brock-o

Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, Chapter One

2011-05-04T20:29:00.000-07:00

First some background:

The latest Smashing Pumpkins project Teargarden by Kaleidyscope is available for free download track-by-track at smashingpumpkins.com. The Pumpkins released one song at a time to the site with roughly a few weeks between each song. Billy Corgan originally promised 44 songs over four years, so by that count, he has 34 to go.

The overall mood of the first chapter of Teargarden reminds me of childish wonder. The synths and organs evoke a feeling of wandering around a freaky circus visiting your town. I enjoy the songs, but hearing them out of context isn't as rewarding to me as listening to an album straight through. I like how good albums flow in such a way that the songs coalesce and support each other. Billy seems to somewhat agree, at least from the perspective of songwriting, and proclaimed that the next 10 songs or so are going to be released as Oceania in September, sort of an album-within-the-album. So the first chapter of Teargarden has closed.

So with that, I thought it would be a good idea to make an smaller album of sorts out of the first 10. Why should one listen to them in the order that they were released (boring)? So I propose the following order:

Spangled
Tom Tom
The Fellowship
Owata
Freak
Astral Planes
A Stich In Time
Widow Wake My Mind
Lightning Strikes
A Song For a Son

My justification for this ordering:

Spangled - Start with something simple to whet the palette. Also, this just makes it clear that album is sweet and syrupy from the get-go, so if that bothers you, stop here!
Tom Tom - Opens the dynamic range without overwhelming. It also makes a good single (in our imaginary world where this is a conventional album).
The Fellowship - Now that we have your attention, it's time to throw down the gauntlet: "Are you with us or against us?" Keeps the energy level of the previous song goin'.
Owata - Calms down a bit from anthemic heights and lays on the syrup. And it's pretty.
Freak - Sonically positive like last the last one, but has more muscle. Probably the most muscle-y song on Teargarden so far.
Astral Planes - Keep the distortion pedals on and the wall of sound, but unwind a little into a trippy camp fire dance.
A Stich In Time - Also psychedelic and contemplative, but brings out more acoustic sounds and the sunshine, which sets the stage for...
Widow Wake My Mind - Bright and poppy. It ends with some great drum fills that seem to set up the next one.
Lightning Strikes - Big anthemic sound that incorporates so many different sounds it kinda summarizes the album.
A Song For a Son - Outro. Matches the grandeur of the last song, but slows things down quite a bit. Like getting into a litte boat and paddling away into nowhere. "This is a song for a sailor... he sailed without a map."

For the lazy, here is a YouTube playlist:

Paper and bleach

2011-01-23T22:47:00.000-08:00

In continuance of my series about dead formats, I want to say a word about the newspaper. Not the zeros-and-ones editions we all know and love, but the dead tree edition. The Cute Girl (TCG) got a deal whereby we get the Sunday edition of Seattle's (one and only) daily, mostly for the coupons. As caught up in the Digital Age as I am (I write this one my phone) there is something very satisfying about opening up the paper, especially the Sunday edition, which is hefty enough to not just swat a fly, but flatten the fattest of our two cats. What could the dead tree edition possibly offer over the convenience and immediacy of say, nyt.com?

It is relaxing. Years ago I had weened my self off of leisurely news absorption in favor of fast-food bites from said Digital Age. The flow of blogs and news sites feel rushed and are flanked with distracting ads and colors and mostly bad design. The modern blog reader is expected to digest a hundred or so articles a day lest he finds himself on the outside of inside jokes involving rainbows and cats. As Jay Z intoned, it's constantly "on to the next one, on to the next one."

Dead tree news, other hand, feels relaxing. See page B12? How wonderfully inconvenient.

Cleaning Vinyl

2011-01-21T17:39:00.000-08:00

I bought these records for 50 cents a piece at a second-hand store, but they came a little dusty. I decided to clean 'em with soap and water after the advice that a friend gave me.

Music Mondays - M.I.A. and Arcade Fire

2010-08-16T14:27:00.001-07:00

I just picked up two great albums this weekend: Maya from M.I.A. and The Suburbs from Arcade Fire. Here are some samples:

M.I.A. reminds of that Far Eastern girl in class that is slightly awkward and overlooked but indisputably smart and beautiful (or maybe I'm just making this person up?). I really love the overlay of exotic/awkward/digital in this video.

I really like this song from Arcade Fire. I like their haunting, brooding songs best.

Training for the F.B.I.

2010-06-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

This past year I passed some important milestones on my way to becoming fitter: I weigh about seven pounds lighter now than I did when I graduated with my Computer Science degree three years ago. My weight starting going down-hill after many late nights coding and eating pink sugar cookies for stress relief. Last year I started biking to work (17-19 miles round trip, depending on the route) and have picked it up again this Spring.

Credit: ShellyS

I still, however, have a little ways to go. I am still overweight and have plateaued in my weight loss.

