Stumpclub: Vol. II

Music is not black and white. Some people want to write songs with great melodies that conform to the standards of what a great melody is as represented by every great pop songwriter. Some people have a shit-load of energy that they need to get out who could care less what a melody is. And then there is a whole lot of in-between.

What makes Stumpclub: Vol. 2 a brilliant compilation is that it represents this spectrum of popular music with full force. There are good examples of both extremes with a whole lot of in between. This is everything that makes the Portland scene so amazing is that even though the outside world doesn't recognize these spectrums, PDX does in spades. Not only is the music created, but it's recognized as being great music. It's a known fact that songs based on pure, raw emotion are just as good and listenable as those with amazing melodies and more predictable sounds and structures. I'm not saying Portland is the only scene that recognizes this cause frankley I've never been a part of any other scene, but it's one of the few that advertises it.

On the side of catchy melodies that will linger in your consciousness for days, there is David Evan (myspace.com/davidevanmusic) who is secretly one of the best song craftsmen that the Stump has to offer, not to mention an amazing producer. "Kill no keepers, Kill no thieves" prooves to be his best written and produced song to date.

For pure emotion and what I imagine is an amazing live show from The Penny Jam video I saw on their myspace page (myspace.com/magicjohnsonmusic), the musical group named after former Lakers b-baller, Dream-teamer and advocate for HIV/Aids prevention and safe sex. In the song Kelly the Antichrist the guitar/drum duo either hate Kelley or love her and hate Christ. Honestly, I don't really care to translate. I don't care either way, because that's not what is appealing about MG. They have the kind of caotic energy that starts revolutions and was drained out of most of us by eighteen from over-consumption of Mountain Dew.

In the middle and by far the best track of the compilation is Raggae Bob by The Hand That Bleeds (myspace.com/handthatbleeds). Even though the song doesn't have the kind of melody that you can sing in the shower, the mix of control and emotion that underline this song is commendable. I'm not sure whether she loves or hates his guy, but the ability of the bass, guitar and vocals to stagnate on the edge of creating a catchy melody or something that has no audible appeal is fucking fantastic. As someone who is always inclined to create majory key sounds, it blows my mind how they are able to naturally hug that line. This isn't something that can be faked or learned. It lies somewhere deep in the unconsciousness of THTB.

Other stand-out bands on Stump Club: Vol 2 are Hockey, Copy and Reporter.

stumpclub.org

Y La Bamba: Alida St

I remember a long time ago, in the early 90's, there was a songwriter named Beck Hanson who couldn't play guitar very well. To say that his recordings were lo-fi and that his guitar was either out of tune and had bad tone was a complete understatement. But, for those who are aware of his pre-"one foot in the grave" recordings, in between the bleeps, the bloops and some down-right ear-numbing tracks, there was a hint of a great songwriter whether or not anyone knew it back then.

Y La Bamba is the kind of artist that garners a lot of hate from some of those who spent years becoming great technical musicians, but never learned how to write a great song or how to be creative with little resources. Every great musician when recording wants to make sure that their tone and presentation is perfect, but they still won't be able to release an album as good as Alida St. or play there guitar as effectively as on "Fasting in San Francisco." The fact is that it's the voice, the melody and the emotion that matter more than any kind of technical prowess.

Alida St. is a collection of songs that couldn't have been written by a great musician. As I'm sure all songwriters can attest, a lot of our most creative work came from our own ignorance of our instruments, their chord progressions and the laid-out way of going about things. It's for that reason that a lot of guitarist/songwriters eventually dabble in alternate tunings as a way of freeing up our minds of it's constraints and trying to reaccess the unknown that was the beginning of our musicianship. It's the same reason that Jack White tries to convince meg to never practice the drums and the same reason I suspect why Eddie Van Halen started writing songs on the keys.

