Category Archives: music

2008, music, personal, reviews, thoughts

Monthly Muxtape Madness Vol. 1

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So I decided that I am going to lend my time to yet another page on teh interwebs. Muxtape.com allows users to create a mix tape of up to 12 songs. Who doesn’t remember creating mixes for your friends and family to listen to? I definitely created tons when I was a kid.

Now it is popular with the hipster set as not only a form of nostalgia (hipsters love nostalgia, seeing as how they never want to grow up) but as a way to show everyone how eclectic, strange and indie their taste in music is. That being said, I’m going to start making my own mix and update it, change the tracks periodically (hopefully monthly or so). I’ll blog up little descriptions of each track here and give you a link to the tape. Big surprise, it is http://quartertonality.muxtape.com. Just click on the track you want to start with (

Here is Volume 1:

“Wake Me When It’s Over” is off of Longwave’s 2nd full length album and is quite a change from their first, though it definitely extrapolates off of the influences that they clearly feel strongly about (Television, U2, Radiohead, The Strokes etc…) This is the opening track off of that album and I thought it would make a good opening track here. This song kind of feels like a sunrise anyway, with orange light bouncing off of dust as it flies through the air. Lots of delayed effect on the guitars and atmospherics. Great song

“Get a Shot of the Refrigerator” is typical Stereolab. Sometimes instrumental, sometimes not. Sometimes the lyrics are in French, sometimes English, sometimes both. This is a truly unique band with a very devoted, indie “insider” following. Somewhere between rock and dance music lies Stereolab with their groovy jams and tight ensemble work. “The groop”, as their fans call them are unlike anything you have heard before.

“Love and Death” is off of The Stills’ first album. This Canadian band made quite a splash with their first album, only to completely lose me with their second. This album feels nostalgic to me for some reason. It is great in all the right spots. This song has not only a great chorus but a great verse as well. The whole thing fits together very well. I like the interplay and counterpoint between both of the guitars and the way the verses really work towards the choruses to create a seamless texture, similar to the Longwave but a little more overproduced.

“Range Life” is off of the now defunct California outfit Pavement’s absolutely amazing album entitled “Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain” and features a very loose ensemble with barely tuned guitars creating a song that feels like it is in slow motion. Lead singer Stephen Malkmus’s voice is shaky and somewhere between falsetto and full voiced belting, but it seems like he is trying to keep it quiet. Sarcastic lyrics with a lazy delivery and all genius.

“First Day” is off of Sunderland England’s own The Futureheads first blistering album full of jangly, angular punk songs. The guitars are all over the place in this one darting in and out of the way of each other with the entire gang joining in to sing the chorus. The band builds up faster and faster until it seems like they are going to completely fall apart, the trick is that is when they are at their best, right before everything falls apart.

“My Mathematical Mind” is from Austin, Texas’ own Spoon’s album “Gimme Fiction”. Though that album did not quite do it for me as much as their most recent effort (“Ga ga ga ga ga” from 2007) it still has a few decent tracks on it. This is one of them. The lyrics are almost too brainy and self-absorbed, but they never quite cross the line. The bouncy, hemiola inflected piano line helps give the opening a good swing and the throbbing, present bass propels the song forward while the guitar struggles for air just below Britt Daniel’s soaring vocal.

“Stereo Sanctity” is from Sonic Youth’s album Sister. The group experiments with altered tunings, noise and chaos as part of its aesthetic flawlessly combining the ideals of the post-punk crowd and the downtown music composition scene of Eliot Sharp, Glen Branca and free jazzers like Sun Ra. This song has always been one of my favorites of theirs, very energetic, very noisy. Just plain great.

“Freak Out” by Liars, originally from Australia, then moved to NYC and now based out of Berlin Liars have experimented with each of their albums. This is off of their most recent offering simply called “Liars” which features a whole series of really tight rock songs that are similar in vane to early Sonic Youth, but a little more percussion driven. This album combines elements of all their past efforts and shows them finally focusing in and going out on one clear path. This song brings forward the jangle of a reverb soaked, out of tune guitar and the chant-like approach to singing.

“Your Hand in Mine” by Explosions in the Sky is one of the only examples of music in a rock band format that is truly orchestral in scope. This band, again from Texas, creates grand sonic soundscapes on each of their albums that are usually full of lengthy, developmental structures. This song is one of the most beautiful rock songs I have ever heard. Simple, in E major, utilizing the open strings on the guitar to create a truly moving sound. You can tell that each line was painstakingly put together. The structure of this song is almost mathematical and it is even divided into sections, but they work so well together it is scary.

“Goodbye Ukulele” by Peterborough, Ontario’s The Burning Hell is depressing, yes. It is also a great way to close an album. Singer Matthias Kom bids adieu to each of the instruments in the band one by one and they disappear until he is completely alone with his ukulele. This is one of the only really slow songs that I have ever really liked this much.

I hope I haven’t rambled on too long. I hope you enjoy this mix.

2008, live, music, reviews

Pitchfork Music Festival Day 3

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This is finally it, the end of the festival that I wait all year to go to. Day three didn’t have nearly as many acts that I was excited about performing, which made it the perfect opportunity to check out the record tent and the Flatstock poster fair. I purchased the official pitchfork poster, by Chicago’s own print artist Jay Ryan.  I purchased the new Dirty Projectors album from the Permanent Records booth (they are a record store near my brothers apartment.

