Antonio

Hey everyone, I just wanted to share another song that I've had stuck in my head for a couple of days now. Roadgeek is the solo music project of independent filmmaker Michael Shanks. I first found him through the criminally underrated and awesome Doomsday Arcade (if you like video games and cheeky humor with an interesting story then you should definitely check it out)

Anyway, after DA ended, I followed him over to his youtube channel and from there I found this song. I really enjoy the instrumentation, especially the keys and guitar, and the singing has this strong but vulnerable feeling to it. It's a pretty catchy tune, but has some cool ideas musically, and that's why I like it.

Oh yeah, and he made the video too, and I think that's just cool.

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Antonio

SPOTLIGHT
Butthole Surfers

I guess I should preface this journal entry by saying that this isn't gonna be a history lesson on the band. I will state chronological events within this, but I do not claim to be a fountain of knowledge when it comes to Butthole Surfers. In fact there's probably some people with more of an extensive knowledge of these guys, I'm just going to talk about my experience with the band and what they mean to me.

Anyway, Butthole Surfers is the name of a San Antonio, Texas based group that was started by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary while they were attending Trinity university in 1981. While their lineups have changed/broken up over their 20 year career, many consider the quintessential formation to be that of Haynes on vocals, Leary on guitars, and King Coffey(birthname Jeff) on drums. The name comes from when they first started playing shows as a band; they would come up with a random name each time they played a show and one night the announcer didn't catch what new name they gave him. So instead he read off of their tracklist and introduced them as the Butthole Surfers. They really liked the sound of that as their name and stuck with it. They have been well known for their . One of the other things their well known is their love of recreational drugs, a pastime that has no doubt effected their music production.

When I was really exploring alternative rock of the past back in college, especially that of the 80s, the name Butthole Surfers would pop up every now and then. Now this was mostly in discussions of weird or terrible band names, but I really wanted to check these guys out after hearing about them for a while, so I went and got most of their discography(about 14 albums) and decided to power through it. What followed was 12 straight hours of my mind being warped and my musical palette at the time being challenged to it's breaking point. There were times during this nonstop music session where I just had to stop the music and take a break because I couldn't make sense of what I was hearing. Still, by the end of this journey what I had found was that I loved most of what I heard, to the point that this band still takes up a good bit of space on my mp3 player today.

Guitarist Paul Leary delivers this varied and strong foundation of guitar that leads alot of the songs, but still has these explorative and experimental elements that can turn everything from all good to WTF, King Coffey has these instantly memorable and hard hitting drum lines that attack and sustain their effect, and Gibby Haynes is a charismatic, if not seriously fucked in the head, guy who definitely knows how to work with a song as well as catch your attention with his vocals. Alot of his lyrics to his song titles to even the way he sings can be considered all types of weird and offensive and that's just how he wants it. There's also this thing in many of their songs(and even whole albums) where the music is constantly off key and swirling with all types of odd sounds in the background. These guys are no strangers to sampling or tape manipulation; there's tons of tracks where you get some weird effect on the vocals or guitar, or you get a very drawn out sample that serves as the centerpiece for the song music in the background. While some may think that this type of music proves that a band can't make a regular "good" song, that's not the case with these guys. There's tons of very straightforward tracks, from the surprisingly meditative and uneasy "The Wooden Song" to the alt-pop and electronica influenced tracks like "Pepper" and "The Shame of Life". They're able to show a great deal of tasteful and focused composition in many songs, even early tracks when they were seen as their most experimental.

What Butthole Surfers means to me is the idea of full expression through music. Maybe it is the LSD(it probably was), but with each album you can tell that they were on a specific mode towards producing them. From their alt punk beginnings to their psychedelic noise rock journey to their later forays into pop and electronica, they were never really concerned with trying to fit a certain mold, that they put their own brand of strange and fucked up on tape and sought to leave it at that.

This band is just plain weird, and weird is good.





btw, if you want to know my favorite song of theirs, it's Edgar

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Antonio

Hey everyone, I thought I was done with writing about music for tonight, but this song came up on my mp3 player and I just had to post about it. Clams Casino(real name Mike Volpe) is a hip hop producer from who's known for doing beats for rappers Lil B and A$AP Rocky mostly, but he also releases his instrumental tracks quite often. His music is known for sampling artists like Bjork, Imogen Heap and Janelle Monae in a way where he slows down their tracks and gives it this sort of slow, meditative, and cloudy atmosphere.

