Category: News

From: Cory @FB_1607766452
To: @h
RE: Read your reviews on MFR…

… and I am curious now to hear the new FF record. I have been pretty bored with them since “There is Nothing Left to Lose”; I bought both “One by One” and then the Double Album thing they came out with and was not that jazzed, but people seem to be pretty excited about this new one.

Cool! As far as the “Best since…” thing goes… I’d commit to saying it’s their best since “One By One.” Maybe even best since “There Is Nothing Left To Lose.” One By One’s singles are unstoppable, but Wasting Light’s deep tracks are probably better than One By One’s. -h

For some reason, I just couldn’t get into One By One. I wanted to like it a lot, and it’s not like it was terrible or anything… I just wasn’t like, surprised by anything on the record if that makes sense? Listening to “wasting light” right now though!

What do you think?! I’ve revisited “One By One” – I definitely think Wasting Light is as good – not sure if it’s better. -h

Maybe it can be boiled down to the fact that the longer a band is around, the easier it is for the band to sort of fall into the “safe” zone, meaning that they put out quality stuff, but they’re not trying to do anything majorly NEW anymore. There are hardly any exceptions to this rule… and really, when you get to a certain age, your priority is to have fun and support your family, so it’s not like you owe it to anyone to make records for THEM or anything. But I think most bands eventually become more safe rather than less safe.

I think the Red Hot Chili Peppers have gotten better, not worse. I think that’s probably true for Radiohead, or at least, they haven’t dropped off at all!

I wonder how much of it is me expecting certain things from bands, and how much of it is actually the band not delivering?

I think I need to listen again! Honestly, it sort of struck me the same way as their last couple of four-on-the-floor type rock and roll records. There are sweet riffs and killer drum/bass rhythms happening, and really interesting timings and stuff… and there are one or two songs that sort of stray from the straight up rock n’ roll sound… and it’s relatively catchy. I dunno, I just think about the first Foo Fighters record with all of that soft fuzzy pretty creepiness, and then Colour and the Shape that just had all of these amazing songs on it, and it doesn’t compare, you know? How can you compare anything they’ve done recently with “Big Me” or “Everlong” or “My Hero” or “Hey, Johnny Park”? It’s really tough. I know that once a band does something so amazing, it’s hard to top it, and so the band focuses on music that’s fun to play rather than trying to achieve some abstract sense of “more inventive” or whatever… but I always like it when bands get weirder and less glossy and less precise and stuff I guess? I don’t know, what do you think? I feel like even “Aurora” and “Generator” from “There Is Nothing…” were so amazingly hard to top!

Hell yeah, “Aurora” and “Generator!” (and “Headwires” and “Stacked Actors” …)

In writing MR|Review, one of the big challenges – and I’m trying to address it in the reviews – is dealing with the role expectations play in my listening. I’m sure they affect it. I’m sure that trying to have *no* expectations is not a constructive final answer (or, “reversed stupidity is not intelligence,” a la lesswrong.com). So I’m trying to uncover my expectations, see what they’re doing in my listening, and also try to see what’s going on in the music apart from my expectations as much as possible.

I’m a committed Foos lifer, so obviously, I *want* new Foos records to be good. So, that’s a bias. But I also think that, for massive stadium sing-along rock & roll, at this point it’s Foo Fighters and then everybody else, and they keep it pretty fresh and throw in some cool shit. So I’d sort of give it 2-3 starts for aesthetic quality, four for how much I like it, and 5/5 for the band accomplishing what seems to be their goal of being a huge, accessible arena band that isn’t stupid or sucks. “Wasting Light” is not the Mona Lisa of rock. As you point out, it’s not even “Foo Fighters” or “The Colour and the Shape.” But they were different guys trying to do a somewhat different thing then (we were different when we first heard those records, too), and I think context legitimately affects our interpretation of the various records.  Whether a band delivers on a listener’s expectations, and whether they deliver on (what seem to us to be) their own expectations, are different questions! -h

Yeah, I mean, as I said: far be it from me to assume that FF should be making records for people like me… they should obviously be writing/playing songs that THEY like. And yes, as far as big stadium rock and roll goes, they’re the band I’d vote for to fill that spot, so if they were going for accessible but not terrible rock and roll, I think they nailed it!

I am a big Foo Fighters fan too, and I would LOVE to love everything they put out… but the good thing is, not every record is for everyone, and even though I cling to the older stuff, there are new fans who connect more to this new stuff than the old stuff, because it just makes more sense to them, I guess. So that’s OK: their newer stuff maybe isn’t FOR me, which is fine.