The weather for Day 3 was much better, not too hot but the sun did give me a pretty rad sunburn that I was able to showoff for days. It eventually turned into a beautiful farmers tan, which I am still sporting to this day. Anyway, these are the acts I took in on day 3, reviewed in the same, direct to the point, sans bullshit style that I reviewed day 2:

Times New Viking:  Rock. Good, I remember liking them at the time, but I don’t remember them now.

Dirty Projectors: Crazy harmonies, edgy singing, complex songs and guitar parts. Very cerebral. Loved it, my favorite from the weekend. I stood in awe watching them much the same way I stood in awe 2 years ago watching Liars perform.

Boris: Pure metal, loud aggressive and fun. Too bad they had to cut their set short because, apparently, they could not get the power that they required. “Not enough electric power” they said after the drummer jumped into the crowd, crowd-surfed and then they left the stage after about 30 minutes.

HEALTH: Good electronic set. Way better than Fuck Buttons, that’s for sure.

The Apples in Stereo: Great, poppy, retro-tastic set. I really like their songs and their live performance was tight.

King Khan and His Shrines: Zappa + Sun Ra + James Brown = awesome. We were in time to hear the end of his set, which included an army of people on stage, horns, keys, guitars, drums, backup singers etc. and King Khan performed a gospel song about cunnilingus.  He was very detailed.

Les Savy Fav: The most out of control set of the entire weekend. The lead singer walked through the audience, climbed atop everything on stage, had a camera with him so that we could see his point of view. Their set was great, entertaining and energetic. Said lead singer was seen running around the park all day, and the day before was giving out $2 haircuts to anyone that happened to pass by.

M. Ward: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzz……..

Spiritualized: Tight set. Great guitar work, though I felt that the singer wasn’t really making an effort to connect with the audience. The rhythm section and backing singers were fantastic though.

Dinosaur Jr.: I find Dinosaur Jr. really kind of droll. What I did like was the fact that J. Mascis was surrounded by Marshall stacks while he played, and hearing that song that I knew was great, the one with the dudes playing golf around NYC, riding their golf carts all around the city, yeah that one.

I was standing by the other stage Jockying for position for the Spoon set.Spoon: I’m glad that I get to see these guys again. The last time I saw them was at the 2006 Pitchfork Festival, which followed the release of their album “Gimme Fiction” which I am not a big fan of. I thought it was funny that back then the only song of theirs that I knew was “Small Stakes” and now I know all their stuff. They opened their set this year with the song “Small Stakes” and I laughed to myself. Their set was really good and they played a lot of my favorite songs and I was really looking forward to them, the lame thing was the audience.

The audience up front during the Spoon set just stood their, seemingly dazed for their entire set. It was infuriating to me. I was jumping up and down, singing along and really getting into it, but after a time I felt awkward and self-conscious and I stopped and just stood and watched like the rest of them. Attention: concert goers….it’s loud, it’s outside, it’s a rock concert, get animated, move around! Get into the music! Don’t just stand there!

All in all it was a great festival, as usual. I always have a good time at the Pitchfork Music Festival. As before I have included some videos below from that day. I didn’t take too many, my camera has been giving me problems, the battery won’t last long enough to take tons of video anymore.

2008, live, music

Pitchfork Music Festival Day 2

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The weather for the 2nd day of the festival did not start off by looking very promising at all. It looked as if it was going to rain forever and not stop. The thought of spending an entire day soaking wet, probably cold and miserable around a bunch of muddy people was not exactly the most intriguing thing in the world to me, but I was willing to go through with it if it meant that I would get to spend the entire day discovering new music. I had made peace with the fact that sometimes perfect weather just isn’t in the cards.

Now, it is impossible to see all of the performances at Pitchfork, the way that the schedule is set up the Aluminum and Connector stages alternate back and forth all day but the Balance stage is off on the other side of the park and the sets run in syncopation with the other two. So if you wanted to catch anything on the Balance stage (reserved mostly for more electronic acts like Atlas Sound, Fuck Buttons etc. and “less popular” acts like King Kahn and his Shrines) chances are you would have to skip out on some or all of a full performance on one of the main stages.  I did try my best to catch as much as possible. I would now like to sum up my Day 2 experience in as few words as possible. I joked with my brother that I would write “one word” reviews. They won’t be one word, but I am going to boil down my thoughts as simply as possible for each of the bands that I saw this day.

Titus Andronicus: Loud. Many guitars, a lot of noise and lots of energy. It was raining when they played but they didn’t care, and because of that neither did I. I’m keeping my eye on them.

A Hawk and a Handsaw: I actually missed them, but it wasn’t because I didn’t want to see them, it was because I was going to be seeing them the next week at the Calgary Folk Fest. I loved them. More on that when I blog about the Calgary Folk Fest in the next couple of days.

Jay Reatard: Punk energy. Numbskull Flying V-guitars and a lot of atitude. Good for a half hour set. Too much schtick, not enough substance. Using metal/glam/punk gimmickry ala FUBAR as some sort of ironic statement. No thanks.

Caribou: When they played “Melody Day” the rain stopped and the sun was shining for the rest of the day. In other words I was standing there in awe and it was absolutely amazing.