This comes from his Rainforest EP(which is totally free by the way), which is a short group of songs that literally feel like nature was given music.

Seriously, you could put this stuff on a montage of one of those nature shows and it would work pretty well.

The whole thing is really worth a listen, but Waterfalls for me has to be my favorite track. This is a short and truthfully simple beat, but it really makes an impression with how you literally feel the music wash over you. It's simply gorgeous, from the main melody to the background of waterfalling and birds chirping to the hard hitting drums which make this feel like some kind of holy ritual.

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Antonio

I was watching the video diaries by the various artists who worked on the recent Random Access Memories album with Daft Punk and one part really got me. It was in the Nile Rodgers interview, and if you don't know, Nile is responsible for one of the most influential and recognizable guitar styles in music, specifically that of disco and dance music. Chances are you've heard his handiwork in various different places.

Anyway, he was asked by the interviewer if he could play his guitar part from this song I'm showing you right now, and as he was playing and listening to the song with his headphones, he got this big smile on his face and afterwards remarked that he forgot how cool the groove was.

That's what this song is and that's why I love it. There's just this infectious groove that anchors the track, and the way that the guitar melody travels and keeps it all going is just fantastic. It's honestly one of my favorite guitar riffs now. I really enjoy Pharell's voice here and I think the fact that he really sticks to a strict melody helps the groove remain the main focus. Daft Punk aren't slouches either, as they provide a really awesome vocoder section, with my favorite part at around 3:02 where you just hear "EVERYBODY ON THE FLO-OOOOOR" over and over again.

I'd be listening to this while I was out and about and I would just start strutting without thinking about it. No wonder I keep getting weird looks when I'm heading to work or walking the dog!

Hell, I wouldn't mind dancing like the people in the video if it wasn't for some weird looks I'd get, haha.

But seriously, this song was just made for moving, and if don't find yourself at least bobbing your head then you have no soul.

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Antonio

If it's one thing that drives me up the wall, it's people who's only excuse for not liking an artist's work is "oh that guy's an asshole" or some other variation of that. I mean, if it's something like this:




Then fine, I understand that not everything has to be your cup of tea and even some music can be like poison to you. But THIS...


Then that's where I just look at you like you're an idiot.

Now I'm specifically talking about music here. I know rap and hip hop is a special case as lyrics(especially more personal rapper) can paint a picture in your head of who's doing the rapping, but I'm using Kanye as an example because he always seems to be a lightning rod for these types of discussions.

But I digress. Most of the time when I hear something like this it's usually someone complaining that an artist isn't "nice" or they're doing something or acting a way that you don't necessarily agree with. To that I would say: Whoever said you had to be NICE to be an artist? Seriously? And to be perfectly honest whether or not someone is likeable is completely subjective. I mean, what constitutes as an "asshole" for one person could be the opposite for someone else, and at the end of the day there's always going to be someone out there who we absolutely hate regardless.

I mean, let's take a look at an example from another medium. How about Alfred Hitchcock? This is a guy who's probably one of the greatest film directors whose ever lived, I think we can say that just by looking at his influence on the art form, even if you don't personally like his work. Well did you know, old Alfred was a massive control freak and borderline sexual predator at points? Just check out this interview with one of the actors he's worked with.

Even with such heinous behavior, does that make Rear Window, The Birds, Psycho, and so many more of his films not great works of art? In my opinion, no, because even for how fucked up someone can be in their personal life, they can still be capable of making great art and work that can be highly influential. Hell, look at someone like Walt Disney, who was a well known anti-Semite and greatly opposed unions and worker's rights, but I dare you to honestly say that Disney isn't one of if not the most important figures in the history and development of animation. Hell, I'll give you a more recent example in the gaming world. Phil Fish, creator of indie game FEZ went under some fire after he made some statements bashing PC gaming and criticizing Japanese developers, as well as a few other more colorful statements. Tons of people have shot back and harshly criticized and belittled his game as a result.

Now, I adored FEZ, it was one of my favorite games in the last year, and that last thing I think about when playing it is how the creator said some stuff that sounded mean.

