Nevermind The Posers

See ya in the pit.

Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman January 3, 2013

Filed under: Book Reviews — NVMP @ 10:24 PM
Tags: ,

A book review by Alexander ‘Stigz’ Castiglione

Another collection of essays by columnist, humorist, satirist and generally hilariously insightful author, Eating The Dinosaur kicks some Jurassic-sized ass.

Any author that puts out a book entitled Sex, Drugs, & Cocoa Puffs automatically has my attention. After reading his first collection of essays – Cocoa Puffs –  prior to perusing the one in question, he earned my respect by interestingly and analytically breaking down our modern culture in this self-proclaimed “low culture manifesto,” complete with an in-depth sociological analysis of personal favorites such as Saved By The Bell – something most people in who were born in the early to late 80’s and that owned a television most likely remember vividly.  In addition he shed light on the porn industry, the “breakfast club effect” and various other quirky, low-brow and highly popular social phenomenon.

This particular book is just as quirky and equally funny as Cocoa Puffs. Tirades on Garth Brooks’ marketing shtick (I wasn’t aware this was even a thing) to the marketing genius of Nirvana, Klosterman is as entertaining as he is enlightening into the darker sides of the music industry. From there he keeps it stimulating with an exhaustive analysis of time travel (and cites some badass movies to support his theories, I may add) to tirades about obscure basketball players I hadn’t even heard of.

A conversational read, you breeze through it pretty quick, and the little excerpts from anonymous interviews with (what I assume to be) celebrities keep you smiling along the way. He does this subtly at times and very blatant at others – my favorite being “The Best Response to being arrested for carrying an unlicensed handgun into a nightclub and accidentally shooting yourself in the leg, thereby jeopardizing your pro football career.” If you didn’t catch that reference, you probably were nestled under a slab of granite for the last couple years. And you’ll learn more about ABBA than you ever thought you knew. Yea…ABBA. That just happened.

So grab a copy, read a few essays or jam straight through it, you’ll probably come out the other side in stitches with an in-depth knowledge of cinema, music, marketing, and the general tomfoolery of the mass media machine. Cynics, cinephiles, and concert junkies – this book has you covered.

 

Call Me Nauseous December 9, 2012

Filed under: Editorial,Too Cool for a Category — NVMP @ 4:39 PM
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

by Andrew P. Moisan

how-i-feel-about-the-call-me-maybe-fad

It is not news that Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” has caused widespread illness, infecting millions of people’s heads with bubblegum and stuffing their souls full of hell. A moth flew by the other day and landed near the computer, and when I played the song, it flew off. It, too, had had enough.

Of course, this is not the first hangnail we’ve had to put up with in hit radio, nor will it be the last. But like any hangnail, all we can do is chew on it, yank it away and try to stop the bleeding.

The song is not bad per se, as it serves its purpose: It feels young and comes off as fresh and fast. If you’re 19 years old and away from home for the first time, this is the mood you’re probably in: Just fly free and give in to abandon. And aptly, there is a simple chord progression, with a blend of teen-pop, a bit of disco and an animated dance tempo. Plus it includes a pretty lead singer whom girls might want to emulate and whom boys might want to think about at night…overall, a good formula, if the point is to pump cash into the pockets of moguls.

But if we were to leave the boardroom momentarily and see music as a vehicle for emotional ideas, and if we compare what 20-somethings were listening to back in the early 1970s, then we would be forced to place a song like John Lennon’s “Instant Karma” right next to this song.

Some lyrics from Lennon: “Instant karma’s gonna get you/gonna knock you right on the head/you better get yourself together/pretty soon you’re gonna be dead.”

Some lyrics from Jepsen: “Your stare was holdin’/ripped jeans, skin was showin’/hot night, wind was blowin’/where you think you’re going baby?”

YouTube views of “Instant Karma”: 5,706,837.

YouTube views of “Call Me Maybe”: 344,450,353.

Obviously songs about hormonal, infatuated kids have always sold. And yes, it’s a bit absurd to highlight a YouTube clip of a record that’s currently charting and compare it to a hit that came out 42 years ago and wasn’t on YouTube to begin with.

My point is not the numbers, however; it’s the substance. Lennon wrote about geopolitics and American culture. But for the last 30 years or so…on and off, of course, as we’ve had respites here and there…the subjects in contemporary music have drifted, meandering from concerns about love, fear and politics, and wandering, in a general sense, toward deeper concerns about things like people’s butts.

Undoubtedly, Jepsen did not set out to write a song about love or politics. This was a song about butts. And again, in this respect, the song is pretty perfect, since it achieves what it aims to do: It encourages young men and women to freak each other in nightclubs, get to sniffing and then tell lies to their mates about where they had been until 4 a.m.

But the triumph of a hit is measured neither by the content of its character nor the character of its listeners. What makes a Jepsen a Jepsen are unit sales, marketing mannequins, focus groups, bar charts, PowerPoint shows, standard deviations, nerd-talk at Starbuck’s and rambling inexactitude on the part of know-nothing, pencil-pushing trust-fund ken dolls who, for some reason, are able to very accurately predict what the proletariat will drink up.

