This is amazing!

This really made my night. I hope it does the same for you. I'm reading this awesome book called "This is your brain on music" It made me look up Joni Mitchell on youtube. She is so breath taking. Her talent is so great. I'm jealous. *blushing*

PS22 They are awesome.

This video is making me want to join a choir. I love it. We need more teachers like this.

The 90's

If you were young in the 90's then this is a blog for you!. It is co-written by Lesley Arfin. She is the author of a great book Dear Diary. She posted a video from the 95' MTV music awards that I haven't seen in years. Fun fun!

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

This band is awesome! I have really been enjoying Phoenix. This French indie band has been pumping in the van for the past two weeks. Check them out if you haven't already.

No More LALA

Lala.com is gone. It was bought by Apple and then shut down. I guess that's one way to get rid of the competition. I will miss this music streaming website. I was using it to produce my blog The Year in Records. I'm currently working on another way to keep this blog going. Any suggestions?? I miss this project.

Coffee Anyone?

Coffee can be very important at the office. This truck wants to be sure we all remember this.

One year from today!

One year from today I want to be performing or have performed a Tiny Desk Concert. I want to sit in that small space and sing my guts out for the world to hear. My cheap acoustic guitar strings rattling as Karen screams the lyrics of Brilliant Boy into the atmosphere.

This performance is perfect tonight. It came to me at just the right moment and I will keep it with me as I finish this EP.

I like this rock.

To ignore our environment and the effect we have on it is selfish. To believe our actions have no adverse effects on our native habitat is crazy. It's hard for me to understand why we have chosen to turn our backs on science.




Now that I've stepped down from my soap box here is a really cool show. Living on Earth is very entertaining. Listen to it.

Crazy crazy crazy...

I once wrote a song about the cosmos. It was called crazy, and it was in fact crazy. I put so much delay (an echo type effect) that you couldn't even understand a word I was saying.

In memory of this song and to share my fascination with space I give you this picture along with a link to many more.

M78

More pictures from above.

Riding on Grass.

I first heard about bikes made of bamboo while listening to NPR. I thought it sounded to good to be true. Why had it taken so long to think of this? Could they really be strong enough to support me? In search of answers to my questions about this grass on wheels I turned to YouTube. I found many videos featuring Queen's "Bicycle Race". These videos were pretty boring and poorly executed. Then I came across this gem. It is very informative and the kid who is hosting it is... well he's trying. :)



If anyone wants to buy me one of these hit me up on email and I'll send ya my address.

I would like to thank you.

I was playing a show in Pittsburgh recently @ a bar known as The Smiling Moose. It's a cool place with an upstairs downstairs thing going on. We were playing upstairs with one of our favorite Pittsburgh bands Signal to the Ocean Estate. After the show a guy in the audience stopped me to say he liked the show. He then asked me if I had heard of The Swell Season. @ the time I had not heard of them. He asked if I had heard of or seen the movie Once. I replied yes. Not yes I had seen the movie, but yes I had heard of it. He said "you guys remind me of them." Later that night when I got home, I booted my computer to look up The Swell Season. I could not believe what I heard. Did he really mean we sounded anything like these two amazing artists? This is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me about my music. Thank you!


This video gives me the chills. I love The Swell Season!

Music and the beard.

I admit it. I have been slacking in the beard picture department. I am about three weeks behind in my posts @ http://essentialmachine.com. I plan on catching up today!

In other news, I am in the process of enrolling @ Full Sail University. I will be studying Music Production in pursuit of a Bachelors of Science. I'm looking forward to all of the knowledge I'm about to acquire.

If you haven't already listened to our record Find the Harmony now is your chance. I was surfing around on lala.com and I noticed that Essential Machine has zero plays. In the interest of changing that number to anything other than zero I have posted a player below. Enjoy.

P.S.

The record is coming along nicely, and we are planning another internet show very soon!

Essential Machine

Save it!

I'm writing this blog to remind myself to click save every once in awhile. Why you ask? Well let me tell you a little story. I spent a few hours recording a percussion part in the studio the other day. I had five tracks going, edited and starting to really come together. Instead of taking a second and saving the file I added more plug-ins until it crashed. Now I'm back at square one. RJ, SAVE YOUR SHIT!

The more the merrier!

My friend Chris G. introduced me to this group Pomplamoose (thanks Chris!). Their music is very unique. I love the arrangements and instrumentation. I am admittedly jealous of them. I am most jealous of the seemingly endless number of different instruments they have at their disposal. I have decided to start collecting new instruments. My tool of choice for this mission is craigslist. I have spent some time this week looking at instruments for sale. I'm looking forward to starting my new collection.

Here is a video from Pomplamoose. It's a good example of the many instruments that they use in their music. Be sure to check out there original music as well.




Next I want to share a video that I have found to be beautiful and honest. It's from an artist known as Zee Avi. I think this video speaks for it self.

Blogging from my phone.

I wanted to post a blog from my phone so here it is. If thisis ok I think I will use my phone to post blogs while on the road and at work. I spent most of the day in the studio. I'm having a blast with this new record. I worked out harmonies and tempos and fixed arrangments. I love putting on my headphones and going for it, looking for the perfect balance between harmony and melody. I'm getting anxiuos to share our newest creations though I know it will be sometime before the record is released. At the current rate of recording I have been thinking that the record will be released in May.

A new day!

I had my first real day off in my new position! Wow! What a difference. My phone did not ring once. That's right not once. This has already had a profound effect on me. I spent many hours in the studio this morning busting out riffs and melodies. I feel a real momentum starting. The new music is really coming together. There is a point where I start to panic for a minute wondering if this will ever start to come together. That's when I make a change and things start moving! Progress is essential!

