https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Friday, August 12, 2016
my brain is ok regarding growths (for now), but there's something lodged in my ear. as time has progressed, i've become more and more frustrated with this ear doctor - who despite reading an mri report that indicated that something was found inside my ear, decided to discharge me. the mri demonstrated that i was right: there's something in my ear. the response is discharge? it seems like she runs a more profitable plastic surgery operation on the side. i've argued for years that cosmetic surgeons should not be allowed to run medical practices...
she got me the mri, anyways. i had to prod for it, but it wasn't a complete waste of time...
i have an appointment with another ear specialist in december that i have yet to cancel (i suspected i may want a second opinion...) and i may very well end up bringing him the mri scans. i don't have a lot of confidence in this doctor.
for right now, the second scan is scheduled for september and i'll just have to wait and see. it could be anything from a growth to a dead insect to ear wax. but, i need to be clear: the mri did pick something up. there is something in there. and, i did make the right choice in insisting i see an ear doctor rather than a neurologist.
she got me the mri, anyways. i had to prod for it, but it wasn't a complete waste of time...
i have an appointment with another ear specialist in december that i have yet to cancel (i suspected i may want a second opinion...) and i may very well end up bringing him the mri scans. i don't have a lot of confidence in this doctor.
for right now, the second scan is scheduled for september and i'll just have to wait and see. it could be anything from a growth to a dead insect to ear wax. but, i need to be clear: the mri did pick something up. there is something in there. and, i did make the right choice in insisting i see an ear doctor rather than a neurologist.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
finishing the record-keeping aspect of the write-up for inri015 was an unexpectedly tedious process, but it is now done. i have not yet started my epic listening process, and will not likely do so tonight. i'm going to do a few more record-keeping type things to prepare for it, and begin the process in earnest when i get back from my appointment tomorrow.
....presuming that i'm not devastated by the discussion.
i have no idea. really. i know that there's something very wrong with my ear. i got the mri to check for structural damage - tmj type issues. i know the radiologist insisted on redoing the mri using a process that is usually intended to search for tumours. but, i have little reason to think i have a tumour.
obviously, if i come home tomorrow with the understanding that i have brain cancer, my life is going to change quite a bit. i don't expect this. but, we'll see what happens.
for right now, i'm just focusing on getting done the things i need to get done in order to pivot to a pure listening phase that i expect to last for roughly the next week. i have two more records to formally close when that is done, inri014 and inri015. i can then move on to the singles for the second record and eventually the second record itself.
....presuming that i'm not devastated by the discussion.
i have no idea. really. i know that there's something very wrong with my ear. i got the mri to check for structural damage - tmj type issues. i know the radiologist insisted on redoing the mri using a process that is usually intended to search for tumours. but, i have little reason to think i have a tumour.
obviously, if i come home tomorrow with the understanding that i have brain cancer, my life is going to change quite a bit. i don't expect this. but, we'll see what happens.
for right now, i'm just focusing on getting done the things i need to get done in order to pivot to a pure listening phase that i expect to last for roughly the next week. i have two more records to formally close when that is done, inri014 and inri015. i can then move on to the singles for the second record and eventually the second record itself.
Saturday, August 6, 2016
where have you been?
"it's alright, we know where you've been."
i wanted to finish up to inri015 before i stopped, but i got to a point where i just had to shower. i felt i wasn't focusing and needed a bit of a break. i tried a lot of things, and i was just so horribly distracted...
wednesday was spent doing laumdry. on thursday, i cleaned the apartment top to bottom. i did a compost run on friday and picked up a new set of phones. today, i did some groceries - although it wasn't as much as i wanted.
i think i can finish the boring part of writing up inri014 and inri015 today - tracklistings. etc. but, i'm going to check the show schedule, first.
either tonight or tomorrow, i'm going to begin a final listening of inri002-inri015 over every source i have. i will then move on.
the alter-reality kicks in for good on sept 1. that will be the next thing i focus on.
...and i have an appointment on the 11th to discuss the mri results with the doctor the referred me in the first place. i don't know what to expect, but think i will probably walk out with another referral to some kind of bone specialist.
"it's alright, we know where you've been."
i wanted to finish up to inri015 before i stopped, but i got to a point where i just had to shower. i felt i wasn't focusing and needed a bit of a break. i tried a lot of things, and i was just so horribly distracted...
wednesday was spent doing laumdry. on thursday, i cleaned the apartment top to bottom. i did a compost run on friday and picked up a new set of phones. today, i did some groceries - although it wasn't as much as i wanted.
i think i can finish the boring part of writing up inri014 and inri015 today - tracklistings. etc. but, i'm going to check the show schedule, first.
either tonight or tomorrow, i'm going to begin a final listening of inri002-inri015 over every source i have. i will then move on.
the alter-reality kicks in for good on sept 1. that will be the next thing i focus on.
...and i have an appointment on the 11th to discuss the mri results with the doctor the referred me in the first place. i don't know what to expect, but think i will probably walk out with another referral to some kind of bone specialist.
Friday, August 5, 2016
Thursday, August 4, 2016
i took the mri looking for something like this, in an attempt to rule out ms. i was never looking for a growth. i'm not surprised that they couldn't find anything - i don't see any reason to take another with a contrast agent. but, there may be some subtleties in the imaging. i obviously just simply don't know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporomandibular_joint_dysfunction
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporomandibular_joint_dysfunction
Monday, August 1, 2016
Sunday, July 31, 2016
i wasn't able to get a straight answer out of anybody at the radiology department regarding why the second mri was requested, so i've cancelled it. i was specific: do you think you might see a tumour? do you think you might see a lesion? all i could get was "the doctor is requesting a second mri". an appeal to authority is simply not convincing to me.
i have verified at least that the information was sent to the referring doctor, so i will call them on tuesday for further exploration of the issue.
while it is possible that the radiologist was just incompetent with his notes - that he has a good reason that he didn't specify because he's lazy - my reading of the situation is that he's just looking for a way to bill me twice, and that that's actually probably a good sign because it probably at least rules out the tumour.
as mentioned previously, i'm leaning more towards lyme disease at this point. but, i'm going to need to see the scans myself....
i have verified at least that the information was sent to the referring doctor, so i will call them on tuesday for further exploration of the issue.
while it is possible that the radiologist was just incompetent with his notes - that he has a good reason that he didn't specify because he's lazy - my reading of the situation is that he's just looking for a way to bill me twice, and that that's actually probably a good sign because it probably at least rules out the tumour.
as mentioned previously, i'm leaning more towards lyme disease at this point. but, i'm going to need to see the scans myself....
ok, i just woke up. i had checked my inbox, half asleep, during a mid-morning urination awakening and they want to inject me with some isotope of something...?
what it does is make the tumor or lesion more visible in the scan. that seems to indicate that there is a tumor or lesion. but, i need to know what it is, first, before i make any decisions. injecting me with some kind of metal seems kind of reckless, unless it's a mitigating factor. harm reduction. i'm not there yet.
are they lesions? if so, i'd rather get a blood test for lyme disease. and, i mean, there's not really any treatment for ms, anyways. i'll just take the diagnosis to my nearest odsp office and otherwise forget about it. no, really. so, i have ms. what does injecting me with a heavy metal for an mri accomplish? but, what if i only have lyme disease? there's safer ways to determine this.
do they think they found a tumour? how aggressive do they think it is? this is the one situation where i may consent to this...
....but i also need to see the existing scans first. apparently, it was the radiologist that requested the second scan. who is what? a technician?
"oh, i'm not a doctor."
two things i'm worried about.
1) all industry exists for the purpose of maximizing profit. even in canada, people get paid. and, what that actually means is that we have a lot of unnecessary procedures done because somebody gets paid. on first glance, too much health care might seem better than not enough. but, this is one of those circumstances where too much may be worse. i'm not ruling the procedure out on principle, i just want to make sure that we've gone through the safer - less expensive - options first.
2) i talk a lot of shit in a lot of places. i keep pointing out that i'm harmless, but i'm not sure i'm winning that argument. would somebody go out of their way to get rid of me? it's not impossible. it *is* outrageous. it *is* ridiculous. but, the world we live in is outrageous and ridiculous. i just need to be a little bit more careful than the average bear, i think.
so, i'm going to go call them back and tentatively cancel the appointment. i need to have them articulate exactly what they're looking for, and confirm that they've actually sent the results to the doctor that referred me. i also want to know when i can see the scans, myself.
what it does is make the tumor or lesion more visible in the scan. that seems to indicate that there is a tumor or lesion. but, i need to know what it is, first, before i make any decisions. injecting me with some kind of metal seems kind of reckless, unless it's a mitigating factor. harm reduction. i'm not there yet.
are they lesions? if so, i'd rather get a blood test for lyme disease. and, i mean, there's not really any treatment for ms, anyways. i'll just take the diagnosis to my nearest odsp office and otherwise forget about it. no, really. so, i have ms. what does injecting me with a heavy metal for an mri accomplish? but, what if i only have lyme disease? there's safer ways to determine this.
do they think they found a tumour? how aggressive do they think it is? this is the one situation where i may consent to this...
....but i also need to see the existing scans first. apparently, it was the radiologist that requested the second scan. who is what? a technician?
"oh, i'm not a doctor."
two things i'm worried about.
1) all industry exists for the purpose of maximizing profit. even in canada, people get paid. and, what that actually means is that we have a lot of unnecessary procedures done because somebody gets paid. on first glance, too much health care might seem better than not enough. but, this is one of those circumstances where too much may be worse. i'm not ruling the procedure out on principle, i just want to make sure that we've gone through the safer - less expensive - options first.
2) i talk a lot of shit in a lot of places. i keep pointing out that i'm harmless, but i'm not sure i'm winning that argument. would somebody go out of their way to get rid of me? it's not impossible. it *is* outrageous. it *is* ridiculous. but, the world we live in is outrageous and ridiculous. i just need to be a little bit more careful than the average bear, i think.
so, i'm going to go call them back and tentatively cancel the appointment. i need to have them articulate exactly what they're looking for, and confirm that they've actually sent the results to the doctor that referred me. i also want to know when i can see the scans, myself.
i initially noticed facial tics around my left ear some time around ten years ago. i had an mri done but i didn't hear anything back and i forgot about it. it was kind of just a mild annoyance. at the time, i was thinking something more along the lines of heavy metal poisoning from living on a busy street with a lot of truck traffic (bronson avenue) than anything else.
the issue of the facial tics would come and go, but never really got out of hand as anything more than an annoyance until a little over a yea ago when i noticed i was having an extended period of difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) that has yet to really resolve itself. i initially brought this up with a nurse at the camh here, who did not take me seriously. i asked several times for an mri, and he kept telling me we'll talk about it later. it never happened.
the first few years i was here, i was struggling to find a doctor willing to prescribe me hormones. i was able to finally find a family doctor last fall that was willing to not just prescribe but also to increase my dosage, and that has had some positive effects. he has also finally taken my concerns about dysphagia seriously. while he suggested i should see a neurologist, i insisted on seeing an ear doctor to start and then graduating to a neurologist as the issue resolved or complicated itself.
the ear doctor initially did not take me seriously, either. however, i pushed for a hearing test - which discovered some loss in the affected ear. she still refused to take the situation seriously, suggested that the test was just error and insisted that i take it again. i instead pushed for an mri - which i had on monday.
i felt the mri would be the best idea because it could determine three things:
1) is my jaw crooked? in 2006, i fell of my bike and landed terribly on my face. the tic and resulting dysphagia could be the result of a skeletal abnormality, which could either be broken back in place or just dealt with. it would be useful to know, one way or the other.
2) do i have brain lesions? if i do, are those lesions more consistent with something like ms or more indicative of something like lyme disease?
