dude, your volume.

No DRM, Thanks...

2006-05-23T12:10:00.000-07:00

I know, I know--it's been a while. And sadly this is just a drive-by. More to come, I swear.

Aaaaanyway, those that stick around the bar long enough to hear me rant about the current business model of the major-label-driven music industry and how it's becoming increasingly obvious that it's a failure for bands and listeners alike are well-versed in the arguments against DRM ("Digital Rights Management", for those that have been living under a rock). Just in time for summer comes this article from Ars Technica about my (and others') new favorite downloading service: eMusic.

All I'm going to say is this: read the article, then go peruse eMusic. You won't be disappointed.

[via Slashdot. As always, the comments here are well worth a look.]

More 'Fork

2006-05-03T00:25:00.000-07:00

Good friend Jose hipped me to this bit of quantitative analysis of what the author rightly calls "the closest thing we’ve got these days to Rolling Stone — 1970s RS, that is"

[Related: Tour Roundup Part 1]

Oakland Mondays 3

2006-05-02T23:43:00.000-07:00

Actually I guess this should be called "Oakland Tuesday" but there's a comfort in consistency, no? And this post wouldn't have even happened without being called out by John for missing a day. So, John, this corrugated metal beauty is for you...

This next Monday we ought to be back on track--promise. Maybe I'll even get around to uploading some goodies to Flickr!

Fight This. Now.

2006-04-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

Why does one of my state's US senators hate podcasters? I don't know. But I do know that I'll be calling her office and telling her what I think of this asinine bill. In case DiFi hadn't noticed, streaming mp3s are this generation's version of radio. What if, back in rock-and-roll's infancy, the US Senate had passed a bill making it so radio stations could only broadcast in a format that Philco radios could receive? Would Elvis' hip-shake have been the wiggle heard 'round the world, or just another empty pose?

This kind of legislating without truly researching the idea and its consequences is yet another example of how little our lawmakers understand the new digital landscape. Better to stop this now than deal with the consequences later. Get on the phone with your senator's office now.

[via Slashdot yet again.]

Canada: At it again!

2006-04-26T18:43:00.000-07:00

Yet another reason why I like Canada, at least conceptually: The Canadian Music Creators Coalition. Showing that there is, amazingly, a way in which Sum 41 might actually be cooler than that greedy bastard Lars Ulrich.

As both a musician and a listener, I've always thought that DRM and the DMCA were some of the most idiotic, counterproductive schemes to come out of the "music industry" in a long, long time (possibly outdone only by the ill-fated DAT format and the surrounding debate over it), and it's good to see that even big-name artists agree. The point of making music is communication. DRM and the DMCA work in direct opposition to this. End of story.

[via Slashdot]

Oakland Mondays 2

2006-04-24T22:56:00.000-07:00

Today I didn't get over to Oakland as early as I'd hoped--I was finishing up a wisp of pro-bono work for some fine folks in Chicago, and the time got away from me. Then I had to go straight to rock-band practice. Still, I had the sense to break out the camera when I was waiting for my train home:

I'm not sure what it was about this image I liked--the inadvertently perfect split between the top and bottom of the photo, maybe? Anyway, here it is--a half-assed Oakland Monday, but strangely pretty all the same.

Bike Humor

2006-04-19T13:30:00.000-07:00

As a commuting and recreational cyclist, I'm part of an international group that must maintain its sense of humor at all times--after all, we're considered "vehicles" under traffic law, but in practice we're definitely second-class citizens.

Still, we soldier on--as petroleum consumption becomes an ever-more-untenable option, I'm betting on seeing more bikes on the road. However, some of these make me wonder if the humble cyclist will ever get any more respect! Look here for even more, and some of that fabulous dry British wit.

[via Pruned, who got 'em from Bricoleurbanism]

New: Oakland Mondays

2006-04-18T00:09:00.000-07:00

Starting this week, I have Mondays off. So, I've decided to start a new hobby/sport/whatever: Monday Oakland Blogging. Or something. Anyway, the plan is, most Mondays for the next little while, to BART it over to Oakland with my bike, ride around, take pictures, and try to seek out some previously unseen or underappreciated nooks and crannies of the Bay's second city. We start with a quick scouting trip to West Oakland and the Port Of Oakland. Watch this post for updates: Flickr account on the way soon! Meanwhile...

West Oakland is known, among a number of other things, for its light industry. Plenty of dodgy corrugated metal buildings, filled with heaven-knows-what. A lot of these places remind me of Abstract Expressionist paintings...

