Slipping Through Our Fingers

 

    

"What is called music today is all too often only a disguise for the monologue of power. However, and this is the supreme irony of it all, never before have musicians tried so hard to communicate with their audience, and never before has that communication been so deceiving. Music now seems hardly more than a somewhat clumsy excuse for the self-glorification of musicians and the growth of a new industrial sector."   Quoted by Jacques Attali in Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music, ed. Richard Kostelanetz and Joseph Darby (Wadsworth, 1996, ISBN 0-028-64581-2)

He is referring to the mainstream music industry that was inaccessible to the independent musicians of the time. The music industry has changed so much in a short amount of time with advent of the internet and websites like soundcloud, bandcamp, cdbaby and people like Ari Herstand that share a wealth of knowledge about how to promote yourself as an artist. I, myself never, having been a part of the money making machine, know that it still exists, but choose to focus on indie music I care about, that speaks to me and making my own music. 

You can’t knock out all the mom and pops and think that more mom and pops will spring up. If we knock them out, it’s just chains." James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem (Billboard Charts) 

We have to support the independent musicians that we love or there may be nothing else left of them, especially after these unstable times. The great thing about music is that it is a product of the zeitgeist, that's the fun of listening to old music. It can be a history lesson. And music in general can be an uplifting healing experience. Art decorates a space, music decorates time.

Right now, as we are focusing on isolating, as musicians we are also focusing on getting outside of the ever-present comfort zone. Those two things seem contradictory, but they don't have to be. Musicians are innovating, performing from home, creating more online content and discovering new ways to take ownership and control of their music so they can hopefully, generate financial stability over the long haul. 

Check out these artists and remember to support your favs!!

 Frida Sundemo - Nothing Can Hurt Me

Elephant Talk - Heartache of the Season

Georgia Lines - Never Had Love

Magnificent Music

Magnificent Music

There is a lot to be learned from Black Music if we listen. This is simply a list of some of my current personal favorites. Click on the links and the videos to watch/listen and find out more about these talented artists!

Toulouse - Magnificent

                                          

Zubi, anatu - Sugar

video - Only One

                                            

Terry Blade

                                            

ifʎʎello - wrong

video - Nicer Than You

                                            

Black Lives are Precious

Black Lives more than matter they are priceless and it is more than time to acknowledge this.  Where do we go from here? What does it mean? Being a part of Black Lives Matters means 

we’ve committed to struggling together and to imagining and creating a world free of anti-Blackness, where every Black person has the social, economic, and political power to thrive.  

White people and all people around the world have to be a part of this.  It is not about who we exclude, but about who we include. If we refuse to be a part of the solution then we will remain a part of the problem.  I know you've heard it before, it sounds cliched, but I'm going to say it again, just in case you haven't... silence IS violence. Love steps up and says something, it speaks for those whose voices are not being heard for whatever reason. Maybe listening is the best thing we can do right now.

    I previously thought in my younger years that racism would 'die out' as the older generations passed away. I now see that is definitely not the case. There is a younger generation saturated by learned racism that is just as strong, if not more so. The internet has been a breeding ground for people of like minds to multiply their racism exponentially.  My husband and I have both had grandparents who shunned black members of our family, they refused to be a part of their black grandchildrens' lives. It makes me so sad to think about all they missed out on. We are all flesh and blood, we are all the same and we all want the same things (i.e. Maslow's hierarchy of needs).

I've tried to make sense of hate, but that is just the thing, hate doesn't make sense. You can't be in your right mind and hate someone else. It is literally insane. Until Black Lives Matter all lives cannot. 

Music For: Comfort

     These are troubling times for everyone. Friends, family and loved ones are being lost, many people are losing their jobs. A tsunami ripple effect is occurring and everyone is sure to feel it eventually.  Among those being affected are musicians, they're having to cancel shows, cancel flights, refund tickets, losing out on merchandise sold and income they needed to keep their heads above water.  Support them if you are able.
   
