Blog Going Down :(

But Blog coming back up!

I've decided to do some upgrades. The site is not going to look even remotely similar. This will no longer be a blogger account once the domain gets re pointed. All the same great content will exist, just in a different space and container. Be patient with me, the site may not be in a workable state for a few days.

Guerilla Radio - Rage Against the Machine

This song has always been important to me as it was popular just at the point I was starting to become interested in music. I hated rap music with a passion but this song fused rap and rock and made it angry. This isn't Aerosmith's version of rap rock. The band is trying to hold people accountable for what they do thus they write pissed off songs. RATM showed me it's a great thing to like other genres of music and every single genre has it's worthwhile and talented artists worth listening to.



RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE - GUERILLA RADIO
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Post-Grunge, Grunge Reaction

If you look back on grunge music, it was a movement and not a sound. The critics will throw all the grunge bands into a blender and label them similar but none of the big bands share anything in terms of sound or aesthetic. Nirvana embraced punk. Pearl Jam embraced anthems. Soundgarden embraced Zeppelin. Alice in Chains embraced metal. The most important things about these bands is what came after. While each of the bands was commercially successful, none of them really hit the ball out of the park in terms of sales. Nirvana's 'Nevermind' was the most commercially successful album of the movement, having shipped 10 million units. Pearl Jam's 'Ten' has sold very close to the same number of units. Alice in Chains' 'Dirt' has shifted 4 million units and Soundgarden's 'Superunknown' has sold 4 million.

Now the story isn't about grunge, but you have to know where you came from to plot where your going. When Kurt Cobain killed himself, grunge imploded. Alice in Chains' lead vocalist was heavily tangled in addiction and at this point was really no longer functioning as a normal human being. Pearl Jam has always been consistent but has really never had a significant hit since. Soundgarden's followup to Superunknown went in a college rock direction and touring tensions lead the band to disband.

After the death of grunge, many bands feeling inspired picked up the sword. Taking the distorted riffs and confessional lyrics and putting a mainstream twist on them. The bands in the post-grunge scene sold more albums then the big Seattle bands did thanks to being radio friendly and a little easier to digest. Bands like Bush, Creed, Collective Soul and 3 Doors Down have all been massive successes thanks to their predecessors.

Penn and Teller - Bullshit! (Fitness and Genetics)

Bullshit is a great show on Showtime that is basically a mini documentary on a particular subject. There is obvious bias but that's the point. P&T investigate a topic and prove why it's bullshit. Most of the episodes are pretty direct and contain great writing and intelligent logic. The topics are typically obvious bullshit that most people with common sense will know. Things like alien abductions, PETA and Fung Shui.

However that brings me back to the episode I watched last night I wanted to write about. The episode being on fitness and genetics and how it's well, bullshit. As someone who eats right, works out and stays active I found the entire episode a bit discouraging and damning. I wanted to dispel some of what they said and even add a bit to the pile of fitness bullshit.

The first argument was dealing with somatotypes and fitness models. P&T stated that the way the industry works is a fitness model with a certain genetic disposition is marketed in such a fashion that he/she convinces us that regardless of our own genetics. While this is some of what the industry does, it's a weak argument.

We need to define the 3 bodytypes of humans, called somatotypes. A somatotype breaks humans down into 3 categories based on composition and genetic factors. The first being ectomorphic. An ectomorph is by definition tall and lean, containing more slow twitch muscle fiber then fast twitch. This is your stereotypical tall thin person that can eat whatever they want and not gain weight thanks to metabolism. The second type is endomorphic. An endomorph will have larger bone structure and easily put on weight. This is your stereotypical overweight person. The third type is mesomorphic. A mesomorph has broad shoulders and a small waist and has a very easy time putting on muscle mass. A mesomorph also has lots of fast twitch muscle fiber. Your typical jock type is most likely a mesomorph. Captain of the football team that is always in great shape.

Now that we have our definitions out of the way I can contradict their argument. Genetic composition is always going to play a major factor. There will always be people that can look at weights and add lean mass. At the same time Bullshit stated that your doomed to your genetic bodytype. If you are tall and thin, your always going to remain such. The only bullshit is that statement. Despite your genetic disposition you can change. Aging mesomorphs may eventually look like an endomorph. Even bodytypes can change. The number one thing is understanding your own genetics. As a tall and lean person, you will have to work 10 times harder then a mesomorph. However proper training and good nutrition will still bring you results and you can achieve your goals.

Now for the part of the show I want to support. The fitness industry in general is well, bullshit. I really hate the mass marketing and personal trainer attitudes that perpetuate an industry that should be based around a positive message. First lets attack the trainers. The amount of useless exercises I see trainers utilize is staggering. The reason they do it is simple: complexity. In the trainer's mind all they think about is how to make things complex. If they seem odd and difficult, you can't drop them and workout on your own. The real approach should be one where you are teaching your client and informing them on how they can approach their life and what to look for in diet and nutrition.

