What is going in my iPod...(cont'd)

Here are some older albums from my collection that I recently (in the last few months) loaded to my ipod: Shepherd - Committing to Tape

Ronnie martin put down the keyboard and created a really sparse guitar album of slow sad songs.

Portishead - Portishead

I love the sound, feel, and atmosphere of this spy sounding trip-hop album. Portishead is suppose to release a new album this year. It's about time.

The Verve - Urban Hymns

The Verve - A Northern Soul

I was in a Verve mood. I love both these albums. Very smoothy and vibey. The Verve broke up but are back together now recording new music.

Boards of Canada - Music has the Right to Children

Good electronic music.

Starflyer 59 - the Last Laurel ep

Starflyer 59 - Fell in Love at 22 ep

Starflyer 59 - Easy Come Easy Go (1994-2000)

Starflyer 59 - Americana

Okay, SF59, one of my all-time favorite bands. They do not dissappoint. I almost have their whole collection on my ipod - just a few more to download.

Sixpence None the Richer - Divine Discontent

I've been buying a lot of music similar to 6p, so it is only right the I dust off these old records. Another band that broke up and now is recording again.

February Music

Here are some albums I picked up this month:


Bill Mallonee - Circa
Listen here.

Circa is a compilation of 15 songs of the 50-100 songs he wrote and recorded for his fan subscription service. This album is raw and honest and contains some of Bill finest songwriting. The music is stripped down to mostly and acoustic guitar and voice, sometimes backed up with a piano and harmonizing vocals. With his lyrics, it really doesn't need much more.

Johann Johannsson - Englaborn

Listen here.

Johann is an icelandic composer of mostly ambient strings with slight electronics. I found this album in the symphonic section at the record store. I was in the mood for something different and out of the typical rock/song context.

Lucena - Mercury Light e.p. Listen here.

Thanks to the internet, I stumbled upon this band. For fans of Fold Zandura and Mortal, this is Jyro Xhans new band. I don't think he goes by that moniker anymore. Lucena picks up right where Fold Zan left off with their brand shoegaze/dreampop. This is just a 6 song e.p. (available on iTunes) done totally independent of independent labels. It's not bad at all and I look forward to a full release.

Minipop - A New Hope

Listen here.

A great dreampop album with a voice somewhere between the Sundays and Sixpence. It's funny that I mentioned Fold Zandura above, because one of Minipop's songs has a sound that reminded me quite a bit of Fold Zan back in the day.

The Brother Kite - Waiting for the Time to be Right

Listen here.

Sounds like a guitar jangle pop and dreampop mix somewhere between Toad the Wet Sprocket and the Lassie Foundation. Listen to Get On, Me on their myspace page. It is a perfect song. This album contains the sounds and feelings of everything I loved about my college music in the mid-90's.

music theory 2

All this discussion on music has made me think of the age old question that many have pondered in the arts.

Is it possible to be commercially successful and still maintain your artistic credibility?

I have always been interested in the compromise between the art and commercial success. In my architectural world, we are governed by clients, budget, and function. That is not alway true, but more likely a client will not give you free reign to explore your artistic endeavors. But architecture is not really a fair example, because the outcome is more of a collaboration than a singular vision.

How about the music biz? A major label wants hits and chart success. They want the bands or singers they represent to make money for their buisiness. How is this acheived and what is the artist's responsibility to achieve this? (I have read many accounts of labels hiring hitmakers to come in and write songs.)

Or can your art be so good that it wins people over thus bringing comercial success?

It is no secret that major labels and the music business in general is struggling. People no longer look to the radio to find music and MTV forgot about the music. With the web, independent bands are gaining popularity through websites, myspace, and youtube so that many of them don't need the major label to provide the marketing to make them successful.

...to be continued.

*****

Currently Listening:

Starflyer 59 - Not Funny
Kate Bush - Heads Were Dancing
Starflyer 59 - The Boulevard
Charity Empressa - Golden Gate
Over the Rhine - Paper Moon
Keane - Everybody's Changing

music theory

I have failed in life.

I should have been a musician or is it too late? Because I feel like I got the music in me.

*******

This weekend, I was in a discussion with a friend who happens to be a musician and I think I got a little too deep on him.

