The Police return…

Normally the Grammys mean nothing to me (see also: irrelevant posturing and pulse-less) but I tuned in to see the return of one of my favourite bands, The Police. Sadly I just missed their short performance…but just caught it now on YouTube. Pretty great if you ask me. And if the rumours are indeed true of a reunion tour we might get to see more of them.

I usually stay away from paying attention to these reunion tour nostalgia acts but the Police certainly make it hard not to at least consider the large pricetag. Is anyone out there remotely interested in seeing the Police? If so, how much would you pay to see them live? Would it even be worth it?
[youtube]6sHXCs84iJc[/youtube]
Side note: Stewart Copeland has the same drum mannerisms and posture as Greg. Take a look… I swear he even sort of looks like Greg. If you squint.

UPDATE: Well it’s official.

hello.music round six — There You Are

hello.musicNo progress on “I am the King of Sad Retorts” this week. In fact no vocals that I recorded did I actually keep. So here is a new base of a song:

There You Are.

[audio:https://hellocomein.com/soundbox/hellomusic_mike/ThereYouAre.mp3]

The title is meaningless really since I have no words yet. Nor do I know what I want to do with this song. A bit repetitive but maybe has potential with some words and other instruments. Thoughts?

hello.music round five – untitled

Hello ladies, fans and gentlemen callers..

I apologize for my absence as of late, I have the lame excuse that I have been working for monies and things. Anyway here is a demo version of the up coming untitled version entitled “Untitled” .. to be receiving a title at a later date, cause I am lazy.

Here goes:

Untitled

[audio:https://hellocomein.com/soundbox/hellomusic_aryn/untitled.mp3]

expect another update on this very soon.. Or I will be eternally pegged as an internet music slacker… or it might be too late…

Thoughts on Songwriting…

notebooks.Maybe because it was cold or because I had long day at work or because of that huge delicious lunch. Suffice to say, nothing productive came out of my two and a half hour long recording\writing session last night. Nothing. It just wasn’t happening and when that’s the case it’s always best to just walk away and do something else. The chords progressions weren’t coming together, the melodies simplistic and unmemorable.

And the lyrics? This has always been my weak point. I think it has something to do with my difficulties in hearing lyrics and words when I listen to music. Don’t get me wrong, I love that aspect of pop and rock music but it takes me longer than most people I know to hear the words, and therefore the meaning. I know people who can hear a song once or twice and already be singing along. But I simply hear the melodies and harmonies and phrasings more clearly.

I think because of this fact, my lyric writing can be anemic. I have been ‘studying up,’ so to speak; reading some of my favourite lyricists and looking at their styles and techniques. But also trying to always carry a small moleskin notebook with me in case a phrase comes to mind. But after two or three years now of focusing on this stuff, I still feel my lyric writing borders on cliche, illiterate and clumsy at best. The best will make an intimate personal sentiment feel like a broad universal statement. It can be such a fine line though.

Am I too hard on myself? Probably. But I think that drive to make myself better at music also translates to the lyrics. The next few weeks of hello.music I will probably try to spend more time on the lyrics and vocal melodies and less on the intricate harmonies and layers of overdubs. A simple melody and poignant line stands out much longer than studio techniques. It will be an interesting challenge.

Chicken Bowl XI

PopeyesAs everyone was gathering around the ol’ telly for the game of all games, I too felt a warm up was in order for a different kind of competition: Chicken Bowl. My editor for NPR’s Song of the Day Stephen Thompson (and founder of The Onion AV Club) played host to a mortal man’s competitive eating contest to end all. Now in it’s eleventh year Stephen thought he’d bring the binge eating and excessive drinking with him to DC.

To prep for the affair we watched Fox’s Glutton Bowl 2002 presentation, a disgusting display of large and sweaty men wolfing down meats and bowls of mayonnaise for a frightening crowd of onlookers. It seemed few had the ambitions nor the results of Kobayashi, but with 160 pieces of Popeye’s chicken in front of us, we this was no small feat.

Here are the rules as he laid out in the invitation:


1. CBXI will work according to a point system: Breasts are worth 1.5 points, thighs 1 point, legs 0.5 points, and wings 0.5 points.

