Music technology and Hanging Out

Call me nostalgic, but some of the best memories I have from hanging out with my friends when I was young was listening to music as a group. Whether it was chilling in J's basement listening to his dad's Hendrix Band of Gypsies with a little DasFX added in, or hanging out upstairs at MJ, Dan, and Dave's house listening to Kill Creek and 10 Foot Pole, or listening in Super-Polo-Surround-Sound to the acoustic guitar track on Hum's 'The Pod', it was always fun, always meaningful, and always seem to strengthen the bond between all of us as friends.

Before I start the next section let it be known, I LOVE MY iPod. This is really about how you use it.

So my daughter wrote a list of 25 things about her on facebook. One of her things was sitting in the car with her boyfriend listening to music. Suddenly, it hit me. They just sit there, listening to music. Probably just the two of them, or at most a couple more friends (it's not a big car). Space is limited, and time. They listen to his iPod or her iPod. It can't bee too comfortable. Is it possible that the days have past when 10 or 15 people can share a musical experience? Can it be the magic of group listening is slowly draining from the world?

I can't say yes or no to this. Music is a personal thing, but it is not an individual thing. It's not meant to be held between your ears for you alone. I have some adapters to use my iPod in the car so everyone can listen, a couple in the house to use on old tape players, and Eric brought one to band practice so we can listen to his iPod or mine through the PA.

My point is this, listen to music with friends. If you have a song you can't get enough of, sit with someone and listen to it together, talk about it. Explore music!

It is the last magic left.

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This is an appropriate tie-in...here's Big Wreck with "That Song"

Let's talk tunes...

Okay...one more political thing. Thank you United States citizens, for coming to your senses and picking the right candidate.

So, the state of music today. While many may not think so, often the state of politics and the economy often help to spawn new breaks in the music scene. For example, after years of Reagan and Bush I, we saw the emergence of emo, new punk rock, and grunge, all forms that spoke of being disgruntled and marginalized as a whole or as an individual. You'll notice that grunge died, emo became more mainstream, and punk went pop after Clinton helped create a more prosperous state of the nation. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Where does that leave us today? Well, I think on many fronts we are seeing a resurgence of underground acts and independent releases. Radiohead showed us last year that a band with initiative can release an album without a record company breathing down their collective neck. Several bands are actually creating and running their own labels, and not just the vanity labels of a few years ago, real working record labels with distribution and mild market presence.

On the negative said, corporate radio has destroyed the idea of a break through act. While it's not really my thing, many top 40 and mainstream listeners have voiced disappointment at the "same 6 songs" format they are forced to endure when listening to local radio. The advent of things like XM, Sirius, and iPod adapters for your car are slowly making radio stations obsolete, or at least I hope so. Why listen to one song you like, 4 you don't, one you are okay with, then 20 minutes of commercials every hour (along with the vapid talk of the so-called DJ's) when you can create your own playlist and run with it? And if my word isn't enough, take a look at this article from Indiana.

There is also the issue of file sharing and buying songs online. I'm a proponent of file sharing. It's just like making a mix tape back in the day. And frankly, the only people who suffer are the record company executives, not the artist, who is probably getting ripped by the record company anyway. More artists can thrive using the new technology available.

Music is an industry that evolves like any other. You can go with the flow of it as it stands, or you can make a stand to make it your own.

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Today's video is from Coheed and Cambria. Awesome prog-ish rock with a themed comic book to match each album. Now that's clever.

Beats and an Attempt at Poetry

As many of you know, I used to fancy myself as a Poet (I believe J once referred to me as the Poet Laureate of U Heights). I bought a book recently called "The Beats, from Kerouac to Kesey: a Photo Journey of the Beat Generation". I must say, I was transfixed.

Long a fan of the beat squad (Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs), I've always noticed eerie parallels in my group and the group Kerouac would later dub "The Dharma Bums". Our music shaped our words, in much the same way jazz shaped the phrases and sentences on On the Road, Howl, or Naked Lunch. My only question now is, when do we start writing?

Here's a shot. I haven't written a poem, a free-form, not-necessarily-love poem in quite some time. So bare with me. This may become a regular feature of the blog. It may not.