Fuck Buttons: You know when you are young and you wander into a Radio Shack and play with everything they have? I was excited for them, and then after 10 minutes I realized they weren’t going to do anything and I left. Fuck Buttons? more like Suck Buttons. Fuck you, thanks for wasting my time, you fucking untalented assholes.

The Ruby Suns: Good songs, I liked them. Performance could have used a little bit more energy, and a bit more instruments being played live, less prerecorded sound. What’s the point of a live performance?

Vampire Weekend: Jimmy Buffet for 20-somethings.

!!!: Great set. They make  you dance. The most the crowd moved the entire weekend was during this set. The first sign of crowd-surfing. I love !!!.

The Hold Steady: Pretty straight forward punk rock with the edge cleaned up a little bit. I liked it. They were definitely all about getting the crowd going. Great polished set.

Atlas Sound: Moving. Ambient. Great.

Jarvis Cocker: He is so British you can hear his accent upon sight. Jarvis Cocker loves to fuck, as is evidenced by the three types of songs that he writes: songs about women he has fucked, songs about women he is fucking,  songs about women that he wishes he had taken the opportunity to fuck. All of these songs were great. Jarvis is a great showman.

Animal Collective: An amazing barrage of new material that held me and the rest of the audience transfixed for over an hour. The sound didn’t stop for their entire set, and I have never experienced an hour and a half go by so quickly. Amazing end to the day. I think Animal Collective should only ever play in the dark. It worked so well in an outdoor festival setting.

That’s my day 2 roundup. I hope you enjoyed it. You will notice the video player below, it contains my videos from this day. Featured in the videos are Titus Andronicus, Animal Collective, !!! and Jarvis Cocker. Tomorrow will wrap up the Pitchfork Festival, day 3.

2008, live, music

Pitchfork Music Festival Day 1

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I guess I owe some sort of apology as it is taking me extremely long to get my videos up from the concerts that I have been to this month. I went to see a lot of shows in a few different places and it has taken me this long to get all my videos and pictures and what not organized on my own computer.

So very quickly, Day 1 of the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park was on July 18, 2008 and, just like last year, was done in association with All Tomorrow’s Parties “Don’t Look Back” which has bands performing (what some consider to be) their landmark albums. This year featured Mission of Burma performing their album “Vs.”, Sebadoh performing “Bubble and Scrape” and Public Enemy with their phenomenal “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back”.

I have seen Mission of Burma perform before, at the same venue actually, 2 years ago. Their performance was very good. I only wish that they would have been asked to perform “Signals, Calls and Marches”, which to me is a better and more important album than the somewhat lackluster “Vs.”. Seeing Mission of Burma perform now though brings a certain joy to me. To me it is witnessing a band get its second chance. For anyone that has read Michael Azzerad’s “Our Band Could Be Your Life” they know that Mission of Burma was a fantastic band with a strong following that seemed to be on the fast track to success, the only problem being that they were a little bit too ahead of their time and not quite as “militant” as Black Flag when it came to gouging their path across the United States. They were out there on the East Coast alone and had to face the fact that they had to pack it up.

Luckily for us they are back to performing. They got to skip over the whole part of being good, then bad and then resurfacing with a great album that seems to come out of nowhere. They are the only band that I can think of that went from being heard nowhere but in audiophiles basements to being the old guard of indie-art-rock. I like seeing them perform and I’m glad that they have the opportunity to do it. I still think they are ahead of their time. Their music is jarring and subtle at the same time, I think that people still have a hard time placing it.

Sebadoh is a different story. I have a few of their albums. I can’t manage to ever make it through an entire one in a single sitting. They drag on, and on and on and on. Too sludgy for me. To me it seems that Sebadoh was never really popular even when they were “popular”. Maybe I am missing something, but I have never met anyone that was crazy excited about the opportunity to hear Sebadoh live, and I have never heard Sebadoh talked about at all, let alone in a gleefully optimistic and obsessive way the way that passionate music people get when they hear a band that truly moves them.

Their performance at Pitchfork was just like listening to one of their albums at home for me. I couldn’t make it through the whole thing and I began to think about other things, and just hoped that they would eventually (soon!) get off the damn stage. After a really long time, they finally did, and justice was restored to the world.

Public Enemy was up next.

This would mark only the second time that I have seen a hip-hop act live. The first was GZA last year. The difference being that this year I would be seeing Public Enemy, a group that I am quite familiar with. I remember fondly listening to “Fear of a Black Planet” when I was in 5th grade. It is funny to listen to that now, knowing what the lyrics mean. I still love those albums, they are really great. Watching Chuck D take the stage and rap lines that I used to have memorized was a great, nostalgic feeling. I stood there and wondered why I stopped listening to Public Enemy. I honestly don’t know the answer to that question.

It was an explosive performance. Chuck D can really get a crowd going and Flava Flav is just as crazy as you’d think he is.  They ran through the entire album with a live band and an amazing DJ on stage with them. It was a spectacle. I stood there in awe because when I last heard from those guys I was 10 and I had the chicken pox, and now I am 27. I never thought that I would feel nostalgic at a rap concert, I never even thought I would be at a rap concert. Their messages now are just as important as always. Public Enemy has a lot in common with punk in that the lyrics have a message warning against opression of one form or another. Basically they are saying, “Don’t let anyone hold you down”. They preach love and protest at the same time. Flava Flav reminds us that this can be done while interjecting some humor in all the seriousness.