This woman has an amazing voice and flow that can only come from pure emotional delivery. There are so many different speeds, changes, inflections and great vocals steps going on here that there couldn't have been any thinking involved, not to mention how unnoticablely she transitionals from English to Spanish. It doesn't even matter what she is saying half the time because I'm so intranced by the rhythm of her voice. Though there is a lack of major instrumentation on this record her two voices that exist as one throughout the record, playing along with each other at just the right times, fill in the empty space. With the mainstream music world aflutter with whispy-voiced songtresses singing simple melodies that go side-by-side with Macontosh tv adverts, Y La Bamba makes their delivery seem held-back and inexperienced.

Every track on the record needs to be listened to with the exception of "Borthwick Magic," though it does make a nice surprise when you think the album is winding down to find that the last track, "knuckles," is one of the best.

According to Y La Bamba's myspace, she plans on recording a new collection of songs with a full band which leads me to believe that this might be her one and only lo-fi record where we are able to witness her songwriting ability through the shere lack of sound.

myspace.com/ylabamba

the importance of rhythm (aka why white people don't like hip-hop)

It stills blows my mind when even musicians will proclaim that hip-hop isn't real music when they've probably seen someone who isn't good try to do it. It's a disaster that's equivalent to someone who can't sing trying to belt their way through "Bohemian Rhapsody" at a karaoke bar. I'm sure there are some arguments out their that claim racist reasons for white cultures negation of hip-hop as real music much like those who say that lesbian relationships are sexy flirtations rather than genuine love. But, for me the main cause behind this thought is that black or African music is rooted in rhythm rather than melody. White people, for the most part (because i speak generally) like their drummers in the background. They don't understand music that is based around the rhythm rather than the melody.

At the same time this could go to explain why white people supposedly can't dance. When you haven't grown up around rhythm you probably can't express it with your body. But, there are white guys who play the drums and can't dance, but they've probably never tried too often to express it with their entire body. Most of us have probably only seen family members dancing on a handful of occasions. We ourselves have probably only danced at certain family occasions and awkward middle school dances. Basically it hasn't been part of of lives or our music.

But, this is changing. Younger white people are getting into hip-hop music, but mostly for the wrong reasons. They'll blast it in their tricked out Honda Civics until their mid-twenties, but then they'll disavow it when they are older and have kids. I think this is because they were into mainstream hip-hop because of the absurd lyrics and situations. Once they become older they feel as if they've grown out of it and find it destructive. They probably didn't really like the music form itself. There were other reasons beyond the music that drew them to it. It was a short-term flirtation.

I don't know. What I'm saying might be controversial. Let me know if you think I'm wrong, but remember that I'm speaking generally. There are always exceptions, but you can't really discuss anything by using the very few exceptions. For the majority of us I think this rings pretty true.

scenes go with songwriting like hammers nail pretzels...

forgive me for the really bad metaphor, but it was an on the fly thing and i didn't really want to go with something cliche, like chocolate and onions.
in one of my previous blogs i briefly implied that musical scenes more often than not fail to encourage good songwriting.

"The ultimate failure of scenes and things that categorize music into a small box is that they emphasize the technical aspects of the music being performed or listened to, not songwriting."

Granted, this is a simple reduction of something that is a little more complex as scenes can be, so I'll go into a little more detail. First, I'll make a statement as to what I feel categorizes a scene.

1. Style: There is a certain way of dress that allows scenesters to define themselves as part of their own subculture. It allows them to not only let others know they are a part of it, but it also helps them define themselves as a human being as being a part of something larger than them that is special. For many people music isn't just music. Life is routine and the daily grind can tend to make us feel very unspecial, like our lives are virtually meaningless. Style allows people in a scene, especially those who aren't contributing to the music, to define themselves a part of something they see as great so that they don't have to define themselves by their employment, which is typically low wage and service related. A lot of us grew up with working parents who didn't have much of a life of their own. We always told ourselves we'd be better than that, but failed to learn a skill that would separate us from the majority. So, style is an easy way to do that.

