music

air heated by flames, visualized with single pass Schlieren system

Posted on by grahams

Got belay certified last night at RockVentures, which was fun, but my climbing experience was poor last night; I only made it to the top on one of the climbs I attempted… Perhaps I was just tired.

I received the aforementioned CD’s in the mail yesterday, and so far I have listened to one of the two. I am impressed by what I heard, but I will need a bit longer to form an opinion.

Sean Hammond is coming over and making dinner tonight, and Adam’s girl Molly is going to bring dessert. It will be nice not having to cook at all for a change (even when it isn’t my night to cook, I generally offer my services to help out whoever _is_ cooking).

I am looking forward to my parents visiting tomorrow, ’cause I haven’t seen them since May. They are coming up to plain-ol’ visit, and to check out my apartment in person. Too bad it is only my apartment for a few more weeks, but living CSH isn’t that bad… As I have said several times, my problem with living at CSH isn’t CSH-related, it is dorm-related. I want to live in a slightly larger place, the dorms are so confined. Ah well, it is only for a few more months, right?

Metti una sera a cena

Posted on by grahams

Mike Felice is visiting Rochester for a few days, for the CSH orientations, and he is crashing at our place. This is good because Mike can cook, and he is hooking us up with some Chicken Franchaise (sp?).

Tonight we get to watch Junkyard Wars. Between Junkyard Wars and Iron Chef, I don’t know how much better television can get. I can’t wait until Junkyard is a regular show… :)

Right now I am just chilling at work, working on some DTD’s and listening to some Faith No More. Right now that is the only MP3 cd that I have which functions properly in my player. The rest of my CD’s are older, and I haven’t gotten around to figuring why the older ones don’t work. Perhaps I will look at that tonight.

I am also expecting to get two “Secret Chiefs 3” cd’s in the mail soon (“First Grand Constitution and Bylaws” and “Second Grand Constitution and Bylaws”). I hadn’t heard much of SC3, but I bought the CD’s knowing I like the work of the bandmembers (SC3 is a sideproject of Mr. Bungle members Trey Spruance, Trevor Dunn, Danny Heifetz, and Bar McKinnon, with other talented musicians on more of a ‘rolling’ roster). I never really get nervous when I blindly buy CDs, because even if they suck, they expose me to new music usually, and I can always sell them used. Last night, however, I found a site that was Webcasting a SC3 live performance. Somehow, after seeing/listening to that, I can’t imagine that the CDs will disappoint me.

Naked City

Posted on by grahams

I like music. Those who know me are very familiar with this. My tastes are pretty extreme in the eyes of many, but experimental music (whether that be electronic, jazz, rock, [insert industry-defined genres here]) is something I love to listen to. I try to be open-minded when it comes to music, and other peoples perceptions of music (I often fail in this quest, but I nonetheless try).

I am going to review CDs here occasionally, perhaps trying to bring an artist I love to light. So, without further ado:

Naked City – John Zorn

I picked this CD up for many reasons… First of all, I became aware of John Zorn a few years back through a friend (James Izzo), who purchased a CD from Zorn’s Painkiller project (with Mick Harris of Napalm Death/Scorn). Zorn’s horn playing amazed me. John Zorn also produced Mr. Bungle’s eponymous debut album, although I didn’t know of him when I first picked that one up. In retrospect, you can certainly hear his influence on the band.

“Naked City” was released in 1989 (or 1990, depending on which copyright notice you believe on the packaging) on Elektra/Nonesuch records. The tracks range from traditional jazz pieces to mind-blowing chaotic noise. John Zorn is known for bending the common perception of jazz, and this album is no exception. Zorn and his merry band of musicians have done incredible arrangements with both Zorn’s original pieces and the few songs they have selected done by other composers. Their rendition of Henry Mancini’s “A Shot in the Dark” is wonderful, and when placed in contrast with the insane chaos of other tracks (such as “Blood Duster”), you get a feel for the talent of both Zorn and the musicians he selected to work with him.

I strongly recommend this album to everyone, you simply must give it a listen (if you are reluctant to lay down the coin, ask me to borrow it.. :P). This album is not only interesting, but it also is quite enjoyable and listenable. I give it my full endorsement (whatever the hell that means).

Music Rant

Posted on by grahams

Was pop music always so shitty? I remember the 80s being vain and thin, but 80s “new wave” was also so self-cynical and ‘glossy with a purpose’. Today’s pop music scene seems to be filled with boy/girl bands (like brit-ney), neo-metal garbage (korn, limp bizkit, et. al.), and rap has been replaced by this bogus gangsta rap. When gangsta rap meant NWA, it meant something, I didn’t necessarily go crazy for it, but I felt emotion in it. Today’s gangsta rap has as much in common with boy/girl bands it isn’t funny. Appealing to the same demographic (namely, children), using violence to attract instead of sexual innuendo. Sigh…..

In a perfect universe, experimental artists (the likes of Autechre, Squarepusher, John Zorn, Mr. Bungle, etc…) would be truly successful. The ones that are actually pushing the envelope. Experimental music isn’t always good, don’t get me wrong, but you can usually bank on it at least being interesting…

MTV needs a revolution….. MTV needs to play music…. We _all_ realized that MTV was simply commercials for music ‘back in the day’, we accepted and loved it. Music has taken the back seat at MTV; It is now the soundtrack to whatever fad MTV is pushing at the time. MTV isn’t necessarily _good_ for music, but it could do a good job of bringing new music to the masses. Unfortunately MTV (and big radio) is under the powerful influence (mostly monetary) of the labels.

I don’t expect a sea-change, but why not start small. Your homework assignment is to go to a record shop and buy something at random. Feel free to narrow it to a genre, but try and pick a cd you have never heard of. You might like it…