Bat

Flowing slowly through

Rougher trails of innuendo

And moxie, finding each grain

A star beyond itself, they look

Where looking lacks



Exits sign on to a beleagured

Frolic of freon zones exonerated

Only by a spackle made up of the

Soul or the place it should have

Been and wasn't



To be on that open highway

Blue in the morning like an amputated

Car antenna, we can never find

That hope of having hope, only

Left-over, stale generations who

Didn't know what lost was until they

Saw the likes of you


_______________________________

Hope you enjoyed that....here's the song of the week:

Age and the Indie Rock Star

SO, a couple of things have me thinking these days about music. Last week I received an e-mail from a guy looking for a drummer. I said sure, if he didn't mind my age (over 30). So I have the big 'audition' this weekend. I'll keep all my readers posted on how that goes.

In addition to this, Wilco was on a repeat of Saturday Night Live this weekend. They were okay, but damn did they look old.

So, I'm thinking to myself again, how old is too old to be doing this. At the same time, when that e-mail came asking me to play again after not playing for nearly two years (since the break up of daymonthyear), I felt a need to get the drums out and start playing like a madman.

If it was up to me, I would still be playing with friends. It makes the whole situation shiny and more manageable. But, my bass player of choice seems semi-retired and others seem less motivated to organize such things.

I'm not unrealistic. I understand that stardom is about as possible as a Sabres Stanley Cup victory. But at the same time, I feel like I'm waiting for the next 20 or 30 minutes up on a stage in front of people playing music they enjoy hearing and I enjoy playing.

Perhaps that's a bit selfish, but that is the nature of the beast I suppose.

So, I'm looking for comments on what age is should all be stopped. Any input is appreciated.

El Music Industry

I thought this article really hit the nail on the head.

I think it amazing how short sighted the music industry was. I'm also in agreement with a lot of critics that Radiohead's suspicious absence at the Grammy's was the RIAA last ditch attempt to say they disapprove of downloadable content. If an industry can't evolve, it will die.

Perhaps record companies think their lame attempts to get hip are working. I admit that I often listen to tunes I haven't heard in awhile by pulling up the video on youtube. I've watched this video like 5 times because the song was stuck in my head from playing guitar hero:



So, who needs cd's and online stores? I believe in the artist being paid for their work, not the record company profiting from someone else's heartfelt work.

Post-Hardcore and What I'm listening to today.

A friend of mine got me interested in a band from Canada. I had heard a few songs on the radio but never really knew what to make of these guys.

AlexisonFire is definitely one of the best post-hardcore band I've heard in a long time.

But PJ, aren't they just a screamo band?

No, dear reader. There is a difference. Let's take a look at some of the issues:

• Screamo bands generally sing about relationships and such - AlexisonFire, not as much


• Hardcore bands often had a screaming lead singer but in a way that was distinguishable from metal groups - think Earth Crisis or Gorilla Biscuits - AlexisonFire has their screamer, but also a singer who comes off as a normal style, and a third singer who has more of a raspy Social Distortion sounding voice.


• Screamo often has a certain pop sensibility and a lower technical grade - AlexisonFire has several complex riffs and different percussive styling

That's just a few things to compare/contrast. Another reason to look into the band is their videos are awesome. Some are thought provoking, but the video for Waterwings is just funny.



So feel free to check it out and let me know what you think. All opinions are welcome, as always. You need not agree with me, but say something.

Stepping Back

I listened to a cd the other day of a band I've liked since I first heard them. They kind of paved the way for so many other bands, but still to this day, I am blown away by the fire and drive of Sunny Day Real Estate.

It amazes me that more people never understood this band or enjoyed what they had to offer. Sadly, I think this happens a lot. People misunderstand the power music can bring.

I was never lucky enough to have the opportunity to see them live. Over the past few years, they have re-emerged as the Fire Theft, and the bass player, Nate Mendel is still with the Foo Fighters.

Maybe I'm nostalgic, but will the corporate bands of today ever try to gain the credibility SDRE had with their first full-length release? Perhaps the time will come (soon) when musical credibility will return to replace the RIAA guy telling the general public what they should like.

PS: The new Radiohead is awesome. Worth the $US10.00.