gothiczen’s Neighborhood

So yesterday I was waiting to read the press release about the Nexus One phone, the newest Google phone.  If you haven't read or heard about it, its their brand new phone that is once again, made by HTC.  This time, it has Android 2.1, the newest