Bizarre Mixtape #1

It's been awhile since I've tried to shove music (that wasn't my own) down people's throats, en masse. So let's do the damn thing. I have crafted for you all what I feel to be a pretty eclectic mixtape. There's something for everyone here.

1. Outkast - "Rosa Parks" - Off the Aquemini album; one of their best. Everyone should know this, but I put it on here anyway.
   
2. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - "How Near How Far" - Don't let the band's name fool you. It's indie rock, not death metal.
   
3. Jamie Cullum - "Frontin'" - Jazzy. Poppy. Smart-alecky. Great song.
   
4. The Seatbelts - "Piano Black" - Speaking of jazz. This band did all the music for the anime Cowboy Bebop, but you wouldn't know it was an anime soundtrack from listening to it - trust me, I fucking hate anime with the notable exception of this series and at least half of that is because of this band.
   
5. Saul Williams - "WTF!" - Featuring Trent Reznor, this is the crunk song for people who don't like crunk music. I defy you to listen to this and not want to plow someone to it.
   
6. Amon Tobin - "Easy Muffin" - Simultaneously chill and ominous trip hop. Great shit.
   
7. The Clash - "The Guns Of Brixton" - Do I need to say anything at all here?
   
8. The Kills - "Tape Song" - Drum machines and raw, dirty garage guitars. For the four of you that read, I posted a link to the album Midnight Boom a few months back.
   
9. io echo - "Doorway" - I posted this one a few months back, too. A good continuation from The Kills, as previously mentioned.
   
10. Arctic Monkeys - "Who The Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?" - They blew up huge in the UK and didn't get quite as big here - and here they are questioning their own renown a few years down the road.
    
11. Kanye West - "Flashing Lights" - Everyone knows this one too but it's Kanye's hottest beat ever, period.
    
12. Lil' Wayne - "Shooter" - I had to put this in here because for the most part I really can't stand Lil' Wayne. This song is a rare exception.
    
13. Gorillaz - "El Manana" - One of my favorite songs by one of my favorite artists off one of my favorite records.
    
14. Puscifer - "REV 22:20" - Dark, sexy, and creepy.
    
15. Incubus - "Wish You Were Here" - Always loved the guitars in this.
    
16. Nine Inch Nails - "In This Twilight" - I've lately started to think this might be my favorite song of all time. I have no idea how a song so full of static and noise can simultaneously be one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. A hopeful, atmospheric song...you know, about the end of the world.
    

Download

I'm really, really NOT DEAD.

Still just really lazy. And I definitely did not come back "tomorrow." But here we are now. Let's get up to speed here. What's been going on?

First of all, I've been really stressed out and bummed with the direction a few things are going in, mostly my life and lack of career direction. The worst part of this is that I have a very clear, concise, extremely feasible way forward. I would like to be doing audio design for Red Storm Entertainment here in Cary, a job - nay, career - that would be extremely fun and quite lucrative. In order to get to that place I need some kind of degree in audio design and since the School of Communication Arts offers exactly that and has close ties with Red Storm, you would think that would be the place I would be going.

Well, I would be. If I had about $65,000. Which I do not. There is no possible way to get into that school without the aid of parents until you're 24 (I turn 22 in June) and private loans aren't gonna happen - I'd even be willing to take out that much and just pay it all back the rest of my life at this point, but I can't get 'em. I really just want to be in school and nothing else. I don't want to have to work while I'm in school, which is where that figure comes from. This doesn't come out of laziness, this comes out of experience - if I have to work, I'm going to have to work constantly, and it's going to take a toll on school work. Plus the hours I have now are solid and I couldn't keep my current job whilst being in school because I can't be two places at once. It's really fucking frustrating, and even moreso when all of my friends, who go to that school, regularly skip class because they want to sleep in or play WoW or "don't feel like it," to the point that one of them actually got dropped from the very class I am dying to take. They have a gift and they don't realize it.

