New Media or Something

I think that's what it's called, and it's been vibing me out.

Last week, we sold some mp3s for the first time, ever. It is my belief that we broke even on Adelaide a couple of months ago, without ever having sold mp3s, which is pretty cool (having a decent free studio helps keep the overhead low, for sure). Selling mp3s feels like getting something for nothing in this case. It doesn't quite feel like an honest way to make money to me, yet.

Some dude contacted us about releasing masters for the Rock Band® video game. This is certainly an interesting idea--I've wanted to break into soundtracks for video games since Trent Reznor did the Quake soundtrack. Rock Band® isn't quite what I had in mind, though. Apparently, he's soliciting lots of Denver bands. Dude offered up a classic quote: "Anybody feel like busting out the vox on BLC’s “Stealth”?" Seriously? Not me.

The Beatles Rock Band release, which seems to be coinciding with the re-release of re-mastered albums has me sickened. If I hear "Come Together" one more time in a commercial, I might lose my mind. It's in at least four commercials that I've heard on the radio and TV recently (including, of all things, one that I heard on La Tricolor). I'm curious who makes the royalties on that stuff. BTW--the re-mastered tracks really do sound a lot more clear--you can hear mistakes plain as day.

YouTube has been vibing out the whole band for months because we're not proud of some of the stuff that winds up there. The sound quality sucks, the picture quality sucks, and often there are embarassing moments captured. I found a couple of videos from our July 17th show at The Meadowlark. I'm always concerned about those "no PA support" shows, but this one wasn't as bad as I thought it was. The violin is a little screechy, but everything else seems relatively balanced, as much as one can tell from YouTube live videos. The poster's commentary is hilarious:

Terrific Denver band, never mind not being able to see anything in the video...listen to the music...



Can't see a thing, but still worth listening to...

¡Viva Lawn Darts, Bitches!

Indeed, I'm a Libertarian whacko. I've had enough of this two-party-bullshit. Anyone that has seen the light and wants to deal with the patriot act appropriately is my pal.

Weed (er...) FREEDOM! (in my best brave heart voice):

From Music Maven: Spotlighted Genre--Grindcore

My Doom Metal band, Denver Concrete Vibrator, is not doing well. We're "literal starving artists" with three songs (you're kidding me, right). Although we're hurtin', we have awesome groupies (my goal for the band):


















Music Maven provides some hilarious genre-based information:

While the term Grindcore has often been used somewhat interchangeably with death metal, the two started out as very different, albeit similarly extreme, forms of music, despite becoming more alike over the years. When it first appeared in the mid-'80s, grindcore in its purest form consisted of short, apocalyptic blasts of noise played on standard heavy metal instrumentation (distorted guitar, bass, drums). Although grindcore wasn't just randomly improvised, it certainly didn't follow conventional structure, either; while riffs could sometimes be picked out, pure grindcore never featured verses, choruses, or even melodies. Grindcore vocals sounded torturous, ranging from high-pitched shrieks to low, throat-shredding growls and barks; although the lyrics were usually quite verbose, they were very rarely intelligible. Grindcore's jaw-dropping aggression was so over the top that pointing to its roots in thrash metal and hardcore punk hardly gives an idea of what it actually sounds like. Indisputably, the band that invented grindcore was Napalm Death, whose 1987 debut album Scum is also perhaps the most representative example of the style. In Napalm Death's hands, grindcore was actually rather arty, a sonic metaphor for the bleakness, violence, and decay of modern society; the group's lyrics were additionally packed with angry social commentary. More extreme in the lyrical department was Carcass, the only other band to really epitomize the original grindcore sound; their gruesome, gory rants were literally taken from anatomical textbooks for maximum shock (and gonzo comedy) factor. However, grindcore's original form was inherently limiting, and its intensity could easily turn into self-parody; on Napalm Death's second album, they had already begun to experiment with industrial textures, a fusion that would prove popular not only with bands who loved the jackhammer rhythms a drum machine could provide, but also with slower, moodier bands like Godflesh (itself a Napalm Death offshoot). Grindcore's blistering intensity was assimilated not only into underground heavy metal, but also into avant-garde and experimental music circles; Japanese noise bands like the Boredoms and Merzbow found it inspiring, and jazz musician John Zorn formed the grindcore-inspired group Painkiller (which featured former Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris). Although pure grindcore was a distinctly British phenomenon, the early albums by the Florida band Death — which ratcheted up the aggression and morbidity of prime Slayer — had a raw, crude, assaultive quality that made them extremely similar. Apart from adopting the low, demonic growl of the grindcore vocal style almost wholesale, American death metal bands with relatively limited technical ability who played at fast tempos often resembled grindcore outfits with song structures. In fact, by the '90s, Napalm Death's sound was virtually impossible to separate from either death metal or grindcore, and Carcass had become a full-fledged, even melodic, death metal band. One of the very few bands to stick with grindcore's original form was A.C. (aka Anal Cunt), which primarily employed it to a snottily humorous effect.

