Bwahaha



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/2012 07:03AM by Redlandsman87.

well, i'm certainly going to be clicking an unlabelled 'mostly' harmless link...

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let's get dressed up in costumes and dance by the bar.

You won't get a virus, and no scary monsters will pop out. This, I can assure you of.

What is it, though?

I like surprises as much as the next guy, but only if that next guy really doesn't like surprises.

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let's get dressed up in costumes and dance by the bar.

IT'S THE DEEP WEB, YOU GUYS

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[www.last.fm]

I apologize; I don't quite keep up with the site or the community on a daily basis, and am not quite sure as to how such is dealt with or what would be considered taboo. Such as the posting of any album.

I'm hoping you'd click on it, and listen without I having to shoot the horse buy over-explaining it all. I recommend you do listen first, and read later.

I was kind of hoping you'd listen and figure it out for yourselves, and apply your own meaning and definition to it. But, since such is not the case, I'll let the cat out of the bag. For if you're confused, I'll just "say" it's just a conceptual album about the musical creative process; as well as the joy we "independent music fans" take in listening to what is sometimes considered "difficult" music. Just how difficult, how far are we willing to go? Is genius, or talent defined by consistent practice, determination, and perfectionism, by idol-istic hit-every-note-perfectly singing and insane, unimaginable guitar solos? Or is it defined by false starts, hiccups and bumps on the musical road? Half-baked and unrealized "puzzle pieces of music", and the idea that sometimes "banging it out and just going with it" can merit results perhaps not as entirely pleasing, but surely just as interesting, as the "perfectly" rehearsed and recorded record?

It's half joking, half serious, half auto-biography, half fiction. Half rehearsed, half made up along the way. It's also a test, a "try THIS on for size", a sort of control on just how "indie" people can handle their music, just to see how fine the line between "pleasurable artistic weirdness" and "this guy has got to be joking, right?" really is. It's an album of "difficult music", meant to mess with your head and make you over-think and over-analyze it. But, I know you will, most likely. Now, don't take this offensively, but the idea popped into my head one day...if people will listen to the unique, strange, but ever changing voice of Dylan, the falsetto of Neil Young, the passionate and psychedelic emotionalism of Jeff Mangum, the poetic, lo-fi, and DIY aesthetic of The Mountain Goats records...just how far can it be taken? How "indie" can someone get? Would they listen to a record that was half made up, with no clear idea of how it was going to end?

Would they listen to a record half-full of songs that were barely, if at all rehearsed, for the sake of the "creative process"? Many artists spend hours upon hours into their bedrooms, or studios, or what have you practicing and practicing and rehearsing, trying to attain perfectionism is whatever they create in the vain attempt that maybe someone will happen to enjoy it. "Oh god, if I screw up even once, every one is going to hate me and think I'm TERRIBLE! I'm SHIT!" You could call it a quasi-observation of the Youtube generation, the FB and "hipster" youth scene, the "indie" musical scene.

For this record, my idea was to throw all perfectionism, all vanity, all sense sanity out the window of sorts. Do you love or hate the weird and uniqueness of this record? Or do you think it's just a D-I-Y pile of shit? How much meaning can you take out of it? Can you take ANY meaning out of it? Do you think you could possibly at all relate? Are you buying into my story yet...or do you think I'm just full of shit?

Did I just make all of that up?

I want you to think for a moment, if you did listen to it. Am I such a terrible musician, that every mistake, false start, out-of-tune note, out-of-time strum, and mumbled word was just natural and couldn't be helped? Or am I such a brilliantly talented musician, that I planned and rehearsed every such mistake, every such false start, every out-of-tune note to the very second? Did I do this on purpose, or am I just fucking with you?

Is it just a record full of happy accidents? Or perfectly rehearsed mistakes?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2012 01:41PM by Redlandsman87.

tbf, you could have just said: this is my record, have a listen.

it was more the fact that after a handful of posts there was a link that went up that could have been anything, and i just ain't willing to click unlabelled links willy-nilly i'm afraid.

I shall download and listen, though. Now i know what it is.

edit: well, i just saw you registered 2 years ago which makes me the noob... comitting a noob faux pas. My apologies; i should have more trust and i should be more observant!

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let's get dressed up in costumes and dance by the bar.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2012 02:18PM by betamax.

Explaining it kind of defeats the purpose, I believe. But, taking consideration into consideration, I understand well your waryness. I myself wouldn't just download "anything"!, especially from someone as kooky as myself! Hell, sometimes I don't trust myself to eat the very food I cook for myself. It's not poison...is it?

To be frank, you could have scanned it with an Anti-Virus program to see if it was at all dangerous But I digress, why make you do all the work? I'll try and meet everybody halfway from this point forward...I guess I wasn't the best salesman.

Remember that episode of Family Guy? Where Peter had to choose between a luxory boat or the "Mysterious Box of Mystery"? "Lois, we KNOW the boat is a boat! But the Mysterious Box of Mystery could be ANYTHING!" That's kind of what I was going for...of course, the whole joke was that he got a shitty prize instead of an awesome boat, by following his gut feeling. I don't remember it perfectly well, I haven't watched Family Guy in years. But that joke always stuck out in my mind!