Enough about that. Music is going well, but not in the same way it has before. I haven't been devoting much attention to my solo efforts of late, and while I've started recording for that new album, all of it's gone. My friend's external hard drive, which had two or three songs in various stages of completion, decided to fail on us. Don't ask me why he hasn't sent it off yet, especially considering it broke just under warranty and probably isn't any more.

But anyways, the music I'm talking about now is the new band I've started. Kind of the same badn I referred to a few posts back, but kind of not. Same ideas, same concept, and brainchilded by me and one of the same people, but the lineup has been completely rotated. We have another new drummer, as well as a newly-hired bassist and keys player, and all of these dudes kick holy ass. We have settled on the name Flight Of Osiris for now but I really have very quickly started to fucking hate that name and I'm hoping that we change it. If we don't, oh well. The music is GREAT and I find myself looking forward to weekly practice. I'm also looking forward to it being summer so we can practice more often than that.

Beh. There's been a host of other bullshit going on but at risk of this sounding like a goddamn diary, I'm not going into any of it. I'm out this bitch for now.

Not dead.

Just lazy. Be back tomorrow.

State of the Music, 10/31/09

Since my official musician site is down I figure there's gotta be somewhere I should (try to) keep people informed on my musical exploits. Here's what's going on.

First off, the next album is going to take a little bit longer than I'd like it to. I'm looking into new ways to get it recorded; the studio at SCA is no longer reliable for a number of reasons. At this point (and this may change) I am thinking that I will be recording and mixing the entire album completely by myself - which is absolutely fine with me, as it will be exciting, challenging, and fucking fun, but for the fact that I need some better tools to work with first. As soon as I acquire them the first full-length LP will be a go.

Second of all, back in the spring, myself and a few friends and fellow musicians put our heads together and started playing what I cannot stress enough is the best music I have ever played with anyone, hands down. I wasn't able to give it my full attention with all the work I was putting into my own EP, and following that we kind of had to abandon ship for awhile with the more-or-less departure of our drummer. We've got a new one now and we're getting back into the swing of things - playing the few songs we came up with over the spring and coming up with some new ones. I will be on lead vocals and occasionally some rhythm guitar as well. The band doesn't have a name yet but it sounds like a cool cross between Explosions in the Sky, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Mars Volta - in other words, EXACTLY the kind of music I've always wanted to play. I can't wait to get this show on the road; it's going to be very exciting times. Hopefully once we've played a few shows and gotten our shit together we'll be able to record some of it for you all to hear.

In other news, as soon as I can lay down vocals for a relatively new song, "Seen Across The Way," that has been on MySpace since about halfway through the summer, it will be available in its finished form as a free download, along with a remix of "The Last Free Place" featuring Link of Backpack Boyz.

Okay, that's all I got.

Download: The Good, The Bad, & The Queen

Between being the frontman for Blur and the mastermind behind Gorillaz, it's probably safe to assume that Damon Albarn just shits out great music with his morning dump. But somehow, two years back, he managed to get another project off the ground, called The Good, The Bad & The Queen. Easily the most indie of his various projects, 2007's TGTB&TQ is actually only the name of the album - the band, which consists of Albarn, The Clash bassist Paul Simonon, The Verve's Simon Tong, and veteran old-fart drummer Tony Allen - doesn't have a name. Go figure.

This is easily Albarn's most indie-sounding project yet, although I think Gorillaz fans will definitely be able to dig it - one or two of the songs distinctly remind me of "El Manana" off Demon Days. Click below.

The Good, The Bad & The Queen

Paranormal Activity's Original (2007) Ending

It's amazing how quickly Paranormal Activity has come up in the past month. The film has been around for a good two years or so now. I caught wind of it maybe a month and a half ago when I first saw the trailer online. No one I mentioned it to had heard of it. A month later, it had screened in a few cities and then been "demanded" via viral marketing for a wide release, and suddenly everyone had managed to get to see it before me. (Figures.) I finally got a chance to see it last night, and it honestly scared the piss out of me.

