Well for $5 a night you can see a lot of bands at Spider House on three different stages. You might not like all of them, but you could say the same thing for ACL. Last night I went and saw The Lonesome Heroes, Hell On Wheels, The Saucerians, and Bobby Jealousy. I'm playing tonight with JC and Co, and I'm going to try and catch some of the other bands before hand. I'm excited about seeing Auroravore. I'll post up some videos later. I saw some young kids hanging out there last night with their parents, so maybe it's all ages.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Where do you find out about new albums/artists?
When I was a kid, we went to the local record store, Dog Ear Records (which survived until recently), and had a mentor/mentee relationship with our record store clerks. It was kind of like the movie High Fidelity, but more nurturing. They'd let you browse the stacks or listen to stuff on a stereo up front with headphones, and in the meantime they'd be putting on whatever it was they wanted to hear over the house system. They wouldn't ask you if needed help and they wouldn't make fun of your choices, not even behind your back. They'd make great recommendations based on what they remembered you buying. They'd order anything you wanted that they didn't have.
They understood that your relationship with music was your own personal journey.
I wish religion and politics was that way, instead of being some exercise in branding that was based upon your parents ideologies and the socioeconomic class you were born into.
But back to that record store, it was a great education, and one thing of particular note was that most of the music they played consisted of new releases.
Another source of information was the radio, specifically Q101 for me, which was clearly capitalizing on the alternative music craze that was sweeping the nation in the early nineties. I didn't mind one bit as they successfully targeted my demographic. I'm still not sure if they lost it, or if I just got old.
When I got to college it was WRUW, my university radio station, that I got a deep musical education from. I hit up Record Revolution and Record Exchange a couple of times a week minimum, and I'd go digging through the 25 cent bins. I read alot of CMJ. I watched MTV incessantly, especially 120 minutes with Matt Pinfield.
After college, I relied on online music communities to keep me up to date on new releases, but as technology has made it easier and cheaper to record, there have been a deluge of releases every year. How does an album get any kind of hype or traction in the first place on the internet when bands can't afford to tour?
If it wasn't radio, print media, or online communities, I was counting on personal recommendations from friends and musicians that I grew to trust.
To my students, how are you finding out about new music?
They understood that your relationship with music was your own personal journey.
I wish religion and politics was that way, instead of being some exercise in branding that was based upon your parents ideologies and the socioeconomic class you were born into.
But back to that record store, it was a great education, and one thing of particular note was that most of the music they played consisted of new releases.
Another source of information was the radio, specifically Q101 for me, which was clearly capitalizing on the alternative music craze that was sweeping the nation in the early nineties. I didn't mind one bit as they successfully targeted my demographic. I'm still not sure if they lost it, or if I just got old.
When I got to college it was WRUW, my university radio station, that I got a deep musical education from. I hit up Record Revolution and Record Exchange a couple of times a week minimum, and I'd go digging through the 25 cent bins. I read alot of CMJ. I watched MTV incessantly, especially 120 minutes with Matt Pinfield.
After college, I relied on online music communities to keep me up to date on new releases, but as technology has made it easier and cheaper to record, there have been a deluge of releases every year. How does an album get any kind of hype or traction in the first place on the internet when bands can't afford to tour?
If it wasn't radio, print media, or online communities, I was counting on personal recommendations from friends and musicians that I grew to trust.
To my students, how are you finding out about new music?
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Remixes
Reading through your blog entries, I'm noticing some of you posting remixes and having varying opinions on remixes. I think they're interesting because it shows once again how advances in technology drive changes in music. Invariably, change seems to be embraced more readily by the youth of that time while being dismissed and villified by adults. Often those adults were youth of a previous era that embraced change who then turn around and say things like, "That's not music, it's just noise. They're not even playing real instruments.", or "They're not even singing." Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I'm some enlightened adult and that advances in technology will solve all of our ills. I'm also not saying that we should all go back to land lines or live like the Amish.
Here are some observations.
