Go punch a tree. (nerd joke)

In thinking about what music is today and might be in the future, it drives me to think about what the evolution of music might be over the next few hundred, or even few thousand years; and beyond. We’re taught in school that music started with cavemen beating on rocks, but aren’t we still banging, plucking, and humming almost the same way we were in our ancient civilizations. The only real thing that has “changed” is our technique. The same way we used to pound a key to hammer a string, we now pound a key to impact a simulation of said string. It can be argued that musical sound, as it’s perceived, has not undergone any real evolutionary changes since the documented “beginning” of music. What we consider to be “new” is nothing but a distorted regurgitation of something that already exists. I draw to example the poster that was hanging in our music class when we were in elementary school. It gave us the basic food groups of music: percussion, strings, woodwinds, etc… Anything changed? Nope. One might say, “what about electronic music?” My answer- What about it? It’s STILL just a regurgitation of what we already have. I hardly consider the difference in digital drums vs. physically pounding a stretched animal skin to be substantial enough to consider this “electronic” derivative in its own class. You’re thinking, “Well, the instruments and groups on that chart are not as much about the sound they make as much as how the instruments are played to create the sound.” I will grant you that. So, by that definition most of our electronic instruments are percussion right? You hit something…It makes a sound. Percussion – easy as that.

Ready for the twist?
I’M WRONG….sorta.

It would be impossible to try to make a legitimate argument for why music has made NO changes since its inception. The catch? I am standing by my assertion that music CREATION hasn’t really changed since the first rock beaters of yesteryear, BUT how the music is delivered has dramatically changed over time. Instruments in the beginning had to be listened to in a live setting. A musician would perform acoustically for their audience. The advent of recorded sound is really where music took its turn in a whole new direction. You may be wondering, “How does this apply to the evolution of music creation?” Well, it does, more than you may think. Our phonograph players, stereos, cd players, etc… have all been integral parts of how music is reproduced. In fact, I would go as far as to say that every one of these devices, in their own right, are every bit as much of an instrument as a guitar, drum set, or the beloved clarinet. The proof… It’s in the pudding. Not literally. That would be gross. Anyone can play a radio, right? Well I would argue that the same “anyone” can play any instrument. Now, how well someone can play any of the instruments in the world is a different story (and the topic of other posts). One’s first crack at a drum set might come across as a blanket of out-of-time noise, but you don’t know; that could be the musical style that’s just 100 years too early. Imagine if you had told any musician 100 years ago that singers would be replaced with screamers and the people that were still singing would have this amazing machine to alter their voice to make it sort of “wiggle”. Who knew that Edison's phonograph machine would go so far to sculpt the infamous Hip-Hop era.

Anyway, I'm headed to my rehearsal space to drop mad beats on my light wave music sequencer. You can get your LWMS3K from Musicians Friend(100 years from now).

Holla!
I mean...
Holla!(in a robot voice)

Artist of the day- Forever The Sickest Kids.
They're just good. Period.


Crazy right?

...but mommy, T-Pain's parents let HIM be a robot...

Ready to join me in beating the proverbial "dead horse"?

Good.

Over the past year or so I have oft been audience to, or involved in, the great debate on "IS AUTOTUNE EVIL?" And, being a vocalist that has worked really hard to sculpt a vocal style that is my own (which hasn't happened and I'm not sure that there is such a thing... I would be glad to debate, shoot me an email), I have always been leading the charge with "how do we let someone capitalize on singing out of tune on purpose and just relying on the magic button to make it all better - and then some?". Granted, from a listeners standpoint that stuff all sounds really cool. "what what. wiggle voice wiggle voice" What's not to like right? Don't get me wrong. I've dabbled in it on my most recent project. It's still something that I feel like makes a really interesting sound. Where I think it has started to bug people is that it's sooooo easy and so with that sooooo many people have jumped on the autotune bandwagon.

That bothered me until I got to thinking about how music has progressed over the years. Let's start with Metal. When it started, it went from the dark muddy gallows of bands like Black Sabbath to arena rock and hair metal; big hair and fast cars. Then at some point it progressed into the Metal music of today where we have shredder riffs and mindless chugging. What used to be super melodic rock with a singer (imagine that) turned in to CHUG CHUG BRIE BRIE GROWL GROWL which is fine. In fact, I happen to like the heavy as hell smash your face in Metal of today. Now, our buddy down the street sporting his Iron Maiden concert Tee and mutton chops will gladly disagree with me.

The same story goes for punk rock. And for this, I won't even go as far back. Let's start later with bands like Fugazi, The Lemonheads, ...dare I say The Ramones. Stemming from that we have an extreme progression through bands like Green Day and Blink 182, and F.O.B.... even up to the powerpop punk bands of today like All Time Low and Boys Like Girls. Ask an Old-School Punk fan what they think of Blink 182. They would caress their Mohawk and tell you stories of the old days, before punk was "cool" and before those high-pitched-singing homos stole their identity. When the "sound" of punk singers progressed, it sort of morphed into a new identity. Who knew that singing like you were pinching your nose and getting kicked in the balls at the same time would ever take off? Well it did, and I'm glad.

A long way around the block to leave you with a thought. If you're a believer that history repeats itself, then we can't help but to step back and accept that this fad might not pass. Just the same as you'll be hard-pressed to find a metal band that's not screaming, or a punk band that doesn't sound like a whiny 13 year old with nose-plugs in, Autotune might just be here to stay. If we don't accept it and move on, then we are the same as the Mohawk'd, Mutton Chop'd, Iron Maiden shirt wearing'd people that are stuck in the past.

