Clang & Clatter

The Friday Five: February 24, 2012

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:09:55 -0600

The Friday Five: February 24, 2012:

I just wanna wake up with IckMusic’s Friday Five.

Counting Crows - “Have You Seen Me Lately?” (Recovering the Satellites, 1996)
Counting Crows seems to get a bad rap, but I have always loved these guys. OK, Adam Duritz can be a bit much at times, what with the hair and his fondness for completely rearranging vocal melodies, or lyrics, or even entire songs live. While I really like the energy of the album version, I think I prefer the acoustic version found on Across a Wire.

Anthrax - “Gung Ho” (The Greater of Two Evils, 2004)
Anthrax released this “live performance” reinterpretation of its early-period material with then vocalist John Bush. As if this sacrilege wasn’t enough—at least in the eyes of diehard fans who refused to acknowledge Bush-era Anthrax in the first place—the band fell headlong into drama of soap opera proportions that found them with a revolving door in the vocalist position: Bush, Joey Belladonna, Dan Nelson, Bush again, and now currently Belladonna. All that to say that while I love Bush-era Anthrax as well as Bush as a vocalist (especially fronting Armored Saint), I’m not a big fan of the versions found on TGOTE.

Switchfoot - “Dare You to Move” (The Beautiful Letdown, 2003)
While a very strong album in its own right, this disc was a bit of a letdown for me (har har har!) compared with my favorite of their releases New Way To Be Human, seeing the band move in a more radio-friendly sound that helped them break big outside the CCM market. This song is actually a repeat—albeit with a much better mix here—from the band’s previous album, Learning to Breathe, where it was by far the strongest and most accessible track.

Beatallica - “A Garage Dayz Nite” (A Garage Dayz Nite, 2001)
A Beatles/Metallica mashup by a band with a singer that does a very good James Hetfield impression? What’s not to like about that?!

Mae - “Someone Else’s Arms” (The Everglow, 2005)
I’m sure a band named after an acronym of a college course on the study of sensation, perception, emotion, and meaning in art and music is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it should be. Mae is big on hooks and pop sensibilities, and while some might dismiss them as an emo act based on a few of their songs, anyone who actually takes the time to listen would not be so quick to pigeonhole them as such.

Mae - “Suspension (Live),” (e)vening DVD

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:13:21 -0600

Mae - “Suspension (Live),” (e)vening DVD

A rare performance of “Mission” by King’s X...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:18:53 -0600

A rare performance of “Mission” by King’s X comes to an abrupt end after the first chorus. Usually the band teases the crowd with only the first few bars of this fan favorite before launching into another tune, so I’m really surprised they played this much of it. Here’s what the YouTube poster had to say:

King’s X give us a distinctly unexpected version of Mission (not played any other night of the entire tour) on the last night of the European Tour, at the Effenaar, Eindhoven, NL. 1st May 2011

Enjoy!

Photo

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:04:55 -0600

dUg Pinnick of King’s X • ©2011 Michelle Murphy

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:55:10 -0600

Ain't Room For Second Best

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:30:00 -0600

Judas Priest - “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’”

Maybe this is why K. K. quit?!

It Pushed All The Right Buttons For Me

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:00:00 -0600

Jol Dantzig on CPTV’s All Things Connecticut

Connecticut PBS affiliate CPTV visited the workshop of luthier and Hamer co-founder Jol Dantzig to discuss guitar building on the station’s “Spotlight on the Arts” segment of All Things Connecticut. Hear Dantzig talk about what got him into guitars and how he is bringing new life to old electrical components.

Enjoy!

It Used To Be Such A Hassle To Make A Record

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:00:06 -0600

Interview with King’s X’s Ty Tabor and Doug Pinnick

Here’s an interview with Ty Tabor and Doug Pinnick of King’s X from late 2001 shortly after the release of Manic Moonlight. The guys discuss everything from the songwriting process and the decision to use loops on the album to the cover design and how the album was named. They also talk a bit about the rigors of touring, working in the studio, and what they see as the problems with the music industry.

At one point the conversation turns to the internet and using it to promote a band’s music. Here’s what Ty had to say:

The internet is important but highly overrated still at this point… It just doesn’t come anywhere close to reaching the market yet… It will someday, but it’s nowhere close yet… [at] being actually really effective.

Remember, this was 2001, and while MP3 players had been around for awhile, Apple’s iPod had likely just been introduced to the market, so there was no iTunes or Amazon music store to speak of. For that matter, there was no Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, or any of the other online and social media tools that bands use to market themselves these days.

I bet present-day Ty really wishes he could go back in time and have a talk with his 2001 self. Then again, after listening to him and Doug talking about being comfortable with where they are in the band’s career, maybe not.

Enjoy!

