As promised a quick slide show for some of my favorites from the Maternity Shoot.
Enjoy!
Music
Artist: Coldplay
Song: Don't Panic
Album: Parachutes
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
On Ember's Due date; No baby yet but we do have Maternity Photos...
We did a Maternity Photo shoot with Liz Lauren back in August and the Photo's just came in today! We're quite pleased!
Here's a quick sampling of the photos, more can be found on My Gallery or on Kristen's Facebook Page.
Video Slide Show To Come...
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Friday, October 01, 2010
It Gets Better
via youtube.com
So with the recent suicides of young LGBT kids, I think it's fitting to post this. Not just for young gay kids but for all kids. Middle School Sucks. Period. High School for many sucks just as much if not even more. The one thing I can say, Is yes, it gets better.
When ever you have just the worst day ever, watch this video and remember, It will get better and you should stick around to see how much better it can get.
Joe
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
TEDxNextGenerationAsheville - Birke Baehr - "What's Wrong With Our Food System"
via youtube.com
This kid is on to something. :)
The Skofflaws - William Shatner
So I was going to write about Dax Riggs this week, but <a href="http://www.bemorewithless.com/2010/10-ways-to-simplify-your-music/">after reading this article</a> I was inspired to 1st clean up my iTunes library a little bit, you know just for about an hour or so. Well 3 hours later I had reached Art of Noise and I was exhausted; fatigued from rating, renaming, categorizing & deleting files. Dax was gonna have to wait.
Think about it, do you realize how many albums Aphex Twin has?
To cleanse my pallet a bit and switch tasks around the house I started importing a few old CD's and came across The Scofflaws - Ska in Hi-Fi.
I was never a hugh Ska fan, I came up during the 3rd wave of the Ska movement which was more Ska-punk than ska, but I still to this day have a soft spot for those ska groups that were more of the classic 1st wave Calypso meets R&B meets Jazz vibe and 2nd wave 2 Tone vibe. The Scofflaws fit somewhere between that 1st and 2nd wave.
A lot of their songs are pretty goofy, Including William Shatner, but they feature great musicianship and are lot of fun to listen to. I saw the band live once in '95 or '96 and I remember a lot of the kids not getting it. Their sound wasn't punk enough, but the Ska purists, they got it and loved it.
More on the Scofflaws: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scofflaws
Enjoy!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Robert Plant's Band of Joy and their Monkey (cover).
Nestled in the mix of Banjo laden covers and bland country ballads is this gem, a brooding cover of Low's "Monkey". It's just brilliant. The take would of fit perfectly on the Cure's Pornography or Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me. It's dark, menacing, spooky and oozes that tribal gypsy vibe that Robert Plant does so well.
Such a surprise.
Enjoy!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Today's fortune was pretty accurate... Apple & Ping.
Some how the fortune cookie new what would come today from Apple. Crazy.
Sent from my iPhone
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Total. Buzz. Kill.
Upon further inspection of the shipping box it was pretty easy to see how it was damaged. At some point in the process someone was even nice enough to cover the hole in the box with packing tape to avoid potential water damage. That was nice.
Long story short, New crib is on order and old one is going back. Certainly not the most horrible thing in the world, but a total buzz kill.
Joe
Friday, August 27, 2010
Nutrigrain Ad - A "GREAT!" Web Classic
via youtube.com
I was reminded of this Ad today, fortunately Denise found it for me.
"Babies Everywhere!!!"
Love it!
Cami Secret Parody (Boob Apron)
via youtube.com
The original concept is dumb enough, this parody just amps up the dumbness!
Friday, August 20, 2010
F**K YOU
via youtube.com
Cee Lo Green comes soulful, funny and funky with the break up Jam of 2010.
Clever title ;)
-Joe
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Take This Job & Shove It
Just read a great little article while waiting for printer software to install. I love my job on most days, but there are some great tips in this article that can be useful for anyone.
Excerpt and link below.
Tammy: One of my favorite parts of Take This Job and Shove It is your discussion of the F*** You Fund. Can you tell us a little bit more about the concept and what our readers can do today to start building an F*** You Fund?