3) is there maybe a tumor in there? i'm considering this possibility to be extremely remote due to how long i've had the issue for. one does not have a malignant tumor in their head for over ten years. i'd be dead by now.
i just checked my email and realized that somebody called me on the saturday of the long weekend to book a second mri. while i will not know the reasons for this request until i call back, i'm considering this to be somewhat ominous. it is possible that there was some error and they need to redo it, but i would think that a request for a second mri indicates that they found something that shouldn't be there. is it a lesion or a tumor?
i think they open at 6:00 am.
the issue of the facial tics would come and go, but never really got out of hand as anything more than an annoyance until a little over a yea ago when i noticed i was having an extended period of difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) that has yet to really resolve itself. i initially brought this up with a nurse at the camh here, who did not take me seriously. i asked several times for an mri, and he kept telling me we'll talk about it later. it never happened.
the first few years i was here, i was struggling to find a doctor willing to prescribe me hormones. i was able to finally find a family doctor last fall that was willing to not just prescribe but also to increase my dosage, and that has had some positive effects. he has also finally taken my concerns about dysphagia seriously. while he suggested i should see a neurologist, i insisted on seeing an ear doctor to start and then graduating to a neurologist as the issue resolved or complicated itself.
the ear doctor initially did not take me seriously, either. however, i pushed for a hearing test - which discovered some loss in the affected ear. she still refused to take the situation seriously, suggested that the test was just error and insisted that i take it again. i instead pushed for an mri - which i had on monday.
i felt the mri would be the best idea because it could determine three things:
1) is my jaw crooked? in 2006, i fell of my bike and landed terribly on my face. the tic and resulting dysphagia could be the result of a skeletal abnormality, which could either be broken back in place or just dealt with. it would be useful to know, one way or the other.
2) do i have brain lesions? if i do, are those lesions more consistent with something like ms or more indicative of something like lyme disease?
3) is there maybe a tumor in there? i'm considering this possibility to be extremely remote due to how long i've had the issue for. one does not have a malignant tumor in their head for over ten years. i'd be dead by now.
i just checked my email and realized that somebody called me on the saturday of the long weekend to book a second mri. while i will not know the reasons for this request until i call back, i'm considering this to be somewhat ominous. it is possible that there was some error and they need to redo it, but i would think that a request for a second mri indicates that they found something that shouldn't be there. is it a lesion or a tumor?
i think they open at 6:00 am.
Saturday, July 30, 2016
it's less that it took me a long time to get started today and more that i was out doing some end/beginning of the month shopping. i didn't sit down to eat until close to 6:00 pm. and, i did have some loose ends to do, including closing inri013 over the vlog.
i actually didn't get a lot of sleep last night so i don't know if i'll be up all night or crash early. but i do think that i can at least get a tracklisting for inri014 done...
i actually didn't get a lot of sleep last night so i don't know if i'll be up all night or crash early. but i do think that i can at least get a tracklisting for inri014 done...
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
i think that a big part of the reason that i'm floaty is the mri. it's some kind of repressed anxiety. even when i'm not explicitly thinking about it....
we'll have to see what it says. but, i guess the next thing to check is my jaw, if my ear comes back clean. but, i'm kind of still convinced there's something in there. it sure feels like it...
the other big thing i'm concerned about is if it comes back with lesions. i'm actually becoming more and more convinced that it's lyme disease. i had said i would get that checked last month, but i decided i should wait for the mri, first. short of finding a giant tumour in my eustachian tube, that's almost certainly going to be the next thing i check.
you can imagine it's a little distracting. so, cut me some slack for a few days, here.
we'll have to see what it says. but, i guess the next thing to check is my jaw, if my ear comes back clean. but, i'm kind of still convinced there's something in there. it sure feels like it...
the other big thing i'm concerned about is if it comes back with lesions. i'm actually becoming more and more convinced that it's lyme disease. i had said i would get that checked last month, but i decided i should wait for the mri, first. short of finding a giant tumour in my eustachian tube, that's almost certainly going to be the next thing i check.
you can imagine it's a little distracting. so, cut me some slack for a few days, here.
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Monday, July 25, 2016
"i think the mri itself is closer to what i listen to than the radio station in the headphones."
i got some sleep when i got back and am just waking up now. this is a better part of the day to be awake for the coming turn over to mixing album 2, so i should be aiming for overnights.
i'm going to need to take the afternoon aside for vlog recitation. this won't be a long process, i hope.
i got some sleep when i got back and am just waking up now. this is a better part of the day to be awake for the coming turn over to mixing album 2, so i should be aiming for overnights.
i'm going to need to take the afternoon aside for vlog recitation. this won't be a long process, i hope.
Thursday, July 21, 2016
i mother earth & tea party at edgefest ninety.....bluesfest 2016?
i remember reading an article a few years ago about how the iconic canadian rock band, the tea party (often cited in the short list of best canadian rock bands of all time), refused to sell it's domain name to the corporate-dominated american political movement of the same name. rumours were running up to seven figures. yeah, they could have used the cash. but, which koch would have written that cheque?
i missed most of the preamble, but this combined track of an original (requiem) and a well known cover that he does regularly (hurt, by nine inch nails) was dedicated to the united states in the wake of rising racial tensions and police shootings. a requiem. it's not smug. you can dwell on "what have they become?". or you could dwell on "my sweetest friends". it's more about concern than superiority. but, it's a requiem, nonetheless - a requiem in the face of what is increasingly obvious american decline. would eight figures have shut him up?
how many times have i seen the band? i don't know. lots. so, getting a chance to see jeff martin play an acoustic set opening for a reformed i mother earth was a nice addition to the show, in the sense of it being a throw back. he played mostly tea party songs, and i don't think anybody was upset about it. but, i want to point out that seeing jeff martin play acoustic is not your average folk performance. i don' check setlists; i happened to catch a more toned down track, even as it was presented kind of heavily. most of the tracks featured foot driven percussion. he was playing a 12 string at one point (the badger). the truth is that he can fill the sound up on his own: he didn't really need to bring a band with him.
as it turns out, he brought one with him, anyways.
here is a full set from the same week:
given that jeff martin was coming home from australia for the set (something he pointed out as he was playing 'coming home'), it was sort of obvious that he would at least try and get his bandmates up on stage. and, it happened to work out. this is the complete band set, at the end of his solo set. the first track is a led zeppelin cover, and the second is a track from their first record, splendor solis.
yeah. you're not seeing things.
they're on a twenty year anniversary tour for scenery and fish, and i enjoyed every second of it. again: how many times did i see this band in the 90s? i don't know. lots. the setlist was pulled from both of their records. you can pick up from the footage that the audience knew all the words...
this show was pure nostalgia, and nobody pretended otherwise. i got everything i wanted out of it: some sing-alongs, some guitar freakouts, some drum circles - and even some pot floating around through the audience. score.
you can probably pick out almost immediately that this wasn't your average 90s alt rock band. i've argued pretty strongly that they really foreshadowed the sound developed by the mars volta, although they themselves were drawing heavily on the more progressive side of alternative rock: rhcp, jane's addiction, the smashing pumpkins. with a dash of rush, for canadiana? sure, even if the lyrical references are largely on the level of satirical post-modernism rather than serious objectivism. they were and remain viciously virtuosic on their instruments, and worth the price of admission simply for that fact.
if you weren't around to see it the first time, you're not going to get as much out of this. but, it's something that kind of got lost. to be clear: they were huge in canada. when they played edgefest '98, they co-headlined a concert that included green day and foofighters as opening acts. that's right: they didn't open for foofighters and green day. green day and foofighters opened for them. that's how big they were in canada, for a few years in the 90s.
they then completely imploded before they got a chance to build an audience outside of canada - the singer bolted and the band didn't recover. this is the original singer, apparently performing with the band for the first time in 18 years. so, it's something special for us old 90s canucks.
here is a full set from earlier in the month:
i walked out of this concert completely fried due to minimal sleep, overexposure to my ears (remember: i saw swans on tuesday, too), alcohol, nicotine and the other one that's still a few months away from open mention. so, i'm not done sleeping yet. but there was an experience near the end of the show that i want to say something about. it was one of those really surreal moments of racism that you just can't do much about besides point out loudly and shake your head about. so, i'm going to scream about it for a few paragraphs.
i mother earth were a kind of iconic canadian band in the 90s, and they were uniting here with a singer they hadn't played with in many years. the announcer said 18 years. i'm not sure if that's literally true or not, but it's been a while. the audience was consequently full of nostalgia: an older and mostly white crowd rocking out to records released in 1993 and 1996. much drinking, yes.
now, everybody knows you're not supposed to smoke anything at all in these kinds of outdoor bank concerts. you're just supposed to shut up and drink your over-priced beer. that is, of course, the economic purpose of this event: to sell over-priced beer. but, you can't actually enforce this rule once the sun comes down a little, the least important reason being that most people in the crowd at rock concerts like this actually don't agree with bans on smoking at outdoor concerts. many of them actually even smoke. and, not just cigarettes.
the smell of marijuana is pretty normal at outdoor rock concerts. it's a part of the experience - whether you're actually inhaling, or just taking in the aroma. it wouldn't be a real festival, without it. whatever the eventual legality of the substance in canada, that smell is not going to lift from the concerts of the nation. there will simply be a trail of corrected signs "thank you for pot smoking".
the spirit of this event, combined with the nature of the audience, actually at one point near the end of the set had joints passing around amongst strangers. somebody decided everybody at the show ought to be high. or it seemed that way. they were just circling around. my nose and eyes caught multiple burning around me.
so, i will acknowledge that there were people smoking pot in the audience. see, but that's just it - *everybody* in the audience was smoking pot. no exaggeration. nine out of ten, anyways.
so, you'll imagine how absurd it was to watch security swoop in, walk past several burning joints and key in on the only black guy in eyesight - who, yes, was caught green-handed. like, they took it out of his hand. ok. drug abuse. but, they had to blatantly walk by scores of stoned white folks to do this, and then scores more as they were escorting him out. 90 out of 100 people in the immediate audience were stoned. it was being openly passed around. but, only one person in the audience was black.
i didn't stay for the literal headliner, so i don't know if they came back later for more minorities, or even for some white folk - or maybe if they just backed off and let people have a good time. but i know what i saw and how obvious it was.
i don't really have any point besides the obvious one: it's really not ok. i don't know exactly who the security personnel were (mall cops?), either, but....i guess the way i should articulate this to organizers is that i don't want to see anything like that ever again.
of course, this has nothing to do with the band. the actual show was excellent, for what it was. tight. no fuck-ups. the tracks were identifiable, but expanded upon enough to play out. i'd need at least two hands to count the number of times i saw this band in the 90s, and they were always a strong live set like that. so, i will actually have some footage coming up in the next few days of i mother earth with edwin in 2016. that's something that is actually happening. there's some teaparty footage, too.
here is the vlog for the day:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/07/14.html
i missed most of the preamble, but this combined track of an original (requiem) and a well known cover that he does regularly (hurt, by nine inch nails) was dedicated to the united states in the wake of rising racial tensions and police shootings. a requiem. it's not smug. you can dwell on "what have they become?". or you could dwell on "my sweetest friends". it's more about concern than superiority. but, it's a requiem, nonetheless - a requiem in the face of what is increasingly obvious american decline. would eight figures have shut him up?
how many times have i seen the band? i don't know. lots. so, getting a chance to see jeff martin play an acoustic set opening for a reformed i mother earth was a nice addition to the show, in the sense of it being a throw back. he played mostly tea party songs, and i don't think anybody was upset about it. but, i want to point out that seeing jeff martin play acoustic is not your average folk performance. i don' check setlists; i happened to catch a more toned down track, even as it was presented kind of heavily. most of the tracks featured foot driven percussion. he was playing a 12 string at one point (the badger). the truth is that he can fill the sound up on his own: he didn't really need to bring a band with him.
as it turns out, he brought one with him, anyways.
here is a full set from the same week:
given that jeff martin was coming home from australia for the set (something he pointed out as he was playing 'coming home'), it was sort of obvious that he would at least try and get his bandmates up on stage. and, it happened to work out. this is the complete band set, at the end of his solo set. the first track is a led zeppelin cover, and the second is a track from their first record, splendor solis.
yeah. you're not seeing things.
they're on a twenty year anniversary tour for scenery and fish, and i enjoyed every second of it. again: how many times did i see this band in the 90s? i don't know. lots. the setlist was pulled from both of their records. you can pick up from the footage that the audience knew all the words...
this show was pure nostalgia, and nobody pretended otherwise. i got everything i wanted out of it: some sing-alongs, some guitar freakouts, some drum circles - and even some pot floating around through the audience. score.
you can probably pick out almost immediately that this wasn't your average 90s alt rock band. i've argued pretty strongly that they really foreshadowed the sound developed by the mars volta, although they themselves were drawing heavily on the more progressive side of alternative rock: rhcp, jane's addiction, the smashing pumpkins. with a dash of rush, for canadiana? sure, even if the lyrical references are largely on the level of satirical post-modernism rather than serious objectivism. they were and remain viciously virtuosic on their instruments, and worth the price of admission simply for that fact.