    To those needing to be on ventilators, speaking from the perspective of someone who has had to be intubated before because of allergy and chronic asthma, I can't imagine having gone through that experience without my family by my side and that is what so many people are having to go through right now. The medical community is doing their best to provide care and relief to those suffering.  Nurses are our heroes! Thank you! You are incredible human beings. And to those experiencing this disease we are praying for you and thinking about you. So many of us feel helpless in quarantine wanting to do something, but we are, in fact, helping by doing absolutely nothing, by staying home to help mitigate the disease and flattening the curve.
     And on the brighter side of things, even though we are self-isolating we are coming together digitally. We're making contributions the best way we know how, donating to charities that are taking care of the collective community. This situation is proving something that many of us knew to be true and that is that we are all connected, maybe more closely than we ever comprehended to be true.
   
Music has comforted me over and over in my life, brought me through very difficult times; health issues and loss of loved ones.  It has given me a renewed zest for life. I hope that this music can do that for you right now. I hope it will give you a sense of peace and hope and comfort.  My heart goes out to you.

The W Lovers CD Release

I recently went to The W Lovers CD release show also featuring Rust on the Rails at the Sunset. It was a full intimate show.  I have come to love small venues so much.  Getting to see artists performing up close and occasionally getting to meet and and have a convo after the show is a lot of fun.  The W Lovers are a husband and wife team.  They both sing, she (Fleur Wood) plays guitar and he (Wesley Wood) plays mandolin, backed up by Eric Van Allen on stand-up bass and Chris Lucier on snare and a brilliant new pedal steel addition to the group, Patrick McHenry.  They had all the puzzle pieces there to make a great sounding Americana group.  During the show I was lucky to talk to Lance Wells, my former co-worker, and The W Lovers' videographer.  He made their most recent video Canyon Wind during a trip to and from Yakima to play a series of successful winery shows.  The video turned out great so there is no question as to why Lance has made making videos his full-time job now.

I can't finish this blog post without talking about Rust on the Rails which also includes Chris Lucier on drums.  What a terrific group they were!!! They put on an exciting up beat show that included great vocals and guitar playing from Cody Beebe, as well as an amazing performance on the didgeridoo and guitar from Blake Noble. Check out their Facebook here. So great!!

Purchase on itunes

www.thewlovers.com

www.twitter.com/wloversmusic

www.instagram.com/thewlovers/

Maiah Manser

Photo by Nathan Dziewiontkoski

  

  Having gone to see a variety of different artists I'm more and more convinced of the kind of artist I want to be and what it means to be an independent artist today.  Art is a representation of our culture, my goal is to be the change and to leave an impression of the change I want to see in the world. And to me art is a practice of stepping outside my comfort zone to make a regular connection with people I wouldn't otherwise meet.
  Man, was I impressed by Maiah Manser (for some reason I want to spell it Manswer, like answer) and I can't wait until she comes out with more solo artist material because I know it will be amazing.  Us Lights, from Oregon, was awesome and Wye Oak was incredible as always. Both of those bands are amazing, as well, but we were there to see Maiah perform.  I think my friend Oscar said it best when he said, "I hope I didn't leave mess because she blew my mind."  Her graceful use of electronic effects, including vocal effects and loops; she built the song in front of our eyes/ears? She successfully fuses the digital and the organic.  Spiraling stacked vocal harmonies and intelligent lyrics that resonate. A Seattle artist to keep your eyes on.


https://uslightsmusic.bandcamp.com
https://wyeoak.bandcamp.com

http://www.maiahmanser.com

Mary Lambert Part 2

Well, it was really easy to think of a follow up title.  I'm trying to think of a word to describe how the show left me feeling.  I think I felt the full gamut of emotions.  Damn, this girl is talented! It's good to know if for some reason she ever lost her singing voice (knock on wood) she's got a career in comedy.  I was immediately captivated by the music and forgot to take pictures like I planned.  Mary was so open and vulnerable on stage as she performed some "New shit" as as its called in the poetry world and it was so real and so great.  She also told us about a secret surprise she was planning in Everett and we're not supposed to tell.  Very hush hush. And Oh my God, when she hit that note, you know the one, it was magic.  There was romance, a standing ovation a couple of times and for the encore song everyone was dancing.  She's so comfortable on stage, you know that's where she belongs.  It's no surprise why she has an enormous following and I will be one of those following the life of her career.