2008, live, music

Sloan in Buffalo Videos (June 21, 2008)

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So I finally got around to uploading all my videos from the show that I went to in Buffalo 2 months ago. I work slow, also I have been without a cardreader until recently and was unable to get all of the data from my memory cards.

Without any further ado, here are all the videos from Sloan in Buffalo, June 21, 2008:

2008, live, music, reviews, thoughts, Uncategorized

Rush in Toronto (July 9, 2008 Molson Ampitheater)

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Nothing can beat a good arena rock show. It is a totally different experience than seeing a concert at a small venue put on by an act that is only known by a relative few. Not better, not worse, different.

Rush has always been able to play large venues. Their first live album, that came out after their 4th studio effort (the legendary “2112”) was recorded in Massey Hall, which was probably the last time that they played a venue so small. This was the third time that I have seen Rush live, my first time being in 1997 on their “Test for Echo” tour, which I was lucky enough to end up in the front row (don’t ask me how that happened) and then I saw them last year on the “Snakes and Arrows” tour at the same venue, only in the very cheap seats, on the 4th of July. What better way to celebrate American Independence than with 3 Canadians? Those shows and this one had almost the exact same venue: a large, outdoor ampitheater with the partially covered, bowl shaped seating arrangement, pretty common. The view from the lawn seats at the Molson in Toronto is much better than the one I saw them at the first 2 times.

As usual with Geddy Lee and Co. there is no opening band. The show is nearly 3 hours of just Rush, which is enough to satisfy their rabid fans. This being a hometown show for them I was particularly excited about seeing them. It appeared that the band was having a good time too, as this was the most animated I’ve seen them. There usually isn’t too much in-between song banter, but there was a touch this time as Geddy gave us a taste of his “true Canadian accent” with the requisite “eh?” and “give’r” and what have you.

The set contained a pretty good retrospective of their entire career. From memory they played (though not in this order):

Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ, The Trees, the first two parts of 2112, Digital Man, Beneath the Wheels (awesome!), Where’s my Thing?, The Larger Bowl, Armor and Sword, One Little Victory, Workin’ them Angels, Ghost of a Chance, Dreamline, Witch Hunt, Limelight (I do remember this was the opener), The Spirit of Radio, and a bunch of others.

I am familiar, musically, with all of their material, but the names of some of the newer songs I don’t know. I know that they played a lot more newer material, but they did make it a point to play the classics. My friend and I discussed after the show how Rush is in a unique position from other current rock bands. They have managed to be active for 30 years and still are able to go on tour and not be viewed as “dinosaurs” or a museum type act like so many other bands that started at the same time as them. Styx is currently, as far as I’m concerned, a joke and a retrospective tribute band of themselves, as is Journey, Boston, Yes, Jethro Tull and countless others.

Rush is an arena rock band. That is what they do. They have been able to do it without selling their souls, or being overly or stereotypically “commercial”. Instead of letting the term “commercial” define them they choose, so it seems, to define the term for themselves. Throughout all their albums their sounds has evolved, significantly. They started by sounding like a bar band, developed into a prog-art rock band with songs that took up entire sides of albums, then they began creating 5 minute rock tunes that were extremely memorable in their own style. In the 80’s they delved into icy waters by taking a turn towards the realms of adult contemporary music, but then ushered themselves into the 90’s by becoming heavier, and still keeping their edgy sound they left off with 15 years prior. Throughout all this their fans remained with them, and in concert all of these songs can be played back to back seamlessly. They have always been true to themselves and I believe that that is truly shown in their music. There is a reason why they are a long lasting act as well as a top-selling act.

Unfortunately cameras were not allowed in the venue and although I had mine with me I did not remove it from my pocket from fear of it being taken away by a security guard. The videos that I present below are from the July 4, 2007 concert from Darien Lake (near Buffalo) New York.

“What about the voice of Geddy Lee? How did it get so high? I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy…”

2008, albums, live, music, reviews

Sloan – Buffalo, New York June 21, 2008

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There is always plenty of free music in Buffalo during the summer. They have their famous “Thursday at the Square” concerts which are a hot spot from people from all over, not just Buffalo, to come downtown, get wasted out of their minds while enjoying some free music. There seems to be new festivals popping up all the time in Buffalo and the surrounding areas. Sure, it’s a great thing. I like being outside and I like music, especially if it is free.

The first time I saw Sloan was at one of these fests, so it only seemed fitting that I continue the tradition. This show was part of North Tonawanda’s (suburb of Buffalo) apparently annual Gateway Park Concert Series. Sloan always plays things like this here in Buffalo, which I think kind of cheapens them a little bit, but it certainly opens them up to more people than would come and see them at a club south of the 49th parallel. I just get really territorial about bands that I love, they have never played a bad show that I have seen (except for their Grey Cup pre-game show which was not so good, redeeming quality in that I met my girlfriend there. They got lucky that time). The show this time around Parallel Play album coverwas part of the beginning of their tour for their 9th studio release, “Parallel Play”.

