Music Is My Everest

I think I've moved blogs?

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 13:28:00 -0800

Hi all... I've been trying out tumblr.com for a month or so now for my blogging-ish outlet and have been really digging it. For my 7 followers out there, I think I've made the decision to post solely over there--check it at http://musicismyeverest.tumblr.com. I've actually moved all my posts from here to there too!

Super Greg "DA NUMBER ONE"

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:13:00 -0700

This is still one of my favorite classic videos...

Strap On Your Boots

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 23:03:00 -0700

I sat down tonight with some free, home-alone time in which I thought I might make some good progress on some songwriting. *fail buzzer* This whole process continues to take me back to the old songwriting days. In this case, I'm reexperiencing the struggle to finish something I've started, which wouldn't be so hard to struggle through if I didn't recognize that this is a theme that pervades my life.

Over the years, I've come to adopt many hobbies from being so curious about learning about so many different things. Music was probably a first, having adopted it early on in grammar school, then sports, drawing and painting, learning languages, computer geeking, learning programming languages, to reading up on a variety of subjects of interest. Blah. College is where I really started to dig in to these things, and my interest in learning continued to grow. The problem, however, that I've come to see over and over again is that instead of finishing, for example, Kierkegaard's "Fear and Loathing", I get too quickly interested in starting Tolkein's "The Two Towers", and the Kierkegaard just sits on my nightstand collecting dust. ...and then shortly after, I choose to spend my time doing something other than finishing "The Two Towers", and then that book just sits on my nightstand collecting dust. [continue pattern]

I've recently thought that this whole problem revolves around me not having enough time to do all these things that I want to do, but I've even more recently realized that the problem is not that I don't have the time, it's that I need to make the time. So in the past couple of months, I've been trying to remind myself of this fact, and do something about my self-inflicted time problem.

[enter problem as it relates to music]
I've been taking at least one night a week and devoting it to songwriting; this has been quite fruitful, up until tonight. I've got two songs mapped out about 3/4 of the way through, with multiple parts recorded and roughly mixed (although the mixing isn't necessary since the recordings are for composition's sake only)--two songs that I've been excited about for more than a day or two, which is rare (usually these songs fall prey to the aforementioned problem: losing interest and moving to something else). The time I had tonight was a rare few hours that I get alone before the neighbors go to sleep, which means I can actually concentrate on playing parts and not worrying about playing too loud and pissing them off. Awesome. Except that only about 3 creative notes came out of my fingers all night long.

I sat down with new piece #2, which has this really simple & rhythmic piano line, with another simple bluesy/Irish guitar line over it, then some Bonhamesque drum sample (seriously, it sounds like I ripped it straight off "When the Levee Breaks"--I love it), plus some other knickknacks to spice it up. Last session, I'd left the piece in a sort of ambiguous end where parts just sort of end here and there, but that the piece needs to keep driving and growing. So, where better place to pick up? I did some listening of this end part, of which I'd threw in some other samples just go get the idea out there of where I wanted to song to go, but just got annoyed at where this left the song. So instead of fixing that, I spent my time re-recording the first guitar part, and hence blurped out those 3 creative notes of the night. From there, I tried adding to the end (instead of pulling out the crap samples that don't really fit) and just got frustrated that I couldn't come up with anything. At that point, it was about 9:45 and thought that I should just move on to something else, yet I didn't really have time to immerse in to another piece.

So I decided to pack up for the night. I then again listened to the current state of the product and couldn't help but get more frustrated that I had no idea where to take this thing. I feel like I've written myself in to a corner. Gah. I think the solution is to just wipe out all that excess crap that I don't like and start from scratch...? Whatever the case, I get really disheartened when the "right" stuff just doesn't pour out. It makes me want to just ditch it all and go pick up that Kierkegaard. Or just go to sleep.

Let It Go
I suppose this is all part of the process, but sometimes I wish I could just birth the child, so to speak, without having to have that rise of inspiration inside. I don't want to have to rely only on those rare times where I have time and am feeling that music inside ready to just pour itself out--those times are just way too hard to come by.

So I guess it's just one of those nights where you have to pick yourself up and know that the workbench is still laden with tools and half a product, waiting for you to come back to work and put the pieces together. *sigh* I guess we'll see. It really is such a challenge for me to come back to it though. I guess that's just what one has to do...

The "Front Man" Complex

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:37:00 -0700

First off, I think I've decided that I need to dispense with comments on how I go on blog-post-hiatus. I realize now that while I love blogging on this whole music thing, I get so caught up in life that music (and consequently this blog) gets pushed aside. ...which is a total bummer when I stop and think about it, as refraining from music--my main creative outlet--and this blog--a catalyst for me to do music--mean I don't end up enjoying a huge part of my life that I potentially could. And such is my personal history that carries over to other life aspects. I digress.

In going with the theme of this blog, my catharsis here is about my recent music ventures. I've recently been challenged with getting a new band together, which has meant coming up with new music--one thing which I've never done, and the other which I haven't done in quite a long time. Both are causing me to think and grow, and I like it. I'm hoping that by writing this post, I'll figure some stuff out.