I guess what I'm saying here is that you can appreciate the art without appreciating the artist.

I'm not saying that you can't have an opinion that's contrary to what the majority has on a piece of music either, but it's such a fucking cop-out to state that the only reason you can't stand a piece of art is because you don't like the person attached to it. It's like hating a restaurant's food because you heard that the chef insults people in the kitchen.

Well here's a news flash: An artist doesn't HAVE to appeal to your specific tastes in people, you're most likely never going to meet the person, and even if you do it will most likely be in a scenario where you won't really see them fully as a person, with all their kindness and anger and hope and doubts rolled into one. Chances are, someone you think is complete jerk can end up being someone you like to talk to or have alot in common with.

The other thing is also that a number of artists can be very eccentric or really turned up versions of certain personality quirks, some more abrasive than others. The truth is that sometimes a person's vision isn't always understood by the people around them, and as a result they're either ostracized from regular society for being too out there or really try to push their work to it's limit, even if it's at the cost of some personal relationships. I'm not gonna say that every douchebag out there is fucking Da Vinci, but there's tons of stories of great musicians, writers and film makers sacrificing everything for their art and alienating everyone they've ever known to see their vision come true, and when someone starts up about how they don't like an artist's personality and therefore don't like their art, they're missing the point of the artwork. That and the person is literally closing their mind to something they may actually enjoy in the end.

If you ask me, stuff like that comes from how some people are brought up believing that if you are a good person that you will automatically be rewarded in the end, and that if someone is unpleasant or a jerk, that they'll get their comeuppance at some point. Some people will see an artist being a dickwad and think they are the villain in the story and that they shouldn't get any accolades for their work no matter how good it is. The truth of it is that while being a good person can help in certain avenues of life, in this world what really matters is how hard/well you work and how lucky you can be.

Do Fortune 500 companies promote people based on how many old ladies they helped across the street? Hell no, they base it on how well that person does their JOB. You can try and say that virtue will always be rewarded in this world, but who are the guys that are the most financially successful and secure, stockbrokers or volunteer workers? I know that sounds cynical, but alot of what gets you noticed in most fields IS your forwardness and ability to do great at what you do, and as sad as it is to say acts of kindness aren't always acknowledged or rewarded.

If your success in the world was based on how nice you were to people, then EVERYONE would be doing it. Anyone can be nice if they think they'll be rewarded for it later, just look at self proclaimed "Nice Guys" who will act absolutely darling and shower who they're attracted to with sweet words and compliments, then get mad when they're "good actions" aren't automatically rewarded by getting said prize in the form of the person they're attracted to.

I'm not saying you should be a complete jerk to get what you want, but thinking someone shouldn't have the success they have because they don't seem like a good person when said person worked hard for what they got and/or was great at what they did is just asinine.

Well I better wrap this up. I guess this was less about music and more about art and life in general, but it's just something that's one of my biggest pet peeves to hear and I just wanted to vent. I know not everyone will agree with me on this, and I'm definitely open for discussion, but at the end of the day this is my personal opinion, so if you don't agree with it then I understand.

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Antonio

So yeah, I just got back from Pacific Rim, and one thing I didn't really expect was how much I'd like the main theme in the film.

It's BIG, LOUD, and IN YOUR FACE, and it represents this movie perfectly. It kicks you into gear and by god hearing it blaring in IMAX was one of the best parts of the whole movie. I really enjoy the rocking guitar intermixed with the massive string sections and man when that low "BUUUUUUUUUUMMMMM" of those horns comes in, it just makes my hair stand on end.

Don't go into this expecting a mindblowing story as it's pretty clear cut from what you see in the trailer, but if the idea of giant fighting robots suplexing Godzilla-like monsters and using boats as F**KING SWORDS incites you then you OWE IT TO YOURSELF to see this film.



In IMAX.



And 3D.



Hell Yeah.

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So yeah, it's been a while (again). I'll explain what I've been up to following this post, but for now here's a review!