Jokingly, I was questioning his pick for music at a party. I never had him pegged for a guy who listened to that type of music. He told me as a musician he has to appreciate and respect all types of music. Which I agree with to some extent in that you can find good in all different music styles. But then I pressed on…

What is the difference between a musician and an artist (in a musical sense)? Yes, they can be one in the same and yet they can be miles apart…like a drafter to an architect. A musician can be fine with all different styles of music and at one with the world, but I think an artist is more discerning. A musician can play music, an artist can make music. It is my opinion that an artist has to be critical, that is how an artist forms their vision for their work to create something that is unique. I believe that an artist strives for beauty, emotion, and a connection with the human soul and cannot settle for music that is market driving and formulaic.

It wasn’t so much a discussion on different styles of music. It was about good music vs. bad music and why do people settle for bad music. Certain genres are more likely to produce bad music, but you can still find gems.

And then my friend made the mistake about talking about technical ability. A musician can be technically good, but only an artist can write a good song. What happens a lot in music is that you have a band that wants to prove how good and technical they are, that they miss the whole notion of creating something that connects with people. Sure, they will connect with musical geeks who are into technical abilities. An artist can be very technical too, but they know how to use it…as in editing their ability for the greater good of the song, not to prove their ability.

I don’t know if my terms of musician and artist are the correct terms for this discussion, but it is the best I can come up with now. I am defining an artist as a musician plus that something special, call it magic. Artists write their own music guided by their own principles and theories. A musician…as someone who can play music.

Anyway, what is this mess above about? I wish that I had the musical skills to back me up. I am all talk and no action. Theories, sure, I’ve got loads of theory. But what good are they if I can’t implement them?

I guess that makes me a critic. I hate critics.

January music

January is always a fun month for buying music. Usually I have a couple of gift cards from Christmas to spend. Since nothing new or worthwhile is being released this month, I picked up a few 2007 releases that I've had my eye on.


Bat for Lashes - Fur and Gold
Listen here.

I first discovered this British band by watching their video "what's a girl to do" and I liked the vibe. Their video is very cool, look for it on their myspace page. Their music is in parts minimal trip-hop, dreamy, and spooky.


Bill Mallonee and Victory Garden - Permafrost
Listen here.

Bill is one America's best songwriters and is probably the least recognized. I have decided that I need to complete my VOL/Bill Mallonee catelog of his music. Maybe one album a month. Permafrost was his latest album from last year. I would have like to have gotten a hardcopy, but he is selling all his albums digitally for 7.99 and his albums are not available in standard record stores, so...


The National - Aligator
Listen here.

The National's Boxer (2007) was my number 1 album of 2007. I was curious about their earlier release "Aligator." Musically it is very good and contains the sort of texture and atmosphere found on "Boxer", but I think it lacks the cohesion that makes "Boxer" the masterpiece that it is. But still very good. This band is for real.

Caribou - Andorra
Listen here.

I recently discovered that a band that I lost track of. Manitoba put out a release back in early 2000's that I loved called "up in flames." They were electronic and experimental and sounded a bit like an electronic version of My Bloody Valentine. I guess at some point they were told they can not use the name Manitoba and changed their name to Caribou. I didn't find that out until this year and discovered that they have serveral releases inbetween. This album is more of a pop record with traditional song structures and vocals vs. straight up electronic and experimental. The music itself is still dreamy with a bit of the '60's thrown in and the vocals sound similar to Wayne Everett of the Lassie Foundation.

Sigur Ros - Heima
Watch trailer here.

Ah yes, can I love this band any more? This film follows the Sigur Ros in their native Iceland through a series of several performances in where they give back to their people. The shows are free and are played in a variety of venues: abandonded buildings, off the shore, hills and land, in churches/community centers, city centers. I really appreciated the humanness and humility of the band and the people of Iceland. The film is also beautifully stunning the way it intermixes the landscape with the music.

Starflyer 59 - Ghosts of the Future: Issue #5 and #8.

Listen here.

Mr. Martin acoustic is the winner here. Broken Arm was recording with and sung by David Bazan of Pedro the Lion.

What is going in my iPod...(cont'd)

Here are some albums that I recently dusted off the shelf and loaded to my iPod to give new life. I love the shuffle function to go thru and pick all these old songs that I haven't listened to in a while. There is no rhyme or reason to the order in which I pick these albums.