1. The guitar got amplified. American parents became horrified. Kids everywhere rejoiced.
2. The piano turned into the modular synthesizer. Prog rock gave nerds in capes a soundtrack for their RPG sessions. Disco gave 70s hipsters a soundtrack for getting jiggy and being illicit in discotheque bathrooms. New wave helped some punk rockers of the seventies become the pop stars of the early 80s. Imagine Michael Jackson's "I Wanna Rock With You" without synth. How about The Police's "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic"? Van Halen's "Jump" without that intro... and that synth solo in the middle when they bring back the intro. And yet there were bands like Throbbing Gristle, and Einsturzende Neubaten that paved the way for bands like Nine Inch Nails and KMFDM. Let's not forget the role that synths played in these groups, and the role that Trent Reznor played in Marilyn Manson's career. Parents were definitely horrified. I don't particularly like Marilyn Manson's voice, and I don't think he's a talented musician, but he's a very talented businessman. Wow, I just sounded old.
3. Turntables... ripped from living rooms, pawn shops, and electronics stores, they became the electric guitars of the working poor who MacGyvered them into a viable means of taking music and making new music. America was particularly slow into acknowledging this viable American art form, and there is still backlash against it even though we're going into a fourth decade of rap and hip hop. At the beginning there was the, "They're just stealing other people's music and talking over it" argument. Please watch the documentary "Scratch" and be amazed.
If you have a spare 90 minutes, watch it on youtube, and learn about turntablism before you dismiss it's role in hip hop as non-musical. In fact, here it is.
4. Computers. They're not just for video games, word processing, and email anymore. Now we can use them to make art, video, and music. However, in my opinion, there seems to be more backlash to music made with computers than with video or art. I think that it's at least in part to the fact that art and video are visual. While music in a live setting can be visual, the average listener who isn't a musician in the traditional sense of the word expects to SEE something that they can only dream of doing. Girl Talk is a great example, and we'll watch the documentary "Rip: A Remix Manifesto" in class which uses him in an argument for copyright law reform. I believe it's on Netflix if you want to watch it ahead of time. It's really stinking good and it'll make you think about copyright law, what it was originally intended for, how it's changed, and why many people think it's prohibitive. Another great example is the link that follows where Kutiman takes a bunch of different youtube videos and crafts songs out of them. At least go and listen to "The Mother of all Funk Chords".
http://thru-you.com/#/intro/
So what's next? What is going to come down the pipe in the future that is going raise your future adulthood hackles? What are your children going to listen to that will make you have a knee jerk reaction? What's going to make you say, "That is NOT music.". It's going to happen. It happens to everyone. I'm not saying that you have to like all music, but I would encourage you to really examine what presses your buttons and why. In the end, I think rock happened because some kids got excited about some new sounds and it pressed some adult buttons, and those kids rather enjoyed getting a rise out of them.
Thoughts?
Mr. A.
Here are some observations.
1. The guitar got amplified. American parents became horrified. Kids everywhere rejoiced.
2. The piano turned into the modular synthesizer. Prog rock gave nerds in capes a soundtrack for their RPG sessions. Disco gave 70s hipsters a soundtrack for getting jiggy and being illicit in discotheque bathrooms. New wave helped some punk rockers of the seventies become the pop stars of the early 80s. Imagine Michael Jackson's "I Wanna Rock With You" without synth. How about The Police's "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic"? Van Halen's "Jump" without that intro... and that synth solo in the middle when they bring back the intro. And yet there were bands like Throbbing Gristle, and Einsturzende Neubaten that paved the way for bands like Nine Inch Nails and KMFDM. Let's not forget the role that synths played in these groups, and the role that Trent Reznor played in Marilyn Manson's career. Parents were definitely horrified. I don't particularly like Marilyn Manson's voice, and I don't think he's a talented musician, but he's a very talented businessman. Wow, I just sounded old.
3. Turntables... ripped from living rooms, pawn shops, and electronics stores, they became the electric guitars of the working poor who MacGyvered them into a viable means of taking music and making new music. America was particularly slow into acknowledging this viable American art form, and there is still backlash against it even though we're going into a fourth decade of rap and hip hop. At the beginning there was the, "They're just stealing other people's music and talking over it" argument. Please watch the documentary "Scratch" and be amazed.
