So today kinda felt like how I expect all my weekends to be next year, having my all friends out of town for most of the day. Cons: Well, that sucks! Pros: How did Yannie get so good at guitar? How Ian get good at drums? By not having friends duh! So I'll have more time to do stuff like this... which is what I did today:
My cover of Best Coast's "When I'm With You." Pretttty gay right?
Yeah, it's pretty slop slop, but I don't really care. There's only three tracks, being 1. Guitar/Vocals recorded at the same time (I'm such a terrible singer) 2. Drums 3. Synthesizer And I didn't really change anything from the original Best Coast recording, except for the fact that the guitar solo turned into a messy synth solo... and I'm not a girl, I guess.
When I try to open iTunes on my computer, this happens:
Its because, on my computer... iTunes doesn't exist! Shocking! Alas - it is intended!
I have realized after my recent computer crash, that having so much music directly on my hard drive is too much of a load (being on the verge of 6000+ mp3's). I have also realized that my iPod can hold 160GB and my external drive can hold 1.5tb. That's enough space to last me forever.
So there, I have removed all music (cept for the music I record and work on directly on my computer... duh) from my computer and with it iTunes - yet, still having a 2nd iTunes on external, and being able to sync my iPod from there.
Now, also with so much space, I don't have to worry about deleting songs and conserving space. I recovered all the bad music I have ever downloaded - dating back from middle school.
I don't know what exactly is on my iPod anymore, cept a lot of stuff. Let's stay, if someone asks for a random My Chemical Romance song, sadly, I'll probably have it.
I took part in performing as a backstage musician in some community musical theatre this week. It was easy money, kind of fun.
I'm also playing in some event at the high school this month. In such event, my elite musical comrades, being Yannie + Billy, and I will be a backing band for several teenage vocalists performing pop songs of the year 1969. It'll be fun the night of the show, because the three of us make a real killer jam, and we get to do almost whatever we want on stage in front of the whole school. Its just annoying now, because I have to deal with douchebags and doucheteachers - the likes of which I care less for than anyone else. And I also have to learn like 30 songs, that I've never really listened to before. No biggie, though.
My parents were out tonight. We had some pizza dough in the freezer. I made some pizza. I've never done that before. Pretty proud of myself actually. It looked like this before I ate it:
How about that...
Yeah. I bought two of my sister's and my tickets for all three days this week. Wolf Parade, Washed Out, Neon Indian, Lightning Bolt, Raekwon, St. Vincent... I'm gonna die as soon as I see Spencer Krug in person, I know it.
I've never really read books in my life before this year. This past month, however, I read three. I like doing that, think I'll do it more. This week I started Breakfast of Champions. All my sister's have pretty big bookshelves, so I looked at one, and saw the word 'Kurt Vonnegut,' and considered it safe. Then I noticed it had illustrations - considered that very safe.
Last week, I noticed a date on which I was born. I turned 17 years of age. In practice of gift-giving, a very close friend of mine bought me a thing to use. It was an instrument called a Melodica. Its basically a keyboard you blow through, a.k.a. the coolest freaking thing on Earth. I like it a lot. Here's an image:
Before my month long internet hiatus, I basically had no keyboard to play. I consider that a pretty big flaw, considering that I own a copious amount of music makers, and a keyboard is a pretty basic one. Anyways I did have a 25 key oxygen 8 controller - which is useless sans computer. So my good friend and comrade, Ian, had a similar dilemma. His keyboard was too big for his dorm room, where my was too small for my liking. Thus, we traded. Unfair? Ha! Yeah! Its even weighted! Woo! The big one looks like this:
The teeny keyboard below the big M-audio 88, is a Yamaha PSR-2. Its a hella old pint sized keyboard that I took for the back of the band room. No one really knew it was there, and I was probably the only one who thought that that crappy dusty broken keyboard thing was really awesome. Alas - it works! And its sounds very tight (I stole it).
So I guess you can say in a matter of a few weeks, I went from zero keyboard instruments, to about 3 nice ones, whilst spending no moneys.
So Eric Wareheim is basically one of my favorite directors / funny people, and HEALTH is one of my favorite bands. So what happens when they work together? Magic.
I leave you and your accomplished self tonight with this: HEALTH's "We Are Water."