The other side is supplements. Magic powders. Boost testosterone, melt fat. We have seen them all. When utilized supplements may assist one who is doing things properly, but the people buying them are the ones that shouldn't be supplementing anything. Nothing supplements do for you can't be achieved naturally by the body. It's in routine. Keyword of the day: routine.

Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet with Butterfly Wings

I had an odd thought in my head when I picked this song. I wanted to pick the most over the top and extravagant song I could muster. My mind was blank. Well, besides November Rain. However a very extravagant album popped into my head and this would be the most respectable song on the album.

Smashing Pumpkins is another one of those bands with major lead singer syndrome. As much as we enjoy the original lineup, Billy Corrigan would like us to believe he's the only one in the band that matters. Mellon Collie features more input from each band member and thus with so much material, a 28 track album was put out. The record is excessive. Songs with 70 layers of guitar do exist.

Bullet with Butterfly Wings sounds and plays like some of the grunge reaction bands, but this is before the major grunge players disbanded. Thus the song has a wicked hook and you know right from the beginning of the chant what song it is.

The Watchmen - Stereos

Two Words: Canadian Rock

Saint Is A Sinner Too - Slash

You may remember my very first daily selection being Rocco Deluca, well lucky for you he's the vocalist on this track. Slash wanted an airy falsetto voice for the track and initially Thom Yorke came to mind but Slash had no real intentions of approaching Thom. Thus when he caught wind of Rocco he jumped at it.

This song is a big departure for slash featuring fairly stripped down acoustic finger picking that builds into a clashing crescendo. There is no guitar solo which in itself is huge for Slash as he's most certainly not used to taking the back seat.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Can't Stop

RHCP is a band thats hard not to like. The band embraces a funk rock based sound and the lyrical content is mostly nonsensical. Album after album is consistently good and always a step in the right direction in terms of evolving their sound.

Can't Stop is a crazy video based on the 'One Minute Scupltures of Edwin Wyrum'. It makes no sense and that's the point. Funk beats and cool images.



Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop
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Soundgarden - Superunknown

I've listened to lots of music. Every genre from every decade has fascinated me at this point. However at the end of the day I always come back to the creative boom of the early to mid 90s. I'm not talking about the grunge movement in general. Between 1993-1996 there were so many fantastic albums that came out. I don't know what was in the water but critics didn't have to play the game of waiting for lightning to strike to get a good album.


Soundgarden are one of the big three Seattle bands. Along with Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam. I don't really call any of these bands grunge bands. The entire grunge thing was more of a movement then as a sound. It's an aesthetic or an ideal, not a staple. Soundgarden combine the largeness of Zeppelin with more punk sensibility and depression. Alice in Chains walks that hard rock/heavy metal line. Pearl Jam is a band that embraced some pop sensibility with emotion and gave birth to a thousand copy bands. None of these bands have anything in common music wise.

Now onto the album, and what an album it is. Superunknown paints a very dreadful picture. It's not a happy album but there is still an element of hope present. Every Soundgarden album is a beast onto itself. No album sounds like the previous and Superunknown was a departure from the arena rock sound present on Badmotorfinger. Badmotorfinger was the band's breakthrough album as it did sell over a million copies and spawned the anthem 'Outshined'.

Superunknown embraced the darkside. It's guitars resemble creaking crypts and Chris Cornell's primal wails are form another dimension. The song Limo Wreck has garnered a fair bit of attention in the last 10 years due to the lyrics 'Building towers that belong to the sky, When they crash down don't ask my why'. Many thought there was some element of premonition of 9/11 here but it's all just coincidence. What your getting is a full on rock masterpiece. Darkness and all.

Alice in Chains - Your Decision

A fair amount has been said about the new reincarnation of Alice in Chains. Following the death of vocalist Layne Staley, the band has been on an indefinite hiatus. The great thing is the reincarnated band is very very good. New vocalist William Duvall has really stepped up and given the songs the respect they deserve. He can perform the songs live with the same tonality without stepping on Layne's toes.

Your Decision should have been song of the year for last year. The pacing and melody create an overall beautiful song.

Alice In Chains "Your Decision" from Stephen Schuster on Vimeo.

Led Zeppelin - Dancing Days

It was only a matter of time before Zeppelin popped up. What can I say? The most influential hard rock band in history has had many things said about them. Dancing Days has a killer hook and is the perfect summer song.

Our Lady Peace - Thief

Forgive me for posting another OLP so soon after another. This isn't going to be my daily selection but this is a bit of what I'm listening to. This song initially was going to be my selection rather then Automatic Flowers but I thought this song to be a bit too mainstream. It's one of the few songs that is mainstream for a reason: in part because it's a great song and second because of the message it carries.