if you weren't around to see it the first time, you're not going to get as much out of this. but, it's something that kind of got lost. to be clear: they were huge in canada. when they played edgefest '98, they co-headlined a concert that included green day and foofighters as opening acts. that's right: they didn't open for foofighters and green day. green day and foofighters opened for them. that's how big they were in canada, for a few years in the 90s.
they then completely imploded before they got a chance to build an audience outside of canada - the singer bolted and the band didn't recover. this is the original singer, apparently performing with the band for the first time in 18 years. so, it's something special for us old 90s canucks.
here is a full set from earlier in the month:
i walked out of this concert completely fried due to minimal sleep, overexposure to my ears (remember: i saw swans on tuesday, too), alcohol, nicotine and the other one that's still a few months away from open mention. so, i'm not done sleeping yet. but there was an experience near the end of the show that i want to say something about. it was one of those really surreal moments of racism that you just can't do much about besides point out loudly and shake your head about. so, i'm going to scream about it for a few paragraphs.
i mother earth were a kind of iconic canadian band in the 90s, and they were uniting here with a singer they hadn't played with in many years. the announcer said 18 years. i'm not sure if that's literally true or not, but it's been a while. the audience was consequently full of nostalgia: an older and mostly white crowd rocking out to records released in 1993 and 1996. much drinking, yes.
now, everybody knows you're not supposed to smoke anything at all in these kinds of outdoor bank concerts. you're just supposed to shut up and drink your over-priced beer. that is, of course, the economic purpose of this event: to sell over-priced beer. but, you can't actually enforce this rule once the sun comes down a little, the least important reason being that most people in the crowd at rock concerts like this actually don't agree with bans on smoking at outdoor concerts. many of them actually even smoke. and, not just cigarettes.
the smell of marijuana is pretty normal at outdoor rock concerts. it's a part of the experience - whether you're actually inhaling, or just taking in the aroma. it wouldn't be a real festival, without it. whatever the eventual legality of the substance in canada, that smell is not going to lift from the concerts of the nation. there will simply be a trail of corrected signs "thank you for pot smoking".
the spirit of this event, combined with the nature of the audience, actually at one point near the end of the set had joints passing around amongst strangers. somebody decided everybody at the show ought to be high. or it seemed that way. they were just circling around. my nose and eyes caught multiple burning around me.
so, i will acknowledge that there were people smoking pot in the audience. see, but that's just it - *everybody* in the audience was smoking pot. no exaggeration. nine out of ten, anyways.
so, you'll imagine how absurd it was to watch security swoop in, walk past several burning joints and key in on the only black guy in eyesight - who, yes, was caught green-handed. like, they took it out of his hand. ok. drug abuse. but, they had to blatantly walk by scores of stoned white folks to do this, and then scores more as they were escorting him out. 90 out of 100 people in the immediate audience were stoned. it was being openly passed around. but, only one person in the audience was black.
i didn't stay for the literal headliner, so i don't know if they came back later for more minorities, or even for some white folk - or maybe if they just backed off and let people have a good time. but i know what i saw and how obvious it was.
i don't really have any point besides the obvious one: it's really not ok. i don't know exactly who the security personnel were (mall cops?), either, but....i guess the way i should articulate this to organizers is that i don't want to see anything like that ever again.
of course, this has nothing to do with the band. the actual show was excellent, for what it was. tight. no fuck-ups. the tracks were identifiable, but expanded upon enough to play out. i'd need at least two hands to count the number of times i saw this band in the 90s, and they were always a strong live set like that. so, i will actually have some footage coming up in the next few days of i mother earth with edwin in 2016. that's something that is actually happening. there's some teaparty footage, too.
here is the vlog for the day:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/07/14.html
i decided against the play. it's this thing called "mr. burns", some kind of musical about people bonding around the simpsons after the apocalypse and then the process taking a life of it's own. i like the premise. but, i....i find the medium to usually be kind of childish: adults prancing around in masks, singing off key to poorly composed music.
it would just be very hard to put a play together that would live up to my standards.
instead, i have continued the close/review process. i want a single for think, but i need to attach it to it's noise component, which pushes it back to the end of may. likewise, a single for wish could not exist until the end of may, either. that means that the new inri010 is for the track why. i'm currently putting this together. it should be finalized today or tomorrow.
this track has a vocal version that i'd like published, which puts it in the same category as the previous singles with vocal tracks. this category had been rejected the first time through, or at least until the very end. there's also a glitch mix and some various stuff from 96 and 98.
the track is actually one of my favourites from the early period. it works on the level of political satire, on the level of industrial/no-wave dance/noise punk, on the level of guitar music and also on the level of hip-hop - which was unintended at the time. i just always listened to art rock. where's the art rock equivalent style of hip-hop? if it's out there, i never found it. but i've always dabbled around it's idm and industrial fringes, too.
anyways, the ep is currently being condensed. it's 9 tracks right now. i should be able to get that down to 5 or 6. i'll post when it's ready.
it would just be very hard to put a play together that would live up to my standards.
instead, i have continued the close/review process. i want a single for think, but i need to attach it to it's noise component, which pushes it back to the end of may. likewise, a single for wish could not exist until the end of may, either. that means that the new inri010 is for the track why. i'm currently putting this together. it should be finalized today or tomorrow.
this track has a vocal version that i'd like published, which puts it in the same category as the previous singles with vocal tracks. this category had been rejected the first time through, or at least until the very end. there's also a glitch mix and some various stuff from 96 and 98.
the track is actually one of my favourites from the early period. it works on the level of political satire, on the level of industrial/no-wave dance/noise punk, on the level of guitar music and also on the level of hip-hop - which was unintended at the time. i just always listened to art rock. where's the art rock equivalent style of hip-hop? if it's out there, i never found it. but i've always dabbled around it's idm and industrial fringes, too.
anyways, the ep is currently being condensed. it's 9 tracks right now. i should be able to get that down to 5 or 6. i'll post when it's ready.
good morning. afternoon. evening and goodnight?
i've got the cover art for inri009 up, along with the link to the physical disc. in the process, i added a hidden track to inri007. so, i have three tracks now with inricycled b fragments - 006, 007, 009 - and they all show up as hidden tracks on the disc. that's a pattern. you'll notice these patterns, if you'd like to.
that closes everything up to the end of march, 1998 and i can't for a moment think of anything else i'd like to add to any of these releases, except the eventual liner notes at the twenty year final close point.
i'd like to see a play tonight. but, i'll be making choices about the remaining april tracks. i'm leaning towards the maximal exploration at this point.
i need to eat and then formally close inri009 over the vlog. so, this may be the last post until tommorow.
i've got the cover art for inri009 up, along with the link to the physical disc. in the process, i added a hidden track to inri007. so, i have three tracks now with inricycled b fragments - 006, 007, 009 - and they all show up as hidden tracks on the disc. that's a pattern. you'll notice these patterns, if you'd like to.
that closes everything up to the end of march, 1998 and i can't for a moment think of anything else i'd like to add to any of these releases, except the eventual liner notes at the twenty year final close point.
i'd like to see a play tonight. but, i'll be making choices about the remaining april tracks. i'm leaning towards the maximal exploration at this point.
i need to eat and then formally close inri009 over the vlog. so, this may be the last post until tommorow.
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
the walk to the store left me pretty happy with the tracklisting to inri009. i realized over the walk that that was a good 40 minutes, both ways. so, i was gone for well over an hour. i did end up watching the vlog for the 15th after all, although i haven't done the write up for the i mother earth show yet...
it turns out that i'm getting my tax refunds this year, after all. it will actually be a nice chunk in august, although i wish i would have gotten it in july instead. so be it. august may be an indoor month, in the end. baroness is the only thing that is at all likely, right now. we'll see what comes up.
as mentioned, i need to close some things today, and inri009 is in fact basically done. soon.
for right now, in looking over whether i should make a single for 'think' or not, i've realized i overlooked the album edit of 'skaters' and realized that dropping it into the single position resolves a number of problems with the release. i'm going to have to update that before i do anything else.
right now, i'm expecting this to be a long day. it could be a two-day vlog. i feel the need to get a lot done in this space.
so, i'm updating inri005 a final time and then moving on to closing inri009.
it turns out that i'm getting my tax refunds this year, after all. it will actually be a nice chunk in august, although i wish i would have gotten it in july instead. so be it. august may be an indoor month, in the end. baroness is the only thing that is at all likely, right now. we'll see what comes up.
as mentioned, i need to close some things today, and inri009 is in fact basically done. soon.
for right now, in looking over whether i should make a single for 'think' or not, i've realized i overlooked the album edit of 'skaters' and realized that dropping it into the single position resolves a number of problems with the release. i'm going to have to update that before i do anything else.
right now, i'm expecting this to be a long day. it could be a two-day vlog. i feel the need to get a lot done in this space.
so, i'm updating inri005 a final time and then moving on to closing inri009.
yesterday was a total bust, and i even forgot to upload last night on top of it. tomorrow's a two-day-er so i'm safe for the day.
i've got a day worth of ice cream and a day worth of mayo left, so i'm going to get something to eat and head to the store and then get right to listening. i guess i can tracklist while i'm doing that. so, no basic ritualism today.
i have to close some discs today.
i've got a day worth of ice cream and a day worth of mayo left, so i'm going to get something to eat and head to the store and then get right to listening. i guess i can tracklist while i'm doing that. so, no basic ritualism today.
i have to close some discs today.
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
swans.
swans. fuck.
swans...
i feel like i should have a novel to write, here. i've stated a few times that the shortest reviews are the best shows. it kind of doesn't matter.
i'm ultimately going to refer you to the vlog, other than to point out that i wasn't paying a lot of attention to the show in the weeks leading up to it. i made a choice a few weeks ago that i'd wait to see the show before i heard the disc. it was part out of pragmatism: i've been closing discs this week. so, i kind of stumbled the few blocks there, and then stumbled the few blocks back, after.
i really should have been tired. i only had a few hours worth of sleep. yet, i got a boost of energy walking out that lasted me until well into the next day. i think this was as psychological as it was anything else; the excitement didn't hit me until i was there, and it didn't peak until i walked out.
in hindsight, i can see that the show was *meant* to have a kind of mystical quality to it. i point out in the vlog that the feeling gira is alluding to in describing a spiritual connection is really just the coming together of human beings. i think it's ultimately a sad reflection on the neo-liberal era that it's most important artistic creators are so alienated from social connectivity that they misinterpret social connectedness as something divine. but, then again, that's why we do the organized religion thing in the first place, right?
the show was in a deconsecrated church. at the end of the day, discussions and debates aside, i'd certainly rather worship with swans than with any kind of organized religion.
if you've yet to experience swans, you likely only have a few weeks left in which to do so. i cannot overstate how strongly i recommend doing so.
here is some footage from the show:
here is a full set:
& here is the day's vlog, with a more lengthy review:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/07/12.html
swans...
i feel like i should have a novel to write, here. i've stated a few times that the shortest reviews are the best shows. it kind of doesn't matter.
i'm ultimately going to refer you to the vlog, other than to point out that i wasn't paying a lot of attention to the show in the weeks leading up to it. i made a choice a few weeks ago that i'd wait to see the show before i heard the disc. it was part out of pragmatism: i've been closing discs this week. so, i kind of stumbled the few blocks there, and then stumbled the few blocks back, after.
i really should have been tired. i only had a few hours worth of sleep. yet, i got a boost of energy walking out that lasted me until well into the next day. i think this was as psychological as it was anything else; the excitement didn't hit me until i was there, and it didn't peak until i walked out.
in hindsight, i can see that the show was *meant* to have a kind of mystical quality to it. i point out in the vlog that the feeling gira is alluding to in describing a spiritual connection is really just the coming together of human beings. i think it's ultimately a sad reflection on the neo-liberal era that it's most important artistic creators are so alienated from social connectivity that they misinterpret social connectedness as something divine. but, then again, that's why we do the organized religion thing in the first place, right?
the show was in a deconsecrated church. at the end of the day, discussions and debates aside, i'd certainly rather worship with swans than with any kind of organized religion.
