Podcast Number 2: Lateralus

Podcast Number 2

Peer evaluation - Brian Eno

I really enjoyed Matt’s post on Brian Eno.  It was short and to the point and made some very good observations too.  I also find myself sick of the entire fast paced, continuously evolving nature of everything at times, and find peace with minimalism.  The simplicity of it captures the beauty of it.  This outlook can’t really get a better example than that of Brian Eno.  The simple concept of just making sounds trigger not always on time so that the song never actually repeats is near revolutionary; especially in airports where people may have to kill a lot of time.  

Kraftwerk

The electronic genre of music hasn’t really been around for that long.  Even though it's roots can be traced to the beginning of the 20th century,  one of it's pioneers were the creative work of the band Kraftwerk.  Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider in Dusseldorf Germany formed the band around the year 1970.  They participated in the local scene of Germany developing, then entitled Krautrock.  They received international fame after their forth released album entitled, Autobahn.  This album, which was released in 1974, reached 25 on the US billboard and as high as 11 in the UK.  Only the title track actually had vocals on it.  The rest of the album, as well as their first three albums, were instrumental.  Kraftwerk’s follow up album, Radio-Activity, was released in 1975 and went more into experimental rhythms.  This album also featured lyrics in both German and English.  This was another concept album by the band.  I enjoy the themes of their albums like traveling through Europe, by car and train, and radiation.  This geeky complex fits well with the then new electronic genre.  I enjoy bands that take odd themes like this that don’t usually go with music.  These intellectual and nerdy topics seem to draw in a certain audience that would enjoy the genre.  This has also been shown in many of the famous acts they have influenced.  Over time they have influenced hundreds of bands, but there are a few more famous ones than others.  Some of these artists include David Bowie, Joy Division, Devo, and Depeche Mode.  As I listened I enjoyed their simple lyrics and catchy rhythms that didn’t ever really sound run of the mill for that time.  They have made ten studio albums in their career.  The last one coming after an almost 20 year break from the studio.  Their last album was released in 2003 and they have been touring since then.  In 2008, one of their founders, Schneider, left the band.

The Gorillaz

The Band I chose for my electronic music innovation post was the Gorillaz.  The main reason being is that they were the first virtual band.  Unlike cartoon bands of the past, such as Josie and the Pussycats, Gorillaz were made for music and not for TV.  The genius is that they have become an extremely popular band.  Their first two albums sold millions of copies and their third, which was just released, has been selling well too.  Damon Albarn, of the band Blur, originated the band.  He fronted the music aspect while Jamie Hewlett, animator, designed the band.  The band took form as four comic book gorillas.  With these designs it expanded into a whole universe of which these gorillas lived in.  The dark setting of many of their videos went along with their relatively experimental sound.  That is one of the aspects I enjoy most about their albums.  They have a fair number of radio singles but also have many tracks on the album that tend to push the limits of the electronic, pop, and rap genres.  Their albums remind me of mix cds I’ve made for my friends where I give them a few songs I know they will like, but then I also put songs that may expose them to new genres.  This is how I feel the Gorillaz help expose the public to music they may never give the time of day before.  For instance, their song “White Flag” off their most recent album Plastic Beach starts off with a foreign sounding instrumental that reminds me of some pacific themed hotel lobby music.  It quickly translates into a very odd electrically synthesized beat while two rappers lay down a verse in a very heavy English accent. This took me a few listens to start to enjoy but I’m glad it was included because now I could potentially enjoy that type of music more.  Another thing they do to draw in the masses, which is my second aspect, are their collaborations with many of today’s stars.  Their most recent album is a testament to this with cameos from Mos Def, an introduction track by Snoop Dogg, and a live band held up with half of the original members of The Clash.  They continue to take their time between records, but always deliver a great product.  I find them extremely interesting and plan on listening to anything they really right.

Peer Comment: Joshua Osborne's Podcast

I enjoyed Josh Osborne’s podcast on Revolver.  Although it is quiet apparent that the Beatles have influenced hundreds of bands throughout the years, few have tackled it from a post-hardcore standpoint.  It’s clear that Josh has a firm grasp on the general model of the Beatles sound to be able to pick it out of a song that many Beatles fans might out right reject.  I saw what he was talking about with the drum phrasing and also the vocal timbre sounded beatles-esque.  I thought his outlook on the lyrics themselves was creative and to a degree, I must agree with him.  My only criticism would be that I wish it was longer, but due to time restrictions I understand why he ended it when he did.

