This past weekend, trustafarian's and fratboy's (and my) prayers were answered as Phish took the stage for a 3 night run @ Hampton Coliseum in Virginia after a 4 1/2 year Hiatus. The band is preparing for string of summer dates on the East Coast, and a headlining slot at this year's Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee.
Anyone who's every been to a Phish show before can attest to the fact that the crowd is very heady, very happy, and LOVES their "extracurriculars". It seems that the fiends were out in full force, as Virginia cops confiscated over 1 million dollars in drugs and paraphernalia, along with over 60k in cold hard cash. The busts were made by a fleet of 200 VA coppers that were paid for by Phish Inc.
The band was nice enough to dish out free mp3 downloads of the show HERE. It looks as though the free downloads may be a limited time offer, but i'm sure they're all over the ole "LimeWire" by this time.
Well, it's been a while since I shamelessly promoted myself, so here goes...
Fatty Acid's debut album was just released Monday by Ropeadope Digital Records. Below I've posted some links to reviews, free downloads, videos, and the rest.
Since this is a personal note, I'll take a hot second to thank all the people that played on the album. Alex Beckmann of MEM, Brian Scherman of HANS BLIX, Ali of HERSELF, Jay Goodman of AKUDAMA, Luke Smith, and Eli Silverman. These people rock, and if you like what they do on the album, make sure go check out their other projects. (I promise they are equally rockin)
So, here's how it all happened:
I've been making electronic music for the past 5 years (although it seems much longer than that). Ever since I got a midi keyboard in high school, I've been experimenting with sounds and sampling. As I got more gear, I started to get more serious about the tunes I was creating. The turning point was living in a house in Brooklyn with (what seemed like) 20 other musicians, always willing to ad their "Midas" touch. In the basement, we had a ProTools rig set up with mics going to a drum kit, guitar amps, bass amps, synths, and other toys. This gave me the freedom to record any time, day or night (much to the dismay of our elderly Italian neighbors). Once the tools were in front of me, it was only a matter of time before the songs started to stream out. I'd lay down a guitar line, then Alex would come home and bang out some drum breaks, then Eli would wake up and pop downstairs to play some bass; it was great.
At the same time, I was getting really deep into electronic music like Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, and The Books, and the music started to reflect that. I was also taking classes in music technology, studying composers like Stockhausen and Babbitt, and their philosophy about sound and music was sinking in. I was really interested in taking production techniques those people had used and applying it to an "indie rock" sound. So once I had a couple takes of Beckmann ripping hot beats, I spent hours twisting and glitching the drums, trying to mimic some sonic qualities of break beat music, but with a modern drummer. I started applying those drum editing techniques to other instruments as well. Glitching out guitars as Squarepusher does to his drum breaks.
After countless nights editing and mixing until dawn, I had found the sound I was looking for, and Fatty Acid was born. About a year after that time, I had finished what sounded like a record, and got in touch with Ropeadope Digital to send the music out to the world. I had been listening to Ropeadope Artists since I was in high school. Seeing people like Medeski Martin and Wood, the Duo, and DJ Logic had shaped me into the musician I am today, and it felt great to get on the label that brought those people to the world.
And now we're here. 2,000 cups of coffee later, the record is released. The next task: Bring it to a live audience. (more to come on that very soon.)
So here are some links where you can check out the music, read reviews, watch videos, blah blah blah. Enjoy!
The fully improvisatory, 100% dope, electronic/rock trio from the big B.K. just dropped their new EP onto the interweb, and it's recession priced @ the low, low number of $0. I myself produced a remix for the album entitled "Matter" which is also free on the download page, along with another remix by electro-blip guru Elijah B. Torn.
For those who haven't heard the group, Hans Blix improvises everything they do, start to finish. Concerts are always new and fresh, as tunes are never repeated. The only downside to this unique approach to performing is that once you fall in love with the "State" EP, you'll never hear the songs live. Not to worry though, you can be sure they'll rock your socks off if you're lucky enough to catch a show. The next scheduled jam is @ The Tea Lounge in Park Slope, Brooklyn on March 9th @ 9pm. (With some Elijah B Torn to follow)
Click HERE to go to their website, where you trade an email address for 6 slammin cuts of spacious, improvisotory, sonic munchies.
U2 took it upon themselves to wake up the students and faculty of Fordham University this week. Unfortunately for Fordham, there was no snooze button on the PA system, and students were fooled into believing it was a "beautiful day" outside. (it was a little grey and kinda cold) Perhaps it was the shading of the ubiquitous purple sunglasses that had Bono mislead.
In other u2/NYC news, they're taking down the U2 street signs, something that moved Bono to draw comparisons between himself and the Beatles & Elvis. Yeah, he would do that, wouldn't he?
Every time I take the 6/4/5 train from Union Square, I see this guy jamming out. I don't know how long he's been doing this, but i've seen him down there for about a year now. There are tons of similar drummers throughout the subways of New York City, but this guy is by far the best i've ever seen.
funnily enough, when I went to my YouTube home page today, they recommended this video to me. What a co-inky-dink! The video has 2 1/2 million hits and counting. If anyone knows his name, let me know.
As a youngster, I was always part of a performing vocal ensemble. Whether it was a boys choir performing at Lincoln Center or singing solo in front of high school classmates, I always had the same phobia when it came to performing vocal music: forgetting the words. The night before a performance I would stay up late, repeating the words to the next day's songs over and over, until they were burned into the back of my brain.
Well my childhood fear has become this young gentleman's reality. His performance starts out rather "adequate" (I'm being kind), but falls apart about 3/4 of the way through the first verse. Although I do feel really bad for him, I can't help but laugh hysterically every time i watch this.
If you haven't heard JoJo Mayer yet, do yourself a favor and watch every YouTube video the guy has. The dude is one of the sickest live drum and bass drummers around. Here, he busts out a break beat with a groove so tight, you would think the dude is a robot. check it....
click here for a documentary about his band "Nerve".
