Vancouver - "Lying on the Floor"

Vancouver - "Lying on the Floor"

This is kind of a vanity post, but bear with me. Back in high school I was the main bean in this indie pop group called Vancouver. I wrote all the songs, drew the sleeve art and also made us wear maroon dentist uniforms. Also in the band were Greg "Scott" Sutliff (born: Worcester, MA), Benjamin "Funk" Yoakum (born: Altamonte Springs, FL), and Shomik "Sherlock Holmes" Chakrabarti (born: Lincoln, NE). Together we would rock a bunch of shows throughout our last year of HS and generally eat a ton of Fazoli's (RIP) after rehearsals. Our EP was called The Royal Paper Air Force.

This song I've posted was a song I wrote and recorded with Greg right after school ended. It was going to be part of our second EP that never materialized. At some point, I may re-record these songs as a kind of last nail in the coffin thing. I think we did all the material live, but this was the only reasonably well-recorded one (and let me stress the word "reasonably").

The EP was gonna be called Vancouver. The track list was gonna be this:

1. Bloody Murder
2. Lying on the Floor
3. Vancouver 1 & 2
4. Ambulances

What I like about "Lying on the Floor" is that it serves as a good document of the way I wrote music when I was younger. Basically I just did what I thought sounded good and didn't really think too hard about it. I guess after I came to NY Julian kind of pointed out how I used a bazillion major seventh chords in my songs and so I kind of moved away from that for a while.

Anyhow, this song is driven by an easy-listening vibe. I had some sort of affinity for the Steely Dan-esque, even when I wasn't listening to Steely Dan. My favorite bands senior year were the Shins, Beulah (who had just broken up), and Belle & Sebastian. I also loved the second Strokes album. This song attempted to combine a lot of those influences. The middle section is influenced by Trail of Dead's Source Tags & Codes, but I basically took out all the threat and theatricality. The end canned vocal is a straight Paul McCartney impression (one of our local radio stations once played "Hey Jude" on repeat for 24 hours). What else? I really like the way the lead guitar sounds at the end. Everything has its something good.

So you can listen to this mess below. It's not played so hot but I think it's a good song with a pretty ambitious non-standard vocal melody (that I may or may not have pulled off). We were always pushing the timing off because we were all basically lame virgins with no real edge or chops. Also, I will reluctantly admit that playing with a metronome is pretty essential practice.

Lying on the Floor (Gregs Drums) - Spencer Tricker

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Randy Numens bring the frauleins!

Randy Numens bring the frauleins!

It's Friday night and you have no plans...I know. It's cool, we got you covered. Last night, I got a text from one Asa Van Gumby telling me that his band RANDY NUMENS would be in the United States for one night only this Friday. So I threw some shit together as fast as I could and thus, Randy Numens will melt faces tonight at Potluck House. Check it:

9:30 PM - 12:30 AM
@ Potluck House, 606 W114th b/w Broadway & Riverside
Live music, film, art on the walls, FREE booze with $4 cover

Numens Sampler

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Last night I dreamt somebody loved me...

Last night I dreamt somebody loved me...

Kanye's response to a recent South Park lampooning (I'll ask the kids about this later):

"SOUTH PARK MURDERED ME LAST NIGHT AND IT'S PRETTY FUNNY. IT HURTS MY FEELINGS BUT WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM SOUTH PARK! I ACTUALLY HAVE BEEN WORKING ON MY EGO THOUGH. HAVING THE CRAZY EGO IS PLAYED OUT AT THIS POINT IN MY LIFE AND CAREER. I USE TO USE IT TO BUILD UP MY ESTEEM WHEN NOBODY BELIEVED IN ME. NOW THAT PEOPLE DO BELIEVE AND SUPPORT MY MUSIC AND PRODUCTS THE BEST RESPONSE IS THANK YOU INSTEAD OF "I TOLD YOU SO!!!" IT'S COOL TO TALK SHIT WHEN YOU'RE RAPPING BUT NOT IN REAL LIFE. WHEN YOU MEET LITTLE WAYNE IN PERSON HE'S THE NICEST GUY FOR EXAMPLE. I JUST WANNA BE A DOPER PERSON WHICH STARTS WITH ME NOT ALWAYS TELLING PEOPLE HOW DOPE I THINK I AM. I NEED TO JUST GET PAST MYSELF. DROP THE BRAVADO AND JUST MAKE DOPE PRODUCT. EVERYTHING IS NOT THAT SERIOUS. AS LONG AS PEOPLE THINK I ACT LIKE A BITCH THIS TYPE OF SHIT WILL HAPPEN TO ME. I GOT A LONG ROAD AHEAD OF ME TO MAKE PEOPLE BELIEVE I'M NOT ACTUALLY A HUGE DOUCHE BUT I'M UP FOR THE CHALLENGE. I'M SURE THE WRITERS AT SOUTH PARK ARE REALLY NICE PEOPLE IN REAL LIFE. THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME TO DRAW MY CREW. THAT WAS PRETTY FUNNY ALSO!! I'M SURE THERE'S GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN THIS... THAT'S HOW YOU KNOW IT'S ME!"

What do you do when someone just responds this nakedly to being teased? I don't even know if this constitutes humor. Good for you, buddy. Oh, and anyone in doubt that Little Wayne is a nice person, check out the vids below (high five Justin):






I AM A GANGSTA


See also: Kanye Live: Futuro-epic Horror Show (CPR, March)

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Can No Doubt pull this off?

Can No Doubt pull this off?