The Port of Oakland is a different planet entirely. Light industry, while it does require more space than, say, a SF Mission knick-knack shop, still exists on a human scale. On the other hand, logistics and shipping do not.

There's no way for this picture to communicate the size of the ship and the crane. I need more practice for that. Today's ride was more a scouting trip than a completed task--more to come, including a link to today's set on Flickr once I have time to deal with that.

Nels Cline Singers

2006-04-13T21:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes living right around the corner from a club where you know everyone (because you used to work there, and you've done a national tour with two of the employees) is a good thing, even with all the liver-risk involved. For instance, sometimes you can get the hookup for a Nels Cline Singers show, like I did last night.

Nels Cline, for those not in the know, is a guitarist. He's currently lending his prodigious chops to Wilco, but that doesn't necessarily tell you much, other than that Nels is an astute observer of American musical tradition who spends a lot of time thinking about how to either 1) add to or 2) subvert that tradition. Just look at the quotes on the guy's site's splash page. Even better, let him do the talking:

Some of the artists I collaborate with and/or work for may be familiar to you. Many of them will not be. Lately I've been working with quite a few so-called singer-songwriters - a strange, unplanned pleasure! But most often you can find me playing for between 10 and 100 or so folks in a gallery, old theater, or dingy nightclub playing with odd and often magically gifted instrumentalists. Some of these sounds have - often erroneously - been labeled "jazz", though at times that term seems accurate. I come from a musical twilight zone in which world communication/awareness and cultural boundaries were expanded, altered, exploded.

I doubt I could explain the man better than he can explain himself.

Nels Cline Singers is the group "that plays [his] own type of instrumental music," which is somewhat like jazz, somewhat like classic "prog" (think King Crimson or Mahavishnu Orchestra--first two records only, please), but is mostly about the most incredible balance of impeccable guitar virtuosity and pure, untainted, intuitive expression I've ever witnessed in person. The only other guy I can imagine reaching the heights of Coltrane-ian straight-outta-the-ether-into-my-instrument verve I saw last night would've been Ask the Ages-era Sonny Sharrock. Now, I'm not really given to hyperbole, but I'm serious here. If you're a guitarist and you didn't see Nels' two sets at the Elbo Room last night, I'm very sorry for you indeed.

That said, you drummers aren't left out of my feeling-sorry-for either--Scott Amendola, who's San Francisco's answer to Roy Hanes in terms of his willingness to play with just about anyone, put on quite the performance himself. I've seen him play in a number of contexts around here (with his own group and with Crater--an improv unit often featuring Cline but mostly about Amendola and cycling74 guru Jhno--as well as a couple of singer-songwriter types including Noe Venable) and I always thought "this guy is good, but a lot of people are good at playing drums--even jazz drums." He blew away any nay-sayers last night. And, of course, there's Devin Hoff, who held everything together with contrabass that encompassed the pedal-point quiet storm of Jimmy Garrison, the mellowest arco tweakery since Barre Phillips, and, dare I say, the heavy grooves of the seemingly dozens of guys who played bass in Don Caballero.

Did I like this show, or what? Really, though, it was a pleasure to see a bunch of musicians who are always at the top of their respective games get up on stage and bring equal parts technical prowess and commitment to group improvisation and groove-making to bear. This group is highly recommended, a must-see.

Design density: OK, or not OK?

2006-04-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

I admit to being a lover of minimalism in page design. So, it was with great interest that I read this post by Jessica Helfand over at Design Observer. I wonder if she realizes that the kind of over-decoration she's talking about has been going on for years--in metal.

Concrete is Nice

2006-04-11T12:03:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah. I know. I've been lazy about posting lately. I haven't had as much time as I'd like for writing. That said, I think I'll take time to post a couple of links today.

The first is a PDF photo-book of the work of Paulo Mendes da Rocha, who has won the 2006 Pritzker Prize. I've noticed lately that I've found certain large concrete structures very applealing--when I can get a decent picture of it (read: when it quits raining so much around here) I'll have to post one of the north side of Zellerbach Hall on the UC Berkeley campus. It's a great study in what can go right with bare concrete boxes. So are the works of Paulo Mendes da Rocha.

I particularly like his own residence, and the Chapel of St. Peter. Art Brut indeed.

[Via Inhabitat]

Indie Rock and Lit Crit... what?