The Band
So I've been getting together with a couple of buddies for some months now with the idea that we can finally do something that we've never done before and always wanted to do. This process has been a number of things:

Exciting. The thought that I finally have a forum to explore music that I've always wanted to make is pretty darn great.
Confusing. When we initially got together, we talked about concepts and styles that we wanted to explore, and found that we were all on similar pages, but I'm finding that with the structure of practicing & writing that we've been using leaves us all over the place and essentially not having moved forward in any direction.
Frustrating. In the 2 bands that I've played in, I've basically played other people's music, leaving me to do something that I really enjoy: figure out how to make a part work within a given framework. We're starting from scratch with this group, which means that if I'm going to contribute to the writing part of songs, I have to switch gears back to big-picture writing, which I haven't really done much of in probably 7 years.

In the past few weeks, we've talked about how we haven't made much real progress in term of "product" (finished songs), which has led to discussions about the lack of one of us possessing that "front man" personality (AKA who's gonna be the "a-hole" of the band). We need someone to keep driving us forward. We need someone to hold the reins and yank us back when we've spent too much time jacking around or overworking musical ideas. We need someone to provide some structure for the music we're going to do--and that music should be within certain bounds, yet push those boundaries at the same time.

I've been elected to be that guy.

The Writing
So what does that mean for me? I've thought about it, and I think that means that I finally get to bring ideas to the table (and hopefully to the public) that have been looming in my head for years upon years. And while that's exciting, that's a bit of pressure--something that when it comes to writing, for me, can have a negative impact.

When I was studying music in college, I wasn't the guy that had been playing the piano for years and years--I was just capable enough to learn college level stuff, but didn't have the experience of playing music for people. At the time, I absolutely loved playing, but I just didn't get why I needed to share the stuff that I'd learned for a bunch of people that I didn't know (à la recitals). It was my music. I wanted to play it for me and only me. And that meant practicing when no one was around; it also meant that if I was going to write my own stuff, it had to be when no one was around. After all, I was putting my own personal emotions and thoughts and feelings in to this stuff... why should I share my musical diary with strangers? It took me quite a few nerve-racking recitals and probably both of the 2 years that led up to my senior recital to realize that, whether I liked to admit it or not, I had some level of talent--talent that others didn't have (I say that with all possible humility)--that translated in to enjoyment and pleasure for others that only listening to music can bring. I realized that I had the chance to stimulate other minds and hearts and should do so--I mean, where would I be without all of the music that had shaped my life? What if aaaall of those writers and composers had selfishly kept their music for themselves? I'd surely be a different person and I'm immensely grateful for that music that has made an impact on my life. With as much narcisism aside as possible, I hope that I can use the gifts I've been given to do the same for others.

Cut back to the present... So I decided that in order to get this song-writing ball rolling, I needed two things: 1) time, 2) inspiration. I realized that I've got time--I just need to organize it more efficiently. I've recently made an attempt to apply some GTD (Getting Things Done) principles to track all of my responsibilities, blah blah blah... that's boring though, so I won't talk about that. Let's just say that I've made some improvements there. Now to the inspiration...

I grew up listening to "oldies", Blues, Classical music, Christian Sacred music, and a whole lot of Folk music. I studied Classical piano in college, sang bass in the choir, and found myself highly interested in 20th Century stuff, despite the not-so-aurally pleasing result of a lot of it. Part of this interest was founded in my frustration while taking Music Theory classes--learning formulas for music got me to realize that everything that I'd sit down to write was really just like something else that someone had already written. The 20th Century stuff spurred me to get in to Jazz. The choral stuff got me hooked on the phenomenal ability of big groups of voices to pull off really gnarly dissonances and make them sound, well, pretty. When I got in to the SW industry, I got turned on to Electronic music--which spurred the idea that I had the ability to orchestrate a large number of instruments on my own; I didn't need to have an arsenal of players at my disposal to pull something off. All of this got me thinking that if I could just put it all together, I might have the chance to come up with something "new".

Fail. You don't write something and go, "Wow, no one's ever done this before!" Well, OK, lots of people say that, but come on guys... We're all just building on our past--and I'm just now realizing this--not realizing like acknowledging, but realizing like accepting and taking to heart.

So in trying to do music that I've always wanted to do (putting all of my influences together) and knowing that it's not really going to be "new", I've decided that I'm going to unabashedly rip people off. I've decided that my first rip-off goal is going to be Godspeed You Black Emperor (you choose where you want to put the "!"--they keep changing their minds on that dumb punctuation mark. Silly Canucks.). I've been working on a piece for a few weeks now, and am actually encouraged that I just might have something here. On the flip side, I've also come to remember the rollercoaster ride it is in writing music: I love it, then hate it, then love it again, then get totally disinterested...

Putting It Together
I realize that I've got an opportunity and actually have some things to say musically. Putting on this "front man" hat is going to be a new challenge for me--kinda like how it was signing up for a management job when I knew I sucked at (partially because I didn't know how, partially because I thought it was dumb) managing people in a job scenario. I signed up because I knew it would challenge me by exposing weak areas of my personality--and while I've grown immensely, it's still doing that four years later.

Doing this front man thing, for me, will surely be an unconventional way of doing such, but if I can force myself to stick to my guns, I think I'll be really excited to be able to share some new pieces of Steve (and Chris and John) to whoever will take a listen. Right now, I just have to force myself to put the pieces together and make it happen. Good thing I like rollercoasters...