Thief was written for Mina Kim. She was a friend of lead singer Raine Maida who had an inoperable brain tumor. He was inspired to write this song for her out of his own personal grief over the situation. He calls his lack of understanding to task and dismisses all religious implications. 'I can't see the thief living inside your head'/'I can be some courage at the side of your bed'/

Albums

Now is the time to take the blog in a bit of a new direction, or add a new feature. The feature being: Albums. An album being the physical piece you buy that contains music on the media portion. Media being CD, Tape, Vinyl whatever. The reason for the new direction is I don't typically just listen to a song. Listening to a singular song is taking the song out of context, as it's placed on an album for a reason. The album is a comprehensive piece of work. From the album art and packaging right down to the linear notes and disc. Listening to a singular song is like checking out 1/10th of a painting. Your missing the entire picture.

Thus going forward I'm going to be reviewing albums I feel to be above all. This isn't a service that is going to review the most recent releases. This is going to be what I see as the best of the best and what I recommend.

Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way

Time for some retro throwdown. The hair is bigger and the riffs are bigger. The video is simple but has a cool mood. The song is direct too. Lenny is talking about feeling good and asking if everyone could just follow his lead. The riffs are classic Hendrix and even the style feels like the 70s.

Edwin - Hang Ten

Time for a Canadian classic of the 90s. The video was really cool at the time as the various tattoos morph and eventually move on to other people in the crowd/band. The song itself is very straight forward and fun. I don't believe there is any important social commentary here.

Jeff Buckley - 10) Dream Brother

We have come to the end of Jeff Buckley's 'Grace' and we end on perhaps the song that is closest to my own heart and condition. This song has 2 sides to the coin. On one side Jeff is warning a close friend of his that he needs to come down to earth. He has a kid on the way and he needs to be there for his kid. On the other side Jeff is lamenting on his own condition and the predicament of his situation with his father.

I relate strongly to this song due to my own absentee father. Much life Jeff daddy wasn't around for more then a bit at a time and at this point I've really had no contact with him in 15 years. Growing up in such a way does affect you even if you think it doesn't. A certain part of innocence and childhood is taken away. /'don't be like the one that made me so old'/'don't be like the one that left behind his name'/'I'm waiting for you like I waited for mine and no one ever came'/

The structure of the song is very inspired by middle eastern sounds and rhythms. It's mostly wisp and atmosphere. The tempo does change but the main flow always remains until the very last verse. The outro should be listened to intently as it's perhaps the greatest possible outro to a musical piece.

Vocal Range

One topic in music I believe I'm the most educated is vocal range, or the application of it. The phrase has a couple definitions so I'll have to define what I'm talking about and in reference to what. Vocal range is simply the lowest note a singer can hit to the highest note the singer can hit. Pretty simple huh? An octave would be used to measure distance. The official definition would be 'The interval of eight diatonic degrees between two tones of the same name, the higher of which has twice as many vibrations per second as the lower.' Sounds confusing but it's just referencing the distance between two notes of the same name. A4-A5 would be an octave. Other notes being contained in that distance.

Thus if a singer has a 4 octave range beginning at A2 the last note in their range would be A6. 6-2=4.

Now, lets change course. How does vocal range apply to modern music? Well it really provides a pallet of what a singer can do. They can really only exist within their own vocal range on a song. Your average human has a vocal range between 1.4-2.0 octaves which doesn't give much room. Take a singer like Eddie Vedder. He is known for his deep rich baritone but he's a one trick pony. His range is rather small and he can go from a croon to a bit of a yelp but that's about it. He's a bit of a one trick pony. Even though Pearl Jam has had great success you don't really find much difference in his vocal performance.

Now we can take it to the other end, to someone with a fair amount of range. Let's pick a modern example: Adam Lambert. His range being about 3 octaves. He really does epitomize what you shouldn't do if you have range. Adam wails on every single song. He has his 'showstopper' high note near the outro on the track. This is an approach used on Broadway but something that should be avoided at all costs in recorded music. He's fallen into a predictability 'oh, there he goes wailing again' where if he used it as a tool rather then the whole kit, it would have impact. Instead it's just part of every song.

It's a great thing to have a poker hand. To know as a vocalist what your capable of but never fully show it to your audience. Jeff Buckley will fit this example well. Jeff's vocal range is in the 3.5-4 octave range. He really did have an incredible range. However he didn't always utilize it. On 'Grace' he lets the music take him where it should and as a result he only has 2 amazing high notes on the tracks. Even to this day when I listen to those two tracks the high notes give me shivers and gooosebumps. The amazing power of expression is present and you know he's trying to convey something, not just fit to his personal formula.

So the moral of the story is just because you have range doesn't mean you have to use it. As impressive as vocalists with wide ranges are, it's even more impressive when you express yourself through music. Allow the music to dictate where your voice should go. Never give the audience your cards, always keep them wondering what your really capable of.

Jeff Buckley - 9) Eternal Life

Got my red glitter coffin man, Just need one last nail



The power of Eternal Life lies in the contrast between both versions of the song. In the original recorded version we see Buckley paying tribute to Zeppelin and expressing his anger for the various events that had happened in the 20th century that were unjust and undeserved. On the road version the song takes a much rougher turn. Rather then asking for justice he demands the justice and demonstrates his own amazing power.







