If no one in your band is arguing, then no one cares–and that’s bad. The question is: do you take dissent personally, or do you respect their passion? So, at the end of the day, let’s be glad we play with passionate people.
Top 10 Songs from Spotify in 2012
Here are 10 songs I discovered on Spotify in 2012
Listen Now: 2012: Top 10 (NSFW: explicit lyrics)
This was the year of Spotify for me. The ability to legally listen to virtually any song for free was intoxicating. I used to use GrooveShark, but audio quality is all over the map and it’s annoying to find the right version of the song you are looking for. Youtube is great, but the ads are so intrusive, if you can find a non-live version. So Spotify it is!
In no particular order:
U R So F’d – Infected Mushroom
Dubstep hit the mainstream two years ago or so. Love it or hate it, it’s still going strong. This is actually the first song that I heard that was released in 2013, and I just like the obnoxiousness.
Amanaemonesia – Chairlift
This song has actually been around for years. I think I saw a link to the youtube video years ago, but the song is officially released in 2012–whatever that means. Maybe that’s just when it showed up in Spotify. At any rate, a great example of pop music that still pushes the boundaries. Chairlift artfully takes the retro 80s keyboard thing, and then pushes the boundaries of pop music. Their songs are almost non-catchy, more a certain sound than a specific melody. And yet, they don’t quite go so deep into it, so that it’s still accessible. This is some well balanced pop.
Ashes in the Air – The Flaming Lips
Another dose of blatant lyrics, in an extremely lush, yet minimal, Flaming Lips package. It’s a beautiful example of that feeling that you’re listening to music beamed from a satellite in orbit around Mars. And the words are that compelling feeling that you’re hearing something autobiographical and relatable.
Esther – Grand Duchy
With Frank Black, it’s now all about his voice. No one sounds like him. And the sparse, digital background arpeggio is a contrast that brings out his low, hypnotic crooning even more.
Holy Barbarian – Melvins Lite
I like everything Trevor Dunn has ever contributed to. He’s the bassist that every drummer dreams of playing with. In this edition, he tosses in his bow into the Melvins mix to create something that sounds foreboding and epic and creepy all at once. I love it. I got to see them play live last year, and Trevor was a complete rock star. At some point he deftly dodged a stage diver, almost dropping his massive standup bass to the floor but not quite–and kept on rocking without any distraction. Another time he was so amped up that he literally swung the bass vertically up in the air and balanced it there for several seconds with one arm. Metal.
Sever – Iamamiwhoami
Another track that was released years ago on youtube, but finally made it onto Spotify. Seems like a common pattern now. Upload for free on youtube, then submit a batch to Spotify. Anyway, this band was a mystery for quite a long time, due to their ongoing series of videos that seemed to tell a story while revealing very little about the musicians involved. A slow and pretty track. I’m a sucker for this kind of song.
Pacific Coast Highway – The Beach Boys
I’m so glad they’re back! After a long spell of the mediocre, they return with solid songwriting. This song takes me back to my years in the Bay Area, driving down the Pacific Coast out on Highway 1. The setting sun. Deserted beaches. Lush forests. Rocky crags. The endless ocean. Solitude.
Myth – Beach House
More pretty, lush crooning! This band shows up on my list every year, mostly due to her unique and emotive voice that calls to me. They narrowly beat out many other bands from this expanding genre: Goldfrapp, Boy Friend, LadyHawke, etc.
Folk Hero Schtick – Yeasayer
They almost made it on the list last year, and this year they inched up to the top due to the badass beat that busts in after the first minute. I’m digging the 80s influences that some electro-pop bands are drawing from, and again they do it tastefully.
Born in Winter – Gojira
There’s this whole thing that I just discovered early last year, where Black Metal is passing through a magic portal and coming out as some kind of brooding, grooving, beautiful emo post-rock. I don’t know what it’s called, but there are some great bands in this genre that I’ve come across lately, like Les Discrets, and Nachtmysium. It’s great when metal bands become more musical.
Check out all of my Spotify favorites from 2012: 2012: Great Music
Locally from the Northwest: My favorite releases last year were from local bands like Sandrider and Asva.
Here’s the list from 2011: 2011: Top 10
So… what did I miss?
