Category Archives: Music

And we’re off….!

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I take a few days off and the next thing you know, I’ve got about three hundred unread items in Google Reader.  Some of these items are from that haul and some of them have whiskers on them (meaning older than three days) and some of this isn’t related to anything at all.

Now I’m going back to sitting on my ass for one more day, getting ready to listen to the Eagles (vs. Dallas) on the radio and walking my big puppy in the sub-zero wind chills.

And here’s that Resonator Chrome G with the Holy Stain

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Here’s the new Dean Resonator Chrome G, tuned to open G and played through the Electro Harmonix Holy Stain with some overdrive and some tremolo. The amp is my old Lab Series solid state L5 on a pretty clean setting. The pickups are almost 50/50 magnet/piezo with a slight bias toward the magnet to reduce high end noise and unwanted distortion. A lot of the guitar’s characteristics are lost when playing “plugged-in”, but the Holy Stain adds its own ambiance and the result, I think, is quite pleasing.

I’m (finally) finding some use for the Holy Stain

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About a year ago, I got the Electro-Harmonix Holy Stain.  It is, I believe, the company’s only multi-effects pedal, and the price ($99) made it hard to resist.  I quickly learned that, although fun, this is not the most useful item for my pedal-line.  The reverb is nice and the controls give me a nice variety and range of sound, but the distortion effect is a bit too bludgeon-y and there’s a much bigger problem.  A fairly long pedal line (6 or more pedals) means that distortion and reverb can’t be right next to each other.  Reverb should be at the back (absolute last before amp) and distortion goes near the front, closer to the instrument.  In between there are modulators (phaser or flanger) and delay (I <3 LOTS of delay).  So, by smashing a distortion/overdrive ciruit right up against a reverb, there’s no way to get anything in between.  As a result, the Holy Stain has spent too much time in the box.

Fortunately, I didn’t discard the item.  Last week, I fulfilled a lifelong fantasy of getting a steel-body resonator guitar.  The Dean Resonator Chrome G sounds great unplugged, but does have magnetic and piezo pickups that can be mixed for the purpose of playing “plugged in”.  But, while the construction of the instrument is top-notch, the electronics are just not great.  So, I figure I’d just play the thing unplugged.

Enter the Holy Stain.  This guitar doesn’t want a lot of spacey effects.  It’s for playing blues and not so much Progressive Rock.  But a little dirt and a little tremolo (which can be chosen on the Holy Stain instead of ‘verb) can provide just he right amount of rootsy, Lanois-esque atmosphere to make the budget pickups come alive.  Sound samples will follow shortly.

Are you fucking kidding me? And what in GOD’s name is “pure abundant authenticity”?!?

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Daryl Stuermer and Martin Levac are Genesis Rewired.  On a day when we should be celebrating the birthday of the 20th Century’s greatest composer, I am nothing but embarrassed.  My love of Genesis does not stop with the departure of Peter Gabriel.  Nor does it end with the unceremonious dismissal of guitar visionary Steve Hackett in 1977.  Although the trio of Banks Collins and Rutherford is well known for its multiplatinum hitmaking tendencies, that same organization also creating powerful prog rock masterpieces such as Duke’s Travels/Duke’s End, Fading Lights and Down and Out.  These songs stand tall in the great pantheon of Genesis music.

But Daryl Stuermer?  On his own website, Stuermer, who was brought in as a touring yes-man with enough technical prowess to butcher Hackett’s poetry while not complaining, describes himself thusly:

In 1978 Daryl became the lead guitarist and touring member of the super-group Genesis.

Ladies and gentlemen, that is an out-and-out lie.  He was a touring guitarist who played some lead during said tours.  He was NEVER a lead guitarist for the band.  When Hackett left, all guitar duties for all music that band Genesis ever made from that moment forward was performed by the gentle Mike Rutherford.  There is no Genesis album (with the exclusion of live albums) that Daryl Stuermer ever played on.  None.  Zero.

And now, Daryl has partnered with an individual who has made his public life an imitation of Phil Collins professional career.  I’ve seen Martin Levac perform with the cover band The Musical Box, and he executed all of the percussive acrobatics of the Gabriel era with authority and panache.  He also ran his own Genesis cover band that focused on the post-Gabriel era.  From what I have heard of that band, the music is astonishingly good.

But now Martin has flushed his credibility down the toilet by partnering with Stuermer for a project that is described in terms that barely make any sense:

Together they create an unforgettable evening that reinvents the Genesis experience.

Destined to become this year’s most requested concert, this five-piece band with a sensational light show, presents the music of Genesis with pure abundant authenticity.

Can anyone tell me what any of that means?  And this mummer’s farce is only perpetuated by the fact that the website does not say of this is new and original music, Genesis music or Phil Collins music.

Fellas, listen.  Here’s a little tip for ya.  There is no such thing as “abundant authenticity.”  Something is either authentic or it is not.  At the moment, all indications are that Genesis Rewired is not.