Jeff Buckley - Eternal Life
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The Cranberries - Zombie

Time for protest! Zombie was written by lead singer Dolores O'Riordan in protest of the conflicts that have been happening in Northern Ireland for decades. Sinead Oconnor had brought attention to the conflicts earlier in the 90s through various songs. In particular the song is about bombings that had killed two children. Despite the success of the song the conflicts continued until 2005 when the IRA declared all members should discard all weapons and embrace peace.

Sigur Ros - Untitled 1 (Floria Sigismondi)

This song is the perfect example of the images making sense of the music. It's mostly a mellow instrumental track. However the visuals tell a different story. Floria Sigismondi is one of the greatest visual artists of our time. She directs mostly music videos but also has done a few short films and her recently released Runaways biopic.

I really don't want to tell the story of the video or the song. That's for you to discover after watching. I'll warn you, it's not the easiest video to watch.

Our Lady Peace - Automatic Flowers

It's OLP! Classic Canadian band and probably our greatest gift to the 90s. I don't get how Bush can sell 15 million albums but OLP remain mostly unknown outside of Canada.

Raine is a sort of nasaly Chris Cornell. He has a very unique counter-tenor voice and really deserves to be held in much higher regard for his controlled vocal power and technique. He's very consistent and gifted. Don't get me started on the amazing drumming either, just watch.

Jeff Buckley - 8) Corpus Christi Carol

This may be one of the oddest yet beautiful song you'll hear for a very long time. Corpus Christi Carol is from a manuscript that first showed up in 1504 in the manuscript of a grocer. The structure is 7 stanzas with rhyming couplets. 7 is the number that is widely considered perfect and in this case it would make sense. Christ is mentioned in the 7th stanza and thus perfect. It's also worth noting the song being in old english. I'll post the lyrics after the video.

Jeff himself had this to say about the song. The 'Carol' is a fairytale about a falcon who takes the beloved of the singer to an orchard. The singer goes looking for her and arrives at a chamber where his beloved lies next to a bleeding knight and a tomb with Christ's body in it."



Lulley, lully, lulley, lully,
The faucon hath born my mak away.

He bare hym up, he bare hym down,
He bare hym into an orchard brown.

In that orchard ther was an hall,
That was hanged with purpill and pall.

And in that hall ther was a bede,
Hit was hangid with gold so rede.

And yn that bede ther lythe a knyght,
His wowndes bledyng day and nyght.

By that bedes side ther kneleth a may,
And she wepeth both nyght and day.

And by that bedes side ther stondith a ston,
"Corpus Christi" wretyn theron.


Glossary

faucon: falcon
mak: mate, love
bare: bore, carried
purpill: purple (the royal color)
pall: a funeral pall, a cloth spread over a coffin
bede: bed
rede: red
lythe: lieth, lies
wowndes: wounds
bledyng: bleeding
kneleth: kneeleth, kneels
may: maid, maiden
wepeth: weepeth, weeps
stondith: standeth, stands
ston: stone
Corpus Christi: body of Christ (Latin)
wretyn: written

Jeff Buckley - 7) Lover, You Should've Come Over

On the 7th of 10 tracks, we find probably the most autobiographical track in 'Lover, You Should've Come Over'. The song is Buckley describing his breakup from Rebecca Moore. Who happens to have been his muse and heavily involved in the New York Fluxus movement. The song is from Jeff's perspective that he feels all the little dependencies and actions he should have outgrown.

Jeff did record an alternate take on the song that has much darker lyrics. /'My broken bones smell the rain and they are aching to recover'/. The mainstream version of the song has a great sense of melody and a nice flow./'Parading in a wake of sad relations as our shoes fill up with water'/.

PJ Harvey - Shame

Much like my previous Elliot Smith post, this is completely new to me. I've been aware of PJ Harvey for quite a long time but really couldn't think of any of her music. Just spending 5 minutes with some of her music shows she has various sensibilities. She reminds me of Patti Smith as there is a punk sensibility to her music. She has that indie sound aswell but at her core the songwriting is emotional and strong.

Female rock artists and me have never been friends either, so this is important. There are few female singers that can really sing a song. That can kill a song when required. Fergie is a wicked rock singer but she doesn't bother with the genre. Who else is there? Either way enjoy this wicked song.

Buckcherry - For the Movies

Ahh, the 90s. One of my favorite musical decades. This song really summarizes the sound and flavor of the decade. It's overblown and direct and you've probably never heard of Buckcherry besides that Crazy Bitch trash that was played in strip clubs for awhile. No interesting stories here, just direct rock music. Enjoy.

Jeff Buckley - 6) Hallelujah

Hallelujah is the staple Buckley song. Everyone has covered it a thousand times and it's really one of those cover songs that surpasses the original. The story of the song isn't remarkable at all, it's the story of the song that came before. Jeff's version was a cover of John Cale's version of the song. The original is a bit of an odd song. It's very new wave and forgettable. Cale liked the live lyrics much better so he contacted Leonard and he faxed over 14 pages of lyrics. Cale took bits and pieces from what he received and thus the version of the song we all know was born.