I’m actually starting to depress myself a bit here, so I’ll move on. Besides, I need to take a break since I have a little bit of throw-up in my mouth.

The 27-year-old Canadian artist’s hit debuted on the U.S. charts last March, entered Billboard’s Top 10 in April, hit number one in June and stayed there for nine consecutive weeks. But it’s so far passed the nuclear smell test: As of Nov. 26, 2012, the song lingers, rather like a cockroach or a dirty diaper, holding at 31 on the Hot 100.

Jepsen told Rolling Stone earlier this year that “Call Me Maybe” had started off as “a folky tune,” which I expect is even funnier than finding out your favorite professional wrestler likes to drink chamomile tea, decorate for the holidays and make scrapbooks.

She wrote the song with her guitarist Tavish Crowe and Josh Ramsay of the Canadian band Marianas Trench, whose song “Desperate Measures” may help inform us as to how Jepsen’s song migrated from “a folky tune” to what now spews like butt vomit from radio speakers.

Ramsay “helped us kind of pop-ify it,” Jepsen told Rolling Stone, basically explaining how he is really the one to blame. “He’s really good. He’s got a little bit of pop genius in his blood. It was written, recorded and produced within four or five days, tops.”

And to think aristocrats have been deposed in less time.

To be fair, however, she isn’t a total disappointment. In Canadian Idol’s fifth season, in 2007, she hazarded a rendition of Queen’s “Killer Queen” in a cabaret-style performance that was interesting and charming. And while it bugged me that her bangs hung over her pretty eyes, like caterpillars dangling over the rim of a nice glass of lager, I thought she did a good job. Now, I’m a lover of Queen, so I may be partial.

But like any veteran of a singing competition…and despite that she didn’t win the race…she has had a handicap. Original songwriting done subsequent to these prime time spectacles tends to leave the artist looking unimpressive, as we had come to know them as glorified karaoke performers—conduits through whom we could hear our favorite hits reborn in younger vessels. So as they try to carve a place of their own in the music business, the point of comparison becomes a Whitney Houston or Madonna song versus their own material. The emerging singers mostly lose in the end. In Jepsen’s case, her musical innovations went head-to-head with Freddy Mercury. This is like trying to outrun an airplane.

But even though she failed to become the Canadian Idol, losing it to some fellow named Brian Melo…whose song, “Soundproof,” is an unremarkable blight that resembles what would have popped out had Linkin Park and Maroon 5 mated—she bounced back after the defeat and gave Justin Bieber night sweats as her YouTube hit climbed up very near to his comfy chair in the celebrity sky.

But here was something I didn’t expect.

“She has such a twinkle, like a little star,” Brian May, the lead guitarist of Queen, said on Canadian Idol. He had just watched Jepsen sing. “You can’t possibly watch a performance like that and not smile.”

I wasn’t sure whether to hate May for liking Jepsen or hate Jepsen for seducing May. I nearly put a pistol in my mouth that night.

By the way, YouTube hits on Queen doing “Killer Queen”: 3,717,498.

YouTube hits on Jepsen doing “Killer Queen”: 51,219.

Phew.

But the problem with Jepsen is also the success of Jepsen. This is a song that is hummable, like any hit on any successful record ever pressed. Hearing it on the radio recently, it was like being sprayed by a skunk: You didn’t mean to be there at the time, but since you were, now you’ll spend days trying to wash the stink out.

In fact, A-sides like this…to use an antiquated term…will follow you to your casket. The utter simplicity of it drills through your skull and wets your brain. If the damn toilet flushes at just the right pitch, these sorts of hits will enter your body and possess you. Next thing you know, you’ll be pissing all over the living room carpet in the middle of your parents’ dinner party…and then, if you’re lucky, some priests will show up.

This is the meat-and-potatoes tack that worked magic for Elvis Presley, Wal-Mart, M&M’s, Starbuck’s, and who knows how many other enterprises: modest but rich; bold yet accessible; colorful but not too pricey. And yet, with Jepsen, I’ve nary a teaspoon of respect for her with which to take sugar for my coffee.

There will always be these hangnails in pop music, just as there will be in life: like how there will always be morning breath, impurities in drinking water, guys like Bonaparte, influenza, unscrupulous business owners, bedbugs, America’s Funniest Home Videos, gorgeous people who stroll by when you are very, very single, etc. To some extent, we must accept these hindrances, fall to our knees and just pray for better days.

In life, though, I find meaningful moments reside at the very busy intersection of simplicity and honesty. And so it is with music. This is a hectic juncture, and many accidents occur. But if you can navigate it, what comes out the other end is some part of your soul suddenly made tangible. And maybe, for nearly half a billion people, “Call Me Maybe” fits the bill.

But for me, this is a lot of horse apples.

The best news is that, before writing this, I listened to “Call Me Maybe” about eight times, and then, right after, I played “Killer Queen”…Mercury’s version. I had played it only once. And as any degree of common sense would tell you, Mercury trumped Jepsen, and all became right with the world. There will be no more bubblegum-pop or skunk spray riffs. The moths and I will sleep well tonight.

