Creator's Hands (a Collaboration with Able Parris)

My last post was about collaboration among musicians. For this post, I wanted to feature a mini-series of collages on the theme of Creation from my friend Able Parris for a cross-medium collaboration. Able posted these two collages (along with links to several of his thematically related poems) on his excellent blog the other day, and suggested off-hand that I drum up a little ditty in response. This sounded like a lot of fun to me, as I'm always looking for a unique inspirational focus. I attempted to answer his visual collage with an "audio collage" of 3 basic elements, and I tried to avoid a straight rhythmic structure and chord form. After 2 late-night gigs and a rehearsal yesterday, this approach was a good fit for my morning mind-fog.

Thanks Able--I hope you dig it!

Communal Musical Collaboration

As a guitarist, I have participated in a number of musical situations over the years. The dynamic of musicians is always different, and this relationship among players is one of the most defining characteristics of the music created. Whether there is backing band behind a principal writer/singer, a Mick/Keith style partnership, a singing duo or a completely open and communal group, the interaction always feels different and begs a unique approach. There is no mold.

The following video is of me playing with the Tiny Pyramids, a loose collaborative of Chapel Hill, NC based musicians from The Old Ceremony, Max Indian, and other groups (I've been playing with Tift Merritt in 2008). This is my outlet for nearly unfettered communal collaboration in an intimate setting--a welcome respite from and fuel provider for the "big show." I can't have one without the other.

The video was taken by my friend Dave Mello, who takes really cool pictures in addition to his guerrilla video work.


Untitled from dave mello on Vimeo.

Gonzalez is Dead

I love Mexican food--especially the more authentic fare I get at taco stands and tiendas. I was eating over the holiday break at La Casa de Las Enchiladas on South Blvd in Charlotte and enjoying some background Telemundo. I've always been fascinated by the way the drama seems to be pushed to the max in these programs, especially following a shoot-em-up gun fight/revenge plotting, or in the immediate wake of the realization of infidelity. These pensive moments are golden nuggets of sap that allow the characters to really show their emotions and acting chops via pained facial expressions, spurred along by occasional flashbacks of "the good times."

This short piece is for one of those moments of weakness and contemplation. I've stepped away from synthetic means--this one's all natural, recording-wise. Props to Ennio Morricone's classic score for The Good, The Bad the Ugly, and the opening sequence that I enjoyed early New Year's Day just prior to turning in for the night.

Grak Just Got Paid

I admit, I'm having a lot of fun lately playing around with software models of analog synthesizers on my computer. There are oodles of inspiring and useful presets available, but I get the most satisfaction from creating patches from scratch, or at least using a preset as a starting point (or example in the learning process) and doing some radical tweaking and shaping of the sound to get something new and, hopefully, original.

My goal with my electronic music experiments, at least this month, is to try to make something that keeps developing throughout the piece via texture or melody while avoiding the stock, genre-defining danceable beat patterns that serve as the foundation for so much synth-based music. I'm not knocking it at all--I'm just trying for a different sound.

That being said, this ditty might accompany a top-down, Saturday night interstellar cruise.

Green Relief

The holiday season is coming to a close and 2009 is just around the corner. We've had a really cold December (for North Carolina), but this recent heat wave has given me a bit of spring fever. Lately, I've been really enjoying the Buchla synth stylings of Blind Old Freak, as well as Brian Eno's Apollo, and I've been experimenting with purely synthesized music--a new challenge indeed.

I can almost see the bright spring green on the trees. Just a few months left...

Open Space

Here is a composition that I wrote and recorded after seeing the film "Into the Wild," which has a great soundtrack. I thought Eddie Vedder's songs were great, but I was really inspired by the instrumental film score by Michael Brooks as well. Both contributors conveyed the feeling of venturing into the unknown and the quiet contemplation that accompanies that sort of journey.

Volume Wars: Modern Mastering Discussed in the WSJ

Is louder better? Most musicians and engineers don't think so. Then why are there so many top tier artists following the trend of over-maximizing their masters? Apparently, there is a perceived need to make a new release sonically compete with the current crop of releases, pushing the overall volume of a track as high as possible (at the expense of dynamics) so as to never fade into the background. Many feel that this me-too approach is sucking the life out of modern recordings, and this debate has moved from the insider recording forums and trade magazines onto the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

Ethan Smith's article brings the issue to the public using the latest Metallica release "Death Magnetic" as a prime example. Contrasting their latest release with the mix and master of "...And Justice for All" is a bit of an easy comparison, as the generally thin sound of the bass-shy "...And Justice" mix gives the listener the perspective of hearing the band run their set through the lobby wall of a rehearsal space. Still, the waveform comparison of the 2 recordings is a great visual example of the overhyped and dynamically flat mixing and mastering trends currently being used in popular music.