What we’re taught, versus the real world
We are taught that when you graduate 8th grade, you are a 9th grader in high school.
But if we look at it like the real world, then it’s really a 2 year process.
7th Grade: You are performing at an 8th grade level, and learning to be a 9th grader.
8th Grade: After a year of performing at 8th grade, you have now earned the title of 8th grader. Now you are performing at a 9th grade level, and learning to be a 10th grader.
9th Grade: Congratulations! After consistently performing at a 9th grade level for a year, you have earned the right to be called a 9th grader. You are now starting to perform at a 10th grade level, and learning to be an 11th grader.
This is how it works in the business world. You don’t receive a job title until you prove that you can do it consistently. Job titles aren’t aspirational. You don’t get a job title because you have potential. You’re hired because you have potential, and your job title is based on your previous consistent actions.
I think the lesson here is that we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves, even in art. We need to prove our worth for 2 years before we receive recognition. Recognition only comes in hindsight, and you can’t wait for it. Don’t fall into the trap of letting recognition be the source of your inspiration.
The importance of being earnest
I try to stay away from making posts about the music business or marketing, but this post by Seth Godin really caught my eye.
He talks about what people find interesting, and how it’s easy to do things that our friends find interesting. But it’s much harder to do things that strangers find interesting.
There are so many bands that I’ve been in where I mostly just saw my friends show up. I was fulfilling the first part. The hard part is appealing to strangers, if that’s what you want to do with your music.
But the first thing to do is: be yourself. Be earnest.
When I think of “earnest”, I think of Mark Ostler and his Ivar the Boxer epic poem. The poem is about an immigrant to Seattle who falls on tough times. The fact that the story is written in rhyme, might be an instant turn off to many people. But if you were there at the reading, sitting (or standing at the bar in my case because the room was packed) in the dingy, poorly lit Funhouse, you would have heard a man who was completely absorbed in the art. On one hand, he was baring his own soul. A punk rock singer, speaking in poetry. A fragile moment. On the other hand, he was so incredibly wrapped up in the characters and the story, that he would pause and exclaim things like, “Okay you guys, this next part totally kicks ass! This is where Ivar kicks some butt!!” He was like a fanboy, but of his own work. It was infectious. That night, everyone in the room was caught up with Mark in the story, and we all lived the tragic life of Ivar together. Most of us where surprised to be there–we had no idea this punk rocker was even working on any kind of writing, let alone poetry. But Mark’s earnest reading of his very personal epic poem inspired our imaginations and suspended our disbelief. Mark cared, and so we cared. It did totally kick ass.
That’s one way to make strangers care about you. So focus on the art. Do what you love, be earnest, share with others–and strangers will have no choice but to notice and care.
Trying to learn like a child
Okay, so a deep thought here. Over the course of many years of tutoring and teaching on the side, I’ve noticed this pattern. I haven’t quite thought it all through to the conclusion yet, but here’s where I’m at.
It seems like children primarily learn in an intuitive fashion. They pick up on their surroundings and on what they’re doing, and soak it all in like a sponge. But this isn’t a deliberate action. It’s a matter of convenience. So they get really good at video games, and playground politics, and riding bikes. And they know all about what commercials are on TV, and who’s hot on iTunes, and the latest fashions. Ask a kid why or how they learned all this, and they will look at you like you’re an idiot. It’s because it’s all part of life, as far as they are concerned.
Then at some point in the course of our lives, it seems like most people start to disconnect and live in two worlds: work and life. And we have to deliberately choose what to learn about, and go and execute on some kind of plan to do so.
I don’t know if this evolution in people’s life is necessarily a bad one. Being deliberate is certainly a sign of maturity. Yet, maybe the things that matter to us should feel more intuitive, and should just happen automatically. If you have to go out of your way to learn something, then maybe you’re out of balance or disconnected. Maybe you have the wrong priorities, or maybe you’re unhappy.
Like I say, I don’t know where this thought is going. It’s just an observation.
Great Moments in Live Music from 2012
I was lamenting to Jake Weller the other day that I was jealous of people who can make Best Shows of the Year lists, but then he retorted that it was because I was playing shows and not going to shows. We-he-he-helllll, good point there Jake, and so it was that he solved a conundrum. So here’s a list of shows that held some level of personal awesomeness for me. Maybe this will mean something to you, too.
