I love this blog.
Source: stillfeelgoneblog
“I Wanna Be Sedated” - Ha Ha Ha, turn that off! I wouldn’t buy that in a million years! Mishugina music! Oi! That gave me a belly ache! Who buys that, who’s buying that? I don’t know what kind of people, but people.
“Sheena is a Punk Rocker” - It’s crazy. Tell them to get someone…
I don’t. I don’t make the music I want to make, that is. I make the music I’m physically, technologically, and financially able to make; and I like it. No, I love it. Though I still feel totally restrained, and it’s frustrating to have something in my head that I, for numerous reasons, cannot recreate. 
I’ve been locked into my acoustic guitar for way too long now. I finally broke free a bit from it ,and it’s like I’ve shed the most constricting, uncomfortable snake skin. Funny thing is, I didn’t spend a dime to obtain it. I just parted ways with my Harry Potter books and my sister parted ways with her first guitar.
I don’t own an electric. I don’t own an amp. I don’t own any fancy pedals. I just have the bare minimum to make music (though thankfully having a Mac means I can experiment a bit). I bum around. Trading this, borrowing that. I can’t go forever with just an acoustic. That’s why I started a band. I needed to hear, in reality, what I hear in my head or I’d just get so bored I would stop playing.
There is one type of music that I have a lot of respect for—electronic music. Not the stuff where it’s a dude and a computer on a stage. (That’s the polar opposite of impressive.) I mean the LCD Soundsystems, the Faints and the Liquid Liquids of the world. Making dance music with real instruments. Real songwriting underlined with pure fucking pandemonium.
Every since I heard the Faint’s Wet From Birth when I was 14 or 15, it immediately struck me as the coolest music I had ever heard. On Record Store Day 2011, I finally picked up a copy of Wet From Birth on vinyl and listened to it in solitude with my AKGs. It still rang out as some cool ass music. The deep bass and synthisized spazz-outs were as fun 7 years later (that’s weird to say).
That record in particular is just special. I remember it was probably one of the first of many my sister and I bonded on. She came home to show me this strange song about being born called “Birth.” We were both so mystified by it. She went out and bought a copy. When she refused to share with me, I bought a copy and played it endlessly.
There’s something about pining over the minutia of an analogue synthesizer that just seems so exciting to me. I’ve come across a few little Moogs in my day, and I am totally entranced by them. When I do play electric guitar, which is more often now with hands&knees, I am known to have a serious case of the “dgaf’s” when it comes to tone and intricate bullshit. The way I play guitar, it doesn’t matter.
Twitching one little knob on a Moog can make something that sounds lame and cliche into the next big hook-leading synth tone. It’s why electronic music is so exciting. There are so many possibilities. This is the same reason why folk music is so damn boring.
So please, dude from City and Colour, go back to that hardcore band you’re in.
Oh and Andy Hull, stop that Joni Mitchell crap you’ve been pumping out as Right Away, Great Captain. Manchester Orchestra is the one of the best rock bands around. #wasteofeveryonestime
I digress.
I’ve also been really intrigued by Panda Bear’s new effort, Tomboy. I read an interview today where he was explaining how he made the record. Basically there was this one “white box” (solid term there, Noah) that he line inputted everything through. It was this crazy lookin’ Korg module. Panda Bear and Animal Collective’s creative process is just so…otherworldly. The fact that the process is so different make me want to do it even more. Not being able to do what you want is as bad as not doing anything at all.
I can’t end this entry with out at least mentioning that of all the electronic artists that influence me, LCD Soundystem is the pinnacle of perfection. Great songwriting (most times), flawless execution, never a dull moment.
So to all of the 5 people who care about the music I make: fear not, I still want to rock. I just want to make you dance too.
Screw guitars tonight, guys. I just want to dance.
Too many people take things too seriously. Too many bands take themselves too seriously. Not many people have fun with music these days. It’s a drag. Music is seen as a serious art, and rightfully so, but it should be a fun thing to be a part of. A small percentage of people actually have the ability to make good music, so they might as well make the most of it and have fun, right?
These pet peeves I have, just don’t exist on Brett Dennen’s new record, Loverboy. It’s even the modern singer/songwriter’s job to be a drag and yet, he avoids it at all costs. Loverboy is loose, fun and groovy. Three attributes I find indispensable in music these days.
I’ve been listening to Brett Dennen for a hot minute now, and the one thing that has bugged me about his music is that he’s always trying to be profound. He’s always trying to “bring people together” with his “social commentary”. Brett, that stuff is for the middle age songwriters who have nothing to write about. It took some time, but finally, he is young.
