WANT.

3D Printed Guitars

Random.

Yup, that seems about right today.

WTF, Slayer?

I realize I’m years late on this, but I just found out that Tom Araya of Slayer is a practicing Catholic. How the hell does that work? I feel like a kid who just found out that Santa Claus isn’t real.

Austin, TX

At SXSW, with Aaron Perrino. Our bands did a few shows together on tour years ago, and now we’re reunited and prettier than ever.

Can’t help but share

To quote Stephen Fry, “wow”. Even just for the tuning peg thing.

Back in the day

An old friend just sent this over. I must have been 17 or 18. It was the time I played guitar on the debut album “The Rope” by Black Tape For A Blue Girl. The best part was that I had no idea I had done so until I met up again with Sam Rosenthal about a dozen years later. I think he was kind of bent out of shape that I didn’t remember it (but when he played it for me, I recognized my style — I guess it must be true!). In my defense: those were hazy days, so to speak.

“Apotropaic”

Currently reading the Hitchens autobiography, and encountered the word that is the title of this post. Apparently, it’s an adjective which means “supposedly having the power to avert evil influences or bad luck”. Gotta find a way to use that in casual conversation this week!

In other news, the full Anarchy Club and Map & Key catalogs are now up on Spotify. The first two Splashdown releases (the only ones for which we own the rights) are up as well.

The Devil’s fiddle

Recorded violin today for the first time. After Russell rained sorrowful tones and tears all over the new Anarchy Club song, I had him noodle on a bunch of other tracks. Now that I know he can do Shakti, things are going to get interesting.

Getting the smell of the music in his nostrils.

Spotify

Just tried Spotify for the first time. Meh. Unless you’re looking for basic Top 40 fare, there is very little of interest to be found. Nothing even slightly obscure, not even recent Top 40 from other countries. (Zero from Japan or Korea, for example).

“The history of recorded music at your fingertips”? Hardly. I looked for dozens of long-established, non-mainstream artists, all of whom came up blank. But if you want Britney or Mariah Carey — hey, you’re in luck. What a surprise.

If this app is the future of music as everyone is saying, then music is about to become vastly more homogenous, not less. Just what the world needs… Bring on the global monoculture…