 

Adam Ant and The Good, The Mad And The Lovely Posse at Best Buy Theater, NYC on October 6th November 17, 2012

Filed under: Concert Reviews — NVMP @ 7:49 PM
Tags: , , ,

Whatever happened to Adam Ant?  Unless you paid attention to the news (mostly in the UK press) where fans could hear of the public antics related to Adam Ant’s mental health issues, one wouldn’t be able to answer.  For many on this side of the pond, not much has been heard from him since his 1982 hit “Goody Two Shoes,” which spawned a music video that afforded him the massive staying power of a place in American pop culture.  So it was a welcome shock when Adam Ant announced plans for his first U.S. tour in 16 years with his new band The Good, The Mad And The Lovely Posse, leading up to the release of his newest album in the early part of 2013.  One postponement and several months later, he finally arrived at the Best Buy Theater in New York to bring the new romantic era back to fans, if only for a night.

As the first notes of “Plastic Surgery” echoed through the halls, Adam took the stage to a thunderous reception from the ravenously eager audience, as they instantly reverted back to their teens for the duration of the evening.  Admittedly, some might call the sight of a 57-year-old man jumping around on stage in a buccaneer outfit singing punk grounded new romantic-era tunes silly.  I would simply shrug and call it Adam Ant, and a truly awesome sight at that.  What a show he put on, launching through two hours and nearly 30 songs with the energy of his younger days, while easily remaining in perfect harmony with his equally talented backing band.  As he propelled from “Surgery” immediately into “Dog Eat Dog,” the crowd became electrified even further, with the band trampling through nearly ten songs before stopping to banter with the audience.

There were some expected signs of wear and tear in his voice throughout the show, with a few off-key moments and slightly diminished vocal capacity popping up along the way (the chorus of “Beat My Guest” comes to mind.) But he rolled with the minor hitches, using his seemingly limitless in leading the eager crowd through a succession of older hits like “Stand and Deliver” and “Kings of the Wild Frontier” and obscurities such as “Deutscher Girls”, while thankfully managing to avoid even skimming nostalgia.  The real highlight of the evening came from the unveiling of “Vince Taylor” from his upcoming album Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner’s Daughter, a song which managed to unveil a more polished sound while allowing fond memories of album’s past to seep in. No fans lost there.

In fact, Adam Ant’s renewed enthusiasm for playing out is what made his set a vastly different experience than one would expect, if a person’s only experience with his music being from MTV videos or albums.  What sounded like new romantic/new wave-pop (an obvious base of punk ethics buried beneath catchy hooks and lighter lyrics) in past times has now evolved into a rougher, raw sound.  He uses no noticeable backing tracks or synthesizers and kept the engineer-triggered effects to a minimum, which breathed new life into his songs.  The cheesy horns dominant through “Goody Two Shoes” were eliminated, instead driven by a more aggressive drumbeat and the sappy pop of “Wonderful” melted and became more of a Rock ballad.

Finishing on the high notes of a fantastic surprise cover of T. Rex’s “Get It On” and old favorite “Physical (You’re So)” brought the evening to a well deserved close.  Welcome back, Adam Ant.

-Mark B.

Set List

Plastic Surgery

Dog Eat Dog

Beat My Guest

Kick

Cartrouble

Ants Invasion

Deutscher Girls

Stand and Deliver

Room at the Top

Kings of the Wild Frontier

Wonderful

Whip in My Valise

Vince Taylor

Strip

Desperate but Not Serious

Cleopatra

Never Trust a Man (With Egg on His Face)

Zerox

Antmusic

Goody Two Shoes

Vive Le Rock

Christian D’or

Lady/Fall In

-Encore-

Fat Fun

Red Scab

Get It On

(T. Rex cover)

Prince Charming

Physical (You’re So)

 

Music Festivals, Hurricane Sandy and Life, Oh My! November 1, 2012

Filed under: Can You Believe This?! — NVMP @ 12:11 PM

We’re still here!   A little behind from CMJ madness and the destruction of Hurricane Sandy, but NVMP is finally back online.  We’ll be posting a few concert reviews over past month or so, so stay with us!  Hopefully your smart phones are charged and you can enjoy some great reviews.  Hope everyone stays safe and remember to be kind to each other.  There is no reason for riots to break out at gas stations, conditions are bad everywhere.  xoxo TNT   http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/11/in_new_jersey_death_toll_rises.html

Bye Bye River St. in Hackensack, NJ

Seaside Heights Boardwalk, before and after. That’s the Jet Star Roller Coaster in the ocean.

NYC

The Stone Pony is doing fine in Asbury Park, NJ – JERSEY STRONG!

Jones Beach Theater is underwater

 

The Offspring Host Heavy-Hitters Dead Sara and Neon Trees on the Jersey Shore October 1, 2012

Filed under: Concert Reviews,TNT Concert Calendar — NVMP @ 10:45 PM
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Asbury Park September 9, 2012. The Stone Pony Summer Stage

Review by Angela Blasi

As the summer tapers to a close The Offspring settle into a night of rock n’ roll to light up our own historic Asbury Park.   Being a Sunday show, doors opened at 5pm with a special indoor performance by Old Bridge Twp locals, The Stolen.  A pop punk quintet just getting their feet wet, they were surprisingly easy to listen to.  Still a little awkward on stage with a fan base composed of primarily family and friends, they proved confident, appreciative and best of all, catchy.  You can give them a listen here.

