I’ve ranted on and on—in many posts—about my admiration for Mr. Brion. This post is a little different. I want to take a song from his only solo record “Meaningless” and break it apart—provide a little background into the admiration I’ve grown for the song writing and production genius of Jon Brion.

From a guy who has lived in Boston for almost a decade. this song has a close place to my heart. “Her Ghost” is a track from “Meaningless” written while he was a Boston resident. I can create an amazing mental picture of him in a Boston apartment pouring his heart out over his thoughts of this woman he sings of.

“Her Ghost” is no doubt a love song. What kind of a love song is entirely up for debate. (Just about everything I’ll say about these lyrics is of course subjective, but none the less strong thoughts on them.)
Jon Brion – Her Ghost

Lyrics

Here’s how I would lyrically sum up the song.

Jon is a guy who lives in an apartment building with a girl he knows. How well? I don’t know, but it’s enough that he has strong feelings for. She could be a neighbor of which he has grown close. She could be his reason for living. Never quite been able to make that part out. Either way, she has this guy in her life. But this guy is not up to the standards of Jon or his muse. But he’s there, and Jon makes it really clear he’s not going away.

Jon is hurt by the amount of power this guy has over her life. He really wants to step in to do something about what is clearly unhealthy and he desperately wants to change that.

“And every where I turn, I tend to learn that she’s got memories that never burn. And this is of concern and I prepare to go. ‘Cause this I know, that though he’s out sight, he’s in her mind and in my hair. I’m tiring of this fight. Besides, it’s getting me nowhere.”

I imagine Jon watching silently in the halls as this man fights with his neighbor. I can see him imagining all her pain. He feels like he’s invisible to this guy, hidden away in the dark shadows of the building’s halls and hates that feeling.

“Her ghost is propped up in the hall. He speaks no evil there. He doesn’t notice me at all, I find it a bit unfair.”

There’s no happy ending or closure to the story he tells. We’re left with the sad state of Jon knowing that as long as this guy is in her life, “He’ll be the death of me”. (which happens to lead into a perfect transition into “The Same Mistakes”)

Production

Jon Brion exhibits amazing songwriting ability on “Meaningless”, but nothing falls short of his production genius.

The song kicks off with a Chamberlain/Mellotron pad that is definitely a distinctive sound for a Brion production. Besides the drums, bass, vocals, and piano, the Chamberlain/Mellotron makes up most of its beauty. Jon really wanted to get a full orchestra to due this track justice, but luckily his brother pushed him to include it on the record.

The best way I can describe the groove is “chunky”. Every instrument chunks along while these pads are held out over it until they decide to add perfect accents on top of the chunking groove.

As the song goes on, perfect breaks in the instrumentation are brilliantly placed to drop out and emphasize lyrics or give you that space to breath and regroup on the impact of the importance of what he’s saying.

At about 2:45 in the song you get to an unusually climactic build. The bass holds strong yet everything starts to build up around it. The payoff isn’t grand; the payoff is a dropped out, small, filtered sound of Jon’s voice. It pans to the right speaker delivering the line “Memories that never burn”.

It’s full from top to bottom but his vocals cut through (probably why the lyrics grabbed me so much). The overall sound of the song is full, spacious, warm, and distinctly Jon Brion.

Have a listen to the original demo of the song and prepare to be blown away by how little changed between it and the final product that made it to the record. And dear lord, if you don’t have this album, get on it now!
Jon Brion – Her Ghost Demo

Purchase “Meaningless” on CD Baby

Photo Credit: Robert Gauthier/LA Times

This is our new pop music. I’m not even going to consider throwing Miley or Bieber in this mix because the attention and enjoyment Gaga and M.I.A. receive stretches across too many generations and cultures. This is what pop music is, right? It has the ability to be “popular music” and reach many people, for better or for worse.

You can still be popular when you’re notorious. Hell, it’s probably even easier that way. Dress a little crazy, throw some politics in the mix, next thing you know you’re the talk of the town. It’s been proven to work in the past, why not do it now?

Motown.

Now THIS is pop music. It made you dance, it made you sing, it caused controversy, it was a part of life. But you know the best part about it? The songs were REAL. The songs were GOOD. The songs GROOVED. All the while remaining popular.

If I sang to you “I’ve got sunshine, on a cloudy day”, you immediately (for the love of god I hope) know what song I’m referring to and probably have some sort of visual or emotional feeling towards it.