Tyler: So, a F*** You Fund is the money you set aside while you’re still working so that when the day comes, you can walk into work and telling your boss to “take this job and shove it.” Of course, it doesn’t have to be so dramatic, but I found that giving it a name like that makes it more fun to actually keep up with.
I go into a lot of details in the free guide about how to build it and stick with it as well as some of the misconceptions around it like the idea that it has to take a long time or that it has to be a ton of money, but I think Rowdy Kittens readers are great candidates for building a F*** You Fund because their already predisposed to living what I call a “low overhead” lifestyle.
Anyone interested in minimalism that has a few personal finance skills already has exactly what it takes to be super effective with the information in Take This Job & Shove It.
My #1 tip for someone that wants to start today, though? Open a savings account and set up a weekly automatic transfer to it. Doesn’t matter how much. Just get it started.
<a href="http://rowdykittens.com/2010/08/take-this-job-shove-it/
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Ethyl Meatplow - Car
What a record this is! Oh my! All the wonderfully horrible things I did while this record was on in the background. I was in 10th grade when this record came out, learning everything I could about Industrial Music and jockeying for the music director position at the greatest radio station in the world (in my mind at the time anyway) 88.5 FM WKPX; our High School Radio Station with a 3000 Watt Transmitter that reached downtown Ft. Lauderdale and the most northern tip of Miami. We though it was pretty damn cool and for most people into the Alternative music scene back then, it was.
I didn't get the MD postion that year, but my friend Shannon did and I can still remember when she introduced me to the trio of noise makers known as Ethyl Meatplow. I can remember her asking me, "do you think we can get away with this track? How about this one?" The Album was so filthy; full of sexual innuendo and drug references, it's amazing that we were able to play any of their music at all on our station. Of course we did find a few songs that weren't branded NFAP (Not For Air Play), one of which was 'Car', though listening to it now, we got lucky on this one. Obnoxious and Abrasive Keyboard Sounds, Shouting and well played & well engineered Drums that just pound their way through the whole song. What more could you ask for? Well the song 'Sad Bear' which is at the end of the album and adds a memorable chant to that mix, but that's not the song I'm posting today.
Ethyl Meatplow fit some where between Jane's Addiction, Silverfish, Thrill Kill Kult, Consolidated & Nitzer Ebb. They had a definite LA sleaze vibe, but they also mixed sounds and textures in away that wouldn't become popular until a few years later with more subdued groups like Cibo Matto and Luscious Jackson. Certainly ahead of it's time, so much so they couldn't keep it together beyond this album, but they did tour this record, and I managed to catch them at the Cameo in South Beach with my buddy Mark Del Campo. They opened for Front 242, who were heading full on into their spandex short phase, and just blew them off the stage as the opening act. Even though most of the music was pre-recorded and coming off of keyboard sequencers, Ethyl Meatplow's attitude and energy we undeniable. They had to change disks on the ensoniq keyboards in order to load to the new sequences and samples in between songs and they made tons or racket and distracted you with half naked dancers; one of which was a young woman who's head head was shaved bald, had black X's taped on her nipples and sported boxing trunks and suspenders. Obviously the distractions worked, It was wild. When they got their act together and hit you with the songs it was mighty! They just delivered with such conviction, it didn't take long for me to be hooked. Again the Live Drums pounding away, the Synths & Samples blasting you in the head and the Guy/Gal trade off Sing Alongs just completed the package. It was Raw and It felt like the future, two things I always look for in new music. Front 242 didn't stand a chance, Mark I and left midway through their set in hopes of scoring some Ethyl Meatplow Merch, No luck. But we did manage to get a few stickers, I still have one on a record box flight case in my garage (that will be finding a new home some time in the next year I hope, the case that is).
After this record Carla Bozulich went on to form Geraldine Fibbers, a band that was such a departure from Ethyl Meatplow's sound that I never gave them a chance, drummer Biff Sanders went on to play in Polar Bear with Eric Avery and Vocalist/Programmer Wee Wee is getting his masters in Social Work. "Hi, I'm Wee Wee your social worker..." I'm sure that's going well.
