Sunday, July 22, 2012
Dead Site
I never use this thing anymore. If you want to keep up with me better follow my tumblr or twitter.
http://www.callmeblake.tumblr.com
Monday, August 16, 2010
I got the new eddplant ep!
On August 7th, 2010 My friend @mickeleh went to the UK for SitC. While there he was kind enough to pick me up a copy of eddplant’s ‘none of these songs are about you, but some of them might apply’ EP.
He passed it off to @adamthealien to give it to me a the Seattle gathering on the 14th of August in Washington state, though I actually got to see them both.
When Adam handed it me I scanned it, said thank you, and put it in my stuff. Freaking out in the middle of the foodcourt with strangers did not seem like a good idea.
When I finally left that night, I was tired already and had a three hour drive. I didn’t put any music on until I was well out of Seattle traffic. (It’s a three hour drive from there to my house).
When I did, I didn’t turn on the dome light, it’s actually a really good thing I didn’t seriously look at it at the gathering, because I would have totally embarrassed myself talking with excitement and over gesticulation about the first track.
I LOVE ‘You Are (Not)* The Voice Inside My Head’. Been waiting for ages for it to appear again.
This live version had to suffice (at 3:11)
It’s a more acoustic, slower tempoed, less electronic version than the first one on myspace, or the live version in the link above, and you can HEAR HIM. But still has the same main structure of the song, and the lyrics I still really connect with and THEN SURPRISE HARMONIES! blew me away, especially with Tom (I think, sorry if that's someone else) taking the high part. I really wish I had the original to compare it to, instead of just my memory and the one live one on you tube. I listened to it five times in a row!(and yep, I cried, goddamn musicians making me cry.)
The I remembered Oh! Yeah, there are other songs on here, I wonder what they are?
Oh...All I Am?...wait, no, it's pretty oh, 0H 'Less Than This' (which he's played live, but I think it was on blog TV or something - I could be wrong). Starts of with a "simple" single note instrument and just Ed's voice then the chorus kicks into a punkish riff (to me) , and while I like the extra beats and the overall sound, it feels very...um, parallel. I'm not sure if it's because the background lyrics are just an echo and don't change with the melody until the very last line or what. Though it's a departure from the way the music in the verses is it just doesn't go anywhere for me. The verses just don't seem to mesh with the chorus:/ The lyrics are (as is always the case with Ed's songs), pertinent and empathetic inducing. It may grow on me. Right now the note variances in the last line are my favorite part, I wish he'd done that with the chorus. It almost like Tom and Ed were going opposite directions on a road and crashed. I wish I could explain it better. Instead of getting a solution, it's still a mixture.
O.K., really bad science reference that no cares about. Moving on.
'You're Not There' acoustic guitar, flat**(my mother said "It sounds like several people all clapping, but not together") handclaps, a shaker, and Ed singing with himself. (Which I have long adored, they used to do that in more songs.)
I liked this! Easy beat to get into, the syth/organ break is nice, and the acapella! It has that "live" feel without the annoying crowd screams of a "live song".
Listening tonight in the car on the way back from play rehearsal I stopped a song, got out but sang the refrain "this is the last song that I'll write about you" not realsing until it came out of my mouth how much 'Singing About Hating You'and 'Your Not There" sound alike (but yet entirely different) for that particular choice of melody and chords together. It made me smile.
Next track -
Ed and a piano, Yes! I only have one other eddplant piano song. (It has guitar too, don't worry - though it sounds like an intentional afterthought.) It took me a minute to realize I'd heard this, but faster, and with different instruments. His voice is so strong on this, until the very end. The lyrics in this one are wistful and filled with regret, but he doesn't whine them. It matched the song more for me to be slower and gentler. I played it several times in a row as well. Though since I couldn't see the cover in the dark car I called it 'Get You That Far'. Which is what I had called it (before being corrected) in this live video : Eddplant at Bury St Edmunds 2010 - at about 7:15 This version is on a a syth, with a "videogame" sound. I liked it, but I like the EP version better. (My favourite part of that song is how much he gets into it though.)This time the solution was a success. (the science reference again? GAWD)
So yeah, a bit rough around the edges, but hey they were recording until the wee hours of the morning before the gig. It really could have sounded like "a guy recording in the bedroom with his friend" (when you date band members, you hear some ROUGH ASS demos - background noise, people talking, the TV, the dog next door, several takes, cracked notes,...)but it doesn't, which is nice.
The fact that Tom asked me if I was doing this has made me second guess a lot of what I wanted to say, but I WAS doing it anyway. In the few reviews I have done I try to be as open,objective, and honest as I can.
Both Ed and Alex have said they appreciate my opinions. The fact that Tom has asked for this, and for one on explorers five, and liked what I said/ how I explained about explorers 3 to someone gave me a nice little ego boost. I sent him my thoughts on explorers 4, back when it was new too, can't remember if I posted them anywhere though.
* I swear the 'Not' was not in the title before, but I've been wrong before, and it's on the cover.
**flat as in not echoing off the walls, or lost in the mix as sometimes happens. It's a good thing.
I'd blog about the gathering, but to be honest - there isn't a whole lot to say. Half the gathering went off to shop (at a gathering?). I need structure, I spent most of the day not knowing what to do with my hands or my feet, or what to say. Even Mickeleh left early. We'll just watch it in 2013 when Adam puts the footage up on his channel. It'll be more fun that way. No awkward pauses. Six hours compressed into a ten minute video.