10. Primus
Ha ha, this is kind of a joke… but only kinda. I actually opened for Primus! Kinda. So the story is that I was in a band, Smidgen, back in the early 90s. We played in Southern Oregon, where we were going to high school and college. Well, fast forward 20 years, long after we had split up and gone our separate ways, and the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, OR, is looking for bands for their new second stage… and they actually contact us! To play with Primus! So we reform to play for that one show. It was awesome. A bunch of our friends showed up, and we all totally dorked out all night. Really fun and, of course, Primus put on a great show as always. Random note: they played an obscure King Crimson song during sound check. Later, I read that Les Claypool recorded some music with Adrian Belew, so there you go. Smidgen was (or I should say IS) huge fans of Primus and King Crimson, so this was one of those great alignment-of-the-stars sort of thing.
9. Metameric
These guys are just super cool and nice people. Shiplosion first played with them last year at the Blue Moon, and they were totally okay with us throwing a massively chaotic balloon party. The staff was Not Happy about the massive mess, constant popping of balloons, and all that, so we really really had to clean everything up spotlessly to make sure we’d be invited back. I think the staff was okay with us after we left the place cleaner than when we arrived. But hey, it’s the Blue Moon. No one goes there because it’s clean. I digress. The point is that Metameric is really thoughtful about their music. They’re a good balance between proggy elements, and just good overall solid metal songwriting. So it’s great that they were good sports about a dorky balloon party going on around them. A lot of metal bands are just too self-concious about that kind of thing, but not Metameric.
8. Nu Klezmer Army
Dude, the night that we played with them at the Conor Byrne, these guys were on another plane. Some of the most soulful klezmer I have ever heard. Bucharest Drinking Team had been playing a few solid days of Folk Life Festival, and then we went up to Ballard for this afterparty. I was exhausted, and I was setting up my drums on the side of the stage in a completely packed room–when the Nu Klezmer Army went on stage. I literally stopped and just stood there transfixed, while they proceeded to tear out my heart with their soulful klezmer crooning. I looked around frantically to see if anyone was getting this. They were. The room was completely in their clutches. I had to force myself to choke back tears and continue to set up my drums. Five days later, their bass player, Joe, was killed by a gunman with untreated mental illness. We will never be the same. Later, some of the most beautiful and heartbreaking music I’ve ever heard was to be heard in the intersection outside the front door of Cafe Racer, and then later at the memorial. It’s a shame that it’s in times of mourning that there is some of the most amazing music–but it’s probably of great importance to those who need comforting.
7. Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band
The night after the Cafe Racer shootings, Bucharest Drinking Team played a fundraiser for Honk Fest West. It wasn’t until much later that night, when ENSMB hit the stage (I’m reasonably sure it was them) and proceeded to play some kind of insane New Orleans funeral dirge, that I finally broke down in sobs.
6. Colin Ernst
At the memorial that I mentioned earlier, he sang a new song entitled Assholes and Fuckheads. I’m trying to get someone to record it so that this masterpiece can be shared with the world, so that the world can be a better place. Any time that life screws with you, you will sing this song and feel better.
5. Bucharest Drinking Team
It’s selfish to mention my own band, but grieving can be very selfish and that’s perfectly fine. We were playing a fundraiser for the family and friends of the victims, and we got permission to sing some Circus Contraption lyrics that Drew would sing, and I look out into the audience at the Tractor and people are arm in arm, swaying back and forth, and kicking their feet a little, and I can’t say how relieving it was in that moment to see all the camaraderie and love in this strange and quirky and excellent community we have, and I knew at that moment that we’re okay. It’s moments like this that are why I play music.
4. Fabulous Downey Brothers
Frenetic. Blue. Dorky. Numerous. Hilarious. Captivating. Fun. Electronic. Very, very blue.
3. Carnotaurus
Before the last song of the night, at the 2 Bit Saloon, the singer remarked, “This song is about a man being crushed inside some giant gears!” That was totally metal.
