Category: Music

Twenty Things I Learned at SXSW 2011

Posted by Rich Harris – March 18, 2011

What an exhausting and amazing experience SXSW was this year. I met Dave Grohl. I watched an inspiring and yet heartbreaking documentary on Fishbone. I met many new people, the good, the bad and the douchebag. If you’ve never been to SXSW, there is nothing like it. With music blasting out of every venue, new technology being introduced, and the number of human facets being displayed simultaneously in one city at once is astounding. One hour at SXSW is like 8 hours in real life. It just flies. Anyhow….I had to list some of my observations and experiences here otherwise I’ll never stop buzzing from it. Until next year…

Love it or hate it, here’s my list

  1. Lone Star beer, if consumed gradually over several days, changes your body chemistry, most likely permanently.
  2. Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters crew are some of the nicest guys on the planet. They also put on one of the best rock shows I’ve ever seen.
  3. Hoards of drunk women trying to look sexy walking through mass crowds on cracked streets and brick roads with spiked 6-inch heels is one of the funniest damn things I have ever seen.
  4. Tight V-neck shirts, tight black jeans, white belts and white patent leather boots with a haircut resembling Greg Brady in the late ’70′s is something I will never ever wear. I urge you to do the same. Mick Jagger and others made it look good …..back in ’72 where it belonged.
  5. Not all music industry vets are self-serving thieves and ass clowns. I met some real people and my bleak outlook on the music biz has been lifted slightly.
  6. Fishbone are the biggest, greatest and most uniquely influential band to never make it huge. Their documentary “Every Day Sunshine” is hard to swallow, yet a testament to how many hearts they’ve touched with their unrelenting individuality and talent. There will never be another Fishbone. Ever. They deserve a spot in the Rock’n'Roll Hall of Fame, hands down.
  7. Homeless people would rather have an iPad 2 than food.
  8. Rafael Saadiq’s backup band are some of the funkiest dudes I have ever met. Everything about their playing smells like some of the greatest peak moments in James Brown’s prime funk era.
  9. I’ve always hated hard cider but Strongbow Dry Cider from England was pretty damn good.
  10. Walking around wearing Chuck Taylors on pavement for 6 days straight when you are made out of 268 lbs of  pure pancakes and hot wings does not bode well on the feet, knees, hips, lower back, sanity, or the soul.
  11. Angelo from Fishbone is the snazziest dresser from Jupiter that I’ve ever had the pleasure to photograph or be in the presence of.
  12. There is such thing as shitty BBQ in Texas…. (street vendors)
  13. ATM fees ranging from $4-5 don’t hurt so bad when you are exhausted, parched, and hurting…..until you realize Austin’s desire to make your life ‘convenient’ at SXSW was really just legalized rape.
  14. No one can possibly see everything there is to see at SXSW and still live to tell the tale.
  15. Booth babes never get old.
  16. When an inebriated man dressed as Gumby wandering the streets has something to say, people listen.
  17. If you look like a conservative software engineer at SXSWi, it’s still ok to check out mobile app booths wearing green tights, a cape, and knee high Doc Martens.
  18. I’m glad it only happens once a year.
  19. Always pack 2 extra livers and a spare aorta.
  20. Being around that many people is still electrifying to me. Bands blasting out of every venue, great food and good friends remind me of the importance of being alive, sharing with others, and why I dig it so much.

Until next year.

Onward…..

Favorite Music of 2010: This List Goes to 11

Posted by Rich Harris – December 31, 2010

It’s been a long year with far more peaks than valleys…and thank goodness because 2009 was an asshole. My music choices always ride the wave along with me. Here’s a short list of albums that I’d default to on my iPod, or in iTunes while at work, that did something cool for me while I had them blasting in my ears at “11″.

Some of it is old, some new, but all of it resonated with me on some level that always brought me back for more and I recommend listening to any of these when you have an chance. Their place in this list does not reflect ‘better or worse’….it’s just a list ‘of’, yo.

“Crack The Skye” by Mastodon – These guys rank high in the ‘thinking man’s metal’ category. As a drummer I’m a little biased here but their drummer Brann Dailor is not just phenomenal technically, he does a great job upholding the epic journey that this record was meant to be. He has a way of being loud with finesse, being busy without overdoing it, and being interesting and innovative without sounding cocky. He plays for the sake of playing, and it shows on this record. The two epic tunes that I recommend are “The Czar: Usurper/Escape/Martyr/Spiral” and “The Last Baron.”

“These Four Walls” by We Were Promised Jetpacks – I was told about these guys by some random person on Twitter after posting something about Frightened Rabbit (another great band). These young lads from Scotland write some pretty catchy indie rock with an extremely present Scottish accent in their phrasing and singing. With lot of great lyrics, hooks and quirky yet palpable guitar parts and changes, I’d recommend these guys to anyone that listens to bands like Bloc Party, etc. The catchy tune on here for you radio hit listeners is definitely “Quiet Little Voices” but the ballad on this one that I really dig is “An Almighty Thud.”