Podcast 1: Revolver

I really wish we could make this more than 6min long.  I felt too rushed :\

I tried multiple times to upload the audio but it wouldn't let me, so instead i provided a dropbox link Podcast 1

The Velvet Underground & Nico

For a long time I listened almost exclusively to alternative rock.  With that said I must admit I was embarrassed when I realized I had never heard The Velvet Underground and Nico.  I know I’ve heard them before, but as a whole I have never bought or downloaded any songs on the album.  Now that I have made the connection that many of the bands I listened to growing up were influenced by them I now give them the utmost respect.  The Velvet Underground, with the help of Andy Warhol, brought on the age of theatrical performance.  The teamwork between them brought on a force of music, film, and art.  Their music had hints of many different genres from experimental jazz to traditional rock and roll.  This came mainly from the bands two leading members, Lou Reed and John Cale.

            Lou Reed was born and raised in the Brooklyn/ New York Area in 1942.  He seemed to be interested in music from an early age and was in a few bands before the Velvet Underground.  One notably horrific thing I found out was the electroconvulsive therapy he received for being homosexual in an attempt to turn his sexuality.  Luckily this didn’t hold him back as he went to college and became a songwriter at Pickwick Records.  It was here he met John Cale and began a music partnership that would go on to form the Velvets.  Cale who was born in England in 1942, was classically trained at the University of London.  He moved to New York and joined the La Monte Young ensemble, which helped influence him for his work with the Velvet Underground. 

            The Velvet Underground & Nico was a staple in music history.  At the time of it’s release it did not sell well.  I believe this is because it was way ahead of it’s time.  Only now, it seems, that the band receives their recognition as starting many of the popular bands of the modern time.  One band, which took me by surprise as finding influence from them, was Pink Floyd.  They saw the theatrics of the Velvet with the help of Warhol and ran with it.  Of course, this leads to their masterpieces of cinematic events such as The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon.  

To Raul Garcia's post on Pet Sounds

I thoroughly enjoyed Raul Garcia’s post on Pet Sounds.  It was nice and to the point which I enjoyed.  There wasn’t any filler material, which made it easy to read.  His knowledge on The Beach Boys was quite clear.  He gave enough background information for anyone to be able to come and read this blog and relate to the story.  I also liked the fact that he paid attention to the session tapes because I find those to be better sources than any documentary.  The one criticism I would have is that he may have accidentally mixed up Wilson being inspired by Rubber Soul and not Revolver, which wasn’t released until a few months after Pet Sounds.  All in all it was a great post and will more than likely read more of his posts.

What's Going On

Throughout the decades What’s Going On, has become known as one of the greatest R&B albums of all time.  Marvin Gaye’s delivery of this early seventies protest album was one of the most genuine Motown records of all time.  Prior to this, Marvin had been a sex symbol of his time.  He was touring around playing the standard Motown hits and was very famous.  This was going very well for awhile, but as the war tension increased and race riots and the civil rights movement raged on, Marvin changed.  He no longer wanted to use his fame as a way of making people pretend everything is ok.  Gaye wanted to use the fame he was granted to expose the holes in the world at the time.  The record label of course, did not take this very well.  Berry Gordy, manager of the label who was also the brother of Gaye’s wife Anna, was so against releasing the album that the release date was pushed back over a year.  When it was finally released, it wasn’t even with his approval. 

            What got Marvin started on this album was actually Renaldo Benson of the Four Tops.  He originally wrote the framework of what would become “What’s Going On?” in 1969.  It wasn’t a song that he was necessarily interested in playing, but he knew it had potential.  It was when Benson met Marvin that he saw the potential behind it.  Marvin took the song and smoothed out the melody and added to the lyrics, with the help of Al Cleveland.  Gaye made an effort to make this is first self produced work.  David Van DePitte, who had been a regular writer for Motown, helped him with the arrangements.  The musicians used for the session were a mixture of Motown regulars and others.  The biggest notable one would be the unique drumming style of Chet Forest. Forest had been trained classically and had big band experience, which gave the band a whole mess of different options to mind a groove.  Paying attention to the groove of the track, it flows differently than the straightforward Motown records to this point.  A few more interesting things on the title track would be the vocals and the saxophone.  The saxophone was actually recorded while the musician was warming up and no actual takes were recorded.  The vocals were actually two vocal tracks together.  This was a mistake by the engineer, who was supposed to play one track at a time, but it ended up giving Gaye’s voice much more depth. 

            This album is one of my favorite soulful albums of all time.  I find how each song is brought together and flows from one to the other are simply beautiful.  I got irritated when I realized how difficult it was for him to get such a masterpiece released.  It was exactly what the public needed at the time and probably would have even made more of an impact if it were released right after being finished.  As a bass player, I find Jameson’s lines melodic yet completely grooving.  These tracks consisted of some of the greatest studio musicians of all time. 

