I Blog What I Hear

According to the New York Craigslist Instrument section, I’d say about 90% of crappy late 90’s equipment was purchased by people who now live on Long Island.  You need a Marshall Valvestate Half Stack?  How about a Hartke Bass Combo?  Some type of DSP Peavy amp?  It’s all there, those are actual examples from the first CL instruments page.  Long Island is such a weird place.  It scares the hell out of me.

Say what you will about elitist Brooklyn hipsters, they do appreciate a quality instruments and amps.  Vox AC15, Fender Bassman, Korg Monopoly…again, actual examples.  Just wanted to show contrast.  It’s obviously a swayed point of view, relax Vinny.

Damn Right Thats A Grado.

After several roadblocks, our record player is up and running at the new apartment.  Before the advent of the CD, people had to be way more handy than they do these days.  Have you ever replaced a turntable cartridge?  You have to deal with color coded wires the width of a human hair, tiny little screws and washers which can easily get lost in the turntable mechanism (and did!) alignment protractors, all sorts of crap.  No wonder we’re getting fat and lazy as a nation.  I burned hundreds of calories setting this thing up.  It does sound lovely though.

I can’t afford to be an Audiophile, but if you can, Park Avenue Audio is the way to go.  They walked me through the cartridge replacement, and delayed my inevitable descent into a Woody Allen like Jewish Freakout.

The Grado cartridge (made in Park Slope!) installed probably sounds better than the broken one that was in there previously, but I really have no idea.   I’m gonna say that the effect of vinyl is partially visual.  Seeing a record spinning while you hear what’s coming out has to trick your brain into feeling something different than just seeing a status bar on your iPhone.  Seeing what a performer looks like impacts how you perceive it…I’m going to bet Vinyl has a similar effect.

Two records were picked up in celebration;  A reissue of Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings 100 Days 100 Nights just to prove both old and new releases have a place in my house.  Yeah, that’s right, always gotta prove a point.

Apparently, Time Out Of Mind was not widely released on Vinyl.  Can someone get on this shit?  All I can see are a few import copies on ebay going in the multiple hundreds of dollars, and that’s just not kosher.  Mule Vatiations is widely available though.  There’s nothing I love more than a late career renaissance by an American eccentric.

That’s all for now, I hope you all enjoyed your Leap Day.  I’m gonna go make some Kale Chips and cocktails.

Let me throw out a theory about The Bell House in Gowanus, Brooklyn. It might be emerging as one of the best venues in the NY area. Yes, its incredibly far out there. The closest subway stop is not operational, you have to walk through a sketchy industrial area in the middle of the night uphill both ways in the snow to get there. There’s really not much close to it as far as bars and restaurants go. All of these factors only increase the quality of shows there.

Lets say you go to a show at the Bowery Ballroom, a time tested fantastic venue. You get all sorts of people. The drunk girls who are just stopping by on the way to their night out culminating in someone throwing up in a cab. The Bro Dudes who don’t really care about the show, but it’s easy to get to and there are hipster girls there, so they talk the whole time.  The group of friends who spends the quiet songs discussing who should get the coats from coat check.  The list goes on. At the Bell House, everyone in attendance legitimately wants to be there. They have made the trek. They have crossed the rivers or they have walked the miles. And if they want to just hang out and talk before throwing up in a cab, there’s a front bar for that with plenty of seating.

This became apparent on Saturday night when Andrew Bird performed a secret show at the venue under the name “Useless Creatures.” I thought about it….and I’ve never really seen a bad show at the venue. Every crowd has been respectful, the sound was always good, it was never a problem to get a drink, the douche factor was incredibly low. I also live a quick mile walk from the venue now….but that didn’t really play in, or at least I won’t let it for professional purposes. But now, onto the show.

