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2009/10/12

HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND



I recently came across this CD, I played Bari Sax in the 2nd jazz band during high school. This is for my homies. Memories.

Naaman Forest High School 2nd Annual Evening of Jazz (Click to download)

NOTE: If you need any help downloading and playing this song I have added instructions under my Status Report at the right of the screen.

2009/10/11

WEATHER, CLOTHES, THE MONTH OF OCTOBER, AND MY NEW OBSESSION WITH PEDALS

It is cold again. Winter time is coming too soon. The trees will soon start to loose their leaves.. I be able to see the parking lot through the trees off our patio. I will be able to see people on the other side and people will be able to see me. I enjoy the privacy on my patio.. I love being able to open all my windows and not worry about people able to see in. Being on the third floor I have less of a chance of getting robbed also. Both of these are important qualities I look for in an apartment.

It makes me feel like we are living in our own house and I can turn up the music as loud as I want. Being used to keeping my music at a low volume because of my job, I forget how nice it is to turn up. Don't get me wrong, I like that I can listen to any music I want all day long in my own office, but it is just that I really forget how nice it is to listen to whatever you want as loud as you want. I even rearranged the furniture in my living area tonight and played music through the speakers of my surround sound in the living area while I did this to have a more enjoyable experience. Soon enough we will be living in our own house with our more than one bedrooms enjoying our privacy sooner than we think.

It also has been raining a lot lately as well as all night tonight and been an overall crummy day out today. All this rain lately makes me want to stay indoors. This is why I am not a big fan of the colder seasons and more of the warmer seasons. I can take sweating any day over not having a jacket and being without.

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It is time to purchase a new coat. Kristin tells me that one of the jackets I wear pretty often, is in need of being replaced. I know this, but I still keep wearing the jacket pretty occasionally because I like that jacket. I think the jacket represents me in a positive way. I would like to get some new shoes too though. I have gotten to the point where I just wear the same pair of shoes everyday to work. Bad idea. Only because it isn't good for your feet to do this. I am very much considering purchasing these Asics soon. As soon as my next paycheck is in, this will be my next large purchase after I pay the bills.

UPDATE: Purchased shoes and waiting for the them to arrive.

I have also started wearing solid color shirts from now on. At one time I bought a lot of graphic tees, but I am over that phase. When I wear solid colors it makes me feel good.. besides, I see the same people everyday and they don't give a shit what I wear.

(I go the the fridge to get a fresh new beer. A Shiner Commemorator. I think about I am low on these already even though I just stocked up on these to save one lucky bottle, after finding out that they will stop producing this anniversary beer at the end of the year.)

It is a good feeling to open a bottle and you don't have to use a bottle opener. That means your beer is local. You can open the beer without denting the beautiful cap that comes atop it. That's right, I collect bottle caps.. I don't keep them anywhere important (they are stored in a huge Cheeto's knock-off container above the water heater), but I have big plans for them. I also have big plans for all my records I purchase.. even though I do not have a working record player at the moment. I plan on building tiny shelves for all them display over the entire wall, as soon as I get an nicer, permanent place.

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So it is October and I have now worked at my job for two years now. It certainly doesn't feel like I have been working there that long. I remember when I first got this job, it was right before I visited Charles in Denton and he had a huge Halloween part at his house. Of course I dressed like Shaggy. Just put on a green shirt and brown corduroys. But there was another guy who dressed like Shaggy, but he had gone and purchased a Shaggy outfit from a costume store. He did not have the real Shaggy haircut, like I had at the time. Nor did he have goatee going on as well as I did. He was wearing a fake goatee from his costume supplies. Kristin does a good Velma.

Anyhow, recently I started working on a new passbook that they need done by the end of the month. I spend all Friday working on concepts, I showed some to Jason. He would says that they are hip, now and modern. But we both know that these are these concept ideas and that they will never make it to the printer. I am working with blue this year. I like this idea. I like how we have come to call each of our books the black book, white book and hopefully blue book.

So I am the lucky owner of a slightly used RV-3 pedal. This is a reverb pedal, but it also has channels of reverb and delay. It is the only time in the reverb series that they combined the two features on one pedal. I heard this pedal is totally worth it and is not a disappointment. I almost got pedal-happy there though.. I looked at pedals on Craigslist and found a FDR-1: Fender Deluxe Reverb pedal, which I heard is not so much a winner. I had tried to talk the guy down to $65 from $80, but no luck. And I pretty much lead the guy on until thinking about it for awhile and deciding that I could be using that $80 on something much more needed, like a RC2: Looping Station. If I can get this pedal for a great deal like I got my new RV-3 I am jumping at that deal too.

Xmas is also coming soon. This is time of year when end up spending more money. I like the idea that my parents had last year with, only one gift for each person. This works out well because not only are you saving money but you have thing think pretty hard to find that one thing you will get them. Also another good route is to have a Secret Santa with liquor store variety.

