Sunday, June 26, 2016

26-06-2016: enough listening to close inri000, but slowed down by further annoyances

tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/inri-cassette-demo-1
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1

finalizing inri000

these are the first demos i recorded, written 1994-1996 and recorded in the second half of 1996. this corresponds to the end of my 15th year and the beginning of my grade 10 school year. on the one hand, it's an intriguing document of a socially maladjusted teenage punk. on the other hand, it's a 15 year-old kid learning how to use a recording studio (and how to play the drums). influences are displayed on my sleeve just a little too loudly at times.

i was attempting to create something that could be described by the words disturbing, schizophrenic, unique, bizarre, twisted. looking back, i think i succeeded more than i realized at the time. this is a difficult listen that would be appealing to fans of the obscurantist reaches of 80s punk and 90s grunge. i manage to maintain a strange sense of melody, though. in truth, my current adult self is somewhat impressed with my teenaged self at this current point.

that being said, it should not be forgotten that i was fifteen. i am at times rather crude, and i display a childlike understanding of certain issues. most poetry written at the age of fifteen is not particularly insightful. again, though, i surprise myself at points.

this is the first time i'm publishing these demos in any form. i've remained frighteningly self-conscious of them over the years. over the last seventeen years, the audience has been extremely limited. initial reactions suggested i take some time to perfect my performance skills, particularly my drumming skills. however, this indicated a lack of understanding of my intent in the overall sound. the playing is quite purposefully abstract with the aim of exploring mental illness.

the demos were initially dub-mastered onto a 110 minute tape that would have flipped after the eighth track. that tape was at some point recorded into a soundblaster and compressed very heavily; this is the only source of the material that i still have. so, i had to decompress the files from those 128 (or worse) kbps mp3s and run them through some digital mastering equipment in an attempt to "undo" the compression. what that is is a half-effective trick to recover data that is in actuality forever lost. nonetheless, i should point out that while these files were recorded entirely in 1996, they were substantially digitally modified in late 2013. finalized on june 26, 2016. as always, please use headphones.

i consider this an archival release with little direct listening value. i've pointed out repeatedly that i was 15. however, various segments have been isolated and pulled out for a higher listenability value over here:
jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/inricycled-a

this release also includes a printable j-card insert and will also eventually include a comprehensive package of journal entries from all phases of production (1996, 2013, 2016).


credits:
j - guitars, effects, bass, drums, vocals, keyboards, tapes, found sounds, percussion, production.

released december 25, 1996

Saturday, June 25, 2016

new post at the alter-reality

june 25, 199

the quake soundtrack is really, really, really awesome

i almost forgot about this thing. remember: i can't be on the internet too often, because it's only available on the computer in the shared room. but, school's out....not forever....so, i don't really have a schedule for the next few months.

my marks were pretty good. As in the important courses, Bs in the unimportant ones. i'm excited about not having to take phys ed anymore next year - it always drives my average down, every year. i get As in english and math and science and then this big, stupid ugly B in phys ed that takes me down a grade point. it's really unfair. who cares about phys ed? why should it kill my average like this? the other class i always get Bs in is french. i'd like to squirm out of it, but i know my dad won't let me. they say it's important to speak french in ottawa, but the truth is that i've never met anybody that speaks french here, ever. supposedly, you need to speak french to get a job in the government. well, that's easy: i won't work for the government, then. they made the rules, not me. i just find it really irrational to have to speak two languages and so i can't study for it because it's just a stupid idea. i'd rather be doing anything else at all. why can't we all just speak one language? i don't even care if it's english. i'd be happy to learn chinese starting tomorrow if it meant i only had to deal with one language. i'd even be happy to learn french tomorrow if i could forget about english altogether. what drives me crazy about learning multiple languages is the redundancy. it's inefficient. illogical. irrational...

