At one with the underdog
Welcome to Under the Dog. This is a musical webzine with a focus on the more abrasive styles of music(read:metal/punk/hardcore), along with some interesting videos and links that generally fall in the WTF category. We post full bootleg concerts every Wednesday and have new mp3s on the weekdays. Click here to goto the main page.
RSS feed.
Thanks for visiting!
I have been filming bands for awhile now for an upcoming DVD project. It’s centered around live music performances in Portland Oregon and it’s taking up most of my free time. That’s why this site hasn’t been a daily thing lately. I’m going crazy just trying to handle this site and now an even larger project that I could not pass up. So I thought I would share a few things about my weekend at Music Fest Northwest.
1. Promoters are all different.
Whoa, shock there… But seriously, at some shows, by just having a camera, people wave you through and let you in anywhere. At others you’ll be hard pressed to get past the front door if your name isn’t on the list.
2. 99% of musicians are alot nicer when you are providing a service.
I’ve met a ton of musicians under a ton of different circumstances. If you just approach people without knowing them they tend to be standoffish, but once you set something up they tend to act quite different.
3. Sponsorship isn’t all that bad.
Free Vitamin Waters and Smart Water everywhere I went was pretty cool. There was free Heinekens at one of the shows but I didn’t drink any.
3. Pot Festivals probably aren’t the best place to get your promotional video shot at.
Unless you want giant banners in the background for the whole video advertising the marijuana movement, you might want to choose a different gig than a pot festival.
4. Hip-Hop people are more standoffish than socially awkward hipsters.
The exception goes to Cool Nutz. But it seems like Hip-Hoppers are not very social with people who want to film them so they can get more exposure.
5. Tell the rest of your band that you are going to be filmed.
I filmed a band where only one member of the band even knew we were coming. The other members of the band were pissed and we wasted half of 2 tapes on the show.
6. Make note of where you park the car.
My filming partner and I looked for about an hour for a car that was parked about a block away from where we were filming.
7. The more DIY a venue, the more accommodating the staff is.
The more bourgeois a club or bar or coffee shop, the less people are willing to help you. I guess it’s just a mutual DIY respect.
8. Shows rarely start on time and time slots often get pushed back.
This doubly applies to one off shows in random places. Like pot fests.
9. A Weather is REALLY GOOD.
And they are really nice to boot.
10. Mirah was actually fun to watch.
Being a hardcore and metal guy, I have had a lot of fun filming indie bands and even a newgrass group.
Tunes
No tag for this post.
Sonic Youth has been making records 2 years before I was even born. In that time they have made 15 records and countless singles.
Now they have a new collection of "hits" out cleverly titled "Hits Are For Squares" that came out on June 10th.
If you never got into Sonic Youth the first time this is a good introduction. But most people already know S.Y.’s catalog so the real point of this post is to make a snarky comment about Eddie Vedder picking the most obvious song.
Tracklisting
1. Bull In The Heather (selected by Catherine Keener)
2. 100% (selected by Mike D)
3. Sugar kane (selected by Beck)
4. Kool Thing (selected by Radiohead)
5. Disappearer (selected by Portia de Rossi)
6. Superstar (selected by Diablo Cody)
7. Stones (selected by Allison Anders)
8. Tuff Gnarl (selected by Dave Eggers & Mike Watt)
9. Teenage Riot (selected by Eddie Vedder)
10. Shadow of a Doubt (selected by Michelle Williams)
11. Rain on Tin (selected by Flea)
12. Tom Violence (selected by Gus Van Sant)
13. Mary-Christ (selected by David Cross)
14. World Looks Red (selected by Chloe Sevigny)
15. Expressway To Yr Skull (selected by The Flaming Lips)
16. Slow Revolution (Exclusive New Sonic Youth Recording)
Devo meets the Dickies singer/band Jay Reatard has gathered himself a small amount of attention this weekend after apparently chewing out an opening band, refusing to play if said opening band played, tried to get a girl with no ID into the bar and then left with her without playing the show.
It almost seems like the promoter of the show has some serious issues with Mr Reatard as he also wrote this:
Apparently (and there is video to prove it), when Jay Lindsey gets ‘reatarded’, he “jokingly” likes to perform oral sex on sleeping bandmates and tour mates
That is just a low blow…
WTG Jay, let’s hope you don’t tarnish your rep. In the meantime, check out brooklyn vegan’s article for some funny comments.
When people ask me to describe Mission of Burma, I usually say they sound like a serious Dead Milkmen.
MOB’s sound can’t really be described except as independent rock music, free of labels influence. Truly a band where the songs sound different on every track and the only thing that sounds consistent is the guitar tone and the sound of the singers voice.
They broke up in 1983 and reformed almost 20 years later. Next month they are performing full albums and one of the stops is in Portland which is my neck of the woods. All the dates are west coast including 1 Vancouver B.C. date.
09.25 Los Angeles, CA: Echoplex
09.27 San Francisco, CA: Independent
10.01 Seattle, WA: Neumos
09.26 San Francisco, CA: Independent
09.29 Portland, OR: Doug Fir
09.30 Vancouver, British Columbia: Plaza Nightclub
Submitted for your approval. A video of things I don’t understand. Offensive language and images abound. Some people may even describe this a racist. I’m just trying to understand it.