First up on the summer stage we have Dead Sara, the Los Angeles based, female-fronted quartet catching fire as they tour in support of their self titled, debut album.  Though they were only given 30 minutes on stage, vocalist Emily Armstrong, bassist Chris Null, lead guitarist Siouxsie Medley, and drummer Sean Friday made every minute count.  Stepping to their respectful places with a quiet, seamless presence, they broke the silence with the steady groove of Medley’s distorted guitar on “Whispers & Ashes.”  After a pleasant introduction, the rock got underway with “Test on my Patience.”  There is one thing I have to tell you about singer Emily Armstrong- she does not merely sing.  Instead, she opens her mouth and lets the music pour out with unabashed passion.  A voice that has been unparalleled in recent time, or at least in the twenty something years I’ve listened, she is the physical embodiment of the thumping bass drum and the richness of bass guitar.   Music has been devoid of stellar vocalists who understand the instrumentation of the voice for far too long.  I loved “Lemon Scent” – matching vocal melody to the squealing allure of Medley’s instrument, yet gravely growls in all the right places.

I had the opportunity to interview Dead Sara and learn more about their music. From their love of the road to the creative process, Dead Sara is all about doing what feels right in order to create pure rock n’ roll as they see fit; casting off the music industry machine in their early trials and distributing their music via their own label to maintaining complete creative control over their art.  I hope they realize how much faith they have restored in rock n’ roll fans as they spread their refreshingly raw sound across the nation.  Ironically enough their fame is almost accidental, as a radio disc jockey discovered the hit single “Weatherman” and simply started playing the powerhouse of a song out of enjoyment.  A fitting beginning for a band that exudes humble passion, displaying modesty and compelling honesty in personality and musicianship.  When I asked Armstrong where exactly a voice like that comes from, she simply looked me in the eye, laughed a little and replied, “I wish I knew.”  But please, do not underestimate the rhythm section of this band.  Songs like “Weatherman” are accented poignantly with rolling snare and punchy bass lines that resonate inside your chest.   Behind a screaming front woman is a mess of arms, hair and sticks thrashing away like a rock God.   Interestingly enough, Dead Sara only took form into the current line up a few short years ago, as Medley and Armstrong went through a few drummers and bassists before recruiting Friday and Null.   It seems to have been a wise decision, as the group explains their creative process as a natural, flowing entity conceived in the meddling of the studio and fostered by the eagerness and excitement of finding a riff and expanding on it.

      

Though quiet on stage, backstage finds them relaxed and mellow, more like a group of old friends than rock stars who seemed very nonchalant about the being interviewed endlessly thing.  Fresh off of Van’s Warped Tour (where they had to cancel the last leg of the tour due to Medley’s fractured ribs) and bouncing around the U.S., fans can catch them on the bill for ShipRocked 2012 along with heavy hitters Godsmack and Korn.  Keep an eye on this band; before you know it they’ll be headlining major tours and selling out venues.  I wish them well in their endeavors and hope they find rising fame kind.

Second to the stage representing the alternative genre with their energetic, bouncy vibe and electrified music was Neon Trees.  Personally, I was only familiar with their radio singles, “Animal” and “Everybody Talks.”  However, I was impressed with the vocal clarity, as lead singer Tyler Glenn is just as clean and crisp as he appears on studio recordings, often bending his voice into interesting pitches while adding colorful tones.  Neon Trees offered a slightly longer set, featuring an electric light display that matched their fun sound.  I was pleasantly surprised as the band played as tight as a drum and executed it with flawless presentation.  Glenn also offered witty banter between songs, keeping the crowd entertained on multiple fronts.  Something of a contrast to the grit of the previous set, the audience slipped into the bouncing tunes with ease.  They even launched into a cover of “State Trooper.”  And what is a summer show in Asbury Park without Bruce Springsteen?  Overall, the band that has been called an evolutionary step in the glam rock scene proves this is no misnomer.

Which leads us to our main event, The Offspring.  Having been a fan since childhood, this was my first time seeing the group live.   Let me preface by first saying I have heard for many years that Dexter Holland cannot hit certain recorded notes live.  That being said, I took this as an opportunity to see for myself.