i don't know what i'm going to do this summer. i usually spend the summer entirely by myself; i've never had any friends. i went to elementary school on an army base but i didn't live on the army base so there was never anybody around that i went to school with. so, i would just stay inside. last summer, i played a lot of guitar and read a lot of books. my stepmother wants me to get a job, but that sounds like a waste of time. what would i spend the money on? i'd rather not have money and have time than have money and not have time. i don't really understand why she's so insistent. dad says i'm still too young to work and i shouldn't worry about it, but he wants me to go get a social insurance number anyways, just in case. she gets really mad when he says that, and says i'll have to do chores, then, instead. she seems to honestly think that i have a responsibility to pay rent through manual labour in order to stay here. she calls it "room and board".

i hope that what happened last year doesn't happen again. i was having a nice summer until my step-mother took her yearly holidays and forced me to spend the day outside pulling weeds. she insisted i didn't tell my father. so, i was working six hours a day in the hot sun for a whole week. i assumed my allowance would go up as a result as i was doing more than my expected weekly chores, but when i inquired she told me that i was just paying the rent. this made perfect sense to her. it did not make any sense to me at all - so, i refused to pull weeds any longer unless she promised to pay up and she locked me out of the house. she said i was getting evicted. when my dad got home, i explained what had happened and a huge fight erupted. he told me that i was right and she was wrong and took me to the music store and let me pick out $100 worth of cassettes. he wanted me to understand that my labour was worth something and i should never work for free. he said she has a "chemical imbalance" and goes crazy sometimes and it's something we'll both have to live with forever. he said she understands that what she did was wrong. but, they fought about it for a long time afterwards. i don't know if i agree that she thought what she did was wrong.

i think at least a part of the summer is going to be spent in the basement building a sound proof room. dad used to play the drums when he was younger, and he wants a place where he can go back to playing them. my stepmother won't let him get a drum kit because it's too loud. so, he wants to get sound paneling and insulation for an isolated room in the basement. he says he'll need me to help him - and that i should bring some friends over to start a band once we're done. he'll even put a bass in there, too.

i listened to the new soundgarden record a lot this month and really like it, but it's been replaced in my walkman by the new nine inch nails record. my computer is too slow to run quake; i don't have enough ram for it. it can run wolfenstein, but i haven't played wolfenstein in a few years. i only play civ 2, now. but, my step uncle is a really big id games fan and he let me dub a copy of it. he thought the soundtrack was effective in the game, but that it was really funny that anybody might listen to it as music. he says he'd rather listen to the who.


i don't think it's as good as fixed, which is my favourite record of all time. it's different. it's kind of scary, almost. but, i've been listening to it nonstop since sunday and i just can't get out of it.

it's getting late, so i should pretend that i'm going to bed. i'm too old to have a bed time, but i know that people have to get up in the morning so i adjust to it in keeping quiet past a certain time. i can't say when my next update will be. maybe the room will be done?


http://therealinri.blogspot.ca/1996/06/the-quake-soundtrack-is-really-really.html

this day was one of loose ends and it took longer than i wanted it to, but i'm completely caught up now and awake and alert enough to keep it going.

Friday, June 24, 2016

a strange inversion around a small joy formidable show in ferndale

so, i got out of the house a little late - it wasn't initially a cause for strict concern, and there was a bus waiting for me at the stop. score. but, i was a little surprised by how full it was. in the fifty or so times i've taken the bus over to detroit, this was the first time i had to stand. the bus was just packed with young females, and i kind of wondered where they were going but was really more concerned about what effect this would have on customs...

had i been allowed to just walk through, it would have been nothing. but, this request was denied (itself unusual), which had me stand on the bus for an extra twenty minutes. i was literally getting off at the first stop, meaning they had me sit there on the bus for twenty minutes to take the bus about 100 yards. it's just another example of the absolute absurdity they have people go through at the borders for reasons of political bullshit. one day, we'll get together and abolish this border altogether. we'll send the cops home without pay. there will be parties in the streets. until that day comes...

the end result was that i missed the bus, and nearly missed the bus after that. it was about a half hour delay, altogether - and absolutely needlessly.

--

i then got stuck in traffic in detroit, also for the first time. how is that possible? well, i suppose it was an earlier show than i'm used to. there's also continuing construction in detroit, which had me take some weird detours i hadn't taken before.

i ended up at the bus station around 8:00, which was doors. i was intending to be there closer to 7:00, to get to the venue for doors - because i wasn't sure what kind of crowd this band could generate in a city like detroit. i knew it was a smaller venue than i might expect. was that a good guess on turnout or a poor booking choice?