He passed it off to @adamthealien to give it to me a the Seattle gathering on the 14th of August in Washington state, though I actually got to see them both.
When Adam handed it me I scanned it, said thank you, and put it in my stuff. Freaking out in the middle of the foodcourt with strangers did not seem like a good idea.
When I finally left that night, I was tired already and had a three hour drive. I didn’t put any music on until I was well out of Seattle traffic. (It’s a three hour drive from there to my house).
When I did, I didn’t turn on the dome light, it’s actually a really good thing I didn’t seriously look at it at the gathering, because I would have totally embarrassed myself talking with excitement and over gesticulation about the first track.
I LOVE ‘You Are (Not)* The Voice Inside My Head’. Been waiting for ages for it to appear again.
This live version had to suffice (at 3:11)
It’s a more acoustic, slower tempoed, less electronic version than the first one on myspace, or the live version in the link above, and you can HEAR HIM. But still has the same main structure of the song, and the lyrics I still really connect with and THEN SURPRISE HARMONIES! blew me away, especially with Tom (I think, sorry if that's someone else) taking the high part. I really wish I had the original to compare it to, instead of just my memory and the one live one on you tube. I listened to it five times in a row!(and yep, I cried, goddamn musicians making me cry.)
The I remembered Oh! Yeah, there are other songs on here, I wonder what they are?
Oh...All I Am?...wait, no, it's pretty oh, 0H 'Less Than This' (which he's played live, but I think it was on blog TV or something - I could be wrong). Starts of with a "simple" single note instrument and just Ed's voice then the chorus kicks into a punkish riff (to me) , and while I like the extra beats and the overall sound, it feels very...um, parallel. I'm not sure if it's because the background lyrics are just an echo and don't change with the melody until the very last line or what. Though it's a departure from the way the music in the verses is it just doesn't go anywhere for me. The verses just don't seem to mesh with the chorus:/ The lyrics are (as is always the case with Ed's songs), pertinent and empathetic inducing. It may grow on me. Right now the note variances in the last line are my favorite part, I wish he'd done that with the chorus. It almost like Tom and Ed were going opposite directions on a road and crashed. I wish I could explain it better. Instead of getting a solution, it's still a mixture.
O.K., really bad science reference that no cares about. Moving on.
'You're Not There' acoustic guitar, flat**(my mother said "It sounds like several people all clapping, but not together") handclaps, a shaker, and Ed singing with himself. (Which I have long adored, they used to do that in more songs.)
I liked this! Easy beat to get into, the syth/organ break is nice, and the acapella! It has that "live" feel without the annoying crowd screams of a "live song".
Listening tonight in the car on the way back from play rehearsal I stopped a song, got out but sang the refrain "this is the last song that I'll write about you" not realsing until it came out of my mouth how much 'Singing About Hating You'and 'Your Not There" sound alike (but yet entirely different) for that particular choice of melody and chords together. It made me smile.
Next track -
Ed and a piano, Yes! I only have one other eddplant piano song. (It has guitar too, don't worry - though it sounds like an intentional afterthought.) It took me a minute to realize I'd heard this, but faster, and with different instruments. His voice is so strong on this, until the very end. The lyrics in this one are wistful and filled with regret, but he doesn't whine them. It matched the song more for me to be slower and gentler. I played it several times in a row as well. Though since I couldn't see the cover in the dark car I called it 'Get You That Far'. Which is what I had called it (before being corrected) in this live video : Eddplant at Bury St Edmunds 2010 - at about 7:15 This version is on a a syth, with a "videogame" sound. I liked it, but I like the EP version better. (My favourite part of that song is how much he gets into it though.)This time the solution was a success. (the science reference again? GAWD)
So yeah, a bit rough around the edges, but hey they were recording until the wee hours of the morning before the gig. It really could have sounded like "a guy recording in the bedroom with his friend" (when you date band members, you hear some ROUGH ASS demos - background noise, people talking, the TV, the dog next door, several takes, cracked notes,...)but it doesn't, which is nice.
The fact that Tom asked me if I was doing this has made me second guess a lot of what I wanted to say, but I WAS doing it anyway. In the few reviews I have done I try to be as open,objective, and honest as I can.
Both Ed and Alex have said they appreciate my opinions. The fact that Tom has asked for this, and for one on explorers five, and liked what I said/ how I explained about explorers 3 to someone gave me a nice little ego boost. I sent him my thoughts on explorers 4, back when it was new too, can't remember if I posted them anywhere though.
* I swear the 'Not' was not in the title before, but I've been wrong before, and it's on the cover.
**flat as in not echoing off the walls, or lost in the mix as sometimes happens. It's a good thing.
I'd blog about the gathering, but to be honest - there isn't a whole lot to say. Half the gathering went off to shop (at a gathering?). I need structure, I spent most of the day not knowing what to do with my hands or my feet, or what to say. Even Mickeleh left early. We'll just watch it in 2013 when Adam puts the footage up on his channel. It'll be more fun that way. No awkward pauses. Six hours compressed into a ten minute video.
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