I decided that I needed some direction; a new standard of fitness. Besides the obvious BMI scale, I am now shooting for the FBI's Special Agent Physical Fitness Test Scoring Scale. I mean, why not? If I am good enough to chase terrorists with Jack Bauer, I think I am in a good way.

Credit: minfig

Bread

2010-01-02T23:16:00.000-08:00

For xmas my parents sent me this bread making book which teaches a simple method for making all kinds of bread, but principally the chewy-crust varities such as ciabatta, boule, and baguettes. It is fascinatingly easy to execute... well... mostly.

On my first try, I must have not added enough flour because the dough was too moist and unwieldy.

The "FAIL dough" rising to the occasion

My "FAIL bread." Even the lighting in the room hates it.

The worst part of the FAIL bread was really it's looks. It didn't taste all that bad.

My next batch of dough turned out some beautiful boules:

The Thinker

2009-10-28T15:38:00.000-07:00

My wife brought me a desk-size bronze-cast statuette of Auguste Rodin's The Thinker home for me from Paris. It now sits on my bookshelf, not only thinking, but also holding my books up.

Through out my day, I tend to work on several things simultaneously at full speed. To keep this up, my brain, to keep itself from collapsing, forces me to just stop and stare at the wall for a minute or two. I am only allowed allowed to think; There is to be no tapping away at the keyboard.

Now when I stare I see The Thinker. He sits, green and sinewy, hunched down, chin resting on the back of his hand-- thinking. But unlike my odd moments of thoughtful rest, he does not lift his head after a few moments and go to work; he continues to think. If he were life-sized and mobile, he could no doubt accomplish some impressive work.

How much do we value thought? Is it difficult to take time to meditate? I think that it is, but The Thinker reminds me that pause is worthwhile.

happy mecury retrograde

2009-09-27T13:45:00.001-07:00

the cocktails are blanks they sparkle like tanks; we talk about everything that's happened: the good, bad and unmistakably incomprehensible: the birthday cakes, the countless mistakes, battle victories large and small and the quickness of it all for here we are at five years leaning over the edge of our next adventure/disaster though i'll enjoy this mercury retrograde until it leaves in spades and the vibrations have all had their way

Ghostbustin'

2009-06-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

This week I've learned something about myself: I will watch hokey old videos from the 70s, 80s and early 90's for hours on end. Imagine my 80s kid joy when I found this video of the ending of Ghostbusters of C64:

It's a lot harder than it looks to walk underneath that guy's pants. This game seriously stressed me out.

Having trouble writing a blahg

2009-06-06T15:53:00.000-07:00

These days it's must easier to get traction with something I have to say via twitter, facebook or to be creative via flickr or reverbnation. That, added to my short attention span, means me no writey blogey.

For something cool and recent, check out my Sasquatch Festival photos, including photos of Maria Bamford, Devotchka, Animal Collective, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Kings of Leon, and some random sun-flared hipsters!

Goodbye San Francisco

2009-03-09T00:04:00.001-07:00

(Note: I wrote this when we still living in the SF area, but am published it two years late. It may appear to be a new article on your feed reader.)

In our final days in the San Francisco area, we had a blast for the few free days that we had. We...

Saw Wicked
Indoor skydiving at iFly SF Bay (iflysfbay.com)
Sand dollar hunting at a small beach along Highway 1
Drove up to the Sutro Tower by the Castro in SF, where we had a great nighttime view of city

Wordless Wednesday (Stanford)

2009-02-18T01:36:00.000-08:00

Should I go or should I go?

2009-02-17T03:53:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update to those of you that haven't decrypted my Facebook status updates: It looks like I will moving be to one of two states from California. I tried to find a job that could keep me here, but I gave up on that.

My options are:

Orem, Utah (Omniture) - I went to school at BYU, so I know the terrain pretty well there. On one hand, I have some family there and the cost of living is pretty cheap. On the other hand, I love living near the coast, and this is decidely not the coast :( The closest big city is also a ways away in Salt Lake.

Seattle, Washington (Amazon.com) - I still own a home there. Seattle is awesome in too many ways to mention; the least of which is not the fact that it is surrounded by water. But it is more expensive and family is further away (that can be good and bad).

There are also trade-offs of course with the work that I would be doing in either place. Also, I have an offer from Amazon.com but not Omniture (more interviews to go). But these are the only two possibilities on the table. At the moment I am leaning strongly in a certain direction; Can you guess which? :D

I should know by the end of the month where that will be, and of course, I will keep y'all posted!

New layout

2009-01-26T20:21:00.001-08:00

Hey webizens, I've refreshed the look and feel on my blog. Any feedback?