Beth Orton - Daybreaker
I picked up this album in the Summer of 2002 at the Virgin Megastore on Michigan Ave in Chicago. Listening to these tunes remind me of that Holiday.

Cocteau Twins - Stars and Topsoil: a collection 1982-1990

I love dreampop, what can I say? Basically this is a collection of songs showing their progression of sound during the 4AD years.

Charity Empressa - Self-Titled
I am very lucky to have this in my possession as it is sought after and hard to find. This is Eric C (Cupie) of the Prayer Chain, Lassie Foundation, and Cush and his brand of drone, post rock noise dreaminess with a wide guest of vocalist and musicians including Jason Martin and Wayne Everett.

Chapterhouse - Whirlpool

Their first two songs "breather" and "pearl" are some of the finest to come out of that early '90's shoegazer/dreampop era.

Bon Voyage - self-titled

Starflyer 59 plus Julie Martin. Anything Jason Martin works on is magic and Julie has a golden voice.

Belle & Sebastian - the boy with the arab strap

I have bought many albums because of one song. I first met Belle & Sebastian many years ago in Border's at a listening station. The band was relatively new and the album cover had that "Smith's" look to it. Anyway, on listen to "Sleep the Clock Around" and I had to have the album.

Joy Electric - The Tick Tock Treasury
I have every single Joy E release and then some. I am a fan and always will be. I haven't listend to this in a while.

Joy Electric - Robot Rock

I have a lot of Joy E albums still to upload. It has been years since I have listened to Robot Rock.

Jesus and Mary Chain - 21 singles

Noise pop maybe, but not quite dreampop.

Curve - Doppelganger

Another dreampop/shoegazer album with dreamy female vocals from the early '90's.

The Cure - Staring at the Sea

A classic singles album.

U2 3D

I saw the U2 3D movie this weekend and I am happy to report it is amazing.

I don't think I need to go into detail about the U2 side of things, because U2 as always gives an amazing performance.

The 3D was visually stunning and unlike any 3D movie I have seen before. I think it is a new technology for 3D and U2 were the test subjects. All the other 3D movies I have seen before used the 3D as a gimmick to have objects come out at you, but this felt different. It was like you were invited into their world and you were standing in the crowd, hovering above the crowd, or onstage with the band. The world on-screen was richer and deeper as a result of the 3D. Also, I did not have any trouble with the glasses or eyestrain or headaches that sometimes results from a 3D movie.

They also used another really cool technique (and I don't know how to explain it) of layering images. The best example I can come up with is the Theatre when they use a scrim with images on the scrim, yet you can see the acting beyond the scrim.

After a few songs into this performance, I was wishing this technology was available during the ZooTV tour, because they seem to achieve visually what is happening on stage with all the graphics. Fortunately, we are given a taste of what that might have been like when U2 performs the Fly. The screen becomes bombarded with the post-modern word images that were very much a part of the ZooTV experience.

I hope this is the future of movies. It would definitely make the cinema experience worthwhile.

The movie/concert performance flies by quickly and I would totally go see it again.

P.S. Don't leave when the credits start to roll. The music of Yahweh is another live performance that kicks into gear about midway through the song.

New ipod and what I am uploading (or downloading)

This will bore most of you, but maybe a couple might find this interesting...and I really don't have anything better to post about. (Because you really don't want to hear my thoughts and opinions on mundane things or stories about my personal life.)


Is it uploading or downloading - when I put music on my ipod?


First off, I recently purchased a new ipod classic 160 gig. My original 20 gig classic was maxed out. I saved money, won a gift certificate and combined it with christmas and birthday presents to afford this beauty.


I love it. I feel like I won the lottery and I have a ton of gigs to spend. With my 20 gig, I knew the funds (gigs) were limited compared to the collection of cd's the I have. I had to choose wisely which of my old cd's to upload to my ipod. I reserved much of the space to the new music I have purchased in the last 4 years.


But now space is not an issue and I have been having a good time going through my old albums and downloading them into itunes.


And know I am going to keep you up-to-date with my recent downloads from my collection.



