every song is great. Seriously.

Also... I am not much of one for webcomics--despite having and maintaining a blog as I now do, I am not that much of an internets type--but, lately two particular ninja-themed ones have been quite good, and I would like to point you to them. Here they are:

White Ninja
Dr. McNinja

Enjoy. I'ma go eat yet more NYU dining, because I can't afford shit else.

Maybe next Saturday.

Spoon tonight. Yeah!

Missed my first class. My second class, which normally is from 11 to 2, was cut at 11:30 so we could have personal lessons with the ACS-3 synthesizer; I was first, so I was done at 11:45. No collegium today, which is normally 2 to 3:30.

Basically all I have today is keyboards from 4 to 4:50.

So Tony Smokes is headed some good directions. We have been looking at what we've done, and what's ahead, and we have a pretty solid idea of what this summer is going to be like. Tom is picking up guitar, and we'll help him get really solid on that; I'll probably end up showing him and Kegan some bass tricks so we can all switch off when we want to. This will cause us to be several thousand times more versatile. Our songs are getting more complex, in kind of a Radiohead-y vein less most of the synthesizers. Also, a focus for the near future will be writing some songs on which Ally sings lead, which is something you all should be looking forward to--her voice is kickass. We will periodically do some low-key recordings, video or whatever, and with any luck may be releasing our first EP in late July/early August-ish, potentially along with some free downloadable tracks...?

Also am hoping to take either drum or voice lessons this summer, but finances will be an issue--particularly when none of the places I applied to work have yet called me. I think that the lovely Gibson Doublecut Les Paul Faded Yellow is a lost cause for now.

Back in the 1970s or 80s (don't remember), Bernstein did this series of lectures in which he discussed the nature of music. He had a lot of amazing points, but what stuck with me the most was his statement on the way that music makes meaning: music acts as a metaphor. The simple realization of that statement has been taking a powerful effect on my musical personality. Music as metaphor. When I'm taking a bass solo, what I am telling you as an audience member is "dig, man: it's like this." When I write a song, if the lyrics are important to me, you should be able to tell not why but how they are important to me without ever hearing them. It's such a powerful thing, and I think in the age of samples and catchy three-note figures it sometimes gets lost (though of course, not always).

Adios.

Just a psychotic girl, and I want to get lost in your world.

I'd like to direct your attention at this juncture to a band that has recieved far, far too little attention lately. The Black Keys, a blues- and classic rock-inflected garage duo, have just released their latest album, "Attack and Release," which is their first album to date produced in an actual studio. Produced by Danger Mouse, this album is absolutely one of the best I have heard recently and one of the most original, least derivative works in the past decade or so, at least. Sure, you can hear both some White Stripes and some Radiohead in them... but, then again, that's just awesome. White Stripes plus Radiohead? Holy hell.

You may have heard the track "Strange Times" on the radio. It's been released as the lead single off of the album, and rightly so--its verse beat is amazingly infectious, and it opens with just the drums pounding out a crazy rhythm. Then it breaks it down into a half-time chorus, only to smack you in the face again with sheer badass when the beat comes back in. Very simple stuff, but purely great music.

My favorite track may be the bluesy, bluesy, heavy as hell "Lies." Dan Auerbach's voice just reeks of the blues, as he sings "I wanna die, without pain." This song, though it never goes over the top whatsoever, is packed to bursting with emotion--one of a very few songs I have heard recently capable of really affecting me in such a powerful way, in the elite company of the White Stripes' cover of "Jolene" and the Beatles' "Because."

Though I don't honestly have the time to rave about every track on this album, just take my word for it that there is not a bad second in the entire thing. This may be the most legitimate blues record since the days of Son House. Auerbach keeps his composure while simultaneously tearing us to pieces with the blues... not a common gift. Actually, don't take my word for it. Go and get the damn album. I can't recommend it enough. In the meantime dig on "Strange Times" courtesy of the Youtubes.

