“They’re not that environmentally conscious, but they’ve heard of global warming,” said Reiner… “Nigel thought it was just because he was wearing too much clothing — that if he just took his jacket off it would be cooler.”
Apr 252007
Apr 252007
Ever feel like you were the last person to get into an artist? About 2 years ago, Townsman Kpdexter burned me a CD with about 25 albums on it, most of which I’d never heard. In short time, Stephen Malkmus‘ Face the Truth moved to the top of my playlist. I went out and bought the album, and it’s held onto the top spot as my favorite album of the 21st century ever since.
Similarly, after years of resisting overtures from lovers of the band, including one who dumped a copy of the sacred Bee Thousand on my lap, I used a gift certificate to buy that 30-track Guided By Voices “best of” collection, and what do you know? Suddenly, I was the last person past the age of being able to know better to get into the band.
Lately, a good 30+ years since first rejecting Heart up and down, I’m thinking I need to revisit their classic works and see if it’s not too late to sign on as a fan. I must say, Malkmus and GBV were very forgiving, even allowing me to dip into their back catalogs without mockery.
Do you recall ever having been late for the party?
Apr 242007
Help me out today, drummers. Townswoman Sally Cinnamon sent me this Mod-era instrumental by The Jay Jays called “The Cruncher”. Pretty cool song with pretty cool drumming and guitar fragments. The drummer is playing what I call aerosol cymbals, a style of cymbal playing most frequently associated with Ringo Starr‘s work on early Beatles records. It has an undeniable appeal on early listens, but you may be aware by now that Mr. Moderator is typically uncomfortable with anything more than quarter notes on the ride cymbal and tight, controlled hi-hats. He could do without all but a handful of well-placed crash cymbals in any song. Check out what the drummer is doing in this song:
Now, please explain to your drum-naive Moderator the value of this style of playing, what cymbal is being smashed repeatedly, and why this style only seems to work in songs recorded from 1961-1965. Thank you.
*Rock Town Hall apologizes profusely for providing a digital version of this song. We do not yet have the technology to run an actual mono mix on a scratchy 45 through a Close-and-Play record player. Along the same lines, we apologize for the fact that some of our Townspeople are well past puberty.
Apr 242007
Recording artists Cartel are taking a unique approach to recording their second album. The band is sealing themselves in a bubble in New York for nearly a month while cameras capture their every move as they record the follow-up to their debut, “Chroma.”
Anyone game for some bubble-to-bubble marketing?
Continue reading »
Apr 242007
Did Aerosmith cover this too?
Apr 232007
I’m going to start with an obvious one, Roxy Music’s “Love Is the Drug”. Into the ring I’m throwing Heart’s “Straight On for You”, the verses of which I’d argue may whoop the obvious favorite. What say you? Take it from here.
Apr 232007
Townsman Trolleyvox asks a fine question in today’s All-Star Jam that’s worth bringing up for full-fledged discussion. Please help him out, especially those of you who’ve been there. We look forward to your responses.
Have any of you recordists out there had the experience of falling in love with a demo you made and then proceeded to try to capture the magic of the demo in the “real recording”? I’d be curious to hear some of your experiences. I’m currently traveling in that odd little land between excitement about the new recording and being misty about certain aspects of the demo. Are the qualities that I loved about the demo irreproducible? I don’t have the luxury of spending a week in the studio a la Roger Waters getting stuff exactly the way I want it on one tune–probably a good thing. Limitations making for more immediate, more interesting work most of the time. If I was really sensible about the situation I’d tell myself that the demo and the new recording are simply different beasts and that they should just be free to be their sonic selves. But alas, I’m a stubborn mofo and thus filled with an odd mix of pride and regret.
Is the moral “don’t make demos?”