You’re probably thinking that there’s no comparison between today’s modern pop music and what was happening during the 60’s in that basement in Hitsville U.S.A. Of course there is! Those songs are a part of our culture and granted, I may still be the only person out there who feels so strongly about them, but they had a huge hand in defining what we call pop music today.

The genre will never die. By all definition of the term, it can’t. It just evolves and changes over decades and generations. And the music we’re calling pop today (specifically you Lady Gaga) is not going to be as timeless as the hits played by one of the tightest groups in the history of music, written and performed by some of the brightest and talented young stars the Motown era had to offer.

50 years later are kids still going to be growing up with “Telephone” or “Paper Planes” they same way “Ooh Baby Baby” and “Uptight” rocked my world? Put me in my grave now if that’s going to be the case.

If you haven’t figured it out, I’m going on record saying I don’t like you Lady Gaga, or M.I.A. And while we’re on the subject, I can’t stand you either Eminem. I’m not saying you all aren’t talented, you’re just so talented that you’ve ruined some of the beauty that is music.You’re very entertaining individuals but don’t forget, you’re still creating pop MUSIC.

Come on Marvin, let’s go try to figure out What’s going on.

Photo Credit: Check out the badass Adidas Motown shoes here.

I’m about to step into controversial waters here and I’m OK with that. I’m going on record to say it: Piracy does NOT kill music.

If there were AA meetings for music lovers, I would probably have to attend one at least 3-5 times a week. “Hi, my name is Matt. And I’m a music addict.”

I obtain music in any way I can: streaming, iTunes, record stores, live shows, Amazon, online orders from labels, and yes, even the controversial music torrent sites.

Each source has it’s own purpose for how I can and want to gather music. If you follow me online, it’s no secret I am obsessed with vinyl. I spend money on vinyl weekly. But most of the vinyl I buy is because of A) impulse (7″ mainly) or B) because I am obsessed with the record and want to hear what it sounds like in it’s beautiful analog form and have that gorgeous physical object to hold in my hands. (also adding great decoration to my living room)

There are many ways to preview albums that I am fully aware of and use them frequently. MOG being the go to choice for me. But getting a preview from iTunes can give me enough of a sample to let me know if I am into the overall sound or not.

Part of the problem is that I spend a lot of my time in the car listening to music, a place where I can’t stream albums. So I end up wanting the physical copy. But most of the time it’s silly to go buy the CD when I most likely will go buy the vinyl or attend a show and buy the CD directly from the merch table.

Being labeled as a “stealer of music” really hurts. Albums I have produced, mixed, or engineered that have never been picked up by labels or distributed correctly can be found on many of these sites. HELL YEAH I SAY! The hard work we put into the record will be enjoyed by anyone who wants to get their hands on it. And in most cases, in multiple audio formats for your choosing. When I see 1,000 people have downloaded the album that’s sitting in boxes in a closet, I can’t help but grin from ear to ear.

I can state the obvious that there are so many reasons why NOT to do it, but it’s here to stay (for now). Sorry record labels. Forget your 1970’s model of distribution and realize you need to adapt. I am the customer and the customer is always right. So cater to me. I will selfishly obtain music in anyway that I want, paid or unpaid.

As proof of my point. The album of the week in the right sidebar (or found below) is one I spent months of my life working on. Go ahead and download it. I didn’t make a penny off of this record but am very proud of it. Hope you enjoy.

Jay McCarrol – Jay McCarrol by dirkler

There are a million reasons why I think vinyl has made a comeback into popular “cool” culture. I bought my first record player over a decade ago and have worked it into my every day life. Ok, correction. It has worked it’s way into my every day life.

Here are some random reasons why I could never live without vinyl. (slight exaggeration)

Vinyl is a hobby

There are folks out there who collect stamps, baseball cards, and even typewriters. I collect vinyl records. The difference between my hobby and the others is that I get to enjoy mine daily. For those folks who collect stamps: are you able to whip out that rare stamp and use it as it was meant to be? Licked and pressed onto an envelope? Nope. I get to collect AND enjoy how these collectables were meant to be used.

Vinyl is art

There is absolutely nothing like holding a 12″ (or even 7″) record in your hands. Music is art. What better way to accompany that than with creative uses of all the folds and surfaces you are allowed on that size of material.