Robots are the way of the future.
Duh.
Think about it.

-Mark/TMS

Artist of the day: Angels And Airwaves (AVA)
I really feel like this band is a classic example of a progression of music. With Tom Delonge's musical birth and downfall of Blink 182, he went on to make music that was not completely different, and at the same time, not completely the same. Pulling from his inspiration and the work he had done in Blink, he went on to make music that wasn't necessarily unique to the world, but was the musical growth of an individual all the same.

what the F happened to 2k9?

And what do we have to show for it in the way of music? In my opinion... not much. I will say though, I have opened up more than I ever have to female singers. It's weird, I have always been so dead-set against chick singers. And to be honest I never really knew what it was that turned me off about them. I guess I sort of liked Avril Lavigne, It was cool. It was Pop-punk. catchy sing-a-longs... and not bad looking either. More recently, though, we have had bands like Paramore (amazing), and Versa Emerge (also amazing) that have opened the door for an appreciation of other artists like dare-I-say Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, and everyones favorite Taylor Swift. (Disclaimer: When I say "opened the door" I don't mean for the success of the artists mentioned. Yes, we all know that Britney Spears practically CREATED singing.. gross. I meant that it opened the door, or opened my eyes rather, to an appreciation of the other music out there. ...is all)

Now, before you hit the X button at the top of your browser and discount all of my opinions from here on, please hear me out. Take "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus. It's one of the most uplifting ballads I've heard since "God Bless the U.S.A."(I would insert the artists name here but I'm too lazy to look it up. It's the "...proud to an American.. " song). It doesn't matter if she wrote it, or if she had multi-million dollar producers helping to sculpt it into the perfectly constructed song that it became. Same Goes for her "Party in the U.S.A" Incredibly catchy song. Let's Move on to Taylor Swift. Just about every song that comes out of her mouth is an instant hit. And with good reason. Whether you "like" it or not, you absolutely HAVE to admit that it accomplishes what they set out to do; make incredibly catchy, powerful music, that a really broad group of people can relate to. And, We can't leave Katy Perry out. She's perhaps the catchiest of them all.

So, if we can take ANYTHING away from 2009, let's all try to be more open minded when it comes to making the list of what we like. I don't mean go find that bands that you hate and listen to them anyway. I'm saying that it is best to not discount a particular artist just for who or what they are.

Take a listen.
Discover that it may actually be "Good Music"
THEN if it doesn't happen to be your cup of tea, you never have to listen to it again.

My words of wisdom for the day... Just because you happen to like the same song or music as a 13 year old girl, doesn't make you a 13 year old girl. Listen to what you like and be proud of it.

Thanks kids,
Mark/TMS

P.S.
I'm going to start leaving you with an artist or album to check out on your own time. Most of the time it will relate to the post. It will usually be someone that I think it worth checking out. Other times it may be something that I want to be burned down, but needs to be listened to anyway.

Artist of the day: VersaEmerge
It's really good.

Merry Christmas

It's this time of year that I usually will have made my decision on whether or not to embrace the Christmas music having been poured down our throats since about 3 hours after Thanksgiving dinner. Let's face it, we have the classics... Nat King Cole, dare I say Elvis, among many... Then, we have the new stuff that is either a blatant regurgitation of Christmas past, or if it is even somewhat original is so cheesy that emo kids can't even help but to stop crying and go hug their parents in sheer love and affection for the season. Barf.

So where does this leave us? The classic music is obviously dated, and there's hardly ever anything new that's worth listening to. And so... We have to make a conscious decision; "Do I just give in this year?" Well, my friends, this year I have. You'll catch me singing along emphatically with Blue Christmas. Thanks Elvis! I've never had more fun faking a seisure and pretending to cough out a melody.

All of the new stuff's not bad though. Several non-mainstream Alternative acts have put out some pretty awesome christmas music in the past few years. It just takes some looking to weed through the mess.

So happy hunting..
And all the best to you and yours.

-Mark/TMS

The "First" Post

These things are always awkward aren't they? I have the feeling that we (we, ha! that feels weird) all have big plans for the things that we're going to write about; Everything from the subject matter, to the way that we (there it is again) are going to address our potential audience. "Do I need to write in the form of essay (Stick to topic. Don't use I, you, or me. Watch those margins)?"..."Do I talk to people as if they were sitting right in front of me?" I think that's usually the best way to go for this sort of thing. That was actually the inspiration for this in the first place. You see, I would find myself hoplessly rambling to friends and coworkers, mostly to coworkers, on everything music related.... from what I like, to my distaste of things that everyone else likes. I would share my angst with things like the ridiculous premise for a song...Getting hugs from lightening bugs and things of the like, more on that in a later post. Do I think the people that disagree with my musical tastes are wrong? Of course not. I feel like, though, I have a pretty good grasp of "I call's 'em like I sees 'em" (insert quote reference here..some south brooklyn umpire somewhere, I dunno.) So that brings us to where we are.... Here. sipping this bourbon and Coke Zero(I got paid to plug "the Z" Sorry folks... Yay! for capitalism!).

I plan to write about the things that I like to hear and to share those things I like. I also intend to share what I don't like, which I realize is counter-productive because everytime I come up with a song or artist that I find to be a complete waste of radio airtime and internet bandwidth, It will instantly be searched and sought out. Which is fine. I'm not here to start a legion of followers that share my same ideals on what "good" music is. I'm here to write for people that are interested in what I have to say. I won't, however, let you be fooled into thinking that it's all for you. I need to get this stuff out for me too.

so,
as they say in France...
Here we go!