2. Youth and Emotions: One of the most important aspects of a thriving scene is its ability to emotionally connect to the people around it, especially the younger generations who have the expendable time and energy to be a part of something that has no monetary or job-related gain for the majority of its participants. Once you've past a certain age and your life is full of more and more responsibilities you don't have the time or desire in music unless you actually love the music. Most of the general population you know has a cd collection of music that came out before they moved out on their own and had financial responsibilities. They will own the cd's from their favorite high school/college bands and if they have anything new it will usually be from those same artists or their solo projects. They just don't have the time for new music or anything that seems so frivolous to someone who is concerned about children, mortgages, bills, etc. Also, these people have mellowed out a bit since they were 16. If they listen to new music it probably won't be something that has the youthful anger/angst that most thriving scenes emote. Mellow attitudes don't usually rally people together. Ultimately, this is why once you pass a certain age you are no longer the target of the music industry. They know you don't buy cd's anymore and if you do it's not their market.

Music: It depends who you ask, but most people would probably say that the music is ultimately the most important aspect of a scene, though I would disagree. It's way too complicated to say that it's all about the music. The emotional aspects are probably more important. But, I digress.

Now to the subject of the title. Musically, scenes are more about the instruments you play, the loudness, the softness, the style of singing, subject of lyrics, the clothes you wear, the attitude you have on stage, whether you care or are apathetic, the speed, etc. ultimately, the show will draw if it falls in line with the style and emotional desires to be a part of the scene. people will come because all of their friends will be their and this will make them feel special, needed and a part of a group. most of them will say they like your music and dance to it, but wont likely buy the cd. if they do, they probably won't listen to it much. in the loneliness of their room they'll probably be more likely to break out The Cure, David Bowie or Bob Dylan. That's why, in my original quote, I claimed that most scenes, even the really thriving ones will produce only a handful of successful bands out of the thousands that didn't go far. The ones who rise to the top were the ones who wrote good pop music, the kind of music that you actually want to listen to when your friends aren't around. In the end, scenes involve too many non-music related facets to put any real emphasis on songwriting. It's easy to get lost in the more shallow aspects of a scene and forget that you need to make a great record first.

leaders, followers and loners

leaders: someone who can take the information that is presented to them and decide what is write and wrong and lead those who agree and change the minds of those who don't know what they believe.

followers: those who, for one reason or another, can't sort through information and come to conclusions on their own. they need leaders to sum things up for them and tell them how to feel and think about things they weren't able to come to a conclusion on. their belief system usually accords with that of the leaders who remind them of themselves or come from their community.

loners: much like leaders in their ability to come to their own conclusions, but are only capable of leading themselves, not others. usually don't care about others enough to lead them. you have to love to the people to lead them...sometimes.

I got to thinking about this when I started talking to a friend of mine at work about Barack Obama. He brought up how the Jeremiah Wright scandel changed his opinion about Obama's character and wondered how influential Wright was on Obama.
First of all, Jeremiah Wright isn't a force of pure evil. There is probably a lot of good qualities in the man to admire and live up to. I'm not familiar with all of this controversial beliefs, but he is an extremist which is always going to turn a lot of people off. But, I'm sure most of his beliefs fall in line with goodness and are meant to help empower his own people, which isn't a bad thing.
Second, Obama is a leader. He's not the people you remember from your hometown and religious experiences who just absorb what is presented to him and becomes a clone of his teachers.

the art of songwriting !!: having the vision to see a song through

I would like to take off on a subject that was discussed on one of my new favorite blogs (reeltoreal.blogspot.com) where he takes a Mazzy Star demo and compares it to the finished album product with the intention of showing how after the main framework of the song is created many great songwriter's have the vision to take the song to another level whether it is through better recording quality or a more complex arrangement.

I'd like to start off by presenting an example from my own catalog titled "The Great Depression" which is a song I wrote in the spring of 2006, but didn't record a more professional version until the fall of 2007. The original version can be found at "redfizz.com/rf/song.aspx?&songid=346523 and the album version can be found on "myspace.com/jivewhiteboy."