Mary Lambert part 1

It's been a quite a while since I've made a blog post.  Summer has passed and here we are already in the month of November.  Time sure flies when you're busy, but I think it's important to stop for a moment and reassess life and goals and direction.  And a great way to slow down and enjoy life is to go see a show.  Tomorrow I'm going to see Mary Lambert perform in Tacoma, WA at the University of Puget Sound field house.  I've seen her one other time at the Tractor in Ballard at a fundraiser for the Oso Mudslide victims and it was incredible.  This chic is a local hero and a real class act and makes me so excited about music, but also the message.  She is an indie musician, and she is maintaining creative right and speaks her mind about things she believes strongly in.  These are the qualities of an indie musician if you ask me.  She has no qualms about calling out the bullshit she sees in the world and that's one of the many things I like about her.  (Not to mention her brilliant poetic lyrics and angelic voice).  Other things that really impress me; she spoke and performed at the United Nations HQ for Human Rights Day.  I'm very excited for this show!! I will give you the details in my next post Mary Lambert part 2.

The Weepies

The Weepies left quite the impression on me, at the Neptune Theater, having never seen them live before and my only experience with their music was someone else’s cover of one of their more popular songs.  I don’t know how to explain it, but they had an aura of love.  You know how you just get a feeling from certain people, how you just know in your gut whether you can trust someone or not.  It sounds ridiculous.  Sometimes words are not enough to describe the feeling you are left with after a show.  You could just tell every word in every love song they sang was the truth and how much they loved singing it.  You could tell every band member believed it too.  Their instruments and voices melded so well to create a single work of art.  So much more than the sum of its parts. I think about how much time they have spent on the road, what dificulties they have overcome to get to this one performance and how many times they may have played these songs already, but still they were so untiringly sincere.  Sirens is their 5th Album release.

S, Jenn Ghetto, Jenn Champion

On May 1st I went to a show at the Neumos in Seattle to see S open for Sera Cahoone.  It was my first time seeing them play live, although I had heard S' song Vampires, the artist also known as Jenn Ghetto, numerous times on KEXP and on the internet.  You might know her from her former band Carissa's Wierd. My spell-check really wanted to fix that.  It was a great show.  Sera Cahoone played with a full band and it sounded so full.  I was also introduced to another band, Horde and the Harem.  They were unique and played a skillful show and I appreciate both of those things.  They really appeared to believe in their performance and I think that is a vital component to putting on a good show.  I have to say, though, that when Jenn Ghetto performs it really feels like she is exposing her soul. These are three extremely talented local artists/bands that you should definitely see live.

Support independent artists! #seattlemovement

Lowland Hum

Yesterday, I met Lowland Hum, an incredibly talented and kind husband and wife duo from South Carolina. I got to set up their mics and sit in on their awesome performance and interview with Ron Taffi on 90.7 KSER which you can listen to on kser.org.

I've gotten busy and put the blog on the back burner, but I'm going to try to update it at least once a week and keep you posted on what I'm up to and the great music that I've found.

Here's my short CD review of Lowland Hum:

Daniel and Lauren Goans, the married folk, duo Lowland Hum and their album by the same name, evoke serenity and splendor.  From rural North Carolina, they weave their appealing high-tenor and soprano voices into intricate harmonies over string-band arrangements.

Includes acoustic guitar arpeggios, ghostly vowels and thoughtful poetic lyrics.

lowlandhum.com

Vulfpeck

I have to talk about Vulfpeck today, a funk instrumental group made up of Jack Stratton, Joe Dart, Theo Katzman and Woody Goss founded 2011 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  I wanted to find out as much as I could about these guys.

