In the month that I have subscribed to it, Rhapsody has improved my life two main ways; in class, whenever a student mentions a song, I can almost always cue it up immediately and create a lesson around it (they believe I am a sorcerer) and in the car, where i can drive for hours and never hear a song I’ve heard before. My six hour drive home from the Cape seemed shorter for my playlist, which was built from albums in the “New This Week” section, including Jack Johnson, LCD Soundsystem, Black Keys, Band of Horses and The National. All of it so good and inspiring and free (for the price of $10/month) to listen to whenever I want. How could I ever be expected to keep up and purchase each of those records? They all need to be heard and enjoyed. And how would I ever have found Abigail Washburn and Shanghai Restoration Project’s beautiful “Afterquake” without a related artist section under The Postal Service?

There is so much amazing music out there and most of it has been buried by radio and labels. When a tiny minority decides what everyone else will listen too, it is never in music’s best interest. When the listeners are given the freedom to choose, it is not corporations but music itself that will prosper and return to its original purpose of communication and community. We have been losing sight of music’s true value for years and have convinced ourselves that it is a commodity like toothpaste or lighbulbs or swiffers, but it is not. It is a primal expression, our howl at the sky, that synchronizes and blends individuals into a emotional omni-state. We need access to everything to find the music that inspires and represents us and Rhapsody is simply the most efficient means of hearing anything anywhere anytime.

Video is the new light show in concerts. While seeing Phish’s lights is an unparallelled experience, a great video show is compelling in ways that lights cannot be. Jonsi, in his solo break from Sigur Ros, performed with one of the most innovative video concepts I’ve ever seen. Using six projectors on multiple screens combined with a stunning set, the effect was magical. The crowd was awed by the technical wizardry (literally oohing and aahing), as well as the extreme dynamics of the beautiful music. Jonsi’s voice is unique and the music he creates is perfectly suited for his ethereal tones; it would have been enough on its own, but combined with the awesome animation and projection mapping, the experience was unforgettable.

3D technology is everywhere and I think we can safely say it has proven itself beyond a gimmick. It truly enhances the visual experience even without the original cliched application of sharks and other objects popping into your face. Phish 3D is the best look I’ve ever had at my favorite band, bringing the audience onstage with incredible depth and perspective, allowing visual details that would be invisible to anyone at the show and some that would be unseen even in a 2D format; I saw what their “farewell” show in 2004 simulcast in a theater, and this blew it away. Watching Trey’s fingers rip the guitar from 5 feet; peering over Page’s shoulder as he navigates his keyboard universe; watching Mike’s hair and seeing Fishman smile is such an unbelievably fun way to experience a concert. Of course, something is definitely lost in comfortable cinema seating, and being a part of a crowd’s energy can’t be enhanced or even remotely replicated by wearing magic glasses… which is why I was fortunate to see the Bloody Bloody Band play immediately after.

Post-show on Sundays, the cast and band of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson have been throwing together a comedy and music variety show and, being the amazingly talented group that they are, the nights are brilliant, featuring great stand-up comedy with a sizzling band blowing up the tiny space at Jimmy’s No. 43. It is an hysterical dance-athon and sing-along that reminds me of mankind’s innate love of fun.

I saw the band OK GO perform “This Too Shall Pass” on The Colbert Report then saw their videos for the song and am overjoyed by their brilliance. They made two versions, one featuring a giant Rube Goldberg contraption and one performed live with a marching band and choir. Absolutely Amazing. And if you have never seen their first video, dancing on the 8 treadmills, then you should probably watch that as well.

Thank Good there are still great music videos despite the fact that MTV has turned into a wasteland of our culture’s worst. Interestingly, State Farm Insurance paid to make the first of their videos, which demonstrates how inverted the system has become: while record companies used to make videos as advertisements to sell the record and MTV would use videos to sell advertising, now the advertisers directly pay the self-distributing artists to make the video. That is cutting out a few middlemen! And because the band was allowed complete creative freedom (unlike under the old feudal system of labels), selling-out refers more to the advertiser than the band! This is the Internet induced transfer of power from corporation to creation and it is beautiful to watch!

Freedom is the most important concept for artistic creation and inspiration. I also believe that artists should be supported and compensated for their contributions, but we are still figuring out how to do that efficiently, as opposed to the master/slave relationship between labels and artists. Eric has been insisting that I join Rhapsody Music for months and I had been reluctant for a few reasons, but their recent price drop, to $10/month and their upgraded iphone app that allows downloading made it irresistible. It is pretty awesome. Instant access to an enormous catalog of music from around the world is an enormous increase in my freedom to listen to music; I no longer have to consider which albums or tracks I want to purchase with my limited budget and thus eliminate an unnecessarily competitive music market. In the past hour, I have discovered great music from Owl City, Talvin Singh, Segun Bucknor and Ke$ha. While it is not free, it is a step closer to freedom.

My neighbor is one half of Sonic Uke and host of the monthly Ukulele Cabaret, which is an eclectic variety show featuring that wonderful instrument. I joined the cabaret this month and played with a laptop running Reason/Record and a small keyboard, which I used to record loops on-the-fly. This is a condensed arrangement of the sounds I made last night.

Ukulele Cabaret 4.30.10

It is far from home-studio perfect, but I love that my studio is mobile and that I can improvise and create a unique recording anywhere I go. O Technology!

