It's been 906 days since we started here. Wow. Bob Pollard would shake his head in disappointment.
Since the last post all the work on the album has been towards editing, aligning, and mixing tracks and coming up with ideas to change things in production, which have resulted in some pretty great final products. If I don't say it anywhere else let it be known, here, that I think Anthony Jackon's contribution to the final product of this album is gigantic and awe inspiring. He is a visionary and a craftsman and deserves more credit than we will be able to give.
Which, speaking of, is the other item of business we've (ie mostly just Anthony Jackson) been working on. Art, layout, notes--all of it is being worked on as we speak and I've seen some of the drafts and it's really mind blowing. We're creeping to that point where things are all coming together and we're starting to see the Squigglevision™ version the final product we've only been visualizing in our heads and it's better than we could have hoped.
All of that said we still have a ways to go. I have a punch list of items that I have to do musically, and a couple of verses that I've decided needed to be re-recorded and/or re-written. We still have a couple of tracks waiting for Anthony to go over and we have to finalize a lot of the art and notes and layout. I'm really looking forward to arranging the release and getting the final decision on whether we'll do a physical release, so stay tuned for that. Most people who care about physical releases generally only care about the vinyl release but a couple of us are die-hard CD fans so we expect a vigorous debate over which mediums we release Monstrosity on, if we release it physically at all. Please let us know on twitter or Facebook if you have an opinion!
Thanks for sticking with us. I promise it will be worth the wait, even if it's another 906 days.
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Review: Ben Folds Five - The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind
Almost two years ago I went to Best Buy and bough the newly reunited Ben Folds Five album The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind, took it to Forrest Jameson's house, and put on an impromptu listening party with him and Scurvy D. We listened, we laughed, and we talked and we had a lot of fun. We also disagreed with a few things which kind of got to me.
The first play-through did not blow me away, but then again I wasn't sure what I was supposed to expect. Was this supposed to be the follow-up to the under-appreciated The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner, finally? Was this supposed to be a snapshot of two-week get-together Ben was able to squeeze in, between solo albums and The Sing-Off episodes?
Eventually I would play the album a couple of more times and finally gain some more reasonable perspective. As such I have finally decided to make my case publicly, if only for the review of Scurvy D and Forrest. But even if you're not them, please enjoy!
1. "Erase Me" - An operatic, all-the-stops opener that takes the Ben Folds Five harmonization and performance to the edge. The first three listens I was not huge on this song, but for some reason, on this play-through, it stomped my ass. I always had a problem with how Queen it was (that stretch to the high note on the phrase "eRASE ME"), but now I see that this song, and this album, is distinguished from Ben Folds solo albums by using a lot of harmonies. It makes sense: the harmonies were a big part of basically their entire body of work, so when they reunited of course there was going to be harmonies. Because I'm dumb it took me a few times to think about that. Duh. My favorite epiphany about this song though is how fucking Reinhold Messner it is. I like Reinhold Messner a lot and this is sort of a "Wow, this should have been on Reinhold Messner" type song. More on that later.
2. "Michael Praytor, Five Years Later" - Here's another Ben Folds Five specific trope: the song about and named after a person someone in the band presumably knows. I'm not 19 anymore which means I'm too lazy to look up the minutiae as to whether this Michael Praytor actually exists, and like the rest of their person-named songs, it hardly matters. It's pretty great and again, very Ben Folds Five-y. The beginning of this song is musically a perfect Track 2. The bombast of the beginning picks up the laconic fall-off of "Erase Me" without hesitation. This is a winner for sure.
3. "Sky High" - This is my favorite on this album for several reasons but probably mostly because it's like "Brick" and "Magic" and "Don't Change Your Plans." (Coincidentally perhaps, the video is the biological cousin to "Don't Change Your Plans")
If we look at who wrote these songs, counting "Sky High," the obvious correlation here is that I like the Darren Jesse songs in the Ben Folds Five catalog. They're usually about the wake or the aftermath of a girl and they're always terribly pretty sounding, while being sort of sad without being over-the-top (see "Thank You For Breaking My Heart"). In my opinion this is one of the songs--this one especially--that benefits from having Robert and Darren in the band.
4. "The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind" - This one is a great example of how I would describe a reunion-era Ben Folds Five to someone who loved BFF in their heyday and was uneasy about listening to the new album. It has the name drops, and the big piano driven bridge, a little fuzz bass, and those goddamn harmonies everyone is so damned keen on. It's like a Whatever And Ever Amen b-side they never finished until now.
