5-10-15-20... Ripping off a Feature by Pitchfork

So here's music I liked at five year intervals (ala Pitchfork's feature where they interview people and ask them this) in my life because I can't sleep anymore but I don't want to "get up" yet.

AGE 5
Green Day -- Insomniac
I grew up on music my dad listened to, more or less. My mom listened to a lot of bad modern country in addition to what my dad's Beatles and Rolling Stones and Steve Miller and Allman Brothers and Fleetwood Mac. Lots of 70s rock. So when my brother brought home a cassette of this band called Green Day and started playing it on his shitty little tape player speakers, I was a bit excited. I'd never heard anything quite like it. When I tried singing along, my siblings encouraged me not to, because there were bad words! People in the songs weren't happy! My parents didn't like it! On top of it all, it was catchy. It was exciting. This was my introduction to modern alternative rock.

AGE 10
Weezer -- Weezer [The Blue Album]
"In the Garage" was the song that defined me pre-teen puberty years. I was nerdy, anti-social, "misunderstood," etc. This entire album felt like it could have been sung by me (at least that's what I felt like when I listened to it back then). Somehow it gave me strength to be like "YEAH, fuck everyone, I can be myself! ...By sitting alone in my bedroom and listening to Weezer and playing video games." Again, I discovered this album through my brother. While he was also getting into Sublime and various hip-hop and bad rap-metal... Weezer was the one band that sung to me. Even though Weezer was geeky and totally uncool... they were, paradoxically, the coolest band ever to me. In reality, I wasn't all that disillusioned or sad. I was just a little bit weird for a ten-year-old. Still, nothing made that weirdness feel as okay as Weezer. Several years later, their later albums would find their way into my hands, followed by their 1996 masterpiece sophomore effort, Pinkerton, which would firmly entrench their place in my musical heart.

AGE 15

Radiohead -- OK Computer

Winter/Spring 2005 was a rough time in adolescence. MySpace was the name of the game. Sad sad sad depressed depressed depressed, hoping someone would come save me from my own misery. Luckily, instead of dressing like a dark anime character and listening to bad, depressed pop-punk-emo, I got into Radiohead, which has since become my favorite band. Before this, all I had heard from them was a few songs from 2003's Hail to the Thief and all of 1995's The Bends. OK Computer (1997) turned out to be perfectly ironic for the me that wanted nothing more than to hide behind a computer screen and feel my social skills further devolve while listening to Thom Yorke wail about paranoia and the devolution of Western civilization in the face of technological evolution. And that was 8 years before I heard it all. At 15 years old I couldn't quite comprehend the scale of what Radiohead was getting at, but the music pretty much blew my mind. I didn't know guitars could make those noises! I didn't know those chord progressions were ALLOWED. I didn't know songs could be so crazy yet so amazing. Radiohead was my gateway drug to even crazier music... but they're still my favorite today.

AGE 20

Igor Stravinsky -- The Rite of Spring

I don't know if I will ever love a classical piece of music as much as this. If you've called my phone in the past year, you'd know that one of its memorable sections is my ringback tone (well, was... I didn't feel like paying $2 to renew it, and a lot of people hated it anyways). The Rite of Spring caused RIOTS when it was premiered. Many (such as myself) remember being terrified by it and the accompanying earth-birth/dinosaur scene from Disney's Fantasia. The piece was first accompanied by a ballet, the original choreography of which has been lost, but modern choreographers still manage to make incredibly horrifying and primal dances to go along with it today. Nothing has ever been able to achieve quite what Igor Stravinsky's ridiculous piece has. After going years having forgotten it, my Art of Listening to Music class reminded me of its fantastic horrors. I haven't looked back since. I can only dream of writing music so seemingly paradoxically visceral and intellectually challenging.

--Jon

Five (5) (V) Albums to Which I Have Been Listening Lately

In no particular order (except for when I think of them):

Sufjan Stevens -- All Delighted People EP

Until Friday, when my favorite project/genre/state-hopping singer/songwriter/storyteller/composer announced that he would be releasing a brand new full length album entitled The Age of Adz in October, I was confused as to why Stevens referred to this completely-out-of-nowhere album as an EP; it's 60 minutes long (most EPs are less than 30 minutes) and it's pretty dense (and excellent, I might add). Then, upon the aforementioned full-length announcement, I realized that this is more of a prelude to that full-length. Regardless, upon first excitedly listening to this album all the way through, sitting on my bed under the covers, laptop fulfilling its namesake (by sitting on my lap), Sennheiser headphones covering my ears... I was totally blown away. Fans of his hadn't had new recorded SONGS from him since 2006, when he released Illinois outtakes and a Christmas boxset. This was much-needed. Sufjan's voice is braver, but also more panicked. His orchestrations are more erratic and adventurous. His palette has expanded, now encompassing 70s prog, blues and psychedelia (although he had hinted at these colors previously, here they form the primary bases at several points). Of course, he also plays his old low-key-acoustic-whisper and haunting-piano-ballad cards, but this time around the cards are new and improved, breaking out in subtle but noticeable ways (whether using strange chord progressions, strange melodies, or even just drenching his vocals in reverb/delay). Throughout the entire "EP," powerful but ambiguous emotions take root and threaten to explode (at some times doing so with the energy of an atomic bomb, and with far more frequency than ever in his previous work), from the nails-on-chalkboard Psycho-esque ending of the title track to the several chanted climaxes of set-closer "Djohariah," which seems to be a heartfelt ode to his little sister and her troubles in life... in the form of an 18-minute Pink Floyd-inspired jam, choirs and brass invited. Perhaps my opinion of this album can be best represented by telling you what I did right after finishing listening to it for the first time: I went back to the beginning and listened to again, all the way through. Considering this is probably just a hint of what's to come, maybe even the leftovers to hold us over... I'm ecstatic for what's to come. Album of the year? I'm betting on it.

