Jon's favorite new song, Hit in the USA :O
It's by the band Beat Crusaders. Yeah, I know we might not head in that direction anytime soon. It's a wonderful song, in my opinion. It was used in BECK, an anime about a 14 year old who becomes part of a band, and we see how the band progresses from the indie scene to main- stream media. Definitely makes me think about how well we'll progress as a band.
Monday
November Has Come (And gone)
I realized i've been getting more music than I could appreciate. I've been taking the time lately to relisten to some music that gave me old philosophy last year. That means taking a psychadelic trip with Ween and Super Furry Animals. And of course, revisiting Interpol 'cause things been cloudy. The New Pornographers, however arcane their words are, have trounced me over and over again with the drums and power pop. I've actually been looking for the shins cds, but i came across those instead.
In the midst of that, I've also been listening to that underground hop, "that" hop that is totally socially acceptable by the indie elite, eh? MF Doom and Deltron, all tied to the Gorillaz project. I have to admit, I do like their content because it's either more socially relatable or it's about SPACE COWBOYS. It's not about gangsta or money or ho's (no mo's), but it's just nice because it's an ease in from the rock we listen to. I don't like being varied for variety sakes, but i some how stumbled into that hop and I like it. I won't flaunt my "amazing list of music I listen to." I don't like people who do that. They're people pleasers.
MF Doom and Deltron does help inexplicably with the word making process, I'll admit.
In the midst of that, I've also been listening to that underground hop, "that" hop that is totally socially acceptable by the indie elite, eh? MF Doom and Deltron, all tied to the Gorillaz project. I have to admit, I do like their content because it's either more socially relatable or it's about SPACE COWBOYS. It's not about gangsta or money or ho's (no mo's), but it's just nice because it's an ease in from the rock we listen to. I don't like being varied for variety sakes, but i some how stumbled into that hop and I like it. I won't flaunt my "amazing list of music I listen to." I don't like people who do that. They're people pleasers.
MF Doom and Deltron does help inexplicably with the word making process, I'll admit.
Tuesday
Friday
Bands I'm listening to. Yeah. My Name Is Earl last night was sweet as well.
Italicizing to add emphasis.
And for proper use, on most occasions.
Mostly, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. I'm really hooked to the keyboards and vocals (does Ben likes the vocals at all?). I found myself singing the lyrics to Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood, their last song in their album.
Gimme Some Salt, Is This Love, Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away. Details of the War.. I admit, I like every song in that album. I actually listened to all the songs in their debut album last night while doing homework. Their songs make good use of the keyboard and synthesizer. I've been thinking... do our songs need more keyboard?
Or more cow bell?
Yup, Clap Your Hands has got a big influence on my musical interests right now.
Other than that, I've been listening to Belle & Sebastian. the pillows, and Super Furry Animals.
You Don't Send Me by B&S I especially listen to, Richard Calburn is a nice drummer. Influenced me well in the drums on A Cruise, and I'm hoping to develop that a bit more.
the pillows (intentionally spelled with all lower-case) : Non Fiction, Ride on Shooting Star, Like A Lovesong, Gazelle City, March of the God.
Super Furry Animals: Frizbee, Nightvision, Psyclone!
My Name is Earl. Good episode.
All three of you should watch it.
I found it very... heart-warming.
But that's just me.
Thursday
Seems to be on my mind
I'm in the mood for some happy music, so bring on all the twee music there is. I'm done with school til' the 22nd of January, and that's alot of time to get things done. I'm relishing this by listening to Suburban Kids with Biblical Names, whom I acquired after scoping out a few listens. At first I wasn't quite that fond, feeling that they sound a bit unpolished, but they're layered. The break-in song for me was Seems to be On My Mind, a jumpy pop tune with whistles and claps. I use to listen to it all the time when I got butterflies for a girl at school, not anymore though.
Thus, I've been indulging Trees and Squirrels by them instead. The title already gives happy imagery; aww, a squirrel and green greens. I'm mainly endeared by the finale of the song, where he croons "That silly night I did the ma....ca....re na / with someone named carena " Just another overbearingly cheery music. They're a less cheeky and less orchestrated Divine Comedy, but they have youth, which we all could relate and desperately clinging on to.
There's words floating around and it has to be snatched by some music. We've been fiddling with the piano now that Ben gave us back our dear keyboard that's old as your daddy's shoes. On loop we plan to capture Waterfall and another new one, Redwood. It has a intro-track, the one where it's a instrumental and leads into it. For some reason, it's just the indie thing to do. I'm looking at you Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Arcade Fire, and Suburban Kids.
