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The Music Thread

odanny said:
What happened to the music thread?
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Apologies, but Jambo (the house negro) was brought up like a common tramp listening to Oasis and acting like a drunk Madchester dope-head out looking for the remains of the Hacienda Club and the living dead who patronized it. Like EMF, he's about as unbelievable as it gets:

 
odanny said:
Talk about a fucking train wreck.
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Aye, it'll take a bit of work to get things back on track, but I'm in it for the long haul.

Here's some Bowie, featuring Gerry Leonard, native of Sutton, Co Dublin. The man who helped Bowie write his penultimate album and operated as his last great musical director and arranger. He's currently out on the road with Suzanne Vega. Great guitarist and all-round great bloke to boot. This is Gerry's homecoming gig at the Point Depot (or whatever it's called these days) and he asked David not to introduce him as his Mam was in the front. As humble as he is genius, his own solo material is also something else. Try 'The Light Machine' on Spotify, if it's available in Ireland. Or if you yourself are in Ireland.

 
Can someone take a dig at this instrumental song, that has a great vibe throughout, and tell me what you think it's origin would be? Is this Indian music? The name says so, but it seems to maybe have elements from somewhere else, too. I like this beat a lot.

 
Odanny's right. The music thread is a cool one. I'm still absorbed in the weird delicacy of PJ Harvey's latest 'I Inside The Old Year Dying' album. Probably will be for some time. She has some body of work behind her. There's a loop back to English folk music with Dorset slang thrown into the lyrics, mind you the strand of English folk music is always there with her. Kate Bush's evil daughter is the way I think of her. Her collaborators are interesting too, John Parish and Flood- Flood has some monster credits to his name in production technicals... he's worked with Nine Inch Nails, which The Mowl will like.

'Mark Ellis (born 16 August 1960), known by his professional pseudonym Flood, is a British rock and synthpop record producer and audio engineer.[1] Flood's list of work includes projects with New Order, U2, Nine Inch Nails, Marc and the Mambas, Depeche Mode, Gary Numan, Sneaker Pimps, King, Ministry, The Charlatans, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Erasure, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey, Foals, a-ha, Orbital, Sigur Rós, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Killers, White Lies, Pop Will Eat Itself, Warpaint, EOB, and Interpol. His co-production collaborations have included projects with Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Steve Lillywhite, and longtime collaborator Alan Moulder, with whom he co-founded the Assault & Battery studio complex. In 2006, his work with U2 led to his sharing of the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_(producer)

John Parish has worked with Polly Harvey since 1988. Heard about him years back as a major influencer down in the west country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Parish
 
Lumpy Von Talbot said:
Heh. Like it. Sri Lankan Blues, I'd call it :) That Asian style drumming slowed down is excellent
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Tabla drums: a very complex instrument to use in the orthodox manner, in the reality of things - the student will first learn to 'sing' the various rhythms before he/she ever gets to sit down with the actual tablas in company with their master/teacher. By far one of my personal favourite Asian drummers is Trilok Gurtu, who played with John McLaughlin for many years and released several collaborations including the awesome 'John Mclaughlin, Kai Eckhardt, Trilok Gurtu - Live at Royal Festival Hall' recording from back in the 1990's.




The attached video is timestamped for Trilok's 'drum solo' section - which has about as much to do with potatoes as it has to do with with actual drum solos. Gurtu's entire rig is the most unlikely set-up you'll have ever seen. Designed by himself, he sits like Buddha on the floor and doesn't have a bass drum to kick, but he'll use a drop-clutch hi-hat occasionally operated with his left foot while still in a seated position to replicate the sound of a real drum set. His is hand made: a triangular slab of wood with three/four circular cut-outs to house the drum frames and allow them to be tuned. It's a one of a kind rig, I doubt I'd even know where to sit behind this motherfucker.

But when he takes off into improvised solo section above, he uses all sorts of stuff to make sounds from: a bucket of cold water to dip bells in, another bucket to sing into, sea-shells on strings, a standard brass door-knocker, sheets of paper to crumple up into the mics, small sheets of glass to smash into an empty bucket, and whatever you're having yourself. The tablas get a brief play too, so try the link out if you dig on Asian rhythms from a true master.

