Archive for the 'music' Category
Mar 28th 2008Lightbulb Doodle and Midnight Spaghetti
Cleaning my room tonight I found the original scrap of paper that inspired me to make a painting out of the doodle. It was a simple drawing that was done in a meeting at work, and as I looked at it more, I saw the possibility of a cool painting. So a 3′ x 4′ canvas is in my room right now with this swirling lightbulb glaring at me and begging me to finish it.
I’ve been so incredibly busy lately…I feel like I’m living 8 lives at once. So finding this little doodle tonight really put things into perspective, that big things can be created from a mindless sketch, that great things can come accomplished with a simple optomistic mentality.
In other news, I will be on tour with Midnight Spaghetti next weekend in Burlington, VT (I’ve never been there) and Albany, NY (never been there either)! I’m quite excited to get back up on stage and lay down some funk, especially with such a great band that’s known for their energetic performances. I’ll fit right in.
Comment? »Mar 11th 2008Midnight Spaghetti Summer Tour ‘08
Its been an interesting couple of weeks. One of the most exciting developments is my invitation to tour with Midnight Spaghetti for a week (June 15th through 22nd) this summer. Midnight Spaghetti and the Chocolate G-Strings is an eclectic funk/hip-hop/jazz band that is loosely based in Harrisonburg, VA and know how to put on a phenomenal live show.
I’ve been in close collaboration with Seth and Mickey of Midnight Spaghetti for the last 4 and a half years, working together on many projects: organizing benefit concerts, recording side projects together, and Seth jumping on stage with Dangus Kahn to drop some freestyle rhymes. But I’ve never had a chance to play with them, so I’m excited to finally perform with a band that has made me get up and dance so many times.
I want to say it will be a challenge to learn their entire set, but I feel it will be easy. The songs ARE technically difficult, but I’ve been listening to them since I entered college and my bass style naturally fits in with the funk genre. Plus, I’m just super excited to play with other people again. I’m pumped.
Until I post some dates, listen to their long-awaited debut album, Velour on the Floor.
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Mar 4th 2008Gospel of Wonderland
I’ve spent the last few days recording score music for my my friend Sean’s first feature length film, Gospel of Wonderland. I have only seen clips, but it looks fantastic. I am constantly impressed with Sean’s ability as a filmmaker, which is why I’m proud to assist in the process. My role was to create several ambient tracks to serve as the main theatrical theme music for the film. The film is still in post-production, but hopefully I’ll be able to post a link soon when the film debuts. Until then, here is the theatrical trailer for Gospel of Wonderland.
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Feb 28th 2008The World of Social Music - Last.fm, Pandora, and imeem
Like music? Holy crap! I do too!
Music has always been an integral part of my life, and I have tried to experience as many musical outlets as possible. Performing, attending concerts, recording and even working in music have all done so much for my appreciation of music. At the end of the day, however, it all comes down to LISTENING (the thing you do with your ears). Its a simple process, but the amount of musical channels we can choose from can make it very difficult to concentrate on music we want to hear.
With so many ways to listen to music (radio, CDs, concerts, media player, internet…), I have gravitated towards social music websites that (attempt to) play nicely with other musical mediums and also easily introduce me to new music. There are a host of music-oriented social sites out there, but I have gravitated towards 3 of the more popular: Pandora, Last.fm, and imeem.
While none of the three get near to my ideal music-listening experience, they each have their own inherent strengths and unique weaknesses. After much usage on all three platforms, I’ve rated them in this order:
3. 
I use imeem primarily to listen to any song on demand. Unlike pandora or last.fm, imeem allows you to search for just about any song and play the full version right there on the spot. Last.fm is making progress in this area, however, and imeem seems to be losing battles to keep full-length tracks up instead of chopping them into 30 second previews.
imeem Strengths:
- On demand listening - As stated above, imeem makes it easy to search for a particular track and listen to it right there on the spot.
- Extremely social - imeem is a social network that revolves around media, so its easy to find people who listen to the same music as you. Of course you can friend, message, comment, feature, blah blah whatever any imeem user, and even join groups based on your tastes . My personal favorite is the “I Hate Phil Collins” group, which apparently really doesn’t like Phil Collins (note: I enjoy Phil’s work in Genesis and some of his solo stuff, just not the “I’m shackled in Disney’s basement forced to write schlocky soundtracks” era).
- Customizable - Out of all three social music platforms, imeem definitely has the most customizable interface, allowing users to change colors, background images, and quite a few of the basic CSS-controlled objects.
imeem weaknesses
- Tries to be too many things - imeem definitely bites off way too much more than it can chew. “Hey let’s share/feature/favorite/embed/rate music, videos, photos, blogs, playlists…” Way too much going on. Leave a lot of the features to the already-successful social sites and concentrate on a few of your strong features.
- Poorly-tagged songs - Did you know Led Zeppelin did “Dream On?” Neither did I. That’s what you get for letting a 14 year old upload music.
- Discovering new artists isn’t tailored to the user - They have a “discover” button that takes you to a random song, which is cool, but if you’re going to be putting the energy into creating a strong music profile, you should be able to use that profile to discover new artists based on your interests.
Check out my profile on imeem, and add me as a friend IF YOU DARE. Continue Reading »
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Feb 1st 2008The Odd Ballroom
The Odd Ballroom, a 3D short film created by my friend Andrew Sloan, is in its (almost) final form. This incredible 3D film took 7 James Madison University animation students two years’ spare time to complete. The story revolves around a janitor at a failing freak show and his longing to be in the limelight. Its a spectacular story reinforced by amazing animation.
I was brought onto the project to do all the sound for the film. I spent the next few months (in the midst of graduating college, finding a job, starting a job, and doing other freelance work) arranging and manipulating sound effects in Pro Tools. I feel bad for taking such a long time to complete the foley, but I feel even worse about not being able to make original music for the film in the time frame I was given. Maybe someday…
This project was a very positive experience all around and my respect for 3D animators and audio technicians grew immensely. Do yourself a favor and watch the film.
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Dec 10th 2007Cake and Brazilian Girls (with Tuba??) - Sewell, New Jersey
Well, I still haven’t decided what I’m going to use this blog for yet, so I’ll throw this question out there just to see if anyone knows the answer. Where was Brazilian Girls bass player on Sat, Dec 8 at Cake’s Unlimited Sunshine Festival at the Commerce Bank Arts Center in Sewell, NJ? Why was he replaced with a tuba player instead?
I ask this because Brazilian Girls’ bass player, Jesse Murphy, is the strongest asset to the Brazilian Girls. He is extremely talented, and while the tuba was interesting, it wasn’t as punchy as an electric bass, and also was distracting from the rest of the show. Certain songs, such as “Corner Store,” lent themselves nicely to the tuba, but other songs have awesome bass runs on the studio disks that I would have loved to hear in person.
Write a comment if you know what the deal is with Brazilian Girls’ bass player issue.
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