Okay, I can't talk that much about the rest of these albums...

The Knife -- Silent Shout

2006 was the year I started paying attention to indie music (ie, reading Pitchfork). At that point, evilly-catchy/catchily-evil electro-pop didn't sound appealing to me. Now it's my the perfect antiodte for summer boredom. So yes, I'm a little bit late to the game of realizing how awesome The Knife's 2006 LP is (especially this song; I cannot help but dance a little when I hear it). I don't really dance. When I do, it's more just bobbing around at the concerts of bands I really like, or bobbing around in front of my computer or while I'm driving or playing an instrument or something. I'm always really excited when I find dance music this inventive that actually makes me want to bob around unashamedly.

The Arcade Fire -- The Suburbs

My putting this album on this list might be a little bit misleading. Although I've been a pretty big fan of The Arcade Fire for several years... this is definitely my least favorite album by them. While most critics and fans have been adoring it, I find the great majority of it to be incredibly boring. Maybe it's the several songs that can be described as "moderate tempo, folky, major-key, four-chord shuffles," or the fact that the instrumentation this time around is profoundly unadventurous and low-key, or how Win Butler keeps repeating the same little slogans (ie, "the kids"), or just how incredibly PRETENTIOUS the whole thing is, from the album title to the tracklisting (ah yes, two-part songs (actually just two different songs that happen to have the same name). Regardless of my criticism for it, The Suburbs does have its high points. "The Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" is a fun song, and I thoroughly enjoy "Ready to Start," "Empty Room," and "Month of May." Beyond that... most of it is just pretty damn mediocre to my ears; not enough over-the-top bombast for my Arcade Fire taste. And while they've tended to take themselves a bit too seriously for awhile now, at least on Funeral they sounded like they had fun writing the songs.

Yeasayer -- Odd Blood

Okay, I've only really been listening to a handful of songs from this album ("Madder Red" is my current favorite)... but I have a feeling the rest of it is about to grow on me. And that handful of songs is really interesting. The production on it reminds me a bit of Paul Simon's Graceland without just doing the whole indie-hipster-world-music-crossover thing (*coughvampireweekendcough*). They write fun pop-rock songs, and then make them really cool. The whole thing is very 80s-esque somehow. It's hard to explain. Again, haven't listened too much, need to listen more. Just take my word for it and listen yourself.

Broken Social Scene -- Forgiveness Rock Record

Broken Social Scene has been one of those bands for me where I remember a couple of songs, and I know the rest are good... they just don't stick in my head. They're always pleasant to listen, but I don't go to them very often. They're like that guy/girl you're not really friends with, but you have friends that know them pretty well, and they're always fun to hang out with, but you know you just don't care enough to actually "become friends" with them (On second thought... I don't think I actually know anyone like that. Maybe I do. I don't know. I'm too sleepy to think about this.). With this album, Broken Social Scene got rid of the excess members and sonic space-hoarders, slimming down to the core members and streamlining their sound. The result speaks for itself. This was a triumph. I'm making a note here: huge success. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction. Aperture Scie--er, the album is really good. I remember more songs. The album is easier to listen to all the way through without forgetting that you're listening to an album. You're no longer wincing trying to figure what instruments are playing where/when in that mess of musicians fighting for breathing room in the mix. It's more song-based rather than sonic-journey-through-a-low-budget-museum based. Take a listen for yourself. "Forced to Love" is my favorite track.

~ * ~

Okay, I need to go to sleep. I woke up at 5:50 this morning about, and it was about 2:00am before I finally got to sleep before that I think. So I'm a bit sleep deprived. BUT I'M IN BELLINGHAM. Today is a good day, because I am no longer in the old-people-colony that is Sequim.

--Jon

What Makes a Good Video Game [for Me]

I'm rather picky when it comes to video games. I generally don't enjoy first-person shooters, MMORPGs, or sports games. I've come to realize that there are a few important things I look for in a game that many other people probably don't really care about.

MUSIC
In order for me to fully enjoy a video game, it should have an appropriate soundtrack that goes far beyond background music and actually contributes to the mood of the game. Be this mood horror, sorrow, thrilling suspense, or pure unadulterated epicness, a game's soundtrack should fully complement the action that's taking place. My favorite movies tend to have excellent soundtracks as well. I guess being that music tends to consume my life (in a good way!), it's not surprising that video game music, of all things, would be so important to me.

GAMEPLAY
Probably a big ol' DUH. At least it should be. But people tend to buy those stupid Madden games every year. When it's essentially the same game. With slightly different teams. And nowadays not even slightly improved graphics. EA Sports has suckered in so many stupid, rich bros into buying sports games every year, so good for them, I guess? In any case, the game just needs to be FUN to play. It shouldn't be too much of a labor, or merely addicting, or anything like that. That's why I can't get into as many Western RPGs and MMOs; once you get down to it, the gameplay is really boring. You press attack, and then stand there. Sometimes you cast a spell. Then you run to the next guy, hoping to get a good random drop from each fight. Booooring. At least in something like Shadow of the Colossus, where you're running from fight to fight, the way to the fight is actually REALLY PRETTY and interesting, and then the fights themselves are epic as all hell. I'm also a big fan of interesting and inventive gameplay, ala Heavy Rain, Katamari, and Flower. A game should, in some way, entertain me.

