Ve

I was introduced, about a month ago, to the streaming music program Spotify. It’s an interesting little program that allows you to pick out songs from the company’s online library. Their library is severely lacking in several places, but it’s usually got something that I’m willing to listen to, and for someone like me who’s more often than not working from a friend’s computer, where I have no music stored, it’s a nice to have at one’s disposal.

Spotify pays for itself with advertising (though users can upgrade from the free service, for a price). One of the advertisements for Spotify, that they play on Spotify, reminds users that Spotify is a free way to listen to music that also pays artists. This seemed to good to be true, and indeed the amount artists make from Spotify isn’t staggering, as this graph shows. It would take a little of 3,494 plays of a song on Spotify for an artist to see a dollar from it.

The truth is, nobody is getting any money off music in the digital age, and most never were making any. Musicians have almost always struggled to make ends meet in the recording industry, and while it’s too bad, I can only feel so much pity for them. When you are doing for a job something that a lot of people do for fun, do you really need to make tons of money as well? Of course, in professional sports, another career that most people do for fun, athletes often make a killing. It’s a tricky situation. I’m not sure what’s fair, and it’s discouraging that things are so convoluted. Perhaps I’ll write more on this later.

Dear Madam,

It’s difficult for me to quantify Japanese culture. Being American, the history, vales, even metaphysics of that are generally understood in Japan are essentially alien to me. I’ve never even set foot in your lovely country. To that end, I find it easy to imagine that when I enjoy a piece of Japanese culture, whether it be tempura rolls from the local grocery store, or a Akira Kurosawa movie, there’s always an element of cultural divide.
Regardless, I feel like your music, and music videos, hold a beautiful, sincere, and unmistakably human element, that no amount of cultural barrier could ever stop me from adoring it. I speak primarily of your song Tsukematsukeru, which I heard for the first time about a week ago. While I don’t understand a word of the song (I read somewhere it’s about fake eyelashes) it makes me happy the same way a surprise visit from an old friend would. The tone of the song is so simply, unquestioningly joyous, that it brings the listener back to a more innocent time, when the unspoiled beauty of childhood was so strong that it made perfect sense to be emotionally direct the way your music is. It’s a level of depth few artists are ever able to achieve (Charles Schulz comes to mind).
To that end, I have to wonder how your music is taken in Japan. Do your Japanese listeners enjoy the same magic that I do? Is your extravagance as lovable in its home? Do the pretentious snobs of Japan look at you with the same disdain I give for most American pop?
I wonder, very seriously, if this is the cultural divide speaking, but what I love about your music, and your ostensible attitude toward life, is that it has no ego. This isn’t something one is likely to find on American radio. For example, the token exceptional female vocalist of recent years in America has been Lady Gaga. While I appreciate what she does, and I don’t mean to belittle it, in her music, in her videos, and in her personal style, she makes it very clear that shes too cool for anyone else. In your music, I don’t hear the sting of cynical trendyness. Rather, I hear the fun-loving exclamations of someone who’s happy to be in love with what she’s doing, and that moves me.
Then I begin to wonder, am I looking too much into the cultural barrier thing. I can’t tell if Japanese audiences feel the same way I do about your music, but I also need not care how they take it. There’s no shame in enjoying one’s own understanding of art. Indeed, such enjoyment helps art move forward in no small way. I’ve heard it said that opera began as an Italian misinterpretation of how ancient Greek theater was originally performed.
I think too much. Your work has inspired me, and I wish we could all love life the way you seem to. Thank you for being you. Your art, your style, your passion; thank you.

Your fan,
Charles Peckham

In recent months, George Michael has been suffering pneumonia and been forced to cancel his tour due to what seems to be unceasing health issues. His website issued a statement on Nov. 30th, noting that a pneumonia infection was the only health problem Michael was suffering from, and while the singer needed constant peace and quiet, he was recovering steadily.

If you don’t remember George Michael, you’re lying. His biggest hits were Faith, and Careless Whisper, both totally crucial 80′s synth-romance jams. He was famously outed as gay after he tried to get busy with an undercover cop in a public restroom. This is pretty much the worst way a person can be outed, especially since his celebrity status caused the information to be spread worldwide. And now he’s sick. The world needs to let up on poor George Michael.

I’m not sure what I ought to say about Mister Heavenly. They’re a supergroup, comprised of members of Man Man, The Unicorns, and Modest Mouse, and Michael Cera toured with them on bass. They’re signed to Sub Pop and they recently put out their first album. This is all interesting information, but really, the only element of the band that makes me want to blog about them is their disturbing and rowdy music video, which is unlike any I’ve seen before. I want to love it, but at the same time, I have a hard time watching it.

Mister Heavenly – Bronx Sniper from Ravenhouse LTD. on Vimeo.

Wikipedia can sometimes be a sort of ‘great equalizer’ when it comes to underground music. The Wikipedia entry for Satanic Warmaster is about the same length as the entry for Girlicious. That’s great news for folks who like relatively obscure music. However, punk rock, a musical movement that lives for (and by) obscurity, has an amazingly consistent way of eluding the thoroughness of Wikipedia, and the Internet in general.

Which brings me to The Suicide Commandos. They have a Wikipedia page, but it’s about as bare-bones as a Wikipedia page can get, and if any other websites offer a better glimpse into this band, I haven’t seen them. For one thing, the band wasn’t around long enough to establish themselves very much. The broke up after four years, leaving only two EPs and one full length in their wake, and not many copies of any. Two live albums that were fortunately recorded were released posthumously, one hot on the heels of the band’s breakup, and another more recently. If The Suicide Commandos were an airplane, one would need a damn fine radar to find it.