Vulfpeck is so inventive in their musical stylings, humor and in their publicity, i.e. their recent Spotify stunt, Sleepify.

Congratulations are in order for their successful kickstarter campaign in which they raised more than their goal of $5,000 for their upcoming free September "Sleepify" tour.

The title of their recent album is Fugue State.  Fugue has a couple of definitions, one being musical and the other psychiatric which just makes this album more clever and amusing.

These guys are brilliant and sound especially brilliant with the addition of Antwaun Stanley's smooth vocals heard here in their newest video 1612.

This group displays incredible musicianship from the University of Michigan.  As everyone knows Detroit has a history of great music, such a long and rich heritage of notable musicians I'm not even going to name a few.

Their video Synth Party will make you laugh your ass off.  Their sense of humor is ingenious and ridiculous. Theo Katzman is seen jamming out on a pillow with a stray sock? and Joe Dart makes himself comfortable laying on the bed while rocking out on the bass.

I'm pretty upset these guys aren't coming to Seattle during their September Tour.  Buy their album on bandcamp and if you're close by, go see these guys live!!

Ayron Jones and The Way & Lukas Nelson

     I had no idea what expect when I went to see Ayron Jones and The Way open for Lukas Nelson (son of Willie) and Promise of the Real last Friday night at the Wild Buffalo in Bellingham.  I wish I had gotten there earlier to see more of the opening set.  I was blown away.  The energy of Ayron Jones and the Way was so amazing, I got lost in it and just had so much fun.  The drummer alone was a spectacle to watch.  It was hip hop meets Jimi Hendrix and it was awesome.  Each of them were such skilled musicians with incredible stage presence and charisma I was worried for Lukas Nelson to have to follow that.
   
     In his own rite Lukas Nelson moved beyond the style of his father into a new realm of cool of his own invention.  If you are an americana hippy like me you'll totally get it. (Even if you are a regular hippy). A beautiful arrangement mixed with acrobatics.  Licks reminiscient of Phillip Sayce, wild yet so controlled and surprisingly touching lyrics that seemed to bare his soul.  It was a little bit country and little bit rock'n roll mixed with a touch of indie style. Powerful performances by both bands that complemented each other so well.
   
     If you have an opportunity, you have to go see these guys.  Both bands are top in their craft, I think you'll regret it if you don't see them perform live.  And I can't tell you how much fun it was to see them in such a small venue, up close.  I have a feeling you won't be able to see them like this for too much longer before people learn who they are and the crowds start pouring in.

Headroom

I want to share with you what my friend Ben Burnes (Abstraction) shared with me this morning, if you too are an indie musician recording your own music and wanting to produce it in the most professional way possible.  Come with me as I document what I learn.  

He said I had a lot of clipping in the recording, both in the vocal and guitar parts. If you have pretty decent music editing software red lines will indicate where the audio clips because it was recorded too loud.

What happens when audio clips is that it is being recorded beyond that capacity of the microphone or computer to properly process the audio signal. The wave generated is too large and the peaks/troughs get "clipped" off, creating audio crackles and other unfriendly artifacts.

Here's a quick example of how clipping looks:

The first line is a normal sine wave. The second line is the sine wave's volume being boosted beyond the limitation of the machine. When the volume is brought back down to normal levels, you can see that the peaks and troughs of the wave have been clipped off creating an entirely different sound.

While he wasn't saying that I needed to go out and re-record everything, it's something that I should keep in mind for the future. The rule of thumb is to turn your microphone sensitivity down to the point where you can sing your loudest and still have space to spare. The traditional space (called "headroom" in the industry) you should give between your loudest singing and the absolute max of the system is -6db. Boosting audio volume is easy, but cleaning up clipped audio is very difficult because in essence part of the wave form is destroyed.

Just so you know Ben is responsible for the piano part in this amazing piece, Drifting, a collaboration with The Reverb Junkie and Genettic.

