My Bad Attraction song won Songfight. Hooray! Cool experience, very fun, lots of nice people met. Thanks to everyone who voted for me! You can read all the feedback my song got here if you're interested.
On Friday night I saw Grandaddy live in Montreal. They were fantastic, you should check them out if they show up near you.
As I am competing in Songfight this week, I am going to log all the critiques people post in this thread here like Bryan at Blind Mime does. So far we have: "I liked the musical intro. Well performed. I can't stand this radio style unfortunately; any number of (to me, irritating) mainstream bands might have written this, which may be a compliment to you. Take it how you see it. Decent use of the title with the “satisfaction/bad attraction†bit. 6" - Jesse
"It got my vote." - untoward
"just great, everything about it i liked. even went to you site to get a few other songs." - Self Supporting Squirrel Cage (hi!)
"This is a solid rock song. It's not really my thing, but it's not bad." - Lady PFM
"WROCK! You totally pull off a believeable gritty vibe here. Again, I compare to the White Stripes. "I can tell by your middle finger that you're warming up to me." Funny as hell. I like this a lot, actually, though I can't be much more specific. I just happen to be in the mood for this kind of music, I guess, and when I'm in the mood for it, I seriously love this stuff. Keeper." - Jon Eric
"from the intro alone, you could have told me that this was a new audioslave song and i'd never question it. the vocals help carry into its own direction. the "middle finger" line is amusing to me. the snare is so deliciously overcompressed. i always loved overcompressing programmed drums. rock and roll in its true form is a rarity around these parts, so you're already doing well in my book. a better guitar tone could have gotten you the b+, but i shall give you a B due to the painful midrange and lack of low end." - The Idiot King
"Very good vocals. Ben Harper meets Eddie Vedder. A lot of music of this style is attempted on SF, but it rarely works. I wish the chorus were a little more interesting. With the one-chord verses, my ear is begging for a change of any kind in the chorus, but it really sounds just like the verse. Too bad, because otherwise this is solid, and if it ends up winning I won't feel that the world is unjust. 6." - Jimmy KO
"You had me from the beginning. I picture this as Led Zeppelin and Nirvana meeting up in a dark alley. The vocals are great, the production is tight, the lyrics are cool.. The guitar tone is kick-ass, the solo rocks. It is VERY likely that you will get my vote.
CHANCES THAT I WILL LISTEN TO THIS SONG AGAIN = Will listen to this one over, and over, and over, and...." - Glenn Case
"Brad does not suck! Lemme tell you that! I mean, sure, you've got the cock in the rock, but it uh, rolls! Or something! Good music, yessir. Sounds very good for having two electrics and no bass. ****" - sparks
"this one is huge. I absolutely love the vibe this has going for it. Great guitar riff, great vocals which perfectly match the vibe of the guitar. This is what guy and guitar should sound like. Very lenny kravitz, hendrix, jon spencer. This will be very hard to beat. Nice ending too" - jack shite
"No point in stopping the comparisons now...this reminds me of a Lennie Kravits song. A lot. It really rocks too. Good vocals also. I'd love to hear a nice dirty bass line on this one. And then see the video. 5/5" - Tryx Nia
"Brad sure as hell doesn't suck; he's actually quite good. I like the intro, a lot. And all of your transitions are smooth and great. The song is catchy and the guitar playing is slick. Though it's not complex it gets to the point and is played without any kind of missed notes. Good tempo and good key. I like it, maybe if it was longer you could do more...89%" - Intense
"I don't really like the style, but I can appreciate that this is very well done. I won't pick on your tag because I'm prone to the same sort of thing, and, hey, at least you spelled "reaction" right." - bzl
"quite like this one. really like the guitar grunts in the beginning, nice vox, nice changes. cool. yer the spam guy! sounds a bit like lenny kravitz." - HeuristicsInc
"I like this a lot. It's well produced and interesting. Kinda like Lenny Kravitz vs a mellow Rob Zombie. Or maybe not. Your voice fit the song excellently, and it was the right legnth. I dont' know what Brad Sucks at, but it wasn't this week's entry. +" - prayformojo