Still, the band is absolutely worth mentioning, and this is for two reasons. First of all, very often in music, it’s the little guys who wind up inspiring the big guys. The famous expression about The Velvet Underground goes something like ‘The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band.’ Well, only 10,000 copies were made of The Suicide Commandos’ Make A Record (a pseudo-clever titled record that makes this sentence sort of awkward), but regardless, they are largely accepted as the first punk band in Minneapolis, and were able to inspire the likes of the Suburbs, Hüsker Dü, The Replacements, Soul Asylum, Ass, Ganglion…

The second reason The Suicide Commandos are worth knowing about is their music. Their song Match/Mismatch is perhaps one of the most endearing, most dead on examples of garage punk ever committed to audio recording. When you listen to it, it’s like you suddenly remember why anyone ever sat in their garage banging out tunes on an instrument. The spirit of music is so alive within this song, that without having heard any other music of theirs, it inspired me to get off my fat butt and write a Ve post, after an ungodly long hiatus.

EVERYONE GO START BANDS RIGHT NOW!

I’m not sure I’ve ever come across a stoner metal band that I didn’t really enjoy, however, Orange Goblin is a stoner metal band that I really really enjoy. I don’t know anything about the band, but man do they seriously kick balls.

Roky Erickson ought to be an individual who needs no post on a music blog. He ought to be a household name. Coca-Cola, Tubberware, Roky Erickson. Given the distinctive, groundbreaking, yet inspirational musical resume he has, he ought to be collecting roualties every time they play rock ‘n roll on TV. I’m sure most of y’all have heard Erixkson and can relate,  but for those who haven’t, let me clue you in.

Roky first became a national sensation as the guitarist for The 13th Floor Elevators, the first band to be described as psychadellic music. The Elevators, Roky in particular, became instantly infused in drug culture. This drug use paired with Roky’s already unorthodox upbringing and questionable mental health came to a climax when Erickson was admitted to the Houston Psychiatric Hospital, and was regularly hospitalized, with regular electroshock therapy, until he was finally released from Rusk State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in 1972.

For the next ten years, Erickson formed Roky Erickson & The Aliens. Taking a sharp turn from The 13th Floor Elevators, this new music had a tortured, haphazard tone that was largely inspired by horror films. Roky continued to suffer from mental illness, and The Aliens disbanded after Roky claimed to be an extra-terrestrial, and walked offstage during a show. He began a reclusive life with his mother, who frowned on conventional psychiatry, and tried to care for Roky with methods like yoga.

Finally, Roky’s brother, Sumner Erickson, himself a gifted tuba player, came to Roky’s aide. Giving him constant, loving care, and psychological supervision. Roky’s health has become noticably improved. There are few stories in music history with such happy endings.

Apart from his atypical life story, Roky’s music has a remarkable capacity to expand upon the most unphathomable parts of life. Few musicians have ever been able to play such hard hitting rock ‘n roll that is both terrifying and curious. There’s a charming fury to his tone that is so unmistakable that no understanding of contemporary music is complete without regarding his contributions. If you haven’t heard Roky, you only know half the story of rock ‘n roll.

It was but a short time ago, Ve reported on the unfortunite illness of Behemoth frontman Nergal. Now, apparently much healthier, Nergal has gotten back in the news as his stage antics have earned him criticism from the Catholic church. In an unprecidented ruling, the Vatican’s concerns were deemed unmerited by the Polish court. Nergal ripping up a bible during a show was concluded to be protected as artistic expression.

I’m just glad he’s well on his way to beating lukhemia. That’s one nasty disease.

First, the boring explanation: about a year ago, I burned a bunch of CDs of music I was listening to for a friend. It was mostly death metal, with little bits of grindcore thrown in. I found the stack of CDs about a month ago when I was cleaning off my desk, and I tried calling my friend to get his address, but he never called me back, so there they sat. This morning, I had to borrow my mother’s car, and the last time I borrowed her car, I didn’t bring any CDs so I just listened to the radio. This little number came on twice while I was using the car, and it’s probably the most God awful and idiotic song I’ve ever heard.  One couldn’t ask for a better example of why one shouldn’t ever listen to the radio. So back to this morning, I was on my way out the door, and I remembered I needed to bring some music, so I grabbed the CDs for my friend.  The first thing I popped in was Great American Scapegoat by Satan’s Host. I had fond memories of this album. I listened to it a lot at one point and thought it was pretty great. The album art is really great too.

Upon listening to it this morning though, I found it to be sort of bland and unremarkable. The Satanic message is so overstated that it gets in the way of the music. For example, the first song starts out with a long, drawn out incantation, that really has no aesthetic appeal. I guess what I’m trying to say is, this is why I don’t like Christian rock either. I don’t feel it would be right to completely write off this band or this album. Like I mentioned earlier, for a while I was really into it, but for whatever reason it failed to move me today.

So, uninspired, I switched to Atheist’s Jupiter, an album that came out last year. I know next to nothing about Atheist. I know they have a huge following, and I think they’re from Europe. Or maybe Seattle. Something like that. I can, however, say that their following is well deserved. Their music is marked by a chaotic onslaught of quick time signature changes that is immediately captivating. They are a very drum-driven band, and extensive guitar noodling makes the whole blend distinctive and thought-provoking. Like Satan’s Host, Atheist’s music is adamant about religious beliefs (or lack thereof) but not in a way that could be regarded as overcompensation for lackluster music. All in all, it’s a very engaging and worthwhile album, and it also has a really cool cover.

I came across a huge archive of tablatures for blues.