Category: Rock & Roll

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Celebrating the death of DRM with The Toadies

Truly, there is no connection between the deal that Apple made with EMI and this video that I never knew existed by The Toadies[wiki], but I’m stoked about both. Does this mean the end of DRM as we know it? If I could tell you that, I’d be rich.

The Toadies were the band that I saw at my first, real rock show, and I totally dig the hockey jersey Lisa is wearing in this video. In fact, she was wearing one when I saw them play in Davenport, Iowa, but it might have been a Blackhawks jersey. Regardless, she was an intense presence on stage. They broke up about two years back, but The Toadies played a show together in Texas over the past St. Patrick’s Day weekend. Reunion? Remains to be seen.

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Jealous of you SXSW’ers

The last and only time I went to SXSW was in 2002. It was a free ticket to go, thanks to KRUI. We crammed nine people into a University of Iowa SUV and drove the whole way down. That sounds like fun, but when you only have certain days that coordinate with classes and exams, things get tight for time, money, and space. 17 hours of driving, without stopping, we put all of us into two rooms, not far off 6th Street[wiki] in Austin.

Oh, Austin. The one place in Texas that I would seriously consider moving to. Incredible music scene? Check. Good food? Check. Warm weather? Double check. Large Hispanic population? Ubercheck. I even applied for an engineering position at KUT, and there was hints of interest. Sadly, the call back never came.

I loved my time at SXSW, but my reason for going there were way more music related than the film and interactive part, and I kick myself now for not understanding what that “interactive” thing in the title meant. That should say “internet” in big, bold letters.

In hindsight, if I had more of a mindset to pay attention, I would have used some of the knowledge being spread there to apply it to the realm of radio that I was slaving away in. How? Let’s just say that when I checked out the KRUI website the other day, I was so happy that someone took the initiative of setting up a WordPress blog to run the site. It’s a really great step in the evolutionary petri dish for that particular student run radio station.

If I went again, and you know that I’m thinking about it heavily, I would completely pay attention to this interactive, internet, blogging, podcasting, geeks-on-steroids conference with much more anticipation and enthusiasm. At the same time, I would have to check out the music portion.

I can’t tell you how often I think about that opportunity. I saw so many great acts. They Might Be Giants, Lo-Fidelity All Stars, Shiner (twice), Jurassic 5, The Promise Ring, Boys Against Girls… and that’s just what I can remember without spending too much time recalling all of them.

Combine all of this internet and music stuff, it makes me sad every year SXSW rolls around. I want to do it again soon. There is good news though. You can download podcasts from some of the panels now. It’s the next best thing I’ve got to being there.

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William Elliott Whitmore show review in Ohio

I’ve posted about William Elliot Whitmore before, and he made an appearance on the last Six Song on RadioZoom[rz#126]. When I pulled down my feeds this morning, Benjamin Cossel made a raving review on BlogCritics.org about a recent show of Whitmore’s in Ohio. I think he hit the nail on the head.

Bob Dylan, New York City 1961. Tom Waits, San Diego, early 1970s. What must it have been like to see these legendary performers when they were still unknowns? When the gathered crowd was small and you were so close to the artist that you could make a request in a conversational tone?

It struck me, as I watched and listened to William Elliot Whitmore, Feb 19 at The Basement in Columbus, Ohio on the kick-off date of a national tour, that this was what it must’ve been like; to see a performer at such an early point in their career who, in your heart of hearts, you know is destined for greatness with only 20 or so others are there to share the experience with you.

In many an article about him, Whitmore is compared to such legends as Waits and Johnny Cash. I’m sure it’s more to do with the deep gravelly voice and genre fusions than actual stylistic similarities – one thing that does run parallel with the Iowa born and raised Whitmore and those who transcend mere greatness is the honesty in their lyrics. [blogcritics]

Keep reading the rest of his review for sure, but oddly enough, it was one of his songs that was the last things I listened to as I drove out of Iowa to make my way to Vancouver. I think it might have been his song “Midnight”, but it’s hard to recall now. He was doing a live performance on the same radio station that I used to work at, WSUI.

It was the very same program that I had the chance of shaking the guy’s hand and running his sound for as well, nearly a year or so before my departure. That live remote could have been one of the first live programs that I ran by myself, calling the shots on the technical end and managing the part-time student help. I could be completely wrong because my time there is almost like a blur now, but it’s crazy how music can trigger your synapses like that.

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Kings of Convenience – failure

There are certain songs that take you back to certain moments. This has to be one of them for me. It constantly reminds me that no matter what treks your life has forced you through, it’s going to be alright. You just have to keep your chin up and keep your feet moving. That and I really, really like this song.

Feel free to check out more Kings of Convenience. They have my seal of approval.