(Also, from an earlier album... "Your Touch" is a great song, and the video is ridiculous.)

Pleasant Interlude I.

I would just like to point out some of the most ingenious lyrics I have ever heard. Tyler Spencer is a genius.

"Jimmy Carter"--Electric Six

Like Jimmy Carter like, electric underwear
Like any idea that never had a chance of going anywhere
This is who you are
A celebrity who drives off a bridge in a car
Your beautiful body filling up with water

Like Harry Truman dropping bombs out of the air
Like any self-respecting multi-billionaire
This is who you are
Five dancing teenage boys who sing their way into our hearts
Backstreets back alright

And there's a toxic cloud hanging over her
And there's white noise on the screen
And there's a man in a hotel room assaulting the maid who just came to clean
Up the mess
Backstreets back alright

Like Ronald Reagan falling asleep for ever more
Dreaming of horses and dreaming of nuclear war
This is where we are tonight
Everybody under surveilance from a satellite
You can be the first one on your block to die
And there's a plague of locusts upon us
And there's a nightmare in the swarm
And there's a lion out in the desert slouching towards Bethlehem to be born..again
Backstreets back alright.....alright.

Ramble on.

So the snare drum that Danielle ordered a while back finally came in today, completing the rehearsal/recording setup in my room. We now have:

-drumset
-PA, mics, stands, etc
-synthesizer
-basses (E & U), amp
-guitars, amp
-turntables
-portable 8-track (digital)
-recording interface

In celebration, today my room was the most obnoxiously loud room ever. I'm sure it'll only get more insane this weekend when we're all bumming around with little to do. We've stopped now as it's almost midnight out of respect for those who have class tomorrow, but tomorrow I fully expect to be obnoxiously woken up by people I've never met before beating on the cymbals as hard as they can (I have met quite a few new faces who were attracted by the sweet sounds of the set).

Now everything has chilled down a bit, which is good for my health. Got some sorta mango drank from Upstein, listening to some Miles (first quintet, with Trane); generally just relaxin', cookin', steamin', workin'...

Guess I have two separate recording gigs this weekend. Neither for pay of course (sigh) but it'll be very, very good to get my name out there. That'll put my Actual Releases credit count at 3. I'm a session bassist now! Woo!

I am a tired bassist also, so I'ma go lie down. Adios.

Earthquake weather.

Yeah, I've been pretty happy overall lately.

Man... Keyboard for me is a little bit counterintuitive. I guess it's that I've gotten so used to playing with my left and right hands exactly in sync on bass and guitar, and now they have to be independent and do completely separate things from one another. Good for me to learn though. I'll start going through the Real Book and bangin' out some of the less crazy heads so I can get better at simultaneously comping and playing melodically.

Gave Herbie Hancock's Headhunters another listen last night. I listen to the first two tracks ("Chameleon," the funkiest 16 minutes ever committed to record, and the classic "Watermelon Man") pretty constantly, but last night I rediscovered how hard the other two groove. "Sly" is Herbie's tribute to Sly Stone and is appropriately simplistic, with a smooth, cool melody that gives way to absolute caveman funk for the solos. "Vein Melter" is this slow, slow, grooving mess of soul that has some of the most sophisticated synthesized sounds to exist back in 1973. It's really easy to see how this album earned such a high place in the jazz pantheon. It broke ground like few other records ever have.

Man, I have met some people here at NYU that I can just kind of tell will be with me for a long, long time. Many of my friends from high school are sort of drifting away, if they haven't already (notable exceptions being the Ladykillers) which is sad. But there are a few here who it seems like I'll end up hangin' out with for a long, long time. Awesome.

I really gotta go write The Essay.

Oh, PS--The new Black Keys album, Attack and Release, is far and wide the best album I've heard come out this year. Having Danger Mouse produce it was a damned good idea. Pick up a copy if you haven't yet. It's a worthwhile investment. You'll listen to it a lot.

Are you livin' old man?

