Electric Guitar Takes a Nap

The electric guitar has been fairly ubiquitous in popular music for the last sixty-plus years. It's relatively easy to learn, and has proven itself to be extremely versatile sonically, rhythmically, and melodically. Unlike an acoustic instrument, its basic sound is almost completely neutral, leaving plenty of room for the player's individuality to come through. For all these reasons it has become iconic, and standard equipment for almost every band. It has been declared obsolete a few times in it's history but has always managed to evolve along with music itself. Recently though I've noticed it losing its place in modern music, it's finally starting to look and sound pretty tired. There have been many great innovators on the instrument but there doesn't seem to be many innovations left. To be fair, its had its day in the sun and it seems like people are starting to get more excited with the under-explored possibilities of percussion, and bass (the most sadly underrated instrument in my opinion). Guitar tends to take up a lot of space sonically, at least in the way that most people play it, and space in music can be very exciting. Guitar players also tend to be judged not by their musicality but by their technical ability. You aren't good unless you can "shred" (the video game Guitar Hero has done for guitar what Tony Hawk did for skateboarding, i.e. put emphasis on the wrong aspects in my opinion).
I love guitar but I won't be sad when people eventually stop finding relevant ways to apply it. It probably won't go away but it will be relegated to teenagers learning forty year old Zeppelin riffs, and even worse to accountants playing "tasty licks" on their vintage Les Pauls and boutique amps after work. Neither of these things are very exciting. But guitar was once exciting, here are some of my favorite guitarists.

Community Defense Inititave

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/world/asia/22militias.html?_r=1&hp

The United States never seems to learn from its foreign policy mistakes, especially when it comes to backing militias. I read this article this morning and couldn't help but see a pattern. Apparently local anti-Taliban militias have begun to form "independently" in Afghanistan to take up arms and fight. The US and Afghan governments feel they could offer these militias support in order to enlist their help. From all accounts, Taliban aggression has reached levels not seen since immediately post 9/11, while paradoxically Uncle Sam is looking for a way to bow out of this mess he got himself tangled up in. Americans really don't want to send more troops, so it would make sense to use these emerging militias as a way to supplement our forces. This seems like a sensible idea, and the article stresses the fact that these militias have taken up arms on their own. But anyone who remembers the Soviet-Afghan War and Operation Cyclone knows how horribly wrong this strategy can go.
Its a long story but basically in late 1979 during the height of the cold war the CIA under President Carter started a covert operation to arm the Afghan mujahideen in order to create a "Vietnam war like" situation with the USSR. This included funding resistance leaders like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar who worked closely with future Al-Queda leaders like Osama Bin Laden. The operation went well enough but lacked foresight. As soon as the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan we lost interest and cut all of our funding, including money going to Afghan refugees who fled to Pakistan to escape the conflict. Alienating the growing Islamist movement had far reaching implications. Among other things Hekmatyar would go on to bomb Kabul with his American supplied weapons killing thousands, and everybody knows what happened with Osama Bin Laden and Al-Queda. The US denies that any of our funding knowingly went to these people but clearly we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into.

I can appreciate the fact that we don't have a lot of options right now, but I hope we've learned something about tying up loose ends, or at the very least, knowing who we're giving weapons to.

Stood up.

Today I was stood up by a craigslist person who was supposed to buy a pedalboard off me. I'm really bummed about it, I'd planned my entire day around the $30 he agreed to pay. I wonder if he ever stopped to consider the fact that I might have a vinyl copy of Godz 2 on hold for me at Mississippi, or that I might have used the rest of the money to buy dinner! What a scumbag! There is an outside chance that something bad might have happened to him, in which case I take back what I just wrote. If he did just flake, then fuck him again for making me worry!

Beautiful music:

New Music Blog

I recently created a new blog in order to post home recordings. robertbobd.blogspot.com
Check them out if you have a minute.

Kinks Demos

Recently my friend Curtis was kind enough to share some unreleased Kinks demos with me. I didn't know what to expect, and was surprised to hear what basically amounted to a new Kinks album from their best period. There are lo-fi acoustic numbers, bizarre lyrical sketches, Beatles-esque early works, and intricately arranged pastoral pop masterpieces that wouldn't sound out of place alongside anything on "Something Else". Some songs are clearly works-in-progress containing bits and pieces that would later resurface in more familiar songs. I got a chill hearing the signature riff from "You Really Got Me" in the almost good but still kind of awkward "Don't Ever Let Me Go". I made a cd with about thirty tracks, and while not all of them are good, they're all at the very least interesting.
Here are a few of my favorites.

Create a playlist at MixPod.com

window shopping again.

One problem with being a musician is going through phases. I'm sure it happens to everybody regardless of how aesthetically rigorous they are. It isn't always really a "problem", I guess it just depends on how you choose to pursue whatever your latest interest is. For me these phases generally lead to material worship and ultimately end in financial ruin. Every time I feel content with my gear situation, I get into something else and the looking and spending starts all over again.
I've been on an electronic music kick for a while now, specifically pre 1980s electronic composition for movies and TV, and early analog synth music. This, of course started me looking for and desiring old keyboards, sequencers, drum machines, and of course my own analog synth to play with.
Last night I stayed up late watching demo videos of mini-moog voyagers, ARP Odysseys, Juno-60s, and Roland SH-101s. I was reminded of being a kid and looking through musicans friend catalogs knowing I would never be able to afford anything I REALLY wanted. My guitar/amp situation has finally come together, and now I've found something much more expensive to drool over, is this the American in me? I find this kind of blatant materialism disgusting when it applies to cars, tvs, cell phones, and clothing... how is this not coming from the same place?

Lets take the Mini-Moog Voyager:

This isn't even a vintage one (which I absolutely will never be able to lay a hand on nevermind purchase). I like the way it looks. Wood paneling! Knobs! Switches and little lights! There are so many options for processing and manipulating a signal I could get lost in it for months! The bad news is they retail for around $2000, used I could maybe find one for $15-1800 if I look hard. Its been a long time since I even had more than $500 to my name. Bummer.
My old house mate had a Moog Opus 3. He assumed it was broken but I played around with it and got it to work. At the time I didn't even scratch the surface of what it was capable of producing tone/texture-wise, if you dont understand the controls it can be a little confusing. It was a fun thing to mess with but now I really wish that I had insisted I buy it off him. Oh well.

Anyway, here is some of the music that brought me to the awful world of WANT.




This video kind of freaked me out.

Thursday Playlist

Here are some decent tunes I've been paying attention to lately:

R. Stevie Moore. Along with Shuggie Otis this man sort of pioneered DIY home recording in the 70s. His songs and lyrics are great, but too bizarre for most people to enjoy.



I suggest listening to more of his music, it gets better and better.

A ridiculous song.


I am truly, and deeply sorry that I never got the chance to see Quix*o*tic live. This is the only live video I've ever seen of them, they were clearly as amazing on stage as on record.


Liquid Liquid were on 99 records with ESG in the early 80s. This was their one sort of big song. Grandmaster Flash samples it for White Lines. I like the video a lot.


I've been listening to Planet Rock lately to help me stay pumped up in the rainy season.