2006-04-01T00:27:00.000-08:00

How long will it be before the indie rock world is favored with such pieces as this, regarding Wordsworth (culled from the New Yorker, the Dec. 5, 2005 issue, the article "Strange Fits of Passion" by Adam Kirsch):

Initial neglect is compensated for by a cult of admirers, a select few who take special delight in the sense that they alone understand the artist's worth. Coleridge remarked on the apostolic quality of Wordsworth's readers, who were found "chiefly among young men of strong sensibility and meditative minds; and their admiration (inflamed perhaps in some degree by opposition) was distinguished by its intensity, I might almost say, by its religious fervor."

Any of you raised-on-college-radio types recognize Coleridge's "young men"? You people who idolize Daniel Johnston or (god forbid) Jandek, I'm looking at you... but not just at you--at myself, too: back in 1991 (if I recall correctly), after the "Perfect Sound Forever" Pavement 10in came out, my pals and I sent the lords of Stockton a Christmas card! Even now I'm listening to a piece from "Systemisch" by Oval, a "band" that to this day I always introduce to neophytes as "a group that nobody I know likes as much as me," an introduction almost always followed by a justification for the enjoyment I get from listening to what amounts to the sound of broken digital playback devices. Lovely? To me, anyway. And that's the point.

Perhaps when one's musical taste veers away from the mainstream--not just away from the top 40, but away from the greater herd, the one that made Dave Matthews a household name even before he was signed to a major label (a situation that to this day I love to reference when talking about how touring is the true path to rock greatness--and a subject for another post at another time)--there's an increased need for validation of the most youth-culture kind: validation through "difference".

I'm always amused by the fact that musical taste is such a part of our tribal identity, even in this age of the Long Tail, where that obscure track that defined a moment in our adolescent lives is available at a mouse-click. Is there any other category of cultural output that's such a clear means of establishing our place in our peer group? Does it matter more to fellow urban 30-somethings, when they first meet me, that my favorite visual artist is Robert Rauschenberg, or that the recent most-played songs in my iTunes feature Pete Rock? Tell the truth, folks...

Is our past coming back to haunt us? Or, perhaps, in a time when most of us American urbanites are cubicle-confined, working as we do in that anonymous, Herman Miller-designed zone, our years as high school freaks return in order to allow individuality anew: agnostic of strict high school class structure, our musical choices allow us to stake out a white-collar individuality that Stephen Malkmus and David Berman only hinted at while they guarded what the chosen few once thought was the avant-garde...

(Note: this is the preface to a piece I'm working on about the importance of air guitar. No, I'm not joking.)

Analyze the Frequency

2006-03-30T20:42:00.000-08:00

See, this is why I read BoingBoing. I wonder what kind of music you could make if you used locust-ear microphones to do your recording. Perhaps then we'd finally know what the eighth plague sounded like--from the locusts' side...

You, too, can be Bob Ostertag

2006-03-24T14:26:00.000-08:00

Or whoever your favorite sample-manlger might be. See here:

...human beatboxing into the mic sounds incredible, turning your boom-ka into kicks and snare drums from the original track. As an interface for a sampler, the human voice is a lot more intuitive than a keyboard and a bunch of knobs.

Thanks, Engadget.

Tour Roundup, Part 2

2006-03-23T22:40:00.000-08:00

It's time for a picture or two. And a question.

Every opportunity you have to go off the beaten path should be taken. I can't emphasize enough how much different a simple act--going on a quick 10min clamber up a hill--can be when you're on tour and all you have to think about is playing music and driving from one place to another. The quiet moment on top of the hill can be the best moment of the tour, in some ways.

What's it like to live in a place where the tallest structure around is a grain elevator? Is my incomprehension of inhabiting these spaces anything like what people who do live there think when people tell them they're from San Francisco? Who's living in the bubble, us or them? Both? Neither?

Get together, work it out...

2006-03-23T21:48:00.000-08:00

Taking a break from the "Tour Roundup" series, a line from a tasty bit of proto-downtempo from Donovan, who really ought to get more attention from the world outside us music-geek types. Check it out.

Let's take a gander at an associated gem unearthed over at BoingBoing:

We need linguists and artificial-intelligence researchers to extend the capabilities of search engines and social networks to produce services that can bridge barriers created by technical jargon and forge links between unrelated specialties, bringing research groups with complementary problems and solutions together — even when those groups have not noticed the possibility of collaboration.