The album is getting a good amount of reviews, and opinion on it is pretty polarized. I, personally, love the album and listen to it often, and that is all that matters to me. The show was interesting, to say the least. All of my complaints with it don’t have anything to do with Sloan, but rather the organizers of it. The website says that the show starts at 5:30 and there was no mention of an opening act. I figured that there would be one, which is no big deal. One opener and then Sloan takes the stage around maybe 7:30, or 8 pm at the latest. It’s a festival type thing and on a weekend and there were no other bands being promoted. It turned out that at 5:30 the first boring local band of 3 (THREE!) for the evening began. In between each of these bands was “giveaways” and stupid radio guy promotion type banter. Sloan did not take the stage until 9 pm, which meant that I had been standing outside waiting for 3 and a half hours before the band that I came to see even took the stage, at which point the skies began to look rather grey.

Sloan played a great set, going through material from the new album as well as tried and true material from their past albums. The show was solid, featuring songs by each of the members. The disappointing fact was that, after all the standing and waiting the weather began to turn not long after they took the stage, and sure enough, just past the halfway point in their set, the skies opened up and it started pouring. Bassist Chris Murphy informed us that they would be going on and everyone was pleased, though the rain proceeded to get worse and after a little over an hour they left the stage.

They returned briefly for a hurried 3 song encore and then the show was over. I can not complain about their performance, it seemed that they were all pretty “on” that night, and had a pretty good mix, which is unusual for outdoor shows. I always love seeing Sloan, and I enjoy their music a great deal, I will certainly go out of my way to see them again. I would much rather see them in Toronto anyway.

I did take quite a bit of video at the show, but I have been quite slow in getting them up to my youtube page. I will do a quick post when I finally do up them. For now, here is a picture of the crowd at the show, taken by touring keyboardist Gregory MacDonald.

The crowd at the Gateway Park show

2008, live, music, news

2008 JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition

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Buffalo, although one of the smaller big cities in the U.S. is still quite an important city for the arts. In the mid 1900’s it stood at the center of the New Music Scene and the University of Buffalo was an important training ground for cutting edge composers. This changed, for the worse, as the new millennium approached, but that doesn’t mean that great things aren’t happening there.

The director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta, one of the leading conductors in the country and one of the only female conductors, not to mention the first, of a major American Orchestra, hosts an annual International Guitar Concerto Competition. Excitement in the area is high as the finals are set for tomorrow. Information can be found here.

This is an important event for guitarists that are just beginning their careers and I feel that Western New York is lucky to be host to a unique event such as this. If you are in the area I would suggest checking it out, or at the very least listening to the finals tomorrow on WNED, the Buffalo classical music station. You can also listen to the performances of all the semi-finalists here.

2008, music, personal, thoughts, writing

My Writing Process

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So I decided that something people are always interested in, whether they write music or not, whether they ever care to or not, is the process by which someone creates music.

For as many composers there are out there, there are just as many ways of doing things. There is no right or wrong way, this is art after all. This is a form of expression, our own way of describing the world. I may as well get down to it, I think the way I do things is kinda different and I am still developing in my process.

From very early on I realized that rhythm was the most important element in music, at least to me. I was always a fan of prog-rock, where it is expected that the most complex rhythms and strangest accents are used. That is what those songs are about. The dragons, sorcery and nymphs are secondary. Anyway, the other thing that I find quite important to any piece of music, no matter what the genre is that the form is accessible.

This being said, when I need to start writing a piece of music the first thing that I do is grab my notebook. A simple notebook of lined paper, not manuscript, not yet. In the notebook I start off from the most basic characteristics of the piece and slowly build up from there. I’ll decide how long I want the piece to be, in minutes and seconds, what the piece is going to be scored for and what initial tonal center I am going to begin with.

The decisions for all of these aspects can either be a pretty simple endeavor (“It will be 5 minutes, because 5 minutes seems like a reasonable amount of time for this kind of work) or a more complex decision that relies on some other aspect of the music (“Well this is a piece for Brass so perhaps starting in Bb will be good…”). At this stage of the game I try to move as fast as possible across all these “pre-compositional” workings. I am not saying that they are lesser aspects of completing the work, on the contrary, these are the foundations of the entire work, on which the rest of my writing will balance upon, but I like to get through it quickly to keep the momentum going, start the ball rolling, and reminding myself that the piece should never be so complex that the audience will never understand it. In moving through this phase fairly quick I am assuring myself that I don’t complicate matters.

Right after this initial phase I begin pulling back, slowly. I imagine myself analyzing something visual, a landscape or a painting. I am quite far away at the beginning, I can make out that I see something and I slowly move in to see what exactly it is, and how it is made, right down to the most fine detail. I keep writing, in words, describing how I wan the piece to “go”. I’m going to use a form, let’s go with a tried and true A B A. The piece is 5 minutes long so how long is each A section, is the B shorter, longer? How are things weighted? Will B be developmental or just different, contrasting? Slow, Fast, Slow or Fast, Slow, Fast? No tempo change at all? etc.

I zoom in further. How is the A section divided up? How long is it going to be? Time signature? Will it move from the initial tonal center to another? Will the tonal center that it moves to help me get to where the B section begins? How many phrases are in the A section? How long are they? What about the basic durational units? Registral placement? etc. etc.