The original chord progression essentially exists in it's entirety in both versions of the song, but the instrumentation that is built around the progression either emphasizes its dark surrealness or changes the emotion entirely as I feel is the case with the second chorus where the lead guitar/piano combo creates a brighter/happier feel.

In all honestly, with this particular song and pretty much most of the songs on the ep, I came into the recording process with no intentions of how it should or was going to sound. I have a feeling this is going to change for my next album. Having more of an idea of how the recording process works, I'll probably come into it with more ideas of arrangements rather than doing everything on the spot. I'm not really sure if that's a good thing. There was something about the spontaneity of this particular situation where the producer and I collaborated on something neither of us had put much thought into beforehand that helped make this one of the better tracks. It was also my willingness to let someone else "mess" with my work that took it to a different level. I know a lot of people who are almost phobic about letting others change their work, but sometimes you have to sit back and put trust in someone. It's also a hell of a lot more enjoyable to work with someone else.

I've had people tell me before that it was blasphemy to change some of my songs the way I did. But, it was always my intention to take them in a different direction and turn them into something bigger. Though, I'm probably considered a "singer-songwriter" the music I've always listened to as never reflected this title. I've never been very strict about how things should sound, genres and the like. The thing I'm looking most forward to about the next album is just how much I can turn the original songs into something different.

the art of songwriting: chapter !

The difference between songwriting and technical ability

I started playing guitar in the 5th grade after a three year stint of learning the piano which never really managed to inspire me. I took classical guitar lessons for about 4 or 5 years, but alas, was yet to be moved by the art of playing music. I loved to listen to groups like the Beatles, but playing classical never grew on me. By the end, I practiced so little that my teacher thought it would be better if I just stopped taking lessons. What a disappointment! I wasn't too upset at the time. It freed me up to take on more constructive activities like Super Street Fighter on the Super Nintendo. Three years later I started messing around with my Classical Alvarez again, learning how to play Beatles' songs with a tablature book I got years earlier for my birthday. As my teenage years progressed and I started listening to good music again after a period of being in love with cheesy 70's rock bands like Styx and Supertramp, I fell in love with the Smashing Pumpkins. Though they're not in my rotation much these days their music encapsalated the way I felt during that brief, yet emotional time in my life.
So, when I started to play the guitar again after a three year hiatus, I learned to play a little bit of almost every smashing pumpkin song I could. Certain aspects of the music were beyond my technical ability, but I always managed to learn enough to make it recognizable to the listener. In the tablature book for "Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" there were a couple articles written by Billy Corgan for Guitar World magazine. There was a quote that has always stuck in my mind about the difference between songwriting and technical ability.

"Guitar playing, in and of itself, does not mean a whole heck of a lot. But guitar playing with in the context of great music and great songs is a big deal. If you look at the guitarists who are most noted for their playing ability, you will find that their reputations are inextricably tied to the great songs they have written, or at least reinterpreted in their own unique ways."

At the time and today still, all the music I love and the music I write have one thing in common: good songwriting. I listen to hip-hop, electronica, indie rock, whatever. I'm not a genre nazi and hold no allegiance to any kind of music. The ultimate failure of scenes and things that categorize music into a small box is that they emphasize the technical aspects of the music being performed or listened to, not songwriting. Usually only a couple bands from a scene will actually connect to anyone outside of the scene, probably because they were good songwriters. When these bands leave that scene they usually want to grow into something different after which they'll be extricated from the scene or they'll continue to make the same kind of music and become stale.