The Music Video That Trumps All Music Videos

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:38:00 -0700

I think I found my next year's Halloween outfit... Talk about inspiring...

The David Bazan House Show Was Awesome

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:08:00 -0700

I'm glad I have friends that have social-event awareness or I would've never heard that David Bazan was playing a really cool show tonight in Fresno--a show that I'm sure I'll remember for a long time. It was one of those events that you wish you could replay the experience on demand time and time again.

GF and I arrived pretty much before anyone (that never happens) and found that the guys hosting the show were a few cool guys from The Aircrash (formerly Help Computer)--a band that The Nancies used to share a practice space with. Their livingroom was certainly no bigger than the livingroom in my apartment, so fitting the limited 40 people in meant for some coziness, which actually turned out to be just fine. Bazan showed up maybe 15 mins before the show was supposed to start and hung out with the rest of us not-so-famous peeps, which was pretty darn cool. That totally exemplified the lack of pretentiousness that he displayed in the many dialogues with the rest of us throughout the night.

Bazan explained at one point during the show that he and his manager came up with the idea of doing these sort of "underground" shows some time ago when he realized that he just wanted to keep touring in the Fall and Spring like he'd always done; not to mention which would also help pay some bills, etc., for him and his family. Essentially, these house shows are intended to be sans media in order to keep his label happy, but of course puts a smile on the rest of our faces. All in all he probably played maybe 12 songs--a mixture of old Pedro the Lion stuff, old solo stuff, and stuff on his new album (due out August 25th)--but the greatest part about the whole deal was his interest in chatting with the rest of us. He stopped every couple of songs and would ask if we had any questions or comments, which led to some really cool stories and insight in to his life. This, coming from a guy who's songwriting is something I hold at the tip top of my list, was really pretty awesome.

At one point he said that this was one of the best times he's had in a long time playing shows--I wasn't sure if he meant this particular show or just playing these really small house venues, but either way I felt way privileged. He said he'd definitely be coming back to Fresno after the album came out, so we'll see if that pans out, but man--what a cool guy with some really powerful things to say in his music. I'm really hoping he does make it back here, as his music is hugely inspiring to me. Please come back to Fresno, David Bazan!!!

I got a couple bits of songs on my iPhone--they're crap for quality, but worth listening nonetheless. Check em (probably need to crank the volume a bit--like I said, sucky quality):

The opening 2 songs (off the new album) and "Options", off of Pedro the Lion's Control:

I'm digging this Elbow song

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:47:00 -0800

I dig the simple acoustic pattern, with yummy slight dissonances. His voice is great; the multi-part harmonies are tasteful. Drums are sort of Middle Eastern exotic. ...but when that bass comes in--oh man, that tone is so money! Totally one of those cases where the tone of the instrument totally makes the song for me. It really is the little things, I think...

Long Time No Show

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Thu, 5 Feb 2009 22:21:00 -0800

I played my first (quasi) gig tonight (with The Rhoda Penmarks) in almost a year (since last year's Rogue Festival) and I have to say it was pretty great. No, not the music--that was probably a tad rougher on the ears than i would've liked--I mean just playing music with good friends.

I love not really ever knowing what's gonna come out of Benji's amp, and I love Chris' musicality on the drums (and other percussion!). To me, there's some of that true live-music-ness about playing with these guys--that idea that you kinda know which road you're heading down, but you're not ever really sure what anyone's going to do, yet you don't really have to worry about one of them all of a sudden punching you in the face. I think that's also something that draws me to people in general--some safe level of interesting unpredictability. Some creativity with words and thoughts and actions. It keeps life fresh.

It's taken me a long time to come to this, but I think I finally really enjoy playing with others (as opposed to tout seul in my apt). I look back at early college, when I didn't "get" why I should share MY music with anyone else, and am glad to see that I've grown out of that. I left work tonight trying to keep my head from spinning off, and left Javawava with a bit of a burden off my shoulders. I'd forgotten how cathartic playing shows can be--even if people didn't come to see my band (it was for Danielle's Art Hop show).

UNKLE - Rabbit In Your Headlights

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:08:00 -0800

I love this song. DJ Shadow and Thom Yorke. Sweet drums and piano. 9/8 time signature that doesn't really sound awkward. And the video just makes it that much better. Usually videos totally ruin songs for me. I still remember the day Ben Kloos showed this to me--I was blown away. I've watched this probably 100 times since and it's never gotten old. Thanks B.

Obama Likes Vinyl Too

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:34:00 -0800

When I saw the link to this article on Analog Apartment, I thought: "hey, neato, the president has a bunch of old records", and was intrigued by the "Secret" part in the title. I didn't expect to hear that there's an LP collection that gets handed down to each president--not one that has Ramones and Sex Pistols in the collection at least...

Check it: Obama's Secret Record Collection

Maybe We'll Make Some Tunes

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:33:00 -0800

I recently got a call from a Mr. Jon Hadden (Aspen Hollow, Circles and Circles, Jonah and the Whale, Winter Wardrobe) about getting together to make some music. And I'm way excited. Before I knew Jon, I'd already grown to respect his taste in playing guitar through seeing his bands play. Then I got to know him. What an a.... Just kidding. Nicest guy ever. And I've got to say that making music with great people is the only way to do it.