5. "On Being Frank" - Forrest Jameson informs me that this based on the real-life story of Frank Sinatra's personal assistant. That's cool. It's an interesting concept you might expect a band like Ben Folds Five would take on and they do it well. I like this song a lot but I don't love it, despite the fact that it could have easily been on WEAEA or TUBORM. We can't love them all.
6. "Draw A Crowd" - The "One Angry Dwarf And 200 Solemn Faces" of the album. Forrest (playfully) gives me shit for not liking this track and I can understand his points. This is the classic Ben Folds Five sense of humor, delightfully twisting an empowering message of "stand up for yourself, FUCK THEM!" with emphatic, good natured perversion. You like "For Those Of Ya'll Who Wear Fanny Packs" but you don't like this?
I get it and here's the thing: in order to understand this album, and by extension this song, much less get into it enough to like it, I had to abandon a lot (ie everything) I understood about Ben Folds Five pre-reunion, because, not only are they different people, grown up with different lives, but so am I. I'm not the really 19 year-old kid I was when I adored them so much I wore the stupid Stick Head shirt every week (right now I'm wearing a Call Of The Void shirt,
something 2001 Wyatt would be baffled by) just like they're not really the guys who wrote and recorded the chorus "Give me my money back, give me my money back you bitch." We're the same people--we definitely did those things--but different. The humor employed here is no longer capable of reaching me at this point of my life. I think that's why a song like this which relies on the humor of a dick joke to make it's point, seems like a step-backwards to me, or at the very least a step sideways they didn't need to make. I appreciate their humor and always will, just not this.
7. "Do It Anyway" - This song is sort of a continuation of "Draw A Crowd" in that it has an inspiring message (carpe diem!) only without the dick reference. So what animosity could I possibly have with a positive, uplifting message without the nasty cursing? I think my problem with this song is that it's just too on-the-nose, too direct. I'm a big Polyphonic Spree fan so I can take a lot of things on the nose. But on "Do It Anyway" it's too transparent, like I'm being forced to read a chapter from a self-help book. My only counter-point to that is that if I were 19 and heard this album for the first time, this song might be super inspiring and I might take from it what they intend. In that case I'm glad this song exists; otherwise I think because of my life experience I don't "need" this song, in a manner of speaking.
8. "Hold That Thought" - A likable song--not my favorite and not my least favorite. This is kind of the "Selfless Cold, And Composed" or "Mess" track in that it carries a lot of weight but you never think of it until you hear it. If you think about this album as a direct follow-up to Reinhold Messner (which I don't think you can), this song makes more sense, and is pretty great. By itself, on this album, it's great, just not extrodinary.
9. "Away When You Were Here" - This song sounds like it would have been on a Ben Folds solo album had the events lined up, and I say that because it sounds extremely Rockin' The Suburbs, down to the production. It sounds like a B-Side to "Not The Same" and I don't think you could argue that I'm totally off base. Seriously, this song makes me long for RTS. I think it's most obvious in the vocal melody. Despite it's "on-the-nose" sentimentality, I really like this song and glad his dad gets another song (see "Your Most Valuable Possession").
10. "Thank You For Breaking My Heart" - The "Boxing" of this album: it's laconic and theatrical and could easily be covered by Bette Midler. Not that that's bad. I love "Boxing" and I like this song a lot. Again, not to repeat myself into redundancy, I just think it's a little too on-the-nose. The sentiment is fine but since it's left uncovered by metaphor or analogy it ends up kind of stilted. It's like a song to a musical Folds hasn't finished yet. I'm fine with that. I'm GREAT with that. But I think it limits the impact of THIS song on THIS album just a little bit. That's all.
All in all, I think this album is great, especially now that I've listened to it about five times over the last two years. The biggest thing from me was separating both Ben Folds Five and myself from 1999 and thinking about them and this album on it's on terms now. This album doesn't deserve to be judged in the vacuum of my own nostalgia. That's completely unfair and coincidentally completely un-enjoyable. I would say that this album is excellent considering making a reunion album is next-to-impossible to do well, but that's fucking bullshit. This album is great because they made a great album. I think they could make a better one and I hope that they do. But until then I will appreciate this album as much. if not more so, than their previous ones.