So far, having kind of a shitty April Fool's day. Woke up this morning with a nasty fever... think I'm taking the day off, I feel disgusting. Saw Zoe and Christea, then went into the bathroom to brush my teeth... at which time I discovered that Zoe had covered the bathroom doorknob in vaseline as a super awesome prank. I heaved a heavy sigh and wiped off the doorknob, then proceeded to go around finding the other doorknobs she had lubed up and cleaning them off.

I dunno, man. It just kind of made me sad. Like "aw... now my hand has stuff on it. Again."

Christea was involved in distracting me for it to happen. Just goes to show you, you can never trust a woman.

Or so I am told.

Anyway, Malik and I have designed some plans for retaliatory measures against Zoe which will be monstrously amazing. Normally I am not one for April Fool's--most practical jokes people pull are really just annoying, though occasionally there will come an awesome one--but we have some good ideas for this one.

I'm going to go lie down because I feel like I am covered in ants.

PS I'm gay, and also a woman. Wait... april fool's.

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Update:
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So here's what we did to Zoe.

Step the first: That morning, confronted her and gave her a whole "you messed with the wrong guys, you're gonna get it so badly" spiel. Zoe is a very excitable person (I mean that in absolutely the best way, I love her to death) and so she got pretty terrified all day. Whenever she saw Malik or I, she'd run.

Step the second: Malik and I recorded a 2-and-a-half minute track of obnoxiously loud, semi-frightening noises from the synthesizer to a .wav file. Uploaded it to Christea's iPod.

Step the third: Set up Christea's iPod and speakers in the bottom drawer of her dresser, which happens to be right next to Zoe's head. Turned volume all the way up; left drawer open a little ways but kept the speaker covered enough to be invisible at night.

Step the fourth: Set the alarm clock on Christea's iPod to 4:36 am.

And, lastly: "April fool's."

Invitation To The Blues.

So much Tom Waits lately. What a goddamn genius. He's one of those guys who can just keep cranking out innovative, beautiful music for decades and decades... fuck, man. Also an amazing ballad performer.

Speakin' of which, I was just having a conversation with Malik about the decline of the ballad. You really don't see many bands coming out with ballads today (or if they do, they're typically pretty awful and without feeling). There's Radiohead with "Nude," but you can't really put that in the usual ballad pigeonhole. The White Stripes do an amazing cover of Dolly Parton's "Jolene," but it is a cover, and they only do it live--never on a studio album. Where'd they all go, man? The ballad form has so much power to move the listener... though it's true they are hard as all hell to write, when done right they can be some of the best songs in an artist's repertoire. I know when I play a jazz gig a lot of the time the ballads are the ones which get the crazy applause... and a lot of the songs that move me the most are ballads.

Been craving ginger beer so badly these past few days. Unfortunately I presently have precisely $88.33 to last me the remainder of the semester, so I really can't go out and get any.

Should really be writing The Essay and not on here.

robot parade.

"WALL.E, Pixar’s highly anticipated new film from Academy Award winning FINDING NEMO director Andrew Stanton, is the adorable, heart-warming tale of a robot in space."

I dunno, man. Maybe this movie is going to be groundbreaking and will speak across generations. I can't imagine anything more heart-warming than a robot in space...

Come to the cabaret...? agh.

Suitemate Steven is drama major. Tends to sing in shower. No problem except when it's loud enough to wake Malik and I, who both sleep like rocks. Ugh. Hopefully I can get back to sleep after this, but I'm not convinced it'll happen.

Guess Malik got arrested last night. No worries, he's back here and no problems, was just put in a holding cell for like 2 hours with Connor while they sorted it out and then they brought him right back. Kind of a pain... cheered him up with good music, then we got delicious food at the corner store so 's all good.

Would like to take a moment at this juncture to comment on how delicious ginger beer is. For those of you who don't know, ginger beer is a beverage made sort of like ginger ale... but with a hell of a lot of ginger, so it has crazy kick to it. If you ever want to get me really, really pumped, send me a case of the stuff. It is so goddamn good. Agh. If had money would get me a case right now. But.... do not.

shiiiiiiiit. desire for ginger beer overwhelms.

just.