Anyways, the film that we are seeing now is largely the same as what made the independent film festival rounds in 2007 - save for the ending, which was changed about a year ago, according to director Oren Peli. The original ending is a lot more drawn out than what you have seen in theaters, and the studio has allowed for it to be put on YouTube. I advise you not to watch this until you've seen the version that is in theaters now.

Rumor has it a third ending exists, screened only once, in which, after having killed Micah, the possessed Katie returns to the bedroom, stands in front of the camera, and slashes her own throat. Personally, I think the ending currently in theaters is the most effective, although the other ones work well in their own right.

Windows still sucks.

Well, it's only a matter of time before people get as fed up with Windows 7 as they are with Vista. I haven't used it, but I don't need to eat a shit sandwich to know it's not gonna taste good - Mac's Leopard is the only OS for me. In a pretty piss poor attempt at a money grab, Microsoft has unveiled the top ten reasons to get Windows 7. Here I will tear them down, one by one.

1. Get quicker access to all of your stuff.
One word: Finder.

2. Manage open windows easier.
Macs have one button that lets you instantly see every window that's open and jump to it immediately, like this. Also, this seems pretty basic to be the number two reason to get on Windows 7, don't you think?

3. Quickly find what you're looking for.
Mac has a Search feature right in the top of my task bar. Also, it seems like they're trying to use number one twice.

4. Share files and printers easily among multiple PCs.
Done so easily and so basic to the OS that Apple doesn't even mention it when they try to sell it to you.

5. Stay entertained effortlessly.
Two words: Front Row. Two more words: Apple Remote ($10; usually comes with Mac.)

6. Easily create and share movies.
That's what iMovie is for, and that's came free with your Mac since Tiger.

7. Connect to networks easier.
Microsoft's website boasts that you can connect to your network in three clicks; I can do it in two at the very most. Like this. Again, old news for us and so basic no one even mentions it.

8. Do more and wait less.
From the time I push the power button til the time I'm harassing people on my blog: 60 seconds.

9. Touch and tap rather than point and click.
They might have a point here, but who the fuck really uses a touchscreen?

10. Manage devices more easily.
I didn't even have to install my M-Audio Keystation in Logic or Garageband.

If you've been paying attention, I haven't even mentioned the REAL good stuff that Macs can provide. Microsoft is trying to hock Windows 7 on the premise that it can (finally) perform the most basic shit almost as well as Macs can - and these are their top ten reasons you should buy it? Where's the stuff to challenge the Dashboard, Garageband, iPhoto, iMovie, iCal, iDVD, Expose, iWeb, and Time Machine - all of which come pre-installed on your Mac?

Windows still sucks.

I'm gonna blow up my car.

My '98 Cherokee needs ball joints, probably a new battery, left side mirror, catalytic converter (Google tells me I actually spelled that right without looking it up), new speakers, a new stereo console. And a wash. And I should probably clean it out, too. (I'd like to note that I was only able to spot the last two things myself, since I know precisely dick about cars to begin with.)

But that's an awful lot of time and money and effort for such a gas-guzzler, don't you think? Time and money and effort are three things that I definitely don't excel at.

Desperate times call for desperate measures - when in doubt, blow it to kingdom come.

I urge everyone who is fed up with their whip to do the same. First of all, blowing stuff up is just awesome to begin with, and maybe now insurance companies will start covering spontaneous combustion along with your basic collision. This would mean that you win in not one, but four ways, because a) you get to blow something big to smithereens in glorious fashion, b) you get paid for it, c) you simultaneously rid yourself of the headache that was your shitty car and d) as long as you're not an idiot about it and don't, say, post on your blog that you're going to do it, you get to get away with fisting the insurance guys.

...Oh.

Dance Vader!

I feel like an update, but I've got literally nothing interesting to say, short a very half-assed and very non-committal forthcoming review of Where the Wild Things Are, which I'm sure I'll put up either a) never or b) whenever I make up my mind about the movie (see A.)

In the meanwhile, please enjoy my friend David of In The Mind of a Young Eccentric being completely awesome.