I understand very well why you wouldn't feel safe taking a leap of faith! But...that's half the fun of taking such a leap, isn't it? By not knowing what you'll find at the bottom? "Life is like a box of chocolates", I guess. I just hope you'll enjoy the "Mysterious Album of Mystery", and don't regret not picking the boat.

in my defence, my knowing it was your record wouldn't spoil any surprise about what the record contained. I don't know you, so it's not like i have pre-conceived ideas about your music.

Anyway, this is not a conversation that needs to be had. I'll download tomorrow and give it a spin.

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let's get dressed up in costumes and dance by the bar.

Hey now, I'm a lover, not a fighter. No need for defence! I'm not trying to debate or argue, not at all, or push my own pre-concieved notions down your throat. Alas, I don't think before I post say what I say...there is no "filter" inbetween my brain and mouth. I apologize if you took such as offensive even in the slightest, for that was not at all my intentions.

I appreciate it though, good sir. I'm honored and flattered you'd even consider giving it a spin! Take it as you will...it is what it is, it's just trying to be the best record it possibly can be. Can you promise the record you'll be the best listener you possibly can be? I hope you can, because now that it's out of my head and into the world, I know I'll get shit and praise for it, no matter what. It's not for everybody! There will be lovers, and there will be haters. It's simply just for those who are willing to "let it all loose" themselves, for those who will "go with the flow" and take away whatever they can, whether that in fact be love or hate. My only true intention was to pass on a feeling, whatever that feeling may be. I hope if it comes your way, you'll embrace it and not shoo it away! I made this record for my friends, family, lovers, and haters. Not for myself. Though, I'll admit, it's probably one of my favorite records, now that I've listened to it in its entirety. I was quite surprised with myself!

no hatred here man; no need for an apology.

tone is hard to put across on a forum!

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let's get dressed up in costumes and dance by the bar.

Exactly right! I cannot wait for the day in which we have visual, auditorial message boards.

Imagine, if every board you posted on, every post you read...was not just simply read? What if we had such a system in which we could see the face of the posters say via video, or hear the poster via audio...tone, emotion, language, sound, video, all wrapped into one? Not like Youtube, where it is simply watched for entertainment purposes, but videos and sounds could be quickly and efficiently recorded as quickly as we can type out posted messages? Like a video call...only in message board form.

Imagine if this post were a video that you could watch, that I was speaking to you and you could see, hear, and understand everything I said. Now, imagine if you could reply quickly and efficiently with your own video response, as quickly as we do with typed messages. Would the issues of emotive tone be reduced significantly? Would communication, the passing of information be hindered or enhanced by such?

Would we feel the need to be so hateful, so emotionless towards strangers, towards one another on the internet, if we could consistently and constantly see, hear, and understand the person we were debating with? (Not saying you were, or ever have done so) If a message board was full of familiar faces, familiar voices, familiar tones and not just familiar usernames? An instant-video message board, where we could preview and post our video responses to one another as quickly and efficiently as we do a simple typed message?

Imagine the possibilites, imagine the problems, imagine it all. Get what I'm saying?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2012 07:02PM by Redlandsman87.

Listening now. Like the first track and concept thus far, cover makes me a little queasy as I'm trying to quit smoking and the corner store is very very close to walk to, even in the rain.

Sorry about that, I hope the cover doesn't cause you to break. I've tried quitting a million times...I know that it's the only thing on the mind, cigarettes, when you can't have them.

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VagabondKing
Listening now. Like the first track and concept thus far, cover makes me a little queasy as I'm trying to quit smoking and the corner store is very very close to walk to, even in the rain.

Don't give in, yo. Else you're just walking right back into it. Stay strong!

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[www.last.fm]

^ That. Words of wisdom have been spoken.

Edit. Nah, change in plan.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2012 08:08PM by Redlandsman87.

I listened to the first one and enjoyed it. Great work! "Soul Song" was probably my favorite. Downloaded and plan on checking out the second later.

Don't take this the wrong way, but what's up with the bitrates? I didn't even know 8kbps was possible. How do you record/export these files?

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I make videos for the interwebs. Click to taste the insanity.
My band has a Facebook. This is the link.

On a shitty webcam or cellphone (switched back and forth depending upon convenience), which created WMA or 3GP files, which I then converted to MP3. I really didn't pay attention to bitrates, or what have you. I'm not really an audiophile, or a technological whiz or anything. I just did what I could with what I had.

That "whooshing" noise you hear present in most songs is the cooling fan from my computer. I wanted to shut it up, but seeing as I had to use the webcam/computer to record some tracks, it really couldn't be avoided! I like it now, it kind of gives some songs (such as Guardian Angel) that "dreamy", ether-real, slightly robotic technological feel. I guess once could derive that as having some deep, double entendre of a meaning towards the current technological state of the world...but no, I just recorded most of these next to a too-loud-computer fan.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2012 12:17AM by Redlandsman87.