--

the opening band started playing as soon as i walked in. i'm not going to say a lot about them, other than that they didn't impress me at all. which is not to say they were terrible, just painfully generic. kind of like an uninspired cure. or the smiths. which is basically the same thing.

(in the background, shots can be heard)

there was an unusually short wait between sets. or, at least it felt that way. i'd guess they were on around 9:15. i got out of the venue a little after 11:00 - so we got a nice long set. i have to admit i was expecting that, but it's also not at all like the kind show i'd usual go to so it was a nice change.

the set was a mix of the expected and the unexpected. some of the tracks were identical to the versions on the record (and included things like sampled strings, which is forgivable - one would hardly expect them to bring an orchestra, if the strings were ever even live in the first place, and why would they be nowadays?), whereas others had rather substantial rearrangements including instrumentation and tempo shifts. the lead singer at one point remarked that if they were going to play the record as it was, you'd might as well stay home and listen to it in your room. i'm not sure i agree that i'd might as well have stayed home, but i appreciate the switch-up nonetheless.

they even came down into the floor of the audience for a short, totally unplugged (no mics) acoustic set. this only worked because the venue was so small, and the crowd was so sparse. i certainly didn't have any trouble getting in; i've learned that detroit is very american-centric across the board, so it wasn't a surprise that the crowd for a welsh band was underwhelming. the scale, however, hit me off guard. in truth, they could have played a much smaller room.

...except they couldn't have, because we would have all walked out with bleeding ears. this was about as small a space as a band like this can play without compromising the dynamics. you might think the smaller room, the better but you'd be wrong. i saw loma prieta in a closet once, and it was the perfect space because the sound caved in on itself. this band isn't like that; it needs a little air. the volume wants closer walls, yes, but the ambience wants you to open the room.

as this band is from wales, this tour may be the only chance you get to see them in an actual venue. i don't doubt they'll come back, but they tend to play open-air festivals. there's reasons for this that are very tactical, and i'm sure it's a fun experience. but, i'd argue that the ideal is seeing them in a closed room for the reasons i've mentioned.

i do, however, have to critique the setlist a little. they seemed overly focused on album tracks. they even played a b-side (which is the track i caught, here). that meant that they dropped a lot of the harder hitting, single-type tracks that seemed like they were written to play live. i'm not sure what they were thinking there. it could have been venue specific. but, i'm not sure that logic really holds. if you write a song to play live, that song is going to be even more powerful in a small space than it is in a big space.

that's a minor criticism, though. like i say - you should get out to see them while you can because i think there's a pretty high chance that they'll never do anything like this ever again.


here is a full set:


i explain in the day's vlog that the commotion in downtown detroit was a beyonce concert:


http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/06/14.html

skipped shows

i intended to catch this at mocad last night, but my schedule didn't co-operate and i ended up falling asleep instead.

i must also admit that i didn't want to take the bus with the fucking guns 'n' roses fans.


actually, i should point out that i skipped the screaming females on tuesday as well, but it was very conscious - i know they only play half hour sets, and they're touring right now with three other bands, all of which are terrible. so, i'd have to go all the way to ferndale, suffer through three shitty sets and then get rewarded by having to spend the night in the dunkin' donuts, because i'd have missed the bus.

i will (and have) get stuck overnight if it's worth it. the show didn't strike me as worth it.

i would like to publicly request that the band drop the facade that they're still some unknown punk band from jersey or something and just do a real tour already. nobody's going to get bored if you do an hour set. promise.

