I was invited to check out a band called Subnautic a week or two back. They’re a mix of modern jazz (as far as I understand it anyway… think Isoptope 217, Tortoise, etc) with some ‘live IDM’ sort of twists. That’s not a great description, but yeah. They have a drummer (and he’s good!), stand-up bassist, and a piano/keyboards guy who uses some technical mumbo-jumbo that’s not that important (ok, he uses Ableton Live) to make intoxicating and entrancing tunes that build up and swell with occasional outburts of unbridled creativity. It was great fun. Worth checking out, for sure. They have a studio album as well, which I picked up at the show. It’s more thoroughly developed than their live versions with more subtlety and restraint. The live set is more improvisational, just as it should be in my perfect musical world. The show also incorporates a live digital painter providing real-time visual entertainment that more or less goes with the mood of the music.
November, 2004
16
Nov 04
It’s the Cities, Stupid
An interesting article that breaks down the red state/blue state concept we’re all so familiar with into red county/blue county terms. If you’re too short on time to read, it turns out that most blue states are actually predominantly red when viewed by county. Likewise, most red states have some large blue sections. The blue sections turn out to be mostly the major cities. The author then argues that the Democrats need to focus more on ‘urban issues’. It’s worth reading even if you don’t agree with all of the points made. I think there’s some real wisdom in there.
Oh, and by the way, I’m really sick of all these “It’s the [Blank], Stupid” slogans and titles. It wasn’t that funny or insightful the first time.
12
Nov 04
Random Rab
A friend of friends from Ashland, Oregon named Random Rab was playing nearby last week so I grabbed a buddy and headed out on a Thursday night. The crowd was a bit small, but enthusiastic and the place had a good vibe overall. Rab went on at about midnight starting out with a sort of hip-hop techno song with his own vocals in parts. It was a lot of fun and set things off well. He continued through a set varying from the hip-hop style to breakbeat, techno house, and maybe even a touch of trance at times. The songs varied quite a bit in tempo, but the basic sets of sounds and structures were similar. He did a good job of building energy throughout a song by layering different complementary parts and the dancing crowd seemed to have a good time all around. Overall, Random Rab plays a good energetic live set and is worth checking out if he’s playing in your area. He has a full length cd available as well.
4
Nov 04
Start Your Conspiracy Engines!
Liberal intellectual types have begun the hunt for the conspiracy that resulted in Kerry losing to the silly little man we call Bush. I enjoy entertaining these notions that the system is corrupt and Americans as a whole don’t really prefer morals to facts just as much as the next guy, but what’s it really going to change even if it is true? Idealists of today do not push changes through the system. You have to be a realist or a pragmatist or whatever you want to call it. The American world is governed by fear and greed, plain and simple. Reason does not generally come into it. It’s easy to sit here and talk about past events in this abstract nature without proposing any sort of action, and that’s just what I’m going to do. I’m not the guy you should be looking to for suggestions of action, anyway.
