| Why are there so many mediocre bands? |
[Jun. 8th, 2008|12:33 pm] |
Myspace? All the band names I've ever wanted to use have been stolen by garage bands with three month lives.
American Idol? Anyone can be a star these days. It doesn't always take hard work.
The death of the piano? Pianos are long gone as the instrument of choice. The fundamental band instrument, the Guitar, has found its way into closets and under beds across the world.
Commercial radio? Well, no problem there.
Or maybe because nobody cares about bands anymore. And why should they? They're hard to talk over and always hit or miss. So why take the chance of wasting your one night off? After all, you can turn off a jukebox as easy as you can turn it on and they never talk back. Want unpredictability? Go to a club and have a DJ craft the perfect set culled from thousands of songs on his iPod. No rehearsal necessary, and they never hit a wrong note. Lastly, If I hear a good song I get it off iTunes and then wear it into the ground. Why should I go sit through a bunch of lame songs for one good one when I can listen to it anytime I want?
So why should a band care about itself? Why should it even exist? Why practice? Why find good musicians willing to play for nothing when its easier to find mediocre ones? People still like to see live music. But the quality of music really doesn't matter. Music is just entertainment, and as long as a band entertains it really doesn't matter if they are good or not.
The Avett Brothers put on a high octane show and the people love it. But what's the difference between them and every punk band on the planet? They decided to play it on bluegrass instruments instead of Billy Joe Armstrong signature Les Paul Juniors. Does that make them good?
Neil Young sings in an annoying voice and has a guitar tone reminiscent of a screaming buzz saw. Nobody sounds like him, but does that make him good?
I guess what really kills me is when people just go through the motions. To me, honesty is the deal breaker. I mean who didn't start playing music to pick up guys or gals? Right? This mentality irritates me to no end. It is also why I hate rock music. There I said it, rock music is dead to me. If I hear another power chord I am going to die.
Anyways, I've got to go work on my new techno project. Peace out! |
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| Smilers |
[Jun. 5th, 2008|11:01 am] |
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Very few artists do I count down the days until their next record immediately after purchasing their last. Aimee Mann is one of them. She even shot down my theory that once you release a Christmas Album your career is over. Her new album, Smilers, is great. She slyly sits on the edge of pop. Great songs with quirky arrangements, all sung in a melancholy alto. This record seems more sparse than her past records. The electric guitar has taken a back seat to simplicity which is fine by me. It leaves more room for swirling Hammond and lush Wurlitzer pads and piano. She even works in a handful of moog synth parts that are actually cool (I never thought I'd say that). And then the horns on "Medicine Wheel" with tasty Wurly lick to boot. Screw your summer tour Aimee, get back in the studio. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 19th, 2008|11:27 pm] |
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Music is best when it is art and not product. |
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| Smittin' with Smither |
[Apr. 28th, 2008|04:20 pm] |
Chris Smither is why I love folk music. It is so pure. A guy and his guitar with his shoes tapping on a hard floor. A great songwriter and re interpretor of great songs (Buffalo Springfield - "Kind Woman", Little Feet - "Rock and Roll Doctor", John Hiatt - "Memphis In The Meantime"). Isn't that the folk tradition? To shine a little light on a song we all unjustly forget. Not to cash in with a cover of "Big Yellow Taxi" or "Friend of the Devil" when your creative well has dried up. Has anyone heard the new Counting Crows album?
Anyways, Chris Smither is the bomb. |
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| "Long As You Know You're Living Yours" |
[Mar. 20th, 2008|11:56 pm] |
I'm one song into Keith Jarrett thanks to my boys at Steely Dan and their song/album, Gaucho. Great album, but that is my definitive cut despite its lacking in Michael McDonald background vocals. I lived on that song for a year.
So the story goes, Donald Fagen (noted jazz buff/wannabe jazzer/master of the keytar & famous for getting ace studio musicians to do all the hard work) was "inspired" by Jarrett's tune "Long As You Know You're Living Yours". Jarrett sued and received credit and royalties for future usage of the song. As well he should. As I scowered the musical landscape for the tune (15 second on iTunes), I couldn't help but think that Fagen merely stole a simple motif. I was surprised to find he took everything from that song with slight variation (its even in the same key with the same swanky sax theme). I listen to Jarrett's tune and I instantly here "Gaucho". I almost like it better despite its lack of lyrics and over the top "Dan" production. Upright bass, drum kit, sax and piano; pure richness and groove. At its roots it is a moving piece of music that now means something totally different to me.
Below is a link to Steely Dan's "Gaucho". I recommend you pick up Jarrett's "Long As You Know You're Living Yours" on iTunes (well worth $.99).