Andrew Bird is a unique character. Here’s an example. At the Tribecca Film Festival this year, they screened a film called “Andrew Bird Fever Year” about his year long tour for his previous album, in which he basically had the flu the entire time. His theory was, that in order to perform every night, his body had to conserve enough energy during the day, increasing the temperature until it was time to play. It was a beautiful film, visually, sonically, narrative wise, everything. It screened twice. It will never be released, no DVD, it will not tour the festival circuit, that’s it. He just wanted to document his live band at the time, because he thought they had achieved the absolute perfect sound for the music hall venue. That’s the kind of musician he is.

In the film, we see him working on several new songs in his barn. Beautiful melancholy type tunes, spacey violin loops, simple arrangements. Rumor had it that many of these songs would appear on his new album. His new album is coming out next week, so when an email went out to his mailing list saying a band called the “Useless creatures (wink wink)” would be playing the Bell House, I was in. They announced it Friday, the show was Saturday, and sold out quickly.

The show opened with Bird playing solo, and announced they would be playing the entire new record, start to finish, beginning with the last song, then starting over (yep.) This was the first show with his new band, basically the same as the old band, except his former bass player is now on tour with Indie Monster Juggernaut Bon Iver. Martin Dosh is still on drums, Jeremy Ylvisaker is still on guitar. I don’t know the new bass player’s name, but he played very well.

Overall, the new album keeps to the vibe of the few songs that had been floating around for the past few months. More slow than fast, lots of harmony, lots of low octave swirling violin loops. His band seems to perform like another limb of his. The drums don’t sound like typical rock drums, the extra guitar plays fast picked tremolo lines, the bass sounds like his pizzicato violin bass during solo sets, only bigger.

I would say the standout track is called “Lusitania” with a catchy hook, nice groove, all those things we love about folky pop tunes. I believe St Vincent sings a verse on the record. (which is now streaming at NPR)

At the end of the set, they came back and played a few hits, including my personal favorite “Tables and Chairs”  particularly for the line “There will be snacks….all kinds of snacks.”  and a few others.  They closed with several Handsome Family covers, all acoustic, just one mic at the foot of the stage.  Bird commented that this might be the perfect venue to do such a thing.  I would have to agree.

A friend reminded me of this song today.  Not that it was ever out of my mind, but it was suddenly called to attention.

I was ironically just thinking of him minutes before, and suddenly, he posted it on my little corner of everyones favorite social media site.  It’s strange how things like that work.   On one occasion, I was listening to this song walking through West Chelsea, I turn a corner, and who is walking down the block?  None other than Mr Byrne himself, wearing all white.  I took it as a sign.

There’s something frighteningly beautiful about this song.  Someone wakes up at dawn to battle the day, they’re ready to flee the city, leave it all behind, or maybe just go out and spend a day in the park.  Who knows, it could go so many places.  The chords are just so haunting!

Byrne is truly a master of capturing these indescribable feelings.  Is it a celebration?  Should you be scared out of your mind?  Probably both, mixed with a little nostalgia.  Someone once wrote “David Bryne thinks thoughts deeper than you will ever think.”  And somehow I don’t doubt that for a second.

I started on an instrumental recording of this song, using melodica instead of strings, and its pretty much the greatest thing ever.  One day it will see the light of day.

Well,  thanks to everyone who clicked through from the Lefsetz Letter, and especially to those who commented.  Some are for, some are against what I had to say, but that’s what makes the internet the leading source of information among humans age 4-65 in this country, Monday through Friday and occasionally on weekends.

One particularly interesting point was how we basically wait for the backlash after any media coverage of an article like this.  That just furthers the point that the guage of what sucks and what does not has never been more obvious.  This article was written by a douchebag indie rock trust fund collective, and instantly they were called out on it.  The world is a safer place, please return to normal activities.

The moral….Make sure something is completely fantastic before putting it out to the public.

In other news, I moved yesterday, and am just beginning to dig myself out of boxes.  There will be a beautiful mini studio set up in the new place, perhaps some resulting tracks will be posted.

I’ve once again fallen victim to the Craigslist eBay monster, so in addition to moving boxes, shipping boxes are now involved.  Did you know it costs fucking $60 to ship a guitar?  All relevant search results told me around $30 would do it.  Lesson learned.

