Category: Music

Motorcycle Driveby (Third Eye Blind)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXRLEyIoJZA&w=425&h=355]

Motorcycle Driveby on YouTube

Summer time and the wind is blowing outside
in lower Chelsea
And I don’t know what I’m doing in this city
The sun is always in my eyes
It crashes through the windows
And I’m sleeping on the couch
When I came to visit you
That’s when I knew
That I could never have you
I knew that before you did
Still I’m the one who’s stupid
And there’s this burning
Like there’s always been
I’ve never been so alone
And I’ve
Never been so alive
Visions of you on a motorcycle drive by
The cigarette ash flies in your eyes and you don’t mind
you smile
And say the world it doesn’t fit with you
I don’t believe you
You’re so serene
Careening through the universe
Your axis on a tilt
You’re guiltless and free
I hope you take a piece of me with you

And there’s things I’d like to do
That you don’t believe in
I would like to build something
But you’ll never see it happen
And there’s this burning
Like there’s always been
I’ve never been so alone
And I’ve
I’ve never been so alive

And there’s this burning
There is this burnin

Where’s the soul I want to know
New York City is evil
The surface is everything
But I could never do that
Someone would see through that
And this is the last time
We’ll be friends again
And I’ll get over you
And you’ll wonder who I am
And there’s this burning,
Just like there’s always been
I’ve never been so alone, alone
And I’ve, and I’ve
I’ve never been so alive

So alive

I go home to the coast it starts to rain I paddle out on the water
Alone
Taste the salt and taste the pain
I’m not thinking of you again
Summer dies and swells rise
The sun goes down in my eyes
See this rolling wave
Darkly coming
To take me
Home

And I never been so alone
And I’ve never been so alive

Awesome Indie Rock: Spoon

I was poking around eMusic trying to find things to spend my leftover downloads, and I found this rare and relatively unknown jewel: Spoon‘s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Yes, the title is ridiculous. The music, however, is not. I am not a huge fan of the “indie” genre- I love independent bands, sure, but the kind of music that has been labeled as “indie rock” never really interested me. This album, however, is an amazingly good exception.Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga mixes driving guitars with some great instrumentation not normally found on a rock album –  “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb” makes ample usage of baritone saxophones and vibraphone backing. Their lyrics are both deep and playful, and each song has a uniqueness reminiscent of the Beatles.Spoon reminds me of – and surpasses – other similar groups like Arcade Fire and Cold War Kids. This album in specific makes me feel like I’m listening to Rubber Soul for the first time. 

Across the Universe

 

I very rarely buy movies – I’ll watch ’em once and forget about them for years. But I’ve been trying to get over Across the Universe for about six months now. I don’t know what it is – and I won’t bother to try and put it into words, I strongly recommend experiencing it for yourself.

On a very basic level, it’s a musical with a storyline inspired by 34 Beatles songs. But, despite my admitted love of the Beatles, this movie’s quality comes from its organic, original aspects. It uses the 1960s as a backdrop, but does not strive to authentically recreate the decade. Instead, Across the Universe takes events of the past to reach out to the viewer of the present, whoever they may be and whatever experiences they have to relate with the movie.

Historically, it touches on everything without painting the sixties in a partisan perspective. The movie addresses the highs and lows: race riots, generational struggles for identity, the concept of true love, the concept of “free” love, the pains of war, the hypocritical radicalism in resistance of war… It is a piece on everyone’s experience during such a transformational era.

In a personal regard, Across the Universe makes me react with a sudden urge to explore my own life, passions, and perspectives. Watching a movie that starts with the uncomfortable question of “What defines a person: who you are, what you do, or how you do it?”, then follows several characters with differing passions try to coexist and keep their differences from clashing with each other, and then finally throws all distraction aside, proclaming, “All you need is love” gives me a kind of reality check. I have to wonder if what I’m doing today is the right thing to get me where I want to be – and much more importantly, if what I’m doing today is helping me love others on a very personal level.

It’s also a very different movie than most contemporary American cinema today- it’s not a linear story that strictly follows the “establishment-rising action-climax-falling action-resolution” formula. Most of the actors are unknown to the world at large, making the film even more personal and less about watching established stars in the same old roles.

So give it a shot- I don’t want to say “this is a great movie because it’s entertaining to watch,” or that I agreed with its overall message or anything. I like it so much because of the reactions and introspection that it triggers.

Never gonna give you up…

Sorry bout yesterday’s RickRoll, everyone. I just couldn’t help myself.

In other news, UPS teased me to the limit until they delivered my package tonight. So our CD is officially here and on sale –  we’ll have it on CDbaby later, but for now I’m sending ’em myself. It’s pretty sweet seeing gigantic stacks of your CD, but it’ll be even sweeter when those stacks are gone and people are enjoying it at home.</cheesiness>

Post-Break Motivations

Right now I really, really want to:

  • Kick the tires on FL Studio 8, which just came out
  • Build the new Deliver Me Seven website on WordPress 2.5, which is in Release Candidate stage and looks like an awesome update to the CMS software
  • Write out a couple of percussion pieces for the band (think 3 drummers, one bass.)

Notice anything missing on that list? Yeah, school kind of gets in the way of things. Grr…

Double Bass

So I bought a double bass drum pedal a year ago, and started seriously practicing my two-foot technique about three months ago. About a month ago I started feeling comfortable enough to use the pedals in performance for short drum fills, so I’ve brought them to three Deliver Me Seven shows since.

This month we’re taking a little break from live gigs to get the album out and to improve our show, which has already paid off for us in both musical growth and rest from the feeling that a show is always only a few days away. It also has helped me sit down with a metronome and try to get my two feet closer in rhythmic accuracy to where my hands are now. It’s not quite there yet, but this has been the first week where I’ve felt confidence that my feet are capable of playing together as a unit for longer than just a couple of beats.

It’ll still be a while before I’d feel comfortable drumming in a metal band, but it’s exciting to know that I can at least pull some stuff off.