Who knows what'll come of the whole thing. I'm just excited about the idea. And it's been a long time since that's happened.

Catharsis and Self-exploration

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:28:00 -0800

I've missed writing here. Since June of last year, this blog has been a wonderful forum for my mind and emotions, but life kicked it up a gear over the past couple of months and I haven't written since October. Which makes me again re-realize something about myself: I'm subject to business. Subject to life.

I flash back to think about convo's with the roomie about the music making process, how John wants to make music about life. About what's going on in his life. He wants to convey messages without imposing his thoughts and feelings on you. He wants his music to be an outlet, where doing the music is a cathartic exercise, not only for him, but for his listeners. I think I have something to learn from him here.

I think my musical experience has led me to some unwanted snobbery. I've told myself, "I've done that whole say what you want to say without saying it, so what's next?" And that led me back to classical composition (or at least the desire to do so), or anything that's labelled with a "post-" prefix. I want to, in the words of Mike Skinner (The Streets) "push things forward." But I've always told myself that in order to do so, I have to leave what's behind me--and I think that that might be to my detriment.

Everyone knows that art is a culmination of what was previous to now; how can I even begin to think that I can toss aside my musical experience if I hope to continue to grow musically? I have to realize that anything that I do will be built on the things that I've loved and hated in my surroundings. The love/hate relationship I have with Indie Folk-Rock can't just be tossed aside--I have to embrace that as part of my life. Part of what's made me, me. I won't be able to move on until I come to terms with those relationships (just as I've had to do with relationships with people in my life).

So what does that coming-to-terms process look like then? Well, if I compare it to people relationships, that means looking at the good and bad of my experiences with them and putting those experiences in their respective buckets. Along those lines, it probably also means looking at how those relationships effected my life, both short- and long-term. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense...

So in light of this new part of the year, I'm focusing on the positive things around me; I think this is a great opportunity make a conjunction out of the whole thing and apply this to my musical life. Time to look at the positive aspects of all the music I've experienced over the years and figure out what I can take with me in my next musical steps.

Tallyho!

In-depth Comparison of CD vs. Vinyl of New Metallica

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:09:00 -0700

Ok, so... I've never really been into Metallica at any point in my life, but this post has nothing to do with my opinion on their music. I ran across a link on gizmodo.com to an interesting ~~article~~ blog post that compares the audio quality of Metallica's new album on CD vs. on vinyl. It's not really a broad argument for vinyl over CD, but rather just an interesting deconstruction of the resulting sound of this one album on each type of media. I think it's pretty interesting to actually see the waveforms of each compared side by side, which can point to some reason to the extra depth and clarity you get on analog media. The ~~article~~ blog post is a bit technical (read: boring, if you're not in to that sort of thing), and pretty interesting, I think. Check it, here.

New Vinyl!

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:49:00 -0700

I'm happy to report that my turntable and speaker purchase a few months ago was not an impulse, use-for-a-month-and-forget-it purchase. I'm amazed every time I sit down and listen as to how much better music sounds with a decent setup.

In any case, Amanda and I (and a crew of other friends) took a trip up to Berkeley 2 weekends ago to check out one of my favorite bands that I never actually thought I'd see live, Sigur Rós. I had every intention of blogging about that experience, but have been way too crazy busy since to do anything about it. The day after the show, we took a trip to Rasputin and spent a couple hours pouring over all the cool albums they had, where I actually picked up a couple few new.

The thing about buying vinyl, at least for me, is that, while I'd like to go out and re-buy all of my CD/mp3 collection on vinyl, that'd be kinda pricey and take up a bunch of space that I don't have. So I had to come up with a couple rules:

Rule 1: I can buy any of my top 10 albums
This one might be a bit ambiguous since I don't really have a list; and if I did, I'm sure it'd change from year to year. In general, I think I have a fair idea of what's not on the list though. This is probably going to be a blog topic in the future...

Rule 2: I should only get new-music albums if they come with digital downloads
Many vinyl distributors are--most thankfully--including a piece of paper with the record(s) with info on how to go download free mp3s. This is awesome. After I started buying vinyl, it dawned on me that you can't just borrow an album from a friend, rip it, and give it back. (shut up) That was actually kind of weird. And a little sobering. But it doesn't matter. With the downloads accompanying the vinyl purchase, I'm way more apt to buy it since I can listen to the tracks at work, in the car, whatever. If I want to listen "on the go", I'm not forced to buy the CD, in which case I might not ever buy the vinyl, depending on the album. Great marketing--please keep it up, music distributor people!

Rule 3: The music (style, production, etc) should be a "good vinyl" album
I regret my vinyl purchases, like the new "On My Way Here" from Clay Aiken... uh... jk. :-) Really though, there are some albums--whether due to the style/genre, production style, or both--that just sound so great on vinyl. Others will sound better than their digital counterparts, but I can wait on getting them if they don't fit in to any of the other rules above.

