August 2023 Grapevine

It’s amazing how fast time can slide by. I started thinking about songs for the August Grapevine and I realized that August is basically over. I didn’t really take a lot of time to listen to new things this month. Then by the time I listened to a lot of tunes to pick some out – damn it’s September! Soo, it’s August in September Grapevine. There’s months where I’ll read a lot of music magazines, both print and online, and come across new bands or new releases. That’s where I find the bands I want to listen to. Then I’ll listen to a lot of songs to find a few that I want to write about. In the process you end up listening to some songs that aren’t to your taste. I made part of my process listening to those songs all the way through. If you listen to a song and break it down you will always learn something. With music I don’t want it to be ‘good’ or ‘bad’. You listen to the pieces of the song and figure out what doesn’t work for you. It tells you more about what kind of sound appeals to you than it does the ‘quality’ of the music. Now, if you want to be objective, there are absolutely quality levels when it comes to song writing and recording. Some genres of music I’m not well versed in so you may not see any songs of that style represented. Nothing wrong with them, just not my style to write about. So, what’s the point of my rambling? If you come across a song in the Grapevine and you hear the first couple seconds and think “meh”, take a chance and listen to the whole song. Analyze the parts. Maybe you’ll discover something in it that you like. A journey begins with a single step (ok – a bit of last sentence cliché, but you know what I mean).

First Up: bdrmm – ‘We Fall Apart’

As per the intro to this post, we all have our favorite sounds and styles. I most admit to being a fan of drone and shoegaze. The simplicity draws you in. Much of the instrumentation here is tasked with maintaining a drive and flow. The drum rhythms are straight forward. And they’re EQ’d towards the high frequencies. There’s some electronic drums in parts, but it doesn’t have the big boomy kick drum. The same higher frequencies hold for the bass guitar all though it does have depth added with reverb. There are two guitars that are split to the left and right. They really add the drone feel as for large portions of the song they’re sitting on a set of notes and arpeggios. Keyboards come in to add emphasis to certain parts of the verses and choruses. Finally the vocal sits in the middle of the mix most of the time. In a lot of ways it works as another instrument as much as for the lyrical content. Drone working at it’s best is like being in a moving car with your head out the window (don’t try this at home kids – it’s all metaphoric). You’re physically in the flow. This song comes in at 5:26. For a song that length you need to provide a break. This tune does at 3:04. From that point until about 4:17 the song rebuilds around the keyboards. It softens the song for a bit (pull your head back in the window). The change of pace works nicely. The song goes back to the original drone and winds it’s way to the end. A nice arrangement really gives a song personality.

Next Up – Cable Ties – ”Crashing Through’

It’s always fun to get back to some musical simplicity. A straight ahead driving beat and some well defined instrumental parts that just blast along. It sounds simple, but it’s not. To make a song like this work there needs to be thought put in to the writing of the parts and especially the recording. In this song the drums and bass are used as the driving force. The drum recording is very crisp. You can distinctly hear all the parts of the kit. The recording picks up the high end slap of the kick drum. For a straight forward tune that’s more important than having a big, deep bottom end. There’s not a lot of reverb added to the snare, which is, again, the right decision to bring the drum beat in this song to life. I think it was a good decision by the drummer to keep the hi hat to a minimum during most of the song. That opens more space for the vocals to stand out and when the high hat comes in, it makes more of an impression. The bass guitar keeps a steady beat. It mostly sits on the low root of the chord and jumps in to the same note an octave up every few beats. Those two instruments provide a beautiful canvas for the guitar and vocals. During the verses the guitar is kept simple with chord arpeggios played every few beats. Again, when you have simple instrumentation you can define where you want the dynamics by dropping pieces in and out. That makes the vocals stand out in the verses. When the chorus comes the guitar fills out with chords. There’s also a nice production move by having the guitar sound a bit more split between the left and right channels. There’s a lot more push in the vocals during the choruses. A fine example of tailoring the production to the song and making something that could sound simple sound amazing.