Revolver

Hi.  My name is Ryan Boda... and The Beatles are my favorite band.  The genius of the fab four cannot be measured, but if Revolver was any inclination, then they can only be considered one of the greatest bands that has, or will ever exist.  Crafted by 14 of the most innovative tracks, this perfect package has to be one of my favorite records of all time.  I have been a fan of this long before needing to analyze it for school so this was not only a breeze, but also a lot of fun.  The Beatles, before this, had already brought in the British Invasion to America and were on the top of their game.  In 1965, the previous year, they had made HELP!, which lead to the beginning of their experimentation for Rubber Soul.  As they were getting more and more fed up with touring, they decided to create an album that couldn’t be reproduced live.  What they got was an extraordinary production that simply blows my mind.  I saw this as a gradual stepping-stone.  Rubber Soul was an introduction and infant shot at innovation, Revolver brings the adolescent full force experimentation, then Srgt. Pepper was a mature application of what they learned.  This is of course just my opinion.  Yes, drugs influenced them.  I get extremely aggravated when so much attention is brought to this, however.  People are influenced by everything they come in contact with.  The Beatles had soaked up influences from all sorts of music, and drugs, but I also don’t think enough attention was brought to what they could have gone through on their own.  They were kept in close quarters during a lot of the main developmental years of their lives; not being able to go anywhere because of their fame.  This could have simulated change in them that many others wouldn’t experience.  All of these could have had an equal affect on them, not the drugs that I have to constantly hear about. 

         The Beatles took the studio and used it in ways no one had ever really done before.  They created techniques that are still in some form used today.  One of these would have to be the automatic doubled vocals on many of their tracks.  By adding a slight delay to a copy, it made the appearance of two tracks.  This was a great way to beef up anything.  Also, with the use of at home tape machines, they could bring in samples they recorded at home.  An example of this would be the loop of Paul laughing, which they altered and added to the intro of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’.  This album was also the first where they used compression as a way to compliment the voices sonically, not just dynamically.  They showed they could go into a studio and be the best.  Their live shows had been suffering due to the technology of live sound still in it’s beginning stages. Revolver struck me as them saying they hadn’t fallen behind, but that they were bored of the norm.  Instead of creating another Rubber Soul, which still would have sold and probably have been fantastic, they went a different way.  

Pet Sounds

So I finally got into Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys.  I was always told to listen to, specifically, this album for the longest time, but never did.  When I originally thought of the Beach Boys, I would think of there old hits like Surfin’ and their appearance on the show Home Improvement.  Luckily, being assigned the album, I finally found it time to figure out what everyone was talking about.  After listening thoroughly a few times I found it to be a complete masterpiece.  I actually stuck to the mono mixes because I believe that old sound is complimented well with a single channel; because of the warmer tape sound and the fact I can’t really stand a kit panned full left… but I digress.   The Beach Boys’ story was kind of interesting to me.  Brian Wilson, in my mind, has no taken a place as a Beethoven of sorts (deaf joke), but most defiantly one of the greatest songwriters of the century.  He was the chief writer, producer, arranger, and singer of most of the Beach Boys’ discography.  His level of involvement is so beyond then that of the other ‘Boys’ that when I think the Beach Boys, I mean Brian Wilson.  After a breakdown of sorts, Wilson stopped touring with the band so he could focus on the studio and creating the albums.  This would be easy for him to stretch his creative legs, while the rest of the band could tour and only return to place vocals over the tracks and then repeat the process.  They found it strange, however, when they returned to record vocals for Pet Sounds.  The Beach Boys to this point were the all American surfing band, with rich harmonies, and lighthearted lyrics of fun in the sun.  The lyrical content of this album was a lot heavier.  Instead of lyrics of fun, they were surprisingly about isolation and ironically mirrored Wilson’s feelings, even though he didn’t write the actual lyrics.  This made the rest of the Beach Boys nervous, but saw that it may have been for the best.  Some refer to this album as a showcase to Brian Wilson and what he brought to the table.  Another example of this was the influence he took from Phil Spector and his wall of sound.  Pet Sounds was filled with some of the most amazing pop arrangements of anything from horns, to water bottles.  This with addition of the beautiful harmonies and talent of the vocals, made this album fill out more than many albums have at this time.  An example of this would be the track “God Only Knows” where they actually couldn’t fit all the musicians in the studio!  It’s the small details like this that makes this album truly a work of art.  

Welcome

Hey!

Well this is me welcoming you to my blog.  I plan to discuss the albums we are assigned to in class, but also just to talk about music.  I enjoy almost all types of music except for most of country and a lot of the main stream hip-hop.  I will give anything a chance though!  I wish to pursue a career in the music industry doing anything really from engineering to managing.