The first play-through did not blow me away, but then again I wasn't sure what I was supposed to expect. Was this supposed to be the follow-up to the under-appreciated The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner, finally? Was this supposed to be a snapshot of two-week get-together Ben was able to squeeze in, between solo albums and The Sing-Off episodes?
Eventually I would play the album a couple of more times and finally gain some more reasonable perspective. As such I have finally decided to make my case publicly, if only for the review of Scurvy D and Forrest. But even if you're not them, please enjoy!
1. "Erase Me" - An operatic, all-the-stops opener that takes the Ben Folds Five harmonization and performance to the edge. The first three listens I was not huge on this song, but for some reason, on this play-through, it stomped my ass. I always had a problem with how Queen it was (that stretch to the high note on the phrase "eRASE ME"), but now I see that this song, and this album, is distinguished from Ben Folds solo albums by using a lot of harmonies. It makes sense: the harmonies were a big part of basically their entire body of work, so when they reunited of course there was going to be harmonies. Because I'm dumb it took me a few times to think about that. Duh. My favorite epiphany about this song though is how fucking Reinhold Messner it is. I like Reinhold Messner a lot and this is sort of a "Wow, this should have been on Reinhold Messner" type song. More on that later.
2. "Michael Praytor, Five Years Later" - Here's another Ben Folds Five specific trope: the song about and named after a person someone in the band presumably knows. I'm not 19 anymore which means I'm too lazy to look up the minutiae as to whether this Michael Praytor actually exists, and like the rest of their person-named songs, it hardly matters. It's pretty great and again, very Ben Folds Five-y. The beginning of this song is musically a perfect Track 2. The bombast of the beginning picks up the laconic fall-off of "Erase Me" without hesitation. This is a winner for sure.
3. "Sky High" - This is my favorite on this album for several reasons but probably mostly because it's like "Brick" and "Magic" and "Don't Change Your Plans." (Coincidentally perhaps, the video is the biological cousin to "Don't Change Your Plans")
4. "The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind" - This one is a great example of how I would describe a reunion-era Ben Folds Five to someone who loved BFF in their heyday and was uneasy about listening to the new album. It has the name drops, and the big piano driven bridge, a little fuzz bass, and those goddamn harmonies everyone is so damned keen on. It's like a Whatever And Ever Amen b-side they never finished until now.
5. "On Being Frank" - Forrest Jameson informs me that this based on the real-life story of Frank Sinatra's personal assistant. That's cool. It's an interesting concept you might expect a band like Ben Folds Five would take on and they do it well. I like this song a lot but I don't love it, despite the fact that it could have easily been on WEAEA or TUBORM. We can't love them all.
6. "Draw A Crowd" - The "One Angry Dwarf And 200 Solemn Faces" of the album. Forrest (playfully) gives me shit for not liking this track and I can understand his points. This is the classic Ben Folds Five sense of humor, delightfully twisting an empowering message of "stand up for yourself, FUCK THEM!" with emphatic, good natured perversion. You like "For Those Of Ya'll Who Wear Fanny Packs" but you don't like this?
I get it and here's the thing: in order to understand this album, and by extension this song, much less get into it enough to like it, I had to abandon a lot (ie everything) I understood about Ben Folds Five pre-reunion, because, not only are they different people, grown up with different lives, but so am I. I'm not the really 19 year-old kid I was when I adored them so much I wore the stupid Stick Head shirt every week (right now I'm wearing a Call Of The Void shirt,
7. "Do It Anyway" - This song is sort of a continuation of "Draw A Crowd" in that it has an inspiring message (carpe diem!) only without the dick reference. So what animosity could I possibly have with a positive, uplifting message without the nasty cursing? I think my problem with this song is that it's just too on-the-nose, too direct. I'm a big Polyphonic Spree fan so I can take a lot of things on the nose. But on "Do It Anyway" it's too transparent, like I'm being forced to read a chapter from a self-help book. My only counter-point to that is that if I were 19 and heard this album for the first time, this song might be super inspiring and I might take from it what they intend. In that case I'm glad this song exists; otherwise I think because of my life experience I don't "need" this song, in a manner of speaking.
8. "Hold That Thought" - A likable song--not my favorite and not my least favorite. This is kind of the "Selfless Cold, And Composed" or "Mess" track in that it carries a lot of weight but you never think of it until you hear it. If you think about this album as a direct follow-up to Reinhold Messner (which I don't think you can), this song makes more sense, and is pretty great. By itself, on this album, it's great, just not extrodinary.