I Am A Guitar Zero (insert parenthetical here)

Everyone that knows me, fucking knows that I'm not much of a home video game player, like men my age are supposed to be, according to my mother. I do love pinball games (I might just school your ass on solid state tables on a good night--I need to drag Fuckin' Ronny up to Lyons), and certain arcade games of antiquity (I heart puzzle games) , but my Playstation 2 is virtually unused (that perspective shit makes me ill). I was totally addicted to DOOM in college, though (almost flunked out because of that).

I recently discovered an open source (whoot!), PC version of Guitar Hero, called Frets On Fire.

I suck at this shit, really. I've been attempted to rock out with my cock out, and it's just not happening. I can sort of pull off Danzig's Mother on the "supaeasy" setting, but I still can't do it right (this is fucking embarassing, because that's probably the easiest song ever written). As it turns out, the video game version is way way way more difficult than actually playing the fuckin' song.

I suck; I'm a banjo nobody.

This game sounds like it's more my speed (I just discovered it). Weed, yo. I think that I'll give it a shot. It sounds like games that I played back in the day on the BBS.
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Now playing: Bad Luck City - Andrew's Happy Song

Exactly....

Those damn fools were playing "HEY CAT!" with a fucking tiger. Not a good plan, dudes. Nitwit seems to like it (although she is harassed on the internets), though. The tiger story is fromhere:

Survivor told of taunting in U.S. tiger attack - paper
Sat Jan 19, 2008 6:24am IST

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A survivor of last month's tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo told the father of a teen-ager killed in the incident that they waved and yelled at the animal just before it struck, a newspaper reported on Friday.

Paul Dhaliwal, 19, said he, his brother Kulbir, 23, and friend Carlos Sousa, 17, stood atop a railing in front of the tiger exhibit while taunting the animal, the San Francisco Chronicle said, citing a police document filed in court.

The Dhaliwals have not described the event publicly, but police have been investigating whether the Christmas Day attack was provoked by taunting.

The female Siberian tiger scaled a 12-1/2-foot wall to attack them. She mauled the Dhaliwal brothers and killed Sousa before police shot her to death.

The document was an affidavit filed by police to request a warrant to search Kulbir Dhaliwal's car, the Chronicle said. During their search, they found marijuana and a partially filled bottle of vodka, it said.

Police have said they interviewed the two brothers, but the affidavit contained only information about what Sousa's father said he was told, the Chronicle said.

A police spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

The Denver Sound [Scene] RPG

(I'm not quite motivated to expand this one adequately--felt really nerdy and I'm really burnt out)

Whilst driving about the county today, I received a telephone call from Phoenix (don't get me started about that city). Dude was looking for the one they call "Grape Nuts" (thanks John--I've been laughing for days about that). Seriously, it's like we were married or something. I explained to dude that I didn't have a current number on me, and he says, "I have like five numbers for him, I'll try some of these other ones."

This incident has to affect my constitution and thus, my hip-points somehow; I'm not sure if it's a positive or a negative thing. In the game, zero hip-points means an agonizing social death. My character appears to be on the verge of the agonizing social suicide most of the time.

Tom Murphy could do a much better job of writing (or writting) this post.