I have recently started trying a new Whiskey called Old Grand-Dad Whiskey. So far I like it well. Taste like whiskey and it is a little higher in proof than Jim Bean. One of the guys at the liquor store told me that it was the whiskey that Billy Bob Thorton drank in Bad Santa. He also said that most people don't like the bottle because of the label. I like the label and it was one of the things that caught by eye.. besides the fact that it was the same price for the same volume on a higher shelf with a higher proof. It has an orange label on it and has an old timey look to it. One Diet Old Grand Dad's tonight and one Shiner Commemorator. Kristin will be home soon and she got me enchiladas.

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I am inspired to write this personal rant because of Carey Mercer and his blog entry of his childhood on his blog 'Clouds of Evil'.

I am sure no one has heard of Carey Mercer before or of the band Frog Eyes and solo work under the moniker Blackout Beach. If you have heard of him, let me know. Anyways, I found his blog about half a year ago, through some indie blogs and being a new fan of his music.. but then all the sudden one day I checked and for some reason and it was marked as private and I could not read it.

Well tonight I decided to try his blog again and it wasn't private anymore, so I read some very interesting stories he had written. Besides being a genius at songwriting and playing, he is a very interesting writer as well. I read a story about how over a long period of time he became a musician. It begins with 'Why did I start playing music?' and goes into a long three part series of entries describing his childhood, teenage years and how him and the guitar have become great friends.

Click here to read the first entry of this life story of 'Clouds of Evil' entry entitled 'Selected Memoirs, Part 1: Origins, Kurt, Pork Chops, "The Blazer', Straight-Edge and the end of Striaght-Edge Emotional Music' here

Aa

2009/10/09

BROTHER SONG ONE

This song is titled 'The Colors'. I have decided to finally start working on an album of my collection of songs I have written over the last couple years. I thought it would be a good idea to upload each song as I download them, so when I am finished with recording all the songs I will upload the entire album. I want to rework them and possibly remaster them.. maybe even add extra tracks or percussive rhythm to them.

This song I wrote maybe a year or year and a half ago. I had just gotten a capo and tried different placement on my guitar til I found something I liked. This was one of the first songs that when I played for Kristin she liked.

Please any feedback about the recording would be great. I am not sure how these are coming out on your end.. sometimes I have to adjust my volume on my computer for it to sound correct.

Enjoy The Colors (Click to DL)

NOTE: If you need any help downloading and playing this song I have added instructions under my Status Report at the right of the screen.

INSTRUCTIONS TO DOWNLOADING MUSIC

These instructions are for anyone who would like to download my songs but needs a little help. I will explain in four easy steps what you need to do in order to download and play the songs (MP3s and ZIP files) I have uploaded.

Instructions if you downloaded a ZIP file from the sidebar:
Step One: Click on any of my releases on the sidebar under DL Full Releases.
Step Two: You will then be prompted with a box to save to your computer. Please select a location to download the file to. Some computers will automatically save to a downloads folder.. if you are not sure where the location of the file downloaded is, please check your browser preferences.
Step Four: Find the location of the file and now you will need to open the .zip file.. you will need a zip program to get to all the delightful gifts within. To do this, for PCs you can use Winzip and for Macs you can either use the default program or StuffIt Expander.

Instructions if you downloaded MP3s from another site:

Step One: On MediaFire or Multiupload you will click where is says to download, (ex. 'Click here to start download'). These sites occasionally have pop-ups, close them as they appear.
Step Two: You will then be prompted with a box to save to your computer. Please select a location to download the file to. Some computers will automatically save to a downloads folder.. if you are not sure where the location of the file downloaded is, please check your browser preferences.
Step Three: Once saved, go the the location of the file and double click or right-click and 'Open With' any programs ranging from iTunes, QuickTime Player, VLC or Windows Media Player.


If you have any questions just leave a comment and I will gladly reply.

Enjoy.

2009/10/07

FATURA

Typeface: Fatura
Created and developed on: 09/15/2009
Designer: Aaron Martin
Help with the naming: Jason Wesch
Technique: Each character consisted of a single cube with the corners slightly rounded.. then I subtracted lines (created from three smaller blocks put together) from the cube to create the letters A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y and Z

2009/10/05

DEEP GROOVES

BUGLE BOY - DEEP GROOVES (DEMO):
01. Color
02. Niew Neighborhood
03. Maine Coon
04. Tele/Phone (I See You Pan)
05. She Only Loves You Because You Let Her Outside
06. Lift
07. Sleepy Weekend I (1st Try)
08. Ocean Children
09. Deep Grooves

Over the last couple of months I have filled up a compact flash on the MR-8 to the max with tracks. Once again most of the songs are composed of tracks of first attempts at playing along with myself, so by pulling them off the 8-track, this is my way of self progressing and trying to move on to new things. I have done little to these on my laptop, mainly just volume adjustments, because I don't want to spend too much time on the computer tweaking the tracks, this is why they are in their raw state. This album is very experimental for me because I mostly use the first takes based on how well I improvised.