If you have a spare 90 minutes, watch it on youtube, and learn about turntablism before you dismiss it's role in hip hop as non-musical. In fact, here it is.
4. Computers. They're not just for video games, word processing, and email anymore. Now we can use them to make art, video, and music. However, in my opinion, there seems to be more backlash to music made with computers than with video or art. I think that it's at least in part to the fact that art and video are visual. While music in a live setting can be visual, the average listener who isn't a musician in the traditional sense of the word expects to SEE something that they can only dream of doing. Girl Talk is a great example, and we'll watch the documentary "Rip: A Remix Manifesto" in class which uses him in an argument for copyright law reform. I believe it's on Netflix if you want to watch it ahead of time. It's really stinking good and it'll make you think about copyright law, what it was originally intended for, how it's changed, and why many people think it's prohibitive. Another great example is the link that follows where Kutiman takes a bunch of different youtube videos and crafts songs out of them. At least go and listen to "The Mother of all Funk Chords".
http://thru-you.com/#/intro/
So what's next? What is going to come down the pipe in the future that is going raise your future adulthood hackles? What are your children going to listen to that will make you have a knee jerk reaction? What's going to make you say, "That is NOT music.". It's going to happen. It happens to everyone. I'm not saying that you have to like all music, but I would encourage you to really examine what presses your buttons and why. In the end, I think rock happened because some kids got excited about some new sounds and it pressed some adult buttons, and those kids rather enjoyed getting a rise out of them.
Thoughts?
Mr. A.
Monday, September 3, 2012
New Finds.
This past week on KUT I heard a song from Nick Waterhouse, and now I think I'm going to buy the record if I can find it on vinyl.
The video is all right, although it always aggravates me when a video starts and there's no music for the first 30 seconds because they're setting up some story. I'm not sure when this started happening in videos, but it definitely became prevalent in 90s hip hop videos. As far as the song goes, it's a time machine to the fifties with some good old fashioned sax honking. If you're going to play sax and you want to play something other than smooth jazz ala Kenny G, you really ought to learn how to make your sax honk, scream, and skronk.
Another song I've been digging is Ben Fisher's Dublin Blues Pt. 2. He's just a kid who's living in Seattle, and he's a great lyricist, although I'm not entranced by his voice. I do appreciate the honesty with which he sings though. The third verse is worth the price of admission. Here it is for your consideration.
Also, I'm looking forward to seeing Ben Folds Five as their reuniting in support of their first album in over a decade. Here's an old performance that I love.
How awesome is that? They call themselves punk rock for sissies. I don't know about all that, it's just so smart though. I hope that they bring the heat at Stubb's on 9/24, I'll blog about it after I see it.
I hope you had a relaxing Labor Day Weekend, unless you didn't do your assignment. If you're one of those people, I hope your football team lost, your charcoal wouldn't light, and that your dog is giving you the cold shoulder. I'm working hard over here, give me your assignments in a timely fashion please. Also, start commenting on other peoples blogs, there's some really good thinking and writing happening! Comment on my blogs too. Comment on the comments I've left you. Let's get a real dialogue going about music.
Mr. A.
Another song I've been digging is Ben Fisher's Dublin Blues Pt. 2. He's just a kid who's living in Seattle, and he's a great lyricist, although I'm not entranced by his voice. I do appreciate the honesty with which he sings though. The third verse is worth the price of admission. Here it is for your consideration.
And you can listen to it at http://benfisher.bandcamp.com/track/dublin-blues-pt-2 and even download it for free.Now, I've been planting a few little flowers
And I'm baking my own bread
And I go running every morning
To try and clear my head
Yeah but the flowers froze,
And my bread won't rise
And the running's just for show
And I'm making a list of things I would tell you
If you hadn't let me go
Also, I'm looking forward to seeing Ben Folds Five as their reuniting in support of their first album in over a decade. Here's an old performance that I love.
I hope you had a relaxing Labor Day Weekend, unless you didn't do your assignment. If you're one of those people, I hope your football team lost, your charcoal wouldn't light, and that your dog is giving you the cold shoulder. I'm working hard over here, give me your assignments in a timely fashion please. Also, start commenting on other peoples blogs, there's some really good thinking and writing happening! Comment on my blogs too. Comment on the comments I've left you. Let's get a real dialogue going about music.
