random song

“I’m A Ram” by Al Green

Ain’t it funny that certain songs pop into your head when you’re supposed to be hard at work?

random song

Maybe this song isn’t so random after all…

“Fight The Power” by Public Enemy

This song solidified Chuck D’s status as the Baddest Man On The Planet.

I hate to cut this short, but I gotta go throw a trash can through a plate-glass window.

buddha machine

I got interested in ambient music around the same time my ex-wife asked me to move out.  I needed something to relax my mind, and the Clash just wasn’t doing it for me.  I randomly downloaded a few records that I thought might chill me out.  SiSe and Boards of Canada (both bands have made Weekly Soundtrack appearances) were a step in the right direction, but, as calming as they were, they were both too propulsive.  I was looking for something more static and trance-like.

Enter a musician named Matthew Cooper, who records under the name Eluvium.  His music is a droning cloud of keyboards and guitars, with almost no linear development.  A song like “New Animals From The Air” consists of a three-note drone.  The song seems to change over it’s ten-plus minutes due to the sheer number of loops he adds, but the drone remains constant.  Let the word go forth from this time and place, I adore Eluvium.  I loaded my iPod with them, I listened to them while I was trying to fall asleep in my new house, I probably would have had a stroke if I hadn’t found those records.  The problem with Eluvium is that while each song holds the potential to go on forever, they were created for a technology (CD, MP3) that made that impossible.

All of which brings me to the Buddha Machine.  Created by Beijing-based ambient duo FM3, the Buddha Machine is a take-off of the Buddhist chant box.  Essentially, many people don’t want to chant endlessly at their temple so they buy a little box with a speaker that plays endless loops of chants.  FM3 created their own short drones and programmed them into the Buddha Machine.  Once the machine is turned on it will play a loop indefinitely  until the batteries die, or until you choose another drone.

I read a blurb about the Buddha Machine in last Friday’s Boston Herald (of all places), and I was instantly obsessed.  I ordered two online as soon as I got home, and I got them today.  I now have one box playing one drone and the other box playing a different one.  Every so often I switch the drone on one of the boxes.  It’s fucking magical.  I think I might sell my TV.

I don’t think they are everyone’s cup of tea, however.  I got some very strange looks trying to explain them to the people in my office.  I don’t expect everyone to run out and buy them.

(Bonus observation:  I actually bought the second version which has a rudimentary pitch controller.  I just used it to tune the pitch of one loop to match the loop playing on the other box.  I could play with these all night.)

brief random thoughts

You say the Arizona Cardinals are playing in the Super Bowl?  You expect me to believe that shit?  What the fuck do I know, though?  I think I only watched one game from start to finish this season, and I can’t even remember which game it was.  Pretty sure it was a Pats game, though.

I’m digging listening to my music in alphabetical order (by artist).  It makes for some good groupings.  This morning my daughter and I listened to Music Has the Right to Children by Boards Of Canada, who are a Scottish electronic duo, which segued right into Blonde On Blonde by Bob Dylan.  She danced a lot to the first record, and her eyes lit up when “Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again” started.  I felt like I had the coolest kid of all time.  Then she got dressed and asked me if she looked like Hannah Montana.  I need to remember that kids have no critical capacity at all.

I have the worst-equipped kitchen of all-time.  It’s fucking laughable.  I decided to boil some sweet potatoes and then mash them with a bunch of butter and brown sugar.  While they were boiling I realized that I don’t have any bowls to mash them in and I don’t have anything to mash them with.  When they were finished I dumped them in the strainer, rinsed out the pot I had boiled them in, put them back into the pot, and mashed them with a no-stick spatula.  Not elegant, but they are quite tasty.

Another cooking note:  don’t bother with chicken breasts.  Buy a couple of packages of boneless thighs instead.  They’re much cheaper, and dark meat rules!

I’d like to think I’m getting into a groove with the woman I’ve been seeing.  She’s totally cool.  She’s smart and artistic and pretty and easy to talk to.  Plus she loves the Stones.  Really now, you can’t ask for much more than that.

utterly random video i didn’t know existed until, like, ten minutes ago

I was searching around trying to find the Cat Power version of “Space Oddity” that’s on that stupid Lincoln commercial.  I don’t particularly care for that song, and I think that Cat Power is kinda boring, but I see that commercial all the time and I’m kinda digging her interpretation.  I can’t find the full song anywhere, but I did find this:

You’ll thank me later.

weekly soundtrack

The Charlie Parker Edition

I don’t know why I love be-bop so much.  It’s impossibly arcane, incredibly technical, and can only be played well by musicians with infallible improvisational skills.  Basically, it’s music that goes against everything I believe in.  I’m all for big slovenly chords, ragged leads, and wandering tempos.  There’s a lot to be said for the primal thump of basic rock n’ roll, but somehow I get the same charge out of the rigorous science of be-bop.  Charlie Parker is the fucking Einstein of be-bop.

“Salt Peanuts”

I once kept a carload of agitated kids entertained by playing this song over and over.  They thought the vocals were hilarious.  This was probably their first ever encounter with jazz, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was their last.  Too bad for them.

“Ornithology”

Once upon a time I was able to play (more or less) the head of this tune on guitar.  For all you squares the “head” is the lead melody before the solos.  Usually it’s played twice.  Like I say, I could stumble my way through it, but once the solos started I was relegated to the sidelines.

“Parker’s Mood”

This isn’t be-bop, but it is the most beautiful music ever recorded.  Parker plays an incredibly imaginative first solo and then lays out for the piano.  He returns to play perhaps the greatest jazz solo of all time.  I can’t describe it any better than that.  For Christ’s sake, just listen to the damn song!

inauguration day

Be happy that you’re alive on the most important and momentous day in American history.  If any of my clients call during Obama’s swearing-in I’ll personally tell them to fuck the fuck off.

“A Change Is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke

To all you NPR fans, yes I blatantly stole this song choice from Weekend Edition.  I doubt that Scott Simon is gonna sue me.

yet another sunday song

“O My Soul” by Big Star

So, yeah, I’ve gone from Big Black to Big Star.  I’m listening to my music in alphabetical order.  You got a problem with that?

I’m gonna get all guitar-geeky right now.  Listen closely during the guitar solo and you can hear Chilton switch his Stratocaster from the fourth pickup position (bridge and middle pickups) to the fifth position (bridge pickup).  A distinct tonal change.  I think it’s safe to say that I have too much time on my hands.

another sunday song

“ergot” by Big Black

This song is only two and a half minutes long, but it seems much, much longer.  I might be the only person in the world who honestly enjoys listening to this album.

sunday song

“Fearless” by American Music Club

The narcoleptic pace of this song is perfectly in-sync with my hangover.

I know that I keep coming back to this, but love is a lot of hard work.  And here’s the thing.  You’re never working as hard as you think.