Web 2.0 Self-Fashioning

I want to be myself, just like my friends.

Why I won’t be pinning anything.

Pinterest is like self-expression stuck in high school: just a bunch of images on your wall to tell the world who you want to be. I’d rather see what you are, not what you like. There’s a big difference.

 

Kill Your Heroes

I am sick of all the genre bands in Beijing. I don’t need to hear someone’s take on the Blues with Chinese characteristics or Chinese Punk. Or ska, or “folk music” or whatever.

When you go see those bands, you’re not really listening anyway. What you’re doing is using them as a conduit to whatever the best band in a given genre is. The highest praise for one of the genre bands is something like, “Those guys are great, they sound like Oasis or the Skatalites or XXX.” There’s nothing organic about the experience at all. You might as well be drinking gin and listening to your iPod.

I’m not interested in hearing a rehashed version of the music I already like. Good music is about having something to say, not being authentic to some kind of cannon or form. The cannon is there to be learned, assimilated and then destroyed by something new. Fuck the cannon and fuck your heroes. If you can’t, then you’ll just be a pale imitation of what you like.

It’s time for musicians in Beijing to burn the fucking history books and the how-to manuals. It’s time to throw out the music that inspired you.

The Brand Spanking New not there Logo

Finally we have a logo.

A big thanks to the awesome, amazing Ana K for the design work. Hugs from not there.

Listening Project: Bad Habits

The continuing quixotic quest to review every album on my iPod from A to Z

 

Artist:

Nina Simone

Album:

Bad Habits

Comments:

Nina Simone’s voice is fucking indescribably amazing. I’ll just leave it at that.

 

Artist:

Sonic Youth

Album:

Bad Moon Rising

Comments:

Pretentious garbage. I like a lot of Sonic Youth, but Bad Moon Rising sounds like a horde of high school thespians mimicking beat poetry and dry-humping their instruments.

 

Artist:

Jim O’Rourke

Album:

Bad Timing

Comments:

Hmm. Mostly a collection of slightly off-kilter finger-picking, Bad Timing is pretty good background music, at least until the last 3 minutes of “Happy Trails.” Then, unexpectedly and inexplicably, O’Rourke is suddenly accompanied by a marching “band of brass” playing an absurd fan-fare. The whole Sousa thing left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

Note: It’s ironic that O’Rourke and Sonic Youth followed each other. O’Rourke played with Sonic Youth in the 00s.

 

Listening Project: Welcome to the Letter B

The Listening Project is my quixotic attempt to listen to every album on my 120 gig iPod in alphabetical order.

 

Artist:

Glass Candy

Album:

B/E/A/T/B/O/X

Comments:

Meh. Pretty damn forgettable hipster dance music. 80s pastiche only goes so far. Would be good to work out to. Maybe.

 

Artist:

Baby Charles

Comments:

Baby Charles

Comments:

Meh. The letter B you are off to a week start. Baby Charles is one of those revival soul acts from Britain. They hit all the right notes and ape all the vintage sounds, but it’s a pretty damn soul-less affair.

 

Artist:

Bloodkin

Album:

Baby, They Told Us We Would Rise Again

Comments:

Bloodkin are a neo-Southern rock band that gained a little notoriety in the 90s because Widespread Panic liked to cover some of their tunes. Apparently the guys in Bloodkin liked to do a lot of drugs and drink lots of bad whiskey. Turns out that’s not good for your career, especially if you’re not popular enough to warrant the filming of a VH1 Behind the Music. Baby, They Told Us We Would Rise Again is Bloodkin’s Behind the Music in album form. Actually it’s not nearly as bad as that sounds. The boys have an interesting turn of phrase and an understanding of how to write catchy rock songs. “Rhododendron” is a killer song. The album is probably worth stealing if you’re really into southern rock.

 

Artist:

Bob Marley & the Wailers

Album:

Babylon by Bus

Comments:

I’m stunned there’s only 1 album on my iPod that starts with the word baby. I was expecting between 3 & 17. Frankly I’m relieved. Maybe all those babies were 90s R & B or something.

Back to Babylon.

I’m not a huge reggae or Marley fan, but I love this album. Babylon by Bus is a live album, but don’t hold that against it. Ashton “Family Man” Barret’s bass playing is astounding and highlights the record. The groove is so simple but so deep, it’s impossible to ignore. Marley’s voice sounds a little bit torn & frayed but that just makes Babylon feel more authentic.

 

Artist:

Trombone Shorty

Album:

Backatown

Comments:

Meh (again). I should love this album. I love New Orleans music and the Trombone Forum follows me on twitter. I also like Shorty in Treme, despite the fact Treme is basically a 2 year long hectoring PSA. But Backatown just didn’t do it for me. The arrangements were very stock and I thought the groove was way too square. I’m sure I would enjoy the hell out of Shorty live, but he needs to step up his game in the studio.

