- John from Baroness posted a really great journal entry/message to fans on the band’s website this week. It talks about his rehabilitation after their harrowing bus accident in Europe, and his absolute need to make music again:
“i’ve tried to fill my weekly routine with as much physical therapy as possible but the truth is, PT is not fun, and its benefits come with a great deal of mental/physical/spiritual pain and struggle. furthermore, i believe am getting a touch of Stockholm syndrome when it comes to my doctors and therapists (the highlight of my week should NOT involve a clinic). music might be the best therapy i have right now. perhaps it’s both the cause and the cure (the thought has crossed my mind); but i feel lost without it. Pete and i have just spent a long week surveying our musical wreckage and, surprisingly, we are quite well and intact. sure, there’s some substantial obstacles to overcome before we write, record or perform any time soon; but we still have everything we need to get “back in” that particular “saddle again”.
- WHY AM I JUST NOW DISCOVERING BARNABY WARD?!? Holy holy:
- “Raise the Black Lantern”… The label I’m on — Black Lantern Music — has just released a 50 track compilation album from it’s first slew of releases. It’s wonderful. There’s so much good music and artists, I’m just glad I’m involved. GO HERE to get the album. Donations welcome. This is the cover:
I’m taking a holiday break. See you — anyone who reads this — soonish.
- New remix EP! I’m basically doing here what I tried to to with Biggie, but now I have more tools at my disposal and I don’t suck as much. I wanted to do another Hip-Hop legend. Nas was on the list, and is still. Ironically though, one of the songs on this album is a 2001 track (off The Blueprint) called “The Takeover” in which Jay-Z talks alot shit about both Mob Deep and Nas. I can’t mess with the original, which is one of Kayne West’s best beats, it manages to sample The Doors and KRS One and David Bowie. Dang. Anyways, yeah enjoy. Most of the tracks are pretty dark besides “H.O.V.A.” which kind of has a dance party vibe, and “Encore” which is sort of a reflective, hopeful sounding song. Here’s the cover:
There’s still much to be desired with my scratching, but I’m getting better. Also there should be a guitar solo. Maybe at the end of HOVA. Okay I’ll stop. Here’s the stream:
Okay what the fuck? Bandcamp has changed since I last used it. There used to be a drop down menu to embed albums on a variety of sites, including WordPress. Now they’re only providing embed shortcodes for Tumblr, Twitter, and Google+ (with Facebook being default embed). Hmm. Okay, well here’s the damn link cause yeah F this:
My new record is finally up and available! It is my third full-length under the Mild Maynyrdguise, and I’m very proud of it. Again, it’s called “Hills RunRed” (which is the name of one of the first spaghetti westerns, but I liked the “red” theme too). I had been chronicling my process of concepting and creating it on this blog, but you probably didn’t see that… and I’m really awful at trying to describe it, so I’ll let the other guys in Black Lantern Musicsell the concept for me:
“I know what you’re thinking, there’s not enough Wild West themed narrative sample based electronica concept albums that are as I just described but manage at the same time to not be cheesy in any way. Well the ever adventurous Mild Maynyrd, who hails from the other side of the pond so is very possibly a cattle rustling gunslinger himself (though I couldn’t confirm either way as I value my life), has cooked up ‘Hills Run Red’ for Black Lantern Music to remedy this! Its a peach, its a trip, and it tells a ripping yarn too.”
I thought that was pretty funny. Anyways, yeah it’s a bit of a risk. Of course. Just trusting that people have enough patience to get through one track (they’re each longer than 16 minutes) is itself a risk. But hey, I’m super proud of this thing and I think it’s very unique. Though I know I can still do better. This is the cover:
Here’s the embed:
It can be streamed for free, or bought for the price of a Gatorade here: Mild Maynyrd Bandcamp
- Aesop Rock has a new video/single off the forthcoming “Skelethon”. I preordered the vinyl of this; not only because Rhymesayers is giving out a 2+ hour Aesop mix with it, but also because if you get the vinyl you automatically get the digitals. The song is called “ZZZ Top”:
Prhym8 is a guy from my neck of the woods, Minneapolis, MN. He’s great to listen to because he one of those rappers who can weave seriousness and FUN in and out of his tracks. Which is always refreshing. He’s also a real good producer, he makes all his beats (from what I gather). And… ya know, the shit is free. Here’s one of the tracks:
- People are seriously destroying Timbuktu in the name of their God? Wow, humanity can be so sad sometimes. “It is horrible to see one of the most fantastic art capitals on earth assaulted in this way. Africa’s heritage is being systematically trashed. How will the world respond?”.
Aaron Jasinski is an artist (and sometimes musician) based out of Seattle, WA. His paintings are surreal, dense, kinetic, and drippy. His work is sometimes emotional (as in the one he did after 9/11); and sometimes pop-cultural (can you say Excite Bike?). And his music is really, really cool.
Here’s a painting I really dig utilizing what I imagine sound waves to look like:
- Superheroes do exist, they’re called human beings.