My only previous experience with FlyLo's work has been 2010's Cosmogramma, which I loved for it's eclectic production and forward thinking beats, as well as it's fusion of jazz and hip hop. It had that cool groove with the beats combined with some really cerebral ideas that set it apart from a lot of hip hop albums for me, yet still managed to draw you in with various hooks in each song. When I started hearing word about You're Dead! (oh and also, apologies for not exploring the previous albums 1983, Los Angeles, and Until The Quiet Comes as of yet, but they are on my list) and a lot of the accolades and praise it was getting, not to mention the BITCHING ALBUM ART, I was prompted to get it and see what I was missing.

The influences that drive this album are very centered in hip hop, soul and jazz, particularly free jazz and sporadic sampling that is very reminiscent of trip-hop. Now the main difference compositionally compared to other FlyLo records is that many of the songs are very short; most of them coming in under the 2 minute mark. Now I could see how this would draw comparisons to the seminal hip hop classic Donuts, and while there are a few parallels in terms of it's beat and sample based structure, YD really does have an identity of its own. In a way, listening to Donuts and then going to You're Dead! feels like an evolution.


As per the title the central theme of this album is that of death. Now with something like death many artists will explore it one of two ways. They'll either visit it only when it personally effects them in sparse moments such as the death of a friend or family member or, as is the case with a genre like death metal, will make a show out of it that more so works as an aesthetic of the macabre(not that that's a bad thing). You're Dead! has a bit of a broader approach in that it covers the differing feelings and moods that one is likely to experience as a direct result of death or through the deaths of others. There's the initial shock and realization of your fate as one of the non living(Cold Dead, Fkn Dead), the dread and sadness (and madness) of facing a possible eternity of uncertainty(Descent Into Madness), as well as songs that denote a sort of inner peace or calming feeling towards the afterlife(Your Potential/The Beyond, Turtles).

The head space of this album is really deep and masterfully crafted, if anything this is one of the best produced albums I've ever heard. Not only do you feel like you are there with the music playing, you feel like you are part of it. You're flying with the album, flying with the music, as if you're participating in the tornado of free jazz and sampled beats, this torrential onslaught of sounds. That being said, wearing headphones is essential to really get the full feel of this.

Now with those mentions of free jazz and sporadic sampling I was actually surprised to find that this album is quite melodically sound. The instruments play off of each other perfectly, both moving and shaking at their own pace but at the same time uniting as one, really working together. While I am no master of identifying what sample came from where there are definitely some callbacks to the class era and the early fusion era of jazz, amidst the live instrumentation provided by guys like Thundercat, Kamasi Washington, and musical big wigs like Herbie Hancock. The samples that are apparent, such as the barrage of bullet firing, video game sounds and dialogue in songs like Dead Man's Tetris do well to stay true to the frantic pace of the album while giving it a fresh coat of paint for the rest of the album to come. This isn't just a jazz record.

The vocal samples on this album are sparse, but still add to this work as a whole. This is mostly because the high instrumental presence helps the work as a whole keep its identity as a Flying Lotus record rather than just an anthology of beats with tons of big names that only really share the common thread of a producer *cough* DJ Khaled *cough*. The vocal work on this album really does transcend simple verse-chorus-verse ideas propagated by mainstream music and favors the more soulful and ethereal approach. Tracks like Coronus, The Terminator offer a lush and majestic, yet serene and airy tone in the vocals that just washes all over you and prepares you for Siren Song, which once again uses more singing than lyrics to convey feelings rather than tell you what to feel. The album's closer, The Protest is also a smooth and subtle showcase of vocals, which helps you lay back and let the experience of the album leave your body.

The full vocal features, such as Kendrick Lamar on Never Catch Me, work well to feature it's guest on a track as well as providing a sort of detour from the previous jazz heavy tracks. There are some other vocal features on this album that are well done, such as those of Thundercat and Angel Deradoorian, but I really enjoyed Kendrick's the most as I felt like his was the most fleshed out and true to his style of rapping. That and I do enjoy FlyLo's stints as his rapper alter-ego Captain Murphy on here, especially on the eerie The Boys Who Died In Their Sleep. Snoop Dogg however failed to impress me beyond the initial “Hey, Snoop's on a FlyLo record?!” with his appearance on Dead Man's Tetris. While I'm not saying he should quit making music, I felt that he was a bit out of his element here.

