Delphic - Doubt

This is Delphic, a pretty new band (formed in 2009, if I recall correctly), and below you see their third single, Doubt, off their debut album Acolyte.




After watching Subdivisions remade by Jacob Moon a several hundred times now, I felt inspired to experiment a little as well, since my guitar pedal board has a built-in looping device. It's a little clumsy and leaves basically no room configuration, but with some effort you can build yourself small tunes and play along.
What I did was try and remake aforementioned Doubt to play it on a single guitar using only one looping device and several (three) different guitar sounds. This is the result:






Yes, my singing voice kinda sucked. But I swear it was the low quality mic! And I was hoarse as well. Also it was late and I didn't want to annoy the neighbours. And... yeah.

Rush - Subdivision

Now here's something amazing.

There's this Canadian band called Rush; it's probably the band that has influenced me the most in my musical and lyrical development. I have been listening to their progressive, melodic and diverse rock music since the day I grasped the concept of music (thanks Dad).

Rush wrote a song called Subdivisions during the early 80s, an epic piece of synthesizer-heavy, rhythmically complex structure.



The reason why I want you to know that song is because it got covered. Usually this fact alone isn't extraordinary, but this is different. Check this out:

There's this guy on a roof top while the sun sets, practically playing two guitars at once, singing along, recording his voice on a dictaphone for later use, playing bass drum and nailing some kickass guitar solos. His guitar playing is beautifully done, to say the least; the structure and key of his version of Subdivision are different yet absolutely fitting; his voice is magnificent. This song is perfection.
 


Oh, and Rush asked him to play this rendition of their song for their induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame this month.It's that good.

Down in the Gamecrazy Hisouse!

Zelda Scott: Yo Dawg, know what I'm saying? That's the bomb-diggity! Gamecrazy has all the fly new game titles! Booyah! That's it from down on the floor, y'all!

The Spoony Experiment Theater: Gamecrazy Training Video


I'm not sure what this is supposed to be (an overlength commercial for a video game store I assume, this can never be a real training video), but this is absolutely hilarious, even without Spoonys commentary. I can't stop laughing and cringing at once when I hear that Zelda chick. Even the other actors look embarassed being with her.

That was krunk.

Random Links

Sometimes I stumble over some pretty cool stuff on the Interwebs that I'd like to put in here but have no idea of how to classify them, since I tend to put stuff together that is connected somehow. So I decided to classify them as Randomness. I know, right? I'm a genius!
CLICK HERE FOR MORE, you rascal!

Sunshine Playlist: Part #7

NoFX is an American skate punk band and probably one of my alltime favourites of that genre. Very diverse and skillful in melody but always powerful and driving - listening and playing along to their music is just plain fun.

One of their recent albums (and in my opinion one of their best as well) is War On Errorism. Every song is predestined for the Sunshine Playlist, especially songs like She's Nubs and Franco Un-American.

Another great song is The Seperation Of Church & Skate, you can check out my attempt of it below. Enjoy!

Sunshine Playlist: Part #6

One of the more recent additions to the Playlist is the band Angels & Airwaves, or at least two songs: Lifeline and Everything's Magic. Below is an attempt at playing Everything's Magic on the drums by yours truly.
Enjoy!


This should actually be in 16:9 format, but something went wrong, I guess...

Facebook - The Crack Of Tomorrow

One of my favourite internet series is Hate By Numbers, hosted by Wayne Gladstone. He rants on everything that's bad in movies, music and television, and he is usually right about everything he says.

Hate By Numbers Ep. 51 - CNN On Facebook

And because Wayne Gladstone is a very funny person, here's his latest video:

Hate By Numbers Ep. 52 - Lady Gagas Bad Romance
...God that lady is stupid.

More great HbN stuff: Watch Mr Gladstone rant on
Twilight: New Moon
The Jonas Brothers   
and
awful, awful music by the Black Eyed Peas

It's fingerlickin' good

I was hungry, so I watched this:

'8 Great Foods For Explaining Why The World Hates America' by Michael Swaim (Cracked.com) 

...which reminded me of this website.

Needless to say, I'm not hungry anymore.

Making Music, One Bloop At A Time

The internet is full of little gadgets you can create music with. Let me show you three very similar yet very different tools for making music in your browser.

I just found this little 16 step sequencer where you can simply create your own little looping tune: André Michelles Tonematrix. Just click the small buttons to make them become all shiny and make music and stuff!

This reminded me of another tool I found about half a year a ago: iNudge. This small gadget gives you even more possibilites, such as distincitve synthesizer-like instruments, individual volume mixing between the layers and even a drum machine - all the while maintaining the simple concept of clicking randomly around the screen. Try it out! You can spend hours with this thing. For your inspiration, here's one of the many little tunes I created: Loop-di-loop


Upon further research I stumbled upon hobnox.coms Audiotool, and this cranks up the concept and difficulty a whole notch. This is actually more of a recording studio for electronic music, complete with mixing device, output, stompboxes like Flanger, Noise Gate and Compressor, and two oldschool Drum Computers based on the famous TR808 modules by Roland. You even have to wire everything together, just like in a real studio! And who doesn't want to do that, right?
Seriously, this is really complicated if you don't have a clue about anything, but if you're just a little interested in making music: the time spent in this tool is time well spent. If you log on the the site, you can even record your own stuff.