Avatar – It’s Progressive Politics AND Progressive Rock

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After seeing Charlie Jane Anders io9 note comparing the concept art for James Cameron’s upcoming masterpiece vanity project epic Avatar to Roger Dean’s album covers for the band Yes, there’s now no doubt that I’m in.  That was after learning that the film’s heart, politically speaking, appears to be in the right place.  I guess I’m part of the blame-America-first-with-Mellotron crowd.

Goodbye, Lala. Hopefully we will meet again soon.

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Back to the whole music/social networking thing.  Before the current incarnation of iTunes was released (that would be version 9), there were rumors that part of the update would include a social networking element that would allow iTunes users to post music to FaceBook, Twitter, etc.  Well, that never happened, and the current version of iTunes is pretty similar to the previous version.

But social networking and music is still a fertile area for development.  Last.fm has been around for a while and features a clunky, Facebook style interface.  The best part of Last.fm is that it can, if you wish, track everything you listen to on your computer by means of proprietary technology called Scrobbling.  That’s great fun for seeing what tunes you and all your friends are listening to.  There are also discussion forums and lots of news and gadgets to keep you interested.  The one thing that’s really missing from Last.fm is music.  The social part is there, but the users have to supply their own tunes.

Blip.fm does it best, as far as the social aspect is concerned.  Users select music from the Blip database (which is really just a feed into Youtube and Imeem.  But for each selection, other users with similar tastes are suggested.  The genius is with Blip’s ‘props’ system.  You give props to other users/DJs and get props back.  This means there is a currency that you exchange with other users in order to tell them that you like what they play.  You try to accumulate more props and also ‘listeners’ (friends) as you go forward on your musical exploration.  It is a great way to get connected with people who like similar music.

The other thing that Blip does extremely well is interface with existing social networks.  The actual Blip interface itself looks just like Twitter and even uses “@” and “#” in similar ways.  Also, you can tell Blip to broadcast your selections to your Twitter feed or Facebook page, thus allowing you to share music with other, even if they are not in your Blip social network.

The only problem with Blip is that there is not very much music, and a good portion of it is amateur video from Youtube.  Songs are incomplete, of inferior quality or different versions.  And it’s basically impossible to know which version is going to start playing when you blip it.

Along comes Lala.com.  This is the most extensive collection of music I have seen on the internet and it’s delivered to you in a cloud-based interface that is identical to what you are used to looking at with iTunes.  Lala succeeded in a lot of ways.  Firstly, if you could be bothered to take the time, you could upload your whole music collection and listen to it anywhere you could get online with a computer.  You could broadcast your selections easily to Twitter or Facebook.  And there was even a social networking aspect that allowed you to “influence” other users and share selections.  While the architecture of this social networking fature seems pretty slick, users just didn’t seem that interested, which I though was a shame.  The culture at Blip was that you would almost always ‘follow-back’.  At Lala, it seems like no one cares.

Another nice aspect to Lala was that it offered something to sell, thus negating the need to have tons of ads, like we see at Blip.  At Lala, you could pay ten cents for a ‘web’ song meaning that you could listen to it online as many times as you wanted.  Or you could buy a song for $.79 ($7.99 for most albums) and have the mp3 DRM- free to do whatever you want.

So now, Apple has purchased Lala, at a discount rate, and no one seems to know what will happen next.  Of all the music/social/media/networking applications in the cloud, this was the one I liked the best, so I am hopeful that Apple doesn’t just stick it in the trash.

Links and stuff, including Lincecum video and Moog Bass pedals

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Let’s start with the video that makes me like Tim Lincecum even more:

That gem comes courtesy the me via the good folks at Big League Stew.

Next is a beautiful Flickr gallery of the current incarnation of a Moog Taurus bass pedal.  When used correctly, this instrument can take the paint off the walls, remove fillings and rearrange internal organs:

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Click here for the droolworthy gallery.  Via Sythtopia.

Steve Hackett will be playing NearFest next June.  Other acts include Iona, The Enid, Three Friends (what is that, a Gentle Giant cover band), Astra and Pineapple Thief.  Since I don’t know anything about the other acts, I have a lot of homework to do.  Nearfest takes place in Bethlehem, PA.  (Via Bill’s Prog Blog)

Zombi is coming to Johnny Brenda’s on December 19.  Should be a pretty good prog show.  So far, I like what I’ve heard from this Pittsburgh duo.  Tickets are ten dollars and it is the best place to see music of any type in Philadelphia.  Here’s a taste of Zombi:

via the @progscape twitter feed.

And a few fiction notes:

  1. Aliette de Boddard has some new fiction available for your reading pleasure.  ‘After The Fire’ is another intense SF short story that you can read here or listen to as part of a podcast here.  Both are highly recommended.
  2. There is a feisty conversation about my favorite book of the year, Jay Lake’s Green over at Torque Control.  You have excerpts of some reviews, but the real drama unfolds in the comments.  My thoughts are interposed and largely ignored by the literati sharing criticism.  The link came via the author’s twitter feed.

Hope everyone has had a nice weekend.  It’s a beautiful Sunday here in Philadelphia, so we’re off to do some outdoor chores.  Peace, live and music to you all!