Discounted music

As graduation approaches, and with it job interviews (hopefully), I have been shopping for a new suit. I have one, but I think two would be good to have for work and such, and my mom gave me Christmas money to buy a suit.

Being the cheap...er...value-conscious shopper that I am, I have been spending a lot of time at Marshall's. For those of you who don't know, Marshall's makes its money reselling clothes that it buys from big name stores. When the Nordstrom's or Macy's order too many Van Heusen dress shirts they sell the surplus to Marshall's. Some of the stuff looks like the store just bought too much, and some of it--well, let's just say Marshall's ain't going to sell it either.

Anyways, given my addiction to music, I have paid keen attention to the songs played at Marshall's. (Not) surprisingly John Mayer comes on at least twice an hour there. I'm not sure what to think of this. Heavens knows how much I love John Mayer. I have two different reads: One, the rights to play John Mayer at stores was overpurchased by big stores and so Marshall's; or two, John Mayer's adult contemporary shlock is so middle of the road that it borders on muzak, and no middle-aged woman would feel uncomfortable shopping with the music on. Either way he sucks.

Trying to write songs about prostitutes and lesbians

From an interview with Paul McCartney August 24, 1966:

Reporter: I'd like to direct this question to messrs. Lennon and McCartney. In a recent article, Time magazine put down pop music. And they referred to Day Tripper as being about a prostitute.
Paul: Oh yeah.
Reporter: ...and "Norwegian Wood" as being about a lesbian.
Paul: Oh yeah.
Reporter: I just wanted to know what your intent was when you wrote it, and what your feeling is about the Time magazine criticism of the music that is being written today.
Paul: We were just trying to write songs about prostitutes and lesbians, that's all.

A Point for John Mayer

As you may very well know, I dislike John Mayer. I think he wastes his talent on middle-of-the-road "adult contemporary alternative" shlock. In essence, he's a tool.

But I stumbled upon something that redeems him...a bit.

That beauty of a mug shot is from a 2001 arrest when Georgia police pulled Mr. Mayer over for speeding and driving without a license. The incident went un-reported (because no one cared about him in 2001) until 2009 when Mayer himself offered a reward for the fan who found the picture.

You are a massive tool, John Mayer, but kudos for being able to laugh at yourself.

Summer Lovin'

Amidst classes, work and my intermittent blogging, I set a goal to record some music this summer.

I have probably made similar goals before--which I did not fulfill. Meh.

Really, regardless of whether I end up recording some of my electronic noodlings, I wanted to give a tour of my recording studio: the kitchen and laundry room of my two-bedroom apartment. The tour is replete with pictures of the amp, the three mics that I bought at Guitar Center 8 years ago on one of their weekly "SALE of the Year," and the used mixing board.




















Don't you like the axe at the foot of the oven?





There you see the devastating combo of the mixing board and PC on the kitchen table. The laundry room provides a convenient showcase for the 30 Watt's second channel.

If you guys are good to me, maybe I will go through the spoken word and self-improvement records I am scouring for the hot sample of this summer.

In Honor of P-Funk Coming to Town

The P-Funk and the Mothership Connection arrives at First Ave next Monday. In honor of George Clinton and his musical vision I decided to post one of my favorit Onion articles: Mothership Descends on Hootie Concert.

For those unacquainted with these purveyors of funky music, I would recommend going through the songs on Mothership Connection or any of their singles on Grooveshark or Youtube or whatever way you semi-legally listen to music online.

Tickets are $25 and last I heard the show has yet to sell out.

Messersmith at the Cedar Cultural Center (file under chamber pop)

I had a chance to see local Jeremy Messermith play a packed show at the Cedar Cultural Center tonight. In case anyone wondered about the influences on Jeremy Messersmith's new album The Reluctant Graveyard, those questions were answered by the replica-McCartney bass and an encore performance of "Nowhere Man."

The new albums contains some of his strongest work. Always the able songsmith, this installment finds him scoring a string quartet and horns as well as the traditional guitar/bass/drums/piano model. The string sounded their finest on "John the Determinist," this album's Elanor Rigby. The live quartet brought out a depth and fullness of sound which I the album didn't fully capture. Other standout performances included "Franklin Ave" and "Lazy Bones."

Messermith seems to have reached a steady following. The crowd nervously sang along to the choruses of fan favorites "Novocaine" and "Great Times" and Jeremy was called back on stage for an encore (the first time that I saw him called for one).

Messermith started the set with "Novocaine." He played material from all three of his LPs and finished the set with an acoustic rendition of "Miracles."

Messersmith kicks off his 12 gig May tour tomorrow in Sioux Falls. If you are interested in his music check out his website. He has listings for his shows, streams all three albums and lets you download them at a price that you choose.

Favorite love songs part I

I decided I would post a list of my 50 favorite love songs. My decision was based mainly on how much I liked the ideas they conveyed and how well they conveyed those ideas. What I found is that no one makes being in love sound more fun than the four lads from Liverpool.