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

20/21-06-2016: thoughts on inri000, and other things (markets, keystone)

tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/inri-cassette-demo-1
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1

yeah, i gave it a really good listen and it seemed to settle down and then break up again - but i'm not certain it's interference, as it could be the sound isolation. when i remastered this, i put it through a lot of reverb to compensate for the mp3 compression (that's what mp3s destroy. sort of. i claim that functional lossless audio over convolution reverb is possible, but probably not useful). when it gets messy, it seems to be too much reverb. but, i mastered with my trusty 440-IIs.

the truth is that the degradation i'm hearing is what i expect to hear. i'm just a little weirded out by what seems like a lack of consistency.

i'm going for round two of my daily meal. i needed a boost in calories; the way it's working out is that i make myself these pasta dishes and need two tries to finish it. so, i'm eating twice daily instead of once daily. i think that's a good thing, actually.

i'll turn the pc on when i get back, and probably get a good listen through the mixer and the 440-IIs before i crash. but, i actually remastered this over the m-audio card (which is currently not installed). we'll have to see how it sounds.

i do expect that the phones are the dominant factor and it should be fine once i get enough volume through a flat signal.
these phones really need a strong signal to open up the sound. i think that is the biggest issue with them. even with the laptop at full output, it still sounds distant - although it's a little clearer through the laptop, with a loss of saturation on the bass (which may actually be because the source is flac rather than mp3 - the compression may be beneficial).

i haven't turned the pc on yet. i'd normally have an amplifier in the signal chain, but, for now, the mixer will have to do.

and, the mixer has ponies. i do not doubt this. i'll have to see how obvious it is. but, that is what i'm doing, right now.

Monday, June 20, 2016

19-06-2016: information overload

tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/inri-cassette-demo-1
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1

i just got through the first listen: mp3 player & new sennheisers.

there's some parts of this record/demo that i just can't stomach, but i know that they're actually some of the most powerful parts. in hindsight, i can see that this demo exists in a really rare space. if it finds the right audience, it could end up deeply seminal; even as it foreshadows a strain of emo that i never found myself interested in, it takes it to a level that never really existed. it's more like some kind of zappaesque take on early swans - really brutal in a way, but kind of a joke at the same time. i kind of feel like i accidentally invented hipster culture, out of no intent at all.

in fact, i was just a kid, and i was doing what kids do: i was emulating what i heard. my favourite bands. kids at school. even my parents. there are moments of utter originality, in fact total idiosyncrasy - you can hear it's me, if you know my work. but, there are also moments of total copyright infringement.

a part of me would love to put this up as a cassette for sale, but i just don't think it would be legal. downloads still have magic to me. they're still not quite real. i bet younger people don't see it that way, but that separation is the only thing i have to justify selling it at all.

i may crack one day. but, how does it sound?

the device isn't sending the signal out at a high enough volume for the phones, but that's something i'm already aware of. i need a pair of lower impedance phones for the device. it also sounds a little compressed - but it is a little compressed (320 kbps mp3). the bass sounds excellent, but these are also bass heavy phones. which is to say that it sounds how i would and should have expected it to sound through that setup.

i didn't fall asleep, but it was only because i was hungry. i'm going to finish my leftovers and then get some rest. i'm yawning. it should be some real sleep.

i'm going to want to try it uncompressed through the laptop when i wake up. i need to be clear: the demos cannot and will not be altered. these are finalized. the source is what it is. i'm more setting a base line and getting my ears retrained.

Friday, June 10, 2016

i'm not bleeding yet. but my wrists have been a problem for weeks. there's a huge red splotch that looks like it's going to blow. what do i do? go to a hospital? wait it out?

i'm trying to eat more and drink more water - and i actually think i'm succeeding. see..

i boosted my hormones a few months ago, and i think that what's happening is that they're not getting fuel to carry out their instruction set. something that happens when you take estrogen is that your body gets instructions (in the form of chemical signals) to redistribute fat differently. now, energy can neither be created nor destroyed but only converted from one source to another (we can be engineers in context - it's true enough). so, if you get instructions to increase hip width and and build breast size but you're not consuming more excess energy for storage then your body is going to have to go towards other stores of fat - like your arms - to complete the instructions being given out by the hormones. the solution is that if you're very thin and you want to boost your hormones then you should probably eat more, too.

like i say: i do think that increasing my calorie intake has started to make a difference. all the fat is migrating to the girl spots, which is a start. i'm not storing weight in my stomach (in fact, my stomach looks smaller because my hips are coming out). but i'm not noticing my fat stores in my arms or my neck come back yet, which was why i started eating more. it's only been about two weeks, though, too.