Thus, I've been indulging Trees and Squirrels by them instead. The title already gives happy imagery; aww, a squirrel and green greens. I'm mainly endeared by the finale of the song, where he croons "That silly night I did the ma....ca....re na / with someone named carena " Just another overbearingly cheery music. They're a less cheeky and less orchestrated Divine Comedy, but they have youth, which we all could relate and desperately clinging on to.
There's words floating around and it has to be snatched by some music. We've been fiddling with the piano now that Ben gave us back our dear keyboard that's old as your daddy's shoes. On loop we plan to capture Waterfall and another new one, Redwood. It has a intro-track, the one where it's a instrumental and leads into it. For some reason, it's just the indie thing to do. I'm looking at you Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Arcade Fire, and Suburban Kids.
Tuesday
So I feel a bit pathetic now...
So I was ironing my clothes when I suddenly got a little diddy in my head that I was making a mental record of what to write down song wise. Mental note in mind, I feel in the mood for some Coldplay, this is when i realized that the song I was writing in my head was "Fix you" by Coldplay. This makes me very sad, the accursed subconcious. Anyways, this is my first blog post on this here site, also probably one of the shorter ones, never really have been a blogger. Considering getting this projector:
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/pdet.to?poid=351807&coid=-26394&seg=
for the band. Let me know what you guys think on it so I can make a decision. Until next time, laters.
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/pdet.to?poid=351807&coid=-26394&seg=
for the band. Let me know what you guys think on it so I can make a decision. Until next time, laters.
Saturday
They're out there, just take them
"Ah... what a day," sighed the Maestro as he stepped down from his podium. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, trying to shake off the feelings that had gathered within him, then just closed his eyes and let them play out.
After all, who's to stop them?
I'm convinced music is something universal. You see what I mean? The violin player who scratches his bow across the strings of the violin resting on his chin shakes his head in rhythm and furrows his brow. The perfect fifth being played by those bright brass horns means we win, means victory. Is it because we have been conditioned to think so? Because we see it in all the movies, you know. If so, where'd it come from originally? Someone played those tunes and those feelings came to them, and they became true. It's an approach I need to start taking when I write, instead of wondering why everything I do sounds so forced.
After all, who's to stop them?
I'm convinced music is something universal. You see what I mean? The violin player who scratches his bow across the strings of the violin resting on his chin shakes his head in rhythm and furrows his brow. The perfect fifth being played by those bright brass horns means we win, means victory. Is it because we have been conditioned to think so? Because we see it in all the movies, you know. If so, where'd it come from originally? Someone played those tunes and those feelings came to them, and they became true. It's an approach I need to start taking when I write, instead of wondering why everything I do sounds so forced.
Sunshine and Clouds (and Everything Proud)
Didn't get to the basement today due to the fact that no expectant recording is coming around because of finals. Ben and Matt arrived and we fiddled for a good 4 hours before we had to call it quits. This time, ben brought two of his fab condenser mics so we could be Maybe and the What Ifs in Stereo. We showcased to Matt and we worked on Shipwreck today with it's added verse and chorus. Albeit, the new verse is a bit weak and generic by that point in the song, but I had to favor length over quality to round out shipwreck to a 3 minute song.
Matt provided some really groovy bass lines , really really groovy. A bass just adds that much completion to a composition.
So much that it deserved to be in it's own paragraph. In any case, we also worked on Waterfall for a bit, which is our chick song. Yes, we will make eye contact with a person, preferably a female, and croon out some really cute words to them. The rest of the words were unveiled today and the song seems to be on its way to a more composed and final stage of presentation. I'm debating whether it or not it should have a drum track, or a really sparse one. Waterfall is me and Matt's favorite melody so far, and i have to say it's really beautiful. It's not stuck to a single key like pop songs usually are, but it doesn't differ too much to be jazzical. A song without drums just makes it more - personal. It's all about you and the audience baby.
Though I don't know which Jon would think of that. It's no stinge toward him - just for the sake of musical variety and completion, a band just needs an acoustic track or so. I also hit up the keyboards once again, and I made some diddleys to practice my scales and chords.
Unfortunately, we could have so much with only 3 to 4 hours. We have one recording of Shipwreck and that floats within Ben's e-less laptop somewhere.
in any case, I've been dazzled by Go! Team's Huddle Formation, which is featured in a nissan car commercial. It has a cool riff, which follows up a pentatonic...just very power pop. I'm also been indulging Divine Comedy, Pop Singer's Fear of Pollen Count. With a title like that, how could you go wrong? The song is backed by horns and a guitar, very orchestra like. All over words that talk about allergies, which is very chirpy. I like the vocal melody, especially the "Even when I get a fever I find / I may sneeze but I don't really mind" or maybe it's just the line. Well orchestrated.
