sad

you know what's realy quite sad.
a girl sitting on a bed she used to share attempting to play everybody hurts by REM on an out of tune guitar

CD's vs. mp3s

I just brought myself a diskman, I had to buy it from a second hand shop because the variety and quality of new ones seemed to be very limited. Some people have even asked my why I would buy a diskman when I could get a mp3 player. I like my mp3 player, I like the shuffle feature sometimes, (not when it plays songs that clash horribly) (some people happen to like metal And mellow music) I like the mp3 players small size, some of their screens, I like the light weight and the fact that it never skips but some cd's are made as compilations, not just songs (one example is 'Greendays 'American Idiot' another is the panics new album or pink Floyds famous album (neither of which I have had the opportunity to listen to.)) and there seems to be such a limit on the size of mp3 players, cd's are limited by how many you are willing to carry. I saw a sign the other day that said 'ipods killed cover art' and as I placed my cd's in the cd case with the covers of each of them slid in the sleeve in front of the cd I was reminded of that sign, it seemed so true, mp3 players now sometimes come equip to show the cover art on the screen however that takes up space that could be holding songs. The other thing with mp3 players is they have accelerated the illegal downloads, I’m guilty of doing it, but the rate that some albums are downloaded is unbelievable we need to pay musicians so they can continue to Be musicians. the good thing though is that it is simple when legally downloaded songs (ones made as individual songs not albums) are added they are added to a full play list rather than making a complete cd (80 minutes for me as I always fill it with as much music as I can fit.)

anyway cd's need to stay, cd cover art, cd compilations, physical things with sometimes containing note work for the bands thanks or the lyrics, even cd's we mix for each other, its so much nicer to hold a cd with 20 songs that mean something than it is to load 80 songs onto your laptop to listen to when you get around to it. ;)

Remixing Excellent songs

This is something that has been brought to my attention because of two remixes I have heard lately, the first is of 'Fakers' 'This Heart Attack' an excellent song that the first time some of my friends heard it, they heard the remix.

The remix to this song is not actually all that different from the original. As I am not a fan of remix’s generally (don’t get me wrong I know artists get extra money for them, some sound real good, and you can dance to them in night clubs. actually hear them in night clubs) all I can hear it do is add a electronic beat at twice the basic beats speed to the background. This is OK as it basically allows it to be played in clubs, what is wrong with this is that this extra background beat doesn't pause at all during the deliberate pauses that make the song.

During the acoustic (played on JJJ) they held a pause for some time "my heart stops, it isn't . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . going" and during that time I thought that my radio might have failed me. During the original record that is played on commercial stations (MMM, nova) the pause is quite short (shorter than the film clip or a live performance.) but there is a pause. There is an essential pause, this is the section of the song in which the audience holds its collective breath as it waits with eager anticipation for the end of the line, the start of the beat and the all essential cue to jump back into a dance.

So please if you are thinking of remixing a song, (as so many tech savvy creative people do) listen to the song, get the feel of that song, and try to enhance the song, add something or exaggerate something. don’t just double the beat the whole way to make it super fast. (its not a car.)

A-Band-In-Hope

The tittle of this blog is the tittle of 'The Matches' new album. I used to listen to the matches in high school, or a couple of their songs anyway. I heard about them from some person on the Internet and when I had nothing new to listen to I thought I'd check them out, I loved some of their songs, but I hadn't heard anything about them until I heard this tittle of their new CD. Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to get it or hear many of the songs on it yet.

But it did get me thinking about cool, thought out CD titles. (we may not look at them on ipods but it's still and important aspect of a CD) Many bands have the name of a song off it, sometimes that's the best thing. But the ones like this get my attention. A Band In Hope, said fast abandin hope, i also like Kisschasy's tittle of Hymns For The Non-Believers. which (as far as I can tell) refers to some lines in the third track 'Real and Untouched' "We are a choir singing hymns to keep the widow's mind at ease."

anyway that's all i got time for today, but i will be back.