Elliott Smith - New Moon
Monday, May 14, 2007
Elliott Smith's label Kill Rockstars (KRS) has released a new album of all his unreleased stuff. I don't know why a lot of it wasn't released, because I love a lot of it, some of my favorite songs are on this album now. Its a whopping 24 tracks, two CDs.
About that label though. Heres a situation where I feel no remorse for just downloading the album and not paying any money. Elliott Smith is dead. This is a marketing play for the most part. They want more money that they can make off of Elliott, in spite of his death early in his career. Chances are they payed him a bit to sign, he died early, and all of his assets went to his woman (who probably killed him...). So in an attempt to make up for what they paid him, they probably put together this little guy. Now it would have been one thing, if they had donated the proceeds of this CD to a worthy cause, or anything other than stick it in their pockets. But they didn't, so fuck 'em.
So download away, torrent sites have it up, took me a couple hours. If you're a fan, enjoy. If you aren't yet, download some stuff and give it a try. One of my favorite artists. Ever.
Posted byJoe at 10:21 PM 1 comments
Labels: album, CD, elliott, kill, KRS, moon, music, new, rock, rockstars, smith, stars
Man, I wish my parents could have gotten this for me...
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Rockabye Baby - Lullaby Renditions of Nine Inch Nails
Two words: fucking sweet. I'm definitely picking this up and putting it away for when I have kids. Essentially what they did, is take nails songs, and make them sound all nice and lullaby-ish. You know, vibraphone, mellotron, and other soothing instruments. The song selection is a bit odd though. The one that sticks out to me is "Closer" (you know, the song that goes something like "I wanna fuck you like an animal, I wanna feel you from the inside").
But regardless of the song selection, this CD is sweet as hell. Apparently the guy who does it has done other big bands too, like Pink Floyd for example. Oh and you gotta hear this description, it's the reason I wrote this:
"Nine Inch Nails changed the way an entire generation of kids heard the music around them. Trent Reznor uses unique sounds to create electronic music that is otherworldly. His songs are a warm place that are closer to being fragile than broken. If your child bites the hand that feeds, play this album. It is made with all the love in the world."
(If you're a fan, you'll catch the handful of song references crammed into that blurb)
Posted byJoe at 9:48 PM 0 comments
Labels: album, alex, baby, cover, inch, lullaby, music, nails, nine, rendition, rockabye
Purevolume
I've started using it once again. Since I've gone and dug up my old hobby, music, I've decided I might as well start posting a bit of the noise I'm making.
You can check it out here
What will you find? Who knows?
New songs, lyrics, my trial and error process of deciding what I like and what I don't like, general info on how my "career" as musician is going. I'm actually gonna start using it a bit. So if you like the way I sound, check it out now 'n then. Or even better, you could register on purevolume as a listener and become a fan/friend of me, just like on myspace! but with music! how exciting! Do it any you're my hero. Honestly every time I look at that site I cringe a little when I read "no messages, 0 friends, 0 fans, no one likes you, why are you trying, get your shit out of here"
Honestly, thats what I have to read every time I login.
Posted byJoe at 4:24 PM 0 comments
Labels: artist, band, fan, listener, lyrics, music, new, purevolume, song, updates, writing
Finally, an absorbing hobby
Monday, April 09, 2007
So I've decided on a very time consuming hobby. Digital music production. I know I've talked about it before, but I'm prettttty sure I'm sticking with it now, so I thought I'd explain it. I'm aort of happy about it, but I'm also starting to dread getting sucked into this as a pastime.
Anyway, digital music is no simple thing. You need to make use of tons of software, and invest in boatloads of hardware to make it work, and even after that, you need to muster the creative energy to crank out a few tunes. I think I have plenty of the creative juices to squeeze out, unfortunately I've never been one to enjoy spending vast amounts of money, nor do I enjoy reading manuals and learning very very task-specific technical knowledge. I am, however, quite handy with electronics, so I'm not too worried.
