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An Emotional Apocalypse of Sound

25 Apr

Picture yourself driving down a dark road without another car or street lamp in sight. Don’t worry this is not the cliché plot of a horror flick. You are driving, headlights a faded bright yellow illuminating a small stretch of plain road in front of you. Your radio is on and the beginning, haunting arpeggio of Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” starts playing. It repeats without fail as your structured reminder of reality, because, just as you are starting to get lulled into a false sense of security by its comfortable sound, Eddie Hazel begins making his guitar cry. A sharp screech knocks you out of your hypnagogic state and tosses you straight into a dream. A dream of insane sound. A wacky, at times chimerical, dream that involves such a smorgasbord of sound that your car begins to slowly veer off of its straight path, but the soft background keeps you temporarily on line. Hazel’s guitar played through a Fuzzbox and Wah pedal hits you on so many levels that the guitar solo becomes an odd amalgamation of sound; a declarative answer to an unanswerable question. It bemuses you but intrigues you. And, as the guitar fades and the arpeggio dies in sound, you find yourself on the side of the road with your car mangled in a tree, with absolutely no clue how you ended up there.

Yeah, that is what “Maggot Brain” can do to you. I stand by my opinion that “Comfortably Numb” is the greatest guitar solo of all time, but, it is simply a crime that “Maggot Brain” does not get more credit. Hazel’s playing, that legend has it was inspired by funk legend George Clinton telling Hazel to imagine he had been told his mother was dead but it wasn’t true, is a pure masterpiece. It is at times chaotic but always seems to come back together to form this wonderful piece that truly is, as one reviewer called it, “An emotional apocalypse of sound.” It is an amazing song and if you have not listened to it before, please check it out below. It would be a shame if this song continued to go unheard. Sit through the entire song and listen to Hazel’s playing penetrate you. It is certainly worth the adventure. Just don’t listen to it in the car at night.

“Maggot Brain”:

Musician Amalgamation

22 Apr

What do you get when you combine The Killers’ drummer Ronnie Vannucci, Mumford and Sons’ banjo player Winston Marshall, Noah and the Whale’s fiddle player Tom Hobden, Keane’s keyboardist/songwriter Tim Rice-Oxley and bassist Jesse Quin? My best guess would be an odd ode to Indie country music with an electronic twist and a maraschino cherry on top. Seriously, I have absolutely no clue what to expect from this interesting combination of musicians that have collaborated to record an album under the name Mt. Desolation.

Their album will be released sometime this year, but, information outside what has been provided by their official blogspot account has been kept mum. What we do know is that the group will perform at the Luminaire in London on June 4. I am psyched to hear how this combination will sound. I am a fan of each of these individual musicians and their larger projects, and a conglomeration of their talents has potential to be extraordinary and fresh.

Link: http://www.nme.com/news/the-killers/50726 and Blog: http://mtdesolationofficial.blogspot.com/

Deb Tallen and Steve Tallen do not only have similar last names, but, after a chance encounter, they have married and become a fantastic musical group called The Weepies. They are yet another example of musicians combining to form a great band. Of course, they are established. Their fourth studio album is rumored for a May 25 release and my friends and I are excited. Their melodic brand of folk-rock is soothing and just a pleasure to listen to.

Link: http://all-aroundsound.blogspot.com/2010/03/weepies-announce-release-of-new-album.html

Top 25 Guitarists of All Time: #24: Ritchie Blackmore

21 Apr

This section has been on hiatus for a small while so I thought I would resurrect it and talk about guitars today instead of lyricists. Josh will be back on soon. He’s been busy. Whoever says college is not tough is lying. Anyway on to skilled musicians, most of whom never needed to succumb to a specific major. Practice was obviously necessary. But, no physics class.

Biography and Music

Ritchie Blackmore dropped out of school at 15. It was one of the better decisions he ever made. Blackmore took an apprenticeship as a radio mechanic at Heathrow Airport and started receiving guitar lessons by Big Jim Sullivan, one of the most in-demand studio musicians of all time. He performed in more than one thousand charting singles over his career. No big deal or anything.

