Hard to Explain (ultra-lo-fi vers. ft. Marc Nelson) 7 04 11
I haven’t given up on my covers yet.
“Hard to Explain” is on The Strokes’ debut album Is This it? Although their influences are dated, they were a breath of fresh air to me in the early aughts. Especially after all the awful 90′s radio rock.
This version features good, nay, best friend, Marc Nelson. He recorded this bossa nova-esque guitar for me on his laptop while over in england. A long time ago. I’ve finally gotten around to finishing the track. I’ve also sampled drums from other Strokes tracks, including “Between Love & Hate” and “Alone, Together”.
I decided to run with and go overboard with the lo-fi quality of the recordings.
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HardtoExplain (Ultra-lo-fi) ft. Marc Nelson
Alberta (Song Demo) 7 02 11
So I’ve borrowed Hasen’s banjo, and I’ve put my melodica to use. My intent was to write a song for Hectic Hobo, I don’t know if it fits, I think of it as kind of an interlude number. But to explain it too much would be giving it too much credit. Here’s a rough demo. Let’s call it Alberta, cause whatever?
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It’s been fun learning the banjo. Hasen once left a bass at my apartment and forgot to pick it up, I’ve had it for at least four years now. I hope I can pull off the same with his banjo.
2010 Favourites: Beach House Teen Dream 26 01 11
Why I like my favourite albums of 2010, written mostly for myself I guess. here it goes…
Powerful. That’s the one adjective that separates Beach House from other “pleasant” and “pretty” bands. This power can be attributed to Victoria Legrand’s unique and impressive voice. Truly great vocal talent can be hard to come by in Indie circles, and many bands do fine without it. But when it shows up, it pushes the music forward in leaps and bounds. I wouldn’t describe Victoria as a vocal virtuoso (alliteration unintended), but it’s the quality of her voice that makes it exceptional. Smokey and Silky are cliche terms to describe vocals, but I can’t think of any better ones (so much for my music criticism writing skills). I was especially pleased to find out, upon seeing beach house live in a club in park city, that Victoria’s voice doesn’t only translate well in person, but actually transcends the recordings. Again, Powerful!
Victoria’s isn’t the only voice though, Alex Scally’s guitar adds a perfect ghostly reverberated counterpart. Both voices (not to mention Victoria’s organ-like keyboard) give us numerous hooks, both hopeful and melancholy.
I don’t know what else to say about this album, it’s beautiful. From beginning to end. Especially for someone who enjoys music for it’s escapist properties, Beach House offer plenty of room and depth to sink into. Sometimes sinking, sometimes soaring, or sometimes simultaneously; a feeling perfected on their track “10 mile stereo”. the arpeggio guitar and galloping percussion propel you forward while the pad synth and vocals pull you upward, outward and inward. It’s my favourite track, and I had the pleasure of experiencing their first live perfomance of the song. The album closer “Take Care” is the most heartfelt, and it’s this quality especially that make all the others work, become more than the sum of parts.
In Short:
-infinitely re listenable
-Powerful, Heartfelt, Melancholy and Dreamlike
Stand-Out Tracks
10 Mile Stereo
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Take Care
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A Life Lesson 17 12 10
1. Try your best
if that fails…
2. Screw it! just have fun and plow through.
if that fails…
3. Take everyone down with you!
4. You Win!
Experiments in “Tilt-Shift” 11 12 10
A pseudo Tilt-Shift anyway, I can’t afford that lense. I used photoshop instead of an actual tilt shift lense to give the appearance of miniaturization. some worked better than others.
The city of Chartres
Les .Gifs Animes 8 12 10
Made a few animated .gifs from my europe trip. I like the way the different perspectives gives you sense of depth. A pretty cool effect, if you don’t get nauseous first, I wish I had taken photos for more of them.
more after the jump
Read On…