A female drummer with no skills whatsoever except excellent timekeeping and a rudimentary ability to sing. Please respond.
adam
Sunday, June 29
Saturday, June 28
I'm back from the first week of SISPEC. It is surprisingly a very good place. I guess that's partly because I'm in Echo company, said to be the slackest in sispec, but hey. The PT doesn't vary much, only the treatment does - and as far as I've seen the trainees are treated with much, much more respect than the recruits in BMT. I might actually enjoy myself here. I'm actually enjoying all the PT, even if it pushes me to the max - like running 4k in vest slacks at an INSANE speed because my sec-com is some charlie bravo fit guardsman. I guess it's because they don't yell at you during PT, and I know I'm pushing myself and nobody else is.
Other than PT, sispec is mostly lectures and later outfield. The lectures are stultifying. They are perverse. We've spent the first week doing mostly safety procedures and my god is that dull. I understand now why my sergeants always complained that they sai kang a lot - this is why : Safety forms. Safety procedures. Oh well - I guess the admin shitstorm is coming my way too.
More updates to come.
Also, I'm looking for people to form a rock band and I need a bassist, singer, drummer and another guitarist if possible. I'd like to try out some punk/alternative/indie stuff and I guess I've never played anything other than jazz in a real band.
adam
Other than PT, sispec is mostly lectures and later outfield. The lectures are stultifying. They are perverse. We've spent the first week doing mostly safety procedures and my god is that dull. I understand now why my sergeants always complained that they sai kang a lot - this is why : Safety forms. Safety procedures. Oh well - I guess the admin shitstorm is coming my way too.
More updates to come.
Also, I'm looking for people to form a rock band and I need a bassist, singer, drummer and another guitarist if possible. I'd like to try out some punk/alternative/indie stuff and I guess I've never played anything other than jazz in a real band.
adam
Sunday, June 22
SPNS leg two.
I thought it was just a really horrible, senseless way to get knocked out. We were doing Very Well, in fact - 2nd placing in the qualifying round and then we got whacked by the Red Shadows during the quarters. Not to disparage their skills at all - they eventually made 2nd place and are a very solid team indeed - but it was a silly way to lose. We didn't make any tactical errors, we just got shot out plain and simple from behind covers. I know xun's beating himself up that he didn't get behind his dorito properly, but I think it isn't that simple to put the blame on him. I don't think we got complacent - not on such an important match. I just think in that match we were outplayed when our shooting wasn't taking a good turn. Mistakes were made despite the best of intentions, as happens inevitably to novices. And that is a shitty way to lose.
adam
adam
Friday, June 13
The Pixies!
So true to my foray into the deep, mysterious and self-esteem-plagued world of punk, alternative and indie rock, I've discovered the Pixies. At first I didn't like them at all - I believe my first reaction was that they were playing the same four rather nauseating chords over again and pretending to be Mogwai - which Isn't Totally Fair because i was more accurately suffering from stomach flu and had Nirvana playing at the same time on itunes.
Their sound really grows on you though. You can tell how a generation of hippie environmentalist/political activist (I'm starin' at YOU, Bono) took to this music and made it their own somehow. Yet, there will never again be the Pixies. They are bizarre, never afraid to sound like pop music but always intelligent and always slightly off-the-wall (check out the screaming on Caribou - bet that made you jump.)
Also, Kurt Cobain apparently worshipped this band which is an interesting point to note because I like Nirvana so much and suddenly I see where Nirvana's pop roots and Kurt cobain's love of screaming came from.
Also also, I think the one possible flaw with The Pixies' approach is that fans spend FAR too much time staring at Kim Deal with their mouths slightly open. Not kidding you, I actually missed most of the 'Caribou' clip on youtube doing just that. Beware.
adam
Their sound really grows on you though. You can tell how a generation of hippie environmentalist/political activist (I'm starin' at YOU, Bono) took to this music and made it their own somehow. Yet, there will never again be the Pixies. They are bizarre, never afraid to sound like pop music but always intelligent and always slightly off-the-wall (check out the screaming on Caribou - bet that made you jump.)
Also, Kurt Cobain apparently worshipped this band which is an interesting point to note because I like Nirvana so much and suddenly I see where Nirvana's pop roots and Kurt cobain's love of screaming came from.
Also also, I think the one possible flaw with The Pixies' approach is that fans spend FAR too much time staring at Kim Deal with their mouths slightly open. Not kidding you, I actually missed most of the 'Caribou' clip on youtube doing just that. Beware.
adam
Thursday, June 12
Aguas de Marco/ Waters of March
To continue last week's topic of what bossa nova should have been, another brilliant case in point: Stan Getz's recording of 'Aguas de Marco'. This one came off the 'perhaps perhaps perhaps' compilation (an album which I fully expected to be full of disgusting sleaze and which was in fact probably full of disgusting sleaze except for a couple of gems - it had Mack the Knife too) so I'm entirely unsure of the personnel except that Stan Getz is on the tenor.