In gear news, I want to get my hands on that Zvex J Mascius pedal.  Someone get Zach on the phone.

Just now, I read a post on Gawker titled; “No One Tell These Rich Kids They’re Wasting $100,000 trying to be indie rock stars” .  While that says pretty much all there is to say in response, I’m going to delve a little deeper into it.  The piece links to a Time article written by these douchebags, in a band called Two Lights,  about how difficult it is to be in a band.  Let me summarize.

Abner and Harper Willis have parents who have paid over $100,000 for them to be musicians.  Lessons, gear, rent, publicity, studio time, all of it.  And poor Abner and Harper, have had to turn down day jobs where they could make minimum wage, in order to struggle to be rock stars.  (please never use that term)   They have played such prestigious venues as The Mercury Lounge and Highline Ballroom, they’ve gotten “some press” and all of that. Also, let me grab a tissue, because all the money they make at shows goes to pay for their drummer.  And cabs!  The dreaded cabs they must take to carry their gear!  WHERE IS FEMA ON THIS SHIT?

Now that there is literally smoke coming out of my ears, let me discuss this a bit.

Dearest Abner and Harper,

My name is Steven Weiss, I’m 28 and live in New York.  No one aside from my employers contribute to my finances.  I have a full time job, student loans, and play in a band too!  I also rent a space in Brooklyn!  I also have played venues such as these!  I’ve even played some bigger ones!  Also some smaller ones!  We’re pretty much twinsies!  Since there are 2 of you, were triplitsies!  I have a very simple response.  Fuck you both.  You’re making a mockery of anyone who tries to make an honest go of being a musician without the luxuries you have both been afforded.

Where do you get the giant inflated monster balls to write something like this?  Of course it’s hard to be a musician.  No one is going to pay you to play your own music.  That’s not why you do it.  You want to get paid, write commercial music or jingles (nothing wrong with either of those, its a legit skill and job)  but no one will pay your salary to be in an indie band.

Here’s the thing.  In that little video you posted, you can clearly see that no one is in the audience at the Highline Ballroom, and that line you show outside the Mercury Lounge is for the dance club next door.  That line is always there, and its never for the Mercury Lounge.  Hiring a publicist to do email blasts does not get you fans.  It doesn’t get music blogs to like you.  In fact, it might have the exact opposite effect.  You think people can’t identify a faceless email blast?

We live in a time where anyone playing music is extremely lucky.  Its more in our own hands than any time in history.  We don’t need record labels.  We barely need recording studios.  A&R men are irrelevant.  We don’t need traditional distribution.  But because of this, there is a higher standard than ever before.  Anything can be put out there, but anything that is shitty can just as well be forgotten.  Wonder why you’re not famous?

The fact that you whined about having to turn down low paying day jobs literally makes me want to fight you.  I am not a violent person, but you have awoken such a primal rage in my soul, that I fear I may never be able to turn it off.  I work 40 hours a week.  I rent a monthly practice space which I have a few days a week after work, then take a train to rehearse with a band on weekends.  When I have a show far from my house and I cannot borrow some type of car, I take the train.  I take cabs, but that is a luxury.  Have you ever taken a subway with a 20″ bass drum, snare drum, and cymbal bag?  Your shoulders are not so forgiving the next day.

Economically, being a musician in a city is nearly impossible.  It costs tons of money to have a practice space, maintain your gear, get to shows, pay rent, all of that.  But you fucking buy used gear.  You share a shit rehearsal space off the JMZ or G with 3 other bands.  You use shitty house gear. You beg your friends to come to shows.  You live in a place with roommates.  You record your album in that rehearsal space on whatever gear you have.  Stop fucking complaining. You want to go to a studio?  Get a job at a studio.  That’s what I did.

Having your family pay for your struggle, takes the struggle out of the equation. It negates it.  It takes away your right to complain.  And as a New York Jew, I’ve EARNED my right to complain, and I take full advantage of that.  You sirs, have not.