Jeff's version is stripped down and the lyrics are forefront. It's a great melody and a beautiful song. I'll admit to not having much to write about it, I've been burned out of the song for a few years due to all the attention it's been getting.

Training

Well it's going on week one of my new training program. It doesn't really kick in til November 1st but even still it's not the easiest thing. The theology that training takes place in the kitchen most of all is true. I've never had the results I wanted by working out alone. However this winter I'm trying something new. I really do want to hit a lean 180 pounds before I'm 25. I'm 23 now. I'm 6'3 and around 160 pounds at 5.5% bodyfat. I'm perfectly happy with my body but positive goals are always the way to go.

The most difficult part for me is not getting up at 6am and hitting the weights, it's eating. I don't have an eating disorder but I do have a hard time eating enough food to really promote growth. My biggest issue is I never wish to 'bulk'. I think it's insane to think you need to get fat to add lean muscle mass. How is it motivating to watch all your accomplishments slip away just so you can add 5 lean pounds? It's going to be a fact that you can't really tell your body only add lean mass. With eating a caloric surplus you are going to gain lean mass and some fat as well. However if you are willing to take it slow and keep it healthy, you can keep that to a minimum. There is no reason to not do some light cardio outside of the gym. Adding lean mass doesn't have to mean being sedentary unless your in the gym.

It's also difficult to feel your accomplishments encroached upon. I've had a couple days since taking my diet a couple steps up that I'm just bloated. My pants aren't fitting as they typically do. My abs don't look as they typically do. It does take determination to say it's just a bi-product of getting used to the food. That my body isn't going to change and descend rapidly.

In regards to actually training, it's going to be a new approach. I'm going to be doing 3 early mornings of compound workouts. Compound being lifts that hit more then one muscle group. Thinks like deadlifts, benchpress, squats and dips. The scientific theory being the more muscle groups that are being hit the more HGH the body naturally produces. Thus if the eating is clean and spot on then positive growth should happen. I'll check in from time to time!

Tim Buckley - Sing a Song For you

A very early and beautiful Tim Buckley song. This song is so powerful that it speaks for itself. There really is no story here. Tim was an amazing musician. You can find more on my Jeff Buckley comprehensive I posted a page back.

Jeff Buckley - 5) So Real

So Real was a bit of an afterthought. The album was done and Jeff's guitarist brought in the main riff for the song. Jeff decided to run with it and see what happens. The song was performed in one take and nothing extra was done to the vocals. It was also 3 in the morning. The lyrics are very wispy and seem to be Jeff recounting a resonating memory of a past love. 'I love you but I'm afraid to love you/I'm afraid'

The outro for the song features a very high E that Jeff shifts even higher. Being a bit of an amateur vocalist (I've got range, not tone) this note really has become a benchmark if I'm having a good vocal day. The entire song is incredible and the video extremely memorable in it's own right.

Nine Inch Nails - Last

This is going to be a rare treat as I usually won't feature industrial music here. It's not my favorite genre although I do enjoy a fair amount of NiN's work. For those of you that are going WTF is industrial, I'll break it down. Industrial was initially started for well, industrial people. It was intended to be more complex and experimental then punk but within the same vein. It's angry and not overly nice. Industrial music typically contains themes of oppression, anger, dissatisfaction etc.

Trent Reznor (AKA Nine Inch Nails) has really made industrial popular. He creates large, threatening riffs and really is a dark guy. He's never been a happy person. All of his music is dark and menacing and he's never really satisfied with what he's created. I picked Last as it's one of my favorite NIN songs just due to how fucking loud it is but it manages to maintain a steady groove. The Broken EP is probably one of the loudest, menacing and heavy records you can find. It's right up there with Soundgarden's Louder then Love. I'll feature another NIN cut in the coming weeks.

Let Me In

We went to check out Let Me In last night with some friends. Being a massive fan of the original this was certainly my pick of what we should see. I was pretty curious to see how the movie translated to an American director. Overall I was pretty happy with the movie. Shot for shot it was nearly identical to the original. The courtyard where they first meet even has the identical steel climber. The main difference between the films is not the cinematography, it's the story. The original is a very European film. Films for American audiences are typically dumbed down a little. They always have to 'make sense' or the audience just doesn't get it. The original movie is the same story but without the little strings. It's pretty typical of European movies to apply to a higher level of intelligence and presume the audience can figure out the facts with some queues. The American film also changes the vampire character Abby, particularly in the way she attacks. In the European release she was fairly dominant and when she attacked the person couldn't really fight back. In the American movie she is somewhat spiderlike and tends to pounce two or three times.