STORYLINE
Sometimes this isn't so important, but games with interesting, emotional storylines tend to be my favorites. I'll often play video games for the same reason that people read and watch Harry Potter. I want to be sucked into a world with real characters making real decisions, having real effects on the world around them. This is why I love Final Fantasy. On top of the fantastic music that I already showcased, Final Fantasy has great storylines. It's not Shakespeare; there are sometimes gaping plot holes and completely undeveloped characters and shoddy writing in general, but the game is big enough that you can ignore the little things and focus on the big, epic picture. Even if the storyline is only implied through visuals, like in Flower, it can make or break a game. On the other hand, I can forgive games like Katamari, Fat Princess, and LittleBigPlanet for having outright stupid storylines, because those light-hearted games would suffer if they had some kind of immense story with heavy character development and such. But even games like Silent Hill or Metal Gear Solid need good stories to push them from "decent game" into "great game" territory.

~ * ~

That's, uh... that's it.

--Jon

Final Fantasy XIII: Awesome, but... (a game review)

Boy oh boy, was I excited for this game. This summer I played through Final Fantasy X, and it was an amazing experience. I attempted to play through XII, and was extremely disappointed. But after years of footage and images and news stories piling up and showing that this game might be a new favorite, I started getting more than a little STOKED. Overall, I'd definitely have to say that excitement paid off, but not without a few cringes and eye-rolls.

I'll start off with the things that I loved about this game. First of all and easiest to agree on and talk about, the graphics. Wow. The transition between CG and in-game graphics is getting close to being seamless, and the world presented is totally gorgeous. Look here for an example (just skip to about 4 minutes in; that would be the opening of the game, which throws you right into the action).

The gameplay is rather awesome; arguably one of the best battle systems that the series has seen, aside from Final Fantasy X. I'm quite glad they did away with the boring MMORPG-like shittiness of XII and decided to bake up a fresh take on the ATB system that's both exciting and strategic. The crystarium system, the new vehicle of character growth, is also great; it's a bit similar to the sphere grid of Final Fantasy X, but a little easier to work with. Many people have expressed strong dislike of the linearity of the game, but I didn't mind so much; I'd say it's largely a reflection of the nature of the storyline (being fugitives constantly on the run doesn't give you much time to wander around cities where everyone wants you dead). I think people have just been spoiled by Western RPGs like Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and Dragon Age, which I would argue lack any kind of focus. Personally, I enjoyed the streamlined gameplay; it makes the storyline, IMO the most important part of the game, more up-front, and makes it all make sense.

Now, what I really want to talk about: the plot [SPOILER ALERT]. The plot started out being among my favorites in the series. The game's primary setting is Cocoon, an enormous Death Star-like world (but even BIGGER) that floats above Pulse, a more naturey world seen by Cocoon citizens as Hellish; anyone that comes into contact with anything from Pulse is seen as a virus and immediate threat to society that needs to be wiped out on the spot. Both worlds are run by gods known as fal'Cie that tend to the humans like pets. Long ago, Pulse and Cocoon warred, with no particular winner.

After the game's opening, six characters are thrown together via some sort of chance happenings and bound to the same fates; they have been marked by Pulse fal'Cie and made into tools of their home's destruction (l'Cie). Now all of them are on the run, trying to figure out how to get loved ones back, avoid their pursuers, stay alive, and figure out how to get rid of their marks, lest time runs out and their turn into monstrous, mindless, zombie-like beings (Cie'th). In their journey across their home of Cocoon, we are shown flashbacks of the thirteen days before the game's opening, which shed light on present events. Namely, two of the six characters are revealed to be from the lower-world of Pulse, having awoken from a several-hundred-year-crystal-sleep and caused the characters to be in the bind they're now all in. It's a very emotional journey, with some pretty prominent and tough themes (destiny, loyalty, government/religion-led fear-mongering, forgiveness). The pacing of it is just right, and kept me on the edge of my seat, even if we were just wandering through a junk-heap or a manufactured forest/bioweapon-production lab.

However, about halfway through the game, everything is shattered by a crazy plot-twist: the characters were being guided and kept alive by a rogue Cocoon fal'Cie that wants to destroy its world as a sacrifice to bring back its super-God Maker, which created the world and left it in disarray. This is all revealed right after he kills the only primary villain up to that point. At this point, despite some of the most epic boss battle music ever, the game really loses some of its focus. The characters end up on Pulse (which is a bit less hellish than the government would have liked its citizens to know) and wander around aimlessly for awhile (ironically, this is when most people seem to think the game gets better). Eventually they end up at two of the characters' former homes, now overrun by monsters, Cie'th, and a mysterious, light crystal snow (which, unfortunately never is explained). This part is probably the best since that goofy plot twist. After another encounter with the aforementioned rogue fal'Cie, Barthandalus, the characters go back up to Cocoon to stop its destruction.