Happy 64th Birthday, Tony Iommi!

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:47:44 -0600

Happy 64th Birthday, Tony Iommi!

All Apologies

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:28:00 -0600

So I cringed just a little bit when I read online today that Dave Grohl had issued a public apology for statements made during his acceptance speech for Best Rock Performance at the 2012 Grammys on Sunday night. I was thinking, “No, no, no, Dave, no. Don’t backpedal. What you said was brilliant and spot-on. Don’t sully it by apologizing.”

Then I sucked it up, pulled up my big boy undies, and headed out to read the statement and take it like a man. But I was surprised at what I found. I wasn’t reading an apology. This was a clarification.

Apparently some people took Dave to task for his comments, misunderstanding both what he said and his intent. Dave wasn’t bashing the use of computers or electronics or effects. He was criticizing the all-too-common practice within the music industry to take some talentless (albeit pretty) hack off the streets, have him or her imperfectly sing words he or she didn’t write to music he or she didn’t compose, take it into ProTools, and then apply a thick, glossy sheen of autotune and effects to create the next overnight sensation and make said hack (and everyone else involved) obscenely rich. Oh, and did I mention that said hack can also dance?!

So Dave issued a clarification that I’m pretty sure the complainers still aren’t going to be happy with, because what he didn’t say was that it was OK to be a talentless (albeit pretty and now obscenely rich) hack. What he said is that what makes music good is being good at your craft, regardless of genre or instrument. Hey, it’s no Gettysburg Address, but it’s good enough for me. Go read it for yourself and see if you agree.

Oh, and get off my lawn.

Please Accept This As My Resignation

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:48:09 -0600

Coheed & Cambria - “Sentry the Defiant”

What was it about Valentine’s Day (and the few days surrounding it) that made so many bands show its fans some love this year? Ginger did it. The Mars Volta did it. And I just found out that Coheed & Cambria’s Claudio Sanchez did it, too—released new music that is.

Sanchez fired up his guitar cam to give us all an acoustic sneak peek at the new song he is working on for the band’s as yet untitled sixth album. The song is “Sentry the Defiant,” and the Coheed frontman says of the video version on the band’s YouTube channel, “This is literally the first time I played the song through in its entirety.” It will come as no surprise that the new release will be another concept album—does Claudio do anything else?—and will be another Amory Wars prequel set further in the past and “will hint and influence the pre-existing saga.”

My first impressions of the song? Freakin’ awesome. And how low can you tune an acoustic guitar before the strings go all flappy on you?

Enjoy!

The Friday Five: February 17, 2012

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:39:58 -0600

The Friday Five: February 17, 2012:

What do you do for Friday Fives? How do you get your kicks?

AC/DC - “What Do You Do For Money Honey” (Back in Black, 1980)
Yeah! Off to a good start so far. I absolutely love the chorus on this one.

Andrew Peterson - “Mystery of Mercy” (The Far Country, 2005)
Peterson has popped up on previous Friday Fives. This is a song of his that CCM act Caedmon’s Call recorded for their 2003 album Back Home and is one of the strongest tracks on this album.

U2 - “God Part II” (Rattle and Hum, 1988)
Meh track from a meh-ish kind of album. I never really got the point of Rattle and Hum, although I do dig their version of “All Along the Watchtower.”

Ramones - “Bop ‘Til You Drop” (Ramones Mania, 1988)
Just over 2 minutes of Ramones goodness. Nice.

Phil Keaggy - “Passing Thought” (Acoustic Sketches, 1996)
Looks like my iTunes is all over the place today. Acoustic Sketches is (true to its name) an acoustic album from criminally underrated and largely unknown CCM guitarist Phil Keaggy, and as the song title suggests, this is a sort of segue track on the album. Keaggy is an amazing guitarist. He does this thing live with digital delays where he lays down a guitar part and loops it, then starts layering on more and more parts so that he can play along with himself. This album was one of the backing tracks for my web programming years ago.

"You don’t want everything [that is] in the desktop app. If you want that kind of nonsense go..."

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:47:00 -0600

“You don’t want everything [that is] in the desktop app. If you want that kind of nonsense go get on Android.”

- Merlin Mann on well-crafted iOS apps, 34:10 mark of Back to Work 54: Freemium Mason on 5by5

Happy 40th Birthday, Taylor Hawkins!

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 06:00:05 -0600

Happy 40th Birthday, Taylor Hawkins!

A couple of days ago, The Mars Volta released “The Malkin...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:00:05 -0600

A couple of days ago, The Mars Volta released “The Malkin Jewel” the first single from its upcoming album Noctourniquet. It sports a bit of a different sound for the band, with frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala referring to it as “future punk.”