Before I get into the countdown, there are some songs that were considered but didn't make the cut.

Got to Get You Into My Life - Joe Pesci

This Beatles classic (which Sir Paul admits is partially based on his desire to start smoking pot), was murdered by Joe Pesci. It really ruins any kind of feeling that the original had.

Surprisingly with a countdown which is saturated with Beatles tunes, there were several Beatles tracks that didn't make the list:

Here There and Everywhere - it's a sweet song, but it's not one of Harrison's most compelling songs.

I Will - another sweet, simple love song. Compared with the masterpieces on the list by the Fab Four I couldn't justify including it.

Superstar - Sonic Youth

Another cover that takes an original to another realm. Thurston Moore transfers this saccharine 70's AM-radio favorite into an exercise in desperation and despair.

Art School Girl - Stone Temple Pilots

For all those art school girls out there.

Age of Consent - New Order

Deserves mentioning for it's catchy up-tempo beat and the defiant chorus "I'm not the kind of guy who needs to tell you just what you want me to." My thoughts exactly.

Be My Wife - David Bowie

One of Bowie's quirky love songs allegedly written to persuade his then-wife to stay with him. She didn't, and I'm not sure if I blame her.

Drain You - Nirvana

Cobain's only real attempt at a love song aside from About a Girl.

Loving Cup - the Rolling Stones

Jagger shows his tender side on this Exile cut.

Neiko Case on auto-tune

"There's technology like auto tune and pitch shifting so you don't have to know how to sing... It's like that taste in diet soda, I can taste it-- and it makes me sick." Neiko Case in a 2006 Pitchfork interview.

http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/6306-neko-case/

john mayer's a tool

so i was watching youtube videos of john mayer last night playing the guitar. he is a well trained musician. he seems to have pretty good technique, some of his solo compositions on the john mayer trio album are fairly interesting. but face it the dude is a tool!

before i start w/ the spitting and the vitriol, let me here give my best definition of what i think a tool is. i believe a tool is a person who acts disenegenuous. they are somewhat who allows themself to be just another tool or cog in the giant capitalist machine. now i understand that they may personally benefit financially from these deciscions, but the romantic in me abhors. what about the desire to create something unique? what about personal views that you really want to express? everyone has to have something that is uniquely theirs, why do you subdue them in order to financial or politcal or popularity etc. gains? it's like the business school kids who wear suits to class everyday. why on earth do you wear a suit to your sophomore intro to marketing class? why not go in pajamas, or try not shaving for a week? you are in college, enjoy yourself, it may be the last time you have.
although many business students seem to be in the throngs of tooldom, what perplexes me even more is artists who give into the pressures of tooldom and make "conservative," calculated, shlock that appeals to the lowest common cultural denominator. it seems like if anyone should want to think outside the box and express THEIR OWN ideas it should be artists, more than lawyers, businessmen, doctors etc. This brings me to my beef w/ jm's toolbox status.

my first bone to pick is his guitar tone. maybe it's because i dont like stevie ray vaughan and every new blues guitarist who has made it after him seems to idolize him and his corny texas rodeo blues tone. it just sounds like jm is following in the long streem of contemporary blues guitarist who have aped srv's tone. i really wished that the texas blues tone had died in the 80's after clapton stopped playing it. so that is my first argument, that he ape's srv, a musician who spent his entire worshipping the music made by hendrix instead of expanding his vision onto new horizons as hendrix certainly would have. i'm sorry, but jm's attempt at copying srv who try as he might, was unable to succesfully plagarize hendrix reeks of the kind of unoriginal musicianship which tools in the music industry posses.

second, the guy dated jessic simpson? i mean yeah guys like attractive women, but REALLY? call me naive, romantic and somewhat idealistic about what goes on between the ears of artists, musicans etc., but i like to think that most of them are deeper than the average joe six pack. i hope that they do more than just sit around and mutter to themselves nonsensical ramblings of "dude she's hot......i could get her.........she's hot...........dude................hot..........haught." but jm and jessica simpson's fling seems to prove me wrong. i guess he is somewhat of a pop music tart himself, but she is a bubble gum musician, seriously? i really am speechless at what an intelligent or thoughtful man would want in her, she doesn't strike me as the kind who thinks a lot about non-hair care products.

lastly, i will bring this backc to my original reason for writing this, the youtube video. watch the little dance at 1:39 into it. it sickens me. the dance is shameless. it makes me feel dirty inside just like chris farley's chippendale act. not only does the dance sicken me, but it is the willingness to be what the fans want him to be which apauls me. it seems to be a complete nod to entertain the females in the audience. compare the shrieks before and after the "move." do you think he is ignorant of his female crowds desires? it doesn't seem like a logical progression from the dirty blues riff he is playing, but rather an expression of his desire to appeal to the lowest common denominator. this smacks of tooldom. this is why i believe that john mayer is a tool

well i hope that my diatribe has been enlighten, or at least partially entertaining.

here's a link to someone else who agrees that john mayer is a tool