The invasion scene that accompanies this is completely ridiculous and anime-like, having probably been done by the same people that made the similarly ridiculous Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Anyways, the characters make it through the city, all epic-like, and the game picks up and starts being good again. Then, suddenly, it seems like the writers of the game got to crunch time and started running out of ideas, so they killed off a really awesome character without even a shred of emotion, and then threw everyone into a tedious labyrinth to the final boss. Amidst that fight, things get REALLY ridiculous and confusing... and then they get even MORE ridiculous and confusing... until the ending movie of the game, which made me throw my palm to into my face. Suddenly, boom, EVERYTHING IS HAPPY. Even though the characters kind of fucked up by almost fulfilling their literally-god-given-duty of destroying their home-world... they and their world is saved by what they call a "miracle," and what I call "bad writing," and/or "bad planning." That super-God "Maker" guy I talked about? Never even shows up. They could have really done something with that if he had, and accentuated some of the themes of the game. They could have done a lot of stuff that would have made the game more awesome than it was. Instead, it's just kind of awesome. Fortunately, they're thinking of doing a direct sequel to this game, which hopefully will be better than Final Fantasy X-2, and could tie up some very, very loose ends.

Another complaint I have about this plot is the lack of depth at some points. How did Lightning and Serah's parents die? How did that affect them? How did Snow meet Serah? How did Sazh's wife die? How did that affect them? What happened to Vanille and Fang's hometown? Does the Maker actually exist, or is it just some myth that the fal'Cie made up? Or is that question meant to go unanswered? Whatever happened to Hope's father? Where WERE Serah and Dajh when they were in crystal suspension? What happened to the rest of NORA (I did like that they at least appeared in the final chapters of the game, but...)? It's these sorts of unanswered questions that frustrated me the most. [SPOILER ALERT OVER]

Despite all the negative stuff about the plot, I still loved most of it. My eyes almost got watery at a couple of points, and I found my heart beating fast and my hands clenched at the controller at some of the more poignant points in the story. The game was incredibly fun to play. The soundtrack was AMAZING. I wouldn't have wanted anyone other than Masashi Hamauzu to take over the series' music (except maybe Yasunori Mitsuda); I really admired his work on Final Fantasy X. He does even better on this soundtrack. His adaptations of the chocobo theme are ingenious, and unlike the music to XII (man, it really seems like I'm hating on that game... probably rightfully so), he manages to make epic, blood-pumping music that is really enjoyable to listen to. He also did a phenomenal job with his usage of leitmotifs throughout the game.

I think I've talked enough about the game. It was good! Go play it!

FINAL SCORE: +3.7 (on a scale of -5 to +5)

--Jon

Craziest Week Ever!

It's not even Finals Week yet, and I have a final every day this week except Monday. On top of THOSE finals, I have to finish two 800 word lecture reviews that I procrastinate on, prepare for finals and juries next week, prepare a radio show for this weekend, prepare for practically-sight-reading with the orchestra this weekend, entertain my parents when they visit me this weekend, band concert this weekend, band concert I just finished, attend the last club meetings of the quarter, and on top of that all I figured out the next four years of my life last night, and it looks like I'll be in college for a total of 5.6 years. And beside all of this, I bought Final Fantasy XIII. It's fantastic. But I have no time to play it because of all of this stuff going on! BLAARGH! This is madness!

...Madness...?

THIS.

IS.

COLLEGE.

--Jon

p.s., on a side-note, I'm in the Wind Symphony next quarter, we're playing an awesome epic piece, and the composer will be in residence! Huzzah! AND. Bianco will have the biggest Mahler hammer ever. :D

Musically Disadvantaged

Be warned; this is going to be rather stream-of-conscious-esque.

I didn't grow up in a wealthy family. We were the epitome of "lower middle class." My dad jumped from job to job with his worker's union, and my mom worked at a local grocery store. We lived comfortably, but I didn't have a lot of the fancy gadgets that others had. On top of it all, we kind of lived in the middle of nowhere, in a small town with small schools, and hence not a totally prestigious music program (although, I have to say, Mr. Fosket has done wonders with what we did have). The nearest decently-sized city was a good hour away from where we lived. Two-hour round trip. We had a small house; a drum-set would have been out of the question in that place, as there would be nowhere to put it, let alone play it without driving my parents insane. My family wasn't a musical family. My sister, seven grades above me, went through the public music program that started at grade 6. She was the first in our family to play any instrument. We never had private lessons; we couldn't afford it, and there weren't many teachers in our area in the first place. I've seen pictures of now-amazing musicians when they were kids. Some of them, even as toddlers, had a mini drumset they played, or a toy keyboard. They had lessons starting at age 5. I didn't have any of that stuff. I didn't play music, aside from my tinkering on elementary school instruments, until 6th grade.

I remember one time in elementary school, there was some sort of culture assembly where some classical musicians came and played for us and talked to us about music. It totally enthralled me. I wanted to do what they did so badly (although at this point I was also totally enthralled by the motivational yoyoist that talked to us, too). In our music classes, I totally hated singing and dancing... but boy, when we took out this little tinker-toy mallet instruments and toy drums... I was in heaven. In fifth grade, I took a little evaluation to figure out what instrument I should play. I was a master of rhythm with those drumsticks. In sixth grade, I would be a percussionist.

And that happened. But my middle school band teacher wasn't the finest. He wasn't meant for the job he had. And something tells me he didn't give a rat's ass about what was going on way back in the percussion section in the back of the room. I took drums seriously. Very few others in that classroom did. I didn't have any professional lessons. Once or twice the local drum instructor came in and taught us "a thing or two." He wasn't meant for his job either. But he was what the area had. I essentially had to teach myself everything. One big thing did happen in middle school though (or, rather, didn't happen); I never actually really learned to read music. Sure I got the same basic instruction as everyone at the beginning. But as soon as he could, he threw me on timpani. There went my reading skills; right down the tube. To this day, I still have a very hard time reading music. I feel like if I had gotten some more decent training early on in my music career, I wouldn't be so disadvantaged now.

