I wrote a short review of Dan Deacon’s bonkers song “The Crystal Cat,” from his album Spiderman of the Rings, for NPR’s Song of the Day. To read the full review and hear the song go here.
Continue reading NPR Song Of The Day: Dan Deacon, ‘The Crystal Cat’
This video might be making the blog rounds or even be old, but it very well could simultaneously be the worst and the most awesome thing I’ve seen on the internet today. Another example of why cro-magnons should not be encouraged to pursue a music career.
[youtube]ukjnrXTTvPY[/youtube]
Here’s a review of “I Need A Friend,” a song from Small Sins’ album Mood Swings, for NPR’s Song of the Day. To read the full review and hear the song go here.
Continue reading NPR Song Of The Day, Small Sins, ‘I Need A Friend’
I first discovered Jesca Hoop nearly two years ago, as an intern for All Songs Considered — and selected one of her demo songs for Open Mic. (That series was later retrofitted for the daily Open Mic feature and podcast, and later, as Second Stage.)
Hoop’s new album, Kismet, is pretty great all the way through, maybe one of the best new artist debuts this year. So here’s a short write up about the song “Havoc in Heaven” for NPR’s Song of the Day essay. To read the full review and hear the song go here.
Continue reading NPR Song Of The Day: Jesca Hoop, ‘Havoc in Heaven’
Not a whole lot has changed since I put the song down a few weeks ago to focus on last month’s EP. But posting it again will provide a space to discuss what I have in mind going forward.
After hearing two songs by 90s Britpop group The Stone Roses, I was inspired to figure out how to record tracks that would be played in reverse in the mix. Reversing tracks is by far nothing new in recorded music with electronic composers, tape loop specialists and producers like George Martin and John Leckie having done it for at least five decades. So while I never found evidence to verify my listening, the song “Don’t Stop” on their first record seems to be an instrumental reversal of the previous song “Waterfall.”
It is also not the first time I have played around with it, but it just took me until now to learn how to do it in the software I’ve been using. Turns out, unlike the days of splicing and seamlessly assembling analog tape, in Live its pretty damned easy…embarrassingly so.
You will hear some backwards playing tracks in the background here and also some incidental guitar noise. Still lots of work on it, but here is where I left it last night.
[audio:https://hellocomein.com/soundbox/hellomusic_mike/NoReasonAtAll_v2b.mp3]UPDATE 9\25: I’ve done some more mixing and retracked some guitars that were rushed and out of sync. Still want to rethink the piano part in the middle, add some drums and vocals as well. Anyone know a good female singer with a wispy voice?
No Reason (At All) v2d
[audio:https://hellocomein.com/soundbox/hellomusic_mike/NoReasonAtAll_v2d.mp3]
UPDATE FROM GREG 9\26: Here is some work I’ve been doing on this tune… mostly just brainstorming, but maybe there are some tidbits that can be incorporated into the final track:
[audio:https://hellocomein.com/soundbox/hellomusic_greg/No_Reason_drums_v1.mp3]March Version with vocal melody and way too much ear piercing distortion- be careful!!!
[audio:https://hellocomein.com/soundbox/hellomusic_greg/No_Reason_drums_v2.mp3]Electro version.
[audio:https://hellocomein.com/soundbox/hellomusic_greg/No_Reason_Electro.mp3]
So this little gem of a show was shown to me last weekend at a friend of a friends house. It was only on British television for one season, and I believe you can find it on DVD somewhere if you own a region-less player.
The premise is simple, an ex horror writer made a tv show back in the eighties, which was canceled, and since there is now a void of good television they asked him to bring the actors back for interviews and to replay the show. They solve mysteries surrounding the “Dark Hotel”. It follows the premise of crappy production value + dead pan acting = good comedy.
I’ve only watched one episode so far, but this thing looks like a winner in hiding. The main guy ( who plays both the “Writer” Garth Marenghi and the main character Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.) is played by Mathew Holness, who you may also remember as the IT guy Simon from the British version of The Office.
Anyway, do a little search around the video sites (i.e. tv links) in your area and check it out. Good entertainment for you and your friends.
Here is the opening title segment to give you the feel of the show:
[youtube]SjmJWVc1RGY[/youtube]
For over eight months now, Aryn, Greg and I have written numerous songs for our EPs, collaborating and setting up challenges with each other. I’d say for the most part its been a fruitful experience which has helped us tighten our songwriting skills, learn new ways to collaborate over long distances, learned great music software and mostly to stay in contact with each other in productive ways.
So when a friend and co-worker Robin was inspired to re-interpret one of our songs (one of mine technically), the year-long effort took on a new extra layer of meaning. It’s one thing for the three of us to entertain and push ourselves, but to have others starting to be inspired by our project is, well, pretty cool.
Robin and I collaborated back in February on a song I had written called “Morning Tiger,” a song I had pretty much given up on and resigned to being a mere electro pop instrumental. But Robin saw potential in it, writing lyrics and constructing a great melody that really pushed the song over the top… It’s one of my favourite songs I contributed to that EP. So when Robin asked if he could take a stab at my song “The Imitators” I was more than happy to hear how he would treat it.