"You can't be neutral on a moving train." - Howard Zinn



He will be missed!

What did you say?

I often get overwhelmed by things in my daily life. My job, my car, the normal shit we all deal with. When these things start to crowd me, I feel uninspired and unable to create. So I have been working hard to change the things that cause me pain.

1. Change Job

I changed my job title and with this change comes uninterrupted days off and the end to a nasty game of scapegoat.

2. Get a New Car

As much as I wanted to purchase (get a loan for) a new vehicle it is not the right time to do so. In lieu of buying a "new" car we are going to purchase (no loan) a used car. This will be the vehicle we use for touring with Essential Machine.

Craigslist is a great place to look for used cars. We bought our last car through the site and will buy the next.

Instead of waiting for things to change or resolve themselves I have decided to make the changes proactively. I no longer have to feel creatively clogged while I wait for some magical event to come along and fix everything.

I don't need sleep.

Late night rehearsal sessions and watching episodes of Arrested Development on Hulu have convinced me that I don't need sleep. Winter can be hard when you wake up and it's still dark outside. Time seems different now. It's as if day ceases to exist and night has become all I know. This will all catch up with me soon and I will be in bed early resetting myself, but until then carpe noctem.

Please Help!

Paste Magazine is helping the relief effort in Haiti by giving music away to any one who donates using the link below or has already donated elsewhere. That's right even if you gave money through another organization you can still download the songs free. Check it out and pass it on!

Growing old with Kare

This is for you Kare.

WHO is in charge?

As soon as I heard about the swine flu I looked up the stats on the seasonal flu. I found that the swine flu wasn't killing more people than the seasonal flu nor was it spreading faster. I then proceeded to ignore most of the nonsense hype the media circus created.

It now appears that the WHO had a hand in creating the hype. This issue is about to be investigated in Europe. It seems that the pharmaceutical industry may have had something to do with the WHO changing the definition of pandemic. If you are interested in this topic here is the article.

Hey mainstream media! Get your heads out of your asses and start looking out for the citizens of this country!

A busker I want to be!

A busker is one who performs on the street. I have been a busker in the past. I used to play on the streets Ybor City on weekend nights. All of the drunk people would come over and sing along. It was so much fun. I made enough money for a pack of smokes and a meal the next day for me and a friend.

I have been watching people busk on youtube.com now for the past hour. There are so many cool things. I wanted to share this video with you.



I hope Kare and I can find a place and some time in the near future to go busking. Well after the weather warms up anyway.

New music and snow driving.

With both hands tightly gripping the steering wheel, I kept my vehicle from sliding off of the road. It took me twice as long to get home as it would have any other night, but I'm safe and sound. The snow just keeps coming and I keep driving very slowly.

A friend shared this site with me, it's called daytrotter. I have been enjoying the free music. Check out Damien Jurado if you haven't already.

I'm a selfish asshole!

Kare has an awesome voice. I love listening to her sing. Since the new album we are writing is 100% collaborative I have had the privilege of hearing her lovely voice a lot these past few weeks. Now that I have shared my feelings about Kare's singing I can tell you all why I'm a selfish asshole.

We recently wrote a song that Kare is going to sing lead on. It is a wonderfully emotional tune. I have been really enjoying writing it with her. Now that we have it finished I want to sing lead on it. Yes that's right I love it so much I want to sing lead. I know that it sounds better with Kare singing lead and that we wrote it for her so that's how it will be recorded and performed, but I'm a selfish asshole.

The songs that are coming out of these sessions are so much fun to play. I know that this will come through on our performances and our recordings.

No more selfish asshole.

It's all yours Kare.

I Love Paste

If you love music and want a place that will keep new music pumping through your speakers, then check out Paste Magazine. It's cheap to get a subscription. Only $.99 a month gets you a free mp3 sampler and the magazine. I'm promoting this not just because I want to share it with you all, but because I don't want it to go away. I know that sounds selfish, and it is. So please if you like music and want to read about it and listen to it all the time, get a subscription. They are also doing a promo right now to save the magazine. You get a bunch of rare recordings if you make a donation to the magazine. The banner below will take you where you need to go. Thanks for checking it out.

Please Smoke Lettuce!

This is great!

Muffins and Music

I can't imagine a better way to start the week. Apple streusel muffins from the local bakery and coffee, followed by a writing session with Kare.

I'm very excited about the new music we are creating for the record. Can't wait to share them with everyone. We are going to be trying some of the new stuff out at our next show. See Essential Machines website for details.

Now back to recording.

Maybe Not

So I guess I'm not going to be posting a picture of my beard everyday (see previous post or click here). After careful consideration and consultation I decided that once a day is a bit much. So I have revised my plan from once a day to once a week. I think this will be a bit more manageable for everyone involved (especially me).

I once saw this guy who made a really cool stop action movie of himself aging over seventeen years. Check it out!

My first... sort of.

Yes I moved my blog. Kare has been telling me to do it for a long time. I finally decided to give it a whirl.

Here are the top reasons I moved.

1. Blogger looks better( I used to use VOX).
2. I can use Google Analytics(Find out if anyone is reading).
3. I can follow my friends who have blogger blogs.
4. I can really customize the background.

I have started something new on the Essential Machine website. I've decided not to shave my beard until the new Essential Machine Album has been completed. To be more specific I won't shave until the recording part of the album has been completed. To help document this madness I will be taking a picture of my beard everyday and posting it to the Essential Machine website.

I'm enjoying my new blog already!