Saturday 19 March 2011

Review: Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid (Also, a rant about the Hype Machine)

The hype around this band has always confused me. "Innovative", "Best", "Fresh" and so on and so forth; these are words constantly thrown out in adverts and from other people. But everything I ever heard from them has just been...standard. What's so good about them?

Well somebody told me there's some brilliant songwriting etc etc etc so I decided FINE I WILL GO AND DO AN ALBUM LISTEN. I've done this before, because I don't like having an uninformed opinion and if someone keeps annoying me to have an opinion on something, or to change my opinion on something, then I usually cave in after a while and go FINE.

I've done this for Linkin Park's latest (and still rubbish) album (and may do a write up later on) and I also did it for Avril Lavigne's latest in the vain hope that somebody will have at least written ONE good song on there (There wasn't). So I shall do it here.

Thursday 17 March 2011

Important things I learnt from last night's gig:

From our set:

1) Just because you're not stuck behind a mic all the time doesn't mean you don't have to pace yourself. Going mental in the first song will mean you're half dead by the last song. Stamina is the name of the game.

2) Sweaty fingers + Fingerstyle bass = a new challenge. This challenge must be mastered.

3) Vocal warmups really are all they're cracked up to be.


From other people:

1) Do check that everything is plugged in. Especially just before you play. Last minute idiot checks are vital.

2) Stop bringing Line 6 Spiders to gigs. They sound horrible.

3) Don't ever, ever, EVER gig without a bass player. You lose 100% of the punch and impact from your sound. ESPECIALLY if you are a metal band.

4) If you didn't bring a big enough crowd with you, don't complain that the room is empty and people can't be arsed headbanging to your standard unoriginal sounding metal and would rather chill at the back of the room than come to the front, as you've spent the last 5 minutes trying to get them to.


And lastly...be a good band. Practise, practise, practise, write some better music, then practise some more.

Most of all, love what you do ;)

Vinnie

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Another apology to my followers!

Hey guys

Thanks for being patient! Still ill and now got a bloody wisdom tooth coming through which is causing intense amounts of pain, so the schedule for my daily rounds seems to be off and thus the blog is being ignored at the moment.

I will aim to have some insightful stuff up soon, in the meantime feel free to look through the archives and comment on some of the older posts!

Also, got a gig tonight, the first gig playing bass with my new band. Wish me luck!

Vinnie ;)

Sunday 13 March 2011

Posting will resume soon!

Sorry, been ill all weekend. Sucks! Gonna try and get some rest so I can post something interesting in the next few days!

Friday 11 March 2011

Another post on "Sound Quality"

Those that have been following WAS for a long time may remember a post I did last year on Sound Quality. I thought I'd address the topic again; its been a year, I've learnt more and I still enjoy discussing it.

So what's changed? I've got more Vinyls, overpriced Monster headphones are popular (My little brother bought some! Gah) and now online retailers are talking about 24-bit downloads (which I will discuss in a later post). mp3 quality is getting better, but hard drive space is also moving to a point where we can have higher quality lossless formats on our iPods.

So where is this all going to go in the next few years?

Thursday 10 March 2011

Do you have a 'favourite' song?

Its weird, for years and years I didn't subscribe to having a 'favourite' song. After all, I listen to so much music, from so many different genres, styles, eras and cultures, that how could I pick one measly little song over all the others? It didn't make sense to me.

But then again, I realised the other day that I do have a favourite song. Want to know what it is?

Wednesday 9 March 2011

Lovely bit of sound design


I don't normally post random videos, but this one was too good to pass up!

How to react to a difference in opinion

Trolling, argument, disagreements...all to common with music, eh? I'm sure we've all had that lengthy argument with someone who won't back down from their opinion, or perhaps you felt very strongly about something and refused to give in?

These differences in opinion can lead to interesting debate, but they can also lead to hurt feelings; some people feel very passionately about the music they love, so insulting their music is like insulting them. I've had outbursts that have stopped people from talking to me for a while, I've also had some really good discussions with people where we've identified that we disagree and both for very good reasons.

So is there a way to control or avoid the arguments and keep it all to intellectual discussion?

Tuesday 8 March 2011

Back!

So its been almost a year since I posted here.

Why did I stop? I thought being an opinionated elitist was a bit 'mean' of me - hypocritical and self-defeating in its purpose. Then I decided that...y'know what? I enjoy it, and at the end of the day its still my opinion. So what if it offends people? I like writing this stuff, even if nobody reads it.

So expect more rants, reviews and words about noises and maybe some music.

Keep lovin' music ;)

Vinnie