The Soundcase Debut Thing

Rather excited today. I have my first Soundcase workshop to deliver.

Today I will be taking my 'Soundcase' (which is a battered suitcase full of various objects which may make noise) my mikes, a few instruments and a laptop, and creating from scratch a soundtrack.

My clients will be individuals with intellectual handicaps. This means that rock'n'roll is turning another corner folks!

i m so pleased and proud to be able to do something like this. Going forward, I'll be taking 'Soundcase' to schools, and to other similar venues. I aim to set up a page in which the creations and compositions can be heard.

So Listen this Space. . . .

Let's Hear it For Satan!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBecM3CQVD8

So it’s back to the question about music. 

What is it about music that allows certain people to feel entitled to attack those who participate?

The recent atrocity in Manchester serves again, to illustrate that there is something about music that just upsets certain kinds of mentality. And that mentality is a sick one.

The notion being, that to enjoy music is a blasphemy of some kind. 

To be young and enjoy music is proof that you are being brainwashed by Satan.

But to be young, female and enjoy music means that you are offensive to the one who created the universe.

So to put it in perspective, the one who made the universe made it possible to make music, created music, and provided us with the ability to play, move and listen to music. 

But only certain types of music?

Because if you listen to the wrong type, then clearly, it proves that you are Satan’s slave, and someone who appears to have a hotline to the Creator of the universe, might take it upon themselves to blow you to pieces.

The irony being, they do Satan's work, in the name of someone else.

Is Rock'n'Roll Suicide?

The recent suicide of Chris Cornell was an unpleasant jolt to the system. One can only imagine how his relatives and wife must be feeling. Fifty-two is too young to die.  

His wife has publically blamed the legally prescribed drugs he was taking. The medication. It was more than that. A potent cocktail of medication and psychosis may  have contributed to convince him that ending his life was the most meaningful way he could underpin any meaning he ascribed to his life and his art.

Recently, Tom Larkin of Shihad  pointed out that musicians tend to die on average at the age of fifty-seven.

A mixture of factors contributing to this; from alternative life-style choices the lack of ‘meaningful’ employment they appear to get, want, or need, and of course, temperament.

So what is up with these people? Are they musicians because they are misfits, or are they misfits because they are musicians?

Yes to both.

The generality tolerates musicians with bemused condescension, and the musician tends to return the favour. Which is kind of strange isn’t it? What is it about the latent power of music to turn people’s heads that encourages some to view musicians as some kind of oddity?

And what is it about musicians that causes them to feel isolated, alienated or else-wise, causes them to appear to relish being seen as isolated or alienated?

Is their impulse to create music a symptom of some kind of inner malaise or does the fact that they make music cause people to look at them as if there is something wrong with them?

Do musicians die younger, in general, than others who appear to have opted for a mainstream kind of life? 

And if so, why?

Written with deepest sympathy to his family.

Is Facebook Killing Music?

It sounds counterintuitive doesn't it - I mean any cursory glance of Facebook will reveal a rich harvest  of links, postings and interesting stories about music.

And cats, and kids falling from trampolines, and what we did on our holidays, and a photo of our kid's latest school project, and pictures of people who have nothing better to do than take selfies, and articles about elections, and 'hit likes' for special interest groups, and pictures of vegetables that look slightly erotic (ok, I made the last one up) but you get my drift.

Because the clue was in the term 'cursory glance'.

My points that we may feel that Facebook is a great way to 'reach people' but that is all it does. In the same way a fallen mountaineer might 'reach' people as they continue to make their clime to this summit, or get the heck off the mountain because there's a storm coming. No one stops, puts out a hand and spends a moment with the said fallen dude. Everyday life is too precise for that.

So what Facebook conditions us to do rather, is to scan rapidly, share the odd link that we feel 'says something' about us, make the odd crack and then get on towards the peak or towards basecamp.

In the olden days. (i.e. the eighties) I heard a statistic.  It indicated that in general an album was listened to on average one and half times before it was returned to the sleeve, never to be heard again. And that was in the days when listening to a record was a physical act; you had to commit to putting a record not the turntable.

Nowadays (as has been remarked to me) you can 'discover' an artist who is now retired, download the twelve albums he made over his career in less than a minute, listen to about fifteen seconds of his or her output and never give it a second thought.

So, if you are working in a medium which requires anyone with the greater attention-span of a goldfish to 'appreciate' it, maybe Facebook isn't the way to do it...

Just saying' ....

Just Like and Share... It's not Rocket Surgery...

It's New Zealand music month. I'm kinda torn about this. I can't help but feel that 'music' as I loved it, is 'dead'. The Music Month is like a funeral procession for a dead industry. You know, people trying sooo hard to be relevant, or the 'next thing', when deep inside, we all know that the world is totally over musicians.

Above: An Old Musician, Yesterday. (photo: Ahmet Our, Megapixelstock, with thanks)

Don't get me wrong, the world wants music, but they only appear to want it pre-digested like baby-food, spoon fed by photogenic robots who are considered 'celebrities', for some odd reason.

I went into a protracted rant (now deleted) but instead, have decided to just cut to the chase. If you like music. You know actually like music. Will you do something for me and any other musician who sends you their stuff?

Just Listen to it for just a minute, and  (Now pay attention): whether you like what you hear or don't; 'Like' and 'Share' the link with one other person?

Just Like and Share. It's not rocket Surgery....

https://www.facebook.com/RadioNZMusic/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf

Why? because home-music is under attack from the processed-pap industry just like the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker has been driven out of business by supermarkets.