On the whole, 'Happy Days, Sweetheart'. stands up really well... gasp, 17 years later! Sure there a few crappy synth bass sounds here and there, but on the whole, it still sounds new, fresh and vibrant, highly recommended, especially if you find your self enjoying this tune.
-Joe
Ethyl Meatplow - Car
What a record this is! Oh my! All the wonderfully horrible things I did while this record was on in the background. I was in 10th grade when this record came out, learning everything I could about Industrial Music and jockeying for the music director position at the greatest radio station in the world (in my mind at the time anyway) 88.5 FM WKPX; our High School Radio Station with a 3000 Watt Transmitter that reached downtown Ft. Lauderdale and the most northern tip of Miami. We though it was pretty damn cool and for most people into the Alternative music scene back then, it was.
I didn't get the MD postion that year, but my friend Shannon did and I can still remember when she introduced me to the trio of noise makers known as Ethyl Meatplow. I can remember her asking me, "do you think we can get away with this track? How about this one?" The Album was so filthy; full of sexual innuendo and drug references, it's amazing that we were able to play any of their music at all on our station. Of course we did find a few songs that weren't branded NFAP (Not For Air Play), one of which was 'Car', though listening to it now, we got lucky on this one. Obnoxious and Abrasive Keyboard Sounds, Shouting and well played & well engineered Drums that just pound their way through the whole song. What more could you ask for? Well the song 'Sad Bear' which is at the end of the album and adds a memorable chant to that mix, but that's not the song I'm posting today.
Ethyl Meatplow fit some where between Jane's Addiction, Silverfish, Thrill Kill Kult, Consolidated & Nitzer Ebb. They had a definite LA sleaze vibe, but they also mixed sounds and textures in away that wouldn't become popular until a few years later with more subdued groups like Cibo Matto and Luscious Jackson. Certainly ahead of it's time, so much so they couldn't keep it together beyond this album, but they did tour this record, and I managed to catch them at the Cameo in South Beach with my buddy Mark Del Campo. They opened for Front 242, who were heading full on into their spandex short phase, and just blew them off the stage as the opening act. Even though most of the music was pre-recorded and coming off of keyboard sequencers, Ethyl Meatplow's attitude and energy we undeniable. They had to change disks on the ensoniq keyboards in order to load to the new sequences and samples in between songs and they made tons or racket and distracted you with half naked dancers; one of which was a young woman who's head head was shaved bald, had black X's taped on her nipples and sported boxing trunks and suspenders. Obviously the distractions worked, It was wild. When they got their act together and hit you with the songs it was mighty! They just delivered with such conviction, it didn't take long for me to be hooked. Again the Live Drums pounding away, the Synths & Samples blasting you in the head and the Guy/Gal trade off Sing Alongs just completed the package. It was Raw and It felt like the future, two things I always look for in new music. Front 242 didn't stand a chance, Mark I and left midway through their set in hopes of scoring some Ethyl Meatplow Merch, No luck. But we did manage to get a few stickers, I still have one on a record box flight case in my garage (that will be finding a new home some time in the next year I hope, the case that is).
After this record Carla Bozulich went on to form Geraldine Fibbers, a band that was such a departure from Ethyl Meatplow's sound that I never gave them a chance, drummer Biff Sanders went on to play in Polar Bear with Eric Avery and Vocalist/Programmer Wee Wee is getting his masters in Social Work. "Hi, I'm Wee Wee your social worker..." I'm sure that's going well.
On the whole, 'Happy Days, Sweetheart'. stands up really well... gasp, 17 years later! Sure there a few crappy synth bass sounds here and there, but on the whole, it still sounds new, fresh and vibrant, highly recommended, especially if you find your self enjoying this tune.
-Joe
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Today Show video: Can money buy you happiness? featuring minimalist blogger @rowdykittens.