At the Foot of the Cross - Clouds, Rain, Fire



This was the first CD I bought. Christmas 1992, I got a cd player and my switch from cassette to disc began. At the Foot of the Cross is a worship album put together by the folks from the Choir (Derri Daughtery and Steve Hindilong.) I believe these are original and anchient songs and you probably won't here them in any contemporary service. They gathered a talented group of artists to sing and perform. Over all the mood is mysterious. Michael Knott is one of the performers and I was a huge Mike Knott fan in the early '90's.

City on a Hill - Sing Alleluia and the Gathering

Again, these are Worship albums brought to you by the guys in the Choir (Derri and Steve) along with Marc Byrd (Common Children, GlassBryd, and Hammock.) City on the Hill series contains many of the same ideas that came from the At the Foot of the Cross series - good instrumentation, a collection of artist that contribute to the whole and not the individual, and mostly original songs. I am really not a big fan of modern worship music, but I do like these albums, mostly because I respect the artists assembling these collections. The COTH series is a bit more commercial than ATFOTC. It is geared to a wider CCM audience and features some of the top names in CCM.

I am trying to put together some music to play in the background for my art and worship class. I'll eventually have to put together a playlist.

(more later.)

December music

Justice - "cross"
Listen here.

No, this is not the christian rock band from the '80's. I could swear I had an old Justice cassette with an album cover that featured a drawing of muscular viking type of guy with a big sword that just cut the head off of a huge snake.

This version of Justice is a couple of French guys and the music is like an electro-funk. I think they marked the beginnning of the backlash to the minimal, cold sounds of laptop electronica and brought back to the big beats of electronic dance music. The music is messy, real messy, and is sample heavy with a lot of feel and flavor of the urban '70's. (I have no idea what I am talking about.) I think I heard one music critic refer to them as "heavy metal of electronic music."

A Familyre Christmas - Vol. 1

This was a free download album from the record label Sounds Familyre. The label is home to Danielson and Sufjan Stevens. Basically, they had each of their artist record a christmas song, traditional or original, an made a new song availble each day leading up to Christmas. The collection is fun and quirky.

300 - White Elephant Gift

I went to a Christmas Party this year where we were suppose to bring a white elephant gift. Earlier in the week, I decided that I don't like white elephant gift exchanges when people try to unload their junk on each other. Yes, some present can be funny, but rarely does one get a gift that they don't want to throw away.

So this year, I wanted to give a gift that wasn't junk and kept the spirit of the white elephant. Here is my painting of a white elephant. I may do a new white elephant painting each year.

I kinda like this guy and am bummed that I did not try to get my own present.

299 - I am so going on a diet...

...starting January 2.

Some emails floating around the office.

A basket of Godiva chocolates and other goodies in our area.

Cookies…Jason’s Deli brought an assortment of cookies as a Holiday gift. The cookies are located at the Front Desk while they last.

Cookies of various descriptions on the light table outside Jon H’s area.

Shortbread Cookies…Courtesy of MZ, by our quad.

Chocolate pudding cake, homemade brownies, and candy canes…at our quad.

Come get it…muffins and cookies from Perkins at my desk.

A huge basket of chocolates in front of Henry’s area.

We have almost twice as many desserts for the luncheon than we do side dishes. If you would consider bringing a side dish instead, please e-mail me. Thanks!

Jason’s Deli sandwiches, chips, cookies and more are up for grabs in the South Main conference room.

Fruit Pizza and Pumpkin Cake in our area.

Popcorn…The first of the season – on the light table outside Mike’s spot.

Cream cheese pumpkin bread…At the coffee pot.

donuts in the coffee room... Help yourselves!

Cake…The 2nd floor is sharing their cake with others so you’ll find it at the front desk (until there’s no more).

298 - Which is scarier?

A couple of weeks ago, the family went down to Union Station/Crown Center to eat lunch and take in all the Christmas festivities. But that's not really important here.

Which image below frightens you more?

Here is a photo of Santa Claus. This life size St. Nick was one of many on display in the garden atrium of the Crown Center Hotel. It was a historical "Santa throught the years" series, but this guy in the right light was just downright eerie.

This animated display has been set up for years, probably since I was a kid. This one is just plain weird. The features on Santa are unproportional (check out his massive shoulders) and watch out for those elves.

297 - November Music

Sigur Ros - Hvarf e.p. (disappear)
Listen here.

