New cam, New pics

Story Goes:

I bought a Canon Rebel XS on wednesday. I wasn't planning on going downtown to celebrate July 1st, but having it suddenly made the prospect of Canada Day more appealing, knowing that a) if i bump into someone i don't want to talk to (inevitable), I can hide behind it, and b) a good camera can make any boring old day 3 times as fun (error: 3 times zero is still zero, but you get it).

I walked around a bit, finding drunk people dressed obnoxiously in red and white flailing everywhere. Then i realized that the last place any of these people would be seen is out enjoying the calmness of nature, so i headed over to the bird sanctuary to take some pics.

Afterwards i discovered a small group of guys breakdancing by city park.

Bingo.

Basically i sat there for 2 or 3 hours taking pics.

It was a good opportunity to learn how to operate my D-SLR, and i think some of them turned out well. Here are some of my favorites

Check out the rest on my flickr page

*Edit - I finally figured out how to edit the HTML of my blog to allow me to make it the right width! Now photos and videos are full-sized, and not arbitrarily cropped by a piece of soulless code.

Sir Duke

i'm starting to think that writing a commentary before/after each video is completely immaterial.

Blah Blah Blah

Over the last year, since graduating, I'd almost completely disconnected myself from this Autotune/Techno/Dancehall craze. As long as I keep the radio off, and stay away from Flashbacks Night Club, I'm good.
But then Corporate sent us this DVD of all the top music videos today to play on repeat in shoe store I work at. And my one-year streak was ruined by a bunch of singers that I didn't recognize but instantly hated.

Why do people need to listen to club music while they're shoe-shopping?

Has Western society finally gone musically bankrupt?

I'm seriously considering putting the DVD in the microwave.

When future generations look back at us in disgust for our abuse of autotune, I don't want my grave getting spit on. So I'm saying on the record (to the unshakable pillar of truth that is the internet):
I'm not on board with any of this.
I in no way support Kesha, Justin Beiber, Will.I.Am, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, or any of their minions who, in their own way, make the world a little bit worse with every album.

I look at autotune like the promise of Communism, or the Futon.
It sounds like a great idea.

Go to Vietnam or Cuba and find someone who sleeps on a futon. Ask them about their quality of life.

Exactly.

Tell them about magical software that can make any person sing perfectly in tune. They'll be all for it. Who wouldn't want that?
Then give them a T-Pain CD.
They'll be left with autotune, a crappy couch/bed, and communism.

Thats a triple-whammy of crushed hopes.

< / vent >

Say It --My Impressions

I went out and bought 'Say It' by Born Ruffians, and I was pleased.
Songs like 'Come Back' have a new feel to them; different from Born Ruffians' older stuff, but still outstanding.
Luke's lyrics are just as autobiographical as ever, without being overly self-indulgent. And his vocals and guitar are just as mischievous as ever, cleverly playing off the bass and drums.
The album feels very natural, not over-produced or forced. And they still retain that playfulness that we all love, especially on songs like 'Blood, The Sun & Water', 'Retard Canard', and 'Oh Man'. These tracks also follow the band's tradition of wrapping darker lyrics up in catchy pop riffs and bouncy basslines.

I miss the call-and-response thing they used to do on tracks like Little Garçon, I Need A Life, and Barnacle Goose. And Say It seems to be lacking the foot-tapping jubilance delivered in songs like Hummingbird, Badonkadonkey, and Foxes Mate for Life. 'Nova Leigh' comes close, but it's not quite there. I was expecting to hear more songs along the lines of This Sentence Will Ruin/Save Your Life and Hedonistic Me. But that's really all I was slightly disappointed by on this album. The more I listen to it, the more I like it.

And the inner flaps have really cool poems that go along with the songs. Some use lyrics from the songs, some don't.

This album is different from Red Yellow & Blue in that the songs seem to fit together better. It feels less eclectic (but just as eccentric). At times it can be a challenge trying to unravel all of the musical references used. But it's a great album, that makes you excited to see what they'll come out with next. I can already envision a music video for 'What To Say'.