Vinyl sounds great

I am not disregarding digital releases that can sound great. Some things sound better on CD than they do on vinyl. But vinyl has a completely unique way of representing audio that sometimes can not be duplicated digitally. In the digital world, there is a thing called dither which is added to an album to fill in the gaps that vinyl doesn’t need to. Without going too in depth, digital music is still 0’s and 1’s. Dither is intentional noise filled in to mask the gaps left with these limitations of only 2 numbers.

Vinyl is an experience

It’s one thing to have any album you want to hear at the ready. Streaming services do this very well. Vinyl records don’t have this luxury. (which is why most new releases come with mp3 download codes in them) But I have spent many years where people have come by to hang out and are shocked at the fact that I get up mid conversation to flip the record. I LOVE THAT. Sorry to break up conversation, but this then adds a whole new twist towards the mediocre conversation we were probably having.

Vinyl is fun

Once you buy your first turntable and start finding the hidden record shops in your town/city, it becomes a new thing you look forward to. And when a new release comes out, you pray they will press it to vinyl. I download plenty of music on my computer but it’s just way too damn easy. I love running over to a record store on a Tuesday to catch a new release that might be added with some special bonus I wouldn’t get otherwise.

Moral of the story? Try vinyl. It hurts way less than giving blood.

That line can be found splattered around thousands of places in print and on the web. But it’s only 3/4 true. The impact Pet Sounds has had on music is actually more prevalent now than it was when it was released. And to confuse you further, that last statement is probably only 1/2 true. Stick with me…

On it’s release, Pet Sounds got some pretty negative reviews. But today if an album comes out and it has great production (or at least a focus on production), it get’s marked up as being influenced by Pet Sounds. If an album comes out that has harmonies on it, well, you can probably guess what’s next. It was supposedly influenced by Pet Sounds.

To give some background, I am one of the many who heard Pet Sounds and debated throwing in the towel when it came to producing and engineering records. It’s a masterpiece. (cliche line #2) Picture being around in ‘66 and opening up that vinyl to hear the background vocals on ‘Wouldn’t it Be Nice’ smack you in the face!? Shit, I can’t even imagine.

Beach Boys – Wouldn’t it Be Nice (Stack-O-Vocals)

Every new album that comes out now is influenced by a record or sound that already exists. This can’t be debated. No musician has turned to music, written music, and not listened to any other music before. A lot of artists like to say “Our sound is completely original and like nothing else out there“. Sorry to be a downer for truly creative artists, but you’re going to sound like something that already exists. And please don’t be offended by that. It just can’t be avoided.

The reason Pet Sounds is behind this post is because the more you look, the more you will see it as the album everyone references as the one they are influenced by. It’s almost like artists saying “This product is ‘fair trade’ or ‘all natural’” to make you feel good about liking it. You can slap a guarantee that your album is not terrible by saying Pet Sounds influenced it. (I’ll most likely buy it)

But I’m seeing the increasing trend of this happening and it gets me a bit peeved. If you claim your album is influenced by Pet Sounds and can’t name the last track on the album without blinking an eye, then I call bull. To be truly influenced by an album you must have lived and breathed it. Otherwise your music would not have that influence in it.

Sorry, this is a very touchy subject for me. But please don’t use Pet Sounds as a way to make the album more credible (and this goes for artists, reviewers, and bloggers) by saying it was influenced by Pet Sounds. This is one music fan who will take that claim very seriously.

I’ll finally leave you with one example. Fleet Foxes self titled was made out to be completely influenced by Pet Sounds. Holy crap! They have harmonies on the album!! There is literally one song and only about 1 minute of it that I can safely say “Yes, this is influenced by The Beach Boys”. And notice I used The Beach Boys for the example. That’s because it’s actually influenced by ‘Smile’ and not Pet Sounds. Give it a listen and go forth and prosper. (what?)

Fleet Foxes – Quiet Houses (example)

Gradon Tripp was first to bring up (and inspire this post) with the topic of which “new” artists could be used to ask the famous ‘Beatles or Stones’ question. I honestly thought this would be a relatively easy task. But now I’m realizing it is SO far from easy.

We have a new Beatles. It’s Radiohead. This is almost impossible to argue (except with some good points made over a lunch conversation with one highly credible woman) Oddly, Radiohead’s career has gone on WAY longer than the Beatles yet holds so many parallels. Each album they create is still Radiohead, but somehow morphs into a new form, just like every Beatles record. Also, members of Radiohead have now gone on to take on solo projects, just like their counterparts. And ‘In Rainbows’ is the new ‘Abbey Road’ while ‘Revolver’ is their ‘OK Computer’. (fight me on that. my fists are up)

So who can step into the Stones place and allow us to compare? THIS was the biggest challenge. There is no artist who has followed the Stone’s model of success. They differ from the Beatles because they play straight up rock and are pretty damn predictable. Sure they have their mellow tunes but still are known for their riff based rock anthems. Also they are on their what, 5th decade of making music??