I heard this story on AM radio a couple days ago and finally looked up the amazing video. A motorcyclist was in a terrible accident with an automobile; it resulted in the cyclist trapped underneath the car, his bike partially trapped and well (under the engine and on fire). It’s amazing how quickly people spring up out of nowhere to help lift the car and pull the man to safety. It really, really didn’t take long.
- Kristoff Krane‘s album “Hunting For Father” — in all honesty one of the better albums I’ve heard in a couple years — is free right now on his Bandcamp, FYI. Not sure how long it’ll last either.
- I was pointed to this on Whitechapel. Don’t have a seizure…
Myspace – with all its horrible functionality and viruses and attempts to ripoff Facebook — is a pile of shit. That’s nothing new. That being said, I have a huge problem on my hands: a Google search of “mild maynyrd” will bring you plenty of links on me, the fourth down the list being my outdated and ancient Myspace artist page. The options were as obvious as they were limited: update the damn thing, leave as is, or close permanently. Number 2 didn’t seem like much of an option at all. I had songs on the player that were from before I finished this album… Songs that may have reflected who I was as a producer at the time (and, I suppose, a person), but they don’t anymore. Not even close. So I opted to wipe the slate clean and upload two tracks of the last thing I made, and one off each of my previous EPs. Yes, I very reluctantly chose option number one. Why? Well… because I have no reason to not use every single option I have to share my music with other people. That includes mentioning it when it’s released on things like Facebook and this site and message boards, keeping a Bandcamp page as neat and clean as possible, or handing out free CDs to people around town. I don’t make money, I just want to share what I do. Because hey, I’m fucking proud of it. Myspace, even for how terrible of a place it is, is one of those alleyways. Then again, I probably wouldn’t even touch the thing if it wasn’t number four down on the Google search. Tom Anders, you miserable grinning bastard.
Anyways, here’s the updated page. *(Click at your own risk. Myspace has been glitchy as hell in the past.)
It will be available on Black Lantern Musica week from today, the 26th. Also, I will soon have hard-copies for $5 that will be up on the Bandcamp store later this week (not planning on selling too many; and if you go to shows in the Twin Cities you may see me schlubbing a backpack full of these around, haha). I just have never made hard copies for any of my albums, figured I should try at least once.
MIX OF THE DAY comes from Warvadal courtesy of BMBX.org. It’s simply called, “Fourtwenty”.
Here is the direct link (MP3 form), and here’s the stream:
(More MN music posts?? I’m turning into a Twin Cities music blog…)
Like any other legendary musician who passed before him, bits and pieces Michael Larsen’s (a.k.a. Eyedea) incredible range of genres and sounds are still seeing the light of day. I recently saw this posted on a message board: a pay-what-you-will selection of studio quality Eyedea freestyles (4 tracks in all).
On top of that, the second (and hopefully not last) album from his and Kristoff Krane’s experimental free-jazz/improvised hip-hop group Face Candy will apparently see the light of day on Rhymesayers. If you aren’t sure what the hell a totally improvised jazz/hip-hop band would sound like, click here.
More? Alrighty. I saw this band open for Lazerbeak a couple weeks ago and they blew me away (two live drummers, bassist, laptop, sticky synths, and screaming?!?). They don’t have any recordings yet, hopefully that’ll change in 2011. I give you… Marijuana Deathsquads:
If I have any sort of “online existence”, this month of October might be a turning point in that existence. As much as I hate to admit it, I do. To me all it takes is a couple of social-networking sites (SNS’s) regularly used for such an existence to be real (and by real I also mean fake). I barely fall into that category — using only one — but I also post here, frequent message boards, and comment on enough online content to more than make-up for a lack of Twitter. It was so fitting that the day of The Social Network’snation-wide release was also the day I read more stupid shit on Facebook than I ever had in any single day. The irony really set in when awful, two line reviews of the film filtered in, with some chick saying that Eisenberg‘s role as Mark Zuckerberg in the film really set him apart from “becoming the next Micheal Cera”. Everyone is a goddamn critic (whoa… that sounded way to Frank Miller-y). That single day turned into a weekend’s worth of complete and utter online-jackassery and now I’m listening to Glitch Mobbefore I go to work contemplating at least a month-long ban of the site/service (which may lead to a longer banishment).
It isn’t all bad though. Without FB — and a smorgasbord of other SNS’s — I’d really have no outlet for anyone to find out about anything I do. Sure, art is still art even if no one sees it (and I don’t do any of that shit for money anyways), but it is nice to have more options than burning my new album for a friend who ends up losing it in the CD shuffle that is his passenger floor-board. And apparently now Bandcampis featuring a new all-inclusive MP3 player that shows up automatically with any Facebook to Bandcamp album link. As much as these things deter post-2000 society from becoming anything other than a digital parody of suburban high school, they also help. (My Bandcamp Page)
I have not seen The Social Network yet, but plan to sometime soon. I likely won’t even write a “review” on here (I dunno, maybe I will briefly), but I definitely will not on FB. Even if it was satirically/sarcastically it still wouldn’t be worth it.