Seattle Indie Musicians, Radio & Venues

     Here we go local indie musician Seattlites and north Puget Sounders let's keep it local.  Listen to KEXP for great indie music and from Everett, closer to where I'm from, there is KSER and their show Poptopia Parkway Wednesdays at 7pm.  Poptopia Parkway's foundation is power pop, but it's also a showcase for indie rock, oldies, Americana, and contemporary pop singer-songwriters from the 1960s through today.  Lon Palmer is the host. You can contact Lon by email (lon@kser.org) or on his Facebook page to have them play your music.

    I plan to seek out more local venues and include them on this blog.  In Seattle, I've visited the Showbox, the Tractor and the Crocodile.  This Friday I will be going to the Paramount to see Haim.  I'm pretty sure they are not independent, but excited to see them none-the-less. In Mount Vernon up north I've enjoyed going to the Muse, a relatively small venue with a bar and restaurant.  They have three stages on different levels, with shows going on simultaneously, pretty awesome!!

     
     I've discovered some local artists that I really like.  I may have already shared them in previous posts, but I'm going to share them again now.  Eric Miller, Kris Orlowski, Wishbeard, La Luz and my recent discovery through luvindiemusic.com, Mossback and their new song City Lights that you can hear on mixcloud. City Lights is a melodic blend of scintillating guitar riffs, aurally pleasing vocals and a rock solid bass and drums. I hope they will make a lyric video for the song soon. You can follow them on tumblr and twitter, and listen to them for free on jango. 

Visit Grumpy D's in Ballard every Wednesday for a great open mic at 5:30p.

Support local artists :) 

Acoustic Cafe Today

I want this blog to be a resource for other indie musicians so as I learn more I will post more also its great for myself, as well, to look back at information I've gleaned.  Ari Herstand and his blog Ari's Take is a gold mine of information.

Aside from listening to KEXP a local Seattle station, KGUP and NewUSB radio there are millions of internet indie radio stations and podcasts, I'm always discovering more. Wrecking Ball Radio is one of my favorites, the Baub Show which is on daily from Southern California.  I'm always looking for more local stations here in Western Washington, as well as, for good independent venues and artists.

Acoustic cafe is on today, every Tues. on Coastal FM radio which I believe starts around 10 or 11 pacific time, which I will be listening to.

A couple of cool things I have found lately specifically for guitarists this last week is RiffStation and Powertab 1.7.  I think you get a lot more paying for Riffstation. Its great if you can't find the tab you are looking for on UltimateGuitarTab.com. Powertab is a great way to share tab.  There is probably a newer version now, but this is what I've discovered recently.

Josh Doyle is my favorite indie artist today check him out!!

Music is a Great Motivator

Words are powerful and music is a great motivator.

There is something about good music that makes you feel, really, a certain way.  You may not even know what makes a song so good to you, but you hear it and it speaks to you. i.e. Kris Orlowski  It could be a very simple melody, but the way the words combine with the music, you empathize with the person who sang them.  

What’s more, is someone who has taken so much time and poured so much of their heart into this one thing, whatever it is, a song… maybe a blog.  It has come to mean the world to you even if it was meant for everyone.  You take it and like a poem and you make it yours, you wrap it around your own life and your own experiences.  You apply it to you.

I think everyone does this. Apparently, there are people out there that don't listen to music, but that blows my mind. 

Words shape our lives and they shape the world (the people) around us. We do this with music.
Check out Nicky Romero.

Music is universal.  It is felt and understood.  Much like a smile.  Someone from any nationality understands this.  We all have feelings no matter how much we push them aside and try not to feel them.  Sometimes the bravest thing we can do is just allow ourselves to feel.

The decisions we make on a daily basis come from our subconscious mind.  We are what we eat on a regular basis.   The things we immerse ourselves in on a daily affect simple decisions.  Hense, music and the words, especially, are powerful.  The Shears

This blog consists of my own opinions and my main intention is to promote indie artists.  I may post artists who are not independent as well.  I am in general, a music lover.  Thank you for reading!!