as i was typing this, the red mark disappeared. i think that's what i was expecting would happen. it was probably just irritation from laying it down on the table, although it remains reflective of not getting enough calories. listen: i actually eat well. i just put my body into shock.

had it blown, though, i'd definitely be seeking naturalistic explanations.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

08-06-2016: kubler-ross through time dilation

tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1

i guess it's actually welsh alt rock night here in windsor. ontario. we have a london, too. windsor is basically south detroit. no royal castles, here. except the old al capone mansion....

i go to lots of shows, right. but, a lot of it is stuff i'm just checking out, or have passively explored a couple of times. there's only been a small handful of shows i've been to this year that are bands i'd actively call myself a fan of.

- tortoise
- son lux
- melt banana
- ....& the joy formidable, early next week.

this is going to be the first time i've had the chance to really see them in a dedicated show format. so, i'm a little excited.

they have a new record, and it's plenty good, but this is probably the best starting point. i've been listening to all three of them over the last few days....

an unexpected new recording by the future of the left

this is unexpected, actually. i thought they were done.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

on the longterm historical irrelevance of bob dylan

the honest truth is that i don't have an opinion of blonde on blonde because i've never found dylan to be historically interesting enough to bother listening to. of the '66 discs, i'll take revolver and freak out! over the rest of them. sorry.

but, even more accurate is that the historical path forwards to what i listen to doesn't really start until '67, and is actually mostly british. crimson. genesis. floyd. moody blues.

if i was in california in 1966, i wouldn't have been into the doors or the beach boys or any hippie garbage of the sort. i would have been into surf music, mostly. some early punk, no doubt. i probably would have preferred to be in detroit. and, i would have agreed with zappa that the hippie culture was basically the beginning of the collapse of western civilization.

so, don't expect happy retrospectives. that's not my culture. sorry.

Sunday, June 5, 2016

journeying to third man records, and then around the back way to ufo to see a couple of bands

this was actually somewhat of a long day at the end of a long month of too many shows, too much drinking and too much walking. by the end of it, i was dragging myself home to my couch, where my ankles gave out minutes before i passed out...

--

i'd never been to third man records before, but figured the free show was worth coming down early for. it was a combo thing. i probably wouldn't have gone to either set on their own.

i'm really not sure exactly what i was expecting; maybe, something like a chain store in a mall. i think i realized that it was going to be a little bit plastic. but, i wasn't expecting to be basically walking into the gap. well, they had a couch. with peppermint pillows. and a stage. with excellent sound. yet, it very much felt more like an apparel store than a record store - from the layout down to the staff. if they were going for authentic, they missed it by a very wide mark.

the sound in the store was incredible. i don't think i've ever heard an inside set sound that dynamic outside of a theatre; i don't know who he's got working there, but he knows how to separate the instruments. the drums had an open-air sound. the bass was kept out of the way out of the guitars. and, the result was a really excellently sounding set from a nice spot on the couch.

it turns out that the band got added to the second show, meaning i didn't have to come down there early. but, i don't feel it was a waste of time because i got introduced to the sound system in the building.

i hope that more people take advantage of the sound in the building.  i'm going to guess that capacity is around 100, which is not much smaller than any other rock bar in town.


i walked from third man to the ufo factory, which took me around an area of detroit i hadn't been in before. i actually mostly felt ok along the walk. i'm not sure why it is, but it seems like there's a really long strip between mlk and temple that is sketchy for miles both ways, while it's more or less fine on either side. it might have something to do with the way the highways intersect detroit, which creates these large areas of dead space. poor planning or purposeful sacrifice? i don't know. but, i'm starting to learn that it's mostly cosmetic, or at least is in the day.

it didn't stop a lot of strange looks, both friendly and concerned. i walked by a young black couple that seemed surprised to see a lily-white thing walk through there, but in a good way. i was a pleasant surprise. an older white woman actually slowed down and rolled down her window to ask if i was ok, before she sped off on to the highway, clearly frightened. i got honks from middle-aged black men, followed by fingers pointing in safe directions, and then head shakes. more concerned looks.

it was truly only a few blocks from third to trumble - a very short march up mlk. but, it demonstrated a cross-racial perception: i was insane to walk through there. at 6:30 at night. in broad daylight. whites and blacks agreed. men and women agreed. i can't claim i fully understand, but i *do* think i should take the hint and go around next time, whether i think it's necessary or not.

