“I want a song with brick walls all around it, high windows and no sex.”

March 11, 2009 • Comment on this

I love this song. That’s all I really have to say about it.

To paraphrase Wikipedia, it was the first original song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Before that, they would only cover blues standards. As the myth goes, Andrew Loog Oldham locked the two in the kitchen, forcing them to write a song, telling them: “I want a song with brick walls all around it, high windows and no sex.” Amazing. Really. Imagine someone trying to say this to Prince. Anyway, the end recorded result is a folkish, rather flat song swirling in delicate, flowery strings.

The song made Marianne Faithfull’s career at age 17 in 1964 (shown above), reaching #4 on the UK charts. Her performance is rigid and uncomfortable. It is positively sexless, and in many ways, the cold opposite of the Rolling Stones. (and yes, despite being Jagger’s girlfriend at the time.)

The Stones’ own version (1965) peaked at #6 on US Billboard charts. Nancy Sinatra also covered it in 1966.

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Cymbal Overload - Recording in My Bedroom, Pt. 1

March 2, 2009 • Comments (2)

Here are some very wise words about recording drums I found on this website.

Cymbals

You want to know one secret to the huge drum sound of Led Zeppelin’s drummer, John Bonham? Finesse. He understood that the drums sound louder and bigger in a mix if the cymbals are quieter in comparison. So he played his cymbals softly and hit the drums pretty hard. This allowed the engineer to raise up the levels of the drums without having the cymbals drown everything else out. Absolutely brilliant.

Because the drums bleeding into the overhead mics is inevitable and the overhead mics are responsible for providing much of the drums’ presence in a mix, playing the cymbals softly allows you to get more of the drums in these mics. This helps the drums sound bigger.

…

I wish I had known this before I went to track drums for a record a couple years ago. I figured it out soon thereafter. I used to really pound those cymbals. This created extra problems for the producer in the studio, and the sound engineer in live situations. I bought thinner and darker cymbals and even started using lighter sticks (with nylon tip to make up for the lack of definition in the darker cymbals). Getting a loud sound from the snare was also difficult as I liked to have a thick 6 1/2″ thick snare (reissue Black Beauty), tuned way too low. Oops. Having the vocal mic there too pick up even more of those nasty high frequencies didn’t help either!

These days, I like to use my 5″ Supraphonic (1970s) for recording. In my bedroom, I use SUPER light 7as, and play quietly. Contrast this with me 2 years ago, bashing away on the ride cymbal with fat 3As. You could say I was trying to compensate, battling the stereotype that girls don’t hit hard. Okay, maybe I didn’t really hit that hard even when I tried. I’m not a gorilla!

cadbury-gorilla

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Um, while Image Googling a gorilla playing drums, I found this article: Wonderbra recreates Cadbury gorilla advert for YouTube. Too bad the YouTube video was removed!

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I like to make flyers.

February 10, 2009 • Comment on this

juana molina / luke top flyer

fruit bats / LT flyer

You may not be able to tell from the looks of this blog, but i spend most of my hours pushing pixels. I just haven’t had the drive to fully customize the Wordpress template Nathan Bowers so kindly let me use yet. Boo. On the weekends, sometimes i take a good chunk of the day to work on random flyers. Working free form like this is really fun for me, as I basically get to do whatever I want, and take as much time I want. Since these are used for posting on the internet, Myspace, etc, the objective is to have large text that is readable in thumbnail form. They are often supplemental to more specific information, like links to tickets and show times.

These two are for my very talented friend Luke Top. He’s opening for Cat Power tonight at the Avalon! Amazing!

Posted in: Music • art
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The Instrument Equivalent of Pre-Aged Jeans

January 15, 2009 • Comments (2)

This is a 1960s Fender Jazz Bass–but BRAND NEW! It costs $1,249.

If this trend comes to drums, I will make a hole in the ground and scream in it. I’m all down for re-issues, you get the vintage styling without dealing with decrepit parts. I don’t even mind it when they fake discoloration, but this! They took a sander to the body’s finish. Wouldn’t you prefer to make your own belt-buckle marks? I sound like your mom ten years ago, cursing the wind about why pre-aged jeans cost $150.

The tortoise-shell pickguard on red sure is sexy though.

Here it is on Musician’s Friend. But if you buy it, don’t talk to me.

Posted in: Bass • Music Tagged:        
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Ringo Starr + Double Kick Drum?

January 13, 2009 • Comments (3)
Not so sure himself, either.

Not so sure himself, either.

My good friend Ryan nearly shat his panties when he heard the demo version of The Beatles’ Good Morning Good Morning, from the Anthology 2 (presumably, disc 2?). He just really liked it, even preferring it over the actual album version. It’s got less stuff. It’s just the band being awesome.

I’m not a crazy, rabid Beatles fan, and I can only tell you as much as I’ve learned from recently watching Anthology. I had never known Ringo to use two kick drums, so even still I’m unsure whether or not he actually uses one on this track. I could easily imagine Ringo at least toying around with two kicks, right? It surprises me especially because I often cite Ringo as my hero and foil to double-kick/30-cymbal flurries.