Its because my computer kinda broke, and then I went kinda insane for a few weeks, then I left town for another week. I guess I'll start at about the beginning of march?
That's the crap my computer got. ^ Don't know how, never dropped it, it ain't old, it just did. Anywaysss I took it some to d-bag computer genius on the island and he told me that I was totally screwed. Said that my 'motherboard' was messed up and might as well just go buy a new mac; said that with labor, installing that part would cost him like $900 (He was wrong).
So that freaked me out. (Thought I lost errrrrrrything!)
Then I went to Disney with the school band. That was cool. Went on some rides. Went backstage (CRAZY). Stole some souvenirs. Stole an arm off a mannequin. Went on a bus home.
Then the next week I went to Columbus, OH + Chicago, IL. That was probably 10 times cooler. I went to an NHL game, had a birthday, went to some thrift stores, got some clothes, got to see my sisters, got to see some gay people, got to touch some dogs. Missed a Toro y Moi show. I read the entirety of A Clockwork Orange in a car. I watched Rupaul's Drag Race for the first time. Also saw the master film that is 'Ghost Dog - Way of the Samurai.' I bought some CD's, including the new TL/Rx, That Nigerian Afrobeat Special everyone's been talking about, the old A Place to Bury Strangers, A Herbie Hancock disc, and the new Oh No Ono, Eggs.
Also, while in Ohio, I took my dead computer to an apple store there (You have to make appointments... that's so weird). Anyways, apparently shit like that happens all the time. They replaced the 'hard drive' not the 'motherboard' for $132 and even my keyboard area on the laptop for free. It works as good as new now. Soooo yeah.
Do yourself a favor and DON'T go to that guy for help. He's either a con man or an idiot.
A few more things to blog about:
TYLERs
My buddy, TYLER G, has a hardcore band called "From Ashes To Empires." They made a CD, and its pretty stellar (I think they spent a lot of money making it, so go ahead and buy one for yourself). The recording quality is top notch!
My other buddy, TYLER W, has got a totally rad solo thing going on called "Phillip Oskar Augustine." He recorded this whole deal in his house! Right on! (Hey man, thanks for the note! When I get all my stuff organized again, I wanna send you some trax...)
Uhm, I gotta play in a play now. (I'm filling in for a dude at the theater this week (The play's FAME) and I still haven't really heard the music... bad thing?)
* = The prospective theory of interplanetary sound is actually an idea that somehow sound and weight are interrelated and that sounds sound different on different planets and that there is possibly one key of the universe that all songs must be written in. This idea is transferred into this 12 tone composition.
Check this out:
All ya'll who like art and want to buy some and put it on their wall:
This is my sister's shop where she sells a lot of her stuff. Go buy some of her designs! They are fit for any budding apt. or bachelor pad or even grandma-condo!
His track "Internal Combustion," is killing the whole internet right now. And he's got a cd coming out too! Cool!
And here's my pal Joel, and his blog. He always posts / twwwts sites and videos and whatnot, but I had to mention it today because he said some really nice things about me! Thanks!
I've been recording so much lately. Bound to post one of those things one of these days...
Every time we go to pizza hut (I don't know why we go there, its awful), we have the same server and its this awfully CREEPY LADY. She's like at least 40 something, but dresses like a teenager and always mentions how we're the "most handsome youngest boys to ever walk in." And she gets all the food wrong. And the food tastes like soap. And it makes me want to puke. I freaking hate Pizza Hut (sorry meg).
Yesterday we spent the afternoon in Brady's new empty house. We recorded a series of awkward songs in one track thing. I'll post pictures later (of the bathroom-studio). So here is the long awaited "I LIKE TOUCHIN' DOGS." Also featured in this medley is a song called "Little Children," and a special guest appearance (Charlie) reciting his "The Story of the Ched 'R' Pepper." The mix is awful and you'll be weirded out. Its also like ten minutes long.
Requiem for OMM2 Id Engager For Our Elegant Caste Lysergic Bliss Beware Our Nubile Miscreants Du Og Meg Cato as a Pun Suffer for Fashion Mingusings Teenage Unicorn Fisting And I've Seen A Bloody Shadow Plastis Wafers St. Exquisite's Confessions Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse Oslo In The Summertime A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger
Encore 1:
Wraith Pinned to The Mist and Other Games She's a Rejector
I saw of Montreal in Asheville yesterday. I wish I (or any of us) took some pictures. It was totally magical. I've seen a lot of shows but that one was definitely one of the craziest. They had a live video behind them and flashed green lights that worked as a green screen, staged a priest molesting a kid, and also crucified Kevin Barnes.