 

 

How do you judge an idea?

Someone asked me last night if there’s a criteria I use to judge an idea. There is. I am a big fan of the 6 keys to stickiness from Made to Stick.

A good idea must be:

1. Simple

2. Unexpected

3. Concrete

4. Credible

5. Emotional

6. A Story

5 Tips for Making a Better Powerpoint

1. Decide on a story you are going to tell.

2. Draw out the structure of the Powerpoint section by section on scratch paper.

3. Make or choose a template and decide on a visual tone & manner.

4. Write out the content of your Powerpoint as a short story. It should follow the structure you have decided on. If you’re a visual thinker, draw out each section.

5. When you’re finished, check each slide and make sure it helps you tell your story.

Listening Project: It’s All Bold as Love.

Artist:

Pink Floyd

Album:

Atom Heart Mother

Comments:

Very trippy early Floyd. If you’re only familiar with “Comfortably Numb” or “Money” you’ll be in for a shock. Bookend-ed by 2 massive psychedelic suites: “Atom Heart Mother” & “Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast,” Atom Heart Mother is the sound of swinging London melting into a bitter early-morning comedown. The bittersweet “Fat Old Sun” is my favorite track.

Artist:

Kraftwerk

Album:

Autobahn

Comments:

Way less cheesy then I remembered it being, Autobahn was an awesome listen. You should listen to it while stuck in traffic. I did. Fun, fun, fun on Dong San Huan.

Artist:

Roxy Music

Album:

Avalon

Comments:

Very slick, very tight recording from the “British Talking Heads.” More like Steely Dan than synth pop, Avalon is a great example of how a band can use the studio as 1 big instrument. “More Than This” is also a truly stunning pop song: part existential crisis, part sexy groove and one of the best songs of 80s.

Artist:

STS9

Album:

Axe the Cables

Comments:

The 3rd STS9 album reviewed in the listening project and we’re just coming to the end of the letter “A.” Axe the Cables is STS9 live at a theater in Colorado playing an all acoustic show. “Electronica” bands playing acoustic shows, especially bands with 4 mac book pros on-stage, is basically a recipe for disaster. STS9, however, pull it off. Turns out if you take away the synth swirls and vocal samples, STS9 sound like a jazz band playing post rock. Yes, that’s a good thing if you’re me. Highly recommended.

Artist:

the Jimi Hendrix Experience

Album:

Axis: Bold as Love

Comments:

Jimi making funky-soul music. Yes that’s a good thing. If you have a pulse. Wish Jimi had lived long enough to explore his soul side a little bit more. Imagine Jimi playing with Marvin Gaye or Sly Stone, or even stretching out on “Miles on the Corner.”

Listening Project: Improvising in the Key of A

This was a damn good run on my iPod. An embarrassment of improvisational riches.

Artist:

STS9

Album:

Artifact

Comments:

A solid studio effort by STS9 who are better known for live dance-floor melting grooves and hypnotic synths, Artifact is beautiful album that features well-structured ambient grooves. Would sound great at the end of the night coming back from the club.

 

Artist:

John Coltrane

Album:

Ascension

Comments:

Not for the faint of heart, Ascension is an incredibly moving improvisation that is equal parts melodic and chaotic. I wouldn’t want to listen to this everyday, but Ascension is one of the records that freed modern music from rules & conventions. After free jazz, everything was possible.

 

Artist:

Van Morrison

Album:

Astral Weeks

Comments:

Simply one of the most beautiful things ever set to wax, Astral Weeks features unbelievable orchestral improvisation and Van Morrison’s cryptic but heartfelt lyrics. Van’s voice might be the most beautiful instrument on the album, moving from heart-stringing quiver to guttural juke joint growl. Astral Weeks is one of the reasons we still lionize the 60s.

 

Artist:

My Morning Jacket

Album:

At Dawn

Comments:

At Dawn is a gorgeous record. If you’re only familiar with MMJs later rocking funk pop, you should definitely check out At Dawn. Like M Ward but floating on wisps of smoke to the rafters of an old Kentucky silo. The evolution of MMJ is an astounding thing. How do you get from X Mas Curtain (At Dawn’s standout track) to Highly Suspicious?

 

Artist:

The Allman Bros. Band

Album:

At Filmore East

Comments:

At Filmore East is the essence of rock music.

• It’s a blues record
• It has the single most awesome bass intro ever (Whipping Post)
• Duane Allman’s slide playing is so biting, so brilliant it defies believability
• There are  immaculately constructed instrumentals that are technical & soulful (Hot Lanta & Liz Reed)
• It’s live and the mistakes just make it better

If you’re playing rock music, you should learn every second of At Filmore East. If you’re listening to rock music, you’re listening to echoes of Duane somewhere in the mix.