We're content. We're sounding like a band band closer and closer.
Matt provided some really groovy bass lines , really really groovy. A bass just adds that much completion to a composition.
So much that it deserved to be in it's own paragraph. In any case, we also worked on Waterfall for a bit, which is our chick song. Yes, we will make eye contact with a person, preferably a female, and croon out some really cute words to them. The rest of the words were unveiled today and the song seems to be on its way to a more composed and final stage of presentation. I'm debating whether it or not it should have a drum track, or a really sparse one. Waterfall is me and Matt's favorite melody so far, and i have to say it's really beautiful. It's not stuck to a single key like pop songs usually are, but it doesn't differ too much to be jazzical. A song without drums just makes it more - personal. It's all about you and the audience baby.
Though I don't know which Jon would think of that. It's no stinge toward him - just for the sake of musical variety and completion, a band just needs an acoustic track or so. I also hit up the keyboards once again, and I made some diddleys to practice my scales and chords.
Unfortunately, we could have so much with only 3 to 4 hours. We have one recording of Shipwreck and that floats within Ben's e-less laptop somewhere.
in any case, I've been dazzled by Go! Team's Huddle Formation, which is featured in a nissan car commercial. It has a cool riff, which follows up a pentatonic...just very power pop. I'm also been indulging Divine Comedy, Pop Singer's Fear of Pollen Count. With a title like that, how could you go wrong? The song is backed by horns and a guitar, very orchestra like. All over words that talk about allergies, which is very chirpy. I like the vocal melody, especially the "Even when I get a fever I find / I may sneeze but I don't really mind" or maybe it's just the line. Well orchestrated.
We're content. We're sounding like a band band closer and closer.
Thursday
Radioheadesque
Lately I've been delving into a post modern/rock (however less pretentious you like it) in the form of TV on the Radio, Cloud Cult, Wolf Parade, the like. Mostly TV on the radio because their writing style is better, and man, a voice like that delivers so well. Musically, however, they're like Interpol in that most of the variation comes in the forms of Drums and Guitars. However, they're also pretty organic - they take advantage of whistling, claps, doo wops, albeit not in the same happy twee manner as Suburban Kids wbn. It'a bit eerie, i think, and nice change of pace.
Not to say they're musically simple. They incorporate jazz themes - which I unfortunately learned in my tenure of my first quarter - just with very minimal work. But man, the lyrics and delivery. Two of the golden trinity of music. A bit dark, a bit tortured they're are. One of the songs i particularly fancy is Ambulance - the lyrics there are great. A good thing to do is always to feature opposite and contrasts, which Ambulance does.
I will be your accident if you will be my ambulance
I will be your screech and crash if you will be my crutch and cast
And I will be your one more time if you will be my one last chance
Oh look how dark and tortured is that. They may be isolating with their indie alternative post jazz modern whatever genre, but boy are their lyrics still about love. Maybe that's just how distant it is sometimes!
Not to say they're musically simple. They incorporate jazz themes - which I unfortunately learned in my tenure of my first quarter - just with very minimal work. But man, the lyrics and delivery. Two of the golden trinity of music. A bit dark, a bit tortured they're are. One of the songs i particularly fancy is Ambulance - the lyrics there are great. A good thing to do is always to feature opposite and contrasts, which Ambulance does.
I will be your accident if you will be my ambulance
I will be your screech and crash if you will be my crutch and cast
And I will be your one more time if you will be my one last chance
Oh look how dark and tortured is that. They may be isolating with their indie alternative post jazz modern whatever genre, but boy are their lyrics still about love. Maybe that's just how distant it is sometimes!
Monday
A few samplings.
As we head into a better era of recording, i.e. a basement, MATWI has taken the liberty of actually trying to record vocals.
And that's our first problem, trying.
In any case, we had a lot of fun doing it ourselves, and I've taken the liberty to load up a few songs from a very impromptu jam session.
A Cruise
Nobody Does it Better
Cloudy Day
A Cruise is a new song where Ben heard the music in a dream. Exciting! He could expound on it if he likes. Anyway, it's a prelude to another song - Shipwreck - and because it's A Cruise, it features a tropical feel, because it's a cruise! It's a lovely song, very Belle and Sebastian like, which makes Jon very proud. His only lament is that we don't have Stuart Murdoch as a singer. The organ is a heaven sent, another funny story if ben doesn't mind adding. It's also a special song since it modulates alot - it goes through different keys in order to branch out from the regular 3 major chords in a scale.