9. "Away When You Were Here" - This song sounds like it would have been on a Ben Folds solo album had the events lined up, and I say that because it sounds extremely Rockin' The Suburbs, down to the production. It sounds like a B-Side to "Not The Same" and I don't think you could argue that I'm totally off base. Seriously, this song makes me long for RTS. I think it's most obvious in the vocal melody. Despite it's "on-the-nose" sentimentality, I really like this song and glad his dad gets another song (see "Your Most Valuable Possession").
10. "Thank You For Breaking My Heart" - The "Boxing" of this album: it's laconic and theatrical and could easily be covered by Bette Midler. Not that that's bad. I love "Boxing" and I like this song a lot. Again, not to repeat myself into redundancy, I just think it's a little too on-the-nose. The sentiment is fine but since it's left uncovered by metaphor or analogy it ends up kind of stilted. It's like a song to a musical Folds hasn't finished yet. I'm fine with that. I'm GREAT with that. But I think it limits the impact of THIS song on THIS album just a little bit. That's all.
All in all, I think this album is great, especially now that I've listened to it about five times over the last two years. The biggest thing from me was separating both Ben Folds Five and myself from 1999 and thinking about them and this album on it's on terms now. This album doesn't deserve to be judged in the vacuum of my own nostalgia. That's completely unfair and coincidentally completely un-enjoyable. I would say that this album is excellent considering making a reunion album is next-to-impossible to do well, but that's fucking bullshit. This album is great because they made a great album. I think they could make a better one and I hope that they do. But until then I will appreciate this album as much. if not more so, than their previous ones.
Thursday, July 03, 2014
Dave Matthews Band Album Covers Ranked
8. Dave Matthews Band - Stand Up
You couldn't walk 5 feet on a college campus in the late '90's and early-00's without seeing this on someone's Fourunner and now it's an album cover. The fact that this gross-looking, Burning Man-reject "logo" still exists is enough to make me never want to give this band a chance. That they used this as a album cover perfectly encapsulates the complete lack of ideas on the album. So I guess in a way this is the best album cover?
7. Dave Matthews Band - Crash
It's not that it makes no sense. It's that it wants soooooooo fucking bad to NOT make sense while having some aesthetic relevance or import. Unfortunately it's just fucking hideous and that makes it fucking idiotic.
6. Dave Matthews Band - Busted Stuff
The amount of work it took make something this lazy would probably shock us all. If you're going to do a "peel back the layers" analogy you've got to do better than throwing a guy in front of a wall with a bunch of shitty band photography run through a bunch of shitty Photoshop filters.
5. Dave Matthews Band - Away From The World
Hollywood Squares in the '70's was reallllllly trippy.
4. Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey And The Groo Grux King
For such a terrible title, and terrible album, this cover is actually pretty fun. It looks like a Caldecott runner-up for the Cirque de Soleil set.
3. Dave Matthews Band - Everyday
The band-photo cover is almost always the safest way to go, even more so when you make it greyscale. I'm not sure why these guys are out on someone's dad's lake dock, dressed like they're going to Seal's birthday party but somehow it works. And by works I mean it doesn't totally suck ass.
2. Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets
I like how '90's "modern urban" this picture is with the slow exposure of the lights. What I don't understand is the fucking coffee cup stains. Goddamn it! Get a fucking coaster you asshole!
1. Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets
Though this is their best cover it's too incongruent with the album itself. The world music influence on their debut makes this sort of idyllic, rural, almost-fall type of sunset appear out of context. I think this would better make for an Explosions In The Sky album cover, though from a more "artistic" angle of course.
You couldn't walk 5 feet on a college campus in the late '90's and early-00's without seeing this on someone's Fourunner and now it's an album cover. The fact that this gross-looking, Burning Man-reject "logo" still exists is enough to make me never want to give this band a chance. That they used this as a album cover perfectly encapsulates the complete lack of ideas on the album. So I guess in a way this is the best album cover?
7. Dave Matthews Band - Crash
It's not that it makes no sense. It's that it wants soooooooo fucking bad to NOT make sense while having some aesthetic relevance or import. Unfortunately it's just fucking hideous and that makes it fucking idiotic.
6. Dave Matthews Band - Busted Stuff
The amount of work it took make something this lazy would probably shock us all. If you're going to do a "peel back the layers" analogy you've got to do better than throwing a guy in front of a wall with a bunch of shitty band photography run through a bunch of shitty Photoshop filters.