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Redlandsman87
On a shitty webcam or cellphone (switched back and forth depending upon convenience), which created WMA or 3GP files, which I then converted to MP3. I really didn't pay attention to bitrates, or what have you. I'm not really an audiophile, or a technological whiz or anything. I just did what I could with what I had.

That "whooshing" noise you hear present in most songs is the cooling fan from my computer. I wanted to shut it up, but seeing as I had to use the webcam/computer to record some tracks, it really couldn't be avoided! I like it now, it kind of gives some songs (such as Guardian Angel) that "dreamy", ether-real, slightly robotic technological feel. I guess once could derive that as having some deep, double entendre of a meaning towards the current technological state of the world...but no, I just recorded most of these next to a too-loud-computer fan.

Ah, I was just really curious how you recorded. It gives it that lo-fi feel that completely works with this type of music.

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I make videos for the interwebs. Click to taste the insanity.
My band has a Facebook. This is the link.

Thanks man! I'm honestly flattered. Some days, I feel it really hinders the music and crystal-clear-clarity should really be a goal I strive for...and other days, I just say fuck it! I like the whooshing, let's go for it and bang out more!

TMG, Neutral Milk Hotel, and The La's were of course a major influence, as you could rightly guess, on this current "random music" experiment. These records, again, were conceptual, in the fact that most of them were either a) half-memorized, half rehearsed songs, b) some parts completely made up, or c) recorded, written, and performed whilst drunk, high, or under some form of inebriation. I'll say again that I wanted to "capture" the essence of the musical creative process in this endeavor, without over-rehearsing or doing too many takes. I wanted to create music in its most embryonic, rawest form. and capture that on tape. The side of music people usually don't get a chance to hear.

As John Darnielle once said, I wanted to "get in and get out!" Or, as Jeff once said (not quoting verbatim here)...it doesn't matter how perfect or how long a song is, but how beautiful the results are. Or as Lee Mavers once said "Music is all about passing on a feeling. If you make somebody feel what you felt when you wrote the song, you've succeeded".

I'll not go as far as to say the results are "beautiful", but I'm rather surprised at the results, myself, though my second attempt is far less..."controlled". Rightly so...it used much rougher, less fine-tuned, less "cleaned up" song ideas.

The first record brushed upon the concept, by using mostly finished songs but that weren't rehearsed or practiced much.

The second record further explored this concept in deeper context, by using even less complete songs, more "making shit up", more fucking around, and more loss of control and more inebriation. Which is why the results aren't nearly as "pretty".

On my soon to be third (and final) attempt of this project, I'm going to just go all out and "completely" make up a record and songs, on the spot. I'm just going to hit "Record" for about thirty, forty minutes, with guitar in hand, and make it up all up, balls to the wall, with no songs, lyrics, or music rehearsed. I'm just going to "wing" the final record. I'm excited at seeing the results, myself! I hope you all perhaps might be as well. I've made these records to perhaps inspire you (if such is not taken as contrived?), to further drive you in creating beautiful music, and to not always be danged upset my a little flub here and there.

After that, I'm going to be sick and tired of playing crappy, made up stuff, and get "serious" again. Y'know, actually practice and rehearse my songs to the finest, most minute detail, like I usually do. I'd like to say (in my own opinion) I'm not a "terrible" musician, just an out of practice one, for the sake of the concept and projects at hand. An experiment can only be taken so far, a concept only beaten into the ground so much, before it gets old and its point is overstated. Know what I mean?

I hope you guys don't feel cheated, or are pissed off by this experiment, or feel I've used you as a sort of "pack of guinea pigs"...but I think it's an interesting, albeit slightly bombastic concept, that rightly deserves to have been made and explored.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2012 01:39AM by Redlandsman87.

"sight unseen" is a brilliant concept, the buried vocals like my bloody valentine in this setting is like diamonds in white gold, with the perfectly planned stops of "can you hear my voice."

hotboxing part 1 was masterful. 99.9% perfection, i could listen to it looped for an hour. the only thing missing is machine gun noises. the lack of fade out? awesome.

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SlowWestVulture
I listened to the first one and enjoyed it. Great work! "Soul Song" was probably my favorite.

i too liked "soul song," the audience noise clipped to the end was brilliant.

also, i liked the tuning and the seemingly long evolution to the start of the last song, "music is the only thing that keeps me sane."

music is genius.

you definitely must be practised, but it does come off as 'one off' which lends (to me) a certain authenticity. i like first takes, what can i say.

i like your guitar playing, and none of it sounds like other rhythm sounds i've made myself, which is cool.

good job on the first one!

i'll be trying the second one soon.

(i grabbed it before 'change of plan,' which is bitchin.)

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On my soon to be third (and final) attempt of this project, I'm going to just go all out and "completely" make up a record and songs, on the spot. I'm just going to hit "Record" for about thirty, forty minutes, with guitar in hand, and make it up all up, balls to the wall, with no songs, lyrics, or music rehearsed. I'm just going to "wing" the final record.

this third one i await with open ears.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/2012 12:19AM by mike10k.