2/15/10

Hey long time no update. Hope everyone had a great Holiday Season and everybody got everything they wanted. Due to my lazy ineptitude I missed my yearly Holiday rant but we've all heard that before. All in all things have been going reasonably well. I'm sure we're getting sick and tired of the winter, I know I am. I'm hoping for the snow to make a hasty exit and the beginning of some nice weather.

<you know the deal>Unfortunaltey I haven't really been listening to any new and different music these days. It seems that everytime I turn on the radio, which is pretty rare, I either hear the same Boston tune or some new formulaic homogenized tuneage that grates on my nerves. A while back I was in the car with my son and he always wants to hear music so I let him run the radio. Well, he puts on a pop station and I have to tell you that every tune I heard had autotune on it! I think this effect while in the beginning had some merit to correct pitch has become such an abused piece of audio processing. Its unbelievably annoying how absolutely cliche it has become. It's kinda funny how he's into a lot of the Hip Hop stuff. I find it kind of disturbing how much cannibalization there is in that genre of music. The sampling is so rampant and pervasive. It would be nice to hear a bit originality. I tried to educate my son with the likes of James Brown who of course is one of the pioneers of the funk genre. What's nice about the old school stuff is the fact that there are actual instruments being played. Nothing can beat a groove delivered by a human. Instead grooves and beats are derived from a machine. I really don't get it. Maybe I'm just too old. </you know the deal>

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The new disk is going well. All the songs are written and the rhythm parts are all tracked. Looks like we have a total of nine tunes. I started working on melody lines and solos. I also have been working on the artwork and have come up with some of the visual counterparts to the music. I have a lot more work ahead but I think it will be worth it.

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Things at UMusic have been slow as far as the band goes. Seems like we're on hiatus for the moment which is ok as it gives me more time to work on my project.

I have actually been recording some of the old Roadhead material over at Jeff's studio for the past couple of months. Things have been going quite well. We have the basics tracked (rhy guitars, bass, drums) for one of our tunes. it's been a fun diversion and quite productive as well. It's also great hanging out with Jeff and Dale again. There's nothing like making music with good friends.