if you've yet to experience swans, you likely only have a few weeks left in which to do so. i cannot overstate how strongly i recommend doing so.
here is some footage from the show:
here is a full set:
& here is the day's vlog, with a more lengthy review:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/07/12.html
Friday, July 15, 2016
i walked out of that concert completely fried due to minimal sleep, overexposure to my ears (remember: i saw swans on tuesday, too), alcohol, nicotine and the other one that's still a few months away from open mention. so, i'm not done sleeping yet. but there was an experience near the end of the show that i want to say something about. it was one of those really surreal moments of racism that you just can't do much about besides point out loudly and shake your head about. so, i'm going to scream about it for a few paragraphs.
i mother earth were a kind of iconic canadian band in the 90s, and they were uniting here with a singer they hadn't played with in many years. the announcer said 18 years. i'm not sure if that's literally true or not, but it's been a while. the audience was consequently full of nostalgia: an older and mostly white crowd rocking out to records released in 1993 and 1996. much drinking, yes.
now, everybody knows you're not supposed to smoke anything at all in these kinds of outdoor bank concerts. you're just supposed to shut up and drink your over-priced beer. that is, of course, the economic purpose of this event: to sell over-priced beer. but, you can't actually enforce this rule once the sun comes down a little, the least important reason being that most people in the crowd at rock concerts like this actually don't agree with bans on smoking at outdoor concerts. many of them actually even smoke. and, not just cigarettes.
the smell of marijuana is pretty normal at outdoor rock concerts. it's a part of the experience - whether you're actually inhaling, or just taking in the aroma. it wouldn't be a real festival, without it. whatever the eventual legality of the substance in canada, that smell is not going to lift from the concerts of the nation. there will simply be a trail of corrected signs "thank you for pot smoking".
the spirit of this event, combined with the nature of the audience, actually at one point near the end of the set had joints passing around amongst strangers. somebody decided everybody at the show ought to be high. or it seemed that way. they were just circling around. my nose and eyes caught multiple burning around me.
so, i will acknowledge that there were people smoking pot in the audience. see, but that's just it - *everybody* in the audience was smoking pot. no exaggeration. nine out of ten, anyways.
so, you'll imagine how absurd it was to watch security swoop in, walk past several burning joints and key in on the only black guy in eyesight - who, yes, was caught green-handed. like, they took it out of his hand. ok. drug abuse. but, they had to blatantly walk by scores of stoned white folks to do this, and then scores more as they were escorting him out. 90 out of 100 people in the immediate audience were stoned. it was being openly passed around. but, only one person in the audience was black.
i didn't stay for the literal headliner, so i don't know if they came back later for more minorities, or even for some white folk - or maybe if they just backed off and let people have a good time. but i know what i saw and how obvious it was.
i don't really have any point besides the obvious one: it's really not ok. i don't know exactly who the security personnel were (mall cops?), either, but....i guess the way i should articulate this to organizers is that i don't want to see anything like that ever again.
of course, this has nothing to do with the band. the actual show was excellent, for what it was. tight. no fuck-ups. the tracks were identifiable, but expanded upon enough to play out. i'd need at least two hands to count the number of times i saw this band in the 90s, and they were always a strong live set like that. so, i will actually have some footage coming up in the next few days of i mother earth with edwin in 2016. that's something that is actually happening. there's some teaparty footage, too.
right now, back to sleep....
i mother earth were a kind of iconic canadian band in the 90s, and they were uniting here with a singer they hadn't played with in many years. the announcer said 18 years. i'm not sure if that's literally true or not, but it's been a while. the audience was consequently full of nostalgia: an older and mostly white crowd rocking out to records released in 1993 and 1996. much drinking, yes.
now, everybody knows you're not supposed to smoke anything at all in these kinds of outdoor bank concerts. you're just supposed to shut up and drink your over-priced beer. that is, of course, the economic purpose of this event: to sell over-priced beer. but, you can't actually enforce this rule once the sun comes down a little, the least important reason being that most people in the crowd at rock concerts like this actually don't agree with bans on smoking at outdoor concerts. many of them actually even smoke. and, not just cigarettes.
the smell of marijuana is pretty normal at outdoor rock concerts. it's a part of the experience - whether you're actually inhaling, or just taking in the aroma. it wouldn't be a real festival, without it. whatever the eventual legality of the substance in canada, that smell is not going to lift from the concerts of the nation. there will simply be a trail of corrected signs "thank you for pot smoking".
the spirit of this event, combined with the nature of the audience, actually at one point near the end of the set had joints passing around amongst strangers. somebody decided everybody at the show ought to be high. or it seemed that way. they were just circling around. my nose and eyes caught multiple burning around me.
so, i will acknowledge that there were people smoking pot in the audience. see, but that's just it - *everybody* in the audience was smoking pot. no exaggeration. nine out of ten, anyways.
so, you'll imagine how absurd it was to watch security swoop in, walk past several burning joints and key in on the only black guy in eyesight - who, yes, was caught green-handed. like, they took it out of his hand. ok. drug abuse. but, they had to blatantly walk by scores of stoned white folks to do this, and then scores more as they were escorting him out. 90 out of 100 people in the immediate audience were stoned. it was being openly passed around. but, only one person in the audience was black.
i didn't stay for the literal headliner, so i don't know if they came back later for more minorities, or even for some white folk - or maybe if they just backed off and let people have a good time. but i know what i saw and how obvious it was.
i don't really have any point besides the obvious one: it's really not ok. i don't know exactly who the security personnel were (mall cops?), either, but....i guess the way i should articulate this to organizers is that i don't want to see anything like that ever again.
of course, this has nothing to do with the band. the actual show was excellent, for what it was. tight. no fuck-ups. the tracks were identifiable, but expanded upon enough to play out. i'd need at least two hands to count the number of times i saw this band in the 90s, and they were always a strong live set like that. so, i will actually have some footage coming up in the next few days of i mother earth with edwin in 2016. that's something that is actually happening. there's some teaparty footage, too.
right now, back to sleep....
Thursday, July 14, 2016
13/14-07-2016: i mother earth & tea party at edgefest ninety.....bluesfest 2016?
concert footage:
1) jeff martin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEEpUJAofbY
2) tea party: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Jtjw6U39Q
3) i mother earth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FTEh-Xiij0
review:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/07/14.html
tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1
1) jeff martin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEEpUJAofbY
2) tea party: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Jtjw6U39Q
3) i mother earth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FTEh-Xiij0
review:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/07/14.html
tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
12-07-2016: swans.
show footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meMFTR8eAJc
review:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/07/12.html
tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meMFTR8eAJc
review:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/07/12.html
tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1
my ears are a little fatigued; swans are known to play kind of loud, sometimes. ear plugs are such a terrible solution. it's like listening to the show underwater. so, i go ear-commando. always.
i'm still toying with i mother earth on thursday. it's likely, but not certain. i'll need to crunch the numbers and see how they come out.
for the short term, i'm going to give my ears some rest. i had a nap yesterday afternoon, but i'm otherwise running on a 36 hour day. i'm going to get something to eat, get some rest and then spend the overnight doing some filing. we'll see how i feel about the show tomorrow. i wouldn't expect it to be nearly as loud, so if i go i should be back to mixing on friday.
i'm still toying with i mother earth on thursday. it's likely, but not certain. i'll need to crunch the numbers and see how they come out.
for the short term, i'm going to give my ears some rest. i had a nap yesterday afternoon, but i'm otherwise running on a 36 hour day. i'm going to get something to eat, get some rest and then spend the overnight doing some filing. we'll see how i feel about the show tomorrow. i wouldn't expect it to be nearly as loud, so if i go i should be back to mixing on friday.
listening to swans tonight
swans were expectedly awesome. but, my brain is confused. it just dealt with two hours of ridiculous noise. it doesn't know whether to be excited or to shut down. i'm consequently kind of floating.
i haven't heard the new disc yet. i'm kind of thinking that what i want to do for the rest of the night is listen to it in the fetal position.
https://swans.bandcamp.com/album/the-glowing-man
i haven't heard the new disc yet. i'm kind of thinking that what i want to do for the rest of the night is listen to it in the fetal position.
https://swans.bandcamp.com/album/the-glowing-man
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Monday, July 4, 2016
03-07-2016: closing inri002 (period 1.1) and seeing the ear doctor for a third time
Saturday, July 2, 2016
ok, so what happened was that i spent thursday night looking for something, and then i figured i couldn't find it - so i said i'd do some listening on friday. but, then i found what i was looking for on friday and hence did not do any listening. but, i've put the vlogs on hold, i've done the prep that was required and i'm ready to get to some serious listening for most of the next week.
while i was doing prep, i spent a lot of time listening to inri002 and have developed some further ideas about how to distribute it. so, i'm going to be abstractly packaging some cassettes - but i don't have a cassette deck, so i can't actually make them. instead, i'll put the packaging in the download.
in fact, i think that i'm going to do that across the board. it may act as an incentive for digital purchase, and that might help me with eventual physical distribution. i'll have to be forthright: you don't get a number with a download.
that's yet another added level of complexity to the process, which is just more information overload. but, i'll eventually finish the packaging.
i haven't done headphone listening of either inri002 or inri003 yet, but they are definitely closed, audio-wise. i'm just waiting to get the proper time stamp.
while i was doing prep, i spent a lot of time listening to inri002 and have developed some further ideas about how to distribute it. so, i'm going to be abstractly packaging some cassettes - but i don't have a cassette deck, so i can't actually make them. instead, i'll put the packaging in the download.
in fact, i think that i'm going to do that across the board. it may act as an incentive for digital purchase, and that might help me with eventual physical distribution. i'll have to be forthright: you don't get a number with a download.
that's yet another added level of complexity to the process, which is just more information overload. but, i'll eventually finish the packaging.
i haven't done headphone listening of either inri002 or inri003 yet, but they are definitely closed, audio-wise. i'm just waiting to get the proper time stamp.
Friday, July 1, 2016
Thursday, June 30, 2016
i've been to a doctor a few times this week about the degenerative disease it seems like i have. that's something i'm going to be doing over the next year or two, as i seek to figure out what the fuck this is.
i need to be clear: i don't have a clue what it is. not the slightest. it's a lot of the same symptoms you get after a stroke, or get when you have ms, or get when you have als, or get when you have cancer, even...
these are symptoms that have been bothering me for around ten years, now. in some ways, they are getting worse. yet, they kind of come and go, too. i just always lived with it. facial tics are annoying, but not worth the time to see a doctor. i can deal with a sore back every now and again. & etc. but, the dysphagia has been really scary at points over the last couple of years. this isn't new, either, though - i remember it being awful for short periods as far back as ten years ago. what's new is that it hasn't receded now in quite a while.
the first thing i wanted to do was quit smoking habitually. done. since january. i wanted to make sure i wasn't just dehydrated, too, and i think i've ruled that out. the next thing that i wanted to do was rule out an ear infection, as a lot of the symptoms seem to be centered on my left ear. what's the point in getting mris and talking to neurologists for the next ten months if i just have an ear infection, right? so, i did that this week. i will get results on monday and am not certain what they will be. the doctor eliminated an actual infection as a cause, but the admin seemed to note something unusual around my ear drum when she was doing aural testing.
i don't think i had a stroke, although i've had periodic fainting spells for years (none recently). i got rid of them by not smoking on an empty stomach, although i think some of it was also heat stroke. i also think that this has been going on for too long for it to be cancer. the simple truth is that nobody has untreated cancer for ten years without the symptoms getting overwhelming. yes: the dysphagia is bad right now. but, it always previously came and went. if i had a cancer in my ear ten years ago, i'd almost certainly be dead by now.
so, i've kind of long deduced something like ms (or als, or...) by default. what else could it be?
well, something i've overlooked this whole time is lyme disease. i was just reading up on it. the symptoms are pretty accurate - especially the facial tic. i don't explicitly remember the rash, but would i have been able to tell it from a mosquito bite? i've had lots of mosquito bites over the last ten years, and some period of being "eaten alive". the absence of a rash is not absolute, either. you'd think that untreated lyme disease for a decade or more would be pretty serious by now, but that's at least a way out from ms or als.
the only other way out that i can think of is that my jaw keeps healing wrong and then fracturing and then healing wrong again, and it's basically just fucked that side of my face up so badly that everything has stopped working right. essentially, then, my face would be fucked. i know you appreciate my technical definition and in depth knowledge. but, i think there is something to this.