“Pixel Revolt” by John Vanderslice - John has been a California/bay area staple for a long time, living (and owning his own recording studio Tiny Telephone) in San Francisco. He’s toured with bands like Death Cab for Cutie and others. He probably has the quirkiest indie rock sound out of all the music I currently own. A mix of electronic sound effects, old vintage instruments, great analog recording, and interesting song writing really make his stuff stand out. He’s great at telling stories in his songs and there’s no shortage of those on this record. My fav song on here is “Plymouth Rock.”

“Come Around Sundown” by Kings of Leon – These guys have always been hit or miss with me on their records. Some songs are really amazing and then all the others feel like filler or are just kinda boring. After the huge success of the previous record, this one they definitely went above and beyond, with big epic choruses and production. Even though their singer’s raspy voice can get to me after half a record, the song “Pyro” on this latest release is amazing. The video for it is really moving as well. This record, more than the others, is worth a full album purchase.

“Wrath” by Lamb of God – I embrace the fact that at the core, I will always be a metalhead. This record reminds me why every time. Pardon the additional drum bias here but Chris Adler is one of the most solid, creative, and aggressive sounding metal drummers out there. What really makes this record for me is the combo of Chris’ drumming and their single-note guitar riffs on the lower strings that are just plain pissed off. These guys got all the groove, aggression and riffery that Slipknot has but without the sonic chaos element. This record is straight up amazing.

“Death to The Pixies” by The Pixies – I have to admit that I’m a late bloomer to these guys. I know that Frank Black and crew are one of the original gangsters of their sound/genre and it didn’t even really click with me until a friend put them on a mix CD and had me watch Fight Club again. After listening to “Where is my Mind?” about 800 times I finally bought this record and ended up really digging almost every song, start to finish.

“Sigh No More” by Mumford & Sons – I just got into this other Scottish group over the last month or so and I listen to this record at least 5-6 times a week. Their sound is kind of a raucous/folky sound with great vocal harmonies and an organic punk rock vibe on a couple tunes. They make great use of the banjo on some of the bigger choruses. I heard they’re amazing live and I can’t wait to catch a show.

“On Approach” by Everest – A friend of mine sent me the video for their tune “Let Go” and I was hooked. The drummer did the vocals and still maintained a solid groove which is tough. He’s got a great voice and his vocal tone is similar to the guy from Train but with a way looser feel. Lots of really thoughtful songwriting on this record.

“Renegades” by Rage Against The Machine – I’ve been a huge RATM fan since their self-titled came out but more for the grooves and riffs than the politics. Brad, Tim and Tom hold down the biggest riffs between them that I’ve ever seen from a trio of musicians. Their grooves bounce 50,000 fans at the same time at any live show with no tricks or extra touring guitarists added into the mix. This record is them doing a bunch of covers. Normally I shy away from that type of thing but I have to say their choice of covers on this one is excellent. The one particular song on this album that kicked me in the head the hardest was their cover of Cypress Hill’s “How I Could Just Kill A Man.” If you have ANY sense of groove, the chorus in this version of that song will blow your mind.

“The Ortolan” by The Deadly Syndrome – These guys were up-sold to me on Pandora with their song “I Hope I Become A Ghost”. They definitely fall into the folk/indie category and do a great job mixing in piano, quirky acoustic guitar parts and groove.

“Slowhole to China” by Clutch - I’ve never heard a hard rock band like Clutch. They take the best of the blues, funk, hard guitar rock, a few martians from outer space, and then deep fry them in the back of a rusty 1970′s pick up truck somewhere in the south. This record, containing a bunch of rare and unreleased tracks, is one of the most groove-oriented hard rock albums I’ve heard in a long time. If you listen the title track “Slowhole to China” and allow the heavy Zeppelin-esque riff set in after the intial intro, you will not be dissappointed. Your head will start moving and you’ll want to punch stuff. I can’t get enough of Clutch.

Onward.

FeedTheMuse.net – Power to the Artists. Power to the Fans.

Posted by Rich Harris – April 26, 2010

Old School

From 1998-2001, I was in an aspiring band called Stitch that was starting to do well. We had a distribution deal with Metal Blade Records, we were in Tower and Wherehouse record stores, had a good lawyer, were one of the first bands on MP3.com (yeah remember that?), and had a half-stable bulletin board/forum application that ran on PHP when it was new and obnoxiously vulnerable to PHP injection attacks. Back then our only opportunity to get support, sell products, etc. (unless you had a web developer or designer in the band), was to be touring or playing a ton of shows……..Not anymore.

New School

In an age where record labels almost don’t mean anything anymore. In an age where if an artist or band is capable of  running their own show if their music has that magic and speaks to people thanks to all the great fluid syndication that happens on these interweb thingies…only a handful of sites have a real genuine ‘Give to the Artists That Inspire You’ vibe. FeedTheMuse.net is a website that enables and empowers the talent to enlist their actual fans to help them out. No middle man. No bullshit. Fundraising for bands for the same reason that public schools need to hold a bake sale to buy school books – The powers that be don’t always have the well-being of the talented folks top of mind that actually NEED the support. They’re too busy lining their own pockets.