There is plenty to think about at this point, early on. This is where some of my best thinking takes place. I really love this part of the process. I can burn out a whole slew of ideas in a wild frenzy. Some people call this “sketching” but for some reason I despise the use of that word. It just seems so pretentious to me. I’m laying the foundation for my piece, in words. I am more comfortable to start off in my first language, that being English. After I have planned out my piece in as much verbose prose as possible, getting as specific as I can I move to the manuscript paper.

Though this part happens in stages as well. I don’t immediately run to a piano and start splashing notes down. That would be counterproductive, I must continue on the path that I have started for myself, that being: zooming into the picture as slowly as possible. Rhythm first. All of the outer parameters of the music I have laid out beforehand, in words. I know how long the piece is, and the tempo, so I know how many beats it will take me to get to the end. I know the phrase structure and the overall form. All this is mapped out. I now begin writing rhythms and general pitch information. Nothing gets too specific. Notes are simple: High or Low. The rhythm and the inflection working together as I sing out what I hear in my head. All the basic elements of the music are now in place, I mark out where important things are going to happen (“should sound like a half cadence here”, “cadence”, “moving towards D#” etc.) I circle things and make notes, general things like harmonic pulse and motion are marked out at this point too.

Things are beginning to solidify at this point and things may change from what I had initially planned. I find that it is better to let the piece, to a certain degree, go where it wants to go. There are certain things that just need to happen, and the music will go where it needs to go, or else it will sound unnatural and forced. Flexibility is the key, though if it is desired to stick strictly to the plan that was drawn out beforehand then that can be done too, it is completely up in the air.

After the piece is mapped out, with rhythms and general inflections I move operations to my computer, or to the piano. It is time to start hearing the piece in further detail, hearing specific notes and trying out several harmonies. The reason that I do the rhythm first is so that my thoughts are allowed to move fairly quickly, this final step moves pretty slowly, but calmly because I know that I will not lose sight of what the piece is supposed to be about. If I am at a piano I play through all sorts of ideas that fit within the rhythmic and inflection parameters that I have started out with, in the tonal center that I decided on. This way everything that I can think of is taken care of beforehand, freeing up my mind and my creativity because I don’t have to think of 40 things at once, I am just following the directions on the paper that I have written myself.

I am usually able to come up with several ideas for each phrase and this is the point in the process where subtle tricks come into play, little details that could not have been planned ahead of time that now seem so obvious and excite me to no end, propelling me to finish as much of the piece as possible in one sitting. These things are all possible if sitting in front of the computer as well. This all depends on where I am at the time.

Nothing is set in stone, and things often change all the way through the process. Practical application of notes to the schematic that is laid out will cause some things to shift. I personally find that this is the way that works best for me. I don’t know of anyone else that works in this manner, but I tried for years in vain to write in the way that I thought everyone else worked and my music was scattered, without focus and difficult to hear and understand. This process I developed for me to help my writing and so far I like the way that it is working, it is helping me to write more efficiently and just to write more.

2007, albums, music, reviews, Uncategorized

Top albums of 2007

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Well, here it is. I tried, throughout the course of the past few months, to review as many of the albums that I have heard this year that I could. This has been quite a year for new music, a year that caught me by surprise. I did not realize all of the great albums that came out until about mid November. Many of the albums that I heard I did not get until several months after they were released. These are the ones that got the most spins, and for good reason. Here they are in order, well reverse order, to heighten the suspense.

I had to go with 15 because I really couldn’t narrow it down any further. If there is a problem, please write your congressman.

Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam15.) Animal Collective -“Strawberry Jam”
This band out of Baltimore turned out a great electronic, rock, noise album this year in “Strawberry Jam”. The hooks are just as catchy and the vocals are at times soaring and hopeful and at others thoughtful or just plain surreal. It’s always interesting to see how a band operates outside of the “rock” idiom, and the Collective definitely make things interesting. It is unclear as to the instrumentation in each of the songs. Sound manipulation plays a more important role than that of a “drum part” a “guitar part” and verse-chorus-verse structure. Working in the experimental genre can be a tricky balancing act but the Animal Collective do it well. Just the right amount of reaching out and trying new things and straight up classic “good songwriting”.

14.) Marnie Stern – “In Advance of the Broken Arm”Marnie Stern - “In Advance of the Broken Arm”

For me this album came out of nowhere. Kirstie was shooting her for Venus and told me about this crazy two-hand tapping technique that Marnie used. My brother said it was like Maps and Atlases and I can see the connection with her densely contrapuntal and layered guitar sound and vocals that are alternately screamed and sung Marnie’s sound is quite unlike anything else that I have ever heard before. Her lyrics speak of self-confidence and metaphysics and everything in between. The album, however, does seem to weaken a bit towards the end and I think that is going to be quite a challenge to follow up an album like this with a set of songs that are equally intense and interesting without beating the style to death. The use of Hella’s Zach Hill on drums is the perfect choice, as his all out assault on the drums is the perfect match for Stern’s continuously moving and perfectly articulated guitar textures.

