The Ryan Gregson Web-Log

Hard to Explain (ultra-lo-fi vers. ft. Marc Nelson)

Ryan — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:08:42 +0000

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.

HardtoExplain (Ultra-lo-fi) ft. Marc Nelson

Alberta (Song Demo)

Ryan — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 21:08:56 +0000

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?

Alberta (Demo)

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

Ryan — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:57:08 +0000

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

Take Care

A Life Lesson

Ryan — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 21:39:12 +0000

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”

Ryan — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 19:17:23 +0000

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

Along the Seine in Paris

Liverpool Pier

Les .Gifs Animes

Ryan — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 21:06:20 +0000

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

A Clarification…

Ryan — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 23:42:37 +0000

I don’t make tongue costumes just for fun.
click through for video…

New Look

Ryan — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 10:13:15 +0000

It’s that time of year again for a web-log redesign. The hard part is done, I’ve managed to get the background colour and header image to change on every page reload. Collect them all!
more to come…

Happy Trails…

Ryan — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 19:04:54 +0000

Remember when we went to disneyland on spring break? Remember when Heather left half finished chocolate milk under your passenger seat, and it wasn’t discovered for another month or two after that? Remember how long it took for that smell to leave? Remember when we hit a deer in the canyon on the way back from a midnight swim in bear lake, and we all walked away unscathed? Remember when we got pulled over for speeding, with no proof of insurance, no driver’s license, no seat-belt, and a broken tail-light? and we got away with a warning? Or when we slept in parking lots on our way to and from the Coachella festival in southern California?
No, you don’t. You are a car, but it’s hard not to personify you after all we’ve been through. Your paint was peeling, your tires popping, windows smashed out and power steering gone. I had no choice, I needed another car, please don’t feel betrayed. At least I know you don’t.

Need more of this…

Ryan — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 18:42:21 +0000

I’ve been enjoying Crystal Castles second self-titled album. Something about their dark, glitchy electro pop punk (i could go on with the descriptors) that is very addicting. Needless to say I was very excited to see that Crystal Castles enlisted a certain Robert Smith to do vocals on the single version of my favourite track from that album.
here it is below.

Not in Love – Crystal Castles ft. Robert Smith

and the original, for comparison’s sake.