Overall the movie gets high marks from me. It doesn't top the original movie but it does come close. I would have liked to see the original names Oskar and Eli used. Would have been a tip of the hat to the original. The effects were also much better in the American version, $20mil budgets will do that. Overall 7/10

Anti Bullying (Filter - Hatred is Contagious)

Going to step out on a limb here and jump up on the soapbox for a bit. Hatred has to stop. Period. This isn't an option. It's not okay for you to belittle, threaten, harass or assault anyone simply because they don't subscribe to the same station that you do. We are all unique beings that have something great, valuable and worthwhile to offer. It's not anyone's right to take that away from you or hate you simply because you are different. Race, sexuality, gender etc are what makes each one of us unique and beautiful in our own right. We have gay youth killing themselves as they feel it's a better solution then standing up and fighting. We need to pick up our torch and our flag and stand up and fight for them. Difference is beauty and healthy.

Madonna - Frozen

Going to deviate a bit from rock music today. In the bubble of human existence there are many cases of brilliant music. I have vast appreciation for all sound. The thing is separating the disposable from the brilliant. The biggest criteria being did the 'performer' write the song. It's all too common to see 12 people getting song writing credits on a track and none of them are the face performing the music. It's obvious such situations are simply corporate. They get the best songwriters together and write the track, and then pass the song onto the most attractive performer that can push the song. Please note I'm referencing new, original music. This is not an attack on cover songs.

Now to Madonna. She does record a fair amount of pop bullshit. She really hasn't had a great album since 1998s Ray of Light. Frozen really was the pinnacle of her career and talent. It's a beautiful song accompanied by amazing cinematography and perhaps the most striking music video I've watched. The video follows Madonna around a blue tinged 'frozen' desert as she shapeshifts into various creatures and her body itself distorts.

Old Spice VS Sesame Street

Jeff Buckley - 4) Lilac Wine

Lilac Wine is Buckley's tribute to Nina Simone. She was one of his biggest influences and Grace would have felt lacking without a Simone cover. The song recounts visiting a lilac tree and making wine from it. As the song goes on the writer gets more and more drunk off the wine, exposing more of himself in the lyrics as the song progresses due to lack of inhibitions.

In typical Buckley fashion the melody and vocals are amazing. It has little to no accompaniment beyond some light string and guitar.

The Wallflowers - One Headlight

Time for a throwback Friday. I very well may not be introducing you to anything new here. This song was popular in the 90s. Shockingly enough this song isn't pop bullshit. The melody is upbeat but the song itself is pretty gloomy. It also has a nice funky bass line that lives right under the surface. The Wallflowers are a one man band as no member besides Jakob Dylan has remained a constant member. Yes, Bob Dylan's son.

Jeff Buckley - 3) Last Goodbye

Last Goodbye is another track Jeff had worked on for quite awhile. Appearing titled 'Unforgiven' in earlier recordings from 1990 and 1991. Jeff found new life in the track. Jeff was a relationship sorta guy but nothing really ever worked out for him. He penned the track as a final farewell to one of his lovers'. Chances are it was when he was first embarking on recording the album and he knew he'd be touring for a couple years.

The lyrics are pure magic and really cement Buckley's artistic ability. 'Kiss me out of desire and not consolation'.

The Tea Party - Oceans

The Tea Party is one of the few great Canadian alternative bands. They have seen some success in Canada and Australia but remain unknown in the rest of the world. The Tea Party can be best described as World Music or 'Moroccan Roll'. Their influences are pretty broad and frequently feature odd instrumentation that gives a very distinct and unique feel.

'Oceans' is written for the Tea Party's former manager Scott Hoffman. Scott passed away from lung cancer in 2003. The song tackles existential issues and longing. The band was very close with Scott and his loss could have been what lead to the band disbanding in 2005. Enjoy the video, it compliments a fantastic song.

Stone Temple Pilots - Atlanta

Atlanta is the last song appearing on the Number 4 album. The album was STP's return as they had disbanded to pursue solo projects. Weiland had released a solo album and the DeLeo brothers had formed a short lived band called 'Talk Show'. Neither record sold well so a reunion was inevitable. Part of what makes the record work so well is you can tell the members' of the band had been writing great material that didn't fit any solo project well but worked in the STP mindset.

Atlanta is the darkest song on the album. It's hard to quantify what the song is exactly about. My wager is Weiland's lyrics come from divorcing his first wife as he references 'The mexican princess is out of my life'.

Jeff Buckley - 2) Grace

Grace, being the title track, sums up what the entire album is about. That our entire lives we are waiting to die. We all know our time will come and we just stew in existence until it comes. Not that life needs to be rife with depression but once you realize the truth, you can go beyond it.

This is one of two tracks Jeff wrote early on with Gary Lucas. Jeff reworked the song for the Grace album but the ghost of Lucas' work lingers. This is one of two tracks on the album that demonstrate Jeff's vocal range and elasticity. /'I feel them drown my name'/'So easy to know, Forget with this kiss'/'I'm not afraid to go but it goes so slow'/

Alanis Morissette - Baba

Alanis is a seminal 1990s artist. Full of angst and range she unleashed her Jagged Little Pill on the world and smashed sales records. She took a trip to India to find some sense of peace. Baba was born from this trip. A tale of false prophets and mysticism this is the staple track from her followup Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie

Jeff Buckley - 1) Mojo Pin

We begin our 10 day review of the Jeff Buckley album 'Grace.' Rather then have his songs pop up in my daily selections, I decided to just review each song. The entire album is brilliant and each song deserves it at minimum.