If each person were to frequent a local shop once a week, it would mean that said local shop might be able to stay in business. If each person were to share home-made music once, it might make a small difference to the next generation of musician.

The Proteus EP

https://clark2.bandcamp.com/album/clark-the-proteus-ep

The Proteus EP is an offshoot of the ‘Dead Trees’ Album released in 2016.

The EP consists of three songs from the album: The title track, ‘Proteus’ ‘Honeymoon Pt. 1’ and “Sweetheart’ .

The title track is a metaphorical description of doomed love, using the life of John Merrick (The ‘Elephant Man’) as a first person describer of his own sad fate.

In it, Merrick describes his feelings for a young widow he met, who treated him civilly. So unused to this was Merrick, that he broke down in tears.

Later he wrote her a letter which still exists, signing it ‘Yours Truly’. 

Merrick’s tragically short life (One of the ‘27’ club) was marred by terrible episodes, but also encouraged by great generosity. 

In the song, I write ‘On the stuff of humanity, I could never rely.’ 

Perhaps he may have felt that way, on some occasions. He certainly endured some cruel ad unjust treatment’ during his tragically limited time on earth.

Newsflash: Vanity Dog to 'make' a record!

The recent discussion about whether vinyl is 'better' has a strange synchronicity about it, as Vanity Dog have been discussing 'making a record' for ages.  Recently I read that Jack White of the White Stripes has reopened a record pressing plant in Detroit. to great acclaim. I have made an executive judgement that a band with Vanity Dog's fan-base of about three would be barking up the wrong tree by entering into negotiations with the Detroit Plant.

However, the is an alternative, closer to home. You see, a couple of years ago, we discussed making a record and our research unearthed this gentleman.

http://peterkinglathecutrecords.co.nz/history.htm  Yes, Peter King literally 'makes' records. Based in Geraldine, which is in the South Island of Otago.

Talking about an upcoming Vanity Dog project, we decided it would be so very cool to have a vinyl pressing of one of our singles. and so we will put together an EP, and then commission Peter King to make it.

We have a couple of tracks already for this puppy: 'SIX'  &  'Candlestick Park'

https://vanitydog.bandcamp.com/track/six

https://vanitydog.bandcamp.com/track/candlestick-park

... and we will write two more cracking songs for it to make it one of our our traditional 'four-track' EP.

Is Vinyl Better than other Formats?

Redshark News.com has this article:

https://www.redsharknews.com/technology/item/4584-vinyl-isn-t-better-than-digital-but-that-doesn-t-stop-people-trying-and-failing-to-prove-that-it-is

My response was:

"I'm under no illusions that it it better, but I really enjoy taking record out of its sleeve, putting on the turntable and listening to it 'warts and all', The human ear is a very clever device, it can enjoy just about anything, I will say this though, modern recordings, autotuned, quantised and comprised actually cause me to experience stress when I listen to them. Can anyone tell me why?"

So I'm not out prove one is 'better' than the other, but I can tell you how some things make me feel...

and you know, I stumbled on something. I was wondering what it is about so much modern recording that  is affecting me on a neurological level?. I thought I was just getting - you know - 'older'. But when I think about it, modern recordings, with their souls sound-byte mentality, their inane often self-centred sentiments and the 'perfect' processed sounds, rhythms, and autotuned vocals do actually stress my brain.

So thanks to Redshark for awakening me tooth's fact. I'm going to my shed and I'm going to put The Who's 'Big, Meaty, Bouncy and Beaty' on the turntable and actually enjoy some music while I relax my tired brain...

An Album is for Life. . .

Talking with my good buddy Andrew he told me that modern artists don't even call their releases 'albums' any more; now they call them 'playlists'. When I put together a collection of songs and release them at the same time, I call it and 'album'. For me, an 'album' has a sort of integrity and a structure both melodically and in theme and narrative.

So anyway the family did something rather irresponsible last weekend. They left me on my own.

I suspect they thought they'd find me with the cats feeding off me when they returned but no! Within an hour I had the 'studio' set up in the living room near a warm fire, and some brandy and a track list of songs to demo for a new album.

I decided I'd do this album differently to the last one (which was a collection of songs already in existence).  For this Album I wanted to use new compositions and break them in from scratch.
So I managed to put out twelve demo versions of songs for the album. and as promised I'll include one here.

https://soundcloud.com/clarksongznz/2020-visions-1-mp3shiloh-tasterblog


The song I have put on here is just an acoustic guitar and vocal with a basic drum-track to keep count. It's called 'Elevator'.

Then I went to the beach and did a 'video' but the android knocked the sound and vision out of sync, so I'll have another go at that this week.

Do We Dream Music?

I'd say yes. Some people compose music and claim thy have no idea where th music came from. They see themselves more as receptors of sounds that just happen to be in the atmosphere - they are just attuned to these sounds and they pick up on them.

Obviously for copyright purposes, we 'claim' these magical visitations as our own. I mean, a man's gotta eat, after all.

I have often dreamed songs and then melody has been in my head when I awake, and I've scrabbled around for a pen or a tape-recorder (yes, I am that old school) before I lost the vibe. Sometimes I get it down, sometimes I don't Here's one that just 'came to me' in a dream:

https://clark2.bandcamp.com/track/so-disappear


and here's a picture of the kids. I was going for 'surreal' but actually couldn't be bothered to get all involved about it:

So it's a bit surreal, but actually not. Come to think of it I'm not sure if I dreamed it either....