2. The Funhouse
This is not a band. This was a lifestyle, that is now part of the never to be forgotten past. It was a club that was shut down to make room for condos. I am all for city density, but I am more for community. Condos aren’t community. In October, 2012, I reached some sort of codependent peak where I played at the Funouse 4 times in the same month with many of my dearest friends. Then, on Halloween, it shut down forever. That night was a crazy party, where we proceeded to drink all of the remaining booze in the house and party until close. At the end, some new reincarnation of Titanium Sporkestra marched in with their all brass and percussion band and proceeded to show how heavy brass bands can get. I started throwing money at them. I couldn’t help it. Good thing I only had singles in my wallet, because it was quickly empty. Then they marched out onto the street, as everyone said their last parting farewell to an era.
1. Operadesiac
They host a monthly variety show at Cafe Racer now. I’ve seen almost-nudity, Microsoft Word art, people in chicken suits, a binder full of women, an accordion, a turkey baster being played as an instrument, elf performance art, puppet shows, accoustic guitar rock, shredded ballots, peep sculpture, and much more. It’s a great time. You should check it out at least once.
0. Secrets
I have to hold some moments just for myself as a secret. Sometimes music is not about community, but a much deeper, more personal moment–never to be shared.
Thanks for reading. I left a lot out. But this is what came to mind at the moment. Here’s to a year full of success and more excellent live music to feed the soul! And maybe a little less tragedy, this time around, please??
The Melvins: A Novel
Because my close and dearest friends hate me so much, no one told me about the Melvins tour diary until yesterday. While I think of the best way to exact my revenge, I will be reading each and every one of their posts.
A few observations within the first few minutes of random skimming:
1. I’m pretty sure I stood in the same spot as the Hawaii photos, just days ago. I felt the same way they clearly look: hot, sweaty, and misdressed. Right, misdressed.
2. I immediately skipped to Trevor Dunn’s last post, and was not surprised to find a passage as devinely written such as this:
She yells again, “Is that a vaaaaan or a buuuuus??” I continue to gape in her general direction completely confused by this question until it finally dawns on me to respond. “It’s a vaaaaaan,” I holler. She cups her hands around her mouth and shouts in a barely discernible drawl, “We were all of us inside tryin’ to figure out wut it wuuuuuuz.” My expressionless face betrays the mild disbelief behind my eyes. A million images flash after a pale gaze. What was that discourse inside the Waffle House? Why is this an issue? Who cares? What is the meaning of life? Why are some people lucky when others are born into endless despair? Would I rather freeze to death or die in a fire?
I need to read everything Trevor Dunn has ever written.
Trying to prioritize
One of the metaphors I keep running across is the 80/20 rule. I’m pretty sure it comes from the Pareto Principle. Much like any number combination, I started seeing it everywhere. Actually, I first encountered it in the business world, relating to something only partially related: learning. If you search online you’ll see articles like Pareto Principle, and 80 20 Life, and 80 20 Learning. It’s pretty common. Of course, most simple number combinations are pretty common. Search for 70 30. You’ll find a new list of sites advocating the 70/30 ratio in life. Number pairs are everywhere in nature, and we humans just can’t help but try to seek out patterns in them.
I am more attached to 80/20, simply because it’s got an old dude’s name attached to it–and there is a long tradition of the rule in the software business. You can pick another rule. But here’s the point: it’s useful to devote resources toward more of one thing than another. Or conversely, it’s useful to expect results from more of one source than another. Not always useful, but useful maybe 80% of the time. See what I did there? The rule applies to itself. Meta.
Anyway, here are a few ways that I think it might apply to music.
Writing music by inspiration, not consensus
In the business world, you have 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work on a specific project. Then everyone gives feedback, and that completes the remaining project. Of course, the original 20% choose what feedback is included, and politics can play a role there I guess. Hopefully, the good feedback is mostly taken and, more importantly, the original vision stays in place.
In music, you often have a different hierarchy, but I have found that it’s similar. If just 1 person in the band works on 80% of an arrangement, then the rest of us won’t mess up the source of inspiration.
The reason for this, is that a consensus is only best for finding the common denominator. Consensus is where everyone overlaps. It’s not interesting. It’s not provocative or inspired. It’s safe. It’s watered down. It’s already understood. It lags behind. It’s conservative. Music by consensus isn’t going to create something visionary and exciting. If you are a kind of band where all are creative equals, then consider each of you individually writing your own songs–and then getting feedback to polish each song a little. This is already understood in business.
