MOG - srharris's Posts

Web 2.0

srharris — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 02:47:10 GMT

Hey, I'm nothing if not a bandwagon kind of guy. Therefore, here is my little mash using Feist 1234 to illustrate a few points about Web 2.0. Silly really...images from my place of employment...won't mean anything except to my co-workers! What the hell. It was fun.

Coachella

srharris — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 15:53:38 GMT

I've never been to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, but they've had an awesome lineup of acts over there years. Check 'em out over on Wikipedia or on their own website. I like the media player on their site. It has a lot of tracks you can play...cool when you are on a strange computer and you just want to get some tunes! Lately, I've been obsessing over The Silversun Pickups (Lazy Eye), The Coup (My Favorite Mutiny), and the Black Keys (Strange Desire). Check it.

Prog Giants

srharris — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 03:42:52 GMT

Gentle Giant is my absolute favorite of the British prog rock bands. I likes 'em better than Tull, Yes, ELP, Genesis. The clips here are all from, I think, 1975. Gentle Giant has a lot medieval and renaissance sounds in their songs. They all look like a bunch of Hobbits, but unlike a lot of other prog bands, there really isn't a lot of Tolkien-like fantasy in there. It's really just like a rock band was transported back to medieval society: a bunch of Scots in King Arthur's Court!

Slow mo' fo!

srharris — Wed, 30 May 2007 05:30:18 GMT

Mog is slow as jar of molasses in January! You can take a nap while you're waiting for a page to load. And the ol' Mog-o-matic ain't workin' worth a shit neither! I downloaded the latest version a few days ago. It hasn't updated my recent listening list yet...still showing a million year old list.

Diggin' through the CDs

srharris — Mon, 28 May 2007 21:55:13 GMT

I've just been digging through the old CDs and adding some music to my tablet pc. I came across this Robin Holcomb album from 1992. It's a weird album to classify: folk? singer/songwriter? rock? chamber music? :)

There's just a certain contrariness that I love here. Lots of minor harmonies on this song ("Help a Man") and others on the album. Holcomb is married to another keyboard musician: Wayne Horvitz. They used to be part of the New York "Downtown" scene, but then packed up and moved to Seattle.

I haven't listened to any other Holcomb albums (although I've got tons of Horvitz). I think I might check her other stuff out. Hey, I don't only have to listen to stuff recorded YESTERDAY!

Beirut

srharris — Sat, 12 May 2007 23:21:05 GMT

I wanted to post a live video of this song, but all the live clips on YouTube have terrible audio.

Brand New Favorites

srharris — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 02:44:48 GMT

Under the theory that anybody the U.S. State Department would deny entry into the country must be pretty cool: my brand new favorite is Rodrigo y Gabriela. They are awesome!

CBGB Regrets

srharris — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 03:46:50 GMT

The end of the year draws near...time for reflection...and sometimes melancholy. I wasn't on Mog when the fateful day came, but I've been thinking about the demise of CBGB last October. (They weren't saved, were they?) I'm an infrequent visitor to New York, so I haven't been to that many live music venues there. But I REALLY regret never going to a show at CBGB. I've been to the Knitting Factory and countless forgotten places in the Village. But never CBGB! Waaah! Time to make a list of places to go before I kick the bucket (or go deaf). Tell me your favorite live music spots around the world. And while we're at it, you CBGB veterans: what was your favorite show or most interesting experience there?

Muse v. Radiohead...Deathmatch!

srharris — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 03:42:46 GMT

Muse is often accused of imitating Radiohead. Sure, there's a vague similarity between the breathy vocals of Thom Yorke and Matt Bellamy. But otherwise, I don't see that they cover much of the same territory.The comparison probably disrespects both bands. Anyway, I like Radiohead well enough. They've got a certain angst that's quite appealing... and I love that gunshot moment of guitar chords you hear over and over in "Creep." But for me, Muse has the angst and mixes it with anguish to the nth degree. On the tune here, "New Born," Bellamy's vocals seem to come from somewhere between ecstacy and execution. I also like the mad and messy guitar sound that Bellamy goes for in this song. I know it's all a little emotionally overwrought for some. You decide...cast your vote now!

