Disaster Area

Transposing Songs

For anyone out there who plays music in a church setting, it's often necessary to play a song in a different key than it's recorded in. For those of us without an extensive musical background and perfect pitch, it can be very tough to figure things out. There are some tools out there that will transpose mp3 files, but here's a new version of the very affordable Transposer. It can change tempo and pitch independently of each other. Slow a song down, but keep the pitch intact to learn a solo, or find just the right key for your band... There's even a free trial version you can download.

Free Music - Get It Now

While driving around England last November, there was a song being played regularly by a new artist from Ireland Wales (thanks to Dennis for the correction) by the name of Duffy. She didn't have an album out then (and still doesn't in the US until May). The track they played back then was Rockferry - the title of her debut album. It was moody and stood out quite a bit from the other stuff normally played on Radio 1. She's been described as a bit like a modern day Dusty Springfield... which I can see, sort of - and which is explained a bit by the influence of Ready, Steady, Go! (see below).

Anyway, the next single, Mercy, is the free single on iTunes this week (until next Tuesday when it all changes. You can also see the video on Youtube. Go check it out.

More from Wikipedia:

Raised in Nefyn on the Llŷn Peninsula with her twin sister, Katy, her parents divorced when she was 10, and she moved to Pembrokeshire with her mother and sisters, while her father remained in Nefyn. Her early interest in singing was apparently inspired by her father John Duffy's videotape of the 1960s television rock show Ready Steady Go!.

Duffy returned to Nefyn when she was 15, and started singing in various local bands. After being involved in an unsuccessful music project in Switzerland, Duffy returned to Wales in 2003 and auditioned for Wawffactor, a Welsh alternative to Pop Idol on S4C where she was expected to win, but eventually came second to winner Lisa Pedrig.

Top 10 Musical Influences #1 – Sarah McLachlan

It’s been over a year since I posted the last installment of my “Top Ten Musical Influences” posts, leaving the end hanging. The list has probably grown since then, but the artist at number one in my list is Sarah McLachlan. I had heard of her, but never heard her music much until a friend introduced me to her music in August 1998. By that time her seminal album, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy had been out for four years and Surfacing had been out for a little while. Sarah had also put together the first couple of years of the Lilith Fair festival tour at that point.

The friend loaned me a copy of the Canadian version of Sarah’s Possession single CD. It had two versions of the song on it – the standard album version and a souped-up hard rock version. They’re both good, but the rocked up version impressed me most, as I didn’t know any solo female artist who had produced something that aggressive. As I explored Fumbling and the back catalog of Sarah’s material, the first album, Touch, the second one, Solace and numerous single CDs, I was astounded at the depth and breadth of her songwriting and musical talent.

Musicians Retreat

I'm up at Camp Huston in the foothills of the Cascade mountains, attending a weekend getaway for Cursillo musicians here in the Diocese of Olympia. There are a couple of dozen of us, and it's been a fun time so far, and we only just got here last night. Camp Huston is the diocesan camp where we also hold our summer six day camp for high school youth, so this place seems like home.

Just off to a songwriting workshop now...

Way back

On a lighter note, last Saturday my wife and I went with friends to the Tractor Tavern in Ballard (north Seattle) to see The Waybacks play. Their drummer, Chuck Hamilton, is a friend of mine, which is how I even learned the band exists. They are a phenomenal band, virtuosos all, who are also just plain fun to watch. Their style is, well, some might say bluegrass, some newgrass, but let Scott Nygaard of Acoustic Guitar magazine describe them:

Possessed of dazzling instrumental chops and an absolute mastery of acoustic musical styles, The Waybacks are an eclectic acoustic quintet, steeped in a wide array of Americana idioms. Whether mesmerizing audiences at intimate venues or creating a sensation at major festivals, the band has brought its onstage alchemy to enthusiastic fans far and wide.

Eclectic in both their influences and approach, The Waybacks embrace multiple genres and put their unique stamp on the lot, rendering them all with turn-on-a-dime precision and characteristic charm, wit, and virtuosity. In so doing, they transcend genre altogether, conjuring up musical landscapes that defy boundaries but always find their center at the crossroads of fun and fascination.

Their most recent album is From The Pasture To The Future, but I am also really partial to their live album from 2003 Way Live. The hidden track on the end features the Green Acres TV show theme set to Purple Haze, which might give you a hint this is musical insanity at its best. There's also their debut, Devolver and the interestingly titled Burger After Church...

Mmmmmmm, burger...

Why I'm Not a Rabid U2 Fan

There's an interesting syndicated article out today that was published in the Seattle Times (as well as most other major newspapers, I presume). It details the fairly vast business empire of U2 and its members, and highlights a few of the dangers of being very, very rich and very, very famous, especially when it comes to credibility in the charity spokesperson arena.

Would any of us be any better? Maybe not, but  Bono's stance on finances comes across very much as a "Do as I say, not as I do", which is pretty much the mantra of just about any politician you can name, especially the sleaziest.

Some choice quotes:

"U2 were never dumb in business," Bono says in "Bono on Bono." "We don't sit around thinking about world peace all day."

"It's actually, I think, more honest to say we're rock stars, we're havin' it large, we're havin' a great time and don't focus on charity too much — that's private; justice is public," he told the Dublin-based Sunday Independent newspaper in June 2005.

Hmmm. Inspirational, no?

Top 10 Musical Influences #2 – Jars of Clay

I first stumbled across Jars of Clay about the time their second album, Much Afraid, came out, i.e. around 1997. As I was only paying sporadic attention to the Christian music scene and never listened to radio, I really didn't have much of a clue who they were. However, there must have been some buzz about them because I did actually buy that second album.

For whatever reason, though, I didn't listen to it much and never really paid much attention. It wasn't until about 2000 that I picked up on them again when a friend played a song from their third album, If I Left the Zoo, released at the and of 1999. That song, Grace, really captivated me, and it made me search around for more of their material. I remembered that I had that other CD so I tracked it down. And how amazing it was. How did I not pick up on this the first time around?

And the winner is...

Whoever googled "barclay james harvest featuring les holroyd" from Google UK.

You go, person #25,000!!!

And the ironic thing is, the googled text was in a comment from "Martin" and wasn't written by me at all.

Well, ironic in a certain Alanis Morrissette Ironic way. Which is to say not very ironic at all really - like rain on your wedding day (which just sucks, it's not at all ironic, unless you were the bride, who just happened to also be a TV or Radio weatherperson who had predicted sunny blue skies on your wedding day, around which you had planned an elaborate outdoor wedding and reception without any backup plan in case of rain, but then, oh too bad, it rained and everybody got soaked, and the cake was left out in the rain, and OH MY GOD! I just realized Alanis Morrissette ripped off the whole song from Macarthur Park, which is also incomprehensible, pathetic, insane and sucks).

Now that would be ironic. But not otherwise. See what I'm getting at?

Top 10 Musical Influences #3 – U2

This is hardly the most obscure choice in my list, but it’s not one I can leave out. I wasn’t one of the real early U2 fans, and just for once, I can’t even place where I first heard the band, or who introduced me to their music. I do know that it was the album Under a Blood Red Sky that I first heard. It must have been while I lived in Montreal, so I possibly owe the discovery to a fellow youth worker or something like that. The live versions of those songs are a little more listenable and accessible than the studio recordings, which I think have a somewhat sterile feel to them.

As I’ve mentioned before (I think) I wasn’t a fan of early punk, and with plenty of 70’s progressive rock, who needed it? The aftermath of the first Sex Pistols wave of punk in the  UK did lead to a creative melodic post-punk era that spawned the likes of U2, but also bands like Simple Minds and Bird of Prey Person Does Housework With the Lights Off, er, sorry, I mean Or Kestrel Man Hoovers In The Dark.

Obviously, though, U2 had the most stamina and starpower of any of those bands. Is it coincidental that they were a message band, with lyrical content that went beyond the trivially romantic? (However, U2 has never produced a love song as haunting and beautiful as If You Leave by the aforementioned OMD, forever immortalized in the brat pack movie Pretty In Pink.) But I digress.

As I had never previously heard of rock music with Christian content (extremely rare for the UK at the time) tracks like Gloria, I Will Follow and 40 were pretty much dynamite. Sunday Bloody Sunday was a little different too.

The real cementing of U2 in my own influences, though, were the subsequent releases, Unforgettable Fire, Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby (skipping over the uneven Rattle and Hum), which followed an arc of increasing musical sophistication. Unforgettable Fire featured the anthemic Pride (In the Name of Love) which probably did more to raise the profile of MLK outside the US than anything else. More than anything, though, Unforgettable Fire laid the groundwork for the blockbuster that followed it - Joshua Tree. How about an album that starts with Where the Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and With or Without You? My favorite track of the remainder is In God’s Country, as much for the Edge’s guitar work as anything else.

Skipping ahead to Achtung Baby, the first time I heard it, I immediately fell in love with Mysterious Ways. The bass line, guitar and the equating of God with She through the “moves in mysterious ways” just seemed subtle and clever when so much of its musical contemporaries were neither.

I lost track of U2 though the 90’s, partly because of moving and other things taking priority in my life and a relative lack of quantity and quality from the band. Zooropa and Pop were real disappointments, and despite hints here and there, it sure seemed like they had opted for rock star excess. It was only the urging of a friend that got me to listen to All That You Can’t Leave Behind, and even then it took a lot of listening to get past Beautiful Day and Elevation (I still don’t like Stuck in a Moment, and it really screws up my enjoyment of that album.)

Even today, the canonization of Bono continues apace and it just rubs me the wrong way for a reason I can’t quite put my finger on. Also, last year's U2 concert was OK, but not exactly the religious experience many find them to be.

Nevertheless, U2 have been one of the biggest musical influences of my life and obviously millions of others.

Previous Items:
#4 Dire Straits
#5 Queen
#6 Roxy Music
#7 Barclay James Harvest
#8 Yes & ELP
#9 Pink Floyd
#10 Wishbone Ash
#11 Glenn Miller

In the Christmas Mood

For the three people in the world who haven't seen it yet, here's your chance to see the amazing Christmas light show from last year put up by a guy in Ohio using the Light-O-Rama controller.

Of course, it's now so mainstream that Miller Lite (Lite, geddit?) is using it in their Christmas ads.