Practicing
There’s always something to work on and improve. It never ends. So do you work on everything at once? I would argue that you focus on one thing, knock it out, feel good about it, get that burst of inspiration of accomplishment, and then move to the next. On the other hand, you don’t want to go soft on what you already know. So… 80/20. Search up how to get rid of debt–you’ll see the same advice. Pay off one card at a time, but pay the minimum payment on the rest.
Last minute rehearsal
I was asked at the last minute to sit in at The Them’s final show, at the Funhouse in Seattle. So, I applied the 80/20 rule to make sure I was optimizing the resources I was putting toward the project. I think it went really well. That show rocked! Anyway, rather than memorizing and practicing 100% of all the songs, I put 80% of my resources into 20% of the songs–focusing on how songs start, the key transitions, and the end. I had a short amount of time to prepare, and I knew I could read my notes and look for cues on stage that would help me fake through each song… and it worked out really well! Oh yeah, and I also spent 80% of my time rehearsing alone, so that I didn’t waste the time of my bandmates who already knew the songs.
Cool stuff. Have you used this rule? What other rules are out there?
Trying to be consistent
Previously, I’ve mentioned the importance of regulary producing art, over and over, so that you keep up with yourself. Otherwise your art gets stale before you’re done, and you end up scrapping it or never completing it.
The other benefit of regularly producing art is that you learn to be consistent. Consistency is an important aspect of trust. Trustworthy musicians are fun to play with. Of course, good musicians are even more fun! But, it’s good to be trustworthy. I’m not going to get into the band dynamics that come from being trustworthy, that’s what sites like How to Run a Band are for (disclosure: I’m in a band with Seth). And I won’t get into the importance of your fans trusting you, and so on.
But if the quality of your art is all over the map, then you will suffer. If you’re awake one day, and hung over the next, then you’ll suffer. If you only make art when you’re inspired, then you’ll suffer through long periods of time without productivity. You probably already suffer. That’s why you’re an artist. Might as well avoid letting your art suffer, too.
But make sure you’re being realistic. I set a goal to make a blog post once/week, which I thought was realistic at the time, and yet I’m quickly closing the gap of only being a few weeks ahead. I started a few months ahead. By the time you are reading this, I will be on vacation. Good thing I am still ahead! I can focus on my family over vacation. It’s a challenge, but it pays off. And I hope this is a realistic challenge. If I stop delivering a blog post every week, then I expect people will stop checking up on me to see what’s up, and I will get even farther behind when I have tours or vacations.
On a related note, if I don’t write good content, then you’ll stop too! Another example of setting realistic goals: you need to have consistent quality.
This post is probably on the low end of the quality spectrum, but just a thought that I felt was worth sharing.
Trying to change
During my recent time spent studying under Brian Oppel, I had the opportunity to learn some techniques that made drumming more efficient. I would work on my assignments, and could track my progress. It felt great.
And then I’d play a show, and would feel like a complete moron. All these songs that I had previously learned started to feel stiff and awkward. I hated the technique and inflections I was playing. I complained about this, and he suggested that I not worry about it so much. He told me to just let the new techniques slowly integrate themselves into my playing, and just play old songs however I had originally learned–and not stress out so much about it.
Since then, I’ve thought about this some more. One of the things that changes with experience is your perspective. I was perfectly happy with how I was playing old songs, up until I learned a new way to play. I also have to manage my resources: am I really going to go back and relearn every single song I might play live? That’s not realistic. It’s far more productive to focus on being a better musician in the long term and practice the more efficient techniques. Actually, now that I writing this… perhaps use old songs as exercises and kill two birds with one stone. Just make sure you are practicing correctly.
Here’s a pitfall: integrating a new “efficient” way of doing something into your life immediately. You may understand how the new thing is awesome, but you’re not even close to mastering it at the same level as the old “inefficient” way. So you’ll probably mess that up, too. If you’re going to replace a way that you do something, you better be coming out ahead. Give yourself plenty of time to practice the new way in situations where no one is depending on you or where you have low visibility.
So, I think the point is that change can’t happen overnight, and it’s disruptive to try to force it. Instead, better to allow the new techniques to just integrate themselves into your life as you move on. Otherwise, you’ll get stressed out and be unhappy, which will just slow you down even more.