Can money buy you happiness? New York Times reporter Stephanie Rosenbloom and psychologist Jeff Gardere discuss contentment and its link to wealth and the pitfalls of keeping up with the Joneses. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/38655998#38655998 As we prepare for the birth of our 1st child (and I sit in the waiting area of my dealership as they run a diagnostic on my car to determine why my Check Engine Light came on this morning), the minimalist approach to living is becoming more and more enticing.
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Consumers Find Ways to Spend Less and Find Happiness
A two-bedroom apartment. Two cars. Enough wedding china to serve two dozen people.
Yet Tammy Strobel wasn’t happy. Working as a project manager with an investment management firm in Davis, Calif., and making about $40,000 a year, she was, as she put it, caught in the “work-spend treadmill.”
So one day she stepped off.
Inspired by books and blog entries about living simply, Ms. Strobel and her husband, Logan Smith, both 31, began donating some of their belongings to charity. As the months passed, out went stacks of sweaters, shoes, books, pots and pans, even the television after a trial separation during which it was relegated to a closet. Eventually, they got rid of their cars, too. Emboldened by a Web site that challenges consumers to live with just 100 personal items, Ms. Strobel winnowed down her wardrobe and toiletries to precisely that number.
Her mother called her crazy.
Today, three years after Ms. Strobel and Mr. Smith began downsizing, they live in Portland, Ore., in a spare, 400-square-foot studio with a nice-sized kitchen. Mr. Smith is completing a doctorate in physiology; Ms. Strobel happily works from home as a Web designer and freelance writer. She owns four plates, three pairs of shoes and two pots. With Mr. Smith in his final weeks of school, Ms. Strobel’s income of about $24,000 a year covers their bills. They are still car-free but have bikes. One other thing they no longer have: $30,000 of debt.
Ms. Strobel’s mother is impressed. Now the couple have money to travel and to contribute to the education funds of nieces and nephews. And because their debt is paid off, Ms. Strobel works fewer hours, giving her time to be outdoors, and to volunteer, which she does about four hours a week for a nonprofit outreach program called Living Yoga.
“The idea that you need to go bigger to be happy is false,” she says. “I really believe that the acquisition of material goods doesn’t bring about happiness.”
While Ms. Strobel and her husband overhauled their spending habits before the recession, legions of other consumers have since had to reconsider their own lifestyles, bringing a major shift in the nation’s consumption patterns.
“We’re moving from a conspicuous consumption — which is ‘buy without regard’ — to a calculated consumption,” says Marshal Cohen, an analyst at the NPD Group, the retailing research and consulting firm.
Amid weak job and housing markets, consumers are saving more and spending less than they have in decades, and industry professionals expect that trend to continue. Consumers saved 6.4 percent of their after-tax income in June, according to a new government report. Before the recession, the rate was 1 to 2 percent for many years. In June, consumer spending and personal incomes were essentially flat compared with May, suggesting that the American economy, as dependent as it is on shoppers opening their wallets and purses, isn’t likely to rebound anytime soon.
On the bright side, the practices that consumers have adopted in response to the economic crisis ultimately could — as a raft of new research suggests — make them happier. New studies of consumption and happiness show, for instance, that people are happier when they spend money on experiences instead of material objects, when they relish what they plan to buy long before they buy it, and when they stop trying to outdo the Joneses.
If consumers end up sticking with their newfound spending habits, some tactics that retailers and marketers began deploying during the recession could become lasting business strategies. Among those strategies are proffering merchandise that makes being at home more entertaining and trying to make consumers feel special by giving them access to exclusive events and more personal customer service.
While the current round of stinginess may simply be a response to the economic downturn, some analysts say consumers may also be permanently adjusting their spending based on what they’ve discovered about what truly makes them happy or fulfilled.
“This actually is a topic that hasn’t been researched very much until recently,” says Elizabeth W. Dunn, an associate professor in the psychology department at the University of British Columbia, who is at the forefront of research on consumption and happiness. “There’s massive literature on income and happiness. It’s amazing how little there is on how to spend your money.”
CONSPICUOUS consumption has been an object of fascination going back at least as far as 1899, when the economist Thorstein Veblen published “The Theory of the Leisure Class,” a book that analyzed, in part, how people spent their money in order to demonstrate their social status.
via nytimes.com
Read the whole article, there's a lot of truth to the theory of less is more, more time time for happiness that is.