--

i got to the bar around 7:00. doors were at 9:00. while i nearly tried an artistic hot dog (raspberry sauce? hummus? peppermint?), i was feeling a little bloated from too many dorito-nachos and refrained. next time.

it was a bit of a wait out in the back, but i can't really complain. beautiful weather. cheap beer. ziggy stardust. life seemed good.

eventually, some people showed up and they brought me what i like. there's a public thank you to the scruffy dude in the golf shirt.

--

rabble rabble came on again, and the sound was nowhere near as good. but, i guess that made the set more real, too; they're not normally going to have a jack white funded sound stage to play on. what they're doing is a kind of an update on the concept of alternative rock, taking in bits of punk, psych and metal and swirling it around into something vaguely epic. the musicianship in the band is fairly high, which kind of takes it up a notch. definitely worth the $5.


the second band was a bit noisier than i was expecting, and there were some definite upsides. my solipsism senses went haywire when they did a cover of soundgarden's dusty, as it just came up in the alter-reality. it's only a wild coincidence, slothrop. see, the guitarist tended to get himself stuck in what cornell would call "guitar trances" when describing thayil, which is not inherently bad, it's just that he didn't have the chops to pull it off. there's two options, here: up your game, or tighten up. either is acceptable. but, it's a necessary choice. really. it wasn't at all bad, i wouldn't skip it, but it just dragged a little - and i like me my lengthy post-rock, too, you know that.


here is a full set:


i was already done by the time heron oblivion came on, and it consequently acted as somewhat of an anti-climax. the way i describe this in my day-after video review is that the band is walking a delicate line that the slightest push off balance is bound to instantly unravel. now, this band has two members of comets on fire in it (including the guitarist). it seems to me that he felt like he was getting mildly upstaged by the previous two bands, who both wanted to push their guitars in your face (with varying actual results). this mild push blew the entire thing up. but, what i'm getting across is that it was inherently unstable in the first place.

it's hard to take these loud psych guys and force them to behave while the drummer gets out these kind of delicate, fragile vocals. that's the draw to it - it feels like it's about to explode, but it doesn't. except that it actually did on this night...

the other thing i should point out is the song selection. in hindsight, it's not surprising that the picked the more upbeat tracks to perform. but, it's the darker and slower ones that are actually more compelling to listen to. i've been guilty of this repeatedly: i flip the filler with the substance. well, it's relative, right. but, i show up expecting them to perform what they think of as filler (and what i interpreted as substance), then get kind of bored with what they're calling substance (and i'm interpreting as filler). again, i think this goes back to the reality that this musical configuration is inherently unstable. a bad isotope. the sound of gamma decay.

hey, they got one record out, and that's probably more than should be expected. i think catching this band is going to be hit or miss - if you catch them on a good night, they could be mesmerizing. that wasn't this night, though. overall, it's probably worth the gamble.


i left a few minutes early to catch the bus, only to have the bus come in a half-hour late. see, i don’t want to complain, exactly. i just wish that the schedule was more clear. if i had known the bus was going to be a half-hour late, i would have stayed later…

when i did finally get home, i more or less collapsed. my ankles were not happy with me. at the end of it, i lost my train of thought in mid-sentence and just found myself knocked right out. at least i got some sleep.

here is the day's vlog:


http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/06/02.html

thoroughly confused by lunch cult

i wasn't able to get footage of the show, and rather than present a narrative (which would not be very interesting), i've decided that it's better to just point out some of the things that confused me to the point where i avoided footage.

to begin with, i really wasn't expecting a keyboard player. the samples suggested that the band was operating roughly somewhere in the space of the pixies, with a bit of an odd sense of humour - think butthole surfers, maybe. there was no hint of keyboards, whatsoever. so, when they came on and started playing some kind of love song, i actually thought it was a different band and nearly went out for a smoke, instead. but, i found the drumming a little bit interesting, so i came back in.

