A couple weeks ago Thomas Seely from Breakthru Radio visited my studio in Williamsburg to chat about art, music, and the creative process. It was a great conversation, and luckily he recorded it! It’s featured on the program ‘Art Uncovered’, and features the interview, some original compositions, and some choice songs to make for an excellent hour of listening. Listen to the podcast here.
In the fall of 2006, I was given a residency to write and record a rock-opera/concept album about photography and the Midwest. I recorded around 30 songs to 4-track and felt drained as soon as I finished them. I’m finally feeling able to put lyrics to them, so I dug out the old master tapes and got to work on finishing what I started. Here’s the first one–I intend to make a video for each song. Right now I’m calling the album ‘Lake’, but that’s completely subject to change…
I was lucky enough to catch The Wedding Present in New York on their current tour commemorating the 21st anniversary of their landmark album ‘Bizarro’. For the tour they are playing the album in it’s entirety, which made for an interesting experience. First off, I was impressed that David Gedge (the band’s only remaining founding member, songwriter, singer, and rhythm guitarist) could still manage to play the fast-paced jangly songs he wrote when he was much, much younger–played live, ‘Bizarro’ becomes a testament to perseverance in both emotion and physical forms.
I also noticed that I was definitely one of the younger members in the crowd–it felt like the average age was ~40–most in attendance had probably seen the band in their original formation back in the 80’s.
Video isn’t mine, but is of the Bowery show I was at.
In addition to playing the album ‘Bizarro‘ in it’s entirety, the band also played a few old favorites (including the amazing ‘Corduroy’ and ‘Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft’) as well as a couple of brand new songs. While the music behind the new songs sounded pretty good–comparable to the standout tracks on the recent Wedding Present albums, I’m afraid Mr. Gedge’s lyrics are getting a little to corny/cliché. His strength has always been referencing the specific in a way that it becomes universal, but hearing him use the words ‘iPhone’ and ‘texting’ in his songs just made me cringe a little bit. What with his recent online habit, I was afraid one of the songs was going to be about Twitter (thankfully not). During that song, in addition to the ‘Bang Bang, you’re dead!’ lines of another song, I found myself laughing at the ridiculousness of the lyrics instead of appreciating the music behind them.
This isn’t to say that you can’t write a good song and use the word ‘iPhone’ in the lyrics (The Streets have managed to write a song involving not enough bars on one’s phone, I believe)…I just haven’t heard it yet. Maybe it’s simply too contemporary–Gedge did preface the new songs with an apology and a promise that we’d like them in 30 3 years! I guess we should stick to writing songs about the Commodore 64 instead…
I realize I’m a little late on the list-train, but I thought I’d chip in my two cents regardless. Here’s what I think are the best albums from the last decade, in chronological order. If you missed out on any of these, you best retrace your steps. For reference, I’m a white male pushing 30.
Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump (2000)
Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour of Bewilderbeast (2000)
Microphones – The Glow Pt. 2 (2001)
Sparklehorse – It’s a Wonderful Life (2001)
The Postal Service – Give Up (2002)
The Wrens – The Meadowlands (2003)
The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come For Free (2004)
Cut Copy – Bright Like Neon Love (2004)
Vitalic – OK Cowboy (2005)
Junior Boys – So This Is Goodbye (2006)
The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America (2006)
Dinosaur Jr. – Beyond (2007)
Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (2007)
LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver (2007)
Shocking Pinks – Shocking Pinks (2007)
Nouns – No Age (2008)
I haven’t listened to any new music in the past year I guess, so I’ve got some catching up to do. Recommendations?
T minus one week until the TRG shitstorm hits Minneapolis. We’re celebrating the release of our latest EP – Pop Not Soda – available as a 10″ record + digital download. For those who aren’t in-the-know, Tim Rally Gold is the band I’ve been part of since 2003. I’ve had some fun in the past weeks making posters, screen printing, and coming up with the set lists. If you’re around the Twin Cities this holiday season, there is absolutely no excuse you shouldn’t attend at least one of the following shows…
Buy the album here–t-shirts available at the shows, will add them to the online store soon.
Tim Rally Gold – Winter in Minneapolis Tour 2009
12/20/09 @ The Triple Rock w/Zombie Season, The Brutes, and Kunkel
12/23/09 @ The Nomad – Festivus celebration
12/26/09 @ The Hexagon – RECORD RELEASE SHOW w/Red Pens, Ten Ton Bridge, and At Any Speed
12/30/09 @ The Red Stag – Hump Day w/DJ Millions Billions
Jack Goldstein – “A Suite of Nine 7-inch Records with sound effects,” 1976
I’ve been bouncing back and forth between the roles of artist and musician for some time now, and the bouncing always leads to doubts about unfocused talent, spreading oneself too thin, and simply not having enough energy to commit to such both activities. For me, these anxieties subside when I realize that there are different goals for each activity, and each practice has a different, yet equal, outcome.