"This is like something I might have heard on Canadian rock radio in the 90's. Very tight sound, but needs more low frequencies, either from a bass guitar, or just pull more lows out of the kick and snare to compensate." - remopear
"Everyone whining about 'it doesn't have enough bass,' shut it. This song rocks the god-damn socks, bass or no bass. Buy some new speakers. This is my new favorite 'get out of bed and get myself psyched up to CHAT ON IRC' song. I mean, work. Work, not chat on IRC." - Blue
"I like the production and your slacker presentation. A lot. I don't knwo your influences that well, so I probably misinterpret what you say about them. I don't associate that impression with what I hear you producing. Most likely, this means nothing." - roymond
"Ahh! Rockin' groove. I wish the guitar were a little more "ringy" and a bit "feedbacky", but other than that, it grooves me. The vocals sound awesome. I enjoy the "middle finger" reference thoroughly. Rox0r. " - adjuster
"BRADRAWKS: This is a cross between AudioSlave, Lenny Kravitz, and CLUTCH. This is my favorite song this week. Anybody who screams SATISFACTION over really cool screaming guitars is my hero of the day. I really really like the groove. I like the raw energy and simplicity of the sound. Just rocks out. I like the lyrics especially about the eye socket stuff. This gets thrown into the collection and gets my vote. Great work Brad." - Hoblit
More as they're posted.
Bad AttractionGenre: Rock/Blues Length: 3:12 Date: 08/06/03 Album: Brad Sucks: I Don't Know What I'm Doing
This is a song I made for Songfight. It was written and recorded in under a day because I slacked until the last moment. I used Songfight as an excuse to try to rock.
Here's a Metafilter thread about this Ars Technica article. From the article:
The big question is: why. Why is the RIAA launching such a public offensive against its own customers when obviously the greatest threat to their business right now are real pirates?
I think that one's pretty obvious. It's because much more dangerous to their business than street pirates is everyone collectively deciding those guys aren't actually doing anything illegal. Which is what's been rapidly happening. It's only against the law as long as the majority of the public agrees not to break that law.
As somebody who makes music from time to time, I'm getting a little tired of reading arguments about whether P2P file sharing is wrong or not. I don't think it matters if it's wrong and I don't think scaring or shaming people into paying for music is going to work. You may be able to put the hurt on the Napsters and Kazaas right now, but networks are only going to get cooler and cooler. Everyone knows it's all changing, it's just a question of who's going to be able to adapt. (Everyone knows that too.)
I treat CDs like I treat paypal donations to websites right now. I know that if Artist X doesn't at least pay off what it cost to get their album on the shelves, there might not be another album because they'll go do something that actually pays the bills instead. With some artists I don't care. With others that I think are doing something special, I want to support them in a small way.
And I'm not even forcing myself out of some sort of moral or ethical obligation. It comes naturally when you realize that there's a very real bottom line in the music making process.
I am trying like heck to put a song together for Songfight this week, which is due Wednesday morning. The title is "Bad Attraction" and I am dumb and lazy and got a late start on it last night. I have the music written but I need to record some screamin and yellin tomorrow morning. We'll see.
Well, I thought I was going to be really hard-up for songs for Outside the Inbox but at the last moment lots of submissions came in and they are so awesome. A few people have asked for some more time so if you thought your dreams of being on the compilation was lost forever, hurry up and it can still be a reality.
Digitallandfill.co.uk will contain in total 82 short audio loops. Download them, and use them to make your own audio track, add as much of your own sound as you like, as long as you respsect copyright laws (see the legal bit below). You may mess around with the loops themselves too as much as you like. Be inventive and interesting. Go nuts. But don't just slap them on top of your demo tape, that's not going to impress anyone.
I'm not really sure how these guys are affiliated with Radiohead but I guess I don't really care either.