The language of the tablas is a very complex one: it involves learning to 'sing' the various notes in the form of 'ti, ta, tu, tun, tay' and so on. You must learn first to vocalize these notes in an exacting manner, keeping them consistent and in rhythm. Played with the fingers rather than the hands, the tablas don't produce much volume in a live electric set-up and need to be mic-ed - but never triggered: I can use a digital version of tablas across my digital kit, but a real acoustic kit and tablas together require a PA system to separate the individual sounds/notes. The drums are rhythmic, but the tablas are musical - and this is the goal: to make music, not rhythm. So the discipline at the beginning when learning takes a long time to reveal the various tones the player can conjure up from each tabla. Some players use more than two, but two tablas are what'll be used in the learning process.

I've tried them lots of times in the studio but you can tell immediately that I'm not a schooled tabla player - so I use the digital variety from Roland and can incorporate them into Gretsch 'Catalina' all-birch shells kit I'm using with the pads and triggers from the digital set by placing triggering pads around the acoustic kit to get as much variation of clear tones as possible. Digital cymbals too can be fun: tiny splashes, gongs, endless sustain cymbals, and of course all the classic 808/909 sounds too.

Music is supposed to be fun too, and there are few drummers on the scene who'll make you smile and laugh into the face of genius brilliance as Gurtu.

Of course, when you have John McLaughlin composing and some bass from Kai Ekhardt on board, then you know it's going to cook.
 
Had a good old snuffle around my local music shop this morning. One of those places that has been around a long time and the people in there are knowledgeable and know the local muso's as well. I like having a mooch around in there and I have a feeling I want a new guitar.

I can't trade in my cheerful Yamaha accoustic-electric as that has been on a long suffering journey with me and the thoughts of handing it over fills me with foreboding. Bad kharma. I've my eye on the Tanglewoods and there are some gorgeous looking machines in there from the Martins range that are between £1,000 to £2,200 prices level. I had a look at a couple of 12 strings which have always fascinated me and I'm half tempted that way as well but I gave myself an awful time with a 12 string years ago so I might go up in quality terms but hesitate when it comes to 12 strings. Love the sound of them from when Bowie used them in his early stuff in Ziggy days.

Want to hear what 'That's Entertainment' sounds like on a 12 string though.

At some point I'll get myself a classical/Spanish gut job guitar because I reckon 'Landslide' would sound desh on a classical/spanish. Calls for clear notes that one. Love mooching around the music shop though generally. It is the only thing that gives me the same feeling as a long-standing library. It is all the craftmanship and potential sitting there.
 
Lumpy Von Talbot said:
Had a good old snuffle around my local music shop this morning. One of those places that has been around a long time and the people in there are knowledgeable and know the local muso's as well. I like having a mooch around in there and I have a feeling I want a new guitar.

I can't trade in my cheerful Yamaha accoustic-electric as that has been on a long suffering journey with me and the thoughts of handing it over fills me with foreboding. Bad kharma. I've my eye on the Tanglewoods and there are some gorgeous looking machines in there from the Martins range that are between £1,000 to £2,200 prices level. I had a look at a couple of 12 strings which have always fascinated me and I'm half tempted that way as well but I gave myself an awful time with a 12 string years ago so I might go up in quality terms but hesitate when it comes to 12 strings. Love the sound of them from when Bowie used them in his early stuff in Ziggy days.
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There's never been a better time to buy second-hand quality instruments. Covid laid a huge percentage of amateur musicians off and they sold off any excess gear just to pay the bills. I hoovered up as many instruments as I could afford (up until about i8 months ago) and decided that my money was worth more being spent on instruments than it was lying in the bank and costing me to keep it there.

Horns, rare drums, guitars, mixing desks, mics, PA systems, etc.

Round them all up and sit on them at home having fun, then selling them on at a decent price after Covid terms were lifted.

I'd rather have a trombone hanging around than six hundred in the bank gathering dust.

Buy it cheap, sell at a solid mark-up, and still both I and the buyer come out on top.

Some instruments were bought from players under the guarantee that they had first nibs on buying it back before I put it on public sale. I got a few nice bits and pieces from guys who were obviously sad to part with them, so I made the deal and we shook on it - when I was letting their item go, I called them first. Made loads of money and loads of new connections too.

Lumpy Von Talbot said:
Want to hear what 'That's Entertainment' sounds like on a 12 string though.
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Mesmerizing - because it's so fucking timeless that tune.