Fast-forward to high school. Bottom of the barrel. I barely knew how to play my instrument. A lot of others didn't, either. But by now those were the ones that were in this class because they knew it was an easy A, not because they wanted their lives enriched by music, or because they wanted to become better musicians, or even better drummers... they just wanted to hit shit and get an A for it. I could read music better than a lot of people there... but that wasn't saying much. To those who wanted to learn and needed to learn, Mr. Fosket taught. And I took in everything I could. But Mr. Fosket wasn't a percussionist, so he couldn't teach private lessons in them. At this point I didn't know what I wanted to do with music, and by this point I had started to play guitar, so that was more of a focus for me; percussion was just what I did with school. I had a solid sense of rhythm, but I never really got the chance to truly show what I was made of. I got a pretty good part in most ensemble pieces, including one of four "lead" parts in a piece that got us 2nd in the state solo/ensemble competition... but any mallet parts I ever had were essentially memorized. Rhythms were fantastic. Anything melodic or harmonic... I could not sight-read. Sophomore year I tried playing a mallet duet... and failed. Badly. Any musical dreams I had at that point were crushed. I figured I might as well do math. I was pretty good at that. While this wasn't really a turning point at all, my self-esteem hadn't really improved much.

Fast-forward to my senior year of high school. I'm more more self-motivated and independent than ever before. I've been on the sidelines in the band for three years, and I'm ready to prove what I'm capable of. I dug through Mr. Fosket's catalogs of percussion solos and found a short and pretty cool and easy one for the regional solo/ensemble competition. I practiced hard during band (and once or twice after school, as well as reading it to myself at home) for a couple of weeks. I won the spot to State, but much to my dismay, I'd need a new (and harder) piece of I really wanted to compete. Mr. Fosket, not always being one for personal motivational speaches, gave me subtle but effective encouragement. As did my mother. I went through some online samples of multi-percussion solos, and one in particular really caught my ear... but it sounded impossibly difficult. How could anyone possibly play that?! Absolutely insane. I'll find something easier. ...But I slowly got to thinking "...No, I can do this. If I put my mind to it, and work really, really hard, I can do it." So I got the score, and slowly picked away at it. I dug through the back of the band room, through piles of old equipment, looking for the right instruments that I would need for the solo, assembling it almost every day and practicing it after school when I didn't work. I played it on my lap for hours at home. I worked very, very hard, and with that piece, I got a $2000 scholarship and 2nd in the state. I finally had something for which to be truly proud of myself.

Fast-forward to college. Bottom of the barrel yet again. I realize that my musical skills are pretty lackluster. I'm worlds behind other entering freshmen. Sure, when it comes down to theory and weird rhythms and subtle things like that, sometimes I've got the edge. But essentially, when playing anything... bottom of the barrel. But I'm working hard on improving. I'm finally getting private lessons, and for one quarter I even got them from a fellow student, since I was so desperate for help, and this was truly what I wanted to do. It took me a year to muster up the courage and skills to actually audition for the band program... and from what it sounds like, I definitely needed that extra year. I almost gave up on music. But now, here I am. I'm finally a bit secure, now that I'm here in the band program.

But now I'm reading a book for my first music education class. It describes five kinds of musicians that become music teachers, and the professor, Stambaugh, added an extra one in class. We're supposed to pick one of these stories with which we most fit into. After listening to all of them, I realized that I didn't fit into any of them, because every single one of them received private lessons at a young age, came from a musical family, lived in a big city with a completely astounding music program, came into college as one of the best in their freshman class... all things that I never had. It's times like these that I realize that, yes, I was musically disadvantaged. But that didn't stop me in middle school. Or early high school. Or my senior year of high school. Or last year. And it won't stop me now.

--Jon

An Overview of My Music Stuffs (ALBUM FOR SALE)

So I finished recording my "solo album." It's called Hurricane Ridge, which is the sort of pseudonym I'm using. The title was kind of inspired by Mount Eerie, another Washington one-man "band," and since the original idea of the project was to reflect upon conflicts between nature and civilization, I thought it was appropriate (for those of you not in the know, Hurricane Ridge really pretty spot in the Olympic Mountains above Port Angeles that a lot of tourists go to). However, there isn't so much an overarching theme anymore to all of the songs. I tried to keep it somewhat in the same range of feelings and emotions though, and I think I did an okay job. I'm really happy with the end result, which is about 40 minutes of music, plenty for a short-ish album. Longer than Weezer's "Green Album."

I'm selling copies of my CD for $5. Talk to me if you want one! If you don't live near me, I can send you a copy in the mail for $6. Email me at jonbashmusic@gmail.com. Also, add me on MySpace! www.myspace.com/jonbash.music. I don't know who would read this that doesn't know me but... whatever! Stuff can happen.

In terms of genre... it jumps around a bit, but it's generally somewhere around gloomy, slightly experimental electronica, folk, and indie rock. I've taken to calling most of the music I make "alternative pop," even though that has potential to sound very 90's. Influences... Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens, Animal Collective, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Fleet Foxes, Arcade Fire, Weezer, Cursive, Dismemberment Plan, Mount Eerie/The Microphones... way too many to name.