i wanted to do this one thing at a time to keep the issue straight in my head and i don't want to see a neurologist until everything else is ruled out. let's say i have ms, in the end. it's untreatable. i lose nothing by waiting for the diagnosis. i gain everything by avoiding a misdiagnosis.
so, i will go in on monday after i get my hearing test results and set referral appointments to check both for lyme disease and for skeletal issues. i'm also going to see if i can get my tongue checked for cancer, just in case.
it's only once i go through that process that i will consent to see a neurologist to check for a degenerative disease.
right now, i'm honestly kind of leaning towards lyme disease. - and i'm irritated with myself for not thinking of it sooner.
i need to be clear: i don't have a clue what it is. not the slightest. it's a lot of the same symptoms you get after a stroke, or get when you have ms, or get when you have als, or get when you have cancer, even...
these are symptoms that have been bothering me for around ten years, now. in some ways, they are getting worse. yet, they kind of come and go, too. i just always lived with it. facial tics are annoying, but not worth the time to see a doctor. i can deal with a sore back every now and again. & etc. but, the dysphagia has been really scary at points over the last couple of years. this isn't new, either, though - i remember it being awful for short periods as far back as ten years ago. what's new is that it hasn't receded now in quite a while.
the first thing i wanted to do was quit smoking habitually. done. since january. i wanted to make sure i wasn't just dehydrated, too, and i think i've ruled that out. the next thing that i wanted to do was rule out an ear infection, as a lot of the symptoms seem to be centered on my left ear. what's the point in getting mris and talking to neurologists for the next ten months if i just have an ear infection, right? so, i did that this week. i will get results on monday and am not certain what they will be. the doctor eliminated an actual infection as a cause, but the admin seemed to note something unusual around my ear drum when she was doing aural testing.
i don't think i had a stroke, although i've had periodic fainting spells for years (none recently). i got rid of them by not smoking on an empty stomach, although i think some of it was also heat stroke. i also think that this has been going on for too long for it to be cancer. the simple truth is that nobody has untreated cancer for ten years without the symptoms getting overwhelming. yes: the dysphagia is bad right now. but, it always previously came and went. if i had a cancer in my ear ten years ago, i'd almost certainly be dead by now.
so, i've kind of long deduced something like ms (or als, or...) by default. what else could it be?
well, something i've overlooked this whole time is lyme disease. i was just reading up on it. the symptoms are pretty accurate - especially the facial tic. i don't explicitly remember the rash, but would i have been able to tell it from a mosquito bite? i've had lots of mosquito bites over the last ten years, and some period of being "eaten alive". the absence of a rash is not absolute, either. you'd think that untreated lyme disease for a decade or more would be pretty serious by now, but that's at least a way out from ms or als.
the only other way out that i can think of is that my jaw keeps healing wrong and then fracturing and then healing wrong again, and it's basically just fucked that side of my face up so badly that everything has stopped working right. essentially, then, my face would be fucked. i know you appreciate my technical definition and in depth knowledge. but, i think there is something to this.
i wanted to do this one thing at a time to keep the issue straight in my head and i don't want to see a neurologist until everything else is ruled out. let's say i have ms, in the end. it's untreatable. i lose nothing by waiting for the diagnosis. i gain everything by avoiding a misdiagnosis.
so, i will go in on monday after i get my hearing test results and set referral appointments to check both for lyme disease and for skeletal issues. i'm also going to see if i can get my tongue checked for cancer, just in case.
it's only once i go through that process that i will consent to see a neurologist to check for a degenerative disease.
right now, i'm honestly kind of leaning towards lyme disease. - and i'm irritated with myself for not thinking of it sooner.
i got some listening in this morning as i was doing grocery shopping, although i kind of crashed when i got back. i also had to do some mundane tasks like wash strawberries, budgeting, etc...
the listen was over inri001 and inri002, and while they were both only half-engaged listens (while doing things like analyzing tomatoes), i can at least say i expect to close them both fairly quick, presuming the gear co-operates.
i think i'm going to wait for more careful listens before i do any final thoughts analyses.
the listen was over inri001 and inri002, and while they were both only half-engaged listens (while doing things like analyzing tomatoes), i can at least say i expect to close them both fairly quick, presuming the gear co-operates.
i think i'm going to wait for more careful listens before i do any final thoughts analyses.
Friday, June 24, 2016
a strange inversion around a small joy formidable show in ferndale
so, i got out of the house a little late - it wasn't initially a cause for strict concern, and there was a bus waiting for me at the stop. score. but, i was a little surprised by how full it was. in the fifty or so times i've taken the bus over to detroit, this was the first time i had to stand. the bus was just packed with young females, and i kind of wondered where they were going but was really more concerned about what effect this would have on customs...
had i been allowed to just walk through, it would have been nothing. but, this request was denied (itself unusual), which had me stand on the bus for an extra twenty minutes. i was literally getting off at the first stop, meaning they had me sit there on the bus for twenty minutes to take the bus about 100 yards. it's just another example of the absolute absurdity they have people go through at the borders for reasons of political bullshit. one day, we'll get together and abolish this border altogether. we'll send the cops home without pay. there will be parties in the streets. until that day comes...
the end result was that i missed the bus, and nearly missed the bus after that. it was about a half hour delay, altogether - and absolutely needlessly.
--
i then got stuck in traffic in detroit, also for the first time. how is that possible? well, i suppose it was an earlier show than i'm used to. there's also continuing construction in detroit, which had me take some weird detours i hadn't taken before.
i ended up at the bus station around 8:00, which was doors. i was intending to be there closer to 7:00, to get to the venue for doors - because i wasn't sure what kind of crowd this band could generate in a city like detroit. i knew it was a smaller venue than i might expect. was that a good guess on turnout or a poor booking choice?
--
the opening band started playing as soon as i walked in. i'm not going to say a lot about them, other than that they didn't impress me at all. which is not to say they were terrible, just painfully generic. kind of like an uninspired cure. or the smiths. which is basically the same thing.
(in the background, shots can be heard)
there was an unusually short wait between sets. or, at least it felt that way. i'd guess they were on around 9:15. i got out of the venue a little after 11:00 - so we got a nice long set. i have to admit i was expecting that, but it's also not at all like the kind show i'd usual go to so it was a nice change.
the set was a mix of the expected and the unexpected. some of the tracks were identical to the versions on the record (and included things like sampled strings, which is forgivable - one would hardly expect them to bring an orchestra, if the strings were ever even live in the first place, and why would they be nowadays?), whereas others had rather substantial rearrangements including instrumentation and tempo shifts. the lead singer at one point remarked that if they were going to play the record as it was, you'd might as well stay home and listen to it in your room. i'm not sure i agree that i'd might as well have stayed home, but i appreciate the switch-up nonetheless.
they even came down into the floor of the audience for a short, totally unplugged (no mics) acoustic set. this only worked because the venue was so small, and the crowd was so sparse. i certainly didn't have any trouble getting in; i've learned that detroit is very american-centric across the board, so it wasn't a surprise that the crowd for a welsh band was underwhelming. the scale, however, hit me off guard. in truth, they could have played a much smaller room.
...except they couldn't have, because we would have all walked out with bleeding ears. this was about as small a space as a band like this can play without compromising the dynamics. you might think the smaller room, the better but you'd be wrong. i saw loma prieta in a closet once, and it was the perfect space because the sound caved in on itself. this band isn't like that; it needs a little air. the volume wants closer walls, yes, but the ambience wants you to open the room.
as this band is from wales, this tour may be the only chance you get to see them in an actual venue. i don't doubt they'll come back, but they tend to play open-air festivals. there's reasons for this that are very tactical, and i'm sure it's a fun experience. but, i'd argue that the ideal is seeing them in a closed room for the reasons i've mentioned.
i do, however, have to critique the setlist a little. they seemed overly focused on album tracks. they even played a b-side (which is the track i caught, here). that meant that they dropped a lot of the harder hitting, single-type tracks that seemed like they were written to play live. i'm not sure what they were thinking there. it could have been venue specific. but, i'm not sure that logic really holds. if you write a song to play live, that song is going to be even more powerful in a small space than it is in a big space.
that's a minor criticism, though. like i say - you should get out to see them while you can because i think there's a pretty high chance that they'll never do anything like this ever again.
here is a full set:
i explain in the day's vlog that the commotion in downtown detroit was a beyonce concert:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/06/14.html
had i been allowed to just walk through, it would have been nothing. but, this request was denied (itself unusual), which had me stand on the bus for an extra twenty minutes. i was literally getting off at the first stop, meaning they had me sit there on the bus for twenty minutes to take the bus about 100 yards. it's just another example of the absolute absurdity they have people go through at the borders for reasons of political bullshit. one day, we'll get together and abolish this border altogether. we'll send the cops home without pay. there will be parties in the streets. until that day comes...
the end result was that i missed the bus, and nearly missed the bus after that. it was about a half hour delay, altogether - and absolutely needlessly.
--
i then got stuck in traffic in detroit, also for the first time. how is that possible? well, i suppose it was an earlier show than i'm used to. there's also continuing construction in detroit, which had me take some weird detours i hadn't taken before.
i ended up at the bus station around 8:00, which was doors. i was intending to be there closer to 7:00, to get to the venue for doors - because i wasn't sure what kind of crowd this band could generate in a city like detroit. i knew it was a smaller venue than i might expect. was that a good guess on turnout or a poor booking choice?
--
the opening band started playing as soon as i walked in. i'm not going to say a lot about them, other than that they didn't impress me at all. which is not to say they were terrible, just painfully generic. kind of like an uninspired cure. or the smiths. which is basically the same thing.
(in the background, shots can be heard)
there was an unusually short wait between sets. or, at least it felt that way. i'd guess they were on around 9:15. i got out of the venue a little after 11:00 - so we got a nice long set. i have to admit i was expecting that, but it's also not at all like the kind show i'd usual go to so it was a nice change.
the set was a mix of the expected and the unexpected. some of the tracks were identical to the versions on the record (and included things like sampled strings, which is forgivable - one would hardly expect them to bring an orchestra, if the strings were ever even live in the first place, and why would they be nowadays?), whereas others had rather substantial rearrangements including instrumentation and tempo shifts. the lead singer at one point remarked that if they were going to play the record as it was, you'd might as well stay home and listen to it in your room. i'm not sure i agree that i'd might as well have stayed home, but i appreciate the switch-up nonetheless.
they even came down into the floor of the audience for a short, totally unplugged (no mics) acoustic set. this only worked because the venue was so small, and the crowd was so sparse. i certainly didn't have any trouble getting in; i've learned that detroit is very american-centric across the board, so it wasn't a surprise that the crowd for a welsh band was underwhelming. the scale, however, hit me off guard. in truth, they could have played a much smaller room.
...except they couldn't have, because we would have all walked out with bleeding ears. this was about as small a space as a band like this can play without compromising the dynamics. you might think the smaller room, the better but you'd be wrong. i saw loma prieta in a closet once, and it was the perfect space because the sound caved in on itself. this band isn't like that; it needs a little air. the volume wants closer walls, yes, but the ambience wants you to open the room.
as this band is from wales, this tour may be the only chance you get to see them in an actual venue. i don't doubt they'll come back, but they tend to play open-air festivals. there's reasons for this that are very tactical, and i'm sure it's a fun experience. but, i'd argue that the ideal is seeing them in a closed room for the reasons i've mentioned.
i do, however, have to critique the setlist a little. they seemed overly focused on album tracks. they even played a b-side (which is the track i caught, here). that meant that they dropped a lot of the harder hitting, single-type tracks that seemed like they were written to play live. i'm not sure what they were thinking there. it could have been venue specific. but, i'm not sure that logic really holds. if you write a song to play live, that song is going to be even more powerful in a small space than it is in a big space.
that's a minor criticism, though. like i say - you should get out to see them while you can because i think there's a pretty high chance that they'll never do anything like this ever again.
here is a full set:
i explain in the day's vlog that the commotion in downtown detroit was a beyonce concert:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/06/14.html
skipped shows
i intended to catch this at mocad last night, but my schedule didn't co-operate and i ended up falling asleep instead.
i must also admit that i didn't want to take the bus with the fucking guns 'n' roses fans.
actually, i should point out that i skipped the screaming females on tuesday as well, but it was very conscious - i know they only play half hour sets, and they're touring right now with three other bands, all of which are terrible. so, i'd have to go all the way to ferndale, suffer through three shitty sets and then get rewarded by having to spend the night in the dunkin' donuts, because i'd have missed the bus.
i will (and have) get stuck overnight if it's worth it. the show didn't strike me as worth it.
i would like to publicly request that the band drop the facade that they're still some unknown punk band from jersey or something and just do a real tour already. nobody's going to get bored if you do an hour set. promise.
i must also admit that i didn't want to take the bus with the fucking guns 'n' roses fans.
actually, i should point out that i skipped the screaming females on tuesday as well, but it was very conscious - i know they only play half hour sets, and they're touring right now with three other bands, all of which are terrible. so, i'd have to go all the way to ferndale, suffer through three shitty sets and then get rewarded by having to spend the night in the dunkin' donuts, because i'd have missed the bus.
i will (and have) get stuck overnight if it's worth it. the show didn't strike me as worth it.
i would like to publicly request that the band drop the facade that they're still some unknown punk band from jersey or something and just do a real tour already. nobody's going to get bored if you do an hour set. promise.