So did you create something? Put your iNudge-links or whatever into the comments!

Blogging and Mankind

The Interwebs are good for a few things, and these include pictures of scarcely clothed women, talking cats and - presumably in a number rivaling those of said women - people who like to invite people into their everyday life. This is called Blogging.

See, when I started this blog, I tried to make it interesting enough for people to read, dealing with topics I (and others I know) like and that I have fun doing research for, at least providing my readers with (more or less) useful information. You can argue that the topics I choose are interesting, but that's a story for another day.
What I have is one kind of a blog - giving information on various topics and sometimes showing original content - but there's another kind of blog, and that's what I like to call: The Open Diary.
The author offers a detailed insight in his life, his doings, his interests and his emotions. There's the sports blog dealing with cycling or the local soccer club, there's the occasional blog on everyday family life of the God-loving suburbian family, and there's the emotion-laden depiction of the real-life outcast dealing with his cynical thoughts on life and mankind. So far, so Web 2.0.Those blogs are interesting to some and have every right to exist, I believe (even if I might mock some of them on occasions). [more after the jump]
CLICK HERE FOR MORE, you rascal!

Sunshine Playlist: Part #5

No text this time, just music. Enjoy!

Sum 41 - In Too Deep




Sum 41 - Fat Lip

Sunshine Playlist: Part #4

There is one video game in particular that young folks grew up with (including me) during the early 2000s. Delivering awesome gameplay, a kickass soundtrack and almost endless replay value, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 is probably one of the best critically acclaimed, most beloved and most fondly remembered games of all time.

 I'd press start on you anytime, baby. Cause that's how I roll. Get it? 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE, you rascal!

Sunshine Playlist: Part #3

I was at a club coupla days ago, and there was this song playing. I immediately remembered the name of the band and the song and also realized I hadn't heard this song in YEARS - despite the fact that to me this is one of the most Summer-laden songs ever. (Aah, memories...)

Enjoy:


Aww yeah.

Also, this one:



Just love the groove and the vibe of it. Man... I need a scooter.

Sunshine Playlist: Part #2

There's a guy called Justin King; he's a guitar player and fairly unacquainted to the radio-consuming public (I count that as a good thing, mind you). He gained some internet fame though, partly due to his incredible guitar work and rather unique style, and partly because of his beautiful melodies in the music he makes.
King started with acoustic guitar and recorded an album completely with acoustic, instrumental compositions, called Le Bleu. One song in particular evokes certain images in my mind when listening to it, and it is one of my very favourite songs to relax or enjoy the sun to. This song is called Paris Morning, and you can check it out below (after the jump).
CLICK HERE FOR MORE, you rascal!

PreSpring Excitement in Music

Now, the Sun's been showing up a little more lately, and you can barely make out that Spring is here soon.

At this time of year I regularly fall back into listening to the same music I always listen to on sunny weather, or high temperatures. If you'd like, I can show you a little of my Sunshine Playlist, as I like to call it. I even created a CD series called Sabers Sunshine Mix. (It's true. I got to Vol.3 although I have enough songs to get to Vol.8, or even further.)

Today marked the moment where I had fun in listening to Blink 182 again. I really don't know what it is about that band, but if the weather's right, I really enjoy listening to their music. It's simple, fastpaced, plain fun - and it just has this kind of sunny feeling to it that I sometimes get with certain songs.(Sure many songs of that band sound alike, but I guess they took what worked and went on with it.)

A song I really dig is Roller Coaster; it's essentially everything that makes Blink 182 and one of the most enjoyable songs to listen to AND play on the drums. For those of you who are not familiar with it, you can check out the song here - or you can watch me blast away on the drums below. Your choice, buddy.
C'mon, I know you want to.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE, you rascal!

Pre-Spring Excitement

It's March 1st (at least it was when I attempted this post), and the sun outside makes me feel all Spring-y. Nevermind the (once more) dropping temperatures and the still very lifeless looking trees - I want Spring and damn I'm gonna have it!

This is why today I set out to shoot the world.
Camerawise that is - after running some errands for myself downtown I went to one of my favourite spots, the old railroad bridge crossing the river. With the camera at hand and sunny music in my ear (more on that in a later post) I enjoyed the sun and took some pictures of the surroundings, gradually learning more about the cam and increasing my snapshot-skills (at least I felt like I did).

Here are what I deem to be the best shots of my work. Enjoy! (More after the jump.)
CLICK HERE FOR MORE, you rascal!