Mojo Pin is the first track on the album and it opens up with silence. To the point you almost want to give your CD player a kick as you hit play but nothing is happening. Then you hear a whisper off in the distance. The faint whisper pulses and just as the sound gets a bit wider Buckley's gorgeous voice is birthed out of the whisper. The song goes at a steady pace and is a soothing, warm track. Buckley is trying to convey the emotions of heroin use. The warmth opens up towards the end of the song and leaves you with a crashing burst of energy. The ending is very Zeppelin-esque owing a debt to 'Kashmir'.

The lyrical content of the song deals with addiction and desire. Mojo Pin is a heroin reference. 'Black beauty I love you so'/'Wouldn't need no mojo pin to keep me satisfied'. Buckley did admit to trying heroin but the extent of it was never revealed. In his own words he said Mojo Pin was about a dream he had of a black woman shooting heroin between his toes.

Looking back this song could be commentary towards his own father as well. Buckley spent a fair amount of his adult life trying to figure his dad out. He fell for most of the pitfalls his dad did. Perhaps not out of a self destructive nature, just a curiosity where it went good and where it went bad for Tim. Little did Jeff know that he was going to inherit his father's lifespan.

Jeff Buckley

Jeff Buckley is the hero of any modern rock critic. Being the son of rock legend Tim Buckley never phased him, and in many ways he outdid the musical accomplishments of his father. Despite only having one studio album to his name, he has ascended to a mythical status and rightly so. Jeff tackled music from many genres, and his influences are perhaps more eclectic then his own music. Jeff funneled the abilities and style of Billie Holiday and Myles Davis to Nina Simone to Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Yet somehow is all made sense. Grace has sat atop many critics Best of list for quite some time. Spin Magazine declared it the #1 Modern Rock Classic. It's an album you can't put in a brown paper bag. How do you classify an album that goes from folk and jazz to blistering rifts and middle eastern groove? That's the point, you don't. You listen and remain in awe. Take in the soundscape and let it place you exactly where Jeff was in his life.

Buckley led a life that paralleled his father Tim. Tim was an avante garde musician in the early 60s that spent most of his time tangled up in the scene that was going on in New York City at the time. Tim was a college dropout who was determined to bring his budding music career into something more. He drove taxi cab on the side. Tim was never commercially successful, most likely why his music changed so rapidly. He began as a folk musician but had quickly descended into avante-garde and psychedelia. Most of his fanbase abandoned him as they felt the shift in genres was a betrayal to the hippie ideals Tim had once embraced. He quickly recorded 3 albums worth of material with a sex-funk aesthetic that failed commercially. Tim ended up accidentally overdosing on heroin when a friend had challenged him to 'take it all'. Tim died and passed into the realm of rock legend. We look back as his music and he was 20 years ahead of his time.

Jeff never got the chance to know his father. Tim really wanted nothing to do with his own son and really just wanted to focus on his own thing. Jeff recalled at one point he got the chance to meet his father and he stayed with him for a week. Upto this point Jeff had gone by Scotty Moorhead. After his brief stint with his father he forever took his birthname Jeff Buckley.

Having a father like Tim wasn't an easy. Musically Jeff wasn't even interested in singing. He played guitar around Orange County and even attended a guitar school. It wasn't until whispers started going around New York that Tim Buckley had a son who was also a musician. The city that destroyed Tim was seeking his replacement. Someone experimental enough to push the envelope while having an aesthetic sense for music. Jeff was invited to NYC to perform at a Tim Buckley tribute event. Shockingly enough, Jeff chose to do it. He really saw no harm in performing some of his father's music as a way to pay tribute to him. The audience at the show was stunned as the young Buckley resembled his father in not only looks, but voice as well. He had the vocal range and elasticity to cover a Tim song, which no one upto that point had.

Jeff had been introduced to a number of musicians from performing at the tribute show and one of them was legendary guitarist Gary Lucas. Gary has a list of accomplishments a mile long and through his knowledge he was able to impart a certain knowledge of music onto Jeff. Jeff briefly fronted Lucas' band 'Gods and Monsters' but after a few gigs Lucas and Buckley parted company. However Jeff had written a few demos with Lucas that had later ended up as some of the most stellar tracks on Grace.

After playing the Cafe circuit and having a residency as Sin-E, Jeff signed to Columbia Records after a bidding war ensued. Jeff spent the better part of a year recruiting his band and getting material together. He entered the studio with producer Andy Wallace of Nirvana fame and began to record Grace.

Grace is where our story ends. There is no followup album. Buckley tragically drowned in the Mississippi river before a followup could be recorded. We do have the post-humous release 'Sketches for my Sweetheart the Drunk' that offers a glimpse into what Buckley could have become. This article marks the beginning of '10- days of Grace' where I'll post a song from the album daily and break it down. Expose it's brilliance and origins.