Really don't get too much of a chance to read out here at school, which is weak. Am a big fan of taking like a whole day and just consuming a long-ass book. Oh, well. This summer I'll attack the library once more.

Malik's got the latest from Babyshambles playing right now, which he aptly described as "incredibly British." The guitar sound is disgustingly good. Kind of whiny, but crunchy at the same time. Very solid... good, sloppy music.

Realized yesterday I had a pile of jazz records I hadn't loaded onto my computer yet. Did so with some Sarah Vaughan, a bit of Bix, a smidge of Sims, etc. Also dug on the Anita O'Day version of The Lady Is A Tramp... it kicked my ass just a little. So, so good. Anita is probably my favorite jazz vocalist these days. Such an organic delivery... agh. If you don't know her, check ye out this video.

Makin' grilled cheese, I take my leave.

This can't be love.

Dante came down last night, and we recorded 3 tracks with Christea for a jazz vocal competition she's doing down in Maryland. Really simple live setup--2 mics on piano, 1 on vocals, through a mixer into a single recording input so I couldn't mix later except for some EQ--but it came out stompin' ass good. Good enough that I've pretty much spent today since I woke up listening to Anita O'Day and Sarah Vaughan. This is going to make me get back into doing more jazz, which is a very good thing--I've been kind of focused on my rock and popular music influences lately, but bringing back a jazz sensibility should even help out that aspect of my writing a lot.

So, lately I've been thinking more seriously about an idea that sprung up from the floor I'm on in my dorm, which is what's called at NYU an "Explorations Floor"--based around a specific theme, people apply to get into the floor and a community results. Mine's the music floor, but it's not all musicians necessarily. We have everything from aspiring music video directors to producers such as myself, plus of course seven thousand guitarists (most of which are actually really quite good; that, I guess, is the difference between this floor and your average college floor).

So last semester sometime, in a fit of appreciating the people around me, I got to thinkin' about applying the same principle to a post-college situation. Specifically I was thinking about something like this: get 10 to 20 people all in the music realm in different ways--some on the business side, some on the artist side, some A/V types--and get some sort of space to live in, splitting the rent. The idea would be that eventually between the group, we'd be able to set up sort of a whole music enterprise. A few people could head up a label and publishing sort of company, through which everyone's music would be released... all the songwriters would collaborate, and play on each others' records... we could pool our equipment and skills to pull off things we would never be able to do otherwise. Ideally, depending on the sort of space we were in, we would have shows each Friday and/or Saturday with our artists and other "guests" which would gradually grow to the point where they provided the rent money. Just imagine the sort of cult following a group of musicians like that would get. You'd have absolutely rabid fans.

Of course when it started out everyone'd probably have to keep day jobs for some time in order to keep up the rent and food money. But gradually, something like that could legitimately be a way to make your music work--and the artistic growth coming from an environment like that, particularly after the shows started bringing in the rent money so you could ease up on the outside work a bit, would be just monstrous. It would be, in a way, sort of like the early days of SNL, back when they all lived 5 days a week or so in the studio together, just fuckin' around.

Just something I'm thinking about... but actually just beginning to legitimately consider. It's workable, you know? Between that many people, a house in Brooklyn wouldn't be that expensive to rent... I'll keep thinking on it.

I am hungry so I take my leave of thee. Begone!

Is there anybody going to listen to my story?

I take bass lessons with Ron McClure, who's basically the man. He's played bass for Monk, Miles, Wes Montgomery, Blood, Sweat & Tears, and basically everyone else. He's really not into the sound I'm getting from my fretless, though... most of last lesson was him telling me it sounded like an asshole. I'll change up the strings, see what that does.

