Music For Wild Places with Laura Veirs

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything in here. Mainly, I just don’t have time. Life happens. And if it’s down to music or the music blog, the music blog is going to be cast aside. I suppose I should still have periodic updates on my personal music, rather than just rants and raves once every 6 months, but so far, that hasn’t happened.

So what brings me here today?

Laura Veirs. I don’t recall how I discovered her music – whether it was someone introducing her to me, or Spotify, or the radio (no, it definitely wasn’t the radio). In any event, somehow I landed on her email list (which I’m assuming I must have signed up for).

So yesterday I got an email for Laura’s email list. And usually, unless they list tour dates or give album release news, I pretty much just skim them. But this one was titled “Musical Rafting Adventure.” At first, I’m thinking, that’s a neat album title, so I read it, looking for updates on a new album.

But it’s not a new album. Not at all. Instead, it’s a 4-day guided whitewater rafting trip with Laura Veirs and Kai Welch. The gist of it is: you raft for a while during the day and get live concerts in the evenings. And you get to hang out with Laura and Kai the whole time.

This is a vacation! And I’ve heard of the big music festival cruises, but that’s on a packed cruise ship. This is limited to 15 people. And it’s out in nature, not some light-up façade with smoke and mirrors.

This is the house concert of the future. Want to really get to know your favorite indie artist? Go on vacation with them. Invite your friends.

Maybe I’m out of the loop and this isn’t anything new(?), but this is the most innovative thing a musician is doing that I’ve heard of, maybe ever. This is absolutely brilliant. Sure, not everyone can afford it, but you get a legit vacation out of the deal as well… If you were going to go on a rafting trip anyway, why not make it with one of your favorite musicians?

I think we need more innovation like this. The future of music is ever changing, so why not try to be ahead of the game? And maybe something like this is limited to the singer-songwriter, sans production. I’m envisioning a future indie scene where you can go on backpacking trips to learn about songwriting. Or where you can go on backcountry snowboarding trips where your base camp has a small music studio set up.

Music seems to be polarizing itself to where you’re either in a me-too genre where you’re a face in a crowd, displaced from any interaction with the artists, or you’re in a genre seeking the most intimate way to communicate music to your fans. This is just the next step. And it’s a good step to see happening.

 

http://windingwatersrafting.com/music-on-the-river/

Review: Trace Bundy at World Cafe Live 05/08/14

I've seen him several times before. After all, his videos were what inspired me to pursue this whole percussive fingerstyle craziness. And every time it’s a great show.

And the songs will always be great; that’s what we’re there for. Secondarily, we go for the stories; Trace is an excellent story teller. His personality lends well to entertaining, yet very emotive story telling. He makes you feel like you’re there, sharing in his life’s highs and lows.

But, for seeing him over the course of several years, the stories hadn't changed much. Actually, it seemed like, with the exception of a few songs from his latest album, Elephant King, there wasn't much changing in his sets either. And that’s after several years.

So I was hesitant to go. I mean, hadn't I already seen it all?

My week had already been a lot of traveling, late nights, and early mornings. Did I really want another late night? Philly, with traffic, is about an hour and a half away, so it was a bit of a trek to get there. The physically exhausted part of me wanted to stay at home.

But then Trace sent out this email. He had flown in with one guitar, but wanted to borrow a second to play his song, Joy and Sorrow. So I didn't reply to it. Because I was tired... In addition to having a long week, I was also preparing to drive up to VT, snowboard, and drive back all on Saturday, so I didn't want to be too tired for that.

After a day of not replying, I got to thinking. Trace is one of my biggest inspirations, and he only comes through the area once a year. Was I about to miss that opportunity to see him because I was too tired?! That’s definitely not me. So I decided to go.

But I was also not going to throw away a chance at having Trace play my guitar. So I shot off the email. I figured it had already been a day since his first email and he had probably gotten inundated with replies, but maybe, just maybe, he hadn’t. I sent the email with a brief description and a link to the Live From the Yellow Room video that the kids at Messiah put up …you know, so he could hear what the guitar sounded like. I’m not gonna lie; honestly, it’s been a dream of mine to one day share the stage with Trace, so the video plug was intentional to maybe get a little toe in the door to maybe someday make that a reality.

To my surprise, I got a response later that day! Trace was going to use my guitar. And the marathon week continued.