On the new record he’s singing about youth and love, 20-something youth and love. And it couldn’t feel more fresh. As much as I try to convince myself otherwise, there will always be something incredibly appealing about songs about women and youth. (Fear not, the whole record is not love songs.)
Though the record is pretty long, it flies by pretty quick. Even with the 6 minute jam, “Queen of the Westside,” everything seems to be in a proper place.
Other highlights like “Must Be Losing My Mind” and the lead single, “Sydney (I’ll Come Running)” are pop-funk gems that any human with a soul will instantly love. Dennen really took his sense of rhythm to a new level. It is highlighted over and over again throughout the album, and the grooves became the reason I couldn’t stop listening.
The long and short of it is, yes, you should hear this record. It grooves hard, and Dennen’s songwriting has grown immensely. It’s an undeniable summer record just in time for rolled down windows. Rarely do you get a singer/songwriter putting out something that’s not sappy and/or way too serious. I immediately latched on to Loverboy and I haven’t let go quite yet.
Recently, I’ve made my mind up about writing negative reviews. I feel extremely negative towards them. I won’t do it. I’ve had a few publications ask me to write a review on a show or an album or a song or whatever. I’ll always go or listen. I’m always up for new music. Sometimes, I’ll really not like whatever I’m suppose to review and it will takes me such a long time to articulate exactly why a band sucks. I’m wasting a ton of creative energy on something or someone that failed at creating. It’s counter-productive.
I make my mind up on something fairly quickly. If I don’t like something on first listen, I’m probably never going to listen to it again. Unless there is a really good reason to, which there never is.
I stewed on this for a few days and it’s just not worth the time.
Let’s take Harry Nilsson’s Nilsson Schmilsson for example (an album I actually love with every ounce of my being). Let’s say I put on this album. I listen to it. I hate the originality. I hate the amazing vocal abilities of Nilsson. I hate the ingenius songwriting. I hate the perfect production and sequencing and humor and feeling of Nilsson Schmilsson.
Why even bother on continue listening? Why bother wasting a good chunk of your day writing about why someone shouldn’t ever listen to this album?
They say, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity”. And that idea comes into effect here.
If you really don’t like something, why put it up on display for all to read about? Most times people are more curious to hear bad music than good music. It’s the Rebecca Black effect. Shitty music brings people together.
If I truly hated the magnum opus that is Nilsson Schmilsson, I’d want it to die a trillion deaths and never mentioning it in the first place is the best way to do that.
In the 70s, bad music faded into obscurity, it didn’t become well known for being bad.
Sometimes I wish I could live in that world.
So the second installment of Beatles nerdfest 2011 was published in MTSU’s sidelines right here. Parts three and four will come soon!
In 1948, Miles Davis defined ‘cool’ with The Birth of the Cool. For years he emulated everything that was cool. He had the look. That certain “don’t give a fuck” attitude. and he was stupid good at his craft.
All kings, merchants and ambassadors of cool have these traits.
So when Miles stopped being cool around 1965, Frank Sinatra claimed the cool thrown and held on to it until he kicked it.
When he died, it was 1998, a very uncool year. NSYNC put out their first album, Van Halen III somehow existed 
and a very cool band (Spoon) was deemed uncool by the label big wigs. Which just isn’t cool.
But something beyond cool was born: The Strokes. More importantly, the heir to the cool throne, Julian Casablancas.
I witnessed his cool first hand in August 2010 at Chicago’s Lollapalooza.
Julian just gripped the mic and howled his way through the Strokes’ set, not giving a shit that the biggest pop star on earth was on the other side of the park. Why didn’t he care? Because he knew everyone who mattered was there to see him and his band. The ocean of people seemed never-ending.
Do I really think that Julian Casablancas is the coolest living human on earth? Yes. Need proof? He still managed to be cool in this video. Which is a feat in its self.
There needs to be a king of cool at all times. No questions asked. JC’s got the crown for the foreseeable future. Say what you want about his music…
but that motherfucker is cool.
Who do you think is as cool as Julian? Jack White is a close 2nd in my book.
hey guys. In two weeks I will be debuting a band I started with a few of my best friends. I couldn’t be more excited. We’ll be playing songs you (probably) dont know and songs you (probably) know. It’ll be at bhofs and it would be mean a lot if you came. more info soon. thanks.
-garreth
I listened to the Beatles for two weeks straight and wrote a 4-part column on it. Here is part one as it appears in MTSU’s Sidelines.
-garreth
