Dog On A Swing

thefrogman: [video] [h/t: kittenhugs] Heads up- playing a...

Sun, 19 May 2013 18:23:47 +0100

thefrogman:

[video] [h/t: kittenhugs]

Heads up- playing a couple songs at the Listening Room tonight in support of the excellent Simon Herron.

Also- Meadows Festival, Saturday 1st June, 11:50am(ish)

More gigs coming!

mappleton: Some glorious glorious human being made a video of...

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:37:34 +0100

mappleton:

Some glorious glorious human being made a video of one of The Best Essays/Lectures in Existence: “This is Water” by David Foster Wallace.

It is hard to overstate the overwhelming love I feel for this whole piece, as previously indicated in a post where I drew the opening quote.

filmhabits: David Bowie’s Space Oddity Cover Recorded by...

Mon, 13 May 2013 00:46:46 +0100

filmhabits:

David Bowie’s Space Oddity Cover

Recorded by Commander Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Station.

seawarn: CAT TANK

Sun, 12 May 2013 13:34:46 +0100

seawarn:

CAT TANK

A GIF-laden recap of a news story about the arts (with footnotes)

Tue, 07 May 2013 22:25:00 +0100

So the UK culture secretary recently told representatives of the arts to show the “value of culture to our economy.”

[Yes, that’s the only reason why music, film, art, comedy, theatre and everything in between are important- how much £££ are they bringing in?]

In response, the (English) Arts Council produced an independent* economic report that shows for every £1 of subsidy, SEVEN POUNDS go into our GDP.

You can read about the report in more detail here**. In brief though, I’m sorry Mrs Miller but,

What next? I’d like to see a similar study done in Scotland. Edinburgh’s often negatively compared to Glasgow (when actually far more apt comparisons would be to Cardiff, Oxford, or even Liverpool*** in the UK) but what it craves more than anything is a shift in attitude from those in power. A shift that would prevent venues and nights crunching to a halt because (for one embarrassingly common example) someone had the audacity to buy property next to these places and then complain about the noise.

I and many other people I know spend a lot of time and effort on doing what isn’t immediately (if it all) profitable, purely because we’re passionate about it. Despite the evidence above, the maxim “there’s fuck-all money in the arts” is still extremely useful for warding off charlatans who promise a big payday in the distant future if you’d just pay-to-play, spew thousands of pounds on gadgets and ephemera, or base your entire self-worth on whether some fud in a smart jacket thinks you might have talent.

Something we can do to fight those attitudes- mix with different crowds of people. Go to venues and nights you’ve never been, maybe because none of your friends go and you don’t want to be alone. You won’t be. Elaborating on why this is a good strategy will take another post. However, an excellent place to start (SEGUE KLAXON) would be Lach’s Antihoot Radio Show night. Details of that after the footnotes:

* Important detail.

** The Telegraph is usually sympathetic enough towards the main party of the UK coalition that it’s nicknamed the ‘Torygraph’.

*** I know! Even being home of the Beatles doesn’t protect it from this shit!

I’m playing bass with Henry’s Cellar Bar’s Dive Bar Band tomorrow night! I’ve been to this night a few times now (even before I joined the Dive Bar Band) and it’s really great. Read the Facebook event for more info + how to get cheaper entry.

OK, I’m out.

P.S. Dog On A Swing are doing well- more news when it comes.

nevver: Day Jobs of the Poets

Sun, 05 May 2013 15:02:12 +0100

nevver:

Day Jobs of the Poets

EP’s nearly ready!

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:23:15 +0100

EP’s nearly ready!

austinkleon: explore-blog: Alexander Chen spent an afternoon...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 21:14:42 +0100

austinkleon:

explore-blog:

Alexander Chen spent an afternoon improvising melodies on viola, and recording them through Google Glass. This resulting song is composed completely from 8-second video loops, stitched together into a film. Chen says, “You can see all the layers of the song, like a first-person orchestra.”

Every time somebody sees at a new piece of technology and says, “That is so stupid,” I always want to measure from that moment the amount of time it takes until some artist does something interesting with it. (Remember the iPad jokes?)

Getting Cozy With Dog On A Swing!

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 22:01:16 +0100

Getting Cozy With Dog On A Swing!:

Here’s a thing I did for a Canadian music blog!

"The only guarantee of reward you have is being proud of your work and being happy with who you are...."

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 00:39:26 +0100

“The only guarantee of reward you have is being proud of your work and being happy with who you are. We’re all just kids in the same sweaty, smelly, horrible-sounding basement playing music. There’s no such thing as a rock star, there’s no such thing as a diva. As cool as the coolest person in the room is- that you think they are- they’re just as insecure as you, with just as many problems in their messed-up lives as you. No-one is better than anyone else.”

- Jim Adkins (Jimmy Eat World), transcribed from 3:50-4:25 in the link provided. (via dogonaswing)
Necessary self-reblog.

johndarnielle: This band made some of the most aching gorgeous...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 23:41:33 +0100

johndarnielle:

This band made some of the most aching gorgeous music and are worth seeking out if you like to mine that vein of sweet solitary sad stuff so that is today’s recommendation, go listen to “Tinseltown in the Rain” and get nice and wistful about all the things

When awesome musicians recommend other musicians I already love.

Loooooooooads of stuff happening with the upcoming EP. I’m really excited and I’m not...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:36:00 +0100

Loooooooooads of stuff happening with the upcoming EP. I’m really excited and I’m not just saying that because it’ll have my songs on it. Like/reblog this if you want me to post a new thing (not from the EP).

Also, X-Factor and their ilk aren’t evil; they’re just irrelevant.