Quoth Vernor Vinge. Quoth Donovan, too. Contenmporary rock musicians, of course, instinctively relate to these notions--musical performance practice in (true) alt-rock these days is a lot about collaboration, on-the-fly invention, and working together to bring the audience something worth their ten bucks, something off the path of the album. (Prime example, for those that were there: Art Brut at SXSW. Missed it? Just keep up with those guys on tour, because you can't see Ian Dury anymore. Aaaanyway...)

The real meat here is the idea of jumping off from increasing discussion about whether humans are made to collaborate and guessing how to leverage the joy we get from working together on a scale bigger than the local indie-pop fave's practice space. (Hat tip to Outis for the BBC bit!)

I wonder how many of these stories we'll have to see before the people involved in the several conflicts in the Middle East realize that their current state of affairs, not peace, is actually the aberration, and that living and working side-by-side is the more natural way to live.

Maybe more people really should listen to Donovan!

Tour Roundup, Part 1

2006-03-21T12:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I sent a half-joking email to Jose, comprised of a list of things gleaned from the touring experience. I now realize that there's more than just a couple of half-baked jokes there, so perhaps I can share my list.

Do not under any circumstances underestimate the power of Pitchfork.

This is a biggie. I don't listen to much indie rock anymore (despite playing it in front of people...a disconnect that might be worth discussing at some point), but lots of people do. These people get their information from Pitchfork. To a fault. Anecdotally, I hear it's the most popular music site on the web, and takes in more readers than Rolling Stone and Spin. If true, this is amazing. It justifies a statement I halfheartedly made while in the van talking to John: Pitchfork is the US equivalent of the UK music press--the NME and Melody Maker of our scene. See: the breathless reviews of the very latest thing, the snarky commentary, the kingmaking possibilities...

This brings me to another point, again largely based on anecdote. I talked a bit to the leader of a band which I'll leave mercifully unnamed about the "Pitchfork Effect". We define the Pitchfork Effect as the sudden increase in attention and ability to book shows which follows a good (read: an 8.5, give or take a couple of tenths) review or article in Pitchfork. For examples, see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah or Tapes 'n Tapes, whose singer I saw in a photo on the front page of the New York Times website earlier today above a SXSW roundup. Bully for them--indie rock can be a harsh mistress. But the downside occurs for those bands whose particular gifts are either unnoticed or flat-out disliked by the young men of Pitchfork. According to the singer of the aforementioned unnamed band, a 4 in Pitchfork guarantees an incredibly difficult time booking a tour, shrinking guarantees, and less records sold, even in the face of the facts on the ground: that the band (who played after us) was tight, talented, and had the ample crowd on its feet and dancing.

For a long time folks in the music biz have done the beer-driven compare-and-contrast with the UK scene: the hugeness of the US population and the vastness of the continent, as opposed to the smallness and insularity of the UK--things that feed the ability of NME and Melody Maker to crown short-term princes-of-rock who never see much time on these shores. So, are we now seeing a bit of a sea change? The internet can make the world smaller, and perhaps Pitchfork makes US indie rock easier to manage. Still, for that unnamed band on the wrong side of the Pitchfork Effect, I wonder whether the joyous free-for-all of the mid-1990's is even possible anymore.

Having good label and promo people can make all the difference.

This one kind of explains itself, but I will allow that I wouldn't be the proud owner of a free pair of Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 shoes (in "Dark Olive/Antique White") without the pimping of the label dude, and his work in playing one promo company off another. So there's that. How "rock star" is it to get fitted for free shoes, eh?

Getting older means you need to sleep in a bed more often.

Again, self-explanatory. There's nothing "punk rock" about having a gnarly backache.

Denting your Powerbook is inevitable.

The first war wounds of the trip occurred while parked on a hill in LA. While unpacking, the laptop sleeve slid its way over the equipment and luggage and then gravity took over, and the little fellow landed smack on the front-right corner of the computer, tucked into its case. I will only say that my thoughts on the build quality of the aluminum Powerbook series and the padding-factor of the Timbuk2 sleeve have been confirmed. A cheaper build (read: plastic) would've ensured a cracked case, but now I'm a pair of needle-nose pliers away from having a mostly pristine computer again.

There's a reason why most of my friends' dads drank/still drink cheap, light, watery beer

If you're over 30 and you're going to do the indie rock thing and drink nearly a six-pack every night, you ought to be drinking Tecate, not Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. You may not be as loaded as people think you are, but you won't feel like crap the next day, either. Plus you'll stay hydrated after sweating it out under the lights for an energetic 45 minutes. You're never too old to learn something from guys who were drinking at the backyard bar-b-cue while you were still in diapers.