i'm not sure why they played the set they did, but the drumming largely saved it. the drummer had a tendency to go into contextless temper tantrums, like a bad caricature of animal from the muppet show. see, here's the thing: i know my phil collins. well. even when the rest of the band was being ironic or stupid (there was a confluence of ironic into stupid, here), listening to the phil emulation was worthwhile.

otherwise, i wish i would have realized what i was going to see. i would not have paid customs and then brought booze to detroit to see what i actually saw, which was operating on some kind of level of satire in a way that summed to a gigantic waste of time. they did a few tracks that were recognizable, but most of the set was actually done in the form of a parody of a crooner band. the bulk of it was purposefully lame lyrics, sung purposefully out of key over purposefully bad music. you could have told me you were going to do that before hand, guys. i would have saved the cash for something else. jerks.

i would normally say something like "it's worth the $5.". i will very rarely dissuade somebody from seeing something i've taken the time to go to. by trying to be ironic, and just ending up being really stupid, lunch cult have earned my rare ire to the point of an active non-rec. save your money, don't go to the show.

that said, i have to point out that i didn't have a terrible time. i mean, i would not have gone to the show if i know what it was going to be - i've stated that twice now, and i want to be clear of it. but, i'm not easily confused, either, and they managed to spin me around pretty good. is this really them? do two of the bands have the same members? are they combining sets?

it was nothing like that: they were just taking the piss. and, piss taken. but with a consequence: not recommended. at all.

--

the other bands weren't particularly memorable. i barely recall what the beverly tenders sounded like, other than thinking it was a little better than i was expecting due to some thick guitar effects work. the last thing that came on was literally karaoke.

vlog for the day:


http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/05/31.html

Friday, June 3, 2016

i've explained this in my vlogs, but it's a hard thing to find. i have reasons for posting this here.

i do not monetize show footage, nor do i include it in the vlogs. the reason is that it would give the copyright owner on the footage the ability to steal my vlog.

i think that people "out there" may be a little confused about youtube. youtube is not a system where people can post and make money from whatever they want. facebook video largely is exactly this. but, youtube is actually a very controlled system of content management.

here is one example. i was walking through detroit a few months ago, talking into my camera. i happened to walk by a bar that was playing a michael jackson song for a few seconds. understand that this is incidental audio - neither captured with intent, nor inserted consciously. it's not even "fair use"; i had no intention of even using it at all. it was just random background sound. however, sony was then able to take control of the entire half hour vlog and i had no ability to argue against it. i'm left to conclude that the same thing would happen if i recorded myself talking in a mall, a restaurant or anywhere else with background audio.

is that legal? of course not. but, there's no legal mechanism in place to have this discussion. the system is designed to benefit copyright owners at the expense of content creators, with no exceptions or caveats.

now, as it is, i don't really care about recording your band for the sake of recording your band. there will be some exceptions, but i go to a lot of shows and i'm only really deeply interested in a small fraction of it. rather, i'm recording a vlog. take yourself down a notch. it's not about you. it's about me.

but, what that means is that i have to abide by the rules - which not only do not allow me to monetize songs i didn't make (if i'd want to....but it's not what it's about...), but actually would give the artists i'm recording the ability to claim copyright over my entire vlog.

so, please be cognizant of the actual reality, here: in order to prevent record labels and other rentier capitalists from copyrighting my vlogs, i am required to separate performances out of my vlogs. not only am i not cashing in on their performances, but i need to take steps to prevent them from cashing in on my vlogging!

the system is unsustainable; it will have to be changed to take power away from copyright holders. but, for now, it is what it is.

nor do i claim copyright over material i do not own. should that be discovered, i would face punitive measures. the second picture demonstrates what happens when you upload something by an artist in a relationship with a large rentier: sony claimed ownership of the son lux video, whereas universal claimed ownership of the julia holter one.



02-06-2016: two shows in detroit and a hard crash at the end (last day out for a while)

show footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqebb8PH9ac

more footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsorZklwtpY

review:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2016/06/02.html

tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1