Next thing I know, I’m at World Café Live, and Trace Bundy is sound checking with my guitar.

So I geared up for seeing yet another great show, wondering what Trace would be playing. I had heard it all, right? Even from last year’sshow, I had written:

Trace is engaging and a great performer. However, I desperately want to hear more of his songs that I haven’t seen him perform. It seems like he’s stuck playing “Trace Bundy’s Greatest Hits.” The hits are hits because they are justifiably the most interesting, exciting, and innovative, but I want to see the whole story. And I want to hear the whole story; I want to hear the stories to all of songs I haven't seen him play...

And I’m thinking he probably never read that, but he may as well have. Because he did exactly what I’ve wanted to see from him; he played a much less “flashy” show with fewer of the regular “hits.” So we got some new stories and insight into his writing process.

Yes, there were still some of the “hits,” and a few that I’ve seen him play before; I think I’ve seen him play Pachelbel’s Cannon at every show. But that’s okay, because there were new pieces and there were stories behind them. He played a lot off of Adapt and Elephant King, but he also threw in a few unique covers, like Michael Jackson’s, Beat It, on Iphone (which seems to be getting more intense as the years go on), GNR’s, Sweet Child O’ Mine (New? I hadn’t seen him play it before), and U2’s, Where the Streets Have No Name.

We got to hear about his recent stint with an EPSN contest, more about his growing family, and about who he wants to be as not only a guitarist, but also as a person. It wasn’t like you were with that guy who has the same set of stories that he tells at every party. Trace is a growing, dynamic human being, and he showed that through his performance.

And we got to hear about the more technical stuff. This is something that I’m always taking notes on when I see Trace. He makes this music incredibly accessible, in spite of him being, as they say, an Acoustic Ninja. He explains delay, and the purpose of delay as it relates to songs like Overtime. Then he explains looping and reverse loops, saying and playing familiar pieces in reverse. And, of course, the capos come out, but not without sufficient explanation.

The man is a brilliant guitarist and proves, time and time again, that he is just as brilliant a performer.

After the show, he came out to do an encore.

That’s when he played Joy and Sorrow. Unfortunately, my guitar was Sorrow; it represented “utter despair.” It’s a conversational piece that uses the two guitars in two different keys, D major and D minor, to illustrate the dichotomy of life’s more delicate moments. (I got a video of it, but I’m going to try to get Trace’s permission before posting it).

After the show, I got to hang out with Trace a bit while he packed things up. And, like most other solo musicians I’ve met, he’s incredibly approachable and a genuinely nice guy. It shows through his performance, but then really stands out in person. I got to find out about how he ended up going from being an Engineering professor to a professional guitarist (apparently I have to get my Masters for this to work), about some of his experiences playing things like LIFE, and a little bit about how he writes.

It’s inspirational; seeing guys like Trace definitely raises the bar. I’ve accomplished a lot in the past year, releasing my second album and playing B-Sides, so I think my new guitar goal will be to get to the level where I can share the stage with Trace. It’s ambitious, but isn’t ambition what gets us places?

Marketing Spam of the Day

So I just got an email from a company that allegedly produces 3D animation music videos. It was pretty obviously a mass email that I just so happened to end up on their special list for, but usually I’m okay with stuff like this. That’s how I somehow ended up on Whistler’s snow report email list, and a few blog email lists that I’ve actually really enjoyed reading, so usually it’s no big deal.

Generally the filters that get you hooked up with something like Whistler’s snow report are pretty good at sending these to appropriate contacts. As a musician, once you release something, you are inundated with emails for musician-related services. The initial wave takes a while to die down, but eventually the targeting gets better and it’s less crap and more services that you could maybe see yourself using.

Now I’m not thrilled with my life being analyzed for ways to sell me things – I don’t want to give that impression – but it’s much better than being targeted blindly for everything; advertising has come a long way, sneaky and questionable as most of their practices may be.

But in this age of directed advertisement, sometimes the advertisers’ filters aren’t good enough. Music videos? Sounds intriguing; I’m a musician. They even call me out as an instrumental artist, so it would appear as though they’re on board with that sort of thing. Because most people are not; I’ve gotten similar emails in the past for rap video production ...not my forte.

So they hook me in with their opener that actually sounds like they’ve done their homework.

Then they proceed to tell me about their lyric video services. You know, the ones where the lyrics scroll down the page while the song is playing… And they keep repeating the word “instrumental,” like somehow it makes sense that an instrumental act would want a lyric video.