Thao Nguyen

srharris — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 06:11:18 GMT

Talk about under the radar: I can't find a word about Thao Nguyen and The Get Down Stay Down in Allmusic or here on the good old Mog-o-pedia. Luckily, she's got a website and fans over at Whackipedia.

Anyway, let's just say I love her fluttering vocals on the tune "Feet Asleep." [Hear it here or over on Myspace.] Very cool indie folk vibe going on. Also love the bits where she harmonizes with herself (overdubbed). That might be hard to pull off live! Give it a listen.

Overload

srharris — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 03:55:20 GMT

Um...I think we've lost our way and ended up in the wrong blog. Could you, by any chance, give us directions to Cute Overload? We want to audition there. Thanks!

Bang a Gong

srharris — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 02:17:54 GMT

Gong is a prog band that came out of Britain's Canterbury scene in the 1960s. It has morphed through many different incarnations through the years. Early versions of the band led by Daevid Allen were quite psychedelic. The band led by Pierre Moerlen in the 1970s (which recorded Gazeuse! and Expresso II) had a heavier prog and sometimes fusion sound. It's probably the heaviest damned sax, vibraphone, guitar band you'll ever here! Allan Holdsworth's guitar, together with Pierre Moerlen's percussion (marimba, vibraphone, etc.), make for a very different aesthetic from the early Gong.

The clip here, "Three Blind Mice," is from Expresso II. It starts with a wacky bunch of arpeggio's from Moerlen on the 'phone, which then breaks into a cool, swinging jazz section for a few bars, until Holdsworth comes in and rips the whole thing apart with a squealing guitar. Throughout the rest of the song the band works through all kinds of interesting tempos and some weird syncopation. One of my favorite songs. Two of my favorite albums. Still available for purchase!

Do It Vulcan Style, Baby!

srharris — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 06:28:13 GMT

This is here just 'cuz I love the Daddy Yankee tune (Gasolina) Scot-tay is playing on that massive DJ kit. Bring it, baby!

Focus: The Birth of Speed Metal

srharris — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 08:50:34 GMT

In 1971, the Dutch prog group Focus released their album Moving Waves, which featured the song "Hocus Pocus." The goofy yodeling of the song made it something of a novelty act, but a big hit worldwide nonetheless. In this clip on YouTube, the band takes the goofiness over the top, as if to say, "You want novelty? I got your novelty right here, motherf$&%er!" On guitar is Jan Akkerman, who released a bunch of awesome solo albums after his time with Focus. (I recommend Profile and Tabernakel.)

What I really like about this version of "Hocus Pocus" (other than the introduction by Gladys Knight and the captions in Japanese) is the way they really pick up the tempo from the album version. The hell with "Highway Star," here's your birth of speed metal right here!

Progmania

srharris — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 08:01:45 GMT

Get ready for it...I'm 'bout to send a furious barrage of prog rock mania headed your way! I got all kinda posts lined up to extol the virtues of this fine musical genre. Be on the look out for:

What's Prog? Focus: The Birth of Speed Metal Bang a Gong Not that Hobbit Sh#% - Some Real Whup-Ass Prog Six Degrees of John Wetton Larry Coryell: The Other Ramone Gentle Giant and the Oakland Athletics Zappa Stays Zappa Boogie Prog Phishbone Ash Rage Against the Soundgarden of a Down Acoustical Gas A Prog Videography: The Best of Yoo and Goo: All in One Convenient Location

Food, Glorious Food!

srharris — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 01:54:19 GMT

Sitting here, still at work, listening to Eminem "Lose Yourself," but just the mention of food stamps is making me HUUUUUNGRY! Now, even Phish "Llama" has me thinking they should barbeque that beast up! So, I'm googling songs about food and find:

None of that "Lollipop" stuff! I think my favorite has to be "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" by Hank Williams just because the particular dishes mentioned are SOOOOOO good. Mmmmmm, gumbo! What's your favorite food? What's your favorite song? What's your favorite FOOD SONG?

The Accidental Tune-ist

srharris — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 07:35:49 GMT

I don't go in much for the singer-songwriter kind of thing. I'm more of a guitar hero-worshipper. But I've accidentally been getting into a whole series of tunes by songwriters lately.

One of those was Gavin DeGraw, who I kept hearing in grocery stores and on the radio in the car. But I never heard who it was (you know how radio stations don't say who they are playing half the time). I tracked him down through iTunes. Turns out the song I like, "I Don't Want to Be," is the theme song for "One Tree Hill," a show I never watch. The song is several years old anyway, but I guess it's getting some airplay due to the TV connection.