I do think, given the context, their older stuff was so refreshing and new and innovative. Maybe if “The Colour and the Shape” came out in 2011, I wouldn’t be that ripped on it (what a weird question!), or maybe I would? I do know that when that record came out, I had never heard any grunge rock much like it (because there was none, really), and it was when I was hungry for that kind of music… and of course, I formed a lot of memories with that record. So that’s part of it too. But I know my evaluation of stuff isn’t solely or even mostly based on that: it’s just that I prefer songs like “Everlong” HARD over songs like “One By One,” no matter who’s playing it!

maybe what it comes down to is, i prefer songs like “everlong” just by an *inch* over songs like “one by one!”  the colour and the shape defined radio-ready rock, pretty much up to the present. it may be impossible to overstate its influence, except maybe – maybe! – to point to nevermind. i don’t think the band meant to do that at the time – how can you? – but they captured lightning.

so, thinking about MR|Review again, i’m identifying three agents, so to speak, in the listening experience: me (listener & critic), you (fellow listener), and the artist. the star-rating is really for you, as a shorthand for how soon i think you should check the music out. the text is what i’m putting out there to start our conversation, so it’s a mix of self-disclosure and talking about my experience, and pointing things out that i think might inform your listening experience, which may include whatever i can imagine / deduct / interpret about the artist and the artist’s intent. -h

I like it! I mean, I like MR|Review for that reason. I have read literally no other music reviews that includes the disclaimer, “This is MY unique listening context, these are MY expectations, this is what I THINK the artist was after, here’s how they met MY expectations, and here’s how I think they met THEIR expectations.” I mean, obviously, every critic has a personal viewpoint on what they want to hear, or what they value in music, or whatever, but I never hear any of them own up to it. Maybe they’re afraid that it will expose music-writing for what it actually is, e.g., a subjective yet meaningful comment that is coming from a very, very specific and unique consumer. And obviously, people who write about music for a living have listened to SO MUCH GD MUSIC that they have such an uncommon relationship with music. Going back to the question of motivation with regards to a hobby vs a job, many music critics probably sort of dread talking about music at this point, which is too bad. Especially if they’re getting paid a lot to have important things to say about whatever record, no matter how like… unexciting it is for them.

I am a big believer in letting the reader know that kind of stuff… maybe it’s uncommon because it sort of usurps the critic’s overall power/authority/expertise when they admit that they could be biased? Seriously, it’s weird you NEVER see someone mention that stuff! But here’s an example of a review I wrote for Hear Nebraska about the newest Rural Alberta Advantage record, in which I talk a LOT about my own personal view on music: http://hearnebraska.org/content/departing-rural-alberta-advantage-cd-review

i never thought i’d be figured for a relativist! :-) i think the p4k writers sometimes get personal in that way a little bit. i usually use it to explain / semi-undercut my ratings, though, which i think they’re less likely to do.

philosophically, i think that disclosing some of those subjective influences, commitments, and context pieces can actually make the whole work less subjective. example; i could just make my claims about and evaluation of “wasting light,” and leave it at that. but by revealing some of what went into my thought process, you can adjust your evaluation accordingly.

it’s all information. and i think you sort of did that, e.g. “i (cory) am a little less on-board for straight-up arena rock – i like my more underground foos – so i may not enjoy this record as much as howie does.” so, the review, by being self-consciously subjective, has helped you develop a more accurate expectation for yourself than if i’d left that stuff out. mission accomplished.

i like yr review’s mini-essay on weird vocalists! i wish HN had author-categories, so i could just see everything you write (the site publishes too much for me to really keep up with!), but the tags do the same job. i’m just afraid i’ll miss something, if you don’t tag yourself in a post. (drrrty!) -h

“philosophically, i think that disclosing some of those subjective influences, commitments, and context pieces can actually make the whole work less subjective.”

Yes, totally! By revealing your dispositions, you make your assessment of something more reliable, not less. If someone just asserts something is bad without giving any background, you might not know that they have a chip on their shoulder about slightly out-of-tune oboes, or something else weird that YOU like.

My point being, you’re not a relativist! DOOBIEEES!

That’s why I add so much background in my reviews, or try to… I mean, I get worried about overshadowing what’s actually important, i.e. the record, but I feel like the experience of listening to a record is half-music and half-listener-worldview, so if I have a chip on my shoulder about a dude’s voice, well, I want to let people know that it might just be me, and they might like it.

In the future, I’ll try and remember to forward you reviews once I write them! :) Also, Andy and Angie are currently skating across Nebraska (yikes!).

i know you, cory, wouldn’t assume i’d ever be a super-relativist, but still, i usually find myself being in a position where others find me uncomfortably sort of positivist. (i think because they’re only familiar with old-school positivism and relativism, and haven’t encountered a persuasive presentation of my sort of re-constructed positivism.)