And if you are reading this on Facebook, you won't see the theme unless you actually visit my blog, for Pete's sake :D

Also, I have a more technical blog at http://brockj.net/ if you're into that kind of thing :P

Punk rock fail

2008-12-24T15:14:00.000-08:00

I had a fruitless discussion with my little sister over what emo really is. It made me think of how mainstream punk music has gotten lamer in each of the ways it manifests itself every 5 years or so. This South Park clip speaks volumes of what how lame it's been since the 90s:

C'mon kids... where is your musical revolution?

The fourties had swing, the fifties had rockabilly.

The sixties had protest music.

The seventies had metal + punk + disco + prog.

The eighties had new wave + hip-hop + heavy metal + alternative + post-hardcore.

The ninties had grunge and post-rock.

What new music has been revolutionary in mainstream music in to 2000s?

Hip-hop today isn't too different than the ninties.

Today's alternative rock maintstream is indecernible from ten years ago. All the innovation has been underground (To this generation's credit, though, independent music is gaining popularity).

I'm a little worried that my kids wont be able to bring home music that will shock and repulse me, the way things are going.

What kind of music do you listen to?

2008-12-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

Ah, the age old question.

Someone asked me this recently and I really had to pause. Sure I've given Layla's Corgan-crush my blessing, but certainly I listen to something other than the Pumpkins? (13 years ago the answer would be no). The following are the genres that have been holding my attention recently:

Bright Eyes

Indie Rock

Ok this is the most general category I'm going to give. What is Indie Rock? Music that continues to fulfill the promise of honest musicianship that the Alternative movement sprouted before it veered into the dull Candy Land it now inhabits. But being such a general label, there is quite a range of taste and musicianship. The mainstream has begun to notice this rising popularity of Indie and has picked up graduates such as Modest Mouse and Bright Eyes. Since in all probability you've already heard of this genre, let's move on.

M83

Y2K Shoegaze

Rock critics are notorious for attaching lame labels and taxonomies to perfectly unique music. So here's my shot at the Big Time. I revere "shoegazers" such as My Bloody Valentine and Spacemen 3, but I want to highlight their modern off-spring. There are a lot of great bands today that project slow, somber symphonies of reverb and feedback such as Sigur Ros, Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky and M83. In the nooks and crannies of this faux genre I really enjoy "Particle & Waves" by The Cranes and "Scribble Mural Comic Journal" by A Sunny Day In Glasgow. I eat this kind of music for breakfast with my toast and honey.

Ladytron

Electroclash

When you are in a partying mood and a little drunk off 80's nostalgia, this is the music for you. This electronic genre features heavy use of Roland TR-808s and gruff female "vocals." I would suggest Ladytron, Ms Kitten and the first Fischerspooner album.

MF Doom

Indie Hip-hop

This brand of hip-hop incorporates a spaghetti of often-jazzy vinyl samples and intelligent rhymes to top them off. Foremost is this frontier are the likes of MF Doom (who is never seen in public without his mask), Quasimoto, Danger Mouse, and last but not least, Madlib. I suggest Madvillany from Madvillain as a first listen.

Practical advice for today's economy

2008-10-12T14:50:00.001-07:00

Sarah Palin = Comedy Gold (SNL clips)

2008-10-06T23:08:00.000-07:00

Proof that China cheated

2008-08-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

This has been all over the internet, just thought I would spread it a little further: http://strydehax.blogspot.com/2008/08/hack-olympics.html

Apparently a document on the www.sport.cn.gov that reports Kexin's age was indexed and cached independently by both Google and Baidu.

International disgrace, anyone?

Happy age++ to me

2008-08-12T23:35:00.000-07:00

So recently I turned another year older, and it made me pause to think about which birthdays are more significant. Layla says, "Surely when you turn 30 we will have to do something special." "Eh," I said, "Why thirty? 31 is a prime number. 32 is a power of two (2*2*2*2*2). 34 is a Fibonacci number. 36 is pretty awesome too because it evenly divides by 2, 3, 4, 6, 9 and 12! But 30 is boring." With every year I'm a bigger bore than the one before :D

This year is pretty significant, however, since I am going to go see Radiohead, one of my top-2 favorite bands, thanks to some tix from Layla. She seems pretty excited too (for some reason) and she expresses said excitement by crooning "I'm a creep... I don't belooong here" at random. Radiohead and some other bands, including, Beck are performing at Golden Gate Park into the night. Thanks, again, Lay!

Californ-ay-eh

2008-07-06T15:14:00.000-07:00

So although it may appear that I've totally neglected blogging, this is not the first time that I've blogged about California since I've moved here. Also I've been really busy. Just yesterday with some help with some new friends from church I unloaded 6272 lbs of our stuff from a U-Pack trailer into my house, which was a little more painful then it needed to be since the elevator from the parking garage was broken. The day ended with a relaxed perusal of University Ave in Palo Alto and a drive around The Campus. In the end, though all of the stress of rooting our family from a comfortable place into a jungle of unknowns, somehow it felt confirmed to me that it was all worth it.