Listen for yourself, especially at 2:04. Ryan says it could be the sound from the bass, but if you listen the phrasing, there’s no way that the bass could pluck at 16th note speed at the same time. I think there is both muted bass plucking and double kick in the intro to further add to the confusion.

Good Mornin Good Mornin Demo Version (mp3)

Let me know what you think!

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UPDATE! March 2, 2009: After much scrutiny, I decided that it WAS Paul’s picking sound which made a thumpy sound comparable to Ringo’s kick. However, there are couple of small parts in the song where it really really does sound like a double kick. Too bad Ringo doesn’t accept fanmail anymore, otherwise, I’d try to email him. Haha!

Posted in: Drums • Music Tagged:              
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Bill Cosby on the Drums

December 24, 2008 • Comments (1)

This is an amazing interview from 1973 on the Dick Cavett Show. Did you know Bill Cosby was a drummer? He recounts a night when he sits in on the drums at a club with the likes of Sonny Stitt and Max Roach. A Must See!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Posted in: Drums • Music
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bis: teen-c nation done grown up.

August 18, 2008 • Comments (3)

bis: kandy pop / sweet shop avengers Japanese import single

bis colored my teen years. with fluorescent markers and punky colour hair dye. they were punk rock but bright, poppy, and cute. anti-authority and pro-candy. anti-mean pretty people, pro-drew barrymore. I had a sweet tooth for sugary pop and kids yelling pro-kid epithets. 2 guitars, 1 keyboard, drum machine, while all 3 sang. i dyed my hair and wore bright colors (i was also playing drums in a punk band at the time). i even made my own bis patch. wow. it mostly gave everyone around me a toothache. once, me and my good friend Dave snuck into KUCI (in the late 90s) to watch them perform live. i wish i could find those photos again. i had a major crush on John Disco.

Now Manda Rin is back at it again! Pitchfork reports the release of her new solo album. It is more in line with “later bis,” the bis that had alienated earlier fans. I don’t blame them for moving on, I thought Eurodisco was a good track. They lost me after that, unfortunately.

In this new interview with Manda, she talks about the success of new electro bands like CSS and the Tings Tings, and how bis were out of step with what would have hit years later. (They weren’t completely at a lost, as they were the first unsigned band to play Top of the Pops!) Also, she mentions meeting Lovefoxxx of CSS, and how big of a fan she is–I knew it!

Here’s the video for the first single, followed by other fine bis memories. Indulge me as I take a trip to my past. :)

2008: Manda Rin, DNA (This is Fake DIY Records)

2001: bis, Return to Central (SpinART) (–did anyone buy this?)

1999: bis, Eurodisco, Social Dancing (Grand Royal Records)

1997: bis, Tell it to the Kids, New Transistor Heroes (Grand Royal Records)

1996: bis, Kandy Pop, The Secret Vampire Soundtrack (Chemikal Underground)

…and let’s not forget when the stars aligned and bis did the theme for Powerpuff Girls (end credits):

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Cute running drawing

August 18, 2008 • Comments (1)

My friend Monique showed me this today:

From art student Kris of Krisatomic.

I have scaled back on the jogging lately and so every week it feels like i’m starting over again. The City of Angels Half-Marathon is coming up again this year, and i really want to do it again, pending my knee. i would like to up training to 4x a week, as opposed to the lax 2x i’m doing now. Zzzz…

Posted in: Health Tagged:            
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Jens Hanneman’s Foreign Tongue

August 12, 2008 • Comments (1)

Fred Armisen! Did i mention I spotted him after our performance at 88BOADRUM?

I still want this instructional DVD:

Fun fact from his Wikipedia:

Armisen has both Venezuelan and Japanese ancestry,[4] making him both the second Asian-American and second Latin-American Saturday Night Live castmember, after Rob Schneider (who is part Filipino) and Horatio Sanz (who is Chilean), respectively.

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Kinta Restaurant, Portland OR

August 12, 2008 • Comments (3)

Yay! What a nice little surprise. One of the (vegan) food blogs I read, To Live and Eat in LA, is doing a series of reviews in Portland, Oregon. Today, they reviewed my cousin’s restaurant, Kinta.

Tropical Malaysian Curry Soup via To Live and Eat in LA

Tropical Malaysian Curry Soup via To Live and Eat in LA

I got to eat there on our tour with Blonde Redhead around April last year. I cannot for the life of me find the photographs from then, maybe I never took any, maybe they were lost in the two computer crashes since then. Major bummer!

I remember the food being really tasty. It had been the first time I had Malaysian food (though they call it “New Malaysian”). My cousin Dennis (Tu) and his wife Pon run the restaurant. She cooks and comes up with the recipes and he does everything else. It was in a cute little neighborhood, with lots of bike riders and pedestrians. I can’t remember what we ordered that day, but I do remember a very warm feeling that evening. The weather, food and atmosphere were pitch-perfect. No doubt, I was thankful to have a such lovely vegetarian dinner on the road!

Look what I found! A photo of me and my cousin after our set at the Wonder Ballroom. I look freakin nuts.

Tu (Dennis) and Han (Me)

Tu (Dennis) and Han (Me)

If ever in Portland, Kinta is a must!

http://www.kintarestaurant.com

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