Regardless of that, they played an amazing 19 song set complete with two encores.   The Offspring opened with “Hurting As One,” a track off their latest album Days Go By.  Though the new album clearly had its place in their set list, performing the current single “Days Go By” early in the night, they also played every song I wanted to hear.  When the bass line to “Bad Habit” kicked in, older fans in the crowd began to cheer.  Singing along, loud and proud, the group paused just before launching into a cadre of swear words energetically backed by Noodles distorted guitar.  Another highlight was the slow piano introduction of “Gone Away.”  As it crept to a head, Dead Sara’s own Emily Armstrong took to the stage once more to join Dexter on the chorus, adding an even more haunting effect to the overall emotion of the song.  As for the vocals mentioned earlier, I am sad to report that the rumors were true.  During one moment of the night when the main vocals fell out of rhythm for a brief second, I was able to hear a pre-recorded audio track played underneath.  I was a little disappointed when I realized Dexter was either shortening the length of, or unable to hold out, all the characteristic long phrases heard so often on their records.  However I am a forgiving fan, dismissing his vocal shortcomings and simply singing even louder, because after all they still put on one hell of a show.  The music rocked, the energy was buzzing and the crowd was an eclectic bunch of punk rockers and rock n’ rollers (that could have used a lesson in proper moshing/skanking).

Honestly, this is probably the most fun I’ve had at a concert in a long time.  I was thoroughly engaged and entertained from start to finish and highly recommend catching this specific line up before the last date of the tour. You won’t regret it, even if it takes a road trip.

 

Dead Can Dance at Beacon Theatre (Night 2) August 30, 2012 September 29, 2012

Filed under: Concert Reviews — NVMP @ 12:47 AM
Tags: , ,

Review by: Mark B.

After 16 years of album-related silence and 7 years passed since their last reunion tour, Dead Can Dance finally took the stage on Thursday night, for the second night of their two Beacon Theater shows. Amidst an air of beaming wonder and eager bliss from the mass of dedicated fans, DCD finally ventured out from the shadows and back on the road in support of their newest album Anastasis, their first album of original material since 1996’s World music heavy Spiritchaser.

Taking the stage to radiating waves of cheers and screams from the eagerly awaiting crowd, the duo of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard (who was dressed in a long black dress and flowing golden cape, looking much like a physical representation of one of their songs) merely smiled in quiet acknowledgment and took their places. Mr. Perry opened the show with “Children of the Sun,” the first track off of Anastasis. A grand and airy march-like tune, the song gave off vibes of a return to a sound that developed at the height of their career, where Medieval chants merged with an increasing World music flavor. The tune set the pace for the rest of the show; a slow and hypnotic journey into the realm of the group’s spacious, more pensive songs led by a complete performance of the new album interwoven through older selections, including a fitting cover of an 800 year old song from Spain and an older Russian folk song, both performed by Perry.

There was some disappointment that none of the older song selections included anything before their 1993 album Into the Labyrinth (one would assume at least one or two of these amazing tracks would make the encores, they didn’t). But what DCD lacked in older material, they more than made up for in true musical cohesiveness. It was a privilege to experience a band that took the effort to create a set that tonally and musically gelled together. They politely disregarded songs the audience would expect to hear, allowing them to transport the audience from their seats at the Beacon theater into the surreal and wondrous world formed between the musical minds of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard.

Although Mr. Perry’s performance felt like the guiding force of the evening, especially since he had really determined the direction of the show with his opening song, both members managed to strike a perfect balance between his mystic, philosophical chants and her heavenly, tonal non-lyrics. Lisa Gerrard’s songs especially took on an other-worldly quality, almost making her the subtle star of the evening. On Cd’s or records her vocals seemed to carry an air of overly artsy nonsense where live her voice had the space to roll over the crowd and up to the highest points of the ceiling. From the moment the spotlight illuminated her as she started her first song, the flow of her self-styled lyrics seemed to pull the show into another realm.

The wondrous balance thankfully lasted through 3 encores, with Brendan Perry taking the lion’s share of the tunes. Lisa Gerrard took the final encore of the evening, ending with the folk song “The Rising of the Moon,” as she released each note with a tenderness that allowed each member of the audience to absorb every note and conjured syllable that slipped from her tongue to the open air.

It was a truly marvelous evening with one of the world’s most incredible acts, one that won’t be forgotten anytime soon… at least until the next time they decide to tour.

 

 

On the sound and release of their new album “Love and the Human Outreach”… September 22, 2012

Filed under: Editorial,Interviews,Music Festivals,Music You've Been Missing,New Music — NVMP @ 6:30 PM
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Warped Tour 2012 – July 21 – Nassau Coliseum

DF – David Fowler – Keyboards

SF – Stephen Fowler – Lead Vocals

DTK – Dave the Klone

TNT, as herself

One of the amazing highlights of the 2012 Vans’ Warped Tour was getting to catch an awesome set from, and hang out with Echo Movement, the band from the Jersey shore bringing their own brand of sci-fi to their Reggae / Classic Rock fusion sound.  Take 2 parts Bob Marley, 1 part Beatles and 1 part Pink Floyd, and you just start to scratch the surface of what Echo Movement has perfected with their latest album, Love and the Human Outreach.  The guys were super cool and more than happy to go into depth on the finer points of what makes Love and the Human Outreach more than just a mind-blowing album, but a scientific work of art.

          

   

.

TNT:  So it’s already been featured in CNN, MSNBC, Wired Magazine and other media as a scientific work.  Would you explain how this album is a scientific work?