So I guess I'm going to go over all of the songs. I know this might make me sound pretentious, but this is also for myself; since my memory is shit, I want to be able to go back and read this some day and be like "Oh, I remember the state of mind I was in when I wrote that!" Here goes:

1. "The Northern Sun"

This is probably the first song I fully conceived in my head when I started pursuing this project, although ironically it was the last one I recorded. I was planning on making it much more grandiose, with violins and cellos and clarinets and flutes and timpani and concert percussion and other stuff, but this would have been terribly difficult to do just right. It came out as more of a minimalist acoustic piece with a nice little buildup at the end. This song has only one "virtual instrument," and it would have been non-virtual if I had access to an acoustic bass guitar, but alas, I just wanted to get this done. I wasn't planning on having a "guitar solo," but I didn't want to have a boring plain ol' instrumental interlude. So that's what happened.

One morning, in the middle of January, it was super cold, and super early, and the sun had barely risen, and I was all wrapped up in scarves and coats and such, and could see my breath, and I was all alone at the bus stop, just thinking, and this song and these lyrics just started playing in my head. I wrote them down later when I get to geology, and started writing the rest of the song. The lyrics have been in my geology notebook unused, until the other day when I finally recorded the song.

The influence of Godspeed You! Black Emperor shows most in this song.

2. "Opening Day at the Mall"

A short instrumental that I made mostly when I first got the program I use to record my music. I was planning on turning it into a full song, but just never got around to it, and couldn't think of anything classy to do with it. I think it's best as it is. All the guitar parts were recorded this summer.

3. "Cabin Fever"

During the winter, when this project was in its infancy, I came up with the idea for this song; drum machines and layered, moaning, choir-like vocals, with some regular (well, distorted) singing over the top of it all. The working title for the idea was "I'm Only Dying," based on some conversation between my fellow Squirrel Bagger and me. During spring break '09, after Elie left, my parents had gone on vacation to California, many of my friends were busy, and I had very little to do except make music. But even that was tough for me. I was just totally dead, suddenly. I tried starting to write another song (what would later become "Post-Apocalyptic Blues"), but it just wasn't coming out right. I had a classic case of writer's block. I tried using an idea of Thom Yorke's; scribbling little bits and pieces of lyrics on small pieces of paper, one-liners, something that sounded good but had nothing to go with it. The lyrics to this song are what eventually came out when I put a lot of those little lines together and changed them up a bit to fit the music. As I've stated on this blog before, the chord progression was lifted from a somber, sad, and mysterious song from one of my favorite video games ever, Final Fantasy VII. I tried to capture a sense of panic and paranoia and insanity that one might get from REALLY intense "cabin fever." I hope I did alright? I'm really proud of the drumbeat in this song; more so than any other song here.

4. "What a Hero"

The music to this was a result of some nice, random inspiration while I was working on another song. I had a lot of fun with this. This was the second time after my previous shortcomings that I tried writing lyrics that didn't necessarily make much sense, but sounded good enough. I'm not sure what I was trying to convey; it's a mix between actually telling someone (not anyone in particular) to stop sitting around and start doing stuff, and sort of poking fun at people that say that kind of stuff. I think moreso the latter. Being a percussion nerd, I really enjoyed the time signature changes. The percussion that begins and ends the song was all software instruments. I wanted to make it sound like some field recording of a drum circle, though; my original plan was to rerecord it, but I would have needed way more drums than I had, it would have taken a lot of time, and since my computer isn't top-of-the-line, the poor guy wouldn't have been able to handle that many tracks. I totally ripped off The Beatles with the backwards guitar solo in the middle. It was fun, though, and sounds neat, which are the most important parts. I always wanted to use a distorted acoustic guitar in a song, and this, I think, was my first opportunity to do that. I will definitely do it again sometime.

5. "Carbophobe"

I found a program online for making and manipulating (in real-time) stupid, awesome, synthesized techno loops. I played with it, and made the music to this. Afterwards, I decided to put some singing to it, but not even in-time with the beat. I programmed the vocals to come in right when the techno loop starts defragmenting itself. I basically wanted it to sound like music for a stupid workout machine commercial from the 90s, or an energy drink, or protein powder; something stupid like that. It, again, doesn't have too much meaning. Take it for what it is.

6. "Henchmen"

The lyrics to this song used to be god-awful (discussed in the aforementioned blog-post). Kind of written to be closure for an old friend that hates me now. I realized that was really pretentious and I didn't quiiiite get the message right, so I decided to change the lyrics around and give them pretty much no meaning whatsoever. I came up with the guitar riff while messing around with a setting with my software that gave it a ridiculous amount of distortion. After contemplating making it a sort of post-metal song, I decided to take a more glitchy electronic direction with it. I like how it came out. The verses take a lot of breath to sing, if you can't tell. I don't know how dudes like Tomas Kalnoky [of Streetlight Manifesto] do it. The song originally faded out during the guitar solo, but it felt half-finished, so I added another section and another chorus. I guess the lyrics do have some sort of vague storyline... about two henchmen arguing or something...? I don't know. A friend told me that this song sounds kinda like Xiu Xiu, who I hadn't heard until he said that. I do agree with him, though, strangely.