Radiohead - Karma Police

For me, it just doesn't get much better then this song. It's structure is not in the form of a typical song. You don't go from verse to chorus to verse to chorus to outro. The tempo completely shifts for a short 2 verses. 'This is what you get when you mess with us' and then the song returns to the basic 4/4 time signature. Sometimes, simple is best. Just when the song feels familiar the melody starts to unravel the entire song ascends into an airy wisp 'For a minute there, I lost myself'.

An interesting note is the beginning of the song is in A Dorian. ;)

Temple of the Dog - Say Hello 2 Heaven

Temple of the Dog really lit the grunge fire and established several major bands. TOTD was a one off band and album in tribute to Andrew Wood, the late singer of Mother Love Bone. Chris Cornell was Wood's roommate and after his accidental overdose Chris felt that a tribute song was in order. Cornell met with Wood's bandmates and recorded a song, however there was a chemistry there. This resulted in an entire album in tribute to Wood's memory. The funny thing is Eddie Vedder was brought in to perform background vocals on a song. This is how Pearl Jam began.


Anyway, onto the music! Enjoy.

Robert Plant & The Strange Sensation - Shine it All Around

Rather then post a Zeppelin cut everyone has heard a million times, let's enjoy a little of Plant's solo career. This song showcases a wide variety of influences and is really quite magical. Enjoy.

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This needs to stop

Album of the Year- Contenders

Well 2010 is starting to come to a close. Most of the biggest albums of the year have dropped and we are going into the dry season. At this point there hasn't been a whole lot that has piqued my interest. This is typical of any year, it's really hard to find strong passionate music now. There is a couple things to blame. One is anyone can make music. This is a good thing however at the same time it leaves a fair amount of nonsensical material to filter through. My mom could make an album if she wanted, I can guarantee it wouldn't be pretty. I'll recap some of the albums this year that get some acclaim or thumbs up from me. This isn't a comprehensive list, just intending to get the juices flowing on the inevitable year-end top10.


Stone Temple Pilots - Stone Temple Pilots



STP has a built in following and with their first album in 9 years they don't deviate from their build in formula. STP started as a sort of discounted grunge band. 'Core' dropped a bit too late to be part of the movement started by Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. STP wasn't afraid to be sensitive at points which grunge bands had avoided. It was seen as a marketing ploy and STP was quickly dropped into the pop category. Fast-forward and the band has turned itself into a modern incarnation of 'The Doors'. Distorted psychedelia, hard rock riffs and sensitive ballads fill this album and even though it doesn't deviate from the formula, it doesn't prevent it's greatness.

Standout tracks: 'Hickory Dichotomy', 'Between the Lines', 'Huckleberry Crumble'.

Filter - The Trouble with Angels



Filter is another band with a staple sound. Frontman Richard Patrick runs his ship with a tight fist. Himself being the only constant band member, Filter is much like Nine Inch Nails in that it's a one man band. Everyone else is treated as disposable. It's difficult to say if Patrick wanted Trouble with Angels to sound like everything else he's recorded or if it's just his trademark. Either way we have been here before. This album is a return to his classic sound as on 2008's 'Soldiers of Misfortune' he went for a much softer tone. He wrote the record as a tribute to the soldiers serving in Iraq. Now Patrick tackles his own inner religious daemons. On the track 'Trouble with Angels', he whispers 'When you look into a microscope things get real/Take another look, miracles fade'. In 'Absentee Father' Patrick takes Jesus to task for his silence through out centuries. In typical Filter fashion the album starts off fast and mean and mellows out towards the middle and gets mean towards the end.

Standout Tracks: 'Drug Boy', 'Trouble with Angels', 'Absentee Father'


Slash - Slash



Everyone knows Slash. Top hat, low slung Les Paul. The image has never changed. He still sports his classic style and his music is really no different. Slash knows how to write rock riffs and does it with his usual style and swagger. He invited a different lead singer for every song on the album, however Myles Kennedy appears on two tracks. As an album, it's not exactly a cohesive unit. The flavor changes from singer to singer so it does lack the brilliance that is present when a band puts out an album that paints a sonic picture. However if you can listen to each song as if it was a single on the radio, the album is greatly enjoyable as a straight forward rock album. The only real deviance from the formula being the track 'Saint is a Sinner Too' which features Rocco DeLuca. It's probably the oddest track Slash has ever done. Gone are the sludgy riffs and replaced with an airy sense of mystery. It's a brilliant track and the standout on the album.

Standout Tracks: 'Back from Cali'. 'Saint is a Sinner Too, 'I Hold On', 'Nothing to Say'

Muse - Soldier's Poem

Muse is one of the most famous bands in the world. Perhaps even the biggest. Just don't tell Bono, his ego might cry. This is a little regarded song off their 2008 masterpiece Black Holes and Revelations. This song is a bit surprising on an album full of funk swagger and boisterous rifts. It's a darker song with a mellow riff. It's no punches pulled emotion. 'Do you think you deserve your freedom?'/'How can you send us far from home?/You know damn well this is wrong/I would still lay down my life for you'.