Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Shelley's Year End Top 20


She might be drawn with a pencil (or Wacom Tablet Stylus, as the case may be) but damn she compiles a compelling list. Also she has red hair and an Eggbert t-shirt, and you know that's hot.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

So you wanna be a rock'n'roll star ...



These two recent additions to Capsule's inventory are so ideally suited together in my mind that I can't help but come up with all sorts of stories - but not just the "if I bought these I would insantly turn into a ROCK GOD and command legions of fans in huge stadiums with some wicked virtuoso playing" type typical stories, but sad Christmas Gift of the Magi sort of stories.

A down on his luck wannabe rockstar who actually has the chops, but can't catch a break, fails to eke out even a modest living playing gin soaked taverns - blah, blah, blah ... so he gives up and pawns his rig to buy his girlfriend a present. You know how it goes. He wakes to find his newly bald girlfriend bought him a rhinestone studded guitar strap or some other kick in the nuts crap.

That'd be really sad for him, but check out my legions of fans! Woo-hoo!

INXS in Guitar Player


I haven't been much of a fan of their stuff since KICK. But I noted that Tim was a devotee of Tokai's a while back, both the Tele knockoffs and the weird aluminum body Talbo's. I'm guessing its a commonwealth thing - only illegal in the States, but reasonably popular in UK, Canada and Australia. But I happen to concur. You don't need a Fender or Gibson decal on your headstock to make you a better guitar player.

The Baffler!


This is neat: acoustic shields to surround and overpowering amp, suitable for playing smaller venues or studios, while still being able to crank your amp for that sweet overdriven tone.

Monday, December 19, 2005

Bandwagon


Despite instant rabid fandom of the Black Keys as soon as I heard "Set You Free" on KEXP last week, I didn't post this right away, recalling some unspecific buzz I was sure everyone else already knew about these guys, except me. (I'm not entirely wrong: please note the Babylon logo behind the band from a show a year ago October.)

Even still, it seems less people are in the know than I expected, and in learning a little about guitarist Dan Auerbach, I thought I'd like to write it down. He uses a fingerstyle reminiscent of the first generation of recorded blues masters, like Robbie Johnson, but overdriven and fuzzed to the point of erruption. And his gear is beyond reproach.

Stripped down and simplified balls to the wall blues-rock from a guitar and drums two piece. Hell yeah.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

'tis the season of year end lists


But this is the only one that matters. For years now this group of reviewers has informed my purchases, and taste. Before Moby's Play had every track in a tv spot; when tech stocks soared like pterydactyls and boys bands roamed the earth - how long ago is that?

Anywho, I better get to reading it.

Update: some required reading, or a trip down memory lane, depending ...
1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004

Monday, December 12, 2005

CBC Radio 3 Satellite


Exploring the VHS vs Betamax options of todays satellite radio technology for a friends Christmas gift, I came across some interesting info for Canadians. Seems Sirius has partnered with the CBC to give us 6 CBC produced channels - and one of them is all Radio 3 all the time.

Monday, December 05, 2005

Am7sus4add9



This might be a leap of synchronicity, but I had my first guitar lesson in quite a while yesterday. In fact snow might've been flying the last time I played with Brendan. One of the key things we worked on was some more complex chords, especially with adjacent tones, such as having both B (2nd) & C (3rd) in an A minor chord.

And Analog Industries cited some sweet gear in a studio just a couple blocks away from me, actually neighboring a friends (very different) studio.

But they name their studio 'The Twelfth Root' after exactly that frequency ratio between two consecutive notes on a chromatic scale.