DF:  Yeah, absolutely.  There are two things in there that would qualify as such, three things if you include the subject matter of the lyrics.  The two physical things that are in there, one is…well, actually this is our second album that features binaural beats.  What they are essentially are two sinusoidal frequencies that are ever so slightly out of tune with each other.  And when you pan one of those frequencies hard right, so that it’s only coming out of the right speaker, and you pan the other hard left, so that it’s only coming out of the left speaker, and then put on a set of head phones, your brain goes through a neurological process where it identifies the algorithm between those two frequencies, and it becomes what we call an audible artifact.  It’s something that doesn’t physically exist, but because of a certain exchange among elements, you hear something that may not exactly be there.  To get your brain working that way is always a great thing.

DTK:  Wow, it sounds like you’re creating a certain kind of big bang in someone’s head when they listen to your music.

DF:  Ha. We’d love for that to happen.  If there’s any sort of output of energy, or any sort of transformation of energy, I think that’s a beautiful thing and in this case, it’s a cognitive process that’s responsible.  It’s pretty fascinating because you can use binaural beats, and they have been used for therapeutic reasons.  It’s something we’ve studied for a pretty significant period of time before we used them on the last album.  On this one we used them on the first track, “Rising Sunset,” and a little bit on the second track, “Spaceship Earth.”  I feel like they put you in a nice relaxed state to set you up for the album, and then you proceed from there.

DTK:  That sounds incredible. [Referring to the explanation, as I had not heard the album at this point…but before you ask, yes, those binaural beats worked, and it was so fucking cool.]

DF:  It’s a good way of bridging the gap between reality and the world of the album.

TNT:  Could you explain Reggae Bubble?

DF:  Reggae Bubble is essentially a rhythm that is used commonly in our genre of music, and I guess in our case I’ve updated it or textured it with different sounds, but originally it had started to emerge thirty or forty years ago, if not more.  It’s a great rhythm, because the only beat that’s not hit is the first downbeat of each phrase.  That’s something that’s awkward and foreign and, for the lack-of-better-words, uncouth to any sort of western tradition of music, where everything falls on the down-beat rhythm.

DTK:  So is Reggae something that has always been with you guys, or did it come from growing up in the beach culture?  How did you guys wind up in the genre you’re in, which clearly involves a scientific component as well, so I can’t wait to hear how that plays into this to create Echo Movement.

SF:  You know, as far as Reggae, Bob Marley Legend was one of the first albums I got when I was younger.  We listened to a lot of Bob Marley growing up.  We also listened to Michael Jackson, a lot of Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Doors.  Those were the big players as far as the soundtrack at our house between ourselves and our parents.  Dave, you wanna explain the science-side?

DF:  As far as the science, that’s really just something we wanted to do.  We were into doing research in different areas that we’re interested in as far as from a scientific point of view, and then just use the genre as the communicative medium through which we express these things.  We use it as a vehicle.  Regarding the binaural beats, it’s something I discovered two or three years ago, but they’ve been around for something like 70, 80, 90 years, so it’s existed for some time.  It’s been used in the medical community as a treatment for certain neurological disorders.

DTK:  That’s really cool.

DF:  But the real science project on this album comes as a result of spending the last seven years contacting SETI, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence…

DTK:  Whoa, really?!  Can I just tell you, I am so happy that’s the direction this is going, myself probably more than TNT.

TNT:  Haha, yeah.

DTK:  As soon as you said SETI, I was like, ‘Ooooooh!! X-Files!!’  So awesome.  So, you contacted SETI.

DF:  I did.  I was looking for any audio they might have that we could possibly use, and I wound up talking to Edna Davore, the Director of Education at SETI.  She introduced me to the Keppler mission, which is a space telescope that trails Earth, with the primary goal of discovering exo-planets, or planets outside our solar system.  To date, since it’s been launched in 2009, it’s discovered over 2500 planets, as dead-on confirmations.  It does this by observing the apparent magnitude of the star, because planets don’t emit light, it has to observe as the planet transits a small cross-section of sky, passing through our line-of-sight between us and the distant star of the galaxy where the planet is orbiting.  Passing in front of the star over a period of time will create a discernible pattern.  That pattern is charted by an organization called PlanetHunters.org, headed up by a Dr. Debra Fischer at Yale University.  So I reached out to her, at Edna’s suggestion, and she was able to talk to me about how to read and understand their charts.  So over a period of months, I searched through the data points on the charts until I found some that seemed to me to be sinusoidal, and something that I thought would translate well into music.  Then I found a sonification team at Georgia Tech, led by Dr. Bruce Walker, and he put one of his undergrads, O’Riley Winton in charge of putting together a small team of undergrads to help me sonify this data.  And over the course of four or five  months, working with them, I would say diligently…

DTK:  Yeah, I second that, diligently sounds like the right word.

DF:  …they came back with some results, and successfully translated this star-data.  The data we used in this case was actually a binary star-system, but they still create a series of data points that oscillate at the rate we were looking for, it just had a more consistent, more stable pattern that was easier for sonification.  On top of that, we “fitted” the data, which is an idea I borrowed from a Dr. Charles Bailyn, also at Yale University, who was doing a lecture series where he discussed how he would “fit” the data.  He discovered radio velocities of stars…so, you know the planet would go around the star, and it would wobble from its center of mass…and he would take those data points, which weren’t as stable because they were Hubble observations, and they used to just “fit” the data in order to make for cleaner digestion of the information.