7. "Haven"

Another instrumental I wrote testing out my recording software. I also thought of turning this into a full song, but I kinda think it would have tainted it. I think this song was just 3 tracks: a stock drum-loop from the software, super-echoey guitar, and the main "rhythm" guitar. Fun fact: those two guitars are actually acoustic guitars plugged straight into the computer and processed to hell. The distant guitar sounds that open this song are the same ones that open "The Northern Sun" and the album. I thought it added "cohesion" to the album. :)

8. "Ostrich in a Casket"

So during spring break, after I semi-got over my writer's block, I had one more day to record stuff. I was sick of overthinking the songwriting and recording. I talked to Elie the night before, and somehow the phrase "Ostrich in a Casket" came up. She suggested I write a song about it. So I took that, along with a strange dream I had where Justin Timberlake was the leader of a gang I was in, and we had penguin soldiers (like in Batman Returns), wrote the dumbest lyrics I could possibly think of, thrashed around on my guitar with much, much dissonance (kinda poking fun at the Blood Brothers and Dismemberment Plan), played a "rawkin'" [see: shitty and sloppy :D] guitar solo, distorted one vocal track and double-tracked the other one, singin' falsetto, programmed some ridiculous drums for key sections... okay, you get the idea.
You can listen to examples of my influences for this song here (my favorite super-angry thrashy song of all time) and here (my favorite anti-pretentious-hipster song of all time).

9. "Livin' It Up"

I'm still very proud of the instrumentals in this song. It was originally meant to be a mostly loud and exciting song, but I was a little suppressed recording the vocals in the new apartment. This is why I autotuned some vocals. It turned out to be a kind of neat touch, with robots singing the chorus and the second half of the first verse. Still kinda funky, though. I don't know. I spent a lot of time on the music for this one, and I had the chorus melody in my head for a long time, but the execution wasn't quite what I originally planned. Again, the lyrics make no sense. Vaguely something about seizing the day. I originally planned on making it an anti-alcohol song. But that could never have ever worked out well. I love the 80s-ish drum sound I managed to get. The echoey harmonized guitar that comes in during the "I've had quite enough" line was inspired by a cover of a Final Fantasy X song called "People of the North Pole." I used to reeeally look down upon anyone lifting a single idea from another song, but after listening to too much Daft Punk, Coldplay, and so many other bands that do that, I've lightened up quite a bit; as long as you don't just straight up rip off an entire song or a significant portion, I think it can be put to fantastic use. Anyways, I think this is the closest this album came to sounding like my "other project," The Situation, in which I write with John von Volkli. This song was definitely influenced by my experience making music with him. Most intentionally lame line I've ever written: "We can start anew if only we could only start... livin' it up."

10. "Post-Apocalyptic Blues"

I put the long instrumental intro before the actual song starts, because I think people didn't have a long enough attention span to listen through it to get to the exciting part. Which I can understand. This was also done over spring break. All of the music from the opening through the verse had been something I'd been working on for about a year (possibly more?), but never turned into a full song. It was nice to finally get it off of my plate. The lyrics were taken from an idea I had for a totally different song, but I soon realized that, with a change of key, they would fit very well within this song, so I melded the two together. This is the only song where I actually plugged my guitar into an amp and set the mic in front of it; I mainly did this so I could get some nice end-song-guitar-feedback (a little trick I think I first learned from Weezer (used most memorably (for me at least) in this song)). Seeing as this was one of the first songs I recorded by myself, the vocals are a bit meh at points *cough*towardstheend*cough*. But it gives it a feeling of really being post-apocalyptic...? Or something...? I had I Am Legend in mind when I wrote the lyrics, but just about anything similar could work. I think the guitar before the track starts is the album's only use of my phase pedal? No wait, I think I used it on the backwards solo on "What a Hero" as well. Damn. Godspeed also influenced the final section of this song, as well as the way this song fades into the next.

11. "The Northern Sun (Reprise)"

Also inserted for record cohesion, and because I wanted "The Northern Sun" to, lyrically, be a kind of focus for the album, even if in a really weird, non-sense-making kind of way. This was recorded when I first conceived of the song so that I wouldn't forget the melody. I recorded it with the mic that comes on the laptop, and it sounded like poop, so I took advantage of that fact, added lots of reverb... there ya go. This "song" is in the same key as the song before it! Except this is minor and the other was major. I like it! Not entirely intentional, but YES, awesome segue!

12. "Prologue/Epilogue"

The song written for my favorite person in the whole wide world and my dear fellow Squirrel Bagger, who arrived in Bellingham today (well, "yesterday" now)! This song had its beginnings possibly 3 years ago. The music during the "All we can do is try" section (and also the "I know we've got all the time" section) is definitely the oldest part; I've been playing that for years, never really able to come up with something good to go with it even though it was so fun and I was so proud of it. Somewhat Fleetwood Mac-inspired? I think so. The next part I wrote was the main riff that plays in the beginning and the end of the song. This was written some time during my senior year in high school, and again, although I loved it, I didn't know what to do with it. Time passed. When college began, I tried using that acoustic riff I wrote my senior year, and added another section, the whole "I never said, I never will" part (don't you love how I label parts of my songs...). I also wrote some lyrics for the song. It was an incomplete mess, as evidenced when I tried performing it at open mic the night after I finished it. Elie and my relationship was just blossoming at the time, so I scavenged the lyrics from this unfinished boggle of a song, added more, added those old sections from so long ago that I had still never used, added even more, and came up with this: "Prologue/Epilogue." The beginning of one thing, the end of another. One problem: performance anxiety. I didn't really have the guts to play her the song. I gave her the lyrics, but kept the song inside for awhile. I wanted to be able to play it well. After recording most of this album, I decided I was experienced enough to try to pull it off. I originally wanted to have all sorts of extravagent acoustic instrumentation, but Elie agrees that it sounds better simpler. I managed to use my mandolin on this song alone! Also, the drumbeat at the beginning was inspired by something similar Christian played when I showed the acoustic "riff" to him and John during a practice once (at the time, we couldn't figure out anything to do with it; looking back, I'm very glad nothing became of it at the time). This and "The Northern Sun" are the two songs I'm most proud of here.