Album reviews get spread around with cavalier precocity - I'm not a music critic.

Rose Garden pt II

People of the World:

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

All the Cool Kids are Doing It.

This is a song that every single bass-player on YouTube has covered.

This is a song I've known for a while, but never put up.

Mostly because of the near-impossible bridge that comes in at about 2:05 in the video.

So here it is, mistakes and all.

You know what else ∆ll the cool kids ∆re doing? Going to Québec.

To me, Montréal is like 1940's New York.

Enough said.

It's the bland leading the bland here in the Okanagan.

Culture is further afield.

I'm only slightly short of having enough money to fly there and back, but by the time I pay my deposit for college, I might have to work for a solid month and a half to have enough.

And that doesn't solve the issue of finding a place to stay.

But you take what you get.

Comme les Québecois disent: «Mange-toi du pain blanc.»

The ice cream truck isn't getting away this time.

Hopefully I can save enough throughout the school year to gain the financial heft necessary to make it out there next summer, if only for a couple of weeks.

At least that will give me time to brush up on my Franglais.

Rose Garden

The good people over at Shad HQ (shh, i'm positive that's a real place) gave me the go-ahead to put this on Youtube, even though the album isn't even released yet.

I have major respect for that.

I didn't promise you a rose garden

along with the sunshine

there's gonna be some rain sometimes.

Rainy Day

It's a stormy Monday, but there was enough of a break in the lightning for me to records this

P.Y.T. might be the best song recorded by anyone, ever.




&I improved the audio quality a bit

&it's cropped too close, but I didn't feel like redoing it

&my walls are abhorrently white.

Just a Little Bit

I could listen to this song until the sun burns out.

&I make weird faces

&I lied about this one having better audio quality

&I applied at HMV today, but I forgot to put "Fledgling Bass Player" on my résumé. I Hope I still get the job.

Youtube Insights

I dedicated my video on Thursday to 'adults.'

After a little delving into Youtube's inner workings, I found out that fittingly, the average viewers of my videos are 45-54 year old women.

I thought I was being ironic.

But then, it's almost ironic that it isn't ironic.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

Props to Mitch DeRosier

Flashing Shirt

Just learned these, and Sharing is Caring.

&I need to start tuning my bass

&Better audio next time, promise

&The weather is perfect - I should do these outside.

Rainy Day

There is a fringe group of internet users out there called "adults".

They use terms like "Facetube" and "World Wide Web".

I'm dedicating this post to them, solely because when they were my age, they bought enough Stevie Wonder albums for him to top the charts, and now kids in the suburbs everywhere can enjoy his music on various apple products.

&I need to get my bass adjusted; its off-balance and makes my arm cry

&I apologize for the poor audio quality and copious overtones.

&If i had Final Cut Pro, the audio and video would match up.

The Cat's Out the Bag

Shad dropped his new single today- "Yaa I Get It".

His wordplay is impossible.

Download the mp3 here

This track has surpassed my high expectations. I've never heard anyone fire off this many similes/metaphors/double entendres/puns in that short amount of time.

He's unstoppable.

Normally this part of the post would be where I'd type out a couple lines that I especially liked, but I can't do that without typing out the whole song.

It all flows together so perfectly. I couldn't write down a line without including the one before it, and the one after it, and the one after that, etc.

And aside from his poetics, I like that you can hear him smiling.

I think Shad is ready to take Hip-Hop into the future. He has the skills to create the fan base, yet he'll never sell out.

All I can say is, I'm glad I'm not a rapper.

Victory

After months of searching, I've succeeded in obtaining a record player.

Nothing fancy, and it isn't nearly antique; it plays CD's.

But it will do.

I've spent the last 2 hours just listening to the many albums I've accumulated.

The perfect way to end a busy week.

There's something about that sweet crackle when you set the needle.