The Goods
So, here's what I've picked up recently, both in Berkeley and eBay:

In Field & Town, Hayden
Thanks for sharing this with me, Biz--this has been one of my favorite albums over the past few months. I haven't been super interested in listening to much folk rock in the past year or two, but I can't get this one off my mind. And it didn't include digital downloads--it included a CD! ...and on 180 gram vinyl, no less!

The Hawk Is Howling, Mogwai
This is becoming my favorite Mogwai album. Check that--it has become. It definitely passes rules 2 and 3--super high quality mp3 downloads, and the instrumentation and production on this album makes me want to listen to it over and over again. So warm, but clear and concise; mellow, then powerful. No silly lyrics to get in the way. Also on 180 gram vinyl. Mogwai, you guys did an amazing job on this--11/10. Oh, and the album artwork is soooo awesome:

Ballads, John Coltrane
Personal #1 Jazz album. Also on 180 gram vinyl. Never thought it could sound so good.

Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim
This album is one of my recent County Library discoveries, and is a stellar album for those that dig the Stan Getz/Jobim albums with all those great Brazilian tunes. Another on 180 gram vinyl. This way, it really sounds like the band is in the room...
Mr. Beast, Mogwai
Another great Mogwai album. The production sounds like their old production when compared to The Hawk is Howling, but is still a great listen for vinyl. Yet another 180 gram vinyl pressing.

Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3, Rachmaninoff, Van Cliburn, Kiril Kondrashin & Symphony Of The Air
I didn't realize it when I bought it, but this album is super rare. I can barely find any info on it on the net. Van Cliburn is a legendary pianist, the Rach 3 is a legendary classical work, and while this album was recorded in in 1958 at Carnegie Hall, it was remastered in 1983 using a new high-fidelity technique to compete with the onset of CDs at the time. They recopied the original tape to vinyl at 1/2 the speed of the recording, which is supposed to provide more granularity and depth of tone--similar to the uber expensive and rare MFSL albums that were done in the 80s. Not bad for a $3 purchase.

(because of the rarity, as well as my laziness in not wanting to take pics of this, I can't find any album cover pics)

1992-2002, Underworld
Yes, I like some house music every now and then. I scored this 4 LP set off eBay for $20 and am quite happy to couch rave/dance to this now. $5 a record for some of the original house music masters. Yeehaw.

Ok, that's all for now!

You Might Have Inspired Me

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 23:41:00 -0700

I want to divert from my usual line of writing, which is mostly weighted on the music aspect of the theme of this blog, and write about the other aspect of this blog: inspirations. I'm watching The American Experience | Reagan, a biography of the man's presidency and the rollercoaster of events that accompanied his terms. I'm reminded of Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World--a book that walks through the complexities of the aftermath of WWI but focuses on the personalities of Wilson, Lloyd George, and Clemenceau and how they (the personalities of each) played such a huge part the decisions that were made (and weren't made) as a result. The book describes a number of encounters between the three where each are on completely different levels, which effectively causes negotiations to deliberate far longer than any had hoped. It also leads you to wonder what the possibilities could have been if the three had actually gotten along. The part of the Reagan show that demonstrates the steps--the little things here and there--that take discussions with the Soviet Union from nil to the agreement of disarmament are really quite moving. The part that really grabbed me was how on Reagan's first meeting with Gorbachev, Gorbachev's aids note how it was evident that Gorbachev was intrigued and swayed by Reagan's charm and ability to portray his human-ness. The show doesn't directly draw this parallel, but allows you to draw the conclusion that it was really Reagan's personality that paved the way to the end of communism in Russia. Now, my intent here is not to assess the validity of Reagan's personality as the reason for the relative success of the negotiations with the Soviets, but rather to emphasize the value of one's character traits. Seeing the effect that values have when relating to people is quite simple, yet quite profound. These values govern the little things that we do--the decisions that we make on a day to day basis--that slowly compile themselves amidst the chaos of life and affect people and events that we can and could never predict. It's good to have a reminder about the simple things every now and then.

Cognitive Anthropology and Lyrics

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 02:07:00 -0700

A few weeks ago I finished up collaborating on a lightweight research paper as a work-related extracurricular activity that we submitted to some Computer Science consortium for judging and potential publishing. The paper was intended to use Human-Computer Interaction principles and some other tech-geeky stuff to describe the difficulties in developing video security software. Why HCI is kinda interesting Along the way, one of the advisors for the paper, Brent Aurenheimer (a Computer Science prof at CSU Fresno) pointed me in the direction of a book called "Cognition in the Wild", by Edwin Hutchins. Hutchins is an cognitive anthropologist that spent some time with the Navy, observing how people work together using certain protocols to ensure safety for the things they do. For example, a protocol that pilots follow when changing altitude in an airplane would entail something like:

One crew member verbalizes "Altitude change to X feet"
The pilot verbalizes "Altitude change to X feet"
The pilot operates on the plane to change the altitude to X feet
The pilot verbalizes "Altitude set to X feet"

This protocol ensures that the crew all know what's going to happen, and minimizes the risk of the pilot setting the wrong altitude because he's forced to verbalize what he's going to do, then what he did. These sorts of systems and protocols might be boring to think about or study for most, but are of super importance when dealing with things that risk people's lives (Xray machines, airplanes, surgeries, etc.) Language and Music I came across this passage in Hutchins' book:

As part of the cognitive revolution, cognitive anthropology made two crucial steps. First, it turned away from society by looking inward to the knowledge an individual had to have to function as a member of the culture. The questions became "What does a person have to know?" The locus of knowledge was assumed to be inside the individual. The methods of research then available encourage the analysis of language. But knowledge expressed or expressible in language tends to be declarative knowledge. It is what people can say about what they know.