“Helplessness Blues” continues to grow on me. It sounds more natural now, less like so much work, but it’s still a very personal kind of pleasure, I think. -h

So much music happens when class is off…

• Mars Lights plays Monday, 6 June, at the Riot Room in KC.  I continue to work on mixes – re-amping bass, panning, EQing and compressing drums – and hope to have 2-4 done for the show to give you.
• I play solo Wednesday, 8 June, at St. Peter’s UCC, $10 for dinner and music (PDF flyer here).  It’s a fundraiser for Jill, who is traveling to Florida for the UCC’s national synod meeting.  If you have song requests, put them in the comments.
• The Sleepover demo’d 4 new songs last weekend in Lincoln.  We’re recording the EP August 6-7 at ARC in Omaha.  I practiced drums a hundred times to Cory’s acoustic demos, and yet when it all comes together and gets mixed, it’s like hearing them for the first time.  Pretty weird and exciting.
• The Sleepover is playing:
  • Sunday, 3 July, at Duffy’s in Lincoln, NE
  • Saturday, 13 August, in Lincoln, NE
  • Thursday, 25 August, at The Slowdown in Omaha, NE (cancelled)
  • The May 20/21 shows are canceled
• I was going to write a massive new MR|Review, but my feelings about “Helplessness Blues” are still changing.

• If you like White Air, Panda Face, or just awesome, slightly unscrewed power pop in the vein of the Apples in Stereo, check out Lincoln’s Strawberry Burns.  Greg, Brandon, & Co. have their entire discography up at Bandcamp for free download, and are working on a new record right now.  Highly recommended!
• Three Mars Lights songs are streaming at https://mrfuriousrecords.com/marslights
• Been working some on drum demos for the Sleepover’s EP we’re planning for fall, and re-mixing Mars Lights.  Both groups are scheduling shows for the next few months.

“I think this is the first time I’ve played Kansas City,” Martin Dosh told the crowd at recordBar Friday night at the end of his set.  “Maybe the second?”

“We would remember!” shouted a girl from the back of house, perfectly capturing how we felt about the music we’d just seen and heard.

Seeing Dosh perform adds a dimension to the experience of his one-man gonzo hybrid jam music; a live-sampling concoction that takes the loops of electronic or dance music, the free, improvisational spirit and melodic sensibility of post-bop jazz, some noise, sets them against a hip-hop backbeat, and sounds a billion times warmer and better than any genre-referencing description I can write.  He sits in a cockpit of drums, Rhodes, synths, pedals, effects, and a master mixer, assembling and tearing apart his compositions piece by piece.

After opening with his trademark “Hi, I’m Martin Dosh … I’ll talk to you again in forty minutes,” we were treated to five or six pieces, the maestro doffing his hat after each.  I have never been in a crowd of KC kids so unabashedly enthusiastic about music; the applause was the most genuine I’ve heard in this town, and people were gathered up front, packed in, gently dancing, nodding, or still and mesmerized by Dosh’s hands flying from drums to keys to knobs and back again, tapping pedals the whole time.  Dosh’s music is my ultimate self-soothing jam; I zoned, just water in hand, absorbing it, and grateful; it’s been six years since I heard him last (at the Uptown Bar) and who knows how long it might be again.

(Update: The best free introduction to Dosh is to down his Daytrotter live sessions here and here. -h)

Openers Roman Numerals finally clicked for me; I am converted, after thinking they were overrated for a long time.  Maybe it was the great sound (thanks, Duane), maybe they have solidified as a live unit, or maybe I finally understood that they’re not trying and not quite succeeding at being a pop band.  The deconstructive aspect of their 80s-revivalism is intentional, and not as far from those classics (I’m thinking Songs from the Big Chair here) as it may seem at first.

I had a good night bringing albums home, too:

From Halcyon, on vinyl:

• R.E.M., Reckoning
• Thin Lizzy, Live and Dangerous (I’ve been hunting for this!)
• Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath

From Dosh at the show: Dosh, Triple Rock

From Half Price books:

• The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema
• R.E.M., Murmur
• $2 rack: The Millions, Raquel (Good find; classic Lincoln indie band)
• $2 rack: Roman Numerals, Roman Numerals
• $2 rack: The Black Crowes, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion
• $2 rack: Boyz II Men, Cooleyhighharmony (the bonus track version.  I remember Mom buying it for me at Homer’s across from Gateway on “O” St.  I’m sure I was in middle school.)

