Quote, “The concert system is, as far as I’m concerned, totally broken and stupid.” Garrett Murray offers some reasons why going to live shows just ain’t what it used to be. I’d love to hear some solutions, because I love music, but I rarely go to shows anymore.
Five Things I Cannot Get Enough of Lately
1. Dave Brubeck
2. Ginger Ale
3. Ffffound!
4. The almost-Autumn weather in South Carolina
5. Adobe Illustrator
Bridgette Semler’s Bon Iver Cover
YouTube math: Ukulele + weirdly-engaging voice + Bon Iver cover + doubletime = Bridgette Semler’s cover of Flume
Bon Iver themselves did a lovely rendition of Flume on Conan O’Brien this week, too. If you haven’t given them a fair listen yet, I highly recommend you do.
And while we’re on the topic, how about a spontaneous acapella version of For Emma?
35 Places to download free, legal mp3s. You know, if you’re into that.
Zach de la Rocha on Western Religion
Quote, “I don’t see [One Day as a Lion's first single Wild International] as an anti-religious song. I see it as the West has been using Christianity as a way to justify its actions when in reality, those figures, Christ and Muhammad, were rebels. These two religious figures have been co-opted to justify power, although they fought against the abuses of power and the expansion of empire.” — Zach de la Rocha, excerpted from this L.A. Times interview
I’m enjoying the slightly odd musical stylings of Francis and the Lights, especially the toe-tapping video for A Modern Promise.
I’m enjoying Zach De La Rocha’s new band One Day as a Lion.
Yesterday was Mrs. Blankenship’s birthday. As a part of the celebration, we got the pleasure of seeing Willie Nelson and B.B. King at Atlanta’s Chastain Park (such a great outdoor venue). Also, either the camera or the memory card corrupted 90% of my photos, some of which are quite interesting. Also, former President Jimmy Carter is in this photo. Feist on Sesame Street
If the amount of sleep I’ve had in the past few days was the theme of a video, it would be this one.
And if said video doesn’t make you smile, you have no soul and your childhood most likely consisted of pure evil. (Link shamelessly pilfered from Michael Eades)
Music is not a track and field event. — Billy Ward, drummer
Nine Inch Nails Lights in the Sky Rehearsal Videos
Pitchfork.tv has three clips of Nine Inch Nails rehearsing for their upcoming Lights In The Sky tour, all directed by Rob Sheridan who has done live visuals, motion graphics, videos, etc. for NIN in the past and is currently their art director.
This looks to be an incredible live band set-up for NIN, including a returning Robin Finck on lead guitar, Josh Freese on drums (he’s a personal favorite and that touchscreen drumloop interface he’s using at the beginning of the Echoplex clip is incredible!), former Beck bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen and Alessandro Cortini on keys and guitar.
One-Man-Band Omnichord Cover of Back in Black
Things that might provide still yet more context for the complete and total awesomeness of the slightly NSFW video:
This is Matt Mahaffey using a drum kit, an old Suzuki electronic instrument called an Omnichord (here’s a PDF of the Omnichord84 user manual) and what I’m guessing is a Big Muff distortion pedal.
Matt plays in a band called sElf and, along with his brother, also wrote the Expedia.com theme jingle.
Nine Inch Nails has a free sampler of MP3s of all the opening bands for their upcoming tour.
“We Are Curious about design, communications, people, storytelling, art, music, sensory experiences, delicious meals, customer service, craftspersonship, the internet, & everything in-between. We will join you on the internet soon.”
I’m enjoying the rocking sounds of Apollo Up today. I am also enjoying their new website, courtesy of Michael Eades.
Dear Tom Waits,
I love you with the passion of 1,000 suns, but I won’t be able to come see you on your tour stop in Atlanta. The tickets for good seats are $105+fees each and that’s just dumb.
PEHDSTCKJMBA,
Joshua
Tom Waits holds a press conference for his upcoming Glitter and Doom tour. Hello, Atlanta!
Dear Scarlett Johansson,
Don’t quit your day job.
I think you’ll get by without a music career,
Joshua
Trent Reznor can’t be stopped. The new Nine Inch Nails album The Slip is available for download. For free. Quote, “thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one’s on me.” It’s like he’s a kid who just discovered he can fly; now he flies everywhere. And paradigms for music distribution continue to change.
Wired interviews Justin Ouellette about the fantastic Muxtape. Good news all around.
Iiro Rantala New Trio on YouTube
I found this video of the Iiro Rantala New Trio via some videos of the beatboxer Felix Zenger.
The guitar player, Marzi Nyman, is obviously completely insane (that first solo from 0:18-0:24 sounds like a digital squirrel dying in a blender.) And a trio consisting of multi-genre piano, avant garde electric guitar, and beatbox is decidedly odd. And the first 1:30 of the oddly-titled song seems extremely appropriately-titled. And then somehow, someway…
It mostly works for me (minus the guitar tone), especially from 4:00 onward. I’ve been whistling the melodies for most of the day. File under: not really my thing, but I’m sort of glad it exists.