Sometimes you just gotta scratch your head.

In the immortal words of Inigo Montoya: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Another Rainy Country-Tuesday

I read a review on Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s earlier today that described them as, “making depression danceable.”

And it got me thinking… I know people get seasonal depression during the winter, but sometimes I feel like I’ve got that with the spring. I’m a winter guy. Winter means snow and snowboarding and comfortable temperatures and low humidity and feeling accomplished when I leave work and it’s dark. Spring means awkward temperatures and humidity and torrential downpours of cold rain and driving into the sun in the morning and driving into the sun at night. And on an especially rainy country-Tuesday, it's even worse.

But far more than any perceived seasonal depression is this idea that music can be so emotive as to make you want to dance while depressed. Or, perhaps, another band/song could make you want to cry while happy.

Music facilitates complex emotions that don’t make sense out of the context of music.

And that’s why it’s so important; it makes us feel these emotions that society tries to obfuscate.

With the example of Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s, you’ve got this band that you can hear hitting rock bottom. They make you desperate for them. You want to help them, but you don’t want them to stop. They make you dismally reflective, but give you that urge to move your feet. One moment you want to belt out lyrics along with them, but the next you are soaking it all in and absorbed in the music.

And you can’t escape those feelings. They set their hook and lure you captive, sending shivers down your spine. And maybe it’s that you want to be there, in that place, or maybe it’s that you can’t will yourself away. It’s when the music is taking hold. Let it in.

 

P.S. I just discovered that their next album is out on April 22… Preorder it.

So Much New Music!

Does it ever seem to you like music comes in droves? Where you’ll have these long stretches where you don’t really get any new music, you don’t see any shows, and you don’t play any. Then, out of nowhere, you’ve got a busy calendar and a stack of new CDs (yes, I haven’t quite moved away from physical media). And in an instant, you go from musical monotony to too much to process.

It happens. At least to me. And it seems like it’s a pretty normal trend. The number of half-written album reviews and half-written show reviews that I have littering various folders on my computer are starting to get out of hand. And it’s from times when I’ll get a new album and suddenly have 6, or I’ll go to a show and suddenly I’m going to 3 or 4 shows.

So here’s where I stand:

On April first, I picked up Abby Madden’s debut album. She had it as a free download and I’d much rather get a digital copy for free and then either buy a physical copy later or tip her the next time I see her play. I’ve wanted to listen to the album to see what she’s been up to and now I’ll be playing a set a show she’s playing on Saturday so it made it even more important to get a listen. That hasn’t happened yet.

Then yesterday, April second, I got to a show. A few good friends, Caleb Hawley and Trey Overholt, were playing at Milkboy in Philly. So far, the count is two: one album, one show. However, Caleb and Trey both just released new albums that I hadn’t picked up or listened to yet. I still need to get Trey’s because, for excuses that weren’t good enough, no one took cards (that was the main reason I got a smart phone!), but I plan to pick his up soon.

That makes three albums and one show. Except between Trey and Caleb was Max Swan. I had never heard of him before, but now I’m going to insist that everyone hear of him. That good.

Suddenly, I’ve got four new albums to listen to and one show. And on top of that, Matt Stevens just put out a new album, Lucid, which should be arriving in the mail any day now. Five albums, one show. And just like that, I’m overwhelmed. If I tried to cover it all, I would just litter my desktop with more unfinished reviews.

But I can’t not do it all. Or at least try. I’m just so excited and pumped on music that it all needs to happen. So here’s to seeing what the next few days of writing (or a complete lack thereof) hold!

Wu-Tang Clan and Art

I can listen to the radio at work or wherever I am (although, outside of being forced to listen to the radio, I avoid it), and it hardly ever registers as art. There are varied sounds, ranging from the abhorrent twang of Country Tuesday to the retro vibes of Classic Rock Thursday. The is a span of genres and time that covers a large portion of western pop culture, except I can’t ever recall a time when I looked at all and thought art.

Now that isn’t to say that I don’t see music as art. Some Trevor Gordon Hall? You can’t deny the artistry in that. You can’t deny the talent and the intention behind every note. You can’t deny a mewithoutYou lyric. You can’t deny art in so much of what is not mainstream.