I've done a cleanse of possessions a few times in my life and it feels very liberating. I may have to do some more soon. I think it's time to go through that massive record collection once again and clear some space.
:)
Saturday, August 07, 2010
Up early, getting ready for our last hypnobirthing class & then our baby shower later today.
Watching Kristen get ready with her beautiful pregnant belly and her hair blowing in the wind of the hair dryer is so soothing, I don't want to get out of bed. Vampire Weekend's 2nd Album "Contra" has been bouncing in the background all morning and our cat Dora is nestled up against my side. I just want to take this moment in. Feeling Good.
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
If only more DJ's were this creative & entertaining... Beardyman - Live in the Underbelly
Clicked on this to decompress the other night... Just brilliantly entertaining and funny. Even if you don't get the all the musical references, you can't help grin when he gets people up and movin'. Jaime Lidell would be proud! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qciVXUHTN10&feature=youtube_gdata Sent from my iPad
Friday, March 05, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Surprise, We're Pregnant!
For those who haven't heard yet, it's official, Kristen and I are expecting our first in October!
Woo-Hoo! We're very excited!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Savoir Adore - Bodies
Got turned on to this tune on the drive home tonight, love the rhythm tracks and the dueling male/female vocals of Deidre Muro and Paul Hammer. There must be something in the water in Brooklyn...
Enjoy!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tripping Out Over Wayne Coyne’s Bathroom...
From Flavorwire: "Flaming Lips lead singer Wayne Coyne is no shrinking violet: he’s donned fake blood and a furry suit onstage, gone full-frontal in a music video, and slammed the Arcade Fire in Rolling Stone. Now images of Coyne’s self-described “drug damaged, artist[ic]” home — a veritable compound in Oklahoma City designed byFitzsimmons Architects — are making the internet rounds."
More Pictures: http://flavorwire.com/70597/tripping-out-over-wayne-coynes-bathroom
There is some really interesting design going on here but I don't know if I'd call it home.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Yeah, that's an entire clove of Garlic on my roll!
>
>
>
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> I'm in my happy place right now, grabbing some good Italian food at > Emilio's!
>
10 things Noel loves\hates
via youtube.com
Always entertaining, Noel Gallagher spouts off 10 likes and dislikes. Such a knucklehead.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Viva Voce - The Slow Fade
A few months ago I lost both the main and backup hard drives containing my iTunes Library. Roughly 1TB worth of data... gone. As you can imagine I was super excited... of course not, I was uber pissed, so angry I couldn't believe it, a hugh moment of "Are You Fuckin' Kidding Me?!?!? The main and the backup!!!" It was the best Ad for a Drobo ever and helped re-ignite a strong desire for Spotify, because, well, this has happened before over the years, and even though I had older versions of my library on other drives, I'm getting tired of managing hard drives, I just want access to a shit ton of music.
Now having those older drives with part of my music library is great, except for when you want to hear something that you purchased recently. Fortunately E-Music has very liberal Re-download Policy which came in very handy yesterday when I had Viva Voce's "The Slow Fade" in my head. The haunting chorus of "Gone Gone Gone" kept playing over and over in my ears as I tapped out the lulling rhythms on my steering wheel while driving to work, on my customers desk that afternoon and at the dinner table last night. Stuck on repeat was this simple lullaby of a break up and goodbye song. This morning I re-downloaded Vive Voce's Rose City and couldn't be happier to hear the this song in full and release my self of only remembering the one phrase of the chorus.
The march of the piano and the slide guitar set the mood of a county dirge while a wobbly distorted square wave from a keyboard fades in and out to accent the vocal melody. It's a simple and beautiful song, fitting for the end of a record, a relationship or mourning the loss of your music collection... "Gone, Gone, Gone."
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Google Superbowl Ad got Kristen all teary eyed.