Lumpy Von Talbot said:
At some point I'll get myself a classical/Spanish gut job guitar because I reckon 'Landslide' would sound desh on a classical/spanish. Calls for clear notes that one. Love mooching around the music shop though generally. It is the only thing that gives me the same feeling as a long-standing library. It is all the craftmanship and potential sitting there.
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I'll be shopping for a few new items myself over the next ten days: that album I'm working on is continuing after a three week hiatus due to the vocalist taking off to the states to see his family. Finnish Americans, he works for YLE, the national broadcaster, news department. I may yet squeeze a few possibilities for a few articles of my own based on my experiences in the cardiac unit of the hospital for their online site.

He's so fucking talented it defies belief every time he offers the next idea for a track.

But I have Lionel aboard for this one, and his Afro style of jazz works seamlessly on this gig. Tiny studio, minimal mics, all live tracks with lots of spill between bass and drums, and guitars and vocals in the adjoining room. This little joint:



The kit is also tiny, but I've gone to great lengths to get my sounds just right: a big fat mondo-type kick that has lots of top-end to give it some slap. I also tape a €2 coin under the beater pad to harden the tone even more, then add some low end with the room mics. To super-sensitive ribbon mics at 1100 and 1600, and an SM58 on the kick - that's it: three mics on this little number:



It's a Yamaha kit from the sixties, with a 20x16 kick, a 5X15 snare, a 12x9 rack tom, and a cheap as chips floor time with no label on, but it's crap, not worth twenty bucks, but I still made a huge sound out of it by tuning the bottom head to the kick drum resonant head, that way I can flip some flams across the toms and they sound huge. But the real killer with this little baby are the cymbals. Machine cut and lathed, then hand hammered and tuned perfectly into each other:

Hats: 14''
Crash: 16''
Ride: 20''

I got them with a cheap kit I bought during Covid and didn't even realize at the time what they were, where they came from, and how fucking awesome they sound under the mics. I bought the entire kit for €100, then stripped off all of the cheap fittings and sold them off individually, which paid me back €93.00, so the kit and cymbals really only cost me €7.00. Every studio I taken them to have asked me to please leave them for rent, but I'd really rather not as they're fragile and the bottom hi-hat already had a crack in it. I can't fix it, but I can stop it getting any worse by drilling a tiny hole at the end of the crack. They sound fucking unbelievable, truly awesome. I have loads of Zildjian K's that cost me hundreds for each one, but they don't sound half as good as these Chinese designed semi-professional level cymbals.

Even the tiniest of kits, when mic-ed up properly, can deliver you a monster fat sound, if you take your time and play within the available dynamics of the room, the mics, and how the signal is processed. When I have some decent mixes ready, I'll post one for your critique. To be honest though, the demo sounds are fucking amaze-balls. I find myself wanting to play the entire catalogue over and over some evenings, which is a first for me in a long time.

Actually LOVING the music I'm making, and listening to the tracks as a fan, is a rare turn of events, but one I'm very happy with.
 
Truth League said:
Eh, I'm not sure I trust women any less than I trust men, and vice versa.

I was just wondering if all your role models are "strong women", such as a lifelong basket case who had four kids (plenty of abortions) with four different fathers (all estranged) who ended up topping herself (suspected) in her fifties.
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Take it to the relevant thread, Mammy's Boy.
 
Mowl said:
Take it to the relevant thread, Mammy's Boy.
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I trusted my mother but not necessarily to be rational.

So yeah, we all had this journal type book (I suppose like a diary) which was in my possession and sometimes you had to have it signed by a parent.

And as I said, life wasn't worth living with my mother if something was written in it about my bad behaviour. People might think, if you had a bad report, why not just forge her signature.. and I could of have.

But for some reason I just didn't want to forge someone's signature (I'm a very honest person). So I came up with the the idea that I'll take a few spare pages from the book and when it was written that week that I've been a bad boy, I would cut a piece from the blank (identical) paper and overlay that part.. et voila - clean slate for little James.

Of course, the part my mother signed was on the actual page.. and then after she did that, I'd peel off the overlay and show that to my tutor (with the authentic signature). Case closed.
 
So you cheated on your exams - just like you cheat with your political and sociological opinions.

You copy them from whatever source is handiest.

Sad, that.
 
Back to the music - have you guys heard this one yet?

It's by Mik Pyro - of Republic Of Loose and The Dublin Blues Cartel.

It's a work of pure fucking genius - be warned: this one's a total ear-worm.

You'll find yourself humming it after one listen and then wanting to play it again.

Genius - pure fucking genius:

 
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