I've been getting pissed off lately about U.S. nuclear policy. I guess not just U.S. but rather most of the developed world. Even having a nuclear bomb in your arsenal... How could you possibly justify that? There is just no scenario in which it's acceptable to cause so many horrific civilian deaths and so many lives to be ruined... there's always an alternative, and it just doesn't make any sense to have these bombs around "just in case." In case of what? Again--I honestly cannot think of any scenario in which it would even be morally ambiguous to destroy innocent people in such a heinous, vile way.

Agh. More on this later, I've got shit to do.

Dear lord.

Christea was kind enough to show me this just a few moments ago. It is necessary that I post it here.

You never give me your money.

Now people are reading this?! Oh noes! I shall have to carefully consider the words that I say!

Yeah, right.

So, Electric Six has been one of my favorite artists since their first album, Fire, taught me what sex was. I would just like to briefly mention that I'm pretty sure I Shall Exterminate Everything that Comes Between Me and Being the Master, their latest offering, is their best album yet and one of the best albums to come out recently. "It's Showtime," the album opener, is just absolutely insane--the mixture of Dick Valentine's usual ridiculous vocal stylings with a tin pan alley swing beat (but only for the verses) and the most nonsensical lyrics of their career ("Hey mister! Put a little mustard on that mustard!") make it an amazing, amazing track. "Sexy Trash" is my other favorite--a big ole funky mess of 5/4 insanity.

In my songwriting, I've been helped a lot by studying the techniques used both lyrically and musically by some really kickass songwriters (Frank Black, Lennon, McCartney, Thom Yorke, etc). Whenever I decide that what is needed is a heapin' helpin' of camp, I immediately consult Dick Valentine. He is absolutely the master, and is the reason for Tony Smokes' song "Total Disco," which is basically an unofficial tribute to Fire.

Got to get to class now. See yous later.

workin' up a black sweat.

Much more relaxed having returned to school from spring break, interestingly. Am feeling more at home here than at home. Guessing that's because people here are used to me as I am, not as I was before college.

First thing my mother says to me upon my arrival:

"Hey Owen! What's that jacket? It doesn't go with your pants, or your hair. It doesn't look like you. Take it off."

Did not take it off, to her chagrin.

Realizing that I miss driving when at school. On plus side, am not paying for gas when at school. On minus side, am paying $2 per subway ride. Win some, lose some.

Wrote a song in 6/4 which sounds kind of like a cross between Modest Mouse and the song "No Pussy Blues" by Grinderman (if you don't know the song, it lives here and is very worth your time to check out.) I'm liking it a lot thus far. Switches between fairly happy, chill groove and over-the-top oh-my-god-loud rock.

In other news, Prince is a beast. Been revisiting a lot of old Prince lately... one of the more talented musicians to walk the earth, no question. Lately though, his 2006 single "Black Sweat" has been stuck in my head pretty constantly. Amazing, amazing song. The video is here, and you should check that out as well if you don't know it. So, so goddamn good.

Have noticed that I occasionally address things on here to "you." Am fairly sure that nobody reads this, upon further reflection; however if you do, and you dig on these songs or whatever, leave me a comment so's I know, man.

Would play some Red Norvo Trio at this juncture but roommate, Malik, is a shleep. Instead, shall do some homework for Econ & Legal Settings of the Music Industry (ah, the things we do as music biz majors).

Good day to you.

This ain't the planet of sound.

When I get the chance I enjoy spending my Saturday nights watching the latest Sci-Fi Channel Original Movies. My new favorite: Rock Monster. Such a horrible movie, it's almost frightening--yet, in a group, so very entertaining.

I get to spend half my Easter Sunday on a Greyhound bus. Which is pretty awesome. Whatever, not too worried about it. You always tend to meet somebody interesting on the Greyhound, particularly if you go at weird hours (I always take the 12:30 AM bus from New York back to Portland).

Running, as usual this week, on four hours of sleep so I'm headed for the sack.

Stay sweet.

I wanna be your dog.

So that post from earlier today was much angrier than I meant it to be. Ah, well.