Earlier this week, Cory & Co. asked me to join The Sleepover on drums, after they parted musical ways on good terms with Brad.  We’ve agreed to a long-distance practice regimen, a couple shows in Nebraska in May, and to see how we feel at that point.

Should be fun; it’s extra-exciting to be in a group with Scomo again, and doing something different than h&s, and playing drums is always endorphin-releasing.

BOOM – BAP – BOOM B-BOOM – BAP! -h

In the wake of …Boots, priorities are the Loud Unnamed Band stuff, and Cory’s new solo record.  I’ve done some vocals for the second batch (tracks 7-13) of the Loud Band and we’re talking about them, and will re-record some of it (I’m sure) and then produce and mix those songs.  The only thing holding up the first six is finalizing a band name, and possible re-mixing them based on a new trick I’m using with batch two.

Cory will be sending me demos to track drums to, and then we’ll get together for the rest of it.  Good times.  Progress will be on and off though summer (when I graduate), and then should pick up a bit.

We’ve just agreed to put out a record in March that I’m excited about.  It deserves its own post, to follow.

Thanks to all who are listening to and talking with me about …Boots!  -h

The first thing to know is that You Have To Wear The Boots was made to enjoy without knowing any of what I’m about to write.  I want it to stand on its own, counting the lyric sheet as part of the record, and I think it pretty much does.  OK.

Then, (you’ve probably figured this out) I have to confess I wrote another record with a story.  Five short stories about cowboys, revenge, corruption, outlaws, and love, intertwined with each other and set in the city of Dodge in a mythic Old West with some twists, like TV and weapons of mass destruction.  Beyond the basic parts for vocals, electric guitar, and bass, a different instrument colors each story.  (Very Amahl and the Night Visitors, eh?  Thanks, Mrs.s Pecka & Dudley!)

• The Cowboy & Clara (flute, Clara sung by Cari Ann)
  • 2. Easy Kill
  • 7. A Cracked Piece of Sky
  • 9. A Come-On
  • 11. Jenny Was A Friend of Mine
  • 13. Set You Ablaze
• Gramp (drums)
  • 1. Storm & Stake
  • 6. Have We Forgot The Code Of The West?
  • 10. goddamn
  • 15. Ballad of the Ends of Our Ropes
• The Farmer & Mae (acoustic guitar, Mae sung by Mary)
  • 5. Into the Fire
  • 14. Harvest Moon
• The Knight & The Knight’s Love (organ, The Knight sung by Tara)
  • 3. Iron Horse
  • 12. Johnny Got His Gun
• The Barman & The Teacher (synthesizer, The Teacher sung by Doug)
  • 4. August Wind
  • 8. It Was You, Kid
  • 16. Pushing Over the Continental Divide

Some listeners are already saying they like to focus in on specific stories rather than hear the whole album at once, and that’s great; we wanted it to work that way, to the point that you could even think of it as five little EPs/singles.  Cory talked a little about releasing it that way, but as we got on toward 2011 I wanted to have it all out before the end of the year.

Another way of breaking it up is by acts I, II, and III, as listed in the lyrics.  Act I is just the first song in each story, Act III is the last, and Act II are all the middle songs for the three stories that have them.

If it sounds intricately planned, that’s just hindsight.  I wrote the first pieces of music that eventually became …Boots back around 2003.  These included all of “Set You Ablaze,” the main verse riff of “It Was You, Kid,” (working title; Campfire Robots) the music to “Johnny Got His Gun,” and the chorus music, lyrics, and title to “Ballad of the Ends of Our Ropes.”  They were just ideas and sketches, unattached to any particular album, though I had a vague sense that they hung together.

Then, they sat in my notebook of works-in-progress for a long time.

I’ve lost track of how we came around to working on them again.  It wasn’t intentional.  I may have written a couple new songs and realized they fit with those old ideas, or maybe finished off some of the sketches and felt my muse moving that direction.  I think six or eight songs were done before the main concept – several short stories, Old West setting – really became clear.  From there it grew; several more songs written specifically for …Boots to expand the stories (“August Wind,” “Harvest Moon,” “Pushing Over the Continental Divide”).  Somewhere in there we also re-purposed songs from others sources; “A Come-On” from Don’t Let Them Take Us ALIVE, “Have We Forgot The Code of the West?” from It’s A Trap (where it appeared as “David S. Addington and Your Democracy”), “Jenny…” from The Killers, and “Into the Fire” and “Easy Kill” from Cory’s The Silent Woods.

I remember the night I came up with the re-imagined “A Come-On.”  I was just messing around with the guitar, and the G / G minor figure (heard in the introduction, and again later).  Played it for about a half hour straight, afraid I would forget it, because I was headed out to hang out up at Nick’s.  I was driving through Raytown, 20 minutes late, trying to keep it in my mind.