DTK:  So, it used to be inaccurate and they’d fill in the gaps?

DF:  Well, it was more accurate eventually, but they were able to draw more conclusions and extrapolate more information from the data they had at the time.  Using that information applied to the binary star-system sample we were using, they came up with these sounds.  So when I got them back, I composed them into a five-part harmony and put it on the album, and then we dedicated it to Carl Sagan.

DTK:  Oh my God, that’s so awesome.  So now how many songs is this going to be happening in?  I mean people are going to be hearing these star sounds and not even be realizing that this is part of the music, right?

DF:  That’s fine.  If they don’t understand, that’s absolutely fine.  And those who do, more power to them.  It’s no problem.  At the end of the day, someone made a comment that they could’ve made these same sounds on their CASIO.  And I thought to myself, ‘Yeah, so could I have.  But what you can’t do, is make those sounds from a binary star-system on the other side of the galaxy.

DTK:  I love that you guys are hiding all of these little…I like to call them clues.  These would be kinda like, for people like me who watched the show LOST, these would be the Easter Eggs that are being left to explain what’s really going on.  I mean, the fact that scientists are actually figuring out where other planets are, and if they’d be able to support human life, and all while we’re sitting here drinking lemonade and listening to music, this is what the universe is throwing around, all around you.  I think it’s awesome you guys are incorporating that into your music.

DF:  Those scientists make very easy idols.  I idolize them, we idolize them, and they’re just fantastic human beings who are looking out for knowledge and the welfare and the progress of humanity.  We honor them through our music when we do things like this.

DTK:  Congratulations, guys.  That is definitely a lot of work, and I can’t wait to hear this for myself.

TNT:  What are some of the other bands you guys have seen on the Warped Tour that you’ve liked?

DF:  The top of that list is Streetlight Manifesto.

TNT:  How about the band name?  Can you tell us, does it have any meaning, where did it come from?

SF:  We are part of the echo generation.  The echo generation are the sons and daughters of the baby boomer generation.  Dave thought of the name.  He came up to me one day and was like, I thought of this…how about Echo Movement, like the movement of our generation, the momentum that is going to bring about big changes.

DTK:  Have you been seeing any of these big changes happening yet?

DF:  They happen at the pace of life.

SF:  I’ll tell you what, technologically we are moving at such an exponential rate, it’s noteworthy.

DTK:  Scary even.

SF:  If you think about it, hundreds of years ago, a father would teach his son a skill, I don’t know, how to make an ax or something.  And then the son would teach his son, who would teach his son, and so on, and so on.  It would always be the same exact method to make the ax; they’d heat the metal to the same temperature, they’d use the same materials, they’d live their whole lives in the same small town.  Now, every year we get new cell phones, with completely new applications and completely new technologies and peripherals that we hook up.  I mean, it’s like Ray Kurtzweil says, do you know Ray Kurtzweil?

DTK:  Of course, the singularity.

SF:  Yup, the singularity.  Some of the predictions he’s making are just awesome.  We’re going to have the human brain mapped out, in another two decades or so he’s estimating, and he’s been right about a lot of things.

DTK:  I think I had read that he thinks by 2025 we’ll have the human brain reverse engineered.

SF:  I mean, think about that.  We’re on the cusp of being able to digitize what a human brain is, and if you can do that, well then what defines a human, what is a human being?  Is it a collection of thoughts and memories, are we tissue, are we spiritual or what are we?

DTK:  I suggest you check out Battlestar Galactica if you have free time after the tour.

TNT:  Oh, God.  It’s so not for me.  Are you guys’ fans?

SF:  No.

DF:  No.  I think Noles is a fan though.

SF:  The only reason I know about it is through friends and now that you mention it, yes I believe that Noles is somehow a fan.

TNT:  Anyway, so did you guys catch Streetlight Manifesto today?

DF:  Not today, but we try to catch them as often as we can.  They’re pretty good friends of ours.

TNT:  Have you played together live or on albums?

SF:  Dave has.

DF:  We played a 5-show run with them in late 2009, and we’ve played with them on a couple isolated dates since then.

SF:  When I said, ‘Dave has,’ I meant he’s played on albums with them.

DF:  I played on their album 99 Songs of Revolution: Vol. 1, I played the organ solo on “Skyscraper,” which is a cover of a Bad Religion song.

DTK:  Nice.

TNT:  So, do you think sponsorships are the best way to tour and get around?  How did you guys start getting sponsors?  Is there a process?

DF:  It’s enabling.  Any sort of capital is enabling in a capitalist society.

SF:  It’s unfortunate that artists have to worry about such things.  But the sponsors that we’ve been lucky enough to hook up with are really, really cool.  Like Silver Surfer Vaporizors.  We hung out with them when we were in Denver.  They were awesome.