Maybe I'm taking this out of context, or maybe I didn't interpret it correctly, but the whole "language tends to be declarative knowledge" thing really hits home: I think this is a huge part of why I tend towards music without "language". Language, or lyrics when language is paired with music, is really mostly capable of expressing that which one knows; au contraire, it's not so good for expressing that which one doesn't know. Furthermore, how can you really express something that you don't know? You probably can't. You can't communicate something you don't know until you find out that you don't know it. And for me, I think that's one of the great things about music--when doing music, you can express things that can't be said with language. The idea of "a picture is worth a thousand words" comes to mind. Looking at this picture, for example, probably evokes more emotion than reading the text: "prisoners at the Dachau concentration camp were tortured by hanging from their hyperextended arms." Sorry for the slight morbidity, but I think it makes a good point. Music has wonderful potential to convey and/or stir up emotions to listeners without necessarily telling them what they should think or feel. And I happen to think that there is a vast amount of music out there that can do this far better when it's unaccompanied by language. In fact, language over evocative music can detract from the music--like watching a beautiful sunset next to sewage processing plant. Or like putting a caption under that picture above--once I read the caption, I'm lead to somewhat subdue the emotions that the picture stirred up, and focus on what the caption's words are telling me; without words, the picture alone allows my thoughts and emotions to carry where they may--maybe to places that I don't have words for. Don't get me wrong--I'm not suggesting that music with lyrics is crap. I've been reacting for some years now to what seems to be the more common notion that music without words is boring. I stereotype and think of so many people that if forced to listen to modern instrumental bands like Mogwai or Explosions in the Sky or Godspeed You Black Emperor! for the first time, they'd just be waiting for the words to start, then when they found out that there weren't any, they'd just dismiss the music as boring. Instrumentals Are Inspiring Up until this past century, as I understand it, it seems that Western instrumental music versus music with language was maybe a 50/50 split. Depending on the era you look at, music with language was used for telling stories or for religious purposes, while instrumental music still played a huge part of music as a whole. Today, in my perspective, it seems that that ratio has changed quite a bit, which is quite a bummer in my opinion. How come we don't see more instrumental groups getting popular? How has our focus shifted as a culture? Whatever the answers are to those questions, the lack of this type of music really gets my wheels turning. It makes me want to contribute to this part of music in our society--to fill some wholes where we're lacking (there I go again, getting "epic" notions again). The wheels are turning... "Play Delicate, Desire Quiet", Grace Cathedral Park, In The Evenings of Regret:

I think I have an "Epic" complex

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:15:00 -0700

I'm just winding down for bed, thinking that I don't really feel like I wrapped anything up today. It was just another day of business (read: busy-ness), eating food, putting gas in the car, drinking coffee, talking a lot, thinking about things, blah blah blah. It's not that any of those things were unimportant, I just don't feel like I really closed the book on anything; and that feeling of checking something off your list is a fine one, I'd say. Especially when, for some reason, you really want to go to bed feeling like you've checked something off your list. Some days this feeling doesn't matter, but today it does.

So... at 11:52pm, what could I possibly do to fulfill this urge...? Some would drink some warm milk (i.e. grandma), or mix a cocktail, take a shower, read a chapter or two in a book, watch some TV... but usually those things for me are more of those everyday sorts of things. Sure, they're nice, but they don't really generate that OH YEAH feeling for me. Sometimes writing here can put my creativity dogs to rest, but I realize I get deterred quite often from doing such, mainly because I usually think I have to write this really well thought out, neato post that people will think is oh so cool... and then I get tired just thinking about thinking about it and usually fall asleep.

I realize, though, that I've done this with writing music as well. I get these thoughts that say that whatever I do, it must be sooo groundbreaking and do all of this really interesting stuff that no one's ever done before, which, when I actually consider writing something, I usually say screw it and find something else to do. Why can't I just be?

Lofty goals are wonderful--except when they discourage you from getting off the couch and starting down the goal's path.

Did Boards of Canada Steal From Radiohead?

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:07:00 -0700

I know I've read/heard of Kid A and Amnesiac being influenced by groups such as BOC, and thus I would've expected this the other way around... but it looks like these two albums came out right around the same time, and it seems highly unlikely that one could've stolen from the other just in time for the album to come out. And even if that were the case, I would've expected that Radiohead would've stolen from BOC... But is it just me or do these two tracks sound peculiarly similar? "Amo Bishop Roden", In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country (27 Nov 2000), Boards of Canada: "Idioteque", Kid A (2 Oct 2000) And the BOC came out after the Radiohead... hmmm...

Memories: Serus Victoria

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:30:00 -0700

Five years of making music saw plenty of ups and downs. It was a great learning experience, for what it was. Once again, thanks for the good times, guys. "REM" (2003) "This Final Time", The Phoenix (2007) 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Be Yourself... Like Spinal Tap.