Cory and I both remember the first time I played “Storm & Stake” for him, and told him I had another Sally Ride record to work on.  It was at his old old house in Lincoln, probably earlier the night we played the Zoo Bar (which would have been 26 January 2006).  It really hit us both hard; him hearing it, and me with the ears and heightened stakes I get the first time I play a new song for anyone else.

“Storm & Stake” is adapted from a true story in my family; Grandma really did hold down the center pole of the tent one night during a storm in South Dakota.  Grandad was an electrician, and they were out on a job, everyone’s families living in tents.

Cory wrote the melody to “Pushing Over the Continental Divide” on my folks’ front porch.  I must have been home for a visit during the summer or something, and I was stuck on the song; liked the simple music, couldn’t figure out what to do vocally.  I showed the idea to him, and out popped the melody.  (That’s how “Coast and Plans” went, too.)

“Johnny Got His Gun” has no relationship to the film of the same name (which sounds terrifying), which I just learned about this past week.  It seems likely I heard the title somewhere and hung on to it subconsciously, re-using it for our outlaw Johnny and his WMD.

After an initial attempt to record …Boots prior to Mexico, I put down my base tracks live, playing and singing at the same time, in late June and early July 2007.  Had to get felt guitar picks to keep pick noise down in the vocal mic, and put my amp in the closet; I crouched on my kitchen step and played and played.  I wanted a lo-fi sound, so I bought the cheapest 4-track tape recorder I could find, and ran the vocals and guitars through that.  (That’s the hiss you may notice at the ends of tracks, if you listen to the record on headphones or a good stereo.)

A lot of other music has been happening since then; Five Star Crush, There is Something and not nothing, the Band Formerly Known As Fifty Bears In A Fight And/Or Exploder Mode, MFR releases, etc.

Cory did his songs at my current place, so that’s November 2008 or later.  Not long after, I overdubbed bass (thanks, Jill!) as the Cowboy & Clara’s instrument, but I liked the sound so much I wanted it on everything, and realized I could get Tim involved on flute.  Perfect.  (See how it wasn’t planned?)

Vocals have been overdubbed bit by bit, too, maybe starting with Bear’s in summer 2009.  Oh, nope; B’s were first, I think.  And I had to go back and re-record a verse in “It Was You, Kid,” after we realized that Doug was perfect for The Teacher and we absolutely had to have him on the album.

(For clarity’s sake, Cory and I each sing several characters; we take the lead vocals in the song no matter which character is singing, and the other voices come in with quotes or company singing.)

We did two things with the vocal parts in terms of technique and process to support their role in the stories.  First, each singer wrote or improvised their harmonies against the main melody only, never  hearing the other harmonies.  This served several roles: singers brought their own ideas and emotions to the record, I didn’t have to try writing complex 4- and 5-part harmonies for the first time, it gave it a kind of live and dangerous feel that supported the whole campfire vibe.

Then, for the quotes – when a character speaks in a song that’s being sung primarily by someone else – I used a mixing technique called sidechain compression.  It works like this; a lead vocal is going along, like the Cowboy’s “One million drops of water form to make a stream…” in “Easy Kill,” and when the second character enters (Clara’s “Oh, you wouldn’t have known it…”), that sound compresses the lead vocal, making it softer in the mix and creating the effect of the second voice taking over the song from the first.  When the second voice finishes, the lead voice pops right back to the front of the mix, where it was before the quote.  The process is automatic and dynamically related to the voices themselves and their volumes.  The intended effect is aural quotation marks, different than just one voice, then two voices, then one again, and I think it works.

I hesitate to say much about the narrative; the story is in the lyrics and I don’t want explanation to get in the way of that, and the one-line introductions on the lyric sheet give the necessary context.  It’s three love stories, one comic book adventure as seen though the eyes of The Knight’s Love, and Gramp’s story of political and social awakening, disillusionment, and whatever happens next.  A lot of things end badly, but not quite everything.  I didn’t have any larger purpose in writing the stories as I did, and that’s where some of their hold on me comes from.  The characters are, emotionally, pretty real to me.  I’m sure we could look at each story as a sort of stylized reflection on something going on in my life during the writing and the characters as blown-up aspects of my psyche, as we could with almost anything people create, including your own listening experience to the extent that …Boots rings true to you.  Which is, of course, the idea; seeing if we can find something new or deeper to share through the music.  You need your own space to experience the record in if that has a chance of happening, and I don’t want to crowd you out with commentary on the plot.

I can’t say enough how proud I am to have my family and friends on this record.  I’ll love it as long as I live for their parts in it.