Check out these amazing chops...

My Boy Lil' Wayne shows us how it's done.

I love this quote:

Independent journalist Andy Gill seems to agree, when hearing the latest Coldplay album: “Their music sounds like Radiohead with all the spiky, difficult, interesting bits boiled out of it, resulting in something with the sonic consistency of wilted spinach; it retains the crowd-pleasing hooks and singalong choruses while dispensing with the more challenging, dissonant aspects and sudden, 90-degree shifts in direction.”

Also Chris Martin speaking to Q Magazine said: “I dreamed about Radiohead last night and Westlife the night before, which is the perfect blend of what we’re trying to do musically.”


And This
rant is highly amusing.

I Have No Words For How Good This Performance Is...

And on another note...

This was Coldplay's performance on Jimmy Kimmel from the other night. They played a song where the singer and guitarist arbitrarily tapped on keyboards at random intervals when they weren't busy doing other things while an orchestra played on a backing track.

So let me understand; are the keyboards on stage as a token prop to represent or somehow signify that Coldplay is "playing" or "triggering" the orchestral parts live? Cuz it looks kinda stupid when they walk away and the orchestra keeps playing. Why not fess up and not pull an ashley simpson or just leave the orchestral parts to be enjoyed on the full produced CD? The mind boggles.

And incidentally, their U2 War-era-esque outfits are a nice touch and should probably tide over the salivating masses who impatiently await Bono and Co's latest addition to the ranks of dinosaur dad rock due later this year.

Toiling

So tonight i worked on a Hi Hat pattern for 3 hrs. Programming drums has always been my weakest area, and for some reason I can never seem to be happy with them. Couple this with the fact that as I keep working I slowly get better, and if I don't get a project done quickly you've got a recipe for disaster. I'll just keep going back to and reworking things until I'm satisfied.

Nudging rhythmic fragments and tiny aural particles isn't my idea of a fun time making music. I'd rather be jamming or writing new tunes. But if the end result is something even slightly better(and in this case it is), I guess I find it justifiable.

So now Empires is sounding slightly less plodding and has some diversity and momentum. I still think it needs a touch of spice here or there, but it's on its way. Onwards to the next one...

Slow and steady...

So I've got this unfinished album that's been hanging in limbo like a dark shadow over me for the better part of a year. Sometime last summer I just sort of abandoned work on it. It might have been cuz I was stressing over bullshit problems in my living situation, or possibly due to constant delays and cancellations with getting the vocals recorded. But whatever the reason, it's been so much easier just to not face it and instead focus on other projects.



The way I work is more or less like this; motivation strikes and I've got all sorts of ideas that then inspire me to try stuff out. If these experiments are successful I then start gathering a kind of momentum and that gets me off the ground and moving. If however for whatever reason I stop for too long a period of time, it becomes hard to get that initial feeling of excitement back.



So now I'm basically back in the groove, only problem is I have to keep it up and things are moving real slow. I have a lot of stuff left to do, some left over from last year, other things new ideas or realizations based on having a year's perspective and living with the record. My goal is to be done the music in early September, and if I don't meet that at least I'll be very close to done.



I only hope nothing derails the whole thing again and I don't set off in other directions with new conquests. Getting a little tired of hearing the same stuff beat me over the head...

Synth Orgy

My music making usually involves toiling away in front of a computer or synths for many hours creating sounds and loops and treatments and a lot of trial and error and second guessing. So it's great to once in awhile get out and just jam with other similarly inclined music folk.







This was the second Synth Orgy we've had, and like last time we recorded it, and will hopefully upload the results to the web to share. Just being able to rely on instincts and go with the mood or path set by others can be an inspiring and reinvigorating change of pace.