So, advice to young musicians is to learn how to write and play music. Like in most aspects of life, the middle ground between the two is the best place to be. If you don't learn the technical aspect you'll eventually be stifled by your own ignorance and unable to move forward. If you only know how to play you'll never be able to create something that connects to anyone other than yourself when you're playing it.

critique from A&R representative of the Universal Music Group (UMG)

so, as a part of finishing in the top five of that famecast.com thing one of my prizes was to choose between a $100 gift cirtificate from Guitar Center or to get one of my tracks sent to an A&R representative for the Universal Music Group. choosing the later, i got my response a couple of days ago. as it was told to me by the famecast.com people, they would only critique the one's that they like the most, which i guess i'll take as the truth. in that respect, i'm flattered they chose to critique mine, which was "knives that stab your face."

"I really like this vibe. I love the harmonies and the stacked vocals. The music would fit perfectly next to Bright Eyes and other indie bands of that ilk. The lyrics are great. Please send me the full record when it's complete. I stress that in this genre of music, it's very important to cultivate a fan base before trying to get on a major label, as all major label operations are based around radio support. I checked out the myspace and don't see too much activity. I'd like to see more. I want to see an organic fan reaction. Lots of talent here. Look forward to hearing the full LP."

I'm pretty happy with what he said. Though, I never had any expectations that any kind of major label would be interested at this point without any kind of real fanbase.

new demo: "white kids"

this song was my first attempt at creating a fuller sound for one of my demos. so, i had to deal with more instruments in the mix than i normally have had to in the past. it's hard to say where the inspiration for this song came from. i was feeling particularly down one night and i was by myself. i came up with the simple little guitar progression that you hear throughout the song which is basically a C major chord with the bottom G. i make a little melodic line one the bottom string by going from the G to the E then to the F, keeping the rest of the C major chord intact. then, as i usually do, i came up with the vocal melody which had an almost punk quality where you have a lot of exaggerations on the beginning and end consonents and a lot of ah ah ah's.
what i like most about this song is that it's a departure from what i had written in the past and is kind of a new direction. i'm opening up a little more with my singing and seeing what i can do with my vocals. i'm not an amazing singer in the classical sense, but i feel it helps to make up for it with a little bit of originality. you be the judge i guess. as far as the subject matter, i'll leave that up to interpretation. enjoy "white kids." brian (jivewhiteboy)

white kids from the plains
become white men in the game
grow white hair on their face
throw white fits to get their way

i'm sick and tired of everyone
i'm sick and tired of everyone
guess i'll shoot them down with my gun

white kids live in malls
buy white things to show off
no thought in their brains
revelling in white fame

chorus

white kids from the sand
become white teens in a band
write white songs about grace
become white men who spit in your face

you can check this song out at myspace.com/jivewhiteboy

sista soulja...

The original house of tacos...

I think that I will be very fond of this picture when I'm older in my fifties. It's sort of any end of youth kind of photo; the kind of photo that exists in my parents scrapbooks of themselves from the seventies with my father's facial hair and youth. Those photos always looked kind of funny, but I guess it's my turn and in about twenty years I'll be in that same position. In fact, the environment of the "Original Taco House" is very reminiscent of a different era where my father and his friends could have been laughing it up with a couple of margarita's. On the other hand, my father had his first child by my age. I'm glad that's not me. I'm happy where I'm at.

my friend, critical...

my friend and producer michael louzao's album is now for sale on his myspace page. it's a mix of electronica, indie rock and a little bit of r&b if he doesn't mind me saying. my favorite tracks on his myspace page are "let it out," "migration" and "the birds." listen, enjoy, and if you really enjoy, buy.

