New (And Free) Music In Rotation

I subscribe to several vodcasts through a program called Miro. I'm sure that iTunes could also do the same thing, as all Miro does is RSS subscription and video playback. Use this for the feed: http://del.icio.us/rss/popular/system:media:video For instance, this video came my way: http://motionographermedia.com/carl_burton-drift.mov Eerie and beautiful all at the same time. Better yet, I get a ton of cool new videos and artists this way.

A while back I came across a video for the Irish indie rock band, Evil Harrisons. Unfortunately their home website, http://www.evilharrisons.com/ has gone by the wayside. Now that URL points towards their MySpace page http://www.myspace.com/evilharrisons I no longer have that video, but you can view a clip on their YouTube page http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMlOQpTHN5k Unfortunately, you can no longer DL songs for free, but check out their latest EP through iTunes. I'd love to find a way to get a hold of their older material.

Here is a Sigur Ros video that came my way: http://www.heimafilm.com/heima_trailer.html The images completely put their music into context for me. Can't say that I love them, but it is somewhat interesting. Someone on LastFM pointed out you can DL more Sigur through their home page: http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/media/

Another video came my way though this RSS. Check out this video for The Mountain Goats: http://telemusicvision-server.com/videos/The.Mountain.Goats-Woke.Up.New.mp4 There is one free download up on LastFM that I DL'ed. They have a ton of material up on their website: http://www.themountaingoats.net/mp3/index.html The Jack & Faye 7" is a great place to start. Here is another site with more DL's: http://www.the-collective.net/~sashwap/goats/ I guess they have a live taping policy and allow distribution of their live music.

The same website has a link at the bottom to DL Neutral Milk Hotel songs: You can find that here: http://www.the-collective.net/~sashwap/media.html I haven't had the opportunity to listen to much of their music, so the jury is still out on the NMH (but I hear great things, and LastFM suggests that I might like NMH based on some other bands I listen to).

On a final note, I rented the movie Mutual Appreciation by Andrew Bujalski. He is comparable to Richard Linklater in the sense that the entire movie is driven through lengthy dialogue and little action. Whereas Linklater has a knack for making mundane conversations compelling, Bujalski uses one-line interruptions and dead space. Bishop Allen, the main character in the movie, is also the lead singer in a band of the same name.

A while back Bishop Allen (the indie band) released a series of songs through their "EP Project". A four song EP was released once a month, every month for a year. Hence there is the December EP, January EP, February EP, etc. The songs were somewhat rough around the edges, but contributed to two subsequent albums. You can download several MP3's off their home page: http://www.bishopallen.com/index.php

What a great way to discover new music.

Tags: Miro, RSS, vodcast, videocast, iTunes, LastFM, del.icio.us, Evil Harrisons, Sigur Ros, The Mountain Goats, Neutral Milk Hotel, Mutual Appreciation, Andrew Bujalski, Bishop Allen

"Earn It" ~ Mauger and Conroy

Today I uploaded the another MP3 under the Mauger and Conroy songwriting collaboration. "Earn It" was produced from our second song writing session. This time I came to the table with an interesting chord progression and Brian was able to find lyrics to match. This song was recorded in my living room on a beastly hot day in July. This time I chose to play through my electric guitar, seeing how the acoustics's tone didn't translate well into the recording. I played a clean tone on semi-hollow, little bit of spring reverb, out through the tube amp, into the mic, and then into a laptop. Brian recorded his voice at a later date. Like "Sigh Alone," this song was was composed, revised, rehearsed, and recorded under two hours. Since then, we have tweaked the chord progression in the bridge and several lyrics so the song will flow better.

Tags: Mauger, songwriting, guitar, audio recording, MP3

"Sigh Alone" ~ Mauger and Conroy

I was donated my first acoustic, and old 1970's Epiphone, junior year of high school. Taught myself how to play the most popular open chords: major, some minor, and a few 7th. The guitar had unforgiving high action combined with Dean Markley Acoustic Blue Steel in 12's.

On the upside, high action and heavy gauge strings made the guitar ring out in beautiful tones; on the downside, bar-chords were nearly impossible. Couldn't even finger Bm, which is necessary in most open chord / acoustic songs. Forget playing any lead or solo work: sliding was tough enough, bending a no-go. Songs were limited to the G-C-D or A-E-D (that good old I, IV, V) progression with the occasional capo key change thrown in for variety.

Strumming simple chord changes could suffice with a powerful voice commanding the melody. Just look what it did for David Grey; I'm not David Grey, and it didn't work for me. Either I have no potential for vocals, or just have never tried correctly. Drove Caroline to near insanity hearing the same three chords, played the same way, time after time.

Fast forward 10 years- still strumming those same three chords, though I am now capable of throwing in a Bm or a crippled acoustic style F. Ten years of misspent self-teaching and practice; all I had to show for that time was more strumming patterns and quicker chord changes. Since I couldn't sing, I would only play a verse and chorus before getting bored. Caroline challenged me to learn a song all the way through; though how fun is it to strum Indigo Girls or String Cheese incident without lyrics? I learned one or two songs, and attempted the open mic in town. At that time, I was under prepared and still too unskilled for live performance, although my desire to play drove me onward.

Typically I waited 15 minutes before closing to jump up on "stage". Figured by that time most of the audience left or were too wasted to notice. Also it would give me enough time to build up liquid courage, vitamin B. This approach didn't calm my shaky nerves. The more nervous I became, the harder I would finger my chords, the faster I'd strum, and quicker I'd fatigue. A combination of shot nerves, muscle tension, and sweat would add to the sloppy playing.

That may have been it if Larry, Agnes and Ed, the resident musicians, hadn't jumped up to accompany me week after week. Larry put in bass lines, Agnes was amazingly versatile on just the snare drum alone, and Ed soloed over any chord change. They taught me to relax, to play musically rather than aggressively. Gave me enough courage to jump into different blues jams, where I could play my three chords with confidence.

That fall I resolved to take guitar playing a little more seriously. Started taking guitar lessons at the local mom-and-pop. Turned out that my guitar teacher could not have been a better match. We saw eye to eye on equipment, tone, and appreciation of various musicians. Early that winter I was gifted an electric semi-hollow with amp by my ever-supporting wife, Caroline. Think she was finally glad to hear me strum something other than three basic chords. Later that winter I joined my first band, The Earthtones, and by spring had played two live shows. Early summer I started to collaborate with Mauger, a writer / singer, to compose original songs based on his poetry. Large step from playing three chords repetitively. Call it the power of resolution to make it happen.

I now understand when people say, "Played guitar for 10 years, but have only really played for less than a year," I've been there myself.

Today I uploaded my first MP3 to Soundclick under the Mauger and Conroy songwriting collaboration. Sigh Alone is the product of our first session. Brian had lyrics and a melody in mind; I retrofitted the guitar chords to fit what he already had in place. The song was composed, revised, rehearsed, and recorded in under two hours. Don't expect polished- the song has a rough demo quality. Somehow my guitar lost bass and mid frequencies during the recording process- either the mic wasn't aimed at the sound hole or during equalization. The result sounds more like a steel drum than acoustic. Gives it an interesting and unexpected tone.

Maybe years from now I'll look back and wonder why I ever choose to put this song up on Soundclick. It's my teaching philosophy that "Life is a journey and not a destination"; and thus this song is a "process and not a product". For now I couldn't be more proud.

Tags: guitar, band, music, audio recording, MP3, Soundclick, Mauger