And one more, right here.

Also, please listen to Dressed Up For The Letdown, by Richard Swift. the whole album is really really well done.


"BARR: "Context Ender"

Ever talk to someone you dont know? I ended up having an amazing conversation. He wasn't weirded out by having someone he didn't know open up to him on the spot. He just went with it, and it worked.

Listening to BARR can have that effect on you. BARR is the moniker for Brendan Fowler, a musician/performance artist/slam poet/whatever from L.A. Brendan went to high school (and subsequently came on tour ) with members of Animal Collective, and is a regular at The Smell, along with No Age and Xiu Xiu.I don't really know how to review this song. My first instinct is to tell you to go listen to it yourself, because he reviews it within the song, quite literally.

The first 50 seconds of the song are sparse; slow, simple, heavy piano, carefully moving along Brendan's urgent whispering:

i dont even know how to hear it; how to listen
im not even sure what it sounds like i mean
i know it has a sound it sounds like something
im just not sure what
what does it look like

Ok. Self-referential. Where is he going with this? Brendan doesn't sing, but doesn't quite rap. He rants exactly what he thinks, a seemingly raw stream-of-consciousness style that can embarrass the listener. Then the beat comes in. The piano begins to march, incessant and lingering on a single repeated note while the bass echoes the opening piano. The drums add some variety, enough to fill out Brendans voice. As the song continues, its clear that the words are the focus of BARR, hes throwing his mind at you, talking about circumstances and context; how they define you. The beauty of this song may also grate: he packs more philosophical meaning per-second in this track than a conventional musician could, at the cost of subtlety. There is no ambiguity about this song, these words, this message. Sometimes it feels like you are reading an interview with Brendan about existentialism rather than hearing a song, and he knows it. This is why this song is so hard to describe, let alone evaluate. Like he says:

but you only liked it cause you heard it with him
and the speakers sounded perfect
and you were over the other stuff

So, yeah. check it out for yourself."

Heres a review of a song I submitted to a website as a way to apply to be a critic there.

Didnt really work out, but hey, here was what I wrote.

"Colourbook: “Spout/Bec”

What do you want to know about Colourbook? They are from Victoria, BC. They worked full-time, and play shows until they had enough money to tour. Then they toured, and worked their asses off playing for anyone and everyone they could get to in Canada. Now they have a nice sized fanbase and find themselves opening for Eric’s Trip somewhere in Ontario. For you non-Canadians out there, this is a big deal. Anyway, these guys are in the embryo stage of “breaking out”- I expect more and more people to mindlessly name-drop them as the months go on, for better or worse. But lets get to the song, shall we?

They know how to play rock guitar. Its fast and crunchy. They know how to make bass matter. Its got a counter-melody, not a bass-line (trust me, there is a difference). They make use of shakers, tin cans, and the occasional drumset. They wail, and they sing. Add some horns here and there. Ok, so what? Well, they know how to mix them!

As the song starts, we get some shakers and a muted guitar part. The bass comes in carefully, slowly, quietly. The wailing starts, and after a few seconds you realize what you are getting into. The lead singer sounds like someone else, but you don’t care who. The guitars are sailing off like hyperactive chainsaws, if chainsaws could be really harmonic AND aggressive. The shakers and the hi-hat and the random shit they found lying around mix together with the guitar to make something you haven’t heard before. Or maybe you have, and you just don’t care for the duration of the song. They pick you up, they shake you around, and then they put you down. That’s where Spout ends. Next we get about 50 seconds of the band laughing and talking to each other, and we think it’s over. We hear a guitar fumbling around, and you can almost imagine him sitting on a couch, goofing around. Then the drums catch on, and you realize this is going somewhere. Then… Holy Shit! Two for one! Bec is more melodic, with the singer (Aaron Bergunder, if you are curious) letting his singing come to the front for a while. Add a cathartic, guitar-and-trumpet led fanfare, slowing down, leading us towards a tired smile and a feeling of contentedness.

I don’t usually dance, but I would dance to this. I think this song is a pretty great anthem; im expecting it to be kind of a big deal when this whole Colourbook thing catches on."

hmm. man, you loval fans deserve better. maybe ill pre-write some posts for this weekend. Yeah. that sounds cool. Ill do that. I hope i have a good weekend... im seeing my cousin for the first time in a while.

Oh and

I saw Tropic Thunder. I say it was alright, never really hit hard, but didnt suck that horribly either.

ok, im going to be gone this weekend. im going to something, erm. something worth going to. also, im working hard at finding a job, it seems to be looking up. also... hmm. yeah. life is alright. mmhm ayup. oh and the band! we are starting to look at some songs I wrote, which is pretty cool! yeah, and another band from the area just got a really, REALLY sweet deal playing shows. more on that later.

Love!

alright so a busy week we got here. Things and things and things. And things. and money! yes. maybe..? i dont know. I liked the show; it was really fun. Now what? not sure.