A new EP with some new songs and some new recordings of older song...some epic, some not so. The highlight is the recording of Hafsol which has been a fan favorite at their shows with the bassist using a drumstick to tap the strings to create a percussive bass jam.

Sigur Ros - Heim (Home)
Listen here.

Heim features six live tracks recording acoustically from natural locations around Iceland...fjords, green fields, carverns, etc. This is either the soundtrack or the live music from their tour film/dvd called Heima. Heima was suppose to be released late November, but I think distributer problems is pushing this back to December. I am very much looking forward to this release.

***************************************************

This is the time of year when radio starts playing Christmas music the day after Halloween. I am not afraid to admit the I enjoy Christmas music, but I usually wait until Thanksgiving to pull out the old records.

My favorite Christmas music is the old stuff, the classics where Bing is King. But I have pretty much collected all the good old classic Christmas music. The last few years I have been interested in finding modern artist making non-cheesey Christmas music. I have been interested in new original songs about this winter season. Some of my favorites have been Over the Rhine's the darkest night of the year and snow angels, Sufjan Steven's Christmas EP boxset colletion, Bill Mallonee's yonder shines the infant light, Low's Christmas EP and others. Maybe some day I'll make a list.

Here are my selections this year:
Mindy Smith - My Holiday
Listen here.

Mindy Smith is an americana folky singer/songwriter from Nashville. This album is a mix of new orignal songs with some traditonal. The new songs celebrate the true meaning of Christmas and the birth of Christ. Very good listen.

File this under "acoustic christmas."

Joshua James - Fields & Floods EP
Listen here.

I am not sure how I stumbled upon this album on the Internet, but it has been a good find. Joshua James is an indie folk singer from Nebraska and that is about all I know of him. The music is quiet and lo-fi and very moody much like Low's Christmas album. One orginal song and the rest are mostly Christmas Hymns with a couple holiday songs.

File this under "mysterious christmas."

296 - new book

After taking a slight break from reading, I am back at it. It is an easy habit to not read.



I just finished Thunderstruck by Erik Larson. I really enjoyed Devil in the White City so much that I was looking forward to reading this one. And it did not disappoint. Larson writes non-fiction like it is reading a mystery novel.

This story follows two characters at the turn of 19th century, Marconi as he is inventing through trial and error wireless telegraphy and Dr. Crippen a little timid man who murders his overbearing wife and flees with his clueless lover.

Essentially, because of this new wireless technology and peoples appetite for a "killer-on-the-loose" scoop, it seems like this story may bet the first OJ/White Bronco chase that caught the world's attention.

...more interesting things to say, but I won't.

295 - Destination Postcard

Some friends of ours in Lawrence (we go way back to the days at the University of Kansas) have created an arts group called B.A.L.M. - beauty, art, life movement. BALM will hold events/gathering for artists around the Lawrence/Kansas City area to meet and share work with each other. These events usually revolve around a theme. One event was to create "destination" postcards. The results were pretty good and Darin (Mr. BALM) worked it out to show these postcards at the Art Affair Gallery in Baldwin, KS home of Baker University.

Here are the three postcards that I submitted to the show:


Raingirl in Paris
4X6, mixed media
$60

I guess I have been creating a series of Raingirl images. At some point I should try to put them all together in a book or something. On this piece I thought of the destination of where I first saw Raingirl and took her picture in front of the Centre Pompidou in Paris on a rainy spring day.

This postcard was created using chipboard, graph paper, grocery bag, ink, acrylic paint, a map of Paris, and yellow architectural trace paper.


Conversation
4x6, mixed media
$60

...or maybe my better working title was "two old birds." This was a photo I took of two old ladies in one of Venice's many piazzas. They just looked classic or maybe timeless is a better word. Their apparel is great and they fit in with the Italy's old architecture. It's like right on queue they got up and left their homes and arrived at the right time to meet.

This postcard was created using chipboard, graph paper, grocery bag, ink, prisma color marker, and a photo.

Migration
4x6, mixed media
$60

The previous postcard got me thinking about geese and migration and the images of those birds and that process. It is Autumn here in Kansas. The trees are losing their golden leaves and the geese are heading south. I just wanted to celebrate one of my favorite seasons of the year.

This postcard was created using chipboard, greentint Stenobook lined paper, ink, prisma color marker, acrylic paint, and crayon on newspaper clippings.