2. Keep chicken bones and discarded skin and viscera out of reach of the small children in attendance.

3. Only Popeye’s-brand chicken may be consumed in conjunction with this event.

4. All binging, no purging. If you vomit, you¹re done.

5. The Heimlich maneuver may not be performed at any time during this event. Those performing the Heimlich maneuver will be disqualified.

As you can see this was a serious affair. As with any competition, we had to weigh strategy and technique. All out assault or slow graze over the course of the game? All breast pieces or more smaller pieces? Luckily he also thought to include some tips:

1. Pace yourself: This is a marathon, not a sprint. (See Rule #4.)

2. Take a lesson from Thanksgiving: If you starve yourself leading up to a big meal, your stomach will shrink, and will therefore accommodate less chicken. Starting several days in advance, begin a regimen of high-impact gorging, using a funnel and plunger if necessary.

3. Bring lots of delicious beer. We stocked up on high-quality Wisconsin beer during a recent trip to the Holy Land, but it won’t be enough to keep every gullet well-lubricated throughout the event.

So how did I place? Well once the food stopped tasting delicious and once I was more full on beer than chicken I knew I was done. I finished with two breasts, two thighs, two legs and a wing. Not great but certainly a strong rookie effort with 7.5 points. Someone wise once said “Better to try and fail than not try at all.” I don’t think it was Mike Ditka.

Side note: Gotta hand it to Prince for making the Halftime Show less a joke and more or less relevant again for the first time in years. Below is Prince in all-out rockstar glory playing “Purple Rain” in the rain. Couldn’t script that any better.

[youtube]EffEF7fNLTQ[/youtube]
UPDATE: 2\23 — You can watch a short little doc my friend Ben shot of the festivities… sadly I get more exposure than I should have. Enjoy.

[youtube]5zSXPcTOHi4[/youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE&eurl=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE&eurl= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE&eurl= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE&eurl= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE&eurl= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE&eurl= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE&eurl= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE&eurl=v http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE&eurl=

whatever.

hello.music round five — I am the King of Sad Retorts

hello.musicHere is I am the King of Sad Retorts version two.

[audio:https://hellocomein.com/soundbox/hellomusic_mike/IAmTheKingOfSadRetorts_v2.mp3]

Added some sonic textures and guitars and such to the song and did a first mixdown on Live. But still need to pen some lyrics and track vocals to know where to fill it out. Sure would like to have lyrics in mind before I write a song the next time…it makes things considerably easier when structuring out the song. Thoughts?

NPR Song Of The Day: The Broken West, ‘Hale Sunrise’

The Broken West's I Can't Go On, I'll Go On is out now.
The Broken West’s I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On is out now.

Here’s a piece about The Broken West’s “Hale Sunrise,” from its album I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On for NPR’s Song of the Day. Check it out and listen here.

Continue reading NPR Song Of The Day: The Broken West, ‘Hale Sunrise’

hello.music — February Challenge

RPM ChallengeIt is now less than ten minutes away from February 1st here on the east coast and with that comes a new challenge: the RPM Challenge. What is that you ask? It seems to be a challenge to musicians everywhere to create an album of music in 28 days…that is 10 songs or 35 minutes minimum (whichever comes first) for the month of February.

Much like those film festivals where you have 48 hours to make a movie or those writing competitions to write a novel, this gives aspiring and amateur musicians a kick in the right direction towards getting off the couch and making something.

We figured since we are already doing this EP a month project for our own efforts, why not expand our idea for the month of February and create a few more songs… As if we weren’t fired up and excited this will be a great way to show off what we’re doing and find other similar, like-minded and not-so like-minded types out there doing the same things. You can find us on the site listed as, typically, “Hello Come In.”

Follow on our blog here for the weekly progress of each of our new songs…make comments and take part. And like we did with our January EP, this February EP will come at the end of the month, both on our site and perhaps on the RPM website as well.

So here we are …now five minutes to go. Time to get those pencils sharpened, those notebooks open, those strings tuned, those drumheads tightened, those phantom powered microphones phantom powered, those fingers cracked, those computers charged up, those voices warmed up, and those neighbors warned of strange noises for the next month.

Should be a great month of music writing. Let the games begin!

UPDATE: All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen (who I interned for as production assistant for a year ago at NPR) did a great feature on the RPM Challenge last week.  Listen here…  And for those wondering, I’m pretty sure it was me who mentioned the project to him that he mentions.  Anyway…a few days in and I think we are all psyched about this challenge.Â