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| New tunes up with a god damn band! |
[Mar. 17th, 2008|07:53 am] |
It'd been a year since I'd played with a group. I couldn't take it anymore! For better or worse I need to play music. I'm not a great guitarist, I'm not a great singer, and I'm not a great songwriter. But I need to do it. In someway or another everybody needs to make some noise.
We recorded three tracks last week live with minimal overdubs. The instrumentation is electric guitar, upright bass, keys and drums. You can check it out here: www.myspace.com/adamdaltonmusic
Now we just need to get signed, but we have a myspace so we're already ahead of the game. |
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| Spring Aired Soul |
[Mar. 13th, 2008|09:22 pm] |
I've been listening to a ton of Stax and Atlantic. Brian lent me both box sets. So much to digest! I've always loved the swell of a Hammond through a whistling Leslie, the chank of a Fender Telecaster, and drum/bass grooves that you could eat for dinner. But its not until the vocalist comes in that you know a tracks has got soul. Some people have got it. Some people don't.
Guilty pleasure "What A Man" - Linda Lydell. The bass just grooves and tasty Wurlitzer is sprinkled throughout.
Spring in Nashville is so wondrous. I was high on the sweat air. I sat on my porch just soaking it all in. It may have been one of the best days I've experienced in Nashville. There are multiple reasons for this, but the weather made me believe I had not a worry in the world. I even tried to fret about things and it wasn't happening. What gives? |
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| Sombering View |
[Aug. 23rd, 2007|03:25 am] |
Sometimes I like to discard my glasses
Too see things as I was intended to
If this is to not see as clearly then that is fine
Rough edges are now soft smooth and inviting
It's like someone took an airbrush to your face
I see your face as only I could see it |
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| Living for the City |
[Jul. 28th, 2007|01:20 am] |
I go down the stairs to get my mail the other day and I can just barely make out somebody at my door. Curious I go back to my room, which overlooks my front yard. Sure enough, I see a kid going through my mailbox. Just then a car pulls in front of my house. A mother and daughter get out, likely going to the hairdresser that is next door. They see the kid and get back in the car. He moves across my lawn and looks up at me. We make eye contact. I can't see if he has anything. He is holding his hands in front of his long over sized sports jersey. Then he is gone.
The next day a ripped package is placed at my doorstep with a note inside. Apparently one of my neighbors found it in the dumpster with a package of hers (also opened with contents missing). What the budding young postal servant did leave was my receipt for a used copy of Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life". Maybe its in better hands now.
I don't think he'll be able to sell it for guns or crack because it was used already. On top of that, the seller had refunded me partial payment feeling bad that the second disc was heavily scratched. Looks like the poor kid may actually have to listen it! |
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| 4th of July |
[Jul. 5th, 2007|02:21 am] |
Today’s the fourth of july
Another june has gone by
And when they light up our town I just think
What a waste of gunpowder and sky
I’m certain that I am alone
In harbouring thoughts of our home
It’s one of my faults that I can’t quell my past
I ought to have gotten it gone
-Aimee Mann |
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| Drinkin' Muddy Water |
[Jun. 28th, 2007|10:15 pm] |
I picked up three CDs today from this great record store here in Nashville called Grimey's New & Pre-loved Music. On recommendation from I Kate I picked up the Rolling Stone's Sticky Fingers album. I'd been wanting an excuse to pick that one up for a while. The jam out on "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" is great. I remember hearing it on the radio last summer while I was stuck at a traffic light in Marshfield. "Bitch" is another great one. The horns! The Rolling Stones are one of my favorite bands, and I rarely listen to them and only own a few albums. To me they epitomize rock n' roll. They shamelessly dub themselves the Greatest Rock and Roll band of all time, and I have to agree.
I also picked up two used CDs. Bob Dylan's Down In The Groove, and Muddy Waters Live. With the Dylan I knew what I was getting into. An 80's album with a few nuggets and then dated filler. "Silvio" is the best track, but I was surprised to find a tune that Crooked Still covers on their first album titled "Rank Strangers To Me". I love when artists rescue great cuts like that.
The Muddy Waters album is great, probably the best of the three. He is really the only blues artist that just does it for me. He is so invested. Nothing beats live blues. He created the electric blues. His tune "Rollin' Stone" spawned the Stones as well as the Dylan tune. He is king of the Chicago blues. Rollicking harmonica, shuffles, slide... unbelievable! I just see that smile he always does when I listen to him. Like the Stones I don't listen to the blues enough.
Besides that I've been working on a few new tunes. "Sweetpants Blues" and "Our Prime". Kevin and Bob recently recorded for those, and they'll be up soon. Blackbird has been going well, and proven to be quite the experience....
