"Revelator" - new song on R'N'B

looped synth, live drum machine & sound collage composed of samples fished from a radio program about sam cooke.

weekenders on our own.

hanging with my gang. homemade kimchi on bagels. messy bedroom. pushing paint.

Amazing pop songs

At this moment, I believe these two songs are the most wonderful pop songs ever written. Naturally, my opinion will be completely different tomorrow.

childish - "Booy Clap" - film

Why I love my Boss Micro BR.

BOSS Micro BR - this is my recording device of preference. It is a hand held digital 4 track - about the size of the original iPod - with several handfuls of silly features I don't often use anymore - filter effects, pre-existing drum patterns etc. I avoid using the built in microphone unless I'm capturing field recordings - my preference being to plug a microphone (ideally an SM-57) into the guitar input through some outside device, usually my looping pedal, even if I'm not looping, just to have a little more control over the levels. It's nice to mic up an amp & capture instruments this way too. The sound can appear a little warmer & less artificial than plugging the instruments straight into the machine. Sometimes fake sounds are nice... I guess that all just depends on intent. I do like to plug my drum machine & synth straight in, since I don't mind them sounding artificial, since... well, they are.

Anyway, I'm rambling. I have been using this machine for every project I've been involved in since March 2008, including silly Rob Childish, childish, the shakey shakes & Tennessee Mudonna & the Full Life All Stars & so on.

It's a great machine if you are not a sound snob, which I can't pretend to be. I love all sounds & cannot in my right mind adhere to a hierarchy of noises. They're all wonderful. I love me some hiss fuzz noise & I can't honestly say I prefer one snare sound to another. In this day and age, noises are often signifiers to sounds we remember hearing... the guitar sound you hear through your computer speaker is not a real guitar sound, but a degraded reproduction of that sound acting as a signpost to help your imagination conjure up the memory of what that type of guitar sound really sounds like or might really sound like. Since I listen to music on my computer all the time, I feel comfortable saying that I don't have the sonic vocabulary to live by a hierarchy of noise. As long as the idea remains in tact, who cares about the sound of the sound?

No matter how much audiophiles argue for the quality of sound, I believe the notion of good sound is outdated - dying out, almost dead. It is an idea of a previous generation, which they seem reluctant to let go of. Perhaps they just don't understand new music, its' function in our society & what is & is not important about it. It won't matter for much longer. The point is about to become moot.

So I make a lot of music on the Boss Micro BR. It's particularly easy to record, overdub, bounce, export & reproduce for others to hear. It's so easy it's silly, which makes it a great tool for a DIY artist. I make a variety of different types of music with it. I use some of the music I make on this machine in the television show I produce, FLASHtv. The recordings have been on the radio (college radio, mind you), distributed over the internet & on handmade burned CDs. They are digital, never analog, not particularly warm or good quality, but they are, to me, perfect.

I have considered upgrading, but it seems unnecessary. This digital 4 track does more than I need it to.

I love & recommend it.

OWL

Owl is my pal. He is in my gang. My gang is the best.

collection EP

A portrait of me!

Artist: John, Full Life client. Nov 4, 2010.

Good weather day.

Hungry Owl. Living room recording nook on the couch. Some older portrait paintings, a newer portrait painting.

David Byrne

I watched True Stories for the first time the other day. It's great - far from your average narrative Hollywood film, but wonderfully familiar & warm. It's on Netflix instant view right now. Check it out: True Stories on Netflix.

David Byrne is a wonderful man with a wonderful WEBSITE.

I will say no more. It seems silly.

There's only one team in London: How I became a Football fan again.

Lindsay and I recently spent two weeks in London for my big sister, Laura's, wedding. It was a wonderful holiday. The wedding ceremony was a lot of fun & the reception was drenched in booze & involved a lot of dancing to reasonably terrible 80's music at my brother-in-law, Gus', pub, the Butchers Hook.

The Butchers Hook is a stones throw from Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea Football Club. Thanks to Gus, we were lucky enough to watch Chelsea beat Arsenal the day after the wedding, officially capping that 48 hours as truly epic. It reminded me how much I used to love the Premier League and has rekindled my desire to keep up-to-date with English football.

So, I have been doing just that, thanks to a website called footytube. I have been watching the highlights of most games, paying particular attention to Chelsea, who are doing very well & top of the league at the mo'. *NOTE: I am admit to jumping on the bandwagon here. I had so much fun watching the game & hanging at the Butchers, which on game day enforces a strict "Chelsea Fans Only" rule, that I am going public right now & declaring myself a Chelsea fan. It's convenient. It's nice to have a team to support & our holiday experiences are the best & only reason I have to support a team. Generally people tend to dislike bandwagon jumpers. I have no argument against that. The only thing I have to say is: piss off.

So, I was watching the highlights of Newcastle v Sunderland today. Newcastle destroyed. It was pretty brutal... but not nearly as brutal as this screen shot I have taked & decided to share with you of this Newcastle fan. Those, my friends, are some serious man-titties. Cringe though we may, one must admire the blatant exposure of man-titties. He's not just supporting his team.. he is supporting men & unsupported man-tits. **ANOTHER NOTE: Check out the redheaded kid staring unabashedly at the gruesomeness. Scarred for life.

I am so happy to love football again & Chelsea: THERE'S ONLY ONE TEAM IN LONDON. English football fans are the best.