Finally: Deer Tick – ‘If I Try To Leave’

Let’s finish today with a song from Deer Tick’s album ‘Emotional Contracts’. This song caught me right from the intro. They start with a couple of strokes on a ‘dead stringed’ guitar. The first verse sticks with a guitar and vocal only sound with the bass and drums dropping a few shots here and there. I like the guitar sound. Crunchy, a little messy with definite nods to guitar sounds from the 1970’s. When writing and recording you have to realize how important the first twenty seconds of your song is. You have to catch the audience’s attention right away. People are often flipping through radio stations (I guess that may be a bit ‘old school’) or videos or streaming. If you don’t catch them right away it’s on to the next one. This song grabbed my attention right from the beginning. The song gains more momentum when the rest of the band kicks in. It’s a nice mix. The bass and drums have a presence without being too up front. A lot of the best parts will be almost subconscious unless you listen closely. There’s a great interplay between the guitars. Listen closely to pick up the backing vocals which are a really good addition without being extremely up front in the mix. There’s even some nice bar room piano thrown in – you’ll hear a piece of that at the 1:12 mark. Then to have a little change of pace they drop back down to guitar and vocal at 2:03. They pull even a little farther away at 2:12 with just a heavily affected guitar and a little piano riff before jumping back in to the main feel of the song again. It’s these little arrangement changes that add more life to any song and make it stand out when someone hears it for the first time. They end the song with everyone taking a few fun instrumental shots, including the drums and bass. Great way to finish.

Retro: Steely Dan

I’m a pretty big Steely Dan fan. I guess they’re the type of band where either you love them or you don’t. I know that I’m always thinking of doing a Steely Dan post where I pick my favorite song from each of their albums. Hopefully I’ll get to that eventually. I’ve continued to follow The Midnight Special channel on YouTube as they add videos. For this post I’m showing a few videos from a 1973 appearance on The Midnight Special. This is the ‘original’ version of the band – at least for live performances. Even on their first album they had other musicians adding tracks (my favorite is the Elliot Randall guitar solo on ‘Reelin’ In The Years). For this post we get ‘Reelin’ In The Years’ from their first album ‘Can’t Buy A Thrill’ and ‘My Old School’ and ‘Show Biz Kids’ from their second album ‘Countdown To Ecstasy’. Definitely killin’ it live.

Live Music Report: The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band at Musikfest 08/09/23

We’re back with a report from another live show. On August 9th we got to see The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band live at Musikfest in Bethlehem PA. The Big Damn Band is one of our favorites and we’ve seen them several times (and undoubtedly will again). This time we saw them outdoors at Musikfest which is a wonderfully short 15 minute drive from our house. And it was a free show! There was a quick rain shower before the show but after that the weather was perfect. We got our spots right in front at center stage. As always the band didn’t disappoint. Their show is high energy form start to finish. Lot’s of crowd participation. The band always makes a point of interacting with the crowd and the audience stays involved throughout the set. It’s amazing how a three piece band with only one melodic instrument can produce such a full sound. The band plays around 250 shows a year, so they’re always on top of their game. Hard to get rusty when you’re playing that frequently. If you’re in to Delta Blues or ‘hillcountry’ blues this is definitely a band you need to see. At this point they have quite a few albums out, so there’s lots of different material to enjoy. For a guitar player it’s great to watch the finger picking and slide guitar style up close. We got to chat with The Reverend and Breezy before and after the show for a bit. It’s cool when the people who’s music you enjoy are down to earth and happy to interact with their fans. I’ve included some photos and video (unfortunately I’m not a great videographer with my phone so ignore the stray shots of my fingers). My advice – if the band is in your area, it’s a ‘must see’ show.