 

Don’t forget to order your copy of Love and the Human Outreach, out now!  If you hurry, you might be able to catch the limited edition version, which includes a piece of art from Brothers With Glass featuring the album cover-art!  Go my friends, be awesome and spread the word and music of Echo Movement.  Nevermind the Posers shares new music with you so that you can share new music you discover here with the world.

 

Art History by California Wives September 19, 2012

Filed under: CD Reviews — NVMP @ 7:54 PM
Tags: ,
Review by Nicole Aimone
California Wives released their latest album Art History on September 4, 2012.  This album brings soft subtle and poppy vocals, signature alternative guitar rhythms and foot-tap inducing drum beats to the table, something the band has mastered by now.  They also have a circa 1980s vibe going for them with member Hans Michel on keyboard.  California Wives certainly hasn’t lost any of their synthesized pop meets The police sound that first appeared on 2009 release EL84.
Some of my favorite tracks from Art History are “Blood Red Youth” and “Marianne.”   The thing that drew me to these songs is that they have both great guitar and lyric hooks.  I found myself singing them in the shower, which forced me to listen to the album even more because, I mean who wants to have a song stuck in their head all day?  I’m sure every listener will catch themselves doing the same thing when they hear this album.  I’m warning you now, this album is addictive.
Want to see California wives live and in the flesh?  Well here are your chances!
Date
Venue
Location
Tickets
 

BT: Laptop Symphony Live @ Mixx, Atlantic City, NJ on 8/26/12 September 10, 2012

Filed under: Concert Reviews — NVMP @ 8:36 PM
Tags: , , ,

Review Mark B.

In all the years spent going to clubs, concerts and festivals, I can’t recall many times that I have been over-elated or rabidly eager to hit the event as much as when I go to see BT.  Whether a simple DJ mix, live performance (meaning instruments, synthesizers, etc.) or laptop symphony, it’s always a great pleasure to see the live works of the great Brian Transeau.  So it was an extraordinarily rare treat when he finally found the time to make an exceedingly rare appearance within the tri-state area at Mixx night club in Atlantic City, NJ on a Sunday night of all nights.

Mixx itself is a smaller, cramped club with a powerful sound system that can be found dead center in the Borgata hotel.  Although everything in the casino literally revolves around it, the club somehow gives off an anonymous, almost exclusive feel so any guest will feel slightly special walking up the ramp to get inside, at least until you order your $8 beer.  I have read about how it is one of the best nightclubs in Atlantic City, with two floors of dance madness.  Unfortunately the second floor seemed to be off-limits for the evening, as all of us were relegated to the first floor.

The night was kicked off by DJ Paul Castro, spinning the expected mix of remixed top 40 cuts and other popular dance floor hits.  Although he rolled out a decent set, he seemed to be slightly off his game that night, as his mixing and transitions weren’t exactly the smoothest (not that any of the slowly trickling in crowd noticed.)  That being said, he certainly did a decent job of getting the non-responsive crowd closer to the dance floor than the bar over the next two hours.

Slightly after 1am BT magically appeared in the DJ booth, like being beamed in by the same extraterrestrials who supply him with his highly advanced array of musical equipment.  The crowd had hit its peak by then, which was smaller than one would assume for someone on the level of BT.  Then again, it could be considered a massive crowd for a Sunday night, and a fairly fun one at that.  Following the lead of his newly released first Laptop Symphony mix album, he led-off with his club hit collaboration with Adam K. “Tomahawk, ” a tune that quietly draws the listener in by slowly swelling into a glitched out dance assault, which instantly rocked the dance floor as it faded in.  And he would lead the receptive audience on a similar musical trajectory through the complex depths of his Laptop Symphony for the rest of the evening, constantly throwing up his hands at the crescendos of each song, dancing to the parts of the music the crowd barely reacted to and throwing up his hands in pure sonic bliss.  BT is a man who not just visibly enjoys what he does, but seems to crawl inside Ableton Live before a witnessing crowd and kick back during each performance.

And suddenly just 20 minutes after 2am, after throwing a prayer-handed bow to the audience, he was gone as instantly as he had arrived with Paul Castro picking up the slack to bring tonight home.  It was a set that was far too short (barely an hour and twenty minutes,) but one that brought me to another solar system and made me dance while I was there; I am grateful for that. Come back soon Mr. BT.

 

Music and Video Fail: “Hell Yeah” Midnight Red August 30, 2012

Filed under: Music Videos,Rants — NVMP @ 7:04 AM
Tags: , ,

Review by Hoverbee

This is what’s wrong with music and the youth in general, although I’m sure lots of soccer moms may get down to this as well.  Each member of the group is a representation of a different scene or genre to ensure maximum dispersal through various demographics.  Don’t even get me started on the weird guy with the pointy hair.  Vanilla Ice called…he wants his hairstyle back.  The music itself is a simple rehash of what can only be described as the pop music of today’s cheap moves.  We’ve all heard this song before.  I normally do research on bands for video reviews, but for this I felt no bother.  I don’t care where they’re from and am sad they ever decided to leave that place to spread this god-awful brand of musical heresy.  Hey all of you who have no need for real substance or culture, this song/video will make you feel good about that lost weekend you can’t quite remember and glorify your need for never-ending drinking and shag fests.