[audio:https://hellocomein.com/ep/februaryEP/CloudedSpaces/08_MorningTiger.mp3]Sharing unfinished works can often be a temperamental thing; its hard enough to put yourself out there as it is, let alone sharing a work in progress and leaving yourself open to extra scrutiny and criticism. We also found with our June EP, that hearing our songs covered by others can be a strange thing at first, especially when the lyrics or meaning of the song can be pretty personal. While I used to find it hard to do, this project sort of encourages that openness.
In the end, I think Robin’s treatment, while a bit darker, matched the mood of the lyrics just right… Robin writes much more eloquently on his own site about the song, but I’d say its a great testament to the original and sort of an honor to have written a song that holds up in another’s hands.
With four EPs left it will be exciting to hear what sort of songs we will come up with. Stay tuned listeners…
The Imitators (from the July EP The Rundown)
[audio:https://hellocomein.com/ep/julyEP/The_Rundown/01_The_Imitators.mp3]The Imitators (as performed and produced by Robin Hilton)
[audio:https://hellocomein.com/soundbox/hellomusic_mike/Imitators_Robin.mp3]
If you never heard the playing of Joe Zawinul, you would think that the white Austrian-born pianist would be an unlikely source for soul-inspired jazz. But Zawinul was one of a handful of late 60s and 70s jazz musicians who took the form to new places. Zawinul passed away yesterday at age 75.
Zawinul came into prominence playing on Cannonball Adderley’s Quintet and Miles Davis’ early electric groups (penning staple songs “Mercy Mercy Mercy” and “In A Silent Way“), the pianist gained the peak of his popularity and influence with the seminal jazz-fusion band Weather Report. Partnering with Wayne Shorter, Zawinul’s group was a pioneer of the genre and an early adopter of electric keyboards and electronic gadgetry.
Though fusion was often criticized by critics then, and certainly gets a bad rap now, there is no denying the artistry that Zawinul and Shorter contributed to the jazz canon…and in many ways there has not been a true new distinctive sound in jazz since those days. At times the music comes off as hokey and horribly dated with some cheesey sounding synths and jangly Fender Rhodes. But that is simply an artifact of the times in the same way New Order or Kraftwerk adopted those same instruments years later. The music behind it, though is at its best full of great inspired moments.
Though I never got into ANY of his later work, my favourite albums that include Zawinul are probably his most popular: Miles Davis’ In A Silent Way, Cannonball Adderley’s Mercy Mercy Mercy (two of my favourite jazz albums of all time) and Weather Report’s Heavy Weather. Give them a listen.
Below a performance of Weather Report’s signature song “Birdland” (a really fun song to perform) featuring Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, and company.
[youtube]pqashW66D7o[/youtube]
It’s that time once again for another installment of helloEP. Our short but sweet August rendition is entitled The Ninth Great Fire.
Only two songs? Yep — our offering is small this month as we hunkered down leaning some new software (Live and Reason) and spent the rest of the time frying our pale skin in summer activities. As we head towards the hibernatory months, you should see more songs as we reenter our basement studio dens. Personally, I spent some time figuring out how to use Ableton Live for beat programming on Mike’s title track.
So put away those cigarettes and take a music break instead here. Or right click here to DOWNLOAD the entire album.
Or take it with you on your subway ride with the podcast. Or be cool like the college kids at MySpace. And most important… leave comments on the blog or via email at augustEP@hellocomein.com.
Tracklist:
1. The Ninth Great Fire (Katzif/Johnson)
2. War Of The Crickets (Crowley)
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Between juggling real life and jobs, finding time for music takes just as much planning as anything…especially when trying to learn new toys to add to the process. August saw the three of us expand getting new software like learning some basics on the amazing and complicated synth modeler Reason or trying something completely new like Greg learning to program beats with Ableton Live. Oh yeah, and I finally was reunited with my long lost pal, my Fender Rhodes after a two year trial separation. How I missed you.
Sometimes in music these new toys can be as much of a hindrance as they are helpful and inspiring…especially at first. They can open up countless new options and conjur ten new songs or they can bring you back to square one. One step forward, two steps back.
Years back when I first started picking up new instruments, I remember how frustrating it was to have all this previous knowledge but having to start at the beginning with memorizing fingerings or new clefs. Adopting a new program like Live or Reason (or any other software for that matter) is just the same…trying to learn what it can do, how you can use it easily and how it relates to all the other pieces you have in place.
Unfortunately no matter how many new guitars, glockenspiels or high-tech gadgets you add, you still have to have a song to write. People tend to forget that step, or at least overlook it. Finding that time to write a great song still seems to be the challenge. One step forward, two steps back.
— Mike, August 2007
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Temporary Setback :: January 2007
Clouded Spaces, Falling Skies :: February 2007
First Pull Up, Second Pull Down, Third Take Away :: March 2007
Ancient Telephones :: April 2007
The Cavalry Arrived Again :: May 2007
Designed In Anticipation Of His Centennial Years :: June 2007
The Rundown :: July 2007
The Ninth Great Fire :: August 2007
Empty Bottles And Dog-Eared Books :: September 2007
I Can Fix Things In The Morning :: October 2007
We Are Full Of Useful Noise :: November 2007
The Last Duel :: December 2007
Wrote about The Brunettes’ new song “Her Hairagami Set” from its album Structure & Cosmetics for NPR’s Song of the Day. Check out the song here.
Continue reading NPR Song Of The Day: The Brunettes, ‘Her Hairagami Set’