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Sun, 3 Aug 2008 23:42:00 -0700

I decided that instead of putting my head down on my pillow and doing some reading, I'd do a quick vetting of what was on my mind. So, I made it as far as getting in to bed. But as I was getting there, er here, I mentally prepped myself for tomorrow morning. I've got an appointment with my physical therapist--who happens to be an atypical guy when it comes to what I think of a doctor/PT type. I don't know a whole lot about him, but I do know that he's relatively young, rides motorcycles, and dresses and carries himself like a guy I'd see at a club. Why is this important? ...well, for some reason, I've historically tried to dress to fit surroundings--to fit in--and I actually thought to myself as I was getting in to bed: "well, I shouldn't wear X because he might stereotype me as Y." Then I caught myself. STUPID!!! Who cares?!?!@# This guy is my physical therapist!! And then I thought some more... I don't think it's that I'm scared to live out who I am--I feel confident that I don't compromise myself. I think it's more that I want people to think they can associate with me, so I try to make it seem as such. In itself, this might not be such a bad thing, I'd think, but the more I ponder it, the more I believe it leads to compromise--at least when it comes to creative expression. Somehow I started thinking about how this might tie to the music-making process for me (perhaps these thoughts were urged on by just having watched This Is Spinal Tap with girlfriend). I started thinking that making oneself fit others is really a process of burying self. And while some may disagree, I think the burying of self = stifling of what's really going on inside oneself. Thus, how can one really believe in the creative expression that they might put forth as music (or any other form of creative expression) if what really makes them up is buried and locked away. Sometimes my insides actually wanna do crazy stuff like Spinal Tap. Not that I'd actually wanna be on stage singing "Big Bottom", but you get the point.

Whiskey Drinkin' Music #2

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Sat, 2 Aug 2008 19:53:00 -0700

I couldn't resist posting another Willie Nelson track from the Songbird album. I mean, what else says "drink whiskey" besides Willie Nelson and a confusing song called "$1000 Wedding"?

Whiskey Drinkers Like This Blog

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Sat, 2 Aug 2008 19:48:00 -0700

This site gets more hits from keywords "whiskey drinkin music" than any other. Thanks for the info, Google Analytics. Probably tied to the fact that if you google that phase, this post comes up second. Bizarroooo...

Willie Nelson Makes Me Happy

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:45:00 -0700

When I think of just sitting to listen to music as your primary focus, I think of how Dr. Huxtable used to sit and listen to jazz. Or how David Helfgott's father would do the same in Shine. I guess that means I associate the notion with old guys. And I still like to think of myself as not an old guy. That's debatable, however, due to my recent onset of back problems... but that's neither here nor there for this forum. New Vinyl! I came home today to a nice little vinyl-sized package, which I came to discover was the bearer of the two records I recently picked up from cduniverse.com (<--great prices for vinyl): Radical Face's Ghost, and Willie Nelson's Songbird. So instead of busying myself with stuff to do around the house while I checked out the new tunes, I decided to just sit and listen. This is actually really tough for me, since I'm so used to at least reading through my Google Reader feeds, but I did it. So since I have Ghost on mp3 already, I decided to check out Songbird first. Now, one of my goals for this blog is to not be a site for reviewing all of the new music that I check out, then pass on recommendations. It is, rather, a forum where I can blab about music and aspects of music that move me in some fashion. I can't say that the whole album did that, but it was definitely a pleasure to sit, stare, tap my foot, and soak in. My Review Just kidding. But if you weren't in the know, this is a Willie Nelson album--but just as much a Ryan Adams and The Cardinals album. Ryan Adams produced it and played guitars all over it, and The Cardinals do all kinds of great filling out the gaps. For the Ryan Adams fans out there, there's a number of tracks that are unmistakeably branded by his work. The Stuff That Makes Me Happy For me, the alt-country thing is really hit or miss--and more so on the miss side. But when it hits, I really really dig it. It's just that there's sooo much of it out there now that it all starts to sound the same. This song, however, is on the hit side--nothing really groundbreaking about it--it just has that right blend of the ol' good-music formula to do the trick. 03 Blue Hotel.wma - Willie Nelson ...that's actually a Ryan Adams song. Cheaters. This next one--an old Grateful Dead tune--has some reaaally cool stuff going on in it. First, you get that nice baby-rocking slow shuffle-y ballad-y feel. Awesomely subtle overlaying dissonances. They play minors when you expect majors. Some really great dirty electric guitar bends. Great, easy resolving chorus. Electric, distorted tremolo guitar. Yummy major 7 chords. With Willie Nelson doing his Willie Nelson thing. On 180 gram vinyl, this sounds phenomenal: Stella Blue - Willie Nelson Other Stuff About The Album That's Worth Checking Out:

They cover Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"
They cover Gram Parson's "$1000 Wedding", which is phenomenal
They redo Willie's "Sad Songs and Waltzes"
They do an interesting rendition of "Amazing Grace"

Stuff About The Album That's Annoying:

"Songbird" is a Fleetwood Mac tune

Sometimes feeling like an old guy can make you feel like a young guy again. Hmmm...