There may or may not be a secret song on the album. It may or may not melt your face and make your ears bleed.

~ * ~

Anyways, *phew*, that's it. I think. I probably forgot stuff. Whoooo cares. Buy my album, please!

--Jon

Brand New – DAISY [an album review]

I recently obtained Brand New’s brand new album, entitled Daisy, and boy is it heavy (in many ways). Their fourth full-length outing and the first in almost three years, this is definitely the sound of a band that has doing its thing for over a decade. It opens with an odd 50s-ish sample of religious hymn of some sort, which is shortly interrupted by the short and vengeful “Vices,” definitely the heaviest (aurally, at least) song of the album and definitely the heaviest song Brand New has ever written. They scream. They rail on their respective instruments. It rips open your throat and pours itself in, melting your innards. It ends before it grows old, and travels to the polar opposite of the Brand New sound-catalog, a slower and gloomier song that sounds more like the material of their last album. Although now they're not as afraid to let their love of straightforward rock-and-roll show as much, much of the album shares its general vibe and influence with 2006’s The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me, but this run-around cuts out the filler and the more boring moments, keeping the dark hooks and often-Modest Mouse-ish guitar/vocal work melded with some newfound near-metal-ish tendenacies. The album's first single, “At the Bottom,” fairly well represents the album, with a delicate and moody guitar opening, chanty verse, loud and catchy chorus, and hard-hitting breakdown. I find myself jealous of Jesse Lacey’s emotive voice, which has never sounded more angry and yet more mature. In an interview, he's stated that they wrote the album with a live setting in mind, and this definitely comes through on record. Lyrically, much of the subject matter is similar to the last album, revolving around existentialism, life, death, and God. The band has definitely come a long way from their debut album Your Favorite Weapon, which was pretty much straight-up pop-punk-emo; this is precisely the album that I wanted them to make when I heard their second album, Deja Entendu, which was a step towards their current darker sound. While The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me sounded rather hopeless, this latest outing takes hold of this gloom and doom and forms it into wonderful, melancholy bliss.

FINAL SCORE: +3 [on a scale of –5 to +5 (positive numbers = like; negative numbers = dislike)

--Jon

Music Program Audition Results

Let's beat around the bush a little, shall we?

Last night I was discussing video games with my friend Hillary; specifically Final Fantasy games and their literary qualities, our favorite scenes, etc. She also gave me a bunch of music from FFVIII and a song about Mario Kart that I really want to play at open mic sometime. Then she told me about a game called Shadow of the Colossus that I'd heard of before. When she described it to me, I was very intrigued, and I'm definitely going to try to pick it up at Gamestop this summer sometime. Look it up. Play it if you can.

This morning I put in my application for an apartment at Villa Bonita. The apartments are kinda old, but very nice and pretty cheap (about $700 a month for 2 bedrooms, 1.5 bath, each bedroom basically the same size. Deck! No laundry in the unit, but there's a coin-operated laundry room in each building. If Christian and I get, I'll be neighbors with Elie! :D It'll be quite convenient. Squirrel Baggers will be truly united! We can catch buses together and such since we'll be taking a lot of the same classes. Because...

I GOT INTO THE MUSIC PROGRAM.

That's right folks! I'm officially a Music pre-Major! I'm so excited! It hasn't really hit me yet! I'm not terribly surprised, because I knew I was ready, but... this is like a defining moment of my life! MAY 21ST SHALL GO DOWN IN HISTORY. Not really. But you know.

SWEA Spring Conference today. Might be a little boring and I don't know if I'll retain what I learn... but hopefully I will. My mind will probably be other places.

HUZZAH. I WILL RULE THE WORLD WITH THE MUSICAL SKILLS THAT I GAIN FROM WWU.

--Jon

p.s., Thank you so much for supporting me as much as you have, Elie. Less than three. :D

Music Program Audition, or "AAAAAAHHHH!!!!!"

Next Thursday, May 21st, I will be auditioning for WWU's music program. And I am terrified. Playing Bach's A minor violin concerto arranged for mallets, a timpani piece called "Ballad for the Dance," and... some snare etude. Probably going to ask Rob Tucker tomorrow. The Bach thing is pretty much ready; I've been playing it for a few months now. The timpani piece is not ready, but I know it relatively well. Just need to polish it up. Snare won't be terribly difficult to learn something on, I don't think. As long as it doesn't have a bunch of crazy accents. I'll pick something that will accent (pun intended) my strengths while not accenting my weaknesses. Too much. And then I have to know all the scales and rudiments and all that good stuff, of course. I'm not sure how in-depth Bianco will go with the audition; I think I'll get in, though. Everyone seems to think getting into the program is really easy, and I know music theory better than most music-program-beginners do, I think.

I hope band isn't so boring Fall quarter. Speaking of Fall quarter, I need to figure out my schedule. I'll do that now...

--Jon