I've been browsing the world of production software off and on for about 4 months now, and just tonight I finally found exactly what I'm looking for. I found out what programs and hardware, specifically, that Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails' frontman and creative force) used to produce both With Teeth, and my new favorite album ever, Year Zero: Native Instruments. Native Instruments is one of the leaders in digital production. I used their website to find the basic info on what I need to do what I want, and where to get it, and how to use it, etc. Anyway, after gathering all that info, I found that all of these programs are extremely complex, and I was going to need an in-depth tutorial, rather than an overview to figure them all out. So it was off to my good friend the Wiki. Gotta love piles of information.
So essentially, I'm in the learning stages of digitally producing my own unique sound. In the meantime, I'm also teaching myself piano, and making sure not to slouch in my guitar and singing skills.
Whats my goal? I want to express my opinions and emotions in a large, evergrowing body of musical compositions. I've already got a growing stack of lyrics, and once I get down this computer shit, I'll have a medium. Then what? Then I'm gonna share it with everyone! And maybe if lots of people like it, I'll get a couple fans. Can never have too many of those. I'll keep posting my progress on piano, vocals, guitar, and this computer stuff so you'll all know when to expect some music. And hey, if you wanna help, let me know, I'm sure theres something you could do.
Posted byJoe at 10:58 PM 0 comments
Labels: digital, guitar, hobby, instruments, learn, music, native, piano, production, sing, vocals, wikipedia
Digitally produced music.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
A new passion. I have to give credit where its due, Trent Reznor is all the inspiration for this. I'm still learning piano, yes, but I've found myself yet another creative outlet. The new album, to be released in April, was produced by Trent on a laptop. With technology today, its easy to take one sound, and turn it into an entire song. It takes a bit of technological know-how, but once you get the hang of it, its really pretty easy.
The program I prefer for now, is Sony Acid. Its easy to use, doesn't require too much of my computer, so it runs well too. I've been using scraps of my earlier recordings to make all sorts of strange sounds. I really like the dirty, eerie sounds that NIN makes, so as far as influence is concerned: NIN. Hopefully I'll start cranking out some music once I get a good feel for this stuff :)
Let me know if you're interested in picking up the hobby.
This sort of music can be tedious, so I could use a little help :P
Posted byJoe at 3:38 PM 0 comments
Labels: acid, digital, inch, music, nails, nine, produce, reznor, sony, trent
I'm teaching myself piano!
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
I tried to do it once before, and failed miserably, but I'm back to try my second hand at piano thanks to a few new learning tools I have. Why learn piano? Everybody says its so helpful with music theory, plus it goes well with guitar, and its just nice to have another creative outlet at my disposal.
Anyway, as I was saying, I have a few new tools:
1. Chewing Tobacco - Key to helping mind-numbing tasks go just a little bit faster. Actually, its a little-known fact that nicotine sharpens your mind while in your system, it helps you focus. Its true, look it up.
2. Baby's First Keyboard - It may not be much. But it didn't cost much either. And it gets the job done... sort of. I can pretty much only play one hand at a time, but I'm trying to improve on my note-reading too, so it isn't that big of a deal. I'll upgrade when I know I'm for real on this.
3. Internet Sheet Music, accompanied by The Pencil - After learning the basics of reading sheet music, I downloaded a few songs, long ones, to practice. Practice how? Write all the notes in. It sounds tedious, but if you have a passion for music, you really won't mind it much. I don't, anyway.
4. Computer and Internet - The internet rocks. Use a site like Musictheory.net to learn how to read, and then just google some sheet music. Its that simple :)
(click to enlarge)Happy learnin'
Posted byJoe at 5:51 PM 0 comments
Labels: keyboard, learn, music, nicotine, piano, self, self-taught, sheet, taught, teach, theory, tobacco, yourself
Year Zero
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Its parepin. The government's solution. Its in your water. Its in your body. Its in your head.
When did we make the conscious decision to follow whatever they shove down our throats?
What is real truth? And even if you you got it, would you want to believe it?
This is the beginning of the end.
Parepin and that presence, a hand, or something, extending from the sky.
What is it? Do you want to know? Can you believe?
