it's hard to win; when you always lose

A seemingly inapproachable circus of zanny figures described by a drunken pirate with a an ever changing voice relative to a scratched up and rusty ‘ol bumper off a run-down ’55 Chevy pickup, Tom Waits sounds like he’s lived hard, talks liked he lived hard and seems to appreciate the hard life. His observations of failing folks and pure expressions of failing himself at love and maintaining social normalcy has held his distance from the popular music world, however in reality, Waits has been a major success in composing avant-garde rock/blues/folk as well as maintaining an acting career appearing in such films as Bram Stoker’s Dracula and in a brilliant scene with Zippy Pop in Coffee & Cigarette’s (see below).

Many squint with confusion when you mention his name, snarl with disgust when you play a track and stare with surprise when you show signs of enjoying the hypnotic parade of freakish characters and suspense of what the drunken poet at the end of the bar will say after flicking ashes on his pants and staring intently at nothing buy his own daydreams.

Closing Time and The Heart of a Saturday Night seem to be the best introductions to an interested music fan, though, the rustiness won’t prevail until they hear Rain Dogs.

Enjoy!

Off the beaten path (pt. 1)

There are several bands I've come across in the last few years that are now some of my favorites though they continue seem to be off the beaten path.  Quite honestly, I don't watch Mtv or VH1, and I don't listen to much radio so I can't say for certain how often they show up in the media's eye.  What I do know is when I mention them to others (friends, colleagues, family, random strangers on the metro :) they give me that baffled "is he speaking english" look which tells me they probably aren't that well know.

Check them out!

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And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead (usually known as The Trail of the Dead)

Ok...don't get distracted by their seemingly violent name or their somewhat mystical looking website.  This Austin based group makes up an intelligent, political, psychedelic rock band.  Check out the album Worlds Apart from 2004.  Their manic calm to heavy to calm sound is reminiscent of early 90's grunge mixed with a dash of early 80's political questioning.

Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens is a brilliant musician.  Building complex textures of sounds with seemingly endless numbers of instruments he saranades his listeners with wonderful tales as dense as ancient philosophy but as easy to consume as a babies lullaby.  His sounds embraces a new age form of folk music though his sound isn't restricted to a guitar alone.  Sufjan isn't timid about inviting a collection of horns to back up his point or perhaps a collection of strings to move him a long.

Kings of Leon

Because of the Times, the third release of these squealing heavy rockers from Tennessee, is a hypnotic and addictive sound full of raging guitars, hooking melodies and sometimes gentle lyrics and sometimes painful squealing.

Enjoy!  

more to come

Electronic Music in the US?

Electronic music is one of the strongest genres of up and coming music in the 21st century.  It has potential to be to the 21st century what Jazz was to the 20th century.  Though it's been around now for about 20+ years, has an incredible audience in Europe and much appreciation in many other countries, the US hasn't opened it's arms to the dance style music like the rest of the world.

This is curious.

In no circumstance am I saying that no one in the US appreciates this form of music. There is definitely an underground electronic scene, however, I am saying to the level of it's intensity and 'importance' in the world of music, it's rarely heard in the US outside of clubs or TV commercials.  I'm willing to bet if you approached 20 people on a US street today, you'd be lucky to find one person could name 3 world famous Djs.

Why is this?  Is it the lack of 'idol' fashion in a Dj/Producer?  Lack of words or vocals in the music?  Perhaps there is not enough star status in the music, suggesting that American's are more attracted to the 'star of the show' rather than the sonic experience.

The music industry has molded the public to appreciate the performance and entertainment of music rather than the music itself.  Long gone are the days of the radio star, the faceless voice of audible expression.  Today we need a person, a representative.  Americans have a hard time finding that in electronic music.  There are rarely words/lyrics to associate with and if there are lyrics they aren't consistently by the same vocalist.  There's not front-man.

The typical 'band' is made up of individuals playing instruments in rhythm and creating a sonic experience for the listener.  This is obvious; in a rock band there is a guitarist responsible for the guitar, drummer for the percussion, vocalist for the singing, etc.  In this situation you can associate sounds with individuals and with faces. 

During the production of pop music today, all the sounds are computer generated and assembled in a studio out of sight of any fan.  Then when performed, the focus is placed on the singer.  Timbaland is a great example of an electronic producer working in the genre of US Pop.  Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake, Akon, Ginuwine, and Madonna have all had tracks produced by Timbaland.  He's a talented creator of many famous tracks that create focus on the singer as the musician rather than the producer.  In the US, these singers/performers are known for their songs, even when the tracks are developed and produced by the nameless musicians in the background.  

This is the same fashion in which electronic songs are created, and then the performer is either the original producer or a Dj that spins the record during one of their performances.  Generally the producer of specific tracks is rarely known by the common listener, however the listener may recognize a specific Dj and associate songs with them.  For example, recently I was talking with someone about a live Tiesto set that I shared with them.  When a certain record was dropped, my friend quickly spoke up, "Oh...I love this song, I didn't know this song was by Tiesto."  Again, the specific producer of the track did not receive credit, but rather the performer.

It seems to me that in America, the art of a musical composition comes second to performance of the musician and Djs simply can't compete with the performance of America's headliners. Djs don't put on enough of a show, and don't offer faces to associate the music with.  Add some flashiness, dancing, model-isque bodies and expensive outfits to those 130 bpm's and perhaps we'll listen.

Let's get this rolling

There's so much I want to talk about when it comes to music in the world today.  I want to go into deep conceptual explanations as to why this album is incredible and why that album could be better; why this artist should take a break and why that artist is the next 'up and coming'; why the popular world is missing out on the best of what's around'.

But first, I guess I should start by introducing myself.  I'm simply a guy that loves and appreciates music.  I personally feel that it's the wholest form of personal expression.  I myself am a visual artist.  I create visual things to express myself, however, I feel that musicians create the rhythm to life.  I personally am rarely caught without background music rotating in my work space, a cd playing in my car, headphones on as I'm exercising or my laptop jammin along to my web surfing/bloggin/email checking.  

I should also express that I seriously appreciate every form of sonic expression.  There's nothing I won't listen too (at least once).  I have favorites ranging from Bob Dylan to Tiesto and from Lupe Fiasco to Nada Surf.  I can hold conversations about the career of Miles Davis just as well as Amon Tobin and I appreciate Justin Timberlake as much as I appreciate Philip Glass (I'll have to write an essay to explain that comparison!)

I'm also open and love to hear other's comments and opinions.  So if you have an opinion (which I hope and am sure you do) send it to me.  Prove me wrong, tell me if you agree, express to me what I'm not hearing, or share what I'm missing, or let me know I'm dead-on.  The amazing thing about this platform of the internet is that we can all share our individual experiences with this universal form of expression.

-josh