13.) Battles – “Mirrored”Battles - “Mirrored”
The clean and precise production on this album speaks of its straddling the line between prog-rock and jazz-fusion. Like Interpol, or Marnie Stern for that matter, the guitars of Battles create a very layered and contrapuntal sound that creates as much forward motion as to propel the listener through a 10 minute track without getting bored. Many of the tunes on this album don’t rely specifically on the talents of one member in particular but as the band truly working as a single unit. The track “Tonto” is a perfect example of this with it’s slow and controlled build up and the perfectly engineered dénouement that closes the track with a gradual slowing of the tempo until everything dies away the way that the track began. There is attention paid to the form of each piece on this album, as well as the form of the album as a whole, with opening and closing tracks working together to form perfect bookends. The album is quite demanding on the listener though, by the end I usually feel rather worn down. This is not quite mindless background music, it is pretty heady and well thought out music that may only appeal on certain levels to true music dorks.

12.) Liars – “Liars”Liars - “Liars”
The follow up to the sparse, hallucinogenic inspired tomes of “Drums Not Dead”, “Liars” finds these Australian crazies synthesizing all that they have accomplished to date. Tracks like “Freak Out” still feature out of tune guitars, but with a funky bass groove that would remind fans of early work such as “Mr. You’re on Fire Mr.”. Elements from their more far out and experimental albums is still present in some tracks like “Sailing to Byzantium” and “The Dumb in the Rain” but for the most part, from what I can tell, this is just an album of great songs. There is no hint of a super-intellectual story-telling going on in this album, which is great. This album was the perfect decision for Liars to follow up an early-Sonic Youth-esque stage in their careers, get back on track with some really catchy, yet characteristic songs and probably continue to frighten audiences around the world with their astounding live performances. If you ever have the opportunity to catch this band live I would suggest it highly.

11.) Caribou – “Andorra” Caribou - “Andorra”
Simply put the songs on this album are great. I know that that is a cop-out, as, well, it is obvious that I find the songs great on this album, why else would I put it on my year end best-of list? But I find it to stand out particularly from this years other contenders partly because of it’s seeming stance to bring back the Motown production sound, mixed with a little bit of Phil Spector. The reverb used on this album, along with the sleighbells (particularly the ones heard on the opening track) make it sound like a forward thinking relic of an album. I can’t imagine that there was too much state of the art equipment used in the making of this album, though I could be very wrong. I just really like the authentic sound of this album. One could imagine that this would eventually happen with Caribou, as there are strands of this sound in development in “The Milk Of Human Kindness” though this album benefits from tighter songwriting and less tinkering in an instrumental abyss than past work. This album is a great step forward and according to people I know that have seen Caribous live since this album came out he is definitely an act worth catching.

10.) The Bad Plus – “Prog”The Bad Plus
Cracking my Top 10 is an album closer to the stylings of jazz than anything else. The performance ability of each of the three guys in The Bad Plus is absolutely amazing. They are all masters in their own right, working closely together as composers and performers. This album of covers (yes, it is that good, that I would even consider an album of mostly cover songs shows how great this album actually is) with a few original compositions mixed in for good measure is quite amazing. Covers of David Bowie, Rush and Tears for Fears mix seamlessly with original compositions. The covers are each treated to their own very unique process, parts are added and solos are taken to a whole new level of virtuosity. Though this album clearly stands squarely in the jazz idiom there is a rock sensibility that touches upon each song on the album. The precision, attention to detail and high standard for excellent performance stems from three well-trained jazz musicians but the reckless energy of rock stands behind everything.

9.) Thurston Moore – “Trees Outside the Academy”Thurston Moore - “Trees Outside the Academy”
The latest solo release from Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore is, obviously, quite similar in style to many of the songs that he recently penned for SY’s “Rather Ripped” but there is a more simple style at work when he is without his cohorts. Thurstons strips down the guitars a lot, and the result is a much more clear and relaxed album. The addition of violin is a nice touch, and actually is the element that truly sets the songs quite a far distance apart from anything Sonic Youth has done. This album also shows that Thurston has evolved quite a bit from the “Psychic Hearts” days, the songs here are more focused and calm, but his punk energy still shines through. He’s getting older but he’s always going to be the coolest guy on the planet.

8.) Field Music – “Tones of Town”Field Music - “Tones of Town”
Much like The Futureheads Field Music has a densely layered and contrapuntal sound that sounds like the next generation of 70’s prog rock. Obviously heavily influenced by Yes and other bands of that era these Brits manage to pack quite a lot of excitement and energy into a very diverse album of very catch tunes. This album, for me, was a late entry in my year end lineup and if I was given more time with it I’m sure it would be much higher up on my list. Each song is great in its own way, and it sounds wonderful too, great production quality. I haven’t had the opportunity to listen to their first album, as I didn’t know that they existed prior to November but I am definitely going to make it a point to look into this band further.

7.) Cuff the Duke – “Sidelines of the City”Cuff the Duke - “Sidelines of the City”
I truly think that Cuff the Duke can do no wrong. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands. Every song that I have heard from them is great. They jump comfortably from genre to genre and sound great and confident no matter what they are doing. The lead singer has a unique, very instantly recognizable voice. The instruments change up a bit from time to time. This time out the opening track adds a single violin playing in a folk style, country inflicted (as many of their songs are) and truly sounding like an American folk-tune. This is an album that I never skip a track on, and I have listened to this album many many times in the past few months. I am already looking forward to their next effort. Unfortunately they aren’t too popular in the U.S. and seeing them any time soon would probably be a dream. To me seeing Cuff the Duke would be a legendary, unforgettable event, though to many Canadians I’m sure that it is just commonplace. Check out this band! You will not be disappointed.