myspace.com/criticalbeing

Happiness and Diet

Somewhere around the time I became a teenager I began to become sad, in a general sense. Not everyday was really bad, but there was always an atmosphere of depression that engulfed my daily existence. Year after year it was becoming more apparent that it wasn't going away anytime soon, so I bought the smashing pumpkins records and sulked in the bedroom, learning how to play siamese dream and mellon collie and the infinite sadness on my mexican-made fender strat. Each lyric and every guitar line became my gospel.
Sometimes, when I sign-up for a research study to make some easy money, they'll ask me a serious of questions that will include one about depression. "Have you ever suffered from depression?" I'll answer "yes" and then they'll ask me "when did this occur?" which seems like such an absurd question, like it ever completely went away. But, as I'm getting older I'm beginning to see everything much more clearly about why it began when I did and why it always continues to a certain degree.
When I became a teenager my mother stopped cooking for the family every night. I had more freedom of mobility with my new driver's license and became more responsible for my dietary needs and schedule than ever before. I ate more tv dinner, fast-food and soda than I ever did before. That's probably when my caffeine addiction began, shooting my mental state in all directions. In the past decade the happiest, most productive times were probably the five months when I stopped drinking soda (which didn't last) and the two years I was a vegetarian. Looking back at everything it seems so obvious now and I can't believe that I just didn't understand how linked my diet and happiness levels where aligned. I'm grateful that I understand that now when millions of people just don't seem to get it, that much of the modern diseases and ailments are induced by poor diets of processed food and legal addictions. It's hard to blame them when the media is no help. Rarely on television when they're doing investigative reports on things like children on medication and why america is so depressed and angry do they ever link diet and emotional state together.
but, alas. i'll end this rant.

Adventures in insomnia

I spent last night "slipping in and out of consciousness" as Thom Yorke says in his song Harrowdown Hill. For those who have never experienced insomnia and would like to know how it feels if it ever happens to you, basically it's like your your person (mind, body, etc.) wants to fall asleep, but everytime your mind gets to the point that it wants to shut off and your eyes are closing you pop back into consciousness, semi-violently. According to wikipedia, it's probably a combination of stress and caffeine consumption, so I better lay easy on the lattes for a while. I'm hoping that this won't happen again tonight.

Anyway, I'd like to mention that the picture on the bottom of my page was created by Cara Buchalter who specializes in "retro images based on the classic Art Deco form."

http://octavineillustration.blogspot.com/

http://www.octavineillustration.com/

everyone can't make it through the gate, some of us have to go to hell

Let's start out by laying things out on the table. Life isn't fair and everyone doesn't have the same resources to get ahead. But, the best way to move forward is by accepting this and working with as much or as little as you have. Stewing over the inequities of life will leave you stagnant and dead. You'll wake up in ten years, bitter that you didn't do what you could have done if you had set aside your pride.

But, I digress.

So, I spent the afternoon at the local musicians union in a meeting between four of Portland's local music writer's and some of the cities general music/artistic community. From some of the things I read on craigslist, I half-expected there to be some kind of confrontation coming from the musical community who seem to hold these people in contempt for there role in "picking and choosing" who gets in and who gets out. Though there wasn't any real confrontation other than a few awkwardly phrased comments that hinted at some hurt feelings and spite, I could still sense some heat in the room. If some of the people were bolder in following their inclinations I'm sure they would have cornered the writer's and verbally stoned them.

Overall the writer's represented themselves well and explained to the crowd that they weren't the scene god's that they're made out to be. Not to say that being written about in the portland mercury isn't a good thing, but sometimes there are things outside of themselves that make it impossible to cover everyone, believe it or not. One audience member said that they should make there papers bigger to include more music, but I'm pretty people's attention spans alone would make that an impossability. The mercury and the ww are long and thick enough as it is. The fact is, scene and interest are always going to dictate what writer's want to write about. The last thing young, up-and-coming writers want to write about are scenes that they have no emotion tie to or understanding at that matter.

It's always a touchy subject when you deal with people's hopes, dream, desires, etc. I don't know if it's just result of modern political correctness, but we really aren't allowed by social constraints to be completely honest with each other when it comes to things like these. Hobbies and distractions are fine way to occupy time, but for about 95% of the people who at least vocalize the desire to take there music to the professional level and wonder why they don't get anywhere it's probably because they lack the desire and talent. But, more so, the talent. That's a harsh thing to say. I know. And I hate that it can't be said in public. People used to be booed off that stage and taken away with a cane. Why can't we just be honest and move on.