In my personal pantheon of guitar heroes, Charlie Hunter ranks right up there with Stevie Ray Vaughn, Dave Matthews (c’mon, he’s an innovative guitarist!), and Slash as players who had the most influence on my style.
Hunter plays an 8-string guitar with the top three strings bass notes and the bottom five standard guitar strings. And somehow he manages to play both bass and guitar parts simultaneously.
Some have suggested he has two brains. While I don’t believe that, I do believe he writes some of the best and most original jazz pieces I’ve ever heard. His music is both accessible and interesting, and he manages to preserve melody in the midst of some fairly heady experimentation. I really admire him and the choices he’s made in his career.
This video was recorded at a concert in 2000. I hope you enjoy it.
Unless you live under a rock you know that the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is underway. In honor of March Madness, I present a Top Five Friday mix for the crazies in the crowd.
1. The World’s Gone Mad - Handsome Boy Modeling School
Handsome Boy Modeling School is a collaboration between Dan the Automator and Prince Paul. This track is off their second album, White People, and it features Del The Funky Homosapien, Barrington Levy, and Alex Kapranos (of Franz Ferdinand). It’s a really interesting mixture of genres: reggae, hip hop, rock.
2. I’m Going Slightly Mad - Queen
This was one of Queen’s last singles before Freddie Mercury passed away. According to Wikipedia, the song, though sounding jaunty and tongue-in-cheek, was written about spells of AIDS-induced dementia that Mercury was suffering from at the time. The video for this track is one of Queen’s best known.
3. Madman Across the Water - Elton John
Off his album of the same name, Madman Across the Water is one of Elton John’s heaviest rock tunes. From the off-kilter lyrics to the amazing instrumental break(down?) in the middle to Sir Elton’s creepy vocal, this track is among the best of his early work (which is the best of all his work).
4. Mad Tom of Bedlam - Jolie Holland
This track is one of those songs that I can listen to over and over again. When I hear this song with it’s haunting melody and it’s sparse instrumentation (just a drum kit!), I picture scenes from the 19th century. Jack the Ripper, maybe, stopping at the pub for a drink before he goes on his hunt. It’s a testament to the talent of Jolie Holland that she can rock a song like this with just her voice and a drum kit. One of my favorite songs of all time.
5. Our House - Madness
Know what isn’t one of my favorite songs? This one. But I couldn’t let a mix of songs about madness go without having a song by Madness. Seemed too apropos. That’s about all I have for this one. I’ll let the ’80s cheesiness speak for itself.
I don’t really follow college basketball during the season, but for some reason, I get into it at tournament time. So far, my bracket is looking pretty good. I picked Florida and Georgetown in the final, with Georgetown winning the championship. But I’d be happy if Winthrop went all the way.
Once upon a time, I was a cool kid. My days revolved around finding new music and playing new music and learning about music. But those days have taken a back seat for me recently as I try to get my adult life in order. The realities of a mortgage and a car payment and all that goes along with both sort of preclude a 100% return to that lifestyle, but I’ve been thinking that it’s time to freshen up my music tastes a bit.
I’m coming off the heels of a massive classic rock phase that started when Rolling Stone released their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list a couple of years ago. At the time that issue came out, my then roommate and I read through the list ticking all the albums we owned. My list came up woefully short.
For instance, I didn’t own a single album by The Clash, The Who, David Bowie, Public Enemy, Elvis Presley, or Elton John. These were pretty egregious omissions for someone who considered himself a music lover. So I focused most of my music time since then on filling in those gaps. I’m glad I did, but I missed out on several years of new music that I’d like to catch up on now.
To do this, I’m going to turn to what I always turn to when I need to find information: the Web. There are tons of great, free resources to use to find out about new music. Here are a few.
1. Pitchfork Media
This is the granddaddy of indie rock Web sites. And while I don’t always agree with their opinions, just visiting the site will give you an idea of what people are listening to and talking about. Plus, they broke the news about Tom Waits’ last tour. An act for which I will always be grateful.
2. RollingStone.com
If Pitchfork is the granddaddy of indie rock Web sites, RollingStone.com is their daddy. Rolling Stone reviews tend to be descriptive rather than critical, and that will give you an idea about an album you might like, even if they give it a bad star rating. But my favorite part of the site is the videos section. They have performances from big names, but they’ll throw in some lesser known, more cutting edge acts, too. Only problem is, you have to have RealPlayer to watch them. Thumbs down on that one, Rolling Stone!
3. iTunes
You would think I write enough about iTunes on One Thing New already. But it is an excellent resource when you are looking for new music. Say you’ve read a few blogs that mention a band you’d like to check out. If their music is on iTunes, you can stream 30 second clips from their songs to get a feeling for their sound. (I used to do this on Amazon, which has the same feature, but the iTunes interface is much more user friendly.) And if you like them, downloading the album straight from there it typically cheaper than buying it in a store.
4. Blogs
I’m still checking around for the best new music blogs, but I’ve found a couple that might be of interest. I Guess I’m Floating won the 2006 Weblog Award for Best Music Blog (Maybe that’s a dubious distinction, but that’s how I found them). They have a ton of great content: reviews, mp3 downloads, links to videos, and some really good writing. I also check out largehearted boy from time to time. And I can’t let this post go by without linking Tug’s blog, indierocket. He and Patrick are really good writers, and they know their stuff.
