Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
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21
Nov
2009
Sweet Emotions…?
I’ve been an Aerosmith fan as long as I can remember. The 70’s just wouldn’t have been the same without Aerosmith, one of the most successful and long-lasting Rock bands in history. But sometimes fame, money, and egos can ruin the most beautiful art form of all and leave five talented musicians bickering at each other as if they were in a 10th grade highschool band fighting over who the band leader is.
If you don’t follow music news you may not have heard of the constant state of drama that Aerosmith has been in. 2009 was set to be a busy year for the rock super-Gods with a new album in the works and an as-usual heavy touring schedule, but as the year wore on so did the tensions between the band, specifically speaking frontman Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry. On the surface, everything seemed fine up until an unfortunate accident in August of 2009. During the Sturgis motorcycle rally, Steven Tyler took an unfortunate fall during “Love in an Elevator” while he was dancing mid-song on a catwalk. The stage was reportedly still wet from rains earlier. This was the last time the band was seen together performing (except for one instance which you’ll see later in the article) as the rest of the tour, including all Canadian dates, had to be canceled due to Tyler’s injuries (a broken shoulder, stitches to the head, and other fall-related injuries).
Roughly a month later, Perry began to publicly express his frustrations with the tour cancellation and about his long-time band mate. In an interview with Perry, he stated that “he [Steven Tyler] and I haven’t written a song together alone in the same room in over 10 years, so there’s been some changes in paradigm of what Aerosmith is.“ It would appear as though there have been issues in the recording studio as well as Perry then added “The bottom line is that every hole that Aerosmith left, I filled.”
As time went on, the distance between the two only grew. By the end of September, the two still hadn’t talked at all or had any contact whatsoever. Rumours began to fly that the band was breaking up, but Perry stayed adamant that the band wouldn’t be split and that they would continue as long as they could. The rumours, however, would not go away, yet Perry continued to publicly state that the band has been through many ups and downs and would not disband.
3
Nov
2008
My Latest Recordings
So I’ve had this musical streak going through me lately, so I decided to record a few songs. Before I could never sing and play at the same time, but I’ve been having more luck lately, so the songs below are all live recordings, no over-dubbing.
I’ll warn you now that I’m not a great singer, and I sing and play in a more traditional country style which is very simple. The recordings are of poor quality since all I have is the microphone in my laptop and a program called Audacity, so my apologies for all of that.
It’s nothing spectacular or even good in my own opinion, but people have been asking to hear me play, so here you go, I’m playing. I hope you appreciate it, posting media in this fucking Word Press thing using plugins is a bitch.
14
Jun
2008
Canadian Bill C-61, Going Too Far?
Most people by now have heard about the RIAA, the Recording Industry Association of America. For those of you who haven’t, it’s a trade group representing the American recording industry (that is to say music). The RIAA’s purpose of existence is to prevent downloading of illegally obtained music (such as through Torrent sites or P2P programs like Ares and Limewire), but they have a notorious reputation of going too far. The RIAA has no jurisdiction in Canada, so while old deceased ladies in the United States are being taken to court (Source), Canadians were able to download music, use their iPods without worries, and copy their purchased CDs to their computers.
That’s all going to change with Bill C-61, the introduction of the Canadian DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). Not only will downloading your music for free be illegal (understandably), but Canadians will lose rights to being able to record television shows, rip their purchased CDs and DVDs to their computers and iPods (coverting CDs to mp3s or DVDs to avi), and even posting family photos taken by a stranger. Yes, that’s right, if you ask that friendly Japanese couple at Peggy’s Cove to take a picture of you and your wife with your own camera, that couple owns the right to that image.
This harsh set of restrictions is the brainchild of Industry Minister Jim Prentice and Canadian Heritage Minister Josee Verner. The bill, which had been first introduced late last year but delayed (largely in part due to the publics repulse) will impose a $500 fine per violation of downloaded or infringed copywritten materials, that is to say for every mp3 you’ve downloaded or taken off of your favourite CD, it’s going to cost you $500. More staggering is the $20,000 fine per violation for making available copywritten materials, such as uploading to a website or having available on a P2P client program.
As with a lot of new legislature since the election of the Conservative government, Bill C-61 comes as a direct result of American pressure and American interests, and goes far beyond American restrictions on the subject. In layman’s terms, C-61 sets to limit our privacy, freedom of speech, consumer rights, and will put a serious strain on education and libraries with the digital locks that will be placed on virtually all digital media (movies, music, television, etc.).
1
May
2007
The Nightwatchman… Who Knew?
Any self-respecting 20-30 year old will know who Rage Against the Machine was, and I’m sure a large majority of everyone knows the recently disbanded Audioslave. The guiarest behind both groups, labelled the 26th Greatest Guitarest in History by Rolling Stone Magazine (in a very assanine article mind you, they were way off on some) has a folk alter-ego!
Tom Morello is no stranger to political music and isn’t afraid to voice his opinions on how the world works today. Hardcore Morello fans were already introduced to The Nightwatchman, most notably at the Axis of Justice concert (available on DVD). Even these most hardcore of fans raised an eyebrow at the complete 180 in Morello’s generally loud in-your-face style of guitar playing with heavy use of distorter pedals and able to lick anything he wants and make it sound amazing.
One Man Revolution is the first solo album by Morello, and features no electric guitar whatsoever, but most of the tracks include primarily just him with his acoustic guitar and some harmonica solos thrown in for good measure. This is, as previously mentioned, the big curve ball of Morello’s solo work, a true alter-ego. It’s all second nature to number 26 mind you, there’s no awkward or poorly colaboated pieces, it’s as if this is what he’s been doing all this time.
Lyrically is where Morello’s music shines. It’s no surprise that the majority of songs are politically charged, but the music definitely does deliver on its message with a type of elegance and sophisocation that isn’t generally attached with a hard-rocking guitarest. A mix of harsh and very specific lyrics, such as “it’s in Colin Powel’s lies,” really delivers on the message of the song at hand without pussyfooting around anything with subliminal messages and sublte hints. Morello is mad, and we know it.
It’s not fair to pin Morello’s alter-ego as anything, but if you must compare, then you could easily go from listening to The Nightwatchman to early Bob Dylan (pre-1964). The same mix of harsh and angelic lyrics, enjoyable and often relaxing acoustic riffs, all coupled with harmonic interludes takes music from being merely audible to something coarsing through your veins.
The Nightwatchman is unique not only to long-time Morello fans, but is a refreshing break to popular music today. A passionate artist with almost twenty years professional recording experience who can deliver a line as though it were the most important thing of his life.
Whether you’re a folkie, a rocker, political, or none of the above, you can’t really give a reason not to at least listen to what The Nightwatchman has to offer. You don’t even have to download any music or wait for a song on the radio, just head over to http://www.nightwatchmanmusic.com and have a listen to the on-board player.