It's amazing to think how much apart of our lives Google has become. Wild.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
The Knife - Colouring of Pigeons - Tomorrow In A Year
Colouring Of Pigeons by The Knife In Collaboration With Mt. Sims And Planningtorock
Download now or listen on posterous
Colouring of Pigeons.mp3 (15647 KB) Download now or listen on posterous
New challenging and ambitious work from The Knife In Collaboration with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock, written specifically for the opera Tomorrow In A Year which is based off of Darwin's Origin of Species and other Darwin related materials such as Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene. It's as if they crept into my library and wrote an album about it. I couldn't be more excited.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Justice - Beginning of the end
Beginning Of The End by Justice
Download now or listen on posterous
Beginning of the end.mp3 (7445 KB) Download now or listen on posterous
Well it's not much, but it's something new, New Justice that is, fresh from the Ed Banger outbox and to be taken from an album do out later this year also to be titled ✞ (at least according to the ID3 tag). It's a very simple track, perhaps something that will serve as an intro (Hopefully!) Just as it begins to get interesting it cuts short, probably intended. Fingers are "crossed" that our other favorite Persian dance duo will pull out another winner and not a sophomore dud.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Scratch Input - Using Audio to control your computer.
via youtube.com
For the nerds... yes, but pretty cool. It's a short but dense clip, hang in there, somewhere around the 3:00 minute mark the potential use of the technology will start to sink in.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Wild Beasts - The Fun Powder Plot
The Fun Powder Plot by Wild Beasts
Download now or listen on posterous
01 The Fun Powder Plot.mp3 (9612 KB) Download now or listen on posterous
Wild Beasts remind of the 80's in the best way possible. Eccentric English guys who can play their instruments extremely well and clean. They use words not commonly found in modern pop music, such as "bereft", "bovver" and "donkey-jaw diction". Their songs are full of drama made of glassy guitars and syncopated rhythms and have a feel that is both "modern and of the renaissance" to quote their myspace page. Boasting Falsetto, Tenor and Baritone vocalists, I had to ask myself, "Is that Antony of Antony and the Johnsons sining with a more restrained Mew..." No it isn't but it sure sounds like it.
From all of the songs on the 2nd record, Two Dancers, I choose "The Fun Powder Plot" simply because it's the 1st song on the album and it gently lulls you into their overall dramatic and dynamic sound. Plus it has may favorite lyric of the whole record "This is a booty call; my boot, my boot, my boot, my boot up your arse hole."
Love it.
Enjoy!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Eli "Paper" Boy Reed - Take My Love With You
Take My Love With You by Eli "Paperboy" Reed And The True Loves
Download now or listen on posterous
02 Take My Love With You.mp3 (5112 KB) Download now or listen on posterous
Sometimes you just need some good old fashioned soul music, full of heart and conviction and sung by white guy from Boston. Enter Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Loves with 'Take My Love With You'. This version from 2007 popped up on my iPod this morning and got my day started off on the right track, smiling and sining along.
Enjoy.
http://www.elipaperboyreed.com/Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Star Wars In Odd Places | Caveman Circus
This picture says it all... but there are many more at the link above. Who knew Chewie was such a big Ron Paul fan?
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009
New Music: Caravan Palace - Jolie Coquine
What better way to ring in the new year than with a talented band of dancing gypsies? Caravan Palace hail from Paris, France and quite literally mix roaring 20's Swing with classic filter happy French House. It's an unlikely yet perfect mix. There have been a handful of songs over the past two decades that have used swing samples to similar effect (Mambo No 5 I'm looking at you!) but Caravan Palace do it live with Horns, Violin, Clarinet, Double Bass and Acoustic Guitars. Let your hair down, loosen up that collar, grab that champagne and have a Happy New Year!