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Casey bit my finger

IMG_0073 I’ve been in a few recording studios, but nothing to this extent. As Rebecca has mentioned, Matt‘s in the middle of recording another album. Actually, this part of the project is very near being done. At least that’s the mood right now, not that I know how he goes about this process. Every artist does their thing in their own way.

I was surprised to see the dogs when I came in. Walking in, Casey and Benji both started barking, but they calm down quick. I’m a sucker to play with Casey though. His chewed in half rubber ball keeps being set near my hand or in my lap. In previous situations, I was quick to toss it across the room. Not so easy to do here, so in a tug-of-war battle, my finger got in the way. No blood, just a good chomp.

He’s staring up at me from the floor right now. This blue piece of rubber keeps getting shoved deeper and deeper into my lap.

There’s a variety of computers and meters all around the room. I’m trying to sort out what everything does, but this is a realm that I’m less familiar with. Studio recording and live radio broadcasts are two completely different things. The array of monitors are impressive. It’s damn near a wall of sound.

IMG_0068 They’re trying to work out a particular guitar track right now. Record, playback, rehash, try something else, record, playback, and repeat until there is a consensus of “that’s it” in the room. You also hear “nope” a lot.

Matt’s been taking refuge in the corner of the sectional couch in the studio area. They’ve been putting a lot of hours into this process, meaning late nights. That spot is generally known as his, or at least that’s what he informed me while laying there with his eyes closed, Benji nestled on his chest.

It’s a fascinating process. There are some tracks that I’ve heard demos of, but I can’t tell if anything I have heard since being here are of the same. It will be a different experience to listen to this album once it’s done. I’ve met and known a lot of bands, but never been this close to the record making element.

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Swearing At Motorists

There’s some days where you find inspiration hard to come by. For that, I turn to music and try to tune out the rest of the world. Going through the library, I settled on Swearing At Motorists[wiki]. I met these guys a few times and seen a handful of their shows. Another sample of my affinity for bands with just two guys.

At every single show I’ve been to, Dave Doughman always has problems with his guitar. I’m not sure if it’s all the thrashing around that he does or the amount of self-servicing he does to that thing. My favorite time was at SXSW in 2002(which is where the clip above was filmed as well). There was a short somewhere in his guitar, and he had to hold it at a perfect angle, damn near completely still. To know S@M, you know that Dave is everywhere on stage. So there he was, in the middle of a set, right in the middle of a song, standing on stage like a mannequin, and screams, “I’m trying so hard not to flip out!”

I got the idea to check out their website to see what’s the latest on them. Dave’s going to be a husband and father, if not already. However, living in Berlin now, making it back to the states is going to be tricky for them to tour. Aside from that news, I was also excited to hear about an album they put out last October on Secretly Canadian, “Exile On Gipsstrasse”. The making of the album has a fascinating story, and knowing what I do of the guy, I can’t say that it surprises me.

I started taking my guitar to the Ubahnhof – an underground train station – at the end of my street to busk. The first night I didn’t make much money, but was floored by the huge sound created in the tube by my unamplified acoustic guitar and voice. So the next night I returned with my tape machine and 2 microphones, set them up, got good levels, and just let the tape roll as I busked. I made a little more money that night, but upon returning home and giving the tape a listen, realized that the trains and passengers were too distracting from the overall recording. [secretlycanadian]

You can read the rest for yourself, but the story goes on to tell how he kept going to the station later and later to record, eventually trading all the studio tracks for that of the underground station. If you’re curious to hear what it sounds like, the whole album is currently available for free here.

Listening to it right now, there’s not much for percussion like previous stuff, but I’ve always been a fan of Dave’s vocal styling. You can even hear the sounds of train passengers passing by in some tracks. I have to say that this is the type of recording that I really respect, more so because he broke into station at one point for the sake of getting this record done.

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Prince brings it at the Super Bowl

Matt was quicker to the draw, but I am in complete agreement. Prince‘s performance in the Super Bowl halftime was spectacular, probably one of the best in my memory. U2’s show in 2002 was pretty excellent, but this one was on a much different level.

I had a buddy I went to high school with that was a huge Prince[wiki] fan. When the clock hit midnight for the start of 1999, he put “Jam of the Year” on the stereo when all the rest of the world hellaciously over played “1999”. After years of being witness to my sister’s love affair with the guy’s music, it was at that point when I started to see the genius of the man.

The halftime show made everything I’ve thought about Prince even more evident. Wicked on the guitar, amazing vocals, and one hell of a showman. Pyrotechnics? Ok, that was cool. What I loved more was having a marching band on the field in addition to him on the stage. Other than that, it was a huge stage, a backing band, couple dancers, and Prince at the mic. He rocked it. And who knew that a Foo Fighters cover could be so damn good?

Thanks, Prince. You made it not painful to watch the halftime show of the Super Bowl.

Already available on YouTube, here is one video of the performance, and here is another.