Music Corner

St. Vincent a.k.a. Annie Clark and friends, played at the Cedar Cultural Center last night. I don’t make it out of the house as much as I used too, but for some reason I knew last night was a night I couldn’t miss. Last night was my first introduction to both of them, The Cedar and St Vincent. The Cedar was the perfect setting for this style of music. Starting off the set, St Vincent played “Now, Now” an intricate song that has so many little parts that I personally wondered how they were going to pull it off live. They did pull it off and continued to all night. Ending “Now, Now” with a wall of sound so full of energy, you knew you were in for a ride. The swaying lush “Jesus Saves, I Spend” was next, a song with a bouncing backing vocal that blends into the song so well. “Fasten your seatbelts, have we got some ballads for you”. Annie joked as they got ready to play “All My Stars Aligned”. A romantic ballad that feels like it’s from another era until it takes an unexpected turn at the end. Then the fun Bossa Nova styled “Human Racing” was next…so classy. Followed by “Landmines” a slow gentle song with bits of harp, and I’m not talking harmonica. I think the weakest part of the show or maybe the song I was least impressed with was the cover of The Beatles – Dig a Pony. It just felt a little raw and I don’t think that’s a good side for (St. Vincent) Annie. “Marry Me”, her title track from the CD was next. I thought her main instrument was guitar until she sat down in front of the piano and played it so effortlessly. A new song “Mother…” was next. I’m not sure of the full title. By this time the show was starting to wind down. “Paris is Burning” was next. The way it slowly builds to an alarmed ending really gives it a sense of urgency. Songs “Your Lips Are Red” and “What Me Worry” ended the show, both amazing songs also. As you can tell by my play by play of the concert I had a good time. I really love the CD and the live show was just what I needed to restore my faith in new music.

Due to the cold weather Magnesium Studio will be closed indefinitely. During this time we will be doing more sound research in the upper level of the building. Also an unfortunate winter cold has incapacitated the composer, producer, sound engineer, and performer. The owner/operator of this small studio is fine with this, and he hopes it’s a short term situation. It is true the music coming out of the studio has been temporarily silenced but we know soon enough we will be back at it, making the music of the future tomorrow.

In the past two weeks I’ve been to two major label band concerts. This is not like me. Out of the blue, Shalene said that she wanted to go to the Counting Crows for a birthday present. While buying the tickets I noticed Rush tickets were on sale. I’ve never seen Rush in concert and thought it would be fun to see Rush’s amazing drummer perform one of his drum solos. So I asked my friend Darren (who also plays the drums) if he wanted to go – he did.

The Counting Crows and Collective Soul played at Midway Stadium on the 1st of September. It was nice to be outside watching music on a perfect night. I came away very impressed with Collective Soul and not as impressed with the Counting Crows. Collective Soul wanted to be there, they thanked the Counting Crows for bringing them on tour. It came across with the energy and raw performance that they displayed. The Counting Crows performed a lot of their slower songs which to me seems to take the life out of a live show.

On Sunday, Darren and I went to Rush. Neither of us seemed really excited about going, you know, we didn’t have that anxious excited feeling-the same feeling I got when I was going to a lot of shows in my high school days. I think I yawned 3 or 4 times on the way down to the Xcel. Anyway, we entered and found our seats. It felt like a guy’s night out as I looked around. Well, there were the guys that brought their wives or girlfriends. Let’s just say there wasn’t a line for the ladies room. As the musicians played I was amazed, the songs sounded just like they did on the radio. I brought binoculars and ended up sharing with half the people in my row. I was transported back to a time of adolescent excitement and it kept getting better. After a 20 minute intermission the drum solo came during the second set. Both Darren and I traded back and forth with the binoculars; in an unspoken act, neither one of us held on too long. It was like rapid fire sharing. The band had three huge screens behind them. I found myself watching the screens thru the binoculars almost more than the actual band on the stage. I would pay to see them again…simply amazing.

Growing up a lot of kids would go to the mall and buy clothes with their expendable income. For me it was music. In about 15 minutes I could have a new cassette tape in my hands. All new, shiny and hard to open-because of the shrink wrap. I lived near a major mall and it was only a short journey by bike. It was a journey I made often, maybe too often. After some time I had accumulated a lot of music. “Wow, look at all these tapes”, I would think. “I really have my hands on the pulse of modern music.” Then something happened, the Compact Disc came along. Ah, Man. I tried to stay true to my cassette format, I really did. I would say that CD’s sounded too harsh. I would say, “I prefer the warm sound of taped music.” More time went by and my preferences grew weak and technology soon rolled over me, probably for the better. This in turn left me with an entire music collection in many different forms. Slowly I stopped listening to my tapes just around the time MP3’s started to gain popularity. Ah, Man, MP3’s.

Here it is 2007, I’ve converted the majority of my CD’s to MP3’s and I’m using a program to convert my tapes to MP3’s. When I’m done I should have more then 15,000 songs to listen to on my MP3’s player. Just in time for the new format change

I’m craving the new Shins CD. Yes, that’s right I said I’m CRAVING. It’s true I crave new music. If someone has something good to say about someone new, this tends to instill a craving. I saw The Shins on The Austin City Limits program one night, and that’s how it all started. I love the title of the CD, Wincing the Night Away. I know I’ll be getting this one soon.

As we know music has become completely generational. Whether it’s the first generation Rolling Stones of the Sixties or the Stone Roses of the nineties it’s all generational. But what I want to write about is the small generational gap I’ve run into lately. It’s lighter vs. camera phone. I remember we would show our love of a song with a sea of lighters. Now the cell phone is king. The arms go up and the pictures are taken. The times are a changin’.