The arrangement on this track certainly deserves the most praise: again the disgusting double-kick-pedal drum beat is avoided, a beat that has become the unfortunate cliche of bossa nova after its inception. Instead a variety of hand drums, cowbells and shakers are substituted for brilliant effect: bossa nova done this way sounds far more ethnic (as opposed to slutty).
The lyrics are sung first in portugese, then in english; the guitarist here deserves much praise as well for showing unparalleled mastery over the bossa nova beat - while never departing from the basic beat he manages a palette of textures just by varying minutiae like the duration of every chord or a subtle change in voicing. Take note of the different texture during the portugese verse (upbeat, sprightly) as compared to the english verse (laid-back, wistful)
Of course none of this analysis would count for anything if not for the bedrock of any music: solid, beautiful songwriting. This one's another Jobim masterpiece, more impressionistic than Ipanema; the descending progression and the rapid fire images suggest a rural, tropical life. Jobim's lyrics are wistful or even sad as they describe the details of a simple life: 'A knot in the wood, the song of a thrush' 'A scratch, a lump/It is nothing at all'.
The singer's voice seems to reflect sadness but it seems in the scheme of things (as painted by Jobim) the sadness is part of some cosmic cycle : she sings 'And the riverbank talks of the waters of march/It's the promise of life/It's the joy in your heart.'
When Getz comes in with his solo it seems all things must be right with the world again: no need for smashing cymbals and exploding snare drums: the drummer simply ramps it up to quavers on the ride cymbal, the band changes key and that is enough intensity for Getz as he embarks on his solo. Getz's tenor sounds pensive; romantic yet restrained and is the perfect foil for the singers. This solo's longer than the one on Ipanema and develops a lot more: his motivic playing is evident around 3.14 where he riffs off a 5 note arpeggiated motif (4 notes descending, one ascending) providing an interesting tension which contrasts plenty with the expressive, drawn out high notes previously played. It strikes me as particularly appropriate for the bossa nova mood because it reflects the same complex, yet restrained beauty. The end of his solo mirrors its beginning: while he starts with a 3 note descending arpeggio, his solo ends with a set of ascending 3-note arpeggios. The inversion is not lost on the listener; it feels complete and perfect.
adam
The arrangement on this track certainly deserves the most praise: again the disgusting double-kick-pedal drum beat is avoided, a beat that has become the unfortunate cliche of bossa nova after its inception. Instead a variety of hand drums, cowbells and shakers are substituted for brilliant effect: bossa nova done this way sounds far more ethnic (as opposed to slutty).
The lyrics are sung first in portugese, then in english; the guitarist here deserves much praise as well for showing unparalleled mastery over the bossa nova beat - while never departing from the basic beat he manages a palette of textures just by varying minutiae like the duration of every chord or a subtle change in voicing. Take note of the different texture during the portugese verse (upbeat, sprightly) as compared to the english verse (laid-back, wistful)
Of course none of this analysis would count for anything if not for the bedrock of any music: solid, beautiful songwriting. This one's another Jobim masterpiece, more impressionistic than Ipanema; the descending progression and the rapid fire images suggest a rural, tropical life. Jobim's lyrics are wistful or even sad as they describe the details of a simple life: 'A knot in the wood, the song of a thrush' 'A scratch, a lump/It is nothing at all'.
The singer's voice seems to reflect sadness but it seems in the scheme of things (as painted by Jobim) the sadness is part of some cosmic cycle : she sings 'And the riverbank talks of the waters of march/It's the promise of life/It's the joy in your heart.'
When Getz comes in with his solo it seems all things must be right with the world again: no need for smashing cymbals and exploding snare drums: the drummer simply ramps it up to quavers on the ride cymbal, the band changes key and that is enough intensity for Getz as he embarks on his solo. Getz's tenor sounds pensive; romantic yet restrained and is the perfect foil for the singers. This solo's longer than the one on Ipanema and develops a lot more: his motivic playing is evident around 3.14 where he riffs off a 5 note arpeggiated motif (4 notes descending, one ascending) providing an interesting tension which contrasts plenty with the expressive, drawn out high notes previously played. It strikes me as particularly appropriate for the bossa nova mood because it reflects the same complex, yet restrained beauty. The end of his solo mirrors its beginning: while he starts with a 3 note descending arpeggio, his solo ends with a set of ascending 3-note arpeggios. The inversion is not lost on the listener; it feels complete and perfect.
adam
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