Having previously expressed my love of the band’s full-length debut De-Loused in the Comatorium, I have to admit that I haven’t followed the band or its recent albums too closely, only liking one or two tracks and losing more interest with each subsequent release. Who knows if Noctourniquet, the music for which was recorded three years ago on the heels of Octahedron, will reverse that trend, but frankly, I’m not holding out much luck. Instead, I’m secretly hoping that the newly re-formed At the Drive-In will bring some new music that I can get excited about.

“The Malkin Jewel” took a couple of listens for me to get into, but I’m beginning to appreciated its sparseness and quirkiness—and yes, its punk-ness. If you’re digging it too, you can pre-order the album on iTunes and get an instant download of the single. Or you can pre-order at Amazon if you prefer.

Enjoy!

Happy 52nd Birthday, Pete Willis!

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 06:00:05 -0600

Happy 52nd Birthday, Pete Willis!

I'm Drowning in a Sea of Girls

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:59:00 -0600

Ginger Wildheart - “You’re The One, You’re The One, Yeah, I Know You’re The One, You’re The One (Yeah, I Know You’re The One)”

Ginger Wildheart delivered a very special Valentine’s Day treat to the pledgers of his triple album project at PledgeMusic. An exclusive download of a new track is his way of showing his appreciation for the outpouring of support for the DIY approach to his new album. As of this moment, Ginger is currently at an unprecedented 523% of his pledge target with almost 5100 donors.

It didn’t take long for the track to make it onto YouTube, and in typical Ginger fashion, he blessed the effort with the following tweet:

Someone just put the new song on YouTube. In reverse outrage I would emplore you all to RT this link youtu.be/vvmShA2c1TE Thank you x

The track is excellent, and based on this and the sneak peeks Ginger has provided throughout the making of the album, it’s shaping up to be a top-notch release.

So what are you still doing here reading this?! Head over and make your pledge! You only have until the end of the month to get in on the fun! Enjoy!

"It’s not about being perfect, it’s not about sounding absolutely correct, it’s not..."

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:00:05 -0600

“It’s not about being perfect, it’s not about sounding absolutely correct, it’s not about what goes on in a computer. It’s about what goes on in (your heart) and what goes on in (your head).”

- Dave Grohl, acceptance speech for Best Rock Performance at the 2012 Grammys

Sound City, That's It Man

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 08:00:06 -0600

Sound City movie trailer

So unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last few years, you know that Dave Grohl is all over the place. The multi-dimensional, multi-instrumental Foo Fighters founder and frontman is no stranger to the spotlight. His band’s most recent Butch Vig-produced album Wasting Light debuted at number one in twelve countries (including the Billboard 200 here in the states), has sold in excess of 660,000 copies in the U.S. alone, and won him and his cohorts five of the six Grammys for which they were nominated this year. The Foos have toured massively behind Wasting Light, and they released the documentary Back and Forth chronicling the band’s career and which focused largely on the making of the new album. And then there’s that whole Them Crooked Vultures thing.

Now Dave’s making a movie. But not just any movie. A movie about a studio. And not just any studio, but Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California, which has seen its fair share of rock’s elite record there. As a matter of fact, seven of Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (a designation I’m not going to debate here) and 5 of Spin Magazine’s Top 40 Metal Albums of All Time (another argument I won’t get into) were recorded at Sound City.

And in true Dave Grohl fashion, the documentary will not just focus on the studio, but on a specific sound board that was used at the studio—the 1970s model Neve console that was used to track Nirvana’s Nevermind and that he acquired when Sound City announced its closing to the public in May 2011. Similar to his Probot side-project that saw him team up with some of the heavy/death/extreme metal heros from his youth, Grohl has invited artists that recorded at the legendary studio to collaborate with him to make music on the board one last time. And he’s filming the entire thing.

Here’s how Dave himself described the project in an interview with Rolling Stone:

When Sound City closed last year, it was a very sad day. That place was like a church. The list of people that recorded there reads like a virtual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame… We recorded ‘Nevermind’ there back in 1991.

That funky old place had the best drum room in world. The drum sound at the beginning of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ — that’s Sound City.

I decided to make a film about that feeling you get when you put five guys in a room, hit ‘record’ and the hair on the back of your neck stands up. Expect some epic jam sessions.

The impressive list of artists on tap for the project includes Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick), Lars Ulrich (Metallica), Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures), Tom Petty and Mike Campbell (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers), Stephen Pearcy and Warren DeMartini (Ratt), Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), and Lindsey Buckinham, Stevie Nicks, and Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac). Watch the Sound City website for more information.

Enjoy!

"This award means a lot because it shows that the human element of music is what’s important...."

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:40:33 -0600

“This award means a lot because it shows that the human element of music is what’s important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do.”

- Dave Grohl, acceptance speech for Best Rock Performance at the 2012 Grammys