Still, the sum of all these features, instruments and samples really work well together, as each song is able to flow into the next while at the same time not feeling like it's chained to the previous or next track. Even the shortest tracks like Stirring have their own feel and uniqueness while still helping to bridge parts of the album. The key word here is cohesion.

Overall I really love this album and would highly recommend it to fans of trip hop, jazz, R&B and just fans of experimental music. While some people may find it a bit too ADD in how it's constantly moving or feel like there's just too many ideas at once, I feel that this release shows how far hip-hop as a genre has come and the level of artistry it has achieved. This album is just so unique and endlessly entertaining that even listening to it for the 5th time I still find things to like about it. Even so, it is not totally perfect, especially in the second half where it seems to lose some focus and kind of slows down.

If I HAD to make a comparison to a release of a previous generation, I would just come out and say it: this is the Bitches' Brew of it's genre, something that NEEDS to influence the younger generation and start inspiring more pushing of boundaries for the future of both it's genre and music in general. But hey, listen for yourself and see if you agree with me.

Favorite Tracks:
Never Catch Me
Cold Dead
Coronus, The Terminator
Turkey Dog Coma
Stirring
The Protest

Least Favorite Tracks:
Ready err not
Moment of Hesitation

9/10

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Antonio

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^NEW ALBUM REVIEW RIGHT ABOVE YOU!!!!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

So yeah......................










Now, people who have been following me for a while may know me for my habit of not really being too consistent with posting and taking an extra long time to get write ups done. I will say that sloth is kind of a vice I know all too well, that and distractions, LOTS of distractions. But anyway, in terms of what I've been doing, it mostly boils down to work, music and soul searching.

With work, I graduated a few years ago from college with a degree in psychology. Without divulging too much info(professionalism and stuff), I currently work two jobs mainly with children and adolescents with behavioral/developmental issues. In between taking more hours, new cases, as well as the mountains of paperwork and future plans to go get my masters, it has been kind of tough to keep the DG train rolling, but I haven't forgotten about it.

Musically I've been doing quite a bit too. Since about December of 2013 I've been recording original tracks on soundcloud, as well as working on a debut album that I'm gonna name Visitors. I guess the best way I can describe my stuff is sort of jazzy/electronic/rock/soundtrack stuff. The more electronic stuff I composed/arranged/mixed/mastered myself, while the live band stuff I did in a studio with some guys, where guitar and vocals were mostly mine. To be honest I do it these days more as a hobby and tool for exploring what I can do musically, so apologies if it's too weird or out there (or just straight up bad lol).

https://soundcloud.com/zer0ne1/bloom
https://soundcloud.com/zer0ne1/kilimanjaro
https://soundcloud.com/zer0ne1/decembercross-the-tundra
https://soundcloud.com/zer0ne1/savanna

Anyway, I may post some songs if I feel like you guys might really like it, but don't worry about me barraging you with every sliver of stuff that I make.(unless you'd like that, that is ). But yeah, I also have a Facebook page that I update regularly if you liked that stuff.
https://www.facebook.com/thepointandtheinfinite

This brings me to the soul searching part. I guess the best way I can talk about this without too much information or seeming overdramatic is that I've been thinking about my place in the world, what I could offer to others personally as well as a form of self fulfillment. While music is probably my biggest passion, I've had some turbulent times in terms of how I felt other may judge my work or judge me and feeling like what I had wasn't good enough to “make it”. In short, I guess I was so wrapped up in self doubt with this music thing that I felt it was like an all or nothing game; where if I wasn't instantly successful then I would have to give it up forever or something. Now I know that sounds silly but that was kind of the thing...I wasn't thinking realistically. That also goes for the other aspects of my life too, such as trying to build an actual career in case the music thing doesn't pan out, and at this point I'm also trying to get more focused on the enjoying life part of life and not just some achievements that I put on a pedestal in my head. Now, I'm still gonna be working on the album(as well as some future releases!), but I'll remember to enjoy making it and not worry about whether it's popular or not. So come whatever may, success or failure.

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Trollheart

Hey welcome back man! I'll be checking out your music as soon as I get a window in my busy schedule. May feature it in "The Showroom" if you want...

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Plankton

A solid way to go about it. I just listened to Bloom, and it's pretty good. Production is really solid on that. How much did they charge?

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