audiotthoughts on music

long time, no see…

i know there haven’t been many updates recently and this one is just a quick question to get you thinking. actually this is not just about music but can be applied to virtually anything.

yesterday, i read an entry in some german musicians forum about a guy who wasn’t really sure what to answer when someone asked him what instrument he was playing. he identified himself more with the band than his instrument, that sort of thing – this isn’t exactly what this post is about, but it got me thinking.

what exactly is it that you do? and more important, do you even know it – and know how to phrase it without sounding shy or silly? this is very important because it tells you something about yourself and the path you’ve chosen so far. are you a drummer? or a musician? or an artist? or all of it? or what?

this goes for any other profession as well. what exactly is it that you do? think about this, as will i, and try to put it into words – words that convince not only whoever’s asking, but yourself as well.

to be continued…

this is filed under reviews but it’s really an order. in fact, it says ‘BUY THIS RECORD !!!’, well with a few more words, but basically that’s the message.

this is about the new Bill Champlin record called “No Place Left To Fall”. you may have already heard or read about it, depending on where you live i guess. here in germany, Bill Champlin is not as big as he should be. but anyway, you can find all sorts of information about this new album anywhere on the net. what i’d like to say about it, since i’ve had the chance to fully listen to it yesterday, is quite simple. this album is outstanding. it’s a great piece of songwriting, arrangement, craftsmanship and let’s not forget a lot of fun to listen to. but since this blog is for people who are somewhat more into music than the average listen-to-some-radio-while-driving-to-work-in-the-morning-kind-of-guy i’d like to give you some good advice you might not find in another review. this album simply is one awesome lesson for every musician. you’ll find songwriting with some edges and corners you wouldn’t expect and still it all runs smoothly like a bar of soap covered in babyoil on an airhockey-table…….ermmm, oh well, you get the idea.

and then there’s of course the playing itself – and wow! you can learn so much by closely listening to this masterpiece. there’s nice voiceworks by Bill and his mates and even if Bill’s voice is not really my favorite, soundwise, he’s just doing a great job. there’s outstanding performances by all of the musicians, topped by the ridiculously awesome creative greatness of Billy Ward, who’s simply drumming this album to the all-time-must-haves. sorry for this, but it would seem i’m kind of short on superlatives :-)

this record is a perfect example for ‘being in the moment’, which is (or at least should be) every musicians priority. you’ll find the right thing played at every single moment. and that’s a great lesson in itself…

so before i write myself into tears of joy, i’ll say it again. go and buy this album. if you do, naked women will have sex in your backyard – or men, whatever floats your boat…

something triggered a memory today and got me thinking when and why i first wanted to be a musician. back then i was about 13-14 years old and on a summer holiday in turkey, when i noticed that i forgot bringing tapes to feed my walkman. i listened to whatever was on the radio those days and even taped some of the shows. but being stuck without any tapes left me no choice but to go to some streetmarket and buy some new ones. nothing they had to offer sounded any familiar so i bought one tape because i liked the cover. it was “Live After Death” by Iron Maiden and it blew me away. the next day, i went back there and bought all the other Maiden-tapes they had. this holiday triggered my way of life. in the months and years that followed i became a true metalfreak, got into Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and similar bands and didn’t want to hear anything else…

well, a lot has changed since those days – my taste in music as well. it got a lot broader, i still love those bands but i love lots of other stuff nowadays. and that’s the reason why i haven’t listened to any of the above mentioned in years. but now that i’m thinking back again, i’m gonna take those old albums and listen to them again. and i can only recommend this, because – believe it or not – this was f***ing great music! go ahead and listen to the first few albums of those three bands, just to see how they started. Judas Priest for instance released their first album (“Rocka Rolla”) in 1974 – 35 years ago! and i bet you’d be surprised how it sounds.

anyway, maybe you should think back as well to the time and the reason why you’re into music. you ARE into music, right? it might shed a new light on things today….

Image by audiot.eu via Flickr

this word has kind of a negative taste, right? but i guess it’s time to stop that because we need a term for it and this one seems appropriate. what i’m talking about is once again the awesome possibility to work together through the internet, which is – sadly enough – not used to the extent it deserves.

so i’m stepping forward and dare you to do the same. of course there were others before me and i won’t accept any credit whatsoever for this idea, because it simply wasn’t mine, but it’s a great one and anyone interested should stop couchpotating and be part of it. what i’m talking about here is a cooperation between artists – an artistic-penpalship-thing (we might have to work on that term though :-) ). if you would like to create something with me, drop me a line. easy as that. i don’t care if it’s ‘just’ music or if you’re a video-, photo-, paint-, or whatever-else-artist. i don’t care about a genre or some other stereotype. i just love to work something out with someone else somewhere. so if you are creative and kind of a free-thinker, we might give it a shot and see what happens…

come to think of it, “guerrilla” is also one of those words in need of a less negative rating. recently this has become a term for people who try to do things on their own, musicians without a label who try to make do with the resources they have for instance. and that’s a great thing, at least in my book…