All you gotta do is create a free page on their site, upload a band pic, fill in your mantra/bio, and people can just start supporting you financially. It’s cool because you set up different donation tiers. For example,  donate $1 and it is just you helping, donate $10 and get a band demo/t-shirt, etc…

A good example of this solution in action is for a local bay area band called “Electric Leaves”. Check out the implementation at: http://www.feedthemuse.net/electricleaves.

If you are in a band and want to make it easy for your fans to hook you up while you hook them up, I highly recommend this site. Everyone wins.

Onward.

October 2009 Music

Posted by Rich Harris – October 23, 2009

So every payday I make it a point to purchase a couple new releases that I haven’t heard or owned before. Some are from artists that I already know, some are new to me. To ensure that I don’t end up being a corporate social media robot on this blog (as much as I love my job), I’m going to start balancing out my blogging with some of the music I’ve been listening to. I’d love to hear what you are listening to as well so comments are encouraged. Alright, enough of the intro paragraph. Below are a couple recent purchases I’ve made that I’d recommend.

61+EWht+ZUL._SL500_AA280_Artist: Mastodon

Release: Crack The Skye

Track Listing:

  1. Oblivion
  2. Divinations
  3. Quintessence
  4. The Czar: Usurper/Escape/Martyr/Spiral
  5. Ghost of Karelia
  6. Crack The Skye
  7. The Last Baron

Sound: Hard Rock/Metal

51PNTehUSpL._SL500_AA280_Artist: Grizzly Bear

Release: Vekatimest

Track Listing:

  1. Southern Point
  2. Two Weeks
  3. All We Ask
  4. Fine For Now
  5. Cheerleader
  6. Dory
  7. Ready, Able
  8. About Face
  9. Hold Still
  10. While You Wait for the Others
  11. I Live With You
  12. Foreground

Sound: Mellow Indie Rock/Experimental

613S9LKu4bL._SL500_AA280_Artist: The Kills

Release: Midnight Boom

Track Listing:

  1. U.R.A. Fever
  2. Cheap And Cheerful
  3. Tape Song
  4. Getting Down
  5. Last Day of Magic
  6. Hook and Line
  7. Black Balloon
  8. M.E.X.I.C.O.C.U.
  9. Sour Cherry
  10. Alphabet Pony
  11. What New York Used To Be
  12. Goodnight Bad Morning

Sound: Moody Indie Rock/Experimental

The Gallows Curse Industry Folk at SXSW 2009

Posted by Rich Harris – April 4, 2009

My boss recently went to check out SXSW 2009 in Austin, TX on business. He got to see so many great bands like The Bronx, The Riverboat Gamblers, Metallica, and more. He got this great clip of the vocalist from The Gallows bitching out people at Emo’s in Austin for being too mellow. I love The Gallows a lot and this clip is classic. He forgot that he’s not playing a real show with hardcore kids in attendance so couldn’t quite put 2 and 2 together to figure out it’s all media, music industry peeps, etc….pissed him off, he let them know….I love it.

Real Art: Fine Line Between Cheating, Skill, and Talent

Posted by Rich Harris – January 15, 2008

I had a conversation today who is a seasoned graphic designer for web/print as well as an artist on the side (set design, screen printing, other). We had been discussing recently what the best process was for transferring images from photos/print straight to a canvas. This led us into the conversation about when are you cheating vs. just being creative vs. having actual talent, etc.

In art and music, there’s always this purist point of view.

For example:

- If you can’t perfectly recreate an object you see, freehand when drawing/painting on paper or canvas, and you need to underpaint or sketch stuff out first, trace it, etc. then you aren’t truly talented.

- If you project a photo with a video projector onto a canvas and trace it to get the proportions right for a good outline, then you are cutting corners and ‘painting by numbers’.

- If you write a song that is simple, is it because you know what you’re doing but want it simple or is it because you have nothing else to offer and that’s all you can think of due to lack of musical ability?

In my opinion that’s all bullshit and doesn’t matter.

The way I work is:

1. I have a vision.

2. I come up with a plan to achieve it – The medium, the look, what I want to accomplish, etc.

3. I then choose the fastest path possible to achieve it without sacrificing quality. This could include a video projector, stencils created by me based on photos I stole from the web or took myself with my own camera, tracing, underpainting, freehand, etc.

If I can pull all that off, and it’s my own original work, then it’s art. No one has to like it. No one has to buy it. There doesn’t have to be some bullshit mystique around my name or reputation to give it value. It just is what it is.

There’s such a fine line between what is “art” and what is crap.

Personally I think that if you are innately driven to create something, re-create something from a different perspective, express yourself, regardless of the medium, the channel of expression (music, dance, painting, etc.), then whatever you create is art. Art and music only sell because someone has an opinion about it that is influenced by emotion, not because it inherently has value.

I’m one of Picasso’s biggest fans and at the end of the day, some of his original works on canvas are just oil on canvas that would be considered *junk* by someone who doesn’t care about his paintings, just materials. However a hype was created, sales went up, blah blah. I think that the bottom line here is that a true artist is someone who does it because they’re driven to, only because they enjoy it, and for no other reason.