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
14-06-2016: getting some fresh air by going to see the joy formidable in detroit
show footage:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/K0kginO2nG4?list=PLrHImg7oLm2YUaphbNKIGWv-52Q06np5Y
review:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/06/14.html
tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1
https://www.youtube.com/embed/K0kginO2nG4?list=PLrHImg7oLm2YUaphbNKIGWv-52Q06np5Y
review:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/06/14.html
tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Sunday, June 5, 2016
journeying to third man records, and then around the back way to ufo to see a couple of bands
this was actually somewhat of a long day at the end of a long month of too many shows, too much drinking and too much walking. by the end of it, i was dragging myself home to my couch, where my ankles gave out minutes before i passed out...
--
i'd never been to third man records before, but figured the free show was worth coming down early for. it was a combo thing. i probably wouldn't have gone to either set on their own.
i'm really not sure exactly what i was expecting; maybe, something like a chain store in a mall. i think i realized that it was going to be a little bit plastic. but, i wasn't expecting to be basically walking into the gap. well, they had a couch. with peppermint pillows. and a stage. with excellent sound. yet, it very much felt more like an apparel store than a record store - from the layout down to the staff. if they were going for authentic, they missed it by a very wide mark.
the sound in the store was incredible. i don't think i've ever heard an inside set sound that dynamic outside of a theatre; i don't know who he's got working there, but he knows how to separate the instruments. the drums had an open-air sound. the bass was kept out of the way out of the guitars. and, the result was a really excellently sounding set from a nice spot on the couch.
it turns out that the band got added to the second show, meaning i didn't have to come down there early. but, i don't feel it was a waste of time because i got introduced to the sound system in the building.
i hope that more people take advantage of the sound in the building. i'm going to guess that capacity is around 100, which is not much smaller than any other rock bar in town.
i walked from third man to the ufo factory, which took me around an area of detroit i hadn't been in before. i actually mostly felt ok along the walk. i'm not sure why it is, but it seems like there's a really long strip between mlk and temple that is sketchy for miles both ways, while it's more or less fine on either side. it might have something to do with the way the highways intersect detroit, which creates these large areas of dead space. poor planning or purposeful sacrifice? i don't know. but, i'm starting to learn that it's mostly cosmetic, or at least is in the day.
it didn't stop a lot of strange looks, both friendly and concerned. i walked by a young black couple that seemed surprised to see a lily-white thing walk through there, but in a good way. i was a pleasant surprise. an older white woman actually slowed down and rolled down her window to ask if i was ok, before she sped off on to the highway, clearly frightened. i got honks from middle-aged black men, followed by fingers pointing in safe directions, and then head shakes. more concerned looks.
it was truly only a few blocks from third to trumble - a very short march up mlk. but, it demonstrated a cross-racial perception: i was insane to walk through there. at 6:30 at night. in broad daylight. whites and blacks agreed. men and women agreed. i can't claim i fully understand, but i *do* think i should take the hint and go around next time, whether i think it's necessary or not.
--
i got to the bar around 7:00. doors were at 9:00. while i nearly tried an artistic hot dog (raspberry sauce? hummus? peppermint?), i was feeling a little bloated from too many dorito-nachos and refrained. next time.
it was a bit of a wait out in the back, but i can't really complain. beautiful weather. cheap beer. ziggy stardust. life seemed good.
eventually, some people showed up and they brought me what i like. there's a public thank you to the scruffy dude in the golf shirt.
--
rabble rabble came on again, and the sound was nowhere near as good. but, i guess that made the set more real, too; they're not normally going to have a jack white funded sound stage to play on. what they're doing is a kind of an update on the concept of alternative rock, taking in bits of punk, psych and metal and swirling it around into something vaguely epic. the musicianship in the band is fairly high, which kind of takes it up a notch. definitely worth the $5.
the second band was a bit noisier than i was expecting, and there were some definite upsides. my solipsism senses went haywire when they did a cover of soundgarden's dusty, as it just came up in the alter-reality. it's only a wild coincidence, slothrop. see, the guitarist tended to get himself stuck in what cornell would call "guitar trances" when describing thayil, which is not inherently bad, it's just that he didn't have the chops to pull it off. there's two options, here: up your game, or tighten up. either is acceptable. but, it's a necessary choice. really. it wasn't at all bad, i wouldn't skip it, but it just dragged a little - and i like me my lengthy post-rock, too, you know that.
here is a full set:
i was already done by the time heron oblivion came on, and it consequently acted as somewhat of an anti-climax. the way i describe this in my day-after video review is that the band is walking a delicate line that the slightest push off balance is bound to instantly unravel. now, this band has two members of comets on fire in it (including the guitarist). it seems to me that he felt like he was getting mildly upstaged by the previous two bands, who both wanted to push their guitars in your face (with varying actual results). this mild push blew the entire thing up. but, what i'm getting across is that it was inherently unstable in the first place.
it's hard to take these loud psych guys and force them to behave while the drummer gets out these kind of delicate, fragile vocals. that's the draw to it - it feels like it's about to explode, but it doesn't. except that it actually did on this night...
the other thing i should point out is the song selection. in hindsight, it's not surprising that the picked the more upbeat tracks to perform. but, it's the darker and slower ones that are actually more compelling to listen to. i've been guilty of this repeatedly: i flip the filler with the substance. well, it's relative, right. but, i show up expecting them to perform what they think of as filler (and what i interpreted as substance), then get kind of bored with what they're calling substance (and i'm interpreting as filler). again, i think this goes back to the reality that this musical configuration is inherently unstable. a bad isotope. the sound of gamma decay.
hey, they got one record out, and that's probably more than should be expected. i think catching this band is going to be hit or miss - if you catch them on a good night, they could be mesmerizing. that wasn't this night, though. overall, it's probably worth the gamble.
i left a few minutes early to catch the bus, only to have the bus come in a half-hour late. see, i don’t want to complain, exactly. i just wish that the schedule was more clear. if i had known the bus was going to be a half-hour late, i would have stayed later…
when i did finally get home, i more or less collapsed. my ankles were not happy with me. at the end of it, i lost my train of thought in mid-sentence and just found myself knocked right out. at least i got some sleep.
here is the day's vlog:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/06/02.html
--
i'd never been to third man records before, but figured the free show was worth coming down early for. it was a combo thing. i probably wouldn't have gone to either set on their own.
i'm really not sure exactly what i was expecting; maybe, something like a chain store in a mall. i think i realized that it was going to be a little bit plastic. but, i wasn't expecting to be basically walking into the gap. well, they had a couch. with peppermint pillows. and a stage. with excellent sound. yet, it very much felt more like an apparel store than a record store - from the layout down to the staff. if they were going for authentic, they missed it by a very wide mark.
the sound in the store was incredible. i don't think i've ever heard an inside set sound that dynamic outside of a theatre; i don't know who he's got working there, but he knows how to separate the instruments. the drums had an open-air sound. the bass was kept out of the way out of the guitars. and, the result was a really excellently sounding set from a nice spot on the couch.
it turns out that the band got added to the second show, meaning i didn't have to come down there early. but, i don't feel it was a waste of time because i got introduced to the sound system in the building.
i hope that more people take advantage of the sound in the building. i'm going to guess that capacity is around 100, which is not much smaller than any other rock bar in town.
i walked from third man to the ufo factory, which took me around an area of detroit i hadn't been in before. i actually mostly felt ok along the walk. i'm not sure why it is, but it seems like there's a really long strip between mlk and temple that is sketchy for miles both ways, while it's more or less fine on either side. it might have something to do with the way the highways intersect detroit, which creates these large areas of dead space. poor planning or purposeful sacrifice? i don't know. but, i'm starting to learn that it's mostly cosmetic, or at least is in the day.
it didn't stop a lot of strange looks, both friendly and concerned. i walked by a young black couple that seemed surprised to see a lily-white thing walk through there, but in a good way. i was a pleasant surprise. an older white woman actually slowed down and rolled down her window to ask if i was ok, before she sped off on to the highway, clearly frightened. i got honks from middle-aged black men, followed by fingers pointing in safe directions, and then head shakes. more concerned looks.
it was truly only a few blocks from third to trumble - a very short march up mlk. but, it demonstrated a cross-racial perception: i was insane to walk through there. at 6:30 at night. in broad daylight. whites and blacks agreed. men and women agreed. i can't claim i fully understand, but i *do* think i should take the hint and go around next time, whether i think it's necessary or not.
--
i got to the bar around 7:00. doors were at 9:00. while i nearly tried an artistic hot dog (raspberry sauce? hummus? peppermint?), i was feeling a little bloated from too many dorito-nachos and refrained. next time.
it was a bit of a wait out in the back, but i can't really complain. beautiful weather. cheap beer. ziggy stardust. life seemed good.
eventually, some people showed up and they brought me what i like. there's a public thank you to the scruffy dude in the golf shirt.
--
rabble rabble came on again, and the sound was nowhere near as good. but, i guess that made the set more real, too; they're not normally going to have a jack white funded sound stage to play on. what they're doing is a kind of an update on the concept of alternative rock, taking in bits of punk, psych and metal and swirling it around into something vaguely epic. the musicianship in the band is fairly high, which kind of takes it up a notch. definitely worth the $5.
the second band was a bit noisier than i was expecting, and there were some definite upsides. my solipsism senses went haywire when they did a cover of soundgarden's dusty, as it just came up in the alter-reality. it's only a wild coincidence, slothrop. see, the guitarist tended to get himself stuck in what cornell would call "guitar trances" when describing thayil, which is not inherently bad, it's just that he didn't have the chops to pull it off. there's two options, here: up your game, or tighten up. either is acceptable. but, it's a necessary choice. really. it wasn't at all bad, i wouldn't skip it, but it just dragged a little - and i like me my lengthy post-rock, too, you know that.
here is a full set:
i was already done by the time heron oblivion came on, and it consequently acted as somewhat of an anti-climax. the way i describe this in my day-after video review is that the band is walking a delicate line that the slightest push off balance is bound to instantly unravel. now, this band has two members of comets on fire in it (including the guitarist). it seems to me that he felt like he was getting mildly upstaged by the previous two bands, who both wanted to push their guitars in your face (with varying actual results). this mild push blew the entire thing up. but, what i'm getting across is that it was inherently unstable in the first place.
it's hard to take these loud psych guys and force them to behave while the drummer gets out these kind of delicate, fragile vocals. that's the draw to it - it feels like it's about to explode, but it doesn't. except that it actually did on this night...
the other thing i should point out is the song selection. in hindsight, it's not surprising that the picked the more upbeat tracks to perform. but, it's the darker and slower ones that are actually more compelling to listen to. i've been guilty of this repeatedly: i flip the filler with the substance. well, it's relative, right. but, i show up expecting them to perform what they think of as filler (and what i interpreted as substance), then get kind of bored with what they're calling substance (and i'm interpreting as filler). again, i think this goes back to the reality that this musical configuration is inherently unstable. a bad isotope. the sound of gamma decay.
hey, they got one record out, and that's probably more than should be expected. i think catching this band is going to be hit or miss - if you catch them on a good night, they could be mesmerizing. that wasn't this night, though. overall, it's probably worth the gamble.