Applying for more summer jobs today... got to get something lined up before I get back or I'm pretty fully screwed over.


For whatever reason, for over a week now I haven't been able to sleep more than about 4 hours at a run, regardless whether I'm incredibly tired (with the exception of Monday, which I almost slept through). As I'm sick, this is not helpin' much. It's truly obnoxious, and you could set a clock by it--last night for instance, I kept checking my watch until I fell asleep at 1:15. I woke up this morning and sure enough it was 5:20. Beautiful. Laid there in bed two hours, then the sun came up and I got up.

I don't want to turn this into a gripin' blog, though (regardless of the fact that I'm pretty sure nobody reads it, certainly not yet). I'm actually pretty chilled out these days. Life's just sort of going along, I dealt with most of the drama that I had to deal with and now I can relax a little. I've got some pretty kickass friends both in Maine and New York who keep me really grounded, and I'm dealing with my work for NYU okay. On the whole, not so bad.

Wrote a song last night in the middle of the night that I thought sounded vaguely Velvet underground-ish until I realized it was in 6/4 and the instrumental sound was more of a cross between Grinderman and My Bloody Valentine, if you could imagine that. It has the same sort of vibe as Velvet Underground records, though, despite the weird, distorted instruments. (Also follows the VU format by containing only two chords: I and IV. Should be really interesting when it comes to fruition.

Pacem.

sexy trash.

Interesting how it pays these days to pigeonhole yourself in the music biz. Most successful artists, indie or otherwise, pull off making their living by getting a very distinct sound and style, or else falling squarely into an established genre; that way they get a core fanbase who they then have to avoid alienating by never straying far from the path they beat on their first record.

As someone who really values artistic growth, that just kind of pisses me off. Artists are capable of being multi-faceted. Those who manage to get past their initial success either flop or do amazingly well; Radiohead, for instance, is the critics' band of choice, but initially when they switched over from rock 'n' roll to, well, Radiohead, they had no idea what to think. They were expected to stay on the emo-grunge of "Creep," and instead put out "Paranoid Android," a track comprised of three half-written other tracks which happened to come together to make something nobody had ever heard. I have a hell of a lot of respect for Radiohead. But why can't anyone else do that?

What bothers me more, though, is when one act becomes famous for sounding new--and then sixty others latch on to that and turn it into some kind of "sound" recognized by the critics and easily digestable, as opposed to the innovation it originally was. Often the original band gets stuck in that pigeonhole, forcing them to stick with their original innovation and not keep moving. I think that's sort of what happened with the Strokes. They had their sound, sort of a classy, catchy revival-style garage rock, and they did it very well. Within something like a year, The Killers were blasting "Mr. Brightside" over the airwaves, successfully ripping off the Strokes' success, while simultaneously making me want to kill myself (that song is in my Top Ten Most Annoying Songs Ever List, which I'll post here at some point). Incidentally don't give me any crap about "BUT OWEN, THE HIVES STROKES VINES WHITES STRIPES ARE ALL THE SAME." If you have listened to half an album by those artists you will realize that none of them sound even remotely similar; they just happened to kick off the garage rock boom at the same time.

Fuck it, man. I'm putting out whatever the hell music I want to, and those who listen will hopefully be down with experimentation.

hello world

Have created this as a place to talk about things nobody else cares about. Should be fulfilling in a spiritual sort of way, I guess.

Thoughts of the moment:

-Aerosmith's eponymous (1973) is excellent blues-rock... what happened?
-There are so many extant lyrics that it's becoming hard to not sound like you rip someone off even when you make no sense.
-Should be devoting more of my time to working against genocide rather than working on Advanced College Essay papers.
-Need a job. Have been Wayne's Worlding it over Gibson Les Paul Doublecut in Faded Yellow ('it will be mine'). Costs much more money than I have right now (namely none), NYU has sucked me dry. Hopefully if summer job goes toward school I can put gig dollars into LP fund.

Must leave before this album ends and 1993 crapfest "Get a Grip" starts.