Messin With The Music Part 24 – ‘Head Like A Hole’

Time for another tune in the ‘Messin With The Music’ series. This time we’re presenting ‘Head Like A Hole’ by Nine Inch Nails. It always interesting to take a song that is very computer driven (at least in the original recorded version) and change it in to a recording that is mostly acoustic. We did add one part that has a more electronic sound – one of the bass tracks uses an envelope filter guitar pedal to give it a little more character. The song was originally released on their debut album ‘Pretty Hate Machine’ which came out in 1989. NIN was one of the bands that brought a dark and heavy style of electronic music in to the mainstream. I’ve always loved this tune. It has the feel and power of a ‘protest’ song. The protest in this song is against the power of wealth and money and the destructive force it can become. It’s easy to see this corruption if you just look a little below the surface of how the human world functions. It certainly seems that nothing has changed for the better since this was released in 1989. It’s the kind of song that begs to be played at high volume with a fist in the air. We based our version on the bass riff that is a driving force throughout the song. We added a couple of six string acoustic guitars to each side of the stereo field. We then added some chords and arpeggios played on a twelve string guitar and mandolin. There is a cajon and shaker for some percussion in the background. If the original song was a scream of protest against what the world has become we consider our version a reflection of that scream bouncing back from a distant mountain top.

From The Vault 13 – Conduit – ‘Overnight/Bark’

I thought it would be fun to pull up another tune from the ChurchHouse Productions vault. This is a instrumental piece that was included on the Conduit album ‘Superior Olive’. On a number of music videos I’ve watched I’ve seen the term ‘visualizer’ used to describe the video. I’d say that’s what we did with this video. ‘Visualizers’ usually are just video content that occupies your eyes as you listen to the tune. They don’t necessarily relate directly to the lyric content of the song. Since this song doesn’t have vocals I thought it’d be fun just to create some ‘eye candy’ to enjoy while listening. The second part of the recording is from a ‘hidden’ track at the end of the CD. Our black Shar-Pei Emma was the original queen of the studio. She liked to hang around even during recording and always greeted people at the door. One time I set up some mics to catch her barking as she went to greet a knock at the door. You can even hear one of her great ‘face flaps’. She’ll always be here in spirit so I included some photos of her while listening to her barkathon. Hope you enjoy the tune.

July 2023 Grapevine

We’re halfway through another year. It’s amazing how quickly the time goes by. I haven’t had as much time to listen to new music as I usually do. And when I don’t get to listen to as much as usual, I feel like something is missing in my life. The joy of discovery is what makes happiness possible. Discovery for me comes in several forms. The best is being out on the trails hiking and taking pictures. Preferably with as little people around as possible. There’s music in the mountains, forests and seashores. You just have to listen closely to hear it. When you get tuned in to it, it becomes obvious and overwhelming in the best possible way. I feel a weight lifted from me and a constant flow of inspiration. I honestly wish I could be in those places most of the year. Unfortunately, that’s not reality (I am jealous of people who do get to live that way). Music has always presented me with the same inspiration. Listening, writing and recording can take you to a special place. If I could choose a perfect life it would be living in a place where I could be in nature during the day (and I would need to have my wife by my side – everything is better when we’re together) then head in to the studio at night to create. One can always dream. So let’s share some new music for this month. Inspiration is just around the next bend.

First Up: Fruit Bats – ‘Holy Rose’

There are songs that, for me, combine the points I was discussing in this month’s intro. Songs that you could listen to out on a trail, or sitting on a rock over looking the ocean. I’ve listened to James Taylor hiking in redwood forests (use earbuds friends – trail etiquette). There are different ways to listen to a song. I like discussing the instrumental and recording aspects of songs, what makes them work. Sometimes you take a song as a whole and discuss the feelings it elicits when you’re listening to it. This song would be perfect over looking the ocean at sunset. I live near the east coast, but the northern California coast is something special for me. This song lyrically puts you in that place – “Holy Rose of California”. Musically the song starts out simple. Guitar arpeggios in the right side of the mix. Vocals right down the middle – wonderfully emotive vocals with just the right amount of reverb. Drums enter the mix and they are kept very simple. The mix really keeps you centered on the lyrics. Fuzz laden guitar enters the mix on the left side to keep a good stereo feel and the drums drop back deeper. Listen carefully and you can hear the high harmony vocal in the right side of the mix. There’s a short fuzzy lead added. The mix then fills out. The guitar arpeggios in the right almost sound like keyboards and the thicker fuzz guitar stays in the left. The mix continues to put the vocals out front. They are multi layered which makes them more prominent and highlights the lyrics. The reverb added thickens the overall sound while adding a dream like feel. When you get to the mid point of the song keyboards are added. This piece by piece addition keeps the emotional feel of the song growing. Little additions like shakers keep expanding that feel. The song builds to a keyboard fade out at the end.