All for now--more tour roundup on the way, I hope. Many other ideas hatched under questionable circumstances in the van are yet to be fleshed out; stay tuned.

Spatial Oddity

2006-03-06T19:35:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the best thing about touring is the little things--most specifically the odd little visual things you find when trying to survive on the road with no money. Things you find at Motel 6. Things like the following:

A photo of the bedspread at the Motel 6 in Indio, CA.

Motel 6 is, of course, not really known for its style--more the lack thereof. However, I'd argue that this is great styling of the highest order; I didn't end up getting a snap of the motel's logo which is part of the pattern on the bedspread, but it's easy to imagine it in there, next to all those American icons. We miss only the apple pie.

Other great things about touring include stops at desolate places where there's a dingy truck stop and not much more. There, we find things exemplifying the largeness that defines the American West. Things like this:

A gigantic tube-shaped thing that was about 8ft in diameter sitting on a trailer behind the truck stop where we played Aerobie and purchased trail mix.

If nothing else, touring from the West across the desert and over the Continental Divide gives us a sense of perspective--the bubble of the San Francisco Bay melts away in the Arizona heat.

Tomorrow we'll spend our day off heading for Oklahoma City, OK--wide open spaces only get bigger.

Opening act's done. Time to rock...

Hollywood Nights

2006-03-05T14:59:00.000-08:00

No, not Bob Seger.

It's the third day of the Hudson Bell tour, and we're at the house of Monitor head Jason watching Hustle and Flow after spending the early part of the day checking out the L.A. Farmer's Market and avoiding the Oscars. I took some snaps...

The wall of a school on the way to the Farmer's Market.

Another wall at the Farmer's Market. Can you tell I favor abstract photographs?

Soon we're off to locate a tiny television to put in the van so we can play Action Bass while driving through Arizona tomorrow. Also tomorrow (or the next day, depending on internet access) an actual post as opposed to this drive-by business...

Is This Thing On?

2006-03-03T01:37:00.000-08:00

Testing a functionality that will horrify some, but is essential to this blog's purpose: posting music. I think a lot of what I plan to write relies on the reader's ability to listen to certain pieces of music. So I plan to make those available on a limited basis (probably I'll pull the music after a certain time period, one I won't make known, by the way). Thus, we post.

Part of the Problem?

2006-03-02T16:21:00.000-08:00

Via the ever-interesting Slashdot, this gem on Google moving their search records back to the US from China:

According to Peter Norvig, Google's director of research, 'Some of the people want to query about democracy, but most of them just want to know about their pop stars.'

The sad thing is that he could've been talking about the US, not the PRC. So, when are people who decry US tech companies helping incarcerate dissidents in China going to start making an equal amount of noise about the fact that, due to a dearth of critical thinking and citizenship skills in this country, our people are censoring themselves? Make no mistake: the PRC's stance is indefensible. But equally indefensible is continuing to ignore our serious problem with education.

Image Test: Window

2006-03-02T11:06:00.000-08:00

Okay. Full disclosure: there has been very little training 'round these parts in the intricacies of photography or photo manipulation and only recently has a digital camera shown up (a bit of largesse from Brenda and Kevin--thanks!). Nonetheless, we may wish to post pictures, because that's how cheeky we are around here.

This is a view out the window in front of which this post is being typed.

Hello, world. Of course.

2006-03-01T23:43:00.000-08:00

Hey. Welcome to "dude, your volume."

My friend José has been harassing me to start a blog. So, here's me starting a blog. Expect dense, rambling, equivocal, ill-considered, contradictory, heavily parenthetical writing about sound design and music (mostly electronic), design, art and architecture (mostly modern), and maybe politics (mostly progressive). Politics only sometimes, though. Also on tap: conjectural blather about where us human types are going and what we're doing. That sort of thing.

What qualifies me to write about these things? Largely the fact that I own a computer and have broadband internet access most of the time. Also, I have been known to do a fair amount of work in audio "on both sides of the glass" (as we say in the world of the studio), and I did go to art school (!). And, I have recently become involved in the morass known as "web design". That surely counts for something.

This site will probably be temporary--I'm getting around to the whole web-site havin' thing, but presently I'm about to embark on a tour, playing guitar very loud for a friend whose new album I recorded. So, this will have to do.

Meanwhile, be careful what you harass for...