5. Dave Matthews Band - Away From The World
Hollywood Squares in the '70's was reallllllly trippy.
4. Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey And The Groo Grux King
For such a terrible title, and terrible album, this cover is actually pretty fun. It looks like a Caldecott runner-up for the Cirque de Soleil set.
3. Dave Matthews Band - Everyday
The band-photo cover is almost always the safest way to go, even more so when you make it greyscale. I'm not sure why these guys are out on someone's dad's lake dock, dressed like they're going to Seal's birthday party but somehow it works. And by works I mean it doesn't totally suck ass.
2. Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets
I like how '90's "modern urban" this picture is with the slow exposure of the lights. What I don't understand is the fucking coffee cup stains. Goddamn it! Get a fucking coaster you asshole!
1. Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets
Though this is their best cover it's too incongruent with the album itself. The world music influence on their debut makes this sort of idyllic, rural, almost-fall type of sunset appear out of context. I think this would better make for an Explosions In The Sky album cover, though from a more "artistic" angle of course.
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
Top 9 Versions of "#41" By Dave Matthews Band Available On Spotify
Before I started this article I really liked "#41". It's like "Crash Into Me" in that it's a rich hippie's version of a smooth-jazz song about sex, only it's so specific it's actually told from the perspective of a penis, singing to the various genitalia and orifices of, presumably, a woman. The studio version provides the skeleton to every version after it, most of which follow a standard pattern:
1. "#41 (Live At Wrigley Field - 09/11/2010)" from Live At Wrigley Field - Sounds lethargic at the beginning, like they're playing in a fog of molasses. Not too keen on all the extra horns at the beginning of the "jam"--this isn't Tommy fucking Dorsey! But fortunately the drums and bass are what make this song what it is. Around 8:18 it gets damn near metal with the rhythm section which I think Dave could always use more of. This is the best version just because of that.
2. "#41 (Live At Radio City Music Hall In New York, NY - 04/22/2007)" from Live At Radio City by Dave Matthews And Tim Reynolds - I think these acoustic versions with Tim are more enjoyable because they don't jam for so long that you forget the original song you actually like. This song should be no longer than six minutes unless there's just cause (of which there usually isn't).
3. "#41 (Live At Mile High Music Festival In Commerce City, CO - 07/20/2010)" from Live At Mile High Music Festival - For the most part a solid version up until they throw a phaser on the sax solo. Ugh. No thankey!
4. "#41 (Live At Luther College In Decorah, IA - 02/06/1996)" from Live At Luther College by Dave Matthews And Tim Reynolds - The "original" acoustic version is more by-the-book than any of these versions except the original on Crash. This is okay because it means the crowd doesn't do that stupid-as-fuck "EVERY DAY" chant and Dave and Tim aren't comfortable with spacing out to Pluto yet. Also it's not the worst thing in the world to hear Tim shred on acoustic, if only for a few seconds. Also, #datAdamSandlervoice at the end.
5. "#41 (Live From The Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, NJ - 09/11/1999) from Listener Supported - This rote, straightforward, guitar-solo-less version could stand to be 4 minutes shorter. If you don't go big, go home.
6. "#41 (Live at The United Center in Chicago, IL - 12/19/1998)" from Live In Chicago 12.19.98 At The United Center - This version benefits from Tim Reynolds softly telling LeRoi to fuck off during his sax solo. Then, right when you want Tim to melt your face, Victor Wooten comes in with a thin, diminutive bass solo that's impressive but not what you wanted. It's like getting a hand job after being set up to do a2m.
7. "#41 (Live From Scranton)" from Crash: Spotify Live Series - Weaves in and out of different jazz variations without getting so "jazzy" that people start turning over their lawn chair to go get more Sierra Nevadas. I love when Dave gets to the "I wanted to stay, I wanted to play..." section because he doesn't always hit the notes flush the first time. Like this version, he sounds like a teenage boy trying to sound like a man and failing at both. Halfway through the guitar shredding--a much welcomed addition to this song!--there's that fucking horn section again. Goddamnit, turn it down guys, this isn't Count Basie!
8. "#41 (Live At Red Rocks Amphitheater In Morrison, CO - 09/11/2005)" from Weekend On The Rocks - What's with all these 9/11 shows? What's the connection?! Dave is Illuminati!!!! This version has a trumpet in the jam section which is a total waste, especially considering they had a pedal steel player at these particular shows. I do kind of like how the Rhodes underneath in the jam makes it sound like they're trying to turn this into a quiet storm but of course it falls way way short of that. Then there's the crowd response yelling "every day"--no thanks guys. How about "fucking play"?
