The Area 4 Blog

OK guys, once again apologies for the extended blogging hiatus. Now for a series of random thoughts/updates:

-- Just took my music theory minor field qualifying exam last Saturday. Out of all my tests (except maybe my orals... which are still a ways off) this was the one I was most worried about. Because 1) it's music theory, 2) everything I had heard was that just answering all the questions in the 4-hour time limit is very tricky, and 3) the test can only be taken on one specific day each semester. In contrast, my upcoming bassoon 8-hour exam can be scheduled for whenever I feel like it, and plus it's all about BASSOON.

Anyways, I am hopeful that I passed, and was at least able to give some sort of answer for each question (which some people did not). But there were really only 6 main questions (with lots of semi-questions) so if you didn't even get to 1 of the 6 questions then I would think you would be completely boned.

The format is that you choose 3 of your 4 classes that you took for the minor, and a separate teacher writes the test for each class. There are 4 hours for the test, and each section is supposed to take 80 minutes. This--on paper--seems like plenty of time. But it took me the first 2 hours just to get through the first section, where I had to analyze a 2-page Bach fugue and answer plenty 'o questions about it, and then analyze 100 measures of a (Beethoven?) string quartet exposition and answer plenty 'o questions about it as well. But luckily I got through the other 2 sections faster than the time allotted (Schenkerian and theory pedagogy). I will find out in a few weeks for sure if I made it.

-- Playing some cool music with the Festival Orchestra this summer. Next concert is La Mer, La Valse, Night on Bald Mountain, and Til Eulinspiegel (sp?). Then Sibelius 6 and Symphonie Fantastique next month.

-- The two best movies I've seen this year were Adventureland and The Hangover.

-- The magazine that I've read since I was a little kid--Electronic Gaming Monthly--went out of business. The rest of my subscription is being filled with Maxim, which I used to enjoy, but at my age is just mind-numbingly terrible. The bright side is that the original founder of EGM bought the rights back, and is bringing it back this fall in a new capacity that has not been fully revealed. We'll see how it is since I expect none of the old veteran writers to be back. Damn you economy!!!

-- Been watching a lot of Good Eats. Everything I know about food I have learned from Alton Brown.

-- Saw both Nine Inch Nails and Coldplay concerts in the past couple of months up in Noblesville. NIN was the middle act between Street Sweeper Social Club (with Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine) and Jane's Addiction. It was a double-headliner, so NIN and JA both played about 1 1/2 hours, and JA didn't even come on until after 10. In comparison, I was already on my way home at that time when I went to see Radiohead last summer. SSSC was pretty cool, and got to see Tom Morello play his guitar with his teeth and also do a solo with the jack from his guitar cable and the palm of his hand.

NIN were freaking amazing. The ensemble was incredibly tight and energetic, going straight from song to song, and they played pretty much all the songs that I was hoping they would (apparently the setlist changed dramatically every night for this tour). It was their "going away" tour so I'm glad I caught them once. I guess Trent Reznor is still going to make more NIN albums, but the touring is over for the foreseeable future (I think he's getting ready to get married). It was storming a lot during the whole concert, but I have to admit that it was pretty cool to see the lightning off in the in-too-far-away distance during the chorus sections (and ONLY during the chorus) of their rendition of Mr. Self-Destruct. Here's a cool video of a song they did on a concert in February, and is essentially the same sorta thing I saw here:

Nine Inch Nails - 1,000,000 (Live from Sydney)

Which, while awesome, is admittedly not as cool as the inventive camera use or the ridiculous 3-D lighting effects from the tour they did last year.

Jane's Addiction was pretty blah in my opinion, and I was already a little miffed that they were going on last since NIN was the biggest of the 3 bands, AND that it was NIN supposed goodbye tour. The first few songs of NIN's set were in daylight/dusk, and just didn't have the right atmosphere. Anyways, I actually almost left partway through Jane's set, but stuck it out till the end. It's just that all their songs basically boiled down to a 4-5 note repeating bass line, some incomprehensible and out-of-tune singing by Perry Ferrell, and way-too-long guitar solos by Dave Navarro. It was all just SO boring to me after listening to the previous 2 bands. Honestly I didn't understand how almost the entire crowd had stayed and was really into it.

-- The Coldplay concert was very awesome as well. I saw them in 2002 at the relatively intimate Palace in Louisville, so I was curious how their show would be different now that they are mega-superstars playing in a gigantic venue. Snow Patrol was one of the opening bands, and they sounded great but didn't seem to play that long. Coldplay's set was quite the spectacle, with dozens of giant yellow balloons being tossed around the crowd during "Yellow"--which you can see here--and tens of thousands of tiny neon multi-colored butterflies being shot out over our heads from compressed-air cannons during "Lovers from Japan"--which you can see here. My only complaint is that they didn't play "Trouble"--one of my couple favorite songs from them--but no biggie. They played for a couple hours and put on one hell of a spectacle.

They also had the entire crowd participate in what they called "the world's first ever Mexican-cell-phone wave." Which was basically everyone doing the wave but with our cell phones out--it was quite a cool thing to see.

The coolest part, however, was that they came out onto a little stage a played a couple songs--and that stage happened to be about 5 feet in front of my seat. I could've kicked myself that I hadn't brought my camera, but I snapped a couple crappy pics with my cell phone. The first one was taken before the concert started, so you can see pretty well how close I actually was. I was also struck by just how tall those guys are up close.







And you know, I really don't understand why everyone gets so down on this band, like it's the popular/cool thing to think they suck or are gay or whatever. I'll be the first to admit I still don't care for their latest album as much as the first two, but they write some damn good songs, are very capable musicians, and put on one hell of a show. I've been a big fan of theirs since before their first CD even came out in America (I downloaded it off Napster before it was available here... back in the day... man I'm old), so as far as I'm concerned all the naysayers out there can suck it.