I have two picks of who could be the new Stones. Green Day or The Black Crowes. Both are ridiculous to compare. But after many discussions and thought, they were the best two I could put myself behind. If anyone has an answer, I’d sure love to hear it.

thanks to gradontripp, paulledyard, calmstock, tamadear, jeff and luke for great input on this topic.

I’m hoping to get some help on this subject. I have a question I’ve been wondering about for some time now. What the hell is the benefit of converting an album on vinyl to an album of digital files??

I understand the basic reasoning that an mp3 is MUCH more portable than a vinyl record. I understand that sometimes there are older releases that you can find only on vinyl. But besides that I am at a loss for words. This just goes against the whole point of vinyl releases. Right??

Listening to a record pressed on vinyl is an experience. One that is somewhat sacred and is an unique experience that can’t even be put into the same category as downloading an album from iTunes or any other online media distribution site and loading it into your media player of choice.

In the audio recording world it is fairly common to cut your basic tracks to tape (analog) and then transfer them into an audio editing program (digital). I completely understand the logic of this. You get many of the benefits of analog tape but get all the benefits of something like Pro Tools to edit everything together without the use of destructive razor blades.

The difference with this is that the source was analog to analog. The musicians are the analog and the medium capturing their performance is analog. High quality digital gear is used carefully during the conversion to retain many of the great sounds hit to tape.

But with a vinyl record (that has possibly already been through many many A/D conversions, what is the benefit to then convert it back with some encoding program to an mp3?

I feel I know my fair share about audio. But this one stumps me. Please someone, help me understand. I will be eternally grateful.

Many artists have and will try to rid themselves of this mess that major labels put them into. But to be successful and actually make a buck in the music industry as a musician means you need to be signed to a great record label. (if you’re looking my preference is Nonesuch and here’s to hoping this model changes)

The best case I can think of (and the one I spent all morning harping on) is the release of Fiona Apple’s ‘Extraordinary Machine’. There’s a whole story behind the release of this record. I can’t get all the facts straight because clearly I was not a part of it… But from what I gather it was a record Fiona wanted to give more credit to Jon than Epic Records wanted to. I’ve heard it was meant to be a Fiona Apple/Jon Brion release but Epic would not allow it.

This kinda sucks because I’ve seen Jon and Fiona perform together and they are true musicians. To put it bluntly? They don’t fuck around. Anything they would spend a significant amount of time on is something I would love to hear. Thanks to the internet, this is possible.

I’ve given both the major label release of ‘Extraordinary Machine’ a listen and I’ve given the ‘Jon Brion’ version a good listen as well. (Thank you internet pirates our there). The ‘Jon Brion’ version is hard to say it’s better. But shit. It’s better. Who am I kidding. Why is it better? Because it was two brilliant minds putting together a record they wanted to. The problem is that the record label thought it was something that wouldn’t sell. And you know what? They might have been right.

You might be wondering why I harp on such an old release. (an old release meaning 2005) But it’s one that started a trend of labels taking over great releases of true artistic albums. Why would they meddle with such brilliance? You have an artist like Fiona who could command an army with her voice and talent. You have an artist like Jon Brion who could rival Mozart with his musical brilliance. Why the FUCK would you get in between that? It’s because they thought the general buying public wouldn’t get it after Fiona had been gone for so many years.

‘Extraordinary Machine’ did well with it’s sales. But so did Kelley Clarkson at the same time. Do they fall into the same musical class? Not at all. ‘Extraordinary Machine’ sales fell while the Jon Brion version gained popularity. So thank you Epic Records or whoever was behind the whole thing. Please officially release the real version. The intelligent listening audience will thank you.

Take the time to compare the two versions below. I can go on and on about the differences but it’s up to you to decide what you like. That’s what music is all about.

Fiona Apple – Not About Love

Fiona Apple/Jon Brion – Not About Love

I just read about this topic today that has been going on for decades (especially when it comes to music blogging) but Paste Magazine did a great article on the Evolution of the Hipster. It’s really a laughable matter. We all would love to be ‘cool’. It’s in our blood people! You can deny it all you want, but some part of us wants to feel cool. That topic is not up for debate. Ask your therapist.