i left a few minutes early to catch the bus, only to have the bus come in a half-hour late. see, i don’t want to complain, exactly. i just wish that the schedule was more clear. if i had known the bus was going to be a half-hour late, i would have stayed later…
when i did finally get home, i more or less collapsed. my ankles were not happy with me. at the end of it, i lost my train of thought in mid-sentence and just found myself knocked right out. at least i got some sleep.
here is the day's vlog:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/06/02.html
thoroughly confused by lunch cult
i wasn't able to get footage of the show, and rather than present a narrative (which would not be very interesting), i've decided that it's better to just point out some of the things that confused me to the point where i avoided footage.
to begin with, i really wasn't expecting a keyboard player. the samples suggested that the band was operating roughly somewhere in the space of the pixies, with a bit of an odd sense of humour - think butthole surfers, maybe. there was no hint of keyboards, whatsoever. so, when they came on and started playing some kind of love song, i actually thought it was a different band and nearly went out for a smoke, instead. but, i found the drumming a little bit interesting, so i came back in.
i'm not sure why they played the set they did, but the drumming largely saved it. the drummer had a tendency to go into contextless temper tantrums, like a bad caricature of animal from the muppet show. see, here's the thing: i know my phil collins. well. even when the rest of the band was being ironic or stupid (there was a confluence of ironic into stupid, here), listening to the phil emulation was worthwhile.
otherwise, i wish i would have realized what i was going to see. i would not have paid customs and then brought booze to detroit to see what i actually saw, which was operating on some kind of level of satire in a way that summed to a gigantic waste of time. they did a few tracks that were recognizable, but most of the set was actually done in the form of a parody of a crooner band. the bulk of it was purposefully lame lyrics, sung purposefully out of key over purposefully bad music. you could have told me you were going to do that before hand, guys. i would have saved the cash for something else. jerks.
i would normally say something like "it's worth the $5.". i will very rarely dissuade somebody from seeing something i've taken the time to go to. by trying to be ironic, and just ending up being really stupid, lunch cult have earned my rare ire to the point of an active non-rec. save your money, don't go to the show.
that said, i have to point out that i didn't have a terrible time. i mean, i would not have gone to the show if i know what it was going to be - i've stated that twice now, and i want to be clear of it. but, i'm not easily confused, either, and they managed to spin me around pretty good. is this really them? do two of the bands have the same members? are they combining sets?
it was nothing like that: they were just taking the piss. and, piss taken. but with a consequence: not recommended. at all.
--
the other bands weren't particularly memorable. i barely recall what the beverly tenders sounded like, other than thinking it was a little better than i was expecting due to some thick guitar effects work. the last thing that came on was literally karaoke.
vlog for the day:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/05/31.html
to begin with, i really wasn't expecting a keyboard player. the samples suggested that the band was operating roughly somewhere in the space of the pixies, with a bit of an odd sense of humour - think butthole surfers, maybe. there was no hint of keyboards, whatsoever. so, when they came on and started playing some kind of love song, i actually thought it was a different band and nearly went out for a smoke, instead. but, i found the drumming a little bit interesting, so i came back in.
i'm not sure why they played the set they did, but the drumming largely saved it. the drummer had a tendency to go into contextless temper tantrums, like a bad caricature of animal from the muppet show. see, here's the thing: i know my phil collins. well. even when the rest of the band was being ironic or stupid (there was a confluence of ironic into stupid, here), listening to the phil emulation was worthwhile.
otherwise, i wish i would have realized what i was going to see. i would not have paid customs and then brought booze to detroit to see what i actually saw, which was operating on some kind of level of satire in a way that summed to a gigantic waste of time. they did a few tracks that were recognizable, but most of the set was actually done in the form of a parody of a crooner band. the bulk of it was purposefully lame lyrics, sung purposefully out of key over purposefully bad music. you could have told me you were going to do that before hand, guys. i would have saved the cash for something else. jerks.
i would normally say something like "it's worth the $5.". i will very rarely dissuade somebody from seeing something i've taken the time to go to. by trying to be ironic, and just ending up being really stupid, lunch cult have earned my rare ire to the point of an active non-rec. save your money, don't go to the show.
that said, i have to point out that i didn't have a terrible time. i mean, i would not have gone to the show if i know what it was going to be - i've stated that twice now, and i want to be clear of it. but, i'm not easily confused, either, and they managed to spin me around pretty good. is this really them? do two of the bands have the same members? are they combining sets?
it was nothing like that: they were just taking the piss. and, piss taken. but with a consequence: not recommended. at all.
--
the other bands weren't particularly memorable. i barely recall what the beverly tenders sounded like, other than thinking it was a little better than i was expecting due to some thick guitar effects work. the last thing that came on was literally karaoke.
vlog for the day:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/05/31.html
Friday, June 3, 2016
02-06-2016: two shows in detroit and a hard crash at the end (last day out for a while)
show footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqebb8PH9ac
more footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsorZklwtpY
review:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/06/02.html
tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqebb8PH9ac
more footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsorZklwtpY
review:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/06/02.html
tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Monday, May 30, 2016
first time walking up the cass corridor on a nice night to see a math rock band at marble
the most exciting thing about the day was walking an hour up cass from rosa parks, and trying to time the length of the walk for future use. the weather was finally co-operating in throwing out a nice, hot, humid night. i've been here three years and this was really the first nice night walking through detroit.
palm was on first and they were most notable for being able to actually pull off what they put down on record, which was not obvious walking into the show. i remarked at some point during the night that this is the kind of band that exists for a few years, disappears with little notice and then gets discovered a few years later. you should probably see them the first time, while you have the chance.
here is a full set:
ought was on second, and i wasn't very impressed. i was expecting something generic, in the broad scope of the kind of fruity "indie rock" that has been popular for the last few years. a danceable beat, with some broken chords and some synth stabs. *yawn*. but, they ended up more schlocky than fluffy, navigating through that minimalist-guitars-with-gruff-vocalist post-punk space. it came off as a kind of vanity pick by ian ilavsky. check out new era building, compare and you'll see what i mean.
the walk back in the dark was really not bad at all. you can imagine that this big, collapsing city remains a little bit scary to this shy, polite canadian. but, i'm getting used to it. it was really mostly through campus. apologies to anti-gentrification activists, but it'll feel that much safer when they finish with the hockey arena. that couple of blocks between mlk and temple is really the only creepy part of the walk.
here is the vlog for the day:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/05/26.html
palm was on first and they were most notable for being able to actually pull off what they put down on record, which was not obvious walking into the show. i remarked at some point during the night that this is the kind of band that exists for a few years, disappears with little notice and then gets discovered a few years later. you should probably see them the first time, while you have the chance.
here is a full set:
ought was on second, and i wasn't very impressed. i was expecting something generic, in the broad scope of the kind of fruity "indie rock" that has been popular for the last few years. a danceable beat, with some broken chords and some synth stabs. *yawn*. but, they ended up more schlocky than fluffy, navigating through that minimalist-guitars-with-gruff-vocalist post-punk space. it came off as a kind of vanity pick by ian ilavsky. check out new era building, compare and you'll see what i mean.
the walk back in the dark was really not bad at all. you can imagine that this big, collapsing city remains a little bit scary to this shy, polite canadian. but, i'm getting used to it. it was really mostly through campus. apologies to anti-gentrification activists, but it'll feel that much safer when they finish with the hockey arena. that couple of blocks between mlk and temple is really the only creepy part of the walk.
here is the vlog for the day:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/05/26.html
Saturday, May 28, 2016
starts rock band. cancels tour because he has to work.
so, i went to the trouble of ensuring i had both sufficient intoxicants and a colourful babydoll, and then the band i went to see decided not to show up.
"apparently, the drummer had to work."
"hey, it's a thing that happens."
(pause)
"he had to work?"
"yeah."
(pause)
ahahahahahaha....
ahahahahahahahaha....
--
i had already paid customs, so what would be the use of going home without getting drunk? the reviews will be terse, though.
--
this was the second time i've seen river spirit. last time, i suggested the rhythm section was kind of funky, but the singer wasn't really paying attention and the result was disjointed and discombobulated, but not in a good way. the suggestion was that maybe there's some divergence, there. on this night, however, the band was actually pretty tight. she often took a step back from the mic to just rock out on the bass, instead. i don't know what changed between november and now, but it's just a more coherent and unified presentation.
--
nokomis were a pleasant, but generic, indie/post-rock thing. they were having fun. it wasn't bad, either. it was just entirely forgettable.
--
i didn't stay for much of the sax & violence set - the first fifteen minutes, or so. there was an electronic violin looking thing and a saxamophone of some variety. they took turns jamming aimlessly over some pre-programmed loops; they were really literally just fucking around. in theory, you could do something with that idea. but, see, you have to write some music first. by playing at the same time. i know. life is complicated.
here is the day's vlog:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/05/23.html
"apparently, the drummer had to work."
"hey, it's a thing that happens."
(pause)
"he had to work?"
"yeah."
(pause)
ahahahahahaha....
ahahahahahahahaha....
--
i had already paid customs, so what would be the use of going home without getting drunk? the reviews will be terse, though.
--
this was the second time i've seen river spirit. last time, i suggested the rhythm section was kind of funky, but the singer wasn't really paying attention and the result was disjointed and discombobulated, but not in a good way. the suggestion was that maybe there's some divergence, there. on this night, however, the band was actually pretty tight. she often took a step back from the mic to just rock out on the bass, instead. i don't know what changed between november and now, but it's just a more coherent and unified presentation.
--
nokomis were a pleasant, but generic, indie/post-rock thing. they were having fun. it wasn't bad, either. it was just entirely forgettable.
--
i didn't stay for much of the sax & violence set - the first fifteen minutes, or so. there was an electronic violin looking thing and a saxamophone of some variety. they took turns jamming aimlessly over some pre-programmed loops; they were really literally just fucking around. in theory, you could do something with that idea. but, see, you have to write some music first. by playing at the same time. i know. life is complicated.
here is the day's vlog:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/05/23.html
Friday, May 27, 2016
Thursday, May 26, 2016
yet another quick walk to phog and back to see another canadian band
i was planning on this show being an in and out on a holiday weekend in canada that you generally want to avoid cars, and really roads altogether, on. the ideal was to show up halfway through the local band's set in order to catch the math band....and maybe stay for the third set. instead, the math rock band played first and came on a little late, even by phog standards. i ended up catching the first two acts and skipping the third.
this was the second of three lengthy combinations; it happens to have been the least interesting of the three. you can hear plenty of evidence here that these are capable musicians that like to play acrobatic parts. so, why are they retreating into repetition for these long periods?
but, this is kind of a pointless critique, in some ways, too. i mean, there's more than enough going on, here. it's just that if you're accustomed to this hyper-adhd style of math rock, the reliance on repetition comes off as a crux. a faux pas, even.
but, i mean, listen for yourself and see what you think.
i wasn't really intending to stay for this set, but i decided i was feeling pretty relaxed and, hey, why not? the output surprised me quite a bit...
the impression i got from their bandcamp page was a kind of poppy post-punk, maybe with gazey leanings. i was expecting something fairly timid that i'd get bored of quite quickly. however, the actual show was fairly noisy and riff-oriented, and seemed to exist somewhere in that nice intersection of grunge and math rock that happened in the mid 90s. think polvo, for example. now, see, i suspect that they were playing mostly new material, or at least mostly material not accessible online, so there wasn't really any way to get a grasp of things ahead of time.
the drawback is that they seem to want to hold to a kind of traditional emo framework. in 2016, you only do this because you never really thought not to. it's just what you've always done, kind of thing. but, the genre is beyond dead, it's already been reincarnated as farce. there's nowhere to go with this. not even with kids, who are nowadays actually mostly going to interpret it as dad rock. they'll be better off if they can drop this. but, they'll probably have to redefine themselves to do it, and unknown bands tend not to survive such a thing.
but, the upshot is that they were legitimately tight and legitimately interesting. the bassist is unusually loud, given the genre, and it's a positive.
so, i guess the honest assessment is that while i wouldn't expect this precise configuration to go anywhere, this band may have the seeds of a successor project that is able to let go of the songwriting formulas they're accustomed to and expand a little more in that polvo-style direction.
dropping or muzzling the vocalist is going to be key in evolving the sound.