I think there may be a problem with Nobody DOes it Better, which is unfortuante, seeing how it's a really lovely and hashed rendition of Carly Simon / Radiohead. It features vocal from a certain Meredith Morris. Although the lyrics toward the end become absent, who doesn't love James Bond? Ben and I switch johnny green wood parts, when I should've been Ed O'brien. However, both of us didn't shred toward the end...or twang out the guitar for the outro.
The latest Cloudy Day rendition features the solo and an outro, but it's energetic and thus a bit too fast. However, we had a lot of fun, and it was just invigorating. I botch up the solo again - I forgot the own structure, that I leave A note in the first part as a lead in. I had alot of fun improvising toward the end, which I'm glad Ben left. I also had a horrible time singing. I'm very sorry, i'll try to sing from a stomach and not my throat. Not my forte. The song is more developed, with a second melody coming along during the later verses. There are also new lyrics.
Ben's guitar amp was unfortunately on the other side of the amp, which is why his guitar is too soft. A shame. There are two more songs, but I'm embarrassed about one and the other is incomplete. That would be A Shipwreck, and there are new words added to that to round it out.
All in all, things are progressing. We now have a place to play in, and that means...room. These are our happy songs, so please, enjoy.
Oh yeah, we know it isn't the greatest quality, and we're (read: I'm) not the best singers, and these songs are very hashed out. Just remember, these are only a sign of what their final version would be like.
And that's our first problem, trying.
In any case, we had a lot of fun doing it ourselves, and I've taken the liberty to load up a few songs from a very impromptu jam session.
A Cruise
Nobody Does it Better
Cloudy Day
A Cruise is a new song where Ben heard the music in a dream. Exciting! He could expound on it if he likes. Anyway, it's a prelude to another song - Shipwreck - and because it's A Cruise, it features a tropical feel, because it's a cruise! It's a lovely song, very Belle and Sebastian like, which makes Jon very proud. His only lament is that we don't have Stuart Murdoch as a singer. The organ is a heaven sent, another funny story if ben doesn't mind adding. It's also a special song since it modulates alot - it goes through different keys in order to branch out from the regular 3 major chords in a scale.
I think there may be a problem with Nobody DOes it Better, which is unfortuante, seeing how it's a really lovely and hashed rendition of Carly Simon / Radiohead. It features vocal from a certain Meredith Morris. Although the lyrics toward the end become absent, who doesn't love James Bond? Ben and I switch johnny green wood parts, when I should've been Ed O'brien. However, both of us didn't shred toward the end...or twang out the guitar for the outro.
The latest Cloudy Day rendition features the solo and an outro, but it's energetic and thus a bit too fast. However, we had a lot of fun, and it was just invigorating. I botch up the solo again - I forgot the own structure, that I leave A note in the first part as a lead in. I had alot of fun improvising toward the end, which I'm glad Ben left. I also had a horrible time singing. I'm very sorry, i'll try to sing from a stomach and not my throat. Not my forte. The song is more developed, with a second melody coming along during the later verses. There are also new lyrics.
Ben's guitar amp was unfortunately on the other side of the amp, which is why his guitar is too soft. A shame. There are two more songs, but I'm embarrassed about one and the other is incomplete. That would be A Shipwreck, and there are new words added to that to round it out.
All in all, things are progressing. We now have a place to play in, and that means...room. These are our happy songs, so please, enjoy.
Oh yeah, we know it isn't the greatest quality, and we're (read: I'm) not the best singers, and these songs are very hashed out. Just remember, these are only a sign of what their final version would be like.
It was cold last night...
but I had my dog to kp m warm.
Also, it appars th lttr aftr d on my kyboard has suffrd a fatal blow from an unfortunat incidnt involving a small child rcklssly swinging drumsticks. It's amazing how many words us that lttr. Anyway, a fw rcordings cam out of that night as wll, so I'm lss irat than I would b othrwis.
Also, it appars th lttr aftr d on my kyboard has suffrd a fatal blow from an unfortunat incidnt involving a small child rcklssly swinging drumsticks. It's amazing how many words us that lttr. Anyway, a fw rcordings cam out of that night as wll, so I'm lss irat than I would b othrwis.
Sunday
Well, ain't the banner lovely?
The art is obviously, A Lesson is Learned inspired, but we've been harking to surrealism ever since our little feet had toes. Actually Ben has gotten his hands wet with a certain Wuthering Heights project. We've been trying to look for something surreal, yet simple. So a falling cloud - how illogical is that? Yet pleasant too. How could a cloud fall, even.
This is calling our old ambitions back to life. A lesson learned indeed!
This is calling our old ambitions back to life. A lesson learned indeed!
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