Vampire Weekend Becomes Animal Collective
Posted on | January 6, 2010 | Comments Off on Vampire Weekend Becomes Animal Collective
I always thought Vampire Weekend was overrated. I also thought Animal Collective was overrated. But then, I think everyone but me is overrated.
I also thought Vampire Weekend’s popularity would quickly expire. The whole “WASP” joke was too gimmicky to last. But they’re continuing to evolve, it seems, with a new album and some fresh singles, and one, Horchata, immediately made me think of Animal Collective. It is, of course, a much much simpler and more pop-friendly song than what AC produces, but this is really what I thought when the music drops at 17 seconds in.
HearYa has an MP3 up.
It’s an okay song, though the lyrics are mostly meaningless. Here’s an excerpt:
In December, drinkin horchata
I’d look psychotic in a balaclava
Winter’s cold is too much to handle
Pincher crabs that pinch at your sandals
Years go by and hearts start to harden
Those palms and firs that grew in your garden
Falling down and nearing the rose beds
The roots are shooting up through the tool shed
Those lips and teeth that asked how my day went
Are shouting up through cracks in the pavementHere comes a feeling you thought you’d forgotten
Chairs to sit and sidewalks to walk on
Oh you had it but oh no you lost it
You understood so you shouldn’t have fought it
I suppose I’m to be impressed that Vampire Weekend knows what horchata is. “Wow! Vampire Weekend drinks horchata! I drink horchata! I must be awesome!”…etc.
God I’m a cynical bastard.
The space between open mics and real shows
Posted on | January 6, 2010 | Comments Off on The space between open mics and real shows
For a newish performer like myself, there exists a huge chasm between playing at open mics and playing real shows. Open mics are about getting stage time, working out kinks in your songs and your act, and for me, working through performance anxiety (and not the kind where your penis doesn’t work). But open mics don’t really help you promote yourself, nor does anybody sells CDs there, because the majority of people who come to the open mics are other struggling performers like yourself. And forget what people say about using open mics for networking. Sure you meet a person now and then, but it’s horribly inefficient for this purpose.
The best way to stop playing open mics is to stop playing them.
But playing real shows takes patience. Booking agents, even at smaller venues, often want to know the size of your mailing list, or how many people attend your show. They are protecting themselves financially, of course, and there’s no shortage of musical acts that can put butts in seats anyway, so newbies like myself probably get shuffled to the back of the deck.
I wouldn’t even know, though, because lately I can’t even get replies from the booking agents. So I’m going to guess that the secret is facetime. Go to the venues you want to play at and find somebody to talk to. Maybe the booking agent is there, or somebody who can put you in touch with them directly.
That’s the strategy I’m going to go with. Two venues I want to hit up immediately are Local 121 in Providence, the Loft at Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard Square (for their Acoustic Showcase). And maybe Lizard Lounge in Cambridge. I’ll report back in a month to see how it’s going.
I don't know what Jango is but I'm on it now
Posted on | January 5, 2010 | Comments Off on I don't know what Jango is but I'm on it now
Jango, from what I can tell, is a Pandora clone, but with more social networking. And unlike Pandora, you can listen to it in Canada and Europe and all those other countries that don’t rhyme with Bubited Bates of Aberbica, such as Bisrael, the Bunited Barab Bemirates, and the Bzech Bebublic.
You see, the RIAA, which is also responsible for bankrupting listeners who download a song without paying for it, doesn’t like when Canadians and Africans listen to music. Especially Africans (I’m guessing), because they aren’t as rich as Americans and don’t have the disposable income to blow on American Idol Christmas compilation CDs and also they don’t like American Idol Christmas compilation CDs because they’re awful**. This is all just speculation, of course. But we can pretend it’s true because maybe it is.
Jango doesn’t have the simple elegance of Pandora, but they do have Finns.
**You thought I was kidding about American Idol Christmas compilation albums? Well I was. But then I found out it’s an actual thing.
The meaning of solo
Posted on | January 2, 2010 | Comments Off on The meaning of solo
Two of the most important albums in my library are Deb Talan’s Sincerely and Mike Doughty’s Skittish. These are each albums that I was listening to obsessively in 2007-2008 right 
when I began to consider becoming a musician, and shortly after. No two works have had such an influence on me, and not only because of how they effected my taste for music and songwriting, but also because they taught me the incredible power of solo music.
And I need to be reminded of that power, because for most people, full bands will always have the upper hand. Our ears are just more attracted to rich, full-spectrum sound than the nasally whinings of some loudmouth malcontent like me. And that can be intimidating as a solo artist.
But it turns out that no other albums have had the deep EMOTIONAL power over me as these two. In fact, no album in my life has brought me to tears more than Sincerely. The stark emptiness of the sound created by a solo artists means that their voices, and their WORDS, rest in deep relief. What they say, and how they say it, becomes a part of the music, and in this way can connect with people in ways full bands simply cannot. The words and the meanings are lost in the sound.
Aimee Allen is so full of shit
Posted on | January 1, 2010 | Comments Off on Aimee Allen is so full of shit
Let’s talk about Aimee Allen. I just stumbled across her and was quickly puking. She is a singer-songwriter based out of LA with a lovely voice totally lacking in sincerity, and writes…um…let’s call them “basic” lyrics. She’s known for her performance of a song called “Cooties” in the 2007 movie adaptation of the musical adaptation of John Water’s 1988 classic Hairspray, the latter of which starred an actual drag queen (may she rest in peace) rather than a movie adaptation of a musical adaptation of a drag queen.
So fine. She’s a pop star. There have been many before her and many will follow her. But dammit if this woman doesn’t give the term “singer-songwriter” a bad name.