-- I've been taking my gym time much more seriously, and picked up this book "Strength Training Anatomy" a couple months ago for help. It's quite cool actually--it shows you what exercises you can do to focus on very specific muscles (such as whether you want to focus on the upper, middle, or lower part of your pecs). I've noticed a lot of improvement since I radically started switching up my exercises but I still have a LONG ways to go. Losing 30 lbs would also help :-/

-- Been getting through some videogames this summer:

Finally beat Fallout 3 (which I started last October) at around 50 hours. There are still a ton of extra quests that I haven't gotten around to doing yet, plus hours and hours of downloadable content on top of that.


Finally beat Zack and Wiki (which I started forever ago). Close to finally beating Mario Galaxy, which I've also had for almost a couple years. Currently working on going back beating Call of Duty 2 again but on Veteran (the hardest) difficulty. And holy crap is it hard near the end. Literally it only takes about 2 shots to die, but I suppose that's a bit more like real life, eh?


OK that's all from Brett-land for now. Take it sleazy!

Hey everyone, I am still alive.  Things are very busy in Brett-land.  Preparing for a recital, surviving my classes, chamber music rehearsals galore, sending in job applications, and spending time with some very awesome new friends.  I will have a more substantial post soon I hope, but for now I am very happily busy.

This is me taking a few breaks from typing my final paper (on articulation!!! WEEEE!!!!) for my baroque performance practice class. In keeping with the last couple music-related posts, I thought I'd share my favorite albums from this past year. With one exception, they all came out in 2008, and my one exception exists because it's my blog... and I can do whatever I want. Click on the titles for some of these to go to Amazon.com and listen to samples. I've also included links to YouTube videos, not because any of them are particularly awesome, but mostly because you can listen to entire songs that way. Though the videos at the very bottom ARE awesome.

This actually came out last year, but technically the physical CD product wasn't released until this year--January 1st--so it counts. To be honest, I listened to this album an unhealthy amount. As in, pretty much everyday for a period of months. A period of about 10 months. And then going to see them in concert just made it worse. It actually took the next CD on my list, which came out at the end of October, to replace it as my everyday car ride music. In fact, I refuse to remain friends with anyone who doesn't have this album. And you're a loser.

Videos:

Weird Fishes/Arpeggi

Jigsaw Falling Into Place

Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads

The really cool thing about this CD is that it is basically like their version of a dance album, and very different than their previous two. The thing I love about Kaiser Chiefs is that a lot of the time their songs start off as fairly straightforward pop tunes. Then somewhere (usually past the half-way point) they start throwing in new melodies and harmonic progressions that completely change it. Plus, they even had the awesome David Arnold (composer from the past five or so Bond movies) come in and do some orchestrations for one song. And a ridiculous British rap in one song. Ridiculous because he's very British.

Videos:

You Want History

Like It Too Much

VAST - Bang Band Sixxx

This is a six song EP that VAST (basically just Jon Crosby) put together based off of a book he wrote of the same name. I actually was sent a free copy but haven't gotten around to reading it yet, partly because the synopsis has to be just about the craziest thing I've ever read. You can read that HERE. The album itself is completely awesome. You can download the whole thing for $1.99 HERE, and for that price there's really no excuse not to, even just to check them out.

Ladytron - Velocifero

I'll admit it, I am a bit enamored with the ladies of Ladytron. But besides that, the music is awesome. They are a bit like a young Depeche Mode with female vocals. I found out about these guys from an article on IGN's music page about the best albums of 2008. Usually I don't agree very well with their opinions (since they usually love terrible music), but this one they got right. Apparently, though, this CD doesn't exist anywhere in the state of Indiana. And the only place I finally found it in Louisville was at Ear X-Tacy.

Videos:

Ghosts

Burning Up

Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree

Speaking of enamored. I don't care how old she is, Alison Goldfrapp is super hot. This CD is difficult to detail--its a kinda folk-ambient-electronic-psychedelic amalgamation of sounds. It's hard to describe because it sounds like nothing else. I will say that some songs remind me quite a bit of Sgt. Pepper/Magical Mystery Tour era Beatles.

Videos:

Clowns

Little Bird

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip

Like Radiohead and VAST, Trent Reznor seems to be embracing the idea of releasing music on the internet before releasing physical CDs. I missed it, but apparently earlier this year he just updated his website with news that this unannounced CD had been made and was available to download for free. What's really remarkable is that this album is amazing. I started getting into NIN when he released With Teeth, then kinda cooled a bit with the last two much more obscure records. The Slip is surprisingly good, with a number of songs that would make very catchy singles, and sounds more like the rightful successor to With Teeth. The really cool thing about this band, for people who don't listen to them, is the minimalist/layering approach he takes with a lot of the songs, building them up with new textures and ideas as they progress along. I also don't think they are really as dark or brooding as it comes off in videos and such--to be honest there are a lot of pop sensibilities in the music. 

And in fact, you can still download the entire album for free HERE, so if the $1.99 earlier was too much, then you REALLY have no excuse for this one.

Videos:

1,000,000

Discipline

Eagles of Death Metal - Death By Sexy

OK so this record is from 2006, but I just found out about it this summer so I'm including it. All you need to know is that the lead singer has the most bitchin' fu-manchu ever, and you can hear it in the music. And I've saved the two best, by far, videos for the end. One involves the ability to blow people's clothes off with a rockin' guitar. The other includes lots of girls in bikinis and copious amounts of cherry cola.

Videos:

I Want You So Hard

Cherry Cola

Comments? Suggestions? I'm gonna try to get a best/worst movies list on here too before the end of the year, so look for that.