Anotherversionofthetruth
Iamtryingtobelieve
Yearzero
NIN on myspacemusic (3 songs from new album)
Posted byJoe at 1:22 PM 0 comments
Labels: another, believe, government, inch, industrial, music, nails, nine, parepin, rock, truth, trying, version, year, zero
Hit Me, Baby, One More Line!
Friday, February 23, 2007
Lets examine that claim more closely; "not a crazy bitch" usually entails not.. well, not doing shit that just freaks me out. I should note however, that if an action should both freak me out and
Apparently, though, theres quite the story to her strange actions. Britney does a whole bunch of coke! Oh! That explains everything! Not quite. Also, she drinks herself sick when she parties. And by drinking sick, I mean she gets fucking sloshed, passes out, then bitches at her bodyguards or friends to drive her home. Needless to say, if you've got a horrible soul, you can already guess what happened. "Britney passed out in the back of my car? What should I do (to... her...)? I'm afraid Britney's friends aren't the types to scribble dicks on her tits and write "balls" on her forehead with markers. They seem to prefer rape! Thats right. Apparently she got raped too. So, I think its safe to assume that between the stress of a (somewhat) failing career, divorce, child, drug habit, and rape, she snapped. Thank god though. Shes headed to rehab! That always works, especially for rockstars.
Just thought that you all should know. I wouldn't fuck Britney Spears.
My reason: Shes a crazy bald bitch.
Posted byJoe at 1:16 PM 1 comments
Labels: bald, bitch, britney, cocaine, coke, crazy, divorce, drink, drinking, drugs, entertainment, hollywood, K-Fed, music, news, pop, rape, spears
Playing guitar and self-expression.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
I feel that everyone should play an instrument. That doesn't mean taking lessons, or even devoting much time to it. Music is a fun hobby for me. I took piano lessons, and have spent probably a total of 5-10 hours in my life being professionally taught how to play guitar. I have been self-teaching myself guitar for about 5-6 years now.
I guess the secret to being self-taught isn't anything like practicing EVERY DAY until you're good, its enjoying it. How can you develop a hobby if you aren't enjoying yourself. The reason so many people get hooked on things like videogames is because they're fun... immediately. You don't have to learn to play a videogame, you just pick it up and within 5 minutes, you're shooting, slashing, or passing the football, whatever. However, with an instrument, there are pitfalls. Especially with guitar. For one, before developing callouses on my fingers, it hurt like hell. Thats about the only part that required determination for me.
But the secret, really to teaching yourself guitar: have fun. Don't try to play some hard fucking song and fail horribly, then just look yourself in the mirror and say "WOW I suck." What I did was fucking rock out. It didn't sound to great at first, but I really got to know the instrument by playing whatever I wanted. I hummed tunes, then sounded them out on the guitar. I looked up chords and dicked around with them, even if it was some simple little song that went something like E A E A E A E A A A A A EEEEE (One of my all-time greats).
I feel sort of bad, because I have a few friends that have tried to pick up guitar as a hobby rather than go get lessons. And being slightly better than them, I almost feel like a hindrance, because since I'm self-taught, if they don't pick it up quick they feel like "I'll never be that good" or something like that. Well, maybe that isn't true, or maybe it is. The fact is, it took me like 5 years to get this good lol. Yes, I was once strumming out Smoke on the Water just like you.
Another misconception is that some people have "more musical talent" I don't think this is true at all. Its all just a matter of how you view music. I have a very open-ended view of all music, and all genres, therefore, its easy for me to relate to and understand the sound and structure. If you start really listening to what makes up the music you listen to (the drums, the bass, the guitar, the vocals) individually, I guarantee your "musical talent" will increase.
Anyway, for all you aspiring players, heres a few links that I found useful:
Ultimate Guitar Tabs
Chords Charts
Guitar Tips
Happy playing. Hopefully you'll be shredding in no time.
By the way, if you enjoyed reading this, let me know with a comment :D
Posted byJoe at 4:16 PM 0 comments
Labels: chords, guitar, instrument, music, self, tabs, taught