Musicians are perceived to be cool. And you know what? They all are. (even you John Tesh) Don’t even try to tell me Mozart wasn’t cool, or Del Shannon, or Otis Redding, or Marvin Gaye, or Madonna, or Brian Wilson. Those were some cool people! And we looked up to them and most of us wanted to be them at some point in our life.

But me writing about this will probably muster up some nose turns at me and my stance. We are ALL HIP. To be labeled a hipster is fine. To snark at hipsters makes you hip too. So where the hell do you win? Well. You don’t. Cause we’re all hip and cool and rad and badass.

• The dude (or chick) who comes by to clean out the bathrooms after a gig? HIP.
• The dude (or chick) who takes your ticket at the show. HIP.
• The dude (or chick) you paid your money to go see that night? HIP.
• YOU, for going to see a show, buying the CD, telling your friend to listen to it, checking them out online. HIP!!!

Let’s end this war of hip, hipster, cool, and not cool. We’re all fucking cool people. And if you’re reading this, you’re especially cool!

Time for another list…

• Creators of computers. HIP.
• Creators of the internet. HIP.
• Creators of Wordpress, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook. HIP.
• Creators of your toothbrush you use everyday. HIP!!

I’m one to get over this debate (and you can probably find a ton of evidence as to why I am a COMPLETELY contradicting myself with this post) but I’ll be the hippie, the martyr, the first fat kid at a swimming pool to take off his shirt. Have at it. Let’s all just go into this new decade knowing proudly that we are ALL, hip as shit.

Now, I love the holidays, and I love holiday music, but I have never been the type of person to turn my car radio to a holiday station on Thanksgiving and let it run on through the New Year. In fact I’ve never even attempted it, as I always assumed I would be googling “euthanasia centers Boston” by about December 1st (don’t bother trying by the way; most of them, for some reason, draw the line at humans). But despite my trepidation toward this practice, for the last few days I had no choice but to get a crash course on what it means to be a Holiday Radio Junkie.

The drugs are quick. As soon as I was picked up from the airport, I was dropped into a world of jingle bells and pre-war jazz pop, taken to dizzying heights by triple modulating standards and soft rock holiday covers that go to the chorus no less than five times a song. As we pushed through hour after hour, I could feel myself slipping. I began to see, through the fir-scented mire, how a person could get pulled into this seedy world and never recover. With a catalogue of songs that is shockingly small, holiday radio can ensnare even the strongest person in its spiraling labyrinth of sameness, like the swirling underbelly of a powerful waterfall does to the unmindful rafter, placidly allowing its victim to twist and struggle to exhaustion before finally succumbing to the still calm of brain death.

I myself quickly OD’d on the yuletide dementia, having such a low tolerance, and before I knew it I found myself lying back and taking each and every Nick & Jessica cover with a frightening level of enthusiasm. This twisted, cruel euphoria lasted a week straight with absolutely no breaks (I have the Comcast music channels, the aforementioned car radio, and my unresting and easily hooked brain to thank for the smooth musical transitions from car to mall to car to home to black, imageless sleep and back again). By the fifteenth or sixteenth separate rendition of ‘Little Drummer Boy’ (which easily has the wackiest array of covers in the holiday canon, from Whitney Houston to Anne Murray to Daughtry) I started to have unrelenting visions of sugarplums dancing in my head… horrible, hellspawn sugarplums. Of course, those could have also been blood spots from the blown vessels in my brain; I don’t really know what sugarplums look like. (Incidentally, the difference between googling ‘sugar plums’ and ‘sugar plum’ is mildly startling. Check the image results for both).

On the plane ride back north, I rocked and sweated, cut off from the feed, sucking on candy canes in the bathroom just to keep myself sane. It was a brutal recovery, much like Ewan Macgregor’s in ‘Trainspotting’, only in my case the ceilingbabies were shaped like sugarplums… or possibly naked men bent over a couch (have you googled ‘sugar plum’ yet???). But as soon I was home, with my faithful iPod by my side bumping secular chunks of beauty, the stillness and non-festive-ness of the situation allowed me a much-needed reprieve from the holiday madness. I have been to the edge and back, people, and I am proud to say I am a better man for it. Or not.

Thanks for reading, and happy holidays.