The Flaming Gazelle

December 13, 2009 at 12:13 pm (music)
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Last night something amazing happened.  I was woken up at around midnight by Natalie asking me if I wanted to join her on a quick run to McDonald’s.  At first I thought, “Hell no… I’m already in bed, I’ve got a headache…”  But for lack of any better reasons, I decided to just go for the ride.  How long can it take?  Molly then decide to come with and we had a nice little adventure.  But the most amazing thing happened when we got back to my place.  I turned on the new song I’d been working on yesterday and Natalie was standing by the speaker with a wide smile going, “Mort, who is this?”  I kind of ignored her purposely, trying to get her to keep wondering with excitement.  As she kept asking while I was engaged in conversation with Molly, DJ is all, “Just check the artist name!”  ”There is no artist name!  Mort!  Who is this?  Is it you?”  When I told her it was me she lit up like a Christmas tree (every holiday pun intended) and was all, “Can we turn it up??”  For the next half hour or so I ended up playing them a lot of my tunes and they were just in love.  The best was with every song I turned on, the comment always was, “Is this you still??”

It just felt so amazing to find some people who find my music as amazing as I do.  The only person to ever get excited over my music is Harriet, and every so often, John.  Even though I don’t get the support that I’d like, I keep making music because I know one day it’s going to get heard by the right person and something amazing is going to happen.  Kinda like now– Natalie and I are going to go into a professional studio to record a song together, probably one of my own with her vocals/guitar part added on, because she has the hook-ups.  I’ve always told myself– give me the proper recordings and I’ll fuckin make the world turn, baby.  And last night I think was the step towards that.

Most of the people I know can’t appreciate my music like I do because they plain and simply don’t listen to the same music that I do + there’s always that stigma of how since I’m just a peer, I’ll never seem that amazing.  Somebody like Allen will always think his stuff is better and Joe will always listen to my stuff thinking of how he’d rather do it.  Whereas if you strip all that away and just look at me as an artist with no connection to anyone– there’s a market out there for me and there are people who will definitely want to hear what I’ve been making.

I think I need to call Natalie.

Signed,
the Flaming Gazelle.

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Let’s Do This Thang!

November 25, 2009 at 12:15 pm (music)
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It just hit me.  Ever since I wrote Steal the Sky I haven’t been content with the songs I’ve written.  None of them feel as awesome or cool.  I mean, you could make the assessment that maybe I’ve lost the spark?  Maybe I really am not writing as cool of songs?  But look at tunes like Avenue, Nowhere Near, Breaking Dawn, Spring, and Race for the Moon.  I’m clearly at the top of my form, crafting supremely emotional, skillful songs.  So why am I so disappointed with them deep down?  Here’s my theory: I never got to play those songs on Steal the Sky.  I never got to see them reach their full potential- no one has.  And that’s why until I get a chance to just perform shows with them under my belt and build up some fan favorites, I’ll never be able to move on from the first batch of songs that I was really proud of.

I can’t keep writing song after song and allow them to sit on a shelf somewhere with nowhere to go.  I know a drummer in my recording class.  I should talk to him.  And maybe I can even get Alex in on this… and all I’d need is a bassist which I’m sure I could find.

At the start of this school year I said I was going to play a bunch of acoustic shows- but that just isn’t my style.  That won’t satisfy the craving inside me to hear my genius realized.  And I get it– time after time I keep saying “I’m forming a band, I’m doing this,” and something always gets in the way to severely stop it.  And I understand that this could be me falling flat on my face yet again!  But… shit.  At least I’m trying.  At least I’m making an effort to make this work.  And clearly I don’t plan on stopping.

Here’s to always reaching for that sky and trying to steal it.

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A Little Love For Minus the Bear.

November 25, 2009 at 11:22 am (music)
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It was exactly around this time last year when I became obsessed with Minus the Bear.  I had Menos El Oso in my possession and over Thanksgiving “break” I would discover El Torrente while driving in the rain at night and realize just how awesome MTB is.

The soundtrack to my Winter vacation with Harriet last year was “Thanks for the Killer Game of Crisco Twister.”
The soundtrack to my suburban adventures with TWT was, “Double Vision Quest.”

Erin Tate has truly inspired me more than any other professional drummer to get better and really practice at my drumming skills.

I bought all of MTB’s albums- not a single thing was downloaded or burned from a friend.

Here’s to a year of being into ridiculously awesome indie rock music.

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A Rant About Good Ol Fashioned Music

November 12, 2009 at 12:56 am (music)
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Musical roots.  How lovely they are.  No matter where I go in my life, there will always be “classics” that got me on the musical road I currently travel.  And as technology evolves, so does music, blending electronics ever so intensely with classic instruments.  While this evolution is cool, I long for music that is simple.  That’s why the Foo Fighters kick so much ass- they rep the bass, drums, guitar sound that will always win me over harder than percussion manipulation and soaring synth parts.  That’s why Raditude owned me so much- it was downhome rock with no strings attached.  That’s why while listening to Flogging Molly right now, I got inspired to write this blog.