That's all for now! |
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| Nashville Skyline |
[Jun. 16th, 2007|11:52 pm] |
I made it to Nashville with the aid of a one Brie Sullivan. Quite the adventure, but nothing when compared to our trip to Bonnaroo last year! Anyways, all I have here are my instruments and I have been chugging away. Thanks to the internet I have been able to send tracks back and forth with Brendan and Dave. I look forward to keeping this up! Due to this, I finally set up a music myspace (I hate when people have two! Sorry!). So if you want to check it out I'll be keeping it up to date (www.myspace.com/adamdaltonmusic). The two tracks we have been working on are up right now; "Scituate" & "No Way To Say Goodbye".
On the table for tomorrow is mixing "Riverhawk Rawk"! |
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| Resume' |
[Jan. 11th, 2007|04:25 pm] |
It has been so long since I've looked at my resume! It kind of shows you how much can happen in a few years. Dig yours out, you'll see what I mean!
So work has begun on my internship. I want to get on this right when I get back to school so I'm not fretting about it. Yeah!
End. |
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| My phone is gone, my love is away, but I'm here to stay. |
[Jan. 10th, 2007|12:16 am] |
So my phone right? Well its gone. I lost it on the street. My fault, totally. Some punk finds it, sells it, and buys drugs or pokemon cards with the money. I search for it ya know. Cause how am I gonna know I didn't leave it anywhere? So my brohter keeps calling the number and some kid picks up and hands the phone of to his mother! Aparently the kid bought it. Quick sale, I lost it that night in the wee hours of the morning! Anyway, they say they'll drop it by the police station. Odds are they dropped it in the Merrimack.
I waited a while, a week and checked to station multiple times. Nuthin'. So I did what anybody would do. I called all of the people he called while he had my phone. They all denied talking to anyone with that number. The best was when I was able to say, "Well it says right here that you called them." I'm going to check to see if it scared up the phone, but odds are I'm going to plop down $150 on a new phone. Aggsfest!
So I just got back from Tennessee. That was fun. It really isn't a city, kind of like Newburyport. I've got to get organized now. Peace out! |
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| I know my night owl days are not numbered. |
[Dec. 13th, 2006|02:58 am] |
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I knew someone who said that, "I don't worry about sleep because I don't want to miss out on all the the things that happen at night." Well the same can be said about the day. Our lives govern our hours of operation. What if your breakfast was really your dinner? Mine was this morning, and it got me thinking about all the things I miss by sleeping in. |
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| Ode to the Telecaser a dying dream |
[Dec. 11th, 2006|04:18 pm] |
Listen, I've been having second thoughts. Do I really need the Telecaster I just laid down the dough for. Is it worth the expense? Does it fulfill my lifelong dream of owning a Fender Telecaster?
Yes, the Telecaster is a one trick pony, but that is part of the allure. Its a piece of wood with two pick-ups in it that forever changed the definition of popular music. Early rock and roll and country records will forever ride the Telecaster's sparkling tone.
That's the sound I wanted. Now I have it and I can't harness it. I can't yet evoke the tasty country licks in which the Tele truly shines. It is a shrill guitar, and for the first time I have found myself using the tone knob! Can you believe it!? I usually work the EQ on the amp, but not in this case.
So, here is my dilema. My Strat could kill this thing overall, but it can't get the true Tele twang. Do I really need a guitar for one sound at this point in my life? And can I really handle a tele? Am I man enough? Did I reach for my dream too early?
These are the things that keep me up late at night. |
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| Sleepwalking |
[Nov. 15th, 2006|05:13 pm] |
I've been sleeping a lot, napping a lot, drinking coffee a lot.
Lately a nap has been the down time I need to think and to rest.
The book next to my bed stays in the same place, but I don't care.
I don't really want to read it any way. Otherwise I'd have finished it ages ago.
And maybe that's how its supposed to go. |
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| Laughing it off again! |
[Nov. 13th, 2006|11:30 pm] |
Overall, this weekend was great. I got to hang out with my good buds from home and see both Ratdog and Bob Dylan. After Dylan on Saturday night, Tung met us in Boston and we had a good ole time!
I got up early to go to work the next morning and I found that my car had been towed! My boss had to cover for me, and I had to take a cab from my buds place in Brookline to Jamaica Plains to pay $110 to rescue my volvo chariot. I drove back to Lowell to discover the internet was going to be down until the morning and decided to check the ole e-mail in the library. It was there that I discovered that the Worthen was letting us go after this week! But what can you do right? I almost have to laugh! Really!
Ha. There. Its almost liberating. These are liberating times I suppose. |
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| All night! |
[Nov. 8th, 2006|01:45 am] |
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Gotta love group projects! |
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