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 12:40:49 +0100

Also, X-Factor and their ilk aren’t evil; they’re just irrelevant.

Steve Albini lays it out for a failed X-Factor contestant

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 12:38:35 +0100

Steve Albini lays it out for a failed X-Factor contestant:

austinkleon:

While revisiting this Steve Albini “ask me anything” Reddit thread, I came across a GREAT back-and-forth between him and J Mark Inman, a guy who sang a terrible version of Radiohead’s “Creep” on X-Factor.

Inman doesn’t beat around the bush — he starts out asking Albini if he’ll produce his next record and help him get signed and mentions he was that guy on X-Factor. Albini’s response:

I’m not going to listen to that. By telling me you were on X Factor you’ve outed yourself as a vain douchebag who wanted to leapfrog into showbusiness stardom, and there’s nothing I can do to help you in that regard. Continue singing in front of your mirror holding a hairbrush with my best wishes for continued success.

That would be enough to shut me up forever, but Inman says that Albini doesn’t know him and how hard he’s worked, to which Albini responds (all emphasis mine):

I was being rude but your grasping aspirations are an affront to the millions of dedicated musicians who ply their art without crying about it. You tried a shortcut and it didn’t work. They rarely do. Now you get to have the selfsame experience you tried to avoid, that being building a following by actually working on your music, then putting yourself in front of audiences and performing. You say you have no industry support. Boo hoo. Neither does anybody else. There’s no industry.

Do what everybody else does, get a job and work on your music in your spare time. Work on music you’re passionate about and want to make for its own sake. If your music resonates with other people then your music will eventually earn you something, but if not you’re still doing something you enjoy.

Singing is like dancing or playing chess or fishing or tennis. If you love it you’ll feel rewarded just by the act of doing it, and bully for you. That’s an awesome thing, to do something you love. But in all those enterprises only a vanishingly small number of people ever get to do them professionally, and if that’s the only way you can appreciate music then you’re not a musician, you’re a wannabe fantasy case and you need to get out.

Inman still won’t given up — he goes into a lengthy explanation of his history and claims that his trouble is that he doesn’t have “connections.” Albini:

Connections don’t mean shit. I’ve never had any connections that weren’t a natural outgrowth of doing things I was doing anyway. Additionally, the people you might make connections with who work in the industry and value connections themselves, all those people are clueless assholes with no clout anyhow. You can tell because they think they can get somewhere with connections and spend their energy trying to make connections rather than being good at things, and being good at things is the only thing that earns you clout or connections.

It’s a myth that you can get anywhere in music through connections. The guy on the other end of the connection has to be into what you’re doing, and if you’re doing it publicly and he’s receptive, he probably hears about it on his own.

Don’t worry about anything but making music you like. Everything else is bullshit.

Inman continues, and finally, Alibi responds:

Oh for fuck’s sake. I give up.

And there you have it — so many times in these situations aspiring artists are looking for some kind of magic formula or secret handshake for success, and the truth is what they know, but don’t want to believe: you’re just not good enough yet. You still need to work and work and work, and even then, you still might not be good enough.

cf. Steve Martin, Trent Reznor

You guys (specifically Martyn and Ally, generally everyone) should check out Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon (who compiled this post).

Audio

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 09:47:04 +0100

Louis C.K.: “It was a horrible process to get to this.”

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 23:46:55 +0100

Louis C.K.: “It was a horrible process to get to this.”:

austinkleon:

Does it matter that what you’ve achieved, with your online special and your tour can’t be replicated by other performers who don’t have the visibility or fan base that you do?

Why do you think those people don’t have the same resources that I have, the same visibility or relationship? What’s different between me and them?

You have the platform. You have the level of recognition.

So why do I have the platform and the recognition?

At this point you’ve put in the time.

There you go. There’s no way around that. There’s people that say: “It’s not fair. You have all that stuff.” I wasn’t born with it. It was a horrible process to get to this. It took me my whole life. If you’re new at this — and by “new at it,” I mean 15 years in, or even 20 — you’re just starting to get traction. Young musicians believe they should be able to throw a band together and be famous, and anything that’s in their way is unfair and evil. What are you, in your 20s, you picked up a guitar? Give it a minute.

cf. Steve Albini lays it out for a failed X-Factor contestant

Louis C.K. absence hereby repaired.

literaryjukebox: If you pay attention to the movies they will...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:45:21 +0100

literaryjukebox:

If you pay attention to the movies they will tell you what people desire and fear. Movies are hardly ever about what they seem to be about. Look at a movie that a lot of people love, and you will find something profound, no matter how silly the film may be.

Roger Ebert (RIP) in Life Itself

Song: “A Movie Script Ending” by Death Cab for Cutie

iTunes :: Amazon :: Back to Brain Pickings

imspencer: apoplecticskeptic: Henry Rollins interviewed by...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:32:00 +0100

imspencer:

apoplecticskeptic:

Henry Rollins interviewed by Pharrell Williams.

Holy crap, what an interview. Two of the smartest people in the music business, dropping serious knowledge for 20ish minutes.

Must watch. An absolute must watch.

h/t hoboarchitect (via fb)

This was really great.

Chief Admiral of the Truth Torpedo Brigade, Henry Rollins.

“This woman does not play guitar. A dark, terrifying thing...

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 18:34:25 +0000

“This woman does not play guitar. A dark, terrifying thing inside her plays it.”

theonion: Supreme Court On Gay Marriage: ‘Sure, Who Cares’ |...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 16:14:30 +0000

theonion:

Supreme Court On Gay Marriage: ‘Sure, Who Cares’ | Full Report

I wish this was a real story.