Remember Outside the Inbox? Remember how it was a compilation of indie musicians writing songs titled after spam subjects? Remember how the submissions were due August 1st? Well... like... they still are. If you're working on a track but think you might need a bit of extra time, please email me and let me know. Thanks to everybody who has already submitted tracks!
Went to the Physiotherapist. Looks like at my worst I had both tennis elbow and golfer's elbow (the difference is whether the issue is on the inside or outside of the elbow). Cortisone cured the tennis elbow but the golfer's elbow is still happening. I was treated with ultrasound and electric stimulation today and now have a brace on my right arm to take the strain off the tendon when I use it. I also have stretches to do and I have to ice the arm often. All in all, it went pretty well and I am excited about the idea of being fully operational again. I will continue however to play no tennis or golf.
I am giving mixing the finger. BLOOP. Spent a bunch of time working on mixing tracks for my album thingy today, they're getting close to being done and I am getting close to going crazy. What can I say other than that the manipulation of sound is stupid and needs a punch in the neck when it's not paying any attention.
Tomorrow I hit my first physiotherapy session to fix my gimp arm.
A Modest Proposal To The RIAA. Kevin Aylward writes that casual music swappers could be persuaded to run a piece of software that certified their computer as free of copyright violations if given free music by the music industry. It's an interesting idea, but I'm not really sure how such a piece of software would work. How could you keep it from being cracked wide open and abused?
The end of the Pet Rock Star^S Blogathon. You can check out the two songs that were recorded in 24 hours, raising $1,120 for the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation. All pretty awesome, congratulations Shannon and Scott!
Scott and Shannon have finished their first song. It's been pretty awesome watching it all unfold and also having Shannon's mom call me a bitch. Rock on!
Blogathon 2003 is a-go and I'm finding it pretty cool. I posted this thread to Metafilter to find out what other Blogathons people are watching and to get the word out about my favorite at the moment, Pet Rock Star^S. From Metafilter I have found out about Crushing Krisis, who is, apparently the original song blogger.
If I have the stones, I may try this myself one day. I'm not sure I could condense all my retarded artist angst into a 24 hour period however.
Robert X. Cringely has come up with a pretty interesting shit-disturbing music industry scheme he calls Son of Napster. It's a lengthy article with a lot of stock talk I don't understand, but the general idea seems to be: someone starts a public company and buys all the CDs on the market. Then Brad comes along and buys one share in the company for $20, making me part owner of all of the CDs currently on the market. Under Fair Use, allegedly I should be legally entitled to copies of all of those CDs.
Clever idea. I'm not sure how possible it is, but I'd really like to see someone try it.
Everyone should be paying attention to Scott Andrew and Shannon Campbell's Pet Rock Star^S blogathon project:
For 24 straight hours on July 26, Shannon Campbell and Scott Andrew will be co-writing songs online as part of Blogathon 2003, to raise funds for the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation.
Shannon and Scott will be posting every step of the songwriting process here on this site — lyrics, melodies, rough mix MP3s, everything.
Very cool project for a noble cause. I'm real interested to see how it goes and have made my small pledge. Good luck Scott and Shannon!
I begin physiotherapy for my arm next week on Tuesday and Thursday. I'm pretty jazzed to hopefully get this retarded arm juiced back up to full nerding and rocking capacity. I am also getting dangerously close to finishing the compilation of my music, which I will call 'my album'. I'll be glad when that's over with.
Assuming I would be crucified for making a song that sounds, well, like it does, I posted Making Me Nervous to Somesongs. To my surprise it's not being bashed as quickly as I assumed it would. You can check it out here. As of this posting it's rated 9.29 with 7 votes and some nice comments. I assume as more people check it out the rating will go down (there's always a 'bad' vote in there somewhere to ruin the day). But that's still far better than I expected it to do.
DM2 to MIDI adds the delicious power of MIDI to the previously almost useless Mixman DM2 turntable controller. I secretly wanted one of these last Christmas, but after I found out it had no MIDI support I blew it off.