So, TV brought me to another songster: Gary Jules. I kept seeing an xBox commercial that had this really cool song: Mad World. Read more about it here. It's actually a cover of a Tears for Fears tune, and was used in the movie Donnie Darko. In the commercial, you get a really melancholy feeling about the video game they are advertising (although I'm sure it's really totally about KILLING stuff). I could sit there on YouTube and click "play again" over and over until my eyes glaze over!

But my weirdest TV to songwriter experience was for the folk singer Kalai. I was up late one night channel surfing on the tely, when I can across this music video that was just the guy playing his guitar. This was on some weird station I'd never seen before called Utahbride.com. I kid you not! So, I live in Utah, and it goes without saying that the predominant religion is totally into marriage and family values and shizzle like that. They've got TV stations and websites devoted to it!

So, I groove on this song and go to the website and look high and low and finally find out that it's this guy Kalai. (I kept thinking they were saying "Galai" on Utahbrides; made it kind of hard to look up on iTunes.) Check it: http://www.kalai.cc/. Totally freaked about the song "On My Mind," from the album Acoustacism. Hear it on MySpace.

This Kalai dude is Hawaiian, but grew up in Alaska. But think he now has some Utah connection. Lives in Salt Lake City, I reckon. Performs all over the Beehive state. I suspect he's a member of the aforementioned religious establishment. I don't hold it 'gainst him. (Hell, I'm one myself ... in BAD standing ... don't tell the missionaries!) Kalai plays a mean folk tune though. Anyway, I'm keeping my mind open to new stuff wherever I find it. Back to more television viewing for me!

Stuck in DeGraw: Or the Lameness of iTunes and Amazon

srharris — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 02:39:46 GMT

So, I can't believe I'm posting about Gavin DeGraw...AGAIN! I'm not that interested in his music, but really like his tune "I Don't Want To Be." (See my post below.) So, I bought the song from iTunes (passed on the album).

Here's the weirdness. iTunes calls the song "I Don't Wanna Be." When I was looking around the mog-o-sphere, I noticed that this is incorrect. (Amazon has it wrong too.) The song title is "I Don't Want to Be." No "wanna" in sight. I don't have the album to look at, but you can check it on young Mr. DeGraw's website: http://www.gavindegraw.com/. At least Mog.com has it right, as do Allmusic.com and Wikipedia.

How the hell do iTunes and Amazon get it wrong? Is this the record label's fault? Bad info sent out? How can they not know the right title to f*&%ing song? Strange. End of incredulous rant! I'm going to go listen to the Beatles' "I WANNA hold your hand." mrrrrph!

Javascript Player

srharris — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 20:10:06 GMT

Trying out a javascript media player. Click the tab to see the selection of songs, then click the song you want to hear.

It WORKED!

Brain Melt

srharris — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 20:52:49 GMT

Lye By Mistake take their name from Edward Gorey's Gashlycrumb Tinies, a children's A-Z poem that chronicles the nasty way certain nasty children die. One of these takes "lye by mistake." If you take lye by mistake, it can kill you. If you listen to this album by mistake, it might melt your brain. But if you're into mind-blowing musicianship, then you might want to check it out.

Lye By Mistake might be described as a hardcord or a grind band. They feature very grind-like vocals (growling? screeching?) But how to explain the prog-rock and fusion elements that appear in the songs? Or the John McLaughlin-like guitar playing of Josh Bauman? Lye By Mistake is fusion: a fusion of grind, progressive, jazz, flamenco, metal, and a few other genres. Might scare you away, if you're not prepared for this kind of stew.

I don't, myself, go for the grind vocals much. I'd like a little less "Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza" and a little more "Tony Williams." But you'll find both on this album.

Name that band

srharris — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 20:09:34 GMT

So, I don't listened to current radio that much, a couple minutes in the car here and there, but I'm trying to identify a song and band I've been hearing lately. I know nothing about them, can't remember any lyrics, nothing. Anyway, this song has kind of a Black Crowes, blues, roots rock sound, with a dash of funk. Tell me who this might be? I've heard the song quite a lot in public places that have current radio playing. Help! I must know!