Mr. A.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Per. 8 Blog Addresses
Diana Aguirre (no e-mail address, no blog address)
Kyle Ashley (no e-mail address, no blog address)
Kevin Bennett
http://justinbeebeer.blogspot.com/
Ellen Broaddus
http://therestandstheglasshistoryofrock.blogspot.com/
Dominig Bugge
http://seksydominic.blogspot.com/
Rebecca Butler
http://beccab1995.blogspot.com/
Dustin Carter
http://dustincarter5467.blogspot.com/
Johnathan Castillo (no e-mail address, no blog address)
Kinzy Conlee
http://blogagainstthemachine1.blogspot.com/
Nick Fleher
http://nfleher.blogspot.com/
Rachel Graves
http://www.thehistoryofrock2012.blogspot.com/
Corby Hafernik
http://www.corbysrockinblogs.blogspot.com/
Elijah Hernandez
http://elijahhernandez.blogspot.com/
Travis Jenkins
http://travisjenkins21.blogspot.com/
Mason Johns
http://masondillard.blogspot.com/
Sage McCommas
http://onthemuddyblogsofthewishkah.blogspot.com/
Olivia Mink
http://minkolivia.blogspot.com/
Preston Mosley
http://cagethepreston.blogspot.com/
Brad Norton
http://everybloghasitsthorn.blogspot.com/
Heather Paiz
http://heatherpaiz.blogspot.com/
PJ Perez
http://smellsliketheonlysongyouknow.blogspot.com/
Anh Pham
http://fortheloveofqueen.blogspot.com/
Patricio Rubin De Celis
http://patriciorubindecelis.blogspot.com/
Jacob Scott (no email address, no blog address)
Alex Sztejnberg
http://therealsnoopblog.blogspot.com/
Noah Villareal
http://noahvill.blogspot.com/
Trent Wilson
http://trentgwilson.blogspot.com/
Diana Aguirre (no e-mail address, no blog address)
Kyle Ashley (no e-mail address, no blog address)
Kevin Bennett
http://justinbeebeer.blogspot.com/
Ellen Broaddus
http://therestandstheglasshistoryofrock.blogspot.com/
Dominig Bugge
http://seksydominic.blogspot.com/
Rebecca Butler
http://beccab1995.blogspot.com/
Dustin Carter
http://dustincarter5467.blogspot.com/
Johnathan Castillo (no e-mail address, no blog address)
Kinzy Conlee
http://blogagainstthemachine1.blogspot.com/
Nick Fleher
http://nfleher.blogspot.com/
Rachel Graves
http://www.thehistoryofrock2012.blogspot.com/
Corby Hafernik
http://www.corbysrockinblogs.blogspot.com/
Elijah Hernandez
http://elijahhernandez.blogspot.com/
Travis Jenkins
http://travisjenkins21.blogspot.com/
Mason Johns
http://masondillard.blogspot.com/
Sage McCommas
http://onthemuddyblogsofthewishkah.blogspot.com/
Olivia Mink
http://minkolivia.blogspot.com/
Preston Mosley
http://cagethepreston.blogspot.com/
Brad Norton
http://everybloghasitsthorn.blogspot.com/
Heather Paiz
http://heatherpaiz.blogspot.com/
PJ Perez
http://smellsliketheonlysongyouknow.blogspot.com/
Anh Pham
http://fortheloveofqueen.blogspot.com/
Patricio Rubin De Celis
http://patriciorubindecelis.blogspot.com/
Jacob Scott (no email address, no blog address)
Alex Sztejnberg
http://therealsnoopblog.blogspot.com/
Noah Villareal
http://noahvill.blogspot.com/
Trent Wilson
http://trentgwilson.blogspot.com/
Henry Greive
http://henrygreive.blogspot.com/
http://henrygreive.blogspot.com/
Bryce Halling
http://myblogandjoy.blogspot.com/
http://myblogandjoy.blogspot.com/
Aaron Hartwell
http://icantalkmusic.blogspot.com/
http://icantalkmusic.blogspot.com/
Braxton Mealey
http://braxtonmealey.blogspot.com/
http://braxtonmealey.blogspot.com/
Gregory Michel
http://gregmichel.blogspot.com/
http://gregmichel.blogspot.com/
Claire Orton
http://icanseeclaire-lynow.blogspot.com/
http://icanseeclaire-lynow.blogspot.com/
Dylan Roddy
http://cagedwalrus.blogspot.com/
http://cagedwalrus.blogspot.com/
Annie Skalaban
http://1blogmemaybe.blogspot.com/
http://1blogmemaybe.blogspot.com/
Sean Suknaic
http://seansuknaic.blogspot.com/
Cris Teran
http://crisenior.blogspot.com/
http://crisenior.blogspot.com/
Jameson Wells
http://jamesonleewells.blogspot.com/
http://jamesonleewells.blogspot.com/
Friday, August 31, 2012
Minor but interesting figures leading up to 1955.