Here’s my for-instance:
As an artist, I often begin working cerebrally. I’ll think about an idea or a concept and brainstorm how I would manifest it materially. I then work with those materials, sometimes drunk, sometimes with loud music playing, always enjoying it, until I feel like I’m getting somewhere. I then try to recreate it, refine it, and perfect it. Because the end result of an art object is often the exhibition of it in a sterile gallery setting, my choices and actions must be determined and focused on the success of communicating my message and/or experience. In short, the success of my own art is often how well I can defend the choices and decisions that go into it’s creation. This results in a big difference between the creation of the work and the reception of the work.
As a musician, I almost always begin working materially. I’ll get together with friends, talk, drink, and play on our respective instruments. We’ll figure out song structures, cobble together lyrics, and rehearse it until we can play it a couple times in a row, and it still sounds like the same song. Then we’ll commit it to tape. Then we play it live, in front of friends, drinking, and enjoying the company. For some reason the space between the creation and reception of the music seems to be smaller.
A few possible reasons for the difference:
* Some people may argue that with the advent of recording technology, the final reception for music is now the recorded product, and not the live performance. I understand that point, but I still stand to disagree.
* Even still, my music recording experience has never been stressful or serious–I’ve often approached it with a ‘good enough’ attitude.
* This could very well be a material issue. For the musician choosing to work with samples and sequencers, programming can be a very repetitive and focused commitment. Very different from a musician who bleeds ‘feeling’.
Other artist/musicians: thoughts?
The 80’s was not a kind decade for anything besides Cocaine. Rock-stars felt the burn especially bad, the Beatles included. For instance, George Harrison turned in what could be laziest video performance ever:
Ringo’s contributions were far better than the disastrous 70’s, but that’s only because the other Beatles helped write him songs…
Lennon–well, he missed out on a good portion of the 80’s for good reason. But, he still managed to squeak out this stinker (more in terms of the video vs. the song):
And somehow, amid all this mess, Paul McCartney managed to make a pretty rad contribution to the canon of Christmas songs (I would love to hear a group of caroler’s take on this):
I haven’t check out Pitchfork TV that much, but after watching their Dinosaur Jr. segment, I find it to be refreshingly original and exhibits high production value. Wasn’t there a channel on regular TV that used to be music oriented???
If you haven’t checked out my website lately, I’ve updated it with my latest project ‘I Have The Need To Destroy’, the photographic record of my experience playing bass in a hardcore band for a year. I made a limited # of books (complete with 7″ record) and am selling them through my webstore. If you’re in New York City, you can pick them up at Printed Matter as well.
The audio that accompanies the book is a collection of field recordings made during the band’s practices, shows, and recording sessions. I tried to approach this project with a minimal style, adapting a snapshot aesthetic and lo-fi production quality. The book is pretty zine-ish and the 7″ is a staple of the punk-rock genre. If you want to hear what the actual band sounded like, you can download an MP3 here and here.
As far as my participation in the band went, I helped write a song or two, but I really tried to sit back and just observe. I recorded all our practices and shows not because I thought we were a great band (in hindsight, I think we were pretty average), but rather as a testament to recording and the documentary practice. In the end, my goal became to emphasize the quieter moments of a scene that is largely known for being loud and explosive.
I exhibited the large diazotype above at the Soap Factory this past summer as part of the Pay Attention: GM08 exhibition. There was an audible component as well–I had speakers playing a selection of the field recordings I had made–setting up equipment, opening beers, having quiet conversations about music and life. All-in-all my experience with hardcore music was special because of these little moments, both fleeting and insignificant (I’m instantly reminded of why I love John Porcellino’s musings on the 80’s punk scene). Let me know what you think.
My band, Tim Rally Gold, has been playing a metric shit-ton of shows, and we’ve got a few more coming up before I dip. You should come out, have a drink, and enjoy what’s left of the summer. Our drummer Nick is videotaping all the shows and has been kind enough to upload them to Youtube. If you haven’t seen us play, here’s what you’re missing:
Tim Rally Gold – We Both Said Siena
Tim Rally Gold – Pop Not Soda
Tim Rally Gold (minus Ryan) – Shoot the Singer (Pavement cover)