Coming soon!

This blog will soon welcome a new co-author! Stay tuned for amazing new reviews and criticism now from 2 perspectives.

Two Weeks Notice Live in Salt Lake City

I've posted the gig live at the Underground Theatre in SLC (Parts I and II) of Two Weeks Notice, the band of which I am a member. Although it's not an amazing audio recording, it gives you a glimpse into 4 of our original songs. It constitutes a formal endorsement of JJ Weidner, Jesse Taylor, and Brandon Davies as qualified, aspiring musicians. Good work gents! May the gigs continue to flow like milk and honey, and may I partake of that milk and honey sparingly, so as to avoid obesity and conflict with my new married lifestyle!

The wide spectrum of funny music

In the forefront, Flight of the Conchords ranks in as some of the funniest and most entertaining music available today. They are closely followed by the Bare Naked Ladies. Bringing up the rear in funny music is Weird Al Yankovic. Poor soul.

What would it be like?

Here's a question I'll pose to my audience. If falsetto suddenly dropped out of the audible spectrum for human hearing, what bands would drop off the face of the earth?

New Effects Pedal for Microphones

I'll be the first to develop the series of effects pedals for mics called "the sing-along series." These pedals will in essence echo on a pre-set delay to sound like an eager audience mimicking the words of the singer. The settings will be so realistic that minor deviations will intentionally exist between what the singer says and what the audience ignorantly sings.

This pedal will come in many different models. The first of the three to be produced initially will be the "shut up and let the artist sing his own songs so I can hear him" model. This is best for people who like mimicking Dashboard Confessional songs. The pedal incorporates an 85% lonely, tattooed female voice modulation, 10% mumbling of guys trying to impress the girl next to them, and 5% awkward, large, bulky men that strangely know every word of every song. Creepy.

The second pedal in the initial series will be the "we don't know your songs well enough for you to turn the mic over to us yet" pedal. This incorporates a lot of confused mumbling and awkward silences behind the singer's voice.

Finally, there is the "way to ruin an otherwise flawless live recording stupid screaming people" pedal that incorporates a bunch of nasty, guttural sounds and screams while the audience should be singing along peaceably.

On Nickelback and The Fray

Check out my good friend's blog for some in depth discussion of The Fray and Nickelback. His thesis is that The Fray is Nickelback 2.0 and presents some very good arguments to support that idea.

http://pingpongballahollic.xanga.com/

Welcome, my minion!

Congratulations to Clancy Clawson for being the first follower of my blog. His reward will be 30o installments of $10,000 a month, paid with interest starting in 75 years.

I respect Clancy's musical opinion, since he knows more about music than I do. He is the authority on the Beatles, Pink Floyd, and a multitude of other classic rock bands. Also, Clancy represents 65% of my iTunes music library.

If you haven't heard Jake Demke's album "Failed Romantic Exploits" you need to check it out. It's a sultry mix of groove and humor, with such blatant honesty that everyone is inclined to try to relate with the lyrics. Good work, Jake.

EFY Music

A tragic series of events inevitably leads to the creation of every EFY album. How many times can you talk about the wind trying to blow you down but you're a strong tree (or bird, or person) and can take it? Shall we really stretch a biblical allegory and try to make it sound like a pop song?

Kenneth Cope is the worst human being ever. He has an entire two part album of him REDOING the EFY songs of other artists, presumably because he feels his voice is better suited to the part. Kenneth Cope has shamed himself, and all those who speak his name. I will have to now go and perform a de-Coping ritual to rid myself of the shame it has been talking about him for 4 sentences.

Soundtrack Composers - Bringing Life and Meaning to your Movies

The best modern composers out there include Hans Zimmer (Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator), John Williams (Star Wars, Schindler's List), Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings), Danny Elfman (The Corpse Bride, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas.)

Also noteworthy is the otherwise random Australian composer Burkhard Dallwitz for his work on The Truman Show, although only a handful of the songs on the album were original works (the rest are recordings of Mozart piano pieces and such.)

Look up these men and their works and you'll find great music. The music in these cases is just as good or better than the films they enhance.