But within the mainstream, we have been conditioned to not think of it as art. Music isn’t valued as art or seen as some commodity; it’s valued as background, a notch above the hum of the AC unit in your office building. And so we have grown to be a culture that precipitously undervalues music. While paintings and sculptures are being auctioned off for thousands upon thousands of dollars, music is streamed for free. It has segued from being viewed as art to being viewed as a right.

And maybe that’s because of the implications of art. Art, in physical form, is so often viewed as some hoity-toity pastime, where the rich can wave around their wealth while seeking some greater existential enlightenment. Physical media has physical value. Whereas music can’t be seen or felt; it has no mass or color.

The idea of owning sound waves, or that which produces them, seems asinine when sound is all around us. The market has been flooded. People will [sometimes] pay for live performances, but they rarely see the value in paying for something nice to listen to. And, realistically, it makes sense when everything in music is as easily reproduced as it is. That’s the difference between physical art and music – repeatability and accessibility. For my first album, Deconstructing the Temporal Lobe, I had 1000 copies made. The difference in price between 500 and 1000 was something like $200. And if you want it now, you can stream it through Spotify right on your phone. Producing and reproducing music has transitioned to something so easy that everyone who wants in can be in.

Enter Wu-Tang Clan.

Read the article below:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2014/03/26/why-wu-tang-will-release-just-one-copy-of-its-secret-album/

They are making one single copy of their new album, Once Upon A Time In Shaolin. Amidst a time when an amateur can make 1000 copies (or even 100,000!) for relatively cheap, they’re making this as exclusive as possible. And they’re wrapping it in a silver and nickel hand-engraved box; a piece of art in and of itself. This isn’t another “collectors box set” where you are one of 10,000 lucky fans to own a cheaply made tin and a few relatively rare CDs; there is literally only ONE.

And it’s traveling around to art galleries, as an exhibit.

This won’t be music that is there for ambiance in the gallery. This won’t be music that is there to compliment a reception. It is there as an exhibit, in the foreground of the gallery.

And in glorified listening parties, this will be played and listened to. Very intentionally. Everything about this is intentional. If you want to be a part of this, the action has to be intentional.

Then the single copy, in the one-off engraved box, will be sold. My hope would be that it would go to a private collector or to some museum to either be reproduced and released for free or left as a listening party only exclusive. I’d like to see it not immediately flipped to make profit, like if a big company would buy it.

Yes, it makes it exclusive. I’m sure that will upset some people who are used to being part of the crowd. But, realistically, is having access to anyone’s musical catalog a right? If it is, where did the right come from; at what point in history did things change? Because music used to be a commodity. There was mystique behind a new release.

You weren’t just a fan of a song; you were a fan of an artist. And that’s what Wu-Tang is doing. And I’m not even a fan. I just find it so refreshing and potentially revitalizing for a music industry that has forgotten what art is.

This is creative; this is innovative; this is visionary. And this is art.

RHCP Super Bowl Performance Scandal

So the Super Bowl was this past weekend. Not that I follow football or anything, but this game, in particular, has some musical significance. Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Not a likely pairing; I was certainly skeptical. But they managed to put on a good show. And it was a lot more of a live show than I can ever remember seeing on the Super Bowl stage. There was energy and music and it played a lot like a concert. It wasn’t some theatrical performance void of musical soul. Both acts are great performers and they came together well.

But, as always, there’s more to the story. At first, I didn’t see it. I was watching the game on an old TV in a hotel room, so the resolution wasn’t great and, really, I was there to snowboard, not to watch some dumb football game. So I was only passively watching. Though I was more attentive during the halftime show…

Eventually someone had to point it out to me (I think it was the next day or later that night): RHCP wasn’t plugged in. As in, their instruments were visibly not plugged into ANYTHING. They were miming the whole thing; the vocals were the only musical part that was real!

Naturally, the internet went crazy. What a scandal!

But, not to rehash a story you’ve probably already read, eventually Flea, the bassist for RHCP, issued a statement to their fans: http://redhotchilipeppers.com/news/454-a-message-from-flea.

Basically, they didn’t want to mime it, but they weren’t given an option; it was mime it or don’t play the Super Bowl. They wanted to play the Super Bowl, so they decided to mime it as transparently as possible (while still being professionals and not mocking the concept); without any type of cover. So you could clearly see that they were playing unplugged; they weren’t trying to hide it.

Now as a musician, I’m torn.