TSOL

It's been quite some time since I dropped a post, so I thought I'd end the drought by expressing my excitement about Shad's upcoming album - 'TSOL'

The ambiguity of the title is intentional, Shad said in an interview with Dose -

"I kind of mean it to be a little open ended, like people can think of their own acronyms."

I like that Shad trusts his audience. And his audience trusts him to deliver on this album. It doesn't come out until May 25th, but I can tell you right now that it will be just as good as his first 2 albums; probably even better.

'When This is Over' and 'The Old Prince' were each a breath of fresh air in the hip-hop realm, so I'm expecting 'TSOL' to be a hurricane of freshness.

You will definitely be hearing from me on May 25th.

Shad will be touring Canada between May 27th and June 18th. Check out his blog to find out when he'll be near you.

Here's a gem from 'The Old Prince.'

Simple As 'do re mi'

I finally bought a strap for my bass, so I thought I'd upload a video.

You're probably asking yourself

"Why did you pick a strap that clashes with the colour of your guitar?"

The same reason I'm only wearing grey and black.

Colour Blindness.

I think I need to hire a personal colour consultant to make certain choices for me from now on.

Footnote: I liked Michael Jackson before he was dead.

Things I WIll Miss About Winter:

1. Cardigans

The thinning veil of self-destructive habits

It's all about the vinyl.

Heaps of used vinyl.

Some people are obsessed with money, or power.

Others are addicted to fast food, or cats.

While I enjoy 3 of those things, I'm a fanatic for vintage records.

The sad thing is, I don't even own a record player.

And I'm too broke to afford one, because I've been spending all my money on albums that I can't play.

There's just something about owning a piece of history.

Maybe my copy of Thriller was danced to at a high school prom back in 1983.

Maybe a kid spent all his allowance money to buy Uptight by Stevie Wonder in '66, and now it's mine.

With each record I'm given a glimpse into the past.

I respect the retrospective

It's a corrective perspective.

Badonkadonkey

My unbridled eclecticism has lead to the discovery of many-a-style of music.

One band that contrasts the Motown sound of The Temptations is Born Ruffians.

The word "Indie" gets thrown around a lot these days, but there's no mistaking Born Ruffians for anything else.

They go beyond the cliché* "a song is like a painting."

This band paints with colours that you've never even imagined.

*i realize that identifying clichés is itself, cliché. It's one of those unfair principles you just have to live with.

There are things that they do share with a bunch of my other music.

Solid drumming.

Bouncy basslines (and the fact that I play the same bass as Mitch Derosier doesn't hurt)

and melodies. Born Ruffians seem to have a limitless supply of melodies. And they do something that many bands struggle with; none of them sound the same.

Unfortunately for me, Born Ruffians is currently the most blogged-about band -according to The Hype Machine.

So the odds of anybody even reading this are low.

And the fact that they're such frequent blog-material makes me want to write about them less.

But I couldn't keep them from making an appearance here, especially since they're one of the first bands I recommend to people when I get the "what music do you like" stock-question.

From now on, I promise to keep my blog a lil' more original.

At least until Say It comes out.

Ain't Too Proud

I thought i'd start out the first of my legit blog posts with a throwback from 1966,

a time when Motown was first starting to make its mark in the world of music.

It's hard to write about Motown without being redundant, because the music speaks for itself.


Ain't Too Proud to Beg
artist: The Temptations
album: Gettin' Ready
label: Motown Records

Will I?

This blog begins with one small word - Will

and one medium-sized person - I.

I'm posing this question to myself. Will I blog?

It isn't a matter of 'Can I', 'Should I', or 'Must I'.

The only thing I'm not sure of is if I'll actually blog.

And if i do, Will I stay on course? The answer is 'Probably Not.'

I don't know what my raison de blog is. For now I'm calling it a music-related blog, but im expecting other topics to slide in there. People, style, politics, who knows.

It's worth a try.