Look at David Gray- his biggest hit, Please Forgive Me, was as simple as bass, drums, vocals, and piano.  Yet as music evolved and he started adding more strings and stuff to his music, his popularity has assuredly gone down.  Did you even know he released a new album?

Look at Keane- as they got more experimental and added more layers to their sound, they certainly lost their fame.  Hopes & Fears, their most raw album, was the best selling and certainly most successful.

Even look at blink- when they got more experimental, the untitled album became the least popular release of theirs among fans.

While I do love Under the Iron Sea by Keane and the Untitled album is my second favorite blink album, I’m trying to write this objectively and just say… classical instrumentation is where it’s at.  Let’s see… here are a random list of albums that could fall under classical instrumentation that kick super hardcore ass: The Everglow by Mae, The Love of Life by Watashi Wa, Enema of the State by blink-182, Crisis by Alexisonfire, In Between Dreams by Jack Johnson, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not by the Arctic Monkeys, There’s Nothing Left To Lose by the Foo Fighters, Maladroit by Weezer, A Rush of Blood to the Head by Coldplay- shall I keep going?

I don’t know what I’m trying to achieve with this rant- it’s mostly just because I can’t sleep.  But seriously now- go back and check out the bands that don’t need electronic sounds or manipulation to sound awesome.  Up above are albums that can be played live and sound exactly the same because they’re good ol fashioned rock albums.

Anyways, I be done.  Need to try and sleep.

Goooooodnight.

p.s.- If I Ever Leave This World Alive by Flogging Molly.  If you don’t have it, get it.  It’s a musical library necessity.

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Raditude. You need it.

November 3, 2009 at 1:15 am (music)
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I just got Weezer’s new album Raditude and have listened to it two times in its entirety already.  It’s so fucking good that I’m taking it upon myself to write a review and try to get as many people as possible to pick it up.  After the Red Album… and I guess Make Believe and Maladroit, I can understand why people have lost their faith in Weezer.  I’m personally a big fan throughout their discography, but it’s time people set aside anything they’ve known about Weezer and start fresh with Raditude.  Instead of all this indie music flooding my iTunes library (and just about everyone else’s), it’s so great to finally have some ROCK music in the house.  Even Erik and Joe, non-weezer fans, are digging this album hardcore.

The CD opens up with the single, “If You’re Wondering If I Want You To,” which really sets the mood for the rest of the awesomeness.  Here we have pretty formulaic rock blended with cathy lyrics, not so formulaic instrumentation, and damn good vocals.  And that’s Raditude’s greatest strength.  It lays on the rock with the perfect amount of pop hooks, great musicianship, and Rivers’ phenomenal voice leading it all.

The lyrics are a real joy to listen to.  Rivers’ way of talking so plainly is often times so endearing and terribly relatable.  You’d never think that the line, “I thought tonight would suck like any other night,” could sound so poetic.  There’s one song in particular that resonates scarily well with me which I’ll share the lyrics to at the end here.  It’s a tune called Tripping Down the Freeway.  And then the infamous new song with Lil Wayne, “Can’t Stop Partying” is oddly infectious and will have you singing immediately.  Actually, the whole friggin ALBUM is that way.  Even through the first listen we all caught on to the lyrics quickly and were singing along by the second chorus of almost every song.

One song in particular, “Love is the Answer” is almost surreal to listen to.  It takes Indian music to a level you didn’t know it could reach. If Slumdog Millionaire and the vibe it produces didn’t inspire this song, I’m not sure what did.  It’s not going to be for every one and I can already tell that fans + reviewers are going to shit all over it saying “What the hell is this?”  But it’s easily one of my favorites by far.  Then you’ve got “Let It All Hang Out” that easily could have reached number 1 during the 80s which seriously makes you want to “let it all hang out.”  The genuine rock vibe exploding out of Raditude has made me hop around the apartment like a bunny until my legs have gone sore and I definitely rocked out with my Guitar Hero guitar while clothed in nothing but a towel to “The Girl Got Hot.”

In short, you HAVE to get this album.  Weezer fan or not, it’s a breath of fresh air from anything else being released by a major label and in fact, I’ll go so far as to say even anything from an independent label.  I know I haven’t bought an album like this in a long time and it feels freaking good.  Even right now I’m so tired and need sleep and need to do homework, but all I wanna do instead is sit here listening to Weezer.

Now, as promised… here are the lyrics that touch me deep every time I listen to it.

no way, we ain’t gonna break up
we made a promise and our will won’t fade out
not just in ‘09 and ‘10
we’ll be together from now until the very end
you’ve got the Shirley Applebee look
i’m totally caught up on your hook
you know that we are gonna be ok
we’ll stick together as we’re tripping down the freeway

Also, click the following link to see the most delightful music video I’ve come across in ages. :)

Weezer : Now Playing : (If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To.

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