9. "#41 (Live At Piazza Napoleone In Luca, Italy - 07/05/2009)" from Europe 2009 - Tim pulls out his dirty tone and breathes a heavier breath into what is typically a smooth song. I think it works but I could see people in the crowd biting their thumbs at the band. They still bite thumbs in Italy, right? In the jam after the brief violin section they bring out the Weather Channel Local On The 8's horns, which probably drove the crowd in Italy out of their minds. Then LeRoi digs himself into a hole a has to have Carter and Stefan pull him out with the standard #41 go-to ending. The double-kick pedal comes out. It feels dead inside. Finally Tim comes back with a Guitar Center tone and an echo pedal only to beinterrupted backed up by the Weather Channel horns. Um, yay?
- intro crescendos into singing section
- singing section
- normal voice
- falsetto
- normal voice
- big falsetto
- normal voice
- violin jam
- saxophone jam
- slower-than-it-needs-to-be outro
Two and a half hours later I'm kind of sick of it at this point but it's still one of the best songs in their catalog. Even now it will still always be #3 in my heart.
1. "#41 (Live At Wrigley Field - 09/11/2010)" from Live At Wrigley Field - Sounds lethargic at the beginning, like they're playing in a fog of molasses. Not too keen on all the extra horns at the beginning of the "jam"--this isn't Tommy fucking Dorsey! But fortunately the drums and bass are what make this song what it is. Around 8:18 it gets damn near metal with the rhythm section which I think Dave could always use more of. This is the best version just because of that.
2. "#41 (Live At Radio City Music Hall In New York, NY - 04/22/2007)" from Live At Radio City by Dave Matthews And Tim Reynolds - I think these acoustic versions with Tim are more enjoyable because they don't jam for so long that you forget the original song you actually like. This song should be no longer than six minutes unless there's just cause (of which there usually isn't).
3. "#41 (Live At Mile High Music Festival In Commerce City, CO - 07/20/2010)" from Live At Mile High Music Festival - For the most part a solid version up until they throw a phaser on the sax solo. Ugh. No thankey!
4. "#41 (Live At Luther College In Decorah, IA - 02/06/1996)" from Live At Luther College by Dave Matthews And Tim Reynolds - The "original" acoustic version is more by-the-book than any of these versions except the original on Crash. This is okay because it means the crowd doesn't do that stupid-as-fuck "EVERY DAY" chant and Dave and Tim aren't comfortable with spacing out to Pluto yet. Also it's not the worst thing in the world to hear Tim shred on acoustic, if only for a few seconds. Also, #datAdamSandlervoice at the end.
5. "#41 (Live From The Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, NJ - 09/11/1999) from Listener Supported - This rote, straightforward, guitar-solo-less version could stand to be 4 minutes shorter. If you don't go big, go home.
6. "#41 (Live at The United Center in Chicago, IL - 12/19/1998)" from Live In Chicago 12.19.98 At The United Center - This version benefits from Tim Reynolds softly telling LeRoi to fuck off during his sax solo. Then, right when you want Tim to melt your face, Victor Wooten comes in with a thin, diminutive bass solo that's impressive but not what you wanted. It's like getting a hand job after being set up to do a2m.
7. "#41 (Live From Scranton)" from Crash: Spotify Live Series - Weaves in and out of different jazz variations without getting so "jazzy" that people start turning over their lawn chair to go get more Sierra Nevadas. I love when Dave gets to the "I wanted to stay, I wanted to play..." section because he doesn't always hit the notes flush the first time. Like this version, he sounds like a teenage boy trying to sound like a man and failing at both. Halfway through the guitar shredding--a much welcomed addition to this song!--there's that fucking horn section again. Goddamnit, turn it down guys, this isn't Count Basie!
8. "#41 (Live At Red Rocks Amphitheater In Morrison, CO - 09/11/2005)" from Weekend On The Rocks - What's with all these 9/11 shows? What's the connection?! Dave is Illuminati!!!! This version has a trumpet in the jam section which is a total waste, especially considering they had a pedal steel player at these particular shows. I do kind of like how the Rhodes underneath in the jam makes it sound like they're trying to turn this into a quiet storm but of course it falls way way short of that. Then there's the crowd response yelling "every day"--no thanks guys. How about "fucking play"?