I spent a long time listening to great, cutting edge music (can I be forgiven for my Dave Matthews Band phase?), and I think with the help of these terrific online resources, I can get my indie cred back in no time.
So I’ve been hooked on American Idol since Taylor Hicks pulled out his harmonica in his first audition last season. In the past, I’ve equated my growing enjoyment of that show to getting older, but when I tried thinking about it objectively, I realized that it’s just riveting television. Now, in the interest of keeping up with the blog-o-sphere, here’s a Top Five Friday in honor of American Idol.
I’m still a relative newcomer to the show, having only watched last season and this season so far. But I’ve seen enough to recognize that the contestants make the same mistakes over and over again, and most of their mistakes involve picking songs that aren’t right for them. Especially in the weeks between the top 24 and top 12, in which the contestants are given very little thematic guidance to help them pick their songs.
So, here’s my list of five songs I think could help out these Idols-in-Training.
1. Rain King - Counting Crows.
This is an up-tempo song that could be used to highlight the range of the singer. They could arrange the song to include a verse, a chorus, and the ending of the song when Adam Duritz really blows it out. For some reason, I’m picturing a woman singing it. Maybe Gina from this season. I think she could knock it out of the park with her big voice. Plus, the androgyny of a woman singing Rain King is just edgy enough for her to keep her edginess, but not edgy enough to be really edgy. It would be American Idol edgy.
2. Wild Horses - Rolling Stones.
For me this song could do two things. It could show that a country singer is in touch with rock music. Or it could show a softer side of a rocker. I know he’s gone now, but I’m thinking if Sundance had picked this song instead of Knights in White Satin a couple of weeks ago, he might still be around. Of the remaining contestants, I think Chris Sligh would be the obvious choice to give this one a try. Let America see his softer side without giving up his rocker roots.
3. Holding on to You - Terence Trent D’Arby
Maybe I’m getting a little too far from the mainstream with this pick, but I’ll explain why. Randy has made it clear that he won’t like any performance of songs originally by Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Otis Redding, and pretty much any of the best male r&b singers of the last 40 years. So, if you are an r&b or soul singer in the competition, how can you possibly please him? Sing a song he’s not familiar with and tear it up. Holding on to You is a traditional r&b ballad with a ton of chances for runs and big moments. Plus it has a beautiful melody. Maybe Brandon or Phil could pull this one off.
4. It’s the End of the World As We Know It (and I feel fine) - R.E.M.
How about another up-tempo number that would really get some energy going? This song would bring the house down if someone was gutsy enough to try it. There’s a pretty good opportunity to show off your range during the chorus, but this song would be mostly about performance. Chris Richardson has already proved that he can handle the machine-gun lyrics when he did Geek in the Pink, so I think he’s a good choice to try this one. But if Sanjaya could pull this one off, he would prove to everyone that he belongs in the competition (I don’t think he belongs in the competition).
5. A Long Walk - Jill Scott.
Remember what I said about Randy and his dislike for any male singer who tries to sing Stevie Wonder, etc.? Well, same goes for women. That means that Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, and all the other great female r&b singers of the past 40 years are off limits, too. I give you Jill Scott and this wonderfully smooth song. In the right hands — maybe Melinda Doolittle’s — this song would blow the doors off the competition.
If five-years-ago me could see me now, I’m not sure he’d be all that happy that I’m so into American Idol. But it has become more than a singing competition. It’s a cultural phenomenon that you can’t ignore anymore. Something like 30 million viewers tune in every week. That’s about 10 percent of the total population of America, and that’s A LOT of people. So, for better or worse, I’m hooked. Now lets see how the top 12 shake down this year!P.S. I’m rooting for Melinda and Chris S.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned this on here before, but in addition to being a Web developer and writer, I’m also a musician. And as a musician, I was blown away when I read Jordan’s piece about ProjectOpus.com over on his sumolabs blog.
Project Opus is a new resource for independent musicians that allows them to upload and share (or sell) their music with the Web. There have been other sites like this before (CDBaby comes to mind), but I don’t think any of them have been as user-friendly and easy to operate and understand.
When an artist uploads a song, they can choose to sell it for a dollar (Canadian!) or make it available for free. If they sell it, Project Opus gets 50 cents, and the artist gets 50 cents. If the artist chooses to make their song available for free, Project Opus provides an easy interface through which to add a Creative Commons license to the track. And the best part? There’s no DRM applied to tracks you purchase or download from Project Opus.
Now most of that seems pretty standard (I mentioned CDBaby, right?), but Project Opus takes one step further. When you buy music on their site, you can download it, but you can also stream it directly from the Project Opus site using their Flash music player called “Opus Player.” On top of that, you can embed the Opus Player in your Web site or blog so your visitors can listen to your music, too.
When I finish redesigning roblindsey.com, I’m going to try using the Opus Player in the music section of the site. That will accomplish two things:
Allow my visitors to stream my music from within my Web site
And have my mp3s hosted by a third party, reducing my bandwidth
I’m capable of doing both of these things myself, but Project Opus is free. So, I’m willing to give it a shot. Once I get some more experience with Project Opus, I’ll write more. But for now, I encourage any independent musicians to check it out and give it a try.
Once upon a time, I was a cool kid. My days revolved around finding new music and playing new music and learning about music. But those days have taken a back seat for me recently as I try to get my adult life in order. The realities of a mortgage and a car payment and all that goes along with both sort of preclude a 100% return to that lifestyle, but I’ve been thinking that it’s time to freshen up my music tastes a bit.