More Info:
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
St. Vincent - Marrow
I was reading a Bob Lefsetz review of Jamie Cullum's "All at sea" and listening to the song via Youtube, bored out of my mind by the songs performance I start to wander over to the related videos and see that Jaime also does many a cover including "Sky Cries Mary" and "High and Dry" all of which sound lifeless to me. He's emoting alright but the performances all lack a rawness that would make a song stick with you for life. If those same arrangements were sung by Sting or even Norah Jones they would have a much better chance of sticking with me, these performance just leave me flat. St. Vincent is another one of those artists, like Jamie Cullum, who's name I had heard but for what ever reason had paid no attention to (and in the case of Jamie Cullum I'm glad I had.) Ms. Annie Clark finally caught my attention not with the Letterman clip but with a performance on Austin City Limits a few months ago. I was half passed out on the bed drifting away when I was lulled into curiosity by the angelic flutes and oboe's that suddenly jarred me to attention with a full on marching band stomp.
Growing tired of Bob's selections, I searched for a palette cleanser and found this phenomenal performance of St. Vincent's "Marrow" on Letterman.
http://austincitylimits.org/seyret-video?task=videodirectlink&id=176
Kristen and I were unwinding for the night and I stumbled upon PBS and Austin City Limits. I'll admit I wasn't immediately taken in by St. Vincent. Like a good music snob I was half interested and half bored because I was unfamiliar with the music and exhausted, so much so I started to drift off... then it hit me, those horns and the guitar solo, the dynamics of soft and quiet to loud and explosive, the sophistication of the arrangements... it had all pulled me in, I was now fully awake and enjoying every minute of it.
The next day Kristen had downloaded the album Actor and knew everything there was to know about her. I then headed to e-music for her 1st album Mary Me and began diving head first in to the world of Annie Clark.
Annie Clark's music as St. Vincent is almost exactly what you would expect from a multi-instrumentalist who grew up in Texas, attended Berklee School of Music, joined the Polyphonic Spree just a couple years after high school and played in Sufjan Steven's touring band. She writes Pop songs, full of life, colorful arrangements and orchestration that are rough around the edges. A juxtaposition of violent guitars and sugary sweet "Birds on your shoulder" orchestral swoons. Not every song is a gem, and many come off better live than on record, but the potential here is undeniable, and Annie know's this...
It's interesting how the internet is this revolutionary thing that allows us to connect and share so much information with one another yet it took a TV appearance on public television to get me to finally pay attention. Crazy world we're living in.
Enjoy.
Get More info:
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Dusting off the ol' Drum & Bass shelf
While going through some files on an old hard drive this morning I found a hand full of tunes I had worked on back in my D&B days. None of them were ever released and they were played in clubs less than a hand full of times. The original session files have long been lost on a failed hard drive somewhere and I figure why let all those hours of hard work go to waste. Those that new me back in the early part of this decade might get a kick out of these tunes. Enjoy!
Joe Shockley & New Republic - Why you gotta do me like that?
The 1st tune goes back to 2002 and is one of the last I worked on with New Republic, mainly it was Wade and my self on this tune and truly it was me obsessively trying to come up with something as catchy as Zinc's "Ska" and "138 Trek" and was heavily influenced by the sound DJ's Marky and Patife were pushing at the time... all in one song. As a group New Republic had already released a 12" with Break Beat Science and were working on a Latin/Brazilian influenced Single/EP for another label before the group started to implode and eventually fell apart. Listening back to it now the song feels rushed in some parts and long in others, the drums don't punch through enough and you can barely hear the bass on my MacBook speakers, but overall it's a fun song. Good Times.
Joe Shockley - What You Want
"What You Want" written in 2003, is the 1st tune I worked on after leaving New Republic and you can tell I was a bit angry at the time. Prior to working on this tune most of the songs I worked on were mostly liquid funk inspired and upbeat. This was a total 180 from that vibe and was a very literal response to the feedback I was getting from the crowd.
Joe Shockley - Other Life
"Other Life" also written in 2003, represents the most fun I ever had making a D&B tune. I just threw my self into it for a week and had a lot of fun programming drums, finding all the samples and coming up with an obnoxious bass line/lead synth. It was also the shortest and most concise D&B tune I had done at the time and I loved how it didn't have an atmospheric "drop" and then repeat section. "Other Life" is also the last D&B tune I did as I stepped away from Drum & Bass all together, got back behind the drum kit and eventually started playing with Marqui Adora.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Levi's Mean Machine: 1970 Mercury Cougar
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