Asheville's a totally cool city. I saw ads at the venue for Yeasayer being there on a monday in April, and then Vampire Weekend and Abe Vigoda there the tuesday right afterwards. Planned on skipping school and going but... one's 18+ and Vampire Weekends already sold out, obviously.
Realized what the scariest things in fast food were this weekend... CHED 'R' PEPPERS.
I had an old 16" crash cymbal from an old CB drumset. Brady and I buried it under a pile of bricks in Chapin, SC like 6 months ago, and we just dug it up yesterday. Its kind of cool, it sounds darker, and has a lot more discoloration.
We renamed it the "GN8 special custom dark big splash," and will sell it on eBay for at least $900.
My goodness! haven't blooged in over a week or two.
I've been reading this book:
Its super good. But seeing as I don't read that much, I'm bound to like it. However, sometimes I feel like its directed specifically to the "confused young black man," which I don't happen to be.
Watched this movie:
"The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin," circa 1983. It starred the Nick Cannon of kung fu. I liked it a lot. The grammar mistakes in the subtitles might have been the most exciting part of though.
Found this CD:
Gawsh, 'Attitude is Everything!' with Keith Harrell! Don't we all love/never heard of Keith Harrell? Anyways, I'm going to sample it like 1,000 times.
My Omnichord had an accident. Here's its guts, after I took it apart:
Yikes. I'm going to leave out details, because... its pretty stupid. But, alas! It will be fixed - do not worry!
I'm hope you're enjoying the stellar camera phone pictures I've posted thus far.
I think I'm able to record drums pretty well now: 2 condensers + 2 dynamics. Here's an old song, a lot of you have probably heard. But I re-did a few parts, and its less annoyingly loud overall. "The Saddest Tree On Earth pt. 1."
Here's another jam brady and I decided to record. We were just kind of amazed to hear how cool the omnichord hooked up through the GRUNGE pedal we stole from Billy's house sounded, so we recorded a little bit of it to share. I'm also overusing a Zildjian oriental 14" china cymbal that I stole from Julius' house. Its kind of long.
How about Jay Reatard?! That sucks! Its just too sad! And pitchfork was talking about how they were investigating to see if it was homicide. I don't want to hear that. This is a really cool documentary. It shows how nice of a guy he was.
My pal TYLER W (aka Phillip Oskar Augustine) got reviewed on Pitchfork!? Woah! He drove my sister and I up to p4k in chicago this summer and its totally crazy that he's on their site now. Good for him!
So yesterday was my audition for the South Carolina region band. I didn't do so bad. My etude was alright (the one in the last blog). My rudiments were ok, just those were the first thing I played, so I was still kinda shakin'. I got all the terms right. But the sightreading, sounded like puke. I'll find out if I made callbacks tomorrow morning... so... don't want to put any words in my mouth till then.
The basement is becoming the messiest it has ever been... so many instruments... Sorry mom and dad...
Yes, there's a glockenspiel with a few microphones hovering over it...
Brady and I (G N 8) will have some things for you listeners in the future. He recently traded a broken first act drum set for a working bass guitar. Yay for us.
I recently made a purchase on eBay. Probably the best online purchase I've made. I present, straight from 1981: The Suzuki Omnichord OM-27.
Its mega cool. And here's a video I did to prove it:
So how about that Vampire Weekend? I feel like they've been the biggest winners of 2010 so far, just because they're able to surprise everyone with music no one expected. You should assume that, myself being the music snob that I am, I should hate Vampire Weekend, but I really can't get enough of Cousins (though that and Horchata are the only songs I've hear off their new record). I say keep it up, Vampire Weekend, even if they are still doing pointless shows like MTV unplugged, I can't really say anything bad about them when they write good music.
I listened to Toro Y Moi's"Causers of This" 3 times yesterday. A very good record. Besides that I feel like I'm very behind right now. I haven't done any downloading in forever, because my hard drive is full and I haven't really gotten the time to figure out my new external (its 1.5 TB HOLY SHIT).