I have decided on going with the moniker Bugle Boy because over time I have found out that there is a music artist already by the name of Aaron Martin and I didn't fall in love with Aaron Bandana. Bugle Boy was a brand of clothing that I grew up wearing and I felt it was fitting to me. Even though I do not play bugle, I like how it ties into music.

The track 'Sleepy Weekend' is a song I have worked on for a long time now and hope to work on more and release along with about 15 other acoustic songs I have written over the last couple of years. Also the track ' Niew Neighborhood' was recorded for Kristin as a single track on the night I wrote it and is song that very close to me and I hope to rerecord. The track 'Tele/Phone' features numerous Animal Collective tracks running in the background; it features portions of 'Seal Eyeing' from the Water Curses EP and 'I See You Pan' from a 2001 WFMU recording.

Enjoy the recordings and I would love to hear what you have to say after listening.
Deep Grooves (Click to DL)
Personal Favorites: Neiw Neighborhood and Tele/Phone (I See You Pan)

Unrelated: Congrats to my sister Andrea and Chuck Hamilton and I hope you have an enjoyable honeymoon.

2009/09/26

FUN FUN FUN MATH

So last night I was doing some research on bands that are going to Fun Fun Fun Fest because I am thinking pretty seriously of going.. I just wish Kristin will go and have fun fun fun. Bands I am looking forward to are Atlas Sound, of Motreal (of course), Yeasayer, Destroyer, Neon Indian, King Khan/BBQ, Crystal Antlers and Fuck Buttons.

So the point here is that I was looking at videos of electronic artists like HEALTH and Holy Fuck and came across some great videos on myspace. Holy Fuck talks about how they create and manipulate sounds on the fly with pedals and even a 35 mm film sychronizer. These guys are able to produce electronic-sounding effects without the use of laptops or programmed backing tracks. I am very, very impressed with the techniques of this style of electronic musician.

Breakfast at Sulimay's are usually videos of a group of awesome old ppl who review new music. But check out this interview with Joe from Breakfast at Sulimay's:


Another must-watch for me is Bradford Cox's Daytripping sessions from Pitchfork. During the first two minutes he interviews HEALTH and they talk about their DIY shirts. Fucking King Khan is the man and hilarious. Man I so wish I lived in NY cuz everyone who's anyone plays there.

If anyone else out there interested in this type of math, prog, electronic music don't hesitate to let me know and I can point you in the direction of some other great bands.

Aa

P.S. I gathered my gear together to visit my homie Tomo in Denton tomorrow for some jamming and chili fest!

2009/09/23

TIC TIC TAC WAFER KEYBOARD ANS PES


do bem™ - Açaí Juice 100% fruit (Tic Tic Tac Wafer's Keyboard) from Hardcuore on Vimeo.


Reminds me of this style:


For more Pes check out eatpes. Enjoy!

2009/09/20

VINCENT

Today 'Edward Scissorhands' was on A&E.. it brings back memories of when I saw it when I was a kid. I can't believe that movie was made in 1990.. time goes by. I laugh when I think about the first time I saw 'Batman' as a kid.. I saw it in the movie theater with my parents and the music was soo loud I was covering my ears and yelling "IS IT OVER?" or something like that. All Tim Burton's movies that I can remember from being a kid are classics in my book. Especially those two and 'Beetlejuice'.

Anyways as I watched the movie I got on my laptop to do some research on Tim Burton films and early works. I watched some makings of 'Edward Scissorhand' and a short film called 'Frankenweenie'. It was Burton's first attempt at a short film.. Burton started out as an animator for Disney. It stared the child actor, Barret Oliver, that played Bastian in 'The NeverEnding Story', Daniel Stern and Shelley Duvall.

Also I found a black and white stop motion film title 'Vincent'. It is a wonderful short based off a poem by Burton and narrated by Vincent Price about a boy who wildly imagines he is Vincent Price.

Please watch:

Related News: Tim Burton's Halloween Haunte Couture Fashion Shoot

2009/09/02

IKEA

Last week, my boss walked by my office door.. like he usually does. And he passes my office, on his way to probably either, get his cup of coffee, that just finished brewing or loading up another packet to begin the brewing process. ALL OF THE SUDDEN, he stops in the hallway. He turns around and walks over to my office door. I am not sure how long he had been standing there because I almost just had noticed as soon as he spoke.

He said something like, "Did you hear the news today?"
"No I sure didn't?" I said, as I looked puzzled.
"About IKEA((TINY TRADEMARK)) how people on the internet are mad"

I had heard about how they changed their trademark font from Futura to Vendana.. and I knew this because I had read it
here on 'The Small Print' blog.

There has been a lot on my blogs about Ikea, including a video called Ikea Heights. Check out the video filmed at Ikea.. terribly funny acting.

This past weekend I got a lot of time to mess with my sampler and time sure does fly when you are learning new equipment. I remember when I first got my m-box and spend literally half the day messing with it. So I learned that it is very difficult to sync up two samples at the same time.. I think I found a way around it, but in time I prob will learn new ways to work with it better. I also realized that the sampler is better for ambient sounds or loops to play over. Anyways I hope to further myself with it.. only time will tell.