I wouldn’t speak ill of success or notoriety in the music industry. Everyone knows that “success” does not always follow “talent” and that’s just how the world is. Happens in every walk of life. I can even (barely) overlook her masturbation song to Ron Paul. Perhaps she became a libertarian for the money and sex?
And until I read her autobiography, from her MySpace page, I just chalked up my dislike to a matter of taste.
But she is bent on begging for her own credibility. Here’s an excerpt:
I only enrolled in college because it was required to get a DJ job at their radio station. I wanted to play songs over the air for the world to hear at 4 a.m., so that whoever was listening would feel at peace knowing that somebody out there understood them—that somebody got their pain and loneliness… and above all, got their insomnia. I absorbed English, history and chemistry, taking notes on the Civil War, the vast space within an atom and the insanity of the Federal Reserve—not so I could get A’s, but so I could sing about it all. I studied religion fiercely, not for a good GPA or to make my parents proud, but to seek out its often inherent corruption and expose it through music. Everything—every step, every action that I have ever taken in my entire life—has been for this purpose: the mission of painting pictures for you. With all of my guts and soul, I breathe pain, love, perfection, imperfection and the shattered fragments of society into songs.
Here’s some lyrics from her song “Crazy”:
La la la la – woah
Everybody seems to agree
La la la la – woah
Everybody but meCome baby be with me
Come baby baby be with me
Come baby be with me
Come baby baby be with me
I’m not fully convinced she “absorbed” that much “English”. Here’s more horseshit:
I am a phoenix rising from the ashes on a daily basis. I am Rocky. I am the story of defeat and redemption. I am the story of faith. I am one song at a time, and the silences between them. I am Alice in Wonderland, the Wizard of Oz, Snow White and the dirty Cinderella. I am a fairy tale and a horror story. But, I am merely one story, one voice, trying to expose both the fraud of the stupid Hollywood ending and the magnetic beauty of it. We all play the villain and the victim—the princess and the guy she’s not in love with. I am all of our stories.
Ladies and gentlemen, Aimee Allen must be stopped.
Songs that make me hate myself – Stornoway edition
Posted on | December 31, 2009 | 4 Comments
This band out of Scotland*, Stornoway, has a single out called “Zorbing”.
As a newly-minted solo artist, I’d say 30% of my energy is expended creatively, 30% on the business/marketing side, and the rest is spent propping up my fragile ego; telling myself to keep working, to do what I have to do to be a successful artist and not get too down on myself. But now and then, a song comes along that, from the first note, knocks me flat on my ass. Such is the case with “Zorbing”. Forget the enchanting melody. Forget the thoughtful lyrics. Forget the tight backing vocals and the fact that this is a BAND, not just one lonely dude with a guitar.
Brian Briggs (the lead vocalist) starts the song out with a single syncopated note. Then his voice comes in as if from the stars themselves “CON-quers…!” It makes me think of how I open “Colorful Kid” except a berzillion times better. It hurts.
The only thing to do is learn the song and hope you absorb some of its energy.
*[CORRECTION: Stornoway the band is in Oxford. Stornoway the place is in Scotland. Thanks to astute reader Bee.]
Hayes Carll's "She Left Me for Jesus"
Posted on | December 30, 2009 | 1 Comment
Was checking out some blogs and ran into this wonderful song by Hayes Carll via Jeff’s Songwriting Blog.
“She Left Me for Jesus” by Hayes Carll.
Those of you who know my songs know how important humor is to my music (and those of you who’ve known me for years saw it even more in The Invisible Life of Poet and Art & Wit). I’ve written several songs that are intended to be funny, such as “Three for a Buck”, “Hey Vibration!”, and “Coke, Beer, and Heroin”.
It turns out Hayes Carll is a pretty prolific writer. He has a fabulous voice and many of his songs bear a closer resemblance to real country-western than the pop-country we usually hear.
Humor is an amazing entree. Carll’s style of music is not one I would normally pay much attention to, but because he wrote a song that made me laugh, I had to check the rest of his stuff.
What does it mean? It means keep writing funny songs. It’s manipulative as hell and it works.
Abbie Barrett Joins in January 13th
Posted on | December 30, 2009 | Comments Off on Abbie Barrett Joins in January 13th
A note to those of you thinking of coming to my show at Bloc 11 on January 13: Abbie Barrett will be going on after me, and has enthusiastically agreed to sing harmony on a couple of my songs. It should make for a pretty solid performance, assuming I don’t screw up, which I totally will.
Do check her out. She’s written some excellent stuff.
Website
Samples on ReverbNation
grateful/disorder available on iTunes
Posted on | December 28, 2009 | Comments Off on grateful/disorder available on iTunes
Go buy it. Listen. Write a review on iTunes. Even a horrible, scathing, brutal review about how much you hate it and how I’m so ugly. People will still buy it out of curiosity.
Unless you want to see me fail, in which case, don’t do any of those things. Just know that I hate you.
This Is What Happens When I'm Frustrated
Posted on | December 22, 2009 | 1 Comment
Sometimes while rehearsing — particularly while working on a track that’s vocally difficult — I get angry. And that’s when weird things start to happen:
David Gray’s “Lately” Sung in Intentionally Horrible Scott Stapp Voice (mp3)
If you’re not familiar with the song I’m singing:
(On a side note, watch the David Gray video at about 2:10. His voice cracks BADLY on an F where he would be singing “twist”. That’s not even a particularly high note for a male vocalist, but it’s heartening to see a seasoned pro do that. It reminds of watching professional tennis players and every now and then, one of them just totally whiffs it. It would make me feel better on the court. So maybe this can make me feel better on stage.)
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