Blackmore’s first guitar was given to him by his father when he was 11. It came with a threat. His father promised to smash the guitar over Blackmore’s head if he did not learn how to play it correctly. So, a few classical lessons later, Blackmore was introduced to correct finger strokes and other various classical guitar techniques. This only helped him, but was not the reason why he became a true “highway star.” Deep Purple joke. Don’t worry about it.

Blackmore became your classic English guitarist. His upbringing in Middlesex, work for Joe Meek’s (famous English producer) studio, and backing of performers like Heinz, Screaming Lord Sutch and Glenda Collins all contributed to this label. In 1968, Blackmore teamed up with organist Jon Lord and formed Deep Purple. Deep Purple would eventually go down as one of the first hard rock (heavy metal) bands of all time. They, along with bands like Blue Cheer and even Black Sabbath were the predecessors of true hard rock. Blackmore’s playing somewhat spun the process into motion.

Style and Equipment

This section will describe why Blackmore stands on this list and, no, it is not just because “Smoke on the Water.” Blackmore is a very skilled guitarist. He understands the instrument and is able to play it with awesome proficiency. His riffs are catchy and his solos combine blues scales with elegant phrasing and minor scales most similar to classical European music. This interesting combination gives the music a dark but catchy feel. This can be heard in “Highway Star.” Take a listen:

Blackmore is a Fender Stratocaster man as well. His Strat’s have a scalloped fingerboard, which means the frets are almost scooped out to form a U shape. This is usually used by Shred Guitarists. Blackmore and Yngwie Malmsteen are two examples of guitarists who prefer this expensive process. Blackmore also liked to experiment with various pedals and guitar synthesizers with Deep Purple and his project Rainbow.

An example of a scalloped fretboard. This one is from Yngwie Malmsteen's guitar

His immense catalog of guitar work is just fantastic and his playing never lacks much. He stands as one of the better guitarists of all time because of this skill and his tremendous influence on a changing music population.

SWOD (Song of the Day/Word of the Day) #16: Scapegrace

20 Apr

Today’s Word:

Does not look like much of a scapegrace here

Scapegrace (noun): A reckless, unprincipled person; one who is wild and reckless; a rascal; a scoundrel.

Musical Connection:

Let me start this SWOD with a little disclaimer. It will seem that there is a connection between Charlie Brown (the Peanuts character) and Charlie Brown (the musical scoundrel) in this post. There is not. It has been implied, but it is wrong. Charlie Brown may be a scapegrace in both cases but he is much more so in the song “Charlie Brown” by The Coasters, written by the songwriting duo of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. The song tells the story of Charlie Brown who “calls the English teacher, Daddy-O” and who is “always writing on the walls.” He is your classic school scapegrace, responding with a simple “why is everybody always picking on me” when he is called out on his reckless misdeeds. Or, is he getting framed. Da, Da, Da. That wasn’t very effective, was it?

Willie Nelson Smokes Marijuana?

19 Apr

I love Willie Nelson. The 76-year-old country musician is fantastic and he also seems to know how to have fun. When I had the privilege of interviewing Mickey Raphael, Nelson’s long-time harmonica player, I asked him if anything would ever slow down Nelson. He responded, “He is playing music and golf. What is there to retire from?” That sounds like a magnificent life.

Nelson also knows where he stands on issues and he is never afraid to express himself. On April 15, Nelson appeared on “Larry King Live” and was asked by King if he smoked marijuana. Nelson quickly responded, “Yes, sure,” and admitted to King that he smoked just minutes before he appeared on the show. U.S. viewers were stunned by this admission. Are you kidding me? Willie Nelson is synonymous with marijuana usage. Come on guys. There are far more people in this country that know Nelson passes joints in his eco-friendly bus than people who know the capital of Nevada (hint: it’s not Las Vegas).

The fact that people were shocked by his live proclamation is just hilarious. When I read the article (linked below) my immediate response was right on Willie. Nelson does not care. He added in his interview, “You could arrest me.” He has a sense of humor and stands up for what he believes in. I have personally never taken a hit. This is my own personal choice. But, Nelson has, and he is not afraid to come out there and say it. I respect that. Like I said, I love Willie Nelson.

Article: http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/nelsons-drug-admission-stuns-us-viewers_1139377

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoiDCaxYiUE (This is the link to the Larry King Live segment. It is GREAT.)

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