Harry the Hipster Gibson performing 4-F Ferdinand about a bad school kid who ends up marrying his teacher.
Notable for his boogie woogie and stride playing, he was a more frantic player than Fats Waller who discovered him. His songs were offbeat tales usually involving seedy characters who dabbled in drugs and sex. Harry himself was a user and it ultimately led to the decline of his career after his song "Who put the Benzadrine in Mrs. Murphy's Ovaltine?" got him blacklisted from the industry. Also note that he's got a wild and flamboyant playing style, often standing instead of sitting. His harmonic vocabulary, while deeper than the rock and roll pianists to follow him, leans more towards the I-IV-V blues progression than it does to the harmonic vocabularies of jazz, stride, and big band that were prevalent during WWII when Harry was coming into notoriety in Manhattan. In other words, he was doing Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard at least 15 years prior and he was dirtier and more dangerous as well.
Jackie Wilson - He predates Elvis as he replaced Clyde McPhatter in Billy Ward and the Dominoes before he went solo. He was also unintentionally instrumental in Berry Gordy's career as the future head of Motown by cowriting a song with him that became a hit. Elvis liked his moves. Check out this clip especially at 1:08 on.
What do you think? Could he possibly be an influence on Elvis in terms of stage presence? Maybe vocally too? I think Elvis' croon has more in common with Jackie Wilson than with other early rock and rollers such as Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly or Bill Haley. Check out the first song of three from this t.v. performance on Ed Sullivan... yes it's from the 60s, but keep in mind that Jackie Wilson had been active since the early fifties, and Elvis had gone on record as being exceedingly complimentary of Jackie Wilson.
In the previous blog entry, I linked to Bill Haley and His Comets, but not to the other artists, so here are some choice clips.
Notice how Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis both stand. Also, note Little Richards vocal octave jumps which both John and Paul imitated. Jerry Lee Lewis really loves to do big greasy slides up and down the piano.
Jackie Wilson - He predates Elvis as he replaced Clyde McPhatter in Billy Ward and the Dominoes before he went solo. He was also unintentionally instrumental in Berry Gordy's career as the future head of Motown by cowriting a song with him that became a hit. Elvis liked his moves. Check out this clip especially at 1:08 on.
What do you think? Could he possibly be an influence on Elvis in terms of stage presence? Maybe vocally too? I think Elvis' croon has more in common with Jackie Wilson than with other early rock and rollers such as Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly or Bill Haley. Check out the first song of three from this t.v. performance on Ed Sullivan... yes it's from the 60s, but keep in mind that Jackie Wilson had been active since the early fifties, and Elvis had gone on record as being exceedingly complimentary of Jackie Wilson.
In the previous blog entry, I linked to Bill Haley and His Comets, but not to the other artists, so here are some choice clips.
Notice how Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis both stand. Also, note Little Richards vocal octave jumps which both John and Paul imitated. Jerry Lee Lewis really loves to do big greasy slides up and down the piano.
Chuck Berry Duck Walking
Also, just for fun. Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps performing their hit, Be Bop A Lula
That's slightly suggestive, huh?
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