9. "#41 (Live At Piazza Napoleone In Luca, Italy - 07/05/2009)" from Europe 2009 - Tim pulls out his dirty tone and breathes a heavier breath into what is typically a smooth song. I think it works but I could see people in the crowd biting their thumbs at the band. They still bite thumbs in Italy, right? In the jam after the brief violin section they bring out the Weather Channel Local On The 8's horns, which probably drove the crowd in Italy out of their minds. Then LeRoi digs himself into a hole a has to have Carter and Stefan pull him out with the standard #41 go-to ending. The double-kick pedal comes out. It feels dead inside. Finally Tim comes back with a Guitar Center tone and an echo pedal only to be
Tuesday, July 01, 2014
Things I Liked A Lot This Year: 2013
Half of 2014 is almost over and that means it's the perfect time to release my famous annual Things I Liked A Lot This Year list from 2013. Remember 2013? Now you can, by checking out some of the fun things I liked a lot, a year ago!
Enjoy (after the break hahaha tricked you!)!!
Enjoy (after the break hahaha tricked you!)!!
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Top 15 Songs Named "The Ocean"
- Tegan And Sara - "The Ocean"
- Sunny Day Real Estate - "The Ocean"
- Manchester Orchestra - "The Ocean"
- Led Zeppelin - "The Ocean"
- Noah Gundersen - "The Ocean"
- The Dodos - "The Ocean"
- Against Me! - "The Ocean"
- Mae - "The Ocean"
- Tonight Alive - "The Ocean"
- Savatage - "The Ocean"
- Richard Hawley - "The Ocean"
- Paul Van Dyk - "The Ocean"
- The Bravery - "The Ocean"
- U2 - "The Ocean"
- Everlast - "The Ocean"
Monday, November 25, 2013
New Album Production Journal: Day 575
A couple of weekends ago we wrapped up a very successful #RW4 weekend, sort of a Bohemian Grove*-type get together we arrange to work on projects as a group, in person. How successful were we, you ask? We have almost all the vocal recordings done now, which was a biggest check box we needed to complete for getting this album finished. That alone took most of the day on Saturday and was easily the most extensive stretch of recording in 40PF history.
We also talked a lot about the release and production of the album, album covers, and track names though those results were less concrete. Still I think we all consider the weekend to have been a huge success given the amount of recorded material we completed.
(As far as how the album sounds with all the vocals recorded, I'd like to wait before commenting on this specifically. This is only because I want to wait to hear everything again through speakers before I judge it based on what I have in my head from memory.)
Now all the tracks will go to Anthony for mixing while the rest of us start work on design and release specifics. There are still about a couple dozen super-crucial decisions that need to be made in the way of release dates, printing, pressing, and marketing and it's my own personal goal to have those things nailed down by the end of January of 2014. This means we could finally have a release date within the next couple of months.
I'm kind of speaking out-of-school by saying this so don't hold me to any of this (not like you would given our great track record of releasing things on time!!!!). Like the rest of America late November is a tough month for 40PF in that we're all super busy almost the entire month with social events (read: tons of fucking parties) so getting work done over the next few weeks will be almost impossible.
But we're working hard and will continue to work hard to get this album released for everyone to enjoy. Thanks for hanging on!
* - Bohemian Grove reference made possible thanks entirely to Anthony Jackson
We also talked a lot about the release and production of the album, album covers, and track names though those results were less concrete. Still I think we all consider the weekend to have been a huge success given the amount of recorded material we completed.
(As far as how the album sounds with all the vocals recorded, I'd like to wait before commenting on this specifically. This is only because I want to wait to hear everything again through speakers before I judge it based on what I have in my head from memory.)
Now all the tracks will go to Anthony for mixing while the rest of us start work on design and release specifics. There are still about a couple dozen super-crucial decisions that need to be made in the way of release dates, printing, pressing, and marketing and it's my own personal goal to have those things nailed down by the end of January of 2014. This means we could finally have a release date within the next couple of months.
I'm kind of speaking out-of-school by saying this so don't hold me to any of this (not like you would given our great track record of releasing things on time!!!!). Like the rest of America late November is a tough month for 40PF in that we're all super busy almost the entire month with social events (read: tons of fucking parties) so getting work done over the next few weeks will be almost impossible.
But we're working hard and will continue to work hard to get this album released for everyone to enjoy. Thanks for hanging on!
* - Bohemian Grove reference made possible thanks entirely to Anthony Jackson
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