Next Up: The Lickerish Quartet – ‘New Days’

This is a beautifully put together song. As with any song we’re talking about, it wouldn’t be in the Grapevine if I didn’t love the tune itself. But one of the first things I would comment on is how great the recording is. All the parts are clean, crisp, well placed in the stereo field and easily distinguished as separate parts. That style would not necessarily be the best for every song. And that’s what makes a recording great. Finding exactly the right recording style to fit the song itself. Some songs work better if they’re rough and even a bit muddy. Sometimes you want the instruments to blend together, or have parts more buried in the mix. The trick is deciding what style of recording best presents the song. In the case of ‘New Days’, the crisp separation is perfect. Start with the drums underpinning the song. The snare has that great snap that I’m fond of. But the rest of the kit has the same type of crisp snap to it. You can hear the top end slap of the kick drum and the same type of slap with the toms. No single part of the kit overwhelms the other parts. You also hear the bass guitar very clearly. It underpins the guitar chords while still having some nice scale runs throughout. They keep the guitar sound pretty clean with just a little bit of grit added. The guitar parts go from layered arpeggios to strummed chords with nice harmonics thrown in. The guitar placement helps expand the stereo feel. The vocals are upfront and crisp so you can pick up the lyrics. You can hear some nice doubling of the vocals to make them fuller. There’s some atmospheric keyboard effects added. The song is 5:41 long, so the band sets up the arrangement to feel like a story. A song of this length could become boring if the arrangement weren’t put together correctly, so there’s quiet parts that lead back to original themes throughout. I really enjoyed listening to a song this well written, recorded and produced.

Finally: Soft Shoulder – ‘Raw Time’

For our last selection we’re going to go in a totally opposite direction. ‘Raw Time’ is a great name for this tune. It floats somewhere between punk and post punk noise rock. The sonics and recording technique are the antithesis of our first two selections. The main force driving the song is a distorted bass line that is far up front in the mix. The drums are recorded in an interesting manner. What you’ll mostly hear is the hi hat keeping time in the left channel. The rest of the kit is there but placed much farther down in the mix. Throughout the song we hear guitars and possibly keyboards creating a swirling background canvas of distorted noise. The guitars occasionally pick up and are moved to the front of the mix at certain parts of the song. They increase in volume and take over from the vocals at around the 2:00 mark and continue that way until around 2:30. The vocals in the song are also very distorted and are as much (if not more) about the sonics they add as the lyrics being sung. There is an interesting mix decision I noticed where the vocals are sometimes heavier in the right channel and at other times seem to be more in the center of the mix. The stereo mix placement has a lot of interesting decisions. The distorted bass remains in the center making it the sonic centerpiece of the song. The hi hat and drums lean more to the left hand side. Guitars that appear are also panned left and right. These mixing decisions are very important to the songs overall feel. The result is a fun blast of noisy distortion.

Retro: Black Sabbath – ‘Sweet Leaf’

I’ve always enjoyed what I find as the fun contradiction of this song. Black Sabbath has always been associated with ‘doom and gloom’ sonics and songs. This song enjoys the usual crushing guitar, drums and bass riffs that highlight a lot of their songs. It also sports Ozzy’s usual hard pushing vocals. But if you listen to the lyrics of the song, it’s about the happy joys of smoking weed with Ozzy proclaiming “I love you” to the magic bud. It has everything you’d want in a Sabbath song – a crushing main riff, speeding bass, doom drums as well as a middle break that almost works as a different song. It’s a typical Sabbath mix from that era of their existence where all the instruments have a prominent place though out the song. The song is from their 1971 album ‘Master Of Reality’. I believe that both the guitar and bass were down tuned for this album. At this stage of their career that had pretty much blueprinted their signature sound. So, doom, gloom and joy in one song. As Ozzy says in the tune, “Come on now. Try it Out”.