A lot of the vaguely insecure white kids I know from the tri-state area seem to have gone through a "ska phase" in middle school. Either I'm ahead of the curve or extra-insecure, because my ska phase hit around third grade and lasted up through middle school. The Specials were the cream of the crop, no buts about it, but as an awkward fat girl with aspirations towards singing, Gwen Stefani became my celebrity role model because a) she wasn't awkard; b) she wasn't fat; c) she could fucking sing. Evidence:

Eventually I moved on to other musical interests (see: aggressive unwashed men from the Northwest) but looking back, No Doubt's first three records totally rocked it (yes, I'm including Return of Saturn... the guitars sound great and Gwen's awesome pink hair inspired me to dye mine in seventh grade).

Why did Rock Steady suck so much? Gwen got engaged. Gwen got ready to pop some babies out. Gwen got happy. It's the same reason Cat Power sucks now. Same reason Isaac Brock sucks now. I know for a lot of people No Doubt wasn't about the angst, but pick any break up song off Tragic Kingdom and TRY to tell me "Hella Good" can even stand next to it.

Anyway, Mrs. Rossdale is taking a break from the Harajuku girls and touring with No Doubt again. Now that they're ALL parents (save bachel0r-for-life bassist Tony Kanal...sigh) I was prepared to write off any new recordings as more cheeze. BUT they just put out a cover of Adam and the Ant's "Stand on Deliver" and I'm shocked to find that it's pretty good. Everyone on the commenst sections of stereogum and youtube is trashing it, but come on, guys... it's pretty tasty:

Is this passable? Or have they just set the bar so low that I'll be happy with anything that doesn't sound like Parramore?

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Top 5 Favorite Record Stores

Top 5 Favorite Record Stores

My CD collection: good for liner note perusal, road-trip soundtracks, disc-man powered jogs, and holier-than-thou anti-downloading speeches. Where would I be without it? Probably not at any of these fine music-purchasing locations, set to stock CPR releases just as soon as we start mass-producing them.

5. CUTLER'S RECORDS & TAPES: New Haven, CT

Their website banner makes them seem like a much larger presence in Yale City than they really are -- Cutler's has majorly downsized, and is now about a third of the size it used to be. This means a lot less vinyl, a lot less used CDs, and a lot more knick-knacky crap. No, they don't do in-stores, and yes, they severely overprice their wares. But they do stock a helluva lot of great (new, full price) CDs, which is more than you can say for most Connecticut music retailers (see: Walmart, Best Buy, FYE... does FYE even still exist?).  Cutler's is sort of like the King Lear of New Haven small businesses. It's reigned for a long-ass time (founded in 1948 with the help of Mr. Sam Goody himself, it's now a third-generation family business). It's possibly gone a little crazy (who the hell is buying gum shaped like cigarettes?). It may have inadvertently caused the death of its most virtuous daughter (the long-gone expanded vinyl section, may it and Cordelia rest in peace). Not really sure where I'm going with this metaphor. Point (vaguely) is, if Cutler's died forever, Yale kids would have to download all their new music, and then the school would have to police downloading, and then how would everyone get the AwEsOmE new WAVVES record?!?!

4. NEWBURY COMICS, Boston, MA etc.

Okay, okay, hate on Newbury all you want for inventing the "selling crap to make up for lagging CD sales" format. Three reasons why this Massachusetts chain still rocks:

A) A lot of new mainstream releases get sold for $10 (look for the pink sticker). Best you can find those for on Amazon.com is ~ $7, and with s/h it'll put you over $10. Plus, sometimes Newbury has signed booklets with special releases. SO if you don't feel like waiting for cheaper used copies of, like, Bon Iver to show up in stores, hit up Newbz and look for a pink sticker. You can feel good about supporting the (sort of) little guy.

B) In-store performances! Sometimes they're really good. Sometimes they're not. Either way, they somehow make live shows sound pretty darn good, at least at the Newbury St. location. Even Elliott Smith knew that.

C) POSTERS. Not sure why, but Newbury stocks some awesome prints of your favorite band's random show in Seattle, numbered and signed by the artist. Even if you can't get to Boston, they sell many of these posters online.

3. NORMAN'S SOUND & VISION, Manhattan

In the bargain basement, everything is half off. Many items in the bargain basement are priced at $1.99.

You do the math.

2. WATERLOO RECORDS, ATX

I worked at their video annex, so of coures I'm partial. But their used section is king of the jungle. Tons of rare singles at good prices, pretty much anything you want from Matador's 90s roster, and you can listen to whatever you find on their (nice) headphones, no purchase necessary. A great way to kill an afternoon. Plus, they're selective about the used items they take in, so rather than wading through a sea of crap (like at Norman's) you're marveling at a large cavern of jewels (like that pyramid in Disney's Aladdin). They've also got a large local music collection (actually, it's just under the "Texas" heading, but it's good for finding new things) and some solid staff recommendation listening iPods.  And again, good in-stores.

1. CHEAPO, Austin

Name says it all. Cream-your-pants-sized space full of used discs. Some of them suck, some of them are super difficult to find. It's like a treasure hunt. Most of it's treasure. If you spent three days there you STILL wouldn't get through all of their stock, and they get tons of new things in every day (there are racks dedicated just to the new additions of the past week). This is where music-loving slackers go to die, because they get so excited about how many CDs there are and forget to eat for days. Maybe that's just me. They're also really nice about returns/exchanges -- if you don't like a CD, even if it plays fine, they'll take it as a return and let you swap it out for something more your liking.

Honorable mentions: New England's Bull Moose, NYC's Other Music, Bird Man, that weird jazz place on 3rd ave., Chapel Hill's CD Alley. Other ideas? Comment about 'em.

Y'all can thank spirit-crushing insomnia for inspiring me to bring this fantastic list to you. And aside from other lazy CPR bloggers forgetting to log out of my gmail account, this is my inaugural post. I'd eat a chocolate soy pudding to toast that, but I already ate the whole six pack. Boo.

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