6.) The Good, The Bad and The Queen – “The Good, The Bad and The Queen”The Good the Bad and the Queen - “The Good the Bad and the Queen”
An incredibly dark album about war, times of frustration, uncertainty and suffering. This is a great album, if it all is kind of the same sound over and over again. Each of the songs put you in a place that is dark with a sense of foreboding doom. I have never heard an album that sounds like this before and I am almost positive that this super group of sorts will not be putting out another album, or if they do it will not be anytime soon. I am quite jealous of Damon Albarn’s ability to crank out music all over the place with several different projects going at once it seems. Each of the tracks on this album feel monumental, noteworthy and legendary I would place it higher, but like I said, each of the songs sort of sound a bit the same, thankfully they are all excellent.

5 .) Menomena – “Friend and Foe”Menomena - “Friend and Foe”
Menomena is a great group of musicians, in case you didn’t know. Three guys, all great songwriters and multi-instrumentalists, sharing singing and songwriting duties. They are just as tight live as they are on record. Each of the guys has a distinctive songwriting voice and several instruments are used to create a lush sound. Tracks range from the tragic to the imploring, light and gentle to dark and unnerving. Whenever a band chooses to operate in this manner it can be just what is needed to propel an album through to the end, a distinct amount of variety. Their sound is distinct, to say the least, yet they don’t stray too far from tried and true forms and catchy hooks. What it really comes down to is that these guys are fantastic songwriters and great instrumentalists. This is another album that has been in heavy rotation on my itunes for months and months, and will continue in this manner for a long time to come I’m sure.

4.) Joel Plaskett Emergency – “Ashtray Rock”Joel Plaskett - “Ashtray Rock”
Another album from a fantastic songwriter and amazing guitarist. I don’t even care if he rips off Jimmy Page left and right, it’s fun and it sounds great and he does it well and that’s all I care about. Have you heard Jimmy Page lately, he sounds like shit, but I digress. Joel can write a song about anything, I’m convinced, after seeing him live twice and watching him rewrite lyrics on the spot. He has strung this album into a series of songs that tell a rather simple story, not sure if it’s a true story or not but that is nearly beside the point. The album is so well thought out and well put together and every song is catchy as hell and great (yes even Fashionable People, I happen to love that song). Plaskett blasts through each song with a mind boggling array of guitar sounds and at the same time jumping from inspiration to inspiration making the album truly sound like a recollection from his childhood. This album is also proof that if an album is made by someone that truly has fun while playing music the album will be fun to listen to and in general great, it’s contagious. I could go on for days about how great this album is and how much I love Joel, but I won’t, if you haven’t heard this album, go now and listen.

3.) Interpol – “Our Love to Admire”Interpol - “Our Love to Admire”
New York City neo-shoegaze turned gloomy math-rock band Interpol just keep getting better. Does it matter that it takes them 3 years to create an album? They hardly toured for the better part of 2 years, didn’t do any interviews, were not on TV and when they emerge Carlos D. has a creepy mustache and the guys have put together a truly mindblowing album of thoughtful and complex tunes with cryptic lyrics. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I listened to this album when it first came out. The album itself got into my bones like a virus, slowly working it’s way out from “The Heinrich Maneuver” and eventually spreading to the rest of the album. I couldn’t get enough and soon I was hooked, listening to it everywhere and several times a day. I would say more things about the album in detail, but I think I already did a pretty good job of that here.

2.) Radiohead – “In Rainbows”Radiohead - “In Rainbows”
Well if I had any indie cred I am apparently about to shoot it out the window. I don’t know why hating Radiohead seems to be the cool, hipster thing to do these days, but you can not deny that these Brits can write an absolutely phenomenal album, without a doubt. I, no exaggeration, listened to this album 10 times a day for at least 2 weeks immediately following its release. Not a bad second, no complaints, nothing that I could possibly imagine changing. The gentle lulling of “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” featuring a great, closely voiced double guitar line is my favorite of the album. The closing track “Videotape” is reminiscent of other Radiohead closing tracks. This is a truly great album, it is an important album and if you are not listening to it because you think they are too popular or you want to be different and it seems that everyone loves Radiohead, well, pull your head out of your fucking ass, swallow your pride and listen to this album. It will blow your mind. It is legendary. No joke. Next.

1.) Spoon – “Ga ga ga ga ga”Spoon - “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga”
The best album of the year happens to have the worst title of any album, ever. Whatever. I have already talked about this album here. This is a great improvement from their last album “Gimme Fiction” a truly overblown, overdone near piece of garbage. “Ga ga ga ga ga” is stripped down, intelligent and great from cover to cover. Nothing truly mindblowing here, just great rock tunes that position Spoon, I feel, much in the same place that Sonic Youth was upon the release of Daydream Nation. Spoon has become the indie band that any other smart indie band wants to be like. They have a large following, are writing great songs, have been at it a while and became the talk of the town after this album was released. I am hoping that the electricity that I felt when they were playing Saturday Night Live was not imagined. I want to believe that not only did they play perfectly but that they connected with the home audience and got some more, well deserved fans. This album sounds fantastic and I am still obsessed with it, and that will last a long long time I’m sure. I am probably the only one that has this at the top of their list, but as Brit says “you got no fear of the underdog, that’s why you will not survive”.