Music, Culture, and Coltrane

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:08:00 -0700

Ok, so I've been busy and away from posting for a bit. But in my business, I've had a moment or two to do some thinking. At some point in the past 14 days or so, I started pondering on what aspects make one say "I like that song"--or even more poignantly, "I don't like that song." Autoanalysis After thoroughly listening to Dr. John's first album and discovering that it was a Rolling Stone Top-500 album, I started questioning myself: "Why can't I get in to this? Is it me or the music?" I made myself listen again. Nope. And again. Still nope. And again... a couple more times... Still. Nope. There were a couple cool moments in a couple of the songs, but they were just too hippie for me. So, I'm imagining that Rolling Stone's Top-500 list isn't just the result of one person's opinion; it's got to be made up of a bunch of people's opinions. So, some large group of people seriously thought that this Dr. John album was some of the best music of all time--so why don't I think so? I know I can see why people might think so; but I can also see why some other group of people might seriously think that a Helicopter String Quartet is amazing as well (Stockhausen was awarded for this piece, apparently, in 2001; check part of it out on YouTube). As a sort of art form, both the album and the string quartet are impressive, but in neither case do I find them aurally pleasing. The latter, I actually find to be bizarro/cool; the former, really just bizarro. Analysis So I started thinking of the people I know and pondered about what stereotypical social groups they fit in to and what music they might say they like. When one says "I can't stand opera," for example, I really have to wonder if they really "get" opera. Or replace 'opera' with 'punk' or 'rap' or 'country' or 'jazz' or 'reggae'... Sure, there's some aspect of whether or not some song may be aurally pleasing or not, but I really think that a lot of us who just dismiss a whole genre of music really "get it" before we do so. The thing I really think is interesting though, is the intertwining of the desire to like something because of reason X (my coworkers listen to Country and I want to relate to them. Or: people that listen to Goth Rock really express the things that I feel, so I should listen to that), and the idea that you like something regardless of the reason--you like it because it effects your emotions in a way you deem positive. I think it's interesting because the "regardless of the reason" reason seems to really be just the result of the first desire, which merely happened at an earlier time in your life. Maybe you didn't consciously make a decision to listen to what you listened to as a kid, but that effected you, and now represents certain events in your life; you probably listen to some music today that you hold some fondness for due to listening to it earlier in life. You probably also avoid listening to music that represents something negative that happened in your life (unless, of course, you enjoy reenacting the crap parts of your life). [2 day break from writing...] After Some More Thinking So before the above, I took a few more days (unintentionally) to ponder the whole idea, and I really just came back to the not-so-profound idea of how art, in general, is really just a catch-22 type of representation/influence on the culture or subculture you belong to. You listen to something because you identify with it--or you want to identify with it. You listen to the subculture music that you feel at home with when you want to feel at home; you listen to the subculture music that you don't feel at home with when you want to branch out--and as a result, there's a good chance you might learn something that has nothing to do with music at all. Well, if you pay attention, that is. There's a good chance that you (yes, you) don't listen to Classical music on a regular basis because you don't "get it"--you weren't raised in a family that spent much time with the genre, or weren't ever educated in a way that made you take a step outside of your music culture home, so to speak. Just like I don't listen to the music from Noh theatre because I was never around it, nor ever taught about it. On the flip side, if you fall in to that no-Classical-whlie-growing-up boat, maybe some unexpected occurrence in your life drew you in to some particular Classical piece or composer, and little by little your palette for Classical grew. That's what got me in to Jazz. John Coltrane's Ballads. The stars alligned, or whatever it was that day, and I felt the spirit move me to buy this album back in 2000. And it's beautiful. It was easy to palatte for me at the time. I was living in France, so I felt I should try to investigate the French fascination with the genre. And now, I look forward to finding new Jazz jewels to add to the collection. Previous to the discovery of this album though, Jazz bored my pants off. "It's Easy To Remember (But So Hard To Forget)", John Coltrane, Ballads: En Somme I think all of this pondering has done a couple of things for me. First, it makes me take a step back and consider how sheltered my ears are. There is so much music outside of the Western Pop (read: Pop, R&B, Folk, Metal, Indie, Jazz, Rap) that I listen to every day--maybe I should take a step out of the box and check out some Noh theatre music, or some more North African oud music. This Anouar Brahem album is gorgeous (yes, that's a piano, an accordion and an oud): "Leila Au Pays Du Carrousel", Anouar Brahem, Le Pas Du Chat Noir: Next, it really encourages me in to the whole music making process. If music is representative of who you are and who you want to be, there's sure lots of me that I need to figure out in order to make music again. Lastly, it encourages me to encourage all of you to take a step back from your regular music allottment (or cycle, as I find for myself), and pick up something really off the wall, but something that's tied to some subculture that intrigues you for some reason. Think about it. People in Papua New Guinea, Namibia, and Tahiti probably all fall in love and get their hearts broken too. Ponder it for a while. Then just give it a shot. It might change your life.

New Mogwai

noreply@blogger.com (turboladen) — Wed, 9 Jul 2008 11:42:00 -0700

New album out in the Fall, which is exciting. This track puts a smile on my face. Its like one of those everything-is-gonna-be-alright songs. "The Sun Smells Too Loud", off the new album The Hawk Is Howling: You can download it from Matador's site. http://www.mogwai.co.uk/ I'm excited.