The Lookin Ass Nigga Videos
Basicly, they are a series of still pictures presented in a slideslow along with a song where every line ends with “lookin ass nigga”.Sounds dumb doesn’t it? Yet I am strangely drawn to it.
My personal favorite, the Houston version.
The one I believe started this meme.
Some others…
Amazing technical metal by Orgin on this Relapse Records LP. Great production with nothing sounding muddy. The singing is growled so you can’t understand the lyrics but that’s typical of grindcore. But you can’t just call this grind, there are other elements that can’t quite be explained. Moments of dissonance abound but never feel intrusive.
Breakdowns are scarce but when they are present they are short and the music never let’s up. This stuff is definently too technical for non metal fans, but fans of dillinger escape plan, meshuggah, locust and converge should feel right at home with this one.
The new Mogwai single “The Sun Smells Too Loud” almost sounds like an indie pop song and is very structured compared to the post-rock drone of days past. There very basic single oscilator synths and the guitar isn’t the most prominent instrument but still manages to seem like some kind of a Pixies outtake…
This is not an official release and it’s apparently transfered from a tape but I don’t know for certain any details because it’s not for sale anywhere but I don’t know the entire status of it or else I would make the whole thing available.
This track is kinda different and I can tell if the tape is screwed up or if the four track EQ is being messed with.
This one is a pretty much the same with the only difference being in the vocals and a few guitar licks.
Do try and buy things from Discord Records. They seem like the nicest guys around. But if you are going to DC don’t make plans to go to the Discord House, they have their own office now and the house is an actual residence and Ian is rarely ever there. How do I know this? From their FAQS! There are enough people out there that have wanted to go to the Discord house that they have to write something about it on their web site.
It’s July 4th and while I used to feel like making political statements on holidays thinking they would resonate more, I strangely don’t feel as compelled to do it these days. Instead I feel more like sharing some happenings that may be old to some and new to others. In the world of blogging I see the same “amazing content” recirculating yearly and the same “big deals” being hyped over and over again so I don’t really claim to be a news site.
What is freedom? Is France freedom? Is nearly free health care and mandatory vacations worth giving up your hard earned clams for? France really cant be that bad of a place if this guy is allowed to make art from there.
Strangely enough, I stumbled upon this random little fact today.
Without Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, Americans wouldn’t have the Declaration of Independence. Rather strangely, both men died on the same day, exactly fifty years after the signing of the Declaration - July 4, 1826.
What a Co-Winky-Dink. Perhaps they defied the illumason and bones, but somehow I don’t think so.
And Finally….
Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency
Note: I have never used the software in question, nor do I plan to.
Mixed In Key is a software for mac or PC that will listen to your mp3s and tell you what key they are in as well as tempo. Now as musicians look down upon djs because all they do is "play records" it looks as if the musician team has more fuel for their fire.
Download Squad has a review of the software and is the basis of my criticisms of the software…
First off let’s be very clear about what a dj does. They play records. From there you have certain skills you can apply like matching a beat and making 2 songs play at the same time. Now if you really have no ear, then you will not notice that the 2 songs sound off key, but you will know something is wrong. But part of being a dj is knowledge of you tracks. Over time you will know which tracks sound good together, and over time you will be able to tell which ones will sound good together without having to play them at the same time, you will be able to tell "by ear".
Essentially, taking any semblance of skill that djs need to have. I am all for final scratch and serrato, cdj and all that stuff as long as you have platters spinning in real time. But when you have machines that can match your beat and tell you what key the song you are playing is in and suggest other songs for you to play by key, you might as well just create a program to make every track selection for you.
Essentially, my take on the entire state of dj music is pretty lenient, in some sectors it’s vinyl, live pa or play somewhere else. With all these different set ups it’s making things alot worse for promoters who used to only have to set up power amps and speakers and turntables and let it roll all night, but with more and more ways to dj there is a rising factor of musical downtime in an environment where constant music is important for the vibe.
Do I think you have to stay only vinyl or not use pitch correcting/key finding/beatmatching software? No, but know there are people out there that can match a beat with a program and can tell with there very own ears whether 2 songs keys match or clash and that everyone can tell when you are using it.
In the News 7/6/08
So I don’t really read the news very often. I have an RSS reader that has a million unread items. By the time I die it will have enough unread material to fill an entire server farm, not to mention all my unread email. Today I was looking at a news page on this online bookmarking tool called “symbaloo” and immediately three stories caught my eye.
An entire set of reels for the movie Metropolis was found intact and cut the way Fritz Lang had intended.
These guys are too wild for the Barbershop Harmony Society and are causing a rift in the Barbershop Scene between traditional barber shop purists and new school barbershop harmonizers. The new school harmonizers adapt more modern tunes instead of the old relics that everyone else does.
I have to say, I love windows live writer. It’s almost the best piece of free software available except for Firefox. I can take any picture and warp and re size it any way I wish.
You are probably wondering why I have posted a photo of a clown. Well it’s because Larry Harmon, the man who capitalized the most off of clowns by licensing the name “Bozo the Clown”, kicked the bucket. This news is relevant to me because Symbaloo was displaying featured Yahoo content. Somehow, Bozo the clown made it through all the B.S. and grabbed my attention with that hideous photo.
Tags: Fritz Lang, Metropolis