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I've been thinking a lot about music recently. Mostly because I'm going to be completing work on my recording studio shortly, but also because I'm starting to get a strong urge to write and record again. I won't be doing anything serious until wowgirl is done, but I'm starting to think in that direction for the time being.

Also, with people asking about The Raul Groom Blues Band (now that's a great name for a band) this weekend, I was thinking about some of the other things Greatness and Raul and Brad and I have recorded over the years. I think I'll slowly be digitizing a lot of that stuff and putting up here. I'm sure there will be much nostalgia and embarrassment for everyone. (Let's not forget Cistern, which is, tragically, already available.)

Of course, I came to Athens to make music. I thought that's what I was going to do when I got here. wowgirl and filmmaking sidetracked me for several years. This was a good detour, and I'm glad I made it, but now I'm slowly moving back towards music. So here's what I've been thinking about. Your thoughts on any of these things are appreciated.

Thought #1: I was reading the new issue of Rolling Stone before bed one night this week (Hunter S. Thompson on the cover, and the bastard's sunglasses were all I dreamed about that night). There was an article about modern rock stations across the country losing listeners and closing. At once, everyone goes "That's because the music sucks...," but I don't think that's it. I can point to a number of rather interesting bands being played right now (The Killers, Keane, Modest Mouse) that I couldn't a year ago. It's a cyclical thing, right? I think Nu metal's wake has been absolutely devastating to rock music, and the next "movement" is going to to happen in order for rock to get back on top. But it seems like all anyone is doing right now is digging into the past (The Killers) or bailing on the guitars (Coldplay, Keane), or keep on keeping pm (Green Day, with a great record that's more of the same, just better than recent years). None of this is necessarily bad, I like all of those bands (well, Chris Martin whines too much, whatever), but it's adding to the stagnation. What do you think is coming? A new geographically-based movement (like Seattle)? A new "hero"? Does Indie take over and own radio for a few years (Modest Mouse and Franz Ferdinand suggest the possibilty)? Or something completely different?

Thought #2: Sadly, I'm listening to some crap these days. For a while during and after Nu Metail, rock decided that melody was A Bad Thing. I can't even begin to count the number of crappy bands that decided melody was the antichrist and put out album after album of junk. Any body remember when that one guy called out Pearl Jam for making an album of songs without hooks? So true. To fulfill my melody cravings, I somehow ended up in girl pop. No, I can't explain it, other than to say that Butch Walker, Ben Moody, and Rayne Malda all co-wrote songs for the last Avril Lavigne album (which I own), so at least some of the guys I admire are feeling the same way. Neal Peart even wrote about his own experiences with the phenomenon in Ghost Rider, calling that part of his personality Gaia. I prefer the ones that more-or-less help write their own music (Avril doesn't write everything, but Butch has said in interviews that she does indeed have a big hand in the process) or have strong voices (so Britney is mostly out, though I sorta like Everytime. Ashley Simpson can go away yesterday. Her sister has a strong voice, but bad songs. Michelle Branch is awesome. Christina Aguilerra can sing like a mad woman, even though her porn star image is crap. I mean, Fighter is practically a rock anthem. Top 40 stations picked up a lot of the rock listeners that jumped ship, according to Rolling Stone - is lack of melody part of the reason why? Is a return to melodic rock without the cheese of the 80's a possible solution? What is the zeitgeist of the '00 decade? Can you mix angst with melodic rock? Or go deeper, newer?

Thought #3 - Produced, but not THAT produced. Rob Thomas, what the hell happened? How did you go from writing Long Day, a song that remains one of my favorite rock songs of all time, to this bullshit. Make it stop. Seriously. Take a icepick to Matt Serletic's ear drums, bang your head into a brick wall six times, take a breath, and start writing good songs again. And stop adding horns, backup singers, six layers of reverb. You can keep the Hammond B-3, but ONLY if you use it sparingly and for good purpose. Me, I want a sound that has an unpolished edge, but doesn't sound like I recorded it in a the bathroom at a Motel 6. Which, unfortunately, is why I dislike alot of Indie music. (There's an interesting side note about the Indie scene and production values here, maybe I'll talk about it in the comments if anyone cares.) Of course, Cobain wanted a similar balance on In Utero, since he always hated the production of Nevermind. Hard to get, and he was very frustrated by the elusive "perfect mix" during that recording process. There's a Spartanburg band I like called Dezeray's Hammer that always gets a solid guitar sound, but I think that my stuff will end up being heavier than them. Hard to say. Harkening back to Thought #2, there's a new (as in recently signed to a major label) Atlanta girl pop artist called Aslyn, who has some okay pop stuff (slightly better lyrics), but she also has some darker songs too. Pparticularly a song called 493-1023, which has something to do with abandonment or betrayal by her father, that has been over-produced into almost happy-go lucky pop diddy. Too much reverb, too much chorus, not enough soul in the production aspect of a song that has stupid amounts of soul. There's a little of this in Michelle Branch's music too. She's been quoted as saying she doesn't recognize most of the artists played on the stations that play her music, and it's because she writes songs that could be interpreted much harder/more honestly than they are, because she is being produced into the pop genre. John Shanks did both her CDs and he also did that last Vertical Horizon CD, effectively wounding the career of an otherwise mind-blowingly good band (if you didn't like Everything You Want, still check out their earlier stuff).

Okay, that's the top of my head for today. Overall, I think I'm trying to intellectualize music in my head a little bit. Of all the different things I tend to do on a creative level, music has always been the most instinctual. Writing, filmmaking - yeah, I've thought a lot about the grammar of film and story and the tools necessary to write and make good ones. I can discuss camera angles, story structure, and the like as easily as I can go on about the emotional aspect. Music, on the other hand - well, I usually just go with what sounds good to me. If I like the vibe, I write the song. I've decided that this is actually impeding my growth process as a musician to some extent, so I'm going to try a different approach. I may talk about it more, as I go along.

How to make music that I like without sounding like everybody else? How to redefine a genre that's already been defined about four million times? How to make the loud, angry guitar sound different from every other loud, angry guitar? They're good questions for a little rocker boy like me.

Replies: 11 Comments

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on Monday, March 21st, Vampire Elf said

You're an evil man. But you make a good point about my procrastination - however, I have taken steps this very day to sort this out, so come back around 3:00 and see what's up.

on Friday, March 18th, Kicking Bird said

Wowgirl will never be done. I've come to accept this, please embrace the madness.