I had heard rumors about this band… I have listened to them for years (Vaseline was in the prime of my middle school-MTV watching years) and have heard they put on an amazing spectacle but had never seen them live until last night in Poughkeepsie. This rumor turned out to be completely true. The show was at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center and they transformed a drab empty space into a vivid party; giant balloons, confetti cannons, giant bug costumes and hundreds of laser pointers distributed to the crowd accompanied by joyous music made the evening a truly special experience.

But I had heard another rumor about this band that had somewhat tainted my relationship with them: that frontman Wayne Coyne was a hardcore-conservative Republican. We all have to make our own choices in life and if you choose to believe things that I disagree with I can get past that and still be your friend if you are a nice person. I, for example, believed Wayne Coyne was a extreme Righty. It turns out I was wrong. In fact, from what I heard him say and sing last night, he is one of the most progressive and empathic rock stars out there, making the evening a sermon on the importance of love and peace and enjoying this moment right here right now, constantly riling the crowd and reminding them to get excited and have fun because this is it…

Wayne in the hamster ball

Sometimes things we think we know are right and sometimes they are wrong. Life is a quest for The Truth and last night I confirmed a little bit more of The Good in it.

I had a few great karaoke experiences this week. On Saturday night, our crew traveled to Koreatown for the classic room rental and sang and screamed into a microphone to various selections from our cultural history. The background music is cheesy MIDI accompaniment, and the words are superimposed on ridiculous Korean films, but it is still one of the most fun activities I can think of participating in with my friends. There is something very intoxicating (besides the copious alcohol consumption) about belting out a song that you’ve listened to passively hundreds of times. When you are given license to sing, it is easy to get lost in a song and forget that it is a performance; under normal circumstances, singing in a social setting might be considered odd or unappreciated, but inside that karaoke box, it is encouraged. I love this inversion of societal norms! I think music is actually a very natural human expression, but we have become such passive consumers that active participation is reserved only for bands and music classes. I sing every day in my teaching, but I know that my friends do not have this opportunity, so when they are called upon to use their voices, they take full advantage and enjoy it like no other activity that we participate in. Time flies incredibly fast and before we realize, it is 5am (they stayed open later because it was daylight savings time change) and we are paying a $600 bill. And of course, when in Koreatown one must eat Korean BBQ, leading to a 7am return home…
On St. Patrick’s Day, I found myself on stage at Hank’s fronting the Rock Star Karaoke band in a cathartic release singing “Like A Rolling Stone”. Compared to the MIDI of Koreatown, a live band is such a rich experience and these guys do it so well. I have sung with them several times in the past and it is always so fun (“The Joker” and “Sweet Caroline” being two of my favorites). As their name implies, I feel like a rock star with them behind me…
Karaoke is an expression of pure joy. It is a beautiful experience to make music and this Asian phenomenon allows even the least musically inclined to feel the love.

When I was in Peru, I was entranced by this 10-stringed instrument and found a workshop where I watched a craftsman making these Andean ukuleles. I had to have one. It is a beautiful instrument with a haunting sound that I had heard forever in the subways and streets of the world, often accompanied by a flute called a zampona. My charango makes a cameo in my latest Record recording, around 2 minutes in.

Peruve it!

This blog is written irregularly for sure, but when almost two weeks go by with no word from me, I am concerned. Where have I been these first few weeks of March, if not dutifully transcribing my every move on the ORG? It turns out I have been in front of my computer for most of that time, playing with a new piece of software that is SO MUCH FUN! I have been a user of Propellerhead’s synth rack emulator Reason for a long time; it is an amazing studio tool with unlimited sound synthesizing potential, but it has always been limited by its lack of audio capabilities, meaning I had to use another program (Ableton Live) to record guitars and vocals. At last, Reason has incorporated audio into its brilliant interface, streamlining my studio “gear” and making music creation and recording an effortless and organic endeavor. I figured out the basics of the new aspects and in the past 4 days, I made these recordings.

Insomina

I Dream of Waking Up

Poach the Poachers

Upsidedown Underground

I love computers for lots of reasons, but in my world it is the unlimited free studio time that makes me happiest.

When I first heard Fela Kuti, I was a senior at Middlebury and it sealed the fact that I needed to visit West Africa as soon as possible, which I did eight months later in Ghana, Burkina Faso and Mali. Unable to visit Nigeria then, I was transported on Wednesday to Lagos (sort of…) on Broadway and treated to some great Afrobeat courtesy of Antibalas and (an actor portraying) Fela. He was an incredible character and fierce musical guerilla warrior, constantly antagonizing his oppressors and receiving due punishment. The music he created is hypnotic and powerful, wise and inspiring, and just plain fun. At one point, Fela asked the crowd to stand up, which everyone reluctantly and awkwardly did, then he described a clock around our midsection and encouraged us to thrust in every direction. While Broadway theatergoers might be sheepish in their suddenly active participation, I know that my pre-schoolers will love this game!
The next night was a doubleheader; first a viewing of “It Might Get Loud”, a great documentary featuring Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White performing and discussing the evolution of the electric guitar, followed by an intrepid trek through a blizzard down to The Bell House in Gowanus to see Ulrich Schnauss, a German composer who performed solo on a laptop with video projected behind him.
All of these performers are so different, yet each of them inspires me in a unique way. Music is so diverse and it is clear from watching these artists at work that what is played is insignificant compared to how it is played. Whether expressing moods or ideas, it is passion that truly makes greatness.