294 - Daylight Savings Time

Just curious...with the extra hour we gained this weekend, do you use it for an extra hour of sleep or for an extra hour of awake time?

Me...

I always use it to stay up later. It's not really 3am; it's only 2am.

293 - October Music

Maps - We Can Create
Listen here.


Maps is a British band making beautiful dreampop and shoegazer music. To me there sound is somewhere between Chapterhouse (whirlpool album) and somtimes the harmonies of the Stone Roses. The music features electronics, fuzzy/noisy guitars, drum machines, loops, spacey bass, and whispery vocals. A lot of the recent dreampop/shoegazer records lately have all featured female vocals, so it is a nice change to here male vocals in this genre.

Radiohead - In Rainbows

Listen here.

Only a band as big and daring as Radiohead can stick its nose up to the music industry by releasing their new album without a label or distribution. There are two options for the new album - (1) a special editions set which includes the new cd, plus a bonus disc of new material, special artwork and packaging, and the new album on 2 vinyl records. Something like that...I am trying to remember off the top of my head the details. This comes at a price of 40 pounds which is about 80 U.S. dollars. Or (2) pay what you feel is right for the album and download the mp3 files to your computer.

Paste Magazine has an online poll to try to gage what people are paying for the new album, since the band hasn't or isn't planning to release the results. Inspired by Radiohead, Paste Magazine is offering a special limited time offer to name your price for 11 issues of their magazine. If you are a music fan, I highly recommend Paste.

I like In Rainbows. Much, much better than Hail to the Thief. The music sounds like Radiohead, but I would say a bit more spacious and mellow. At least the last 3/4 of the album gets into this great vibe and everything flows really well.

Oh, how much did I pay? 2.46 pounds which is roughly about 6 U.S. dollars.

Starflyer 59 - Ghosts of the Future (issue 3 and 4)

Listen here.

Yes, two more brightly colored vinyls came in the mail. Dust off the old record player and give them a spin. The surprise highlight was the b-side to issue 3 being a cover of the Smiths' Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want.

The myspace page only includes one song off of these issue - Spooky. Spooky happens to be an instrumental that fits in great with the Halloween season and the Munsters or Adam's Family.

CocoRosie - The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn

Listen here.

This album came out earlier this summer, but I knew it would make a great fall album so I put it off until the season was just right. This is a weird album and I love it! The sounds are crazy. CocoRosie is comprised of two sisters and they both sing or take turns on the same times. One sister has a real raspy voice, kinda like a cheap version of the old jazz singers and the other one has a real pretty and possibly operatic voice. I don't know if one is a classically trained opera singer??? But the contrast between the two voices really works well for the kind of otherworldy music they make. On this record quite a few songs have the Trip-hop vibe thing going on with psuedo white-girl rapping. The atmosphere of this album is of the new old - new music that sounds old. I am not sure how to describe it...it's not polished, it's warm, sounds like an old radio??? Oh, and the lyrics are a bit fairy tale-ish.

Mum - Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy
Listen here.

Sad news - Mum was playing in Lawrence Halloween night. I would have loved to have seen them. Oh well, I can't see every good band that comes by in this phase of my life.

Mum is another band with that new old sound. They used to be described as electronic, but I am not sure that is all true anymore. This album has made me question if rock music is even relevant anymore. Come on! What's new with rock music? Nothing. It is the same old, same old. Sure there are some great songs and good bands. But they are not really making any new ground, they no longer lead a rebellion in thought and teenagers no longer have exclusive rights to this music. Rock music is old and dying. Mum just reminded me of the new breed of bands who is making music artfully and with no limits as to what can make a song. Long gone are the days of a guitar, bass, and drums. Today's musicians can play a multitued of instruments and are creative to make new sounds or new sounds that sound old...not retro. Sorry, a little rant that just came out of nowwhere. (Brian, I wish you were here. We could have one of those 2 hour conversations on the state of music.)

The new Mum album...hmm, can you tell I like it. It is an improvement from their last one. They were getting a bit predictable, but this new album is louder (if you can make a quiet band loud), they have a different vocalists (very good - I like his sounds) and overall the music is very organic sounding with natrual instraments as well as electronics.

I must add that bands from Iceland take the most care to creating a wonderful CD package.