On one hand, I wouldn’t want to fake playing. It would feel wrong and as a musician, it seems like it would cheapen the experience. I know that it’s a fairly common thing to do for everything from music videos to TV appearances, but it’s still fake.

On the other hand, it’s the experience of a lifetime. Can you blame someone for that? The Super Bowl will never be host to a percussive fingerstyle guitarist, or any other experimental guitarist, so I don’t have to worry about ever having to make a decision of that magnitude. And I’m not a huge football fan, so I can’t relate to that. But knowing that RHCP are football fans and that they were given the opportunity, there at least was someone who had to make that call.

I think that you’re left with two viable options:

One option would be to turn down the offer and expose the NFL organizers for trying to cheapen your music. It’d get good press and would bring to light this sort of practice. When you get that level of corporate meddling, it’s distasteful. They don’t have the football game pre-planned, telling players how they should perform. Can’t you trust a professional musician to be a professional musician?

The other option is what RHCP did. You play the gig. It is, after all, once in a lifetime. But, you play it transparently; you don’t try to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes.

I think if you do anything else, you discredit yourself. Whether your fans know it or not; it’s about integrity. Whether you get caught or not, it’s principal. How many singers have had their careers tainted by lip synching mishaps? It alienates your fans, sending the message that you truly have sold your soul.

So you make it blatantly obvious that you’ve been forced to fake it. In doing so, you can transfer that distrust to the organization that put you in that position. And if you can’t say no to the opportunity, then that’s your best option. Make people back your decision and make them question the organizers.

Sure, it sucks that they had to play to a recording. Since I know I’ll never be faced with that situation, I’m not going to think about whether I would’ve done the same or not. But I support their decision in the way they chose to make it.

And I hope there’s fallout on the organizers for this. You don’t do that to a real musician.

What do you think?

Reading to Improve Musical Writing?

I recently got a Kindle. A Kindle Paperwhite, actually. It was a gift from my wife, Kelly. I think for the most part I have always enjoyed reading. But books take up a bunch of room once you get a bunch, and it’s just a hassle to figure out lighting if you’re lying in bed or something like that. So I just haven’t read. In years. Instead, I’ve waited to get a Kindle.

And it’s worked. I’ve read 3 books so far. The last time I read a single book for pleasure was in the summer of 2009. That’s a long time ago. And in the span of two weeks, I just read 3. Granted, over that time I traveled to Utah and Vermont, but that’s still pretty impressive for someone who doesn’t often read.

Actually, though, to say that I didn’t read or don’t read isn’t entirely accurate. Because I read music-related articles and current events all the time; just nothing in book form; nothing conceived from creativity. Opinion articles and dissemination of facts is so much different from a fictitious novel.

So often we lack that creative plug. Look around society. Unless you seek out art, all of the media pushed on us is watered down garbage. Books were replaced by TV as a leisure activity a long time ago, but now we’re inundated with reality shows, mostly devoid of creativity. A handful of movies and tv shows have some merit, but the majority is mindless.

Which can also be said of music. We’ve embraced the quick buck and the easy pleasure. The idea that something can be thought provoking has been watered down from something that once consumed your conscious to something that makes you raise an eyebrow, but move on.

And as all of this happens, it only seeks to perpetuate itself. We aren’t inspiring people to be inspiring. We inspire people to become rich or to be famous. Those qualities are soulless and empty. The goal is no longer to be a great musician, but a rich musician. And this focus yields crappy music.

But when you get back to where you mind can roam free, there’s this enlightenment. You get lost in the book or lost in the music. You end up using parts of your brain that the rest of society has turned off.

And when you surround yourself with this, you can finally feel inspired.

Maybe it’s just correlation, but I’ve had a bit of a dry spell musically for a couple months. As an artist at the stage of my career that I’m at, it’s easy to see a show like B-Sides as the end game and to not know where to go from there. That’s about where I was at. But after delving into some good books, I feel like my creative juices have been rejuvenated. Now I don’t think that I’ll be writing any songs about the Hunger Games or anything like that, but the part of my brain that creates got moving again; forced from its sedentary lull.

Now this isn’t a call to read. I plan on continuing to read. But it is a call to surround yourself with opportunities to be creative. I’ve often times tried to force myself from a dry spell by listening to more good music or getting to more shows, thinking that that was the only solution. But if you want your music to speak to people, you need to know how to tell a story and a good book may be one of the better alternatives.