and here is the vlog for the day:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/05/22.html
this was the second of three lengthy combinations; it happens to have been the least interesting of the three. you can hear plenty of evidence here that these are capable musicians that like to play acrobatic parts. so, why are they retreating into repetition for these long periods?
but, this is kind of a pointless critique, in some ways, too. i mean, there's more than enough going on, here. it's just that if you're accustomed to this hyper-adhd style of math rock, the reliance on repetition comes off as a crux. a faux pas, even.
but, i mean, listen for yourself and see what you think.
i wasn't really intending to stay for this set, but i decided i was feeling pretty relaxed and, hey, why not? the output surprised me quite a bit...
the impression i got from their bandcamp page was a kind of poppy post-punk, maybe with gazey leanings. i was expecting something fairly timid that i'd get bored of quite quickly. however, the actual show was fairly noisy and riff-oriented, and seemed to exist somewhere in that nice intersection of grunge and math rock that happened in the mid 90s. think polvo, for example. now, see, i suspect that they were playing mostly new material, or at least mostly material not accessible online, so there wasn't really any way to get a grasp of things ahead of time.
the drawback is that they seem to want to hold to a kind of traditional emo framework. in 2016, you only do this because you never really thought not to. it's just what you've always done, kind of thing. but, the genre is beyond dead, it's already been reincarnated as farce. there's nowhere to go with this. not even with kids, who are nowadays actually mostly going to interpret it as dad rock. they'll be better off if they can drop this. but, they'll probably have to redefine themselves to do it, and unknown bands tend not to survive such a thing.
but, the upshot is that they were legitimately tight and legitimately interesting. the bassist is unusually loud, given the genre, and it's a positive.
so, i guess the honest assessment is that while i wouldn't expect this precise configuration to go anywhere, this band may have the seeds of a successor project that is able to let go of the songwriting formulas they're accustomed to and expand a little more in that polvo-style direction.
dropping or muzzling the vocalist is going to be key in evolving the sound.
and here is the vlog for the day:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/05/22.html
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Monday, May 23, 2016
22-05-2016: baby labour & blessed at phog in windsor (and primary rants)
show footage:
baby labour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzOmLQGDptI
blessed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTt0ZeuSAZw
review:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/05/22.html
tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1
baby labour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzOmLQGDptI
blessed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTt0ZeuSAZw
review:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/05/22.html
tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1
exploring southwest detroit in the day and the night (to see chelsea wolfe)
stoked by fears of not getting in to see the show due to it selling out, whether conspiratorially worked up by the bar owners or not, i convinced myself of the need to transit to the show relatively early so that i could stop by a record shop on the way there. this, it seems, is somewhat of a useful trick to be put aside for reuse. but, it left me with the need to walk a good distance through an unknown part of detroit (in somewhat girly attire) and arrive at the venue at least an hour before doors.
the walk in was actually a lot less creepy than anticipated. it was ultimately just a fear of the unknown, but i need to assert myself - some apprehension is intelligent when walking through detroit alone. the thing is that huge amounts of the city are virtually empty, so there is literally nobody that is going to hear you yell. yes - nobody will hear your cries. let's not sing this song. see, i've mused before that this implies that wild animals are a more pressing concern than desperate people, but it remains true that the city is a kind of a predator's twisted wet dream, and this simply can't be forgotten. i will not apologize for being careful about where i'm walking and when and fuck you for criticizing me for it.
but, the truth is that the walk up bagley was of minimal concern. it seems that the area directly surrounding the railroad tracks has been left for dead. the abandoned twenty story office buildings would no doubt be useful to the homeless folk huddled around them, even as mere shelter from the rain, but there are barbed wire fences to prevent use. again: i found myself more frightened of the possibility that i was walking through coyote territory, and i truly probably was. but, this took up no more than a few blocks of a half hour walk, which was mostly through a pleasant commercial district populated by ethnic mexican businesses.
i got there eventually and tried to chill in the dog park across the way, hoping i'd bump into somebody with my favourite thing, but instead i found myself looking over my shoulder at pit bulls and dobermans left off their leash to sneak up upon me with intent. first i escaped the coyotes, and now this. is detroit run by shape-shifting canids? well, if the lizard people are truly so ubiquitous, they'd have to have evolved thermoregulation at some point, right? it might explain some things you could never get your head around. nor did i see a bar up the strip that i'd feel safe in, although there were plenty of ice cream stores. and, so, i ended up parked in the front of the venue for upwards of an hour and felt myself start to get slightly cold.
--
i found myself in the smoking section for most of the next two hours, floating from a to b and not really saying much of any value to anyone. but, i did eventually find what i wanted before the show started, and i have to acknowledge that it was more essential than i expected.
--
i had heard some chelsea wolfe years earlier; apokalypsis was in rotation for a little while over 2011 or 2012. i'm going to throw out a comparison i haven't seen before: it reminded me a little of jar of flies period alice in chains, but with a kind of impressionist swirl to it. then, i seem to have forgotten about her. it was less about rejection and more just about overlooking it. this is a thing that does happen when you're a music nerd, and there is really simply no way to avoid it without solving for the very hard problem of mortality.
so, when i saw she was playing here, my mind floated back to memories of that record. the next step was to explore some new material; i both found it surprising and interesting. i had picked up somewhere that she had swung a little more goth, but i wasn't expecting as strong of an embrace of electronics. it was compelling, though - i am a fan of the style from multiple different angles. i mean, i grew up listening to stuff like curve and garbage, not to mention skinny puppy and nine inch nails. while i didn't get a chance to really absorb the disc, i heard more than enough to convince me to attend in the handful of times that i streamed it leading up to the show.
i was surprised a second time by the set, which seemed to meet me halfway by pulling in quite a bit of a heavy grunge aesthetic. it was a return to alice in chains, but the heavy side. a bit of soundgarden, even; there's some swans in there, too. pj harvey. it’s all 90s. the press is going to want to name drop witch whatever, black this and doom that. but, i'm an old grunge kid. i knew what i was listening to. and i rather enjoyed it...
i found myself remembering some of the older tracks, too, which was nice.
the show was strong enough that i'm going to no doubt find myself exploring her last two records more carefully and in the process i may find that i was mentally overcompensating for the electronics at the expense of the guitars - that they were there all along, and i just didn't hear them. but, my immediate impression was that the show was brutal in a way that the record isn't and that may be a little surprising to some. it's ultimately just a mixing decision to make sure the guitars are loud enough and dirty enough to make the output fundamentally guitar-oriented, rather than fundamentally electronic. it's just not what i picked out when i was listening beforehand, rightly or wrongly.
so, i'm torn between suggesting that the live show is an improvement in sound over the record and wondering how i would have reacted to a more electronic set.
but, i will say that if you like the head cave then this is a good one.
here is a full set:
the walk back was a little bit scary, but i need to put it in the perspective of being unfamiliar with the walk. it was again the coyote patch that bothered me most, although it seemed at a few points that slow moving cars with their lights off were trailing me through the abandoned streets, with unknown motives and for unknown lengths. people wanted me to stop to talk to them; i didn't really want to do that. and, etc. but, i ultimately made it home without incident.
my apprehension about repeating that exact route is grounded, but i'm going to need to experiment to determine something more optimal. detours. bus schedules, maybe. or perhaps even just getting used to it....
here is the vlog for the day:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/05/19.html
the walk in was actually a lot less creepy than anticipated. it was ultimately just a fear of the unknown, but i need to assert myself - some apprehension is intelligent when walking through detroit alone. the thing is that huge amounts of the city are virtually empty, so there is literally nobody that is going to hear you yell. yes - nobody will hear your cries. let's not sing this song. see, i've mused before that this implies that wild animals are a more pressing concern than desperate people, but it remains true that the city is a kind of a predator's twisted wet dream, and this simply can't be forgotten. i will not apologize for being careful about where i'm walking and when and fuck you for criticizing me for it.
but, the truth is that the walk up bagley was of minimal concern. it seems that the area directly surrounding the railroad tracks has been left for dead. the abandoned twenty story office buildings would no doubt be useful to the homeless folk huddled around them, even as mere shelter from the rain, but there are barbed wire fences to prevent use. again: i found myself more frightened of the possibility that i was walking through coyote territory, and i truly probably was. but, this took up no more than a few blocks of a half hour walk, which was mostly through a pleasant commercial district populated by ethnic mexican businesses.
i got there eventually and tried to chill in the dog park across the way, hoping i'd bump into somebody with my favourite thing, but instead i found myself looking over my shoulder at pit bulls and dobermans left off their leash to sneak up upon me with intent. first i escaped the coyotes, and now this. is detroit run by shape-shifting canids? well, if the lizard people are truly so ubiquitous, they'd have to have evolved thermoregulation at some point, right? it might explain some things you could never get your head around. nor did i see a bar up the strip that i'd feel safe in, although there were plenty of ice cream stores. and, so, i ended up parked in the front of the venue for upwards of an hour and felt myself start to get slightly cold.
--
i found myself in the smoking section for most of the next two hours, floating from a to b and not really saying much of any value to anyone. but, i did eventually find what i wanted before the show started, and i have to acknowledge that it was more essential than i expected.
--
i had heard some chelsea wolfe years earlier; apokalypsis was in rotation for a little while over 2011 or 2012. i'm going to throw out a comparison i haven't seen before: it reminded me a little of jar of flies period alice in chains, but with a kind of impressionist swirl to it. then, i seem to have forgotten about her. it was less about rejection and more just about overlooking it. this is a thing that does happen when you're a music nerd, and there is really simply no way to avoid it without solving for the very hard problem of mortality.
so, when i saw she was playing here, my mind floated back to memories of that record. the next step was to explore some new material; i both found it surprising and interesting. i had picked up somewhere that she had swung a little more goth, but i wasn't expecting as strong of an embrace of electronics. it was compelling, though - i am a fan of the style from multiple different angles. i mean, i grew up listening to stuff like curve and garbage, not to mention skinny puppy and nine inch nails. while i didn't get a chance to really absorb the disc, i heard more than enough to convince me to attend in the handful of times that i streamed it leading up to the show.
i was surprised a second time by the set, which seemed to meet me halfway by pulling in quite a bit of a heavy grunge aesthetic. it was a return to alice in chains, but the heavy side. a bit of soundgarden, even; there's some swans in there, too. pj harvey. it’s all 90s. the press is going to want to name drop witch whatever, black this and doom that. but, i'm an old grunge kid. i knew what i was listening to. and i rather enjoyed it...
i found myself remembering some of the older tracks, too, which was nice.
the show was strong enough that i'm going to no doubt find myself exploring her last two records more carefully and in the process i may find that i was mentally overcompensating for the electronics at the expense of the guitars - that they were there all along, and i just didn't hear them. but, my immediate impression was that the show was brutal in a way that the record isn't and that may be a little surprising to some. it's ultimately just a mixing decision to make sure the guitars are loud enough and dirty enough to make the output fundamentally guitar-oriented, rather than fundamentally electronic. it's just not what i picked out when i was listening beforehand, rightly or wrongly.
so, i'm torn between suggesting that the live show is an improvement in sound over the record and wondering how i would have reacted to a more electronic set.
but, i will say that if you like the head cave then this is a good one.
here is a full set:
the walk back was a little bit scary, but i need to put it in the perspective of being unfamiliar with the walk. it was again the coyote patch that bothered me most, although it seemed at a few points that slow moving cars with their lights off were trailing me through the abandoned streets, with unknown motives and for unknown lengths. people wanted me to stop to talk to them; i didn't really want to do that. and, etc. but, i ultimately made it home without incident.
my apprehension about repeating that exact route is grounded, but i'm going to need to experiment to determine something more optimal. detours. bus schedules, maybe. or perhaps even just getting used to it....
here is the vlog for the day:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/05/19.html
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Friday, May 20, 2016
19-05-2016: exploring southwest detroit in the day and the night (to see chelsea wolfe)
show footage:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/kOp6AxyO6g8?list=PLrHImg7oLm2aa6hPQlp4A8E8FjYuYnm2t
review:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/05/19.html
tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1
https://www.youtube.com/embed/kOp6AxyO6g8?list=PLrHImg7oLm2aa6hPQlp4A8E8FjYuYnm2t
review:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/05/19.html
tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1
Thursday, May 19, 2016
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