11 posts tagged “music”

Hey everyone...

One of the things I am most thankful for in my life right now is the presence of an amazing creative partner who inspires and surprises me.

A few weeks ago, I got an email from him asking if we should try to participate in this radiohead/aniboom video animation contest, and even though I don't really consider myself to be much of a visual artist, I couldn't turn down the opportunity to embark on a creative adventure with him.

So, I am pleased to announce our entry into the storyboard phase of the contest. We chose Weird Fishes because the story was evocative and, well, speaking for myself...because fish are relatively easy to draw. hahaha.

If you like the storyboard, it would be awesome if you would vote. I know it's a pain in the ass to sign up for a website to vote for something, but it'd be rad if you would. :)

Whether you do or not, I hope you enjoy the storyboard at least. It represents 3 weeks of brainstorming, chalking, pep talking, nagging, more brainstorming, more making a chalky mess of myself and everything around me, and lots and lots of wonderful creative processing...

I am looking forward to more of the same, for as long as I am fortunate to have such a wonderful artistic collaborator in my life.

You can view and vote for the video here:
http://www.aniboom.com/Player.aspx?v=206718

I have finally finished the bird mix. There are so many songs I wasn't able to fit in, I might have to make a bird mix 2. However, my next mix will be songs about or incorporating wind. If you have any suggestions, please send them my way.

Anyway, the playlist is:

Black Wax Machine - Fluttering Free
Low - In Metal
John Fahey & Cul de Sac - Gamelan Collage
Dead Can Dance - Bird
Animal Collective - Tuvin
Dirty Three - Flutter
Wilco - Hummingbird
R.E.M. - King of Birds
Jimi Hendrix - Little Wing
The Beatles - Blue Jay Way
Charlie Parker - Blue Bird
Bob Dylan - Love Minus Zero/No Limit
The Handsome Family - Flapping Your Broken Wings
Coctails - Starling
Spiritualized - Spread Your Wings
Black Wax Machine - Flamingo Sounds

It's available for download, for a limited time, here:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/69000p

If you can't access it there, please feel free to email me: drublood at gmail dot com.

Enjoy!

Another lovely soundscape by my sweet friend. I'm the dork talking, but I probably shouldn't cop to that. And flamingos.

Inspired by some leftover teenage angst and fond memories of the Fast and Loud radio show on WNUR Northwestern University Radio, Evanston, Chicago (I always wondered why Chicago took the place of Illinois in addresses when talking about the suburbs...)

Download Here!

1. The Ejected - Fast and Loud (2:20)
2. Submission Hold - Walter (4:12)
3. Blatz - Roadkill (3:27)
4. Los Crudos - Tiempos De La Miseria (1:26)
5. Spitboy - The Threat (2:29)
6. The Gits - Spear and Magic Helmet (2:37)
7. Descendents - I Like Food (0:18)
8. Exploited - I Hate You (1:39)
9. Dead Kennedys - Life Sentence (2:42)
10. Minor Threat - Screaming at a Wall (1:40)
11. The Varukers - Protest and Survive (2:17)
12. Tribe 8 - Wrong Bathroom (2:57)
13. The Ex - Stupid Americans (2:17)
14. Antidote - Education (Part One) (1:26)
15. Saccharine Trust - I Am Right (2:22)
16. Dirt - Democracy (1:26)
17. Gray Matter - Take it Back (3:19)
18. Antidote - Education (Part Two) (1:48)
19. Flipper - Ha Ha Ha (2:18)
20. Flux of Pink Indians - Progress (1:43)
21. No Trend - Mass Sterilization Caused By Venereal Disease (3:07)
22. No Trend - Teen Love (6:35)
23. Naked Raygun - I Don' t Know (3:31)
24. Minutemen - Paranoid Chant (1:21)
25. Minor Threat - Salad Days (2:46)
26. Screeching Weasel - Hey Suburbia (2:49)
27. MDC - Chickensquawk (2:39)
28. Agent Orange - Bloodstains (1:45)
29. Discharge - Never Again (2:21)

Part One
On my walk, I was thinking about how funny it is that I can so quickly lose interest in something. There are things that I have thought of as ultimate goals or desires, and really all it takes is one incident...one word, or a lack of words. Some small catalyst can quickly kill my drive or desire, no matter how strong the drive seemed to be just moments before.

I can't say the exact moment I lost interest, but I do know it happened quickly. One moment, anything seemed possible...and the next, nothing was desirable. It's not an incredibly happy thought, but for some reason it made me laugh. Perhaps it was nervous laughter. Who knows.

Part Two

I just realized why I laughed...and here is why: it is NOT at all easy for me to give up. I am ridiculously persistent to the point of obsessive. I will take a situation and examine it from every angle. I will see how certain people, projects, or situations might be able to fit into my life. I will exhaust EVERY effort to hold on to something that I deem worthy of holding on to...YET, when I finally reach the point where nothing works...*poof* it's over. No fanfare. No tears. No regrets. Just over.

I am tempted to say I have wasted years in trying to wrap my life around this situation...but I don't believe in wastes of time. I am just not quite sure what I was supposed to learn from it, and that kind of bothers me. I guess one thing I have learned is that sometimes things DON'T happen for a reason...but is that lesson worthy of the energy invested?

Part Three

Somehow, this song seems fitting...

Funny As In Funny Haha by Smart Went Crazy

A prizefight between your entropy and cowardice
The sweet science of being in love
The sweet science of giving up
Did she keep a file of all your lame excuses and vulgar transgressions?
Like the time that you said that you were afraid to confront your fear of confrontation?
A raw deal for your sweet complicit paramour
Someday she'll thank you, of course
That is what deathbeds are for
Now you'll have to dine alone

Part Four
(the hope is silent)

This is for Jason and anyone else who missed it the first time...winter mix, and I think the liner notes are included in the zip file, but if they aren't, you can find them here.

I forgot all about a spring mix! I need to get on that!

Rites of Spring was the original emo band. I believe I am 100% correct here. That is my story and I am sticking to it. They were probably the best, too, but that is an opinion and if you disagree...you have inferior taste.

At any rate, I think it was M.K. who told me I needed to listen to Rites of Spring. Back in the winter of 1986? maybe? or 1987? I can't remember exactly when, but I do know that I asked my mom to write a check so I could order the album from Dischord. hahaha.

And when the package arrived, the needle on my record player was broken, and I couldn't listen to it for at least a week. I spent that time memorizing all of the lyrics, which to my 16 year old brain were fucking brilliant works of sheer genius. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that now, but really only a little. They are unabashedly EMO is what they are. Unpretentious, though...not like the crap the kids spew out these days...but maybe that is just me being a crotchedy old lady.

So I was expecting, judging from the lyrics, something that sounded quite a bit like, oh...THE SMITHS. And what I got when I finally was able to replace the needle was a wall of guitar feedback and a vocalist who managed to be both gutteral and screeching in his vocal assaults.

There is a reason why emo is a word that describes (or at least did describe, back in my day) music that is primarily written/sung by men. In fact, I can't think of a single emo band fronted by a woman. If I were to ask my friend Chris the reason, I am certain what he would say is "That's because you bitches are emoing all the damn time." hahahaha. But I don't even have to ask him because A) I know this is what he would say and B) He hates Emo and therefore will never read this and therefore will never know that I put an alleged quote from him in a conversation that never happened in this essay.

At any rate, yeah...there is a reason for emo (or having been) the domain of men, and it's only partially because of what Chris would have maybe allegedly said. It's more because it's the perception of society that emotions are the domain of women, and a man emoting is something that needs to be labeled as such to reinforce it's mythical oddity.

I know I just totally stated the obvious there, but I feel like it must be said, anyway.

But back to Rites of Spring and the caterwauling of the lead singer dude (I just hate it when people put the names of the band members in essays like this...as if anyone really cares what their names are...) My response to the initial listen was much like my response the first time I heard The Jesus and Mary Chain. I had to check and make sure the needle was actually fixed and that I wasn't listening to the sound of my new vinyl being ripped to shreds by a bare tone-arm (that's, you know, a PHONOGRAPH technical term meaning "that little arm-ey thing that the needle rests in") And, in fact, after I realized that what I was hearing was what I was intended to hear...it took me some time to adjust my prediction of what the music would sound like (based on the lyrics.)

That's because it was something totally new. I mean, Saccharine Trust had the same caterwauling lyrics, but they wrote mostly about drugs and, if about love, then in a more obscure sort of way (with, maybe, the exception of "A Human Certainty"...but even that is more of a story than an epic emotional outpouring. Nice fucking crying at the end though! I keep thinking I need to make a mix of music that has good painful crying or shouting or whatnot. "Human Certainty" is on that list, and so is "Drink Deep by Rites of spring...which, oh yeah, is who I am supposed to be writing about right now.) So that is how I KNOW Rites of Spring were the first emo band.

And, like all emo bands worth their salt, they were not long-lived. One album and one 7" and a handful of shows that were, as the story goes, plagued with strange and mysterious disasters...Rites of Spring had a short season. The 7" was a very stripped down affair with none of the assaultive guitar feedback, but I guess a bit of caterwauling. After that, there were a few Emo bands I liked...Moss Icon was good, Jawbreaker. I liked Jawbreaker a lot, but it was more straight-up punk with emo lyrics...already losing that edge of noise. And really I only started to like Jets to Brazil much later and that's just because I have a big crush on Mr. What-see-giggy lead singer and I want him to write love poems about me for the rest of my life. hahaha. Otherwise they would never have interested me.

But, yeah...Rites of Spring were the first. And they are the perfect thing to listen to at the end of a very long, emotionally-charged and riddle week. There is nothing better to keep me from yelping out cries of frustration than listening to that scratchy, pained voice and remembering...fucking a! At least I am not a teenager anymore!

How can you not love this band?

I got myself an mp3 player for my birthday and am slowly becoming fascinated with the sounds I can create with the voice recorder. When I gave my humble bleatings to my friend Chris (a solo artist who works under the name Black Wax Machine) he created something amazing and, I think, kind of beautiful. If you can ignore the fact that I sound like a pre-adolescent boy.

Anyway, here it is. Enjoy.