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9 y/o -

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12 y/o –

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11 y/o –

So after a long hiatus of not going to see huge concerts, I made it back to Nissan Pavillion on Sunday to see the No Doubt / Paramore concert. Traffic was atrocious both into and out of the concert. 30 minute ride turned into 1 1/2 hours making us miss the first 15 minutes of paramore’s set.

Leaving was even worse. We just sat in the parking lot for 2 freakin’ hours waiting to get out. Evan, that lucky bastard, made it out in no time at all.

The concert itself was quite excellent, I enjoyed myself thoroughly! No doubt definitely did their thing, playing I think ALL of their singles. I whipped out my iPhone for a couple well known songs. Doesn’t sound TOO horrible considering it was my iPhone in my pocket from a million miles away.
Speaking of being far away, it was really disorienting watching the drummer. Because we were seated so far away, it took a second for the sound to actually reach us. So i was watching him hit the snare and then hearing the actual hit a beat or two later. It was really really disorienting. Then the light show, which was synced up to the hits, was out of sync to us… I never thought about that happening before because I haven’t been to such a big show in such a long time (last one was Foo Fighters / Chili Peppers in 2000). And last time I was at Nissan i was definitely seated closer.
Anyway, I took a couple of bootleg recordings and here they are for your enjoyment!

Crush Crush Crush – Paramore

Don’t Speak – No Doubt

So rare to see such amazing harmonies live on a bootleg like this.

Well this is without a doubt awesome. No, it’s not some light show timed to the theme song, the tesla coils are actually producing the music. Pretty amazing!

These guys took news clips and autotuned the voice tracks. You can remove notes in auto-tune, adn what they did was only let the notes that would work with the chord through, and then sliced up the audio so the rhythm would fit. Katie Couric’s spot is pretty darn amazing. And it’s so awesome when they harmonize over them! I love it because it pokes fun at Kanye West and all them, but also because it’s creative and hilarious. Definitely watch @ 1:22.

Also, does that glasses guy’s head seem too big for his body? He’s like a bobble-head.

Welp, wrapped up the mixes and recording I’ve been doing with Steve’s band Elementary. I’m sharing a couple of personal favorites from the batch we recorded. I’m pretty pleased with the way they came out. If I ever work with the band again, I think I’d like to spend more time on guitar work, get some more varying and complementary tones. 

As it is, they have this retro vibe going for them anyway, so like i said, the project came out well. Especially since they’re just using them as demos (I think they could definitely sell them).

Anyway, here are the songs, enjoy!

X-Ray Kids – Elementary

Cold Comfort – Elementary

“We’ll rent a comedy, rewind the best parts and we’ll memorize the lines
I’ll call everyone and they can come over if it keeps things off your mind”

I’m teaching it to my guitar class currently. I really like it, enjoy:

Anyway, I was talking to somebody about how if a song has really catchy / good (subjective) music but crappy lyrics, it can still be a mega-hit. People seem to care less about the actual lyrics of a song so long as the tune scratches that itch we have in our brain to hear catchy melodies.

Here is my example for today. This song is only in circulation in Japan, but it illustrates my point perfectly. I personally think it’s stupid catchy (that’s a good thing kiddies), but the lyrics are decidedly lacking. I hate forced rhymes… meaning, rhyming two lines without any coherent thought being conveyed. Take this line for example: 

“Still I end up in a mess, 

Every time I second guess”

Yeah, you can argue that it’s a complete thought, but the way it’s written isn’t natural. It’s forced. A more natrual to say it would be “I always end up in a mess everytime I second guess myself.” Right? But once again, I am not the strongest lyricist, so what do I know? Enjoy the song, ’cause it’s catchy!

I tried to find an example of a song with excellent lyrics but questionable music, but couldn’t think of any. It’s either because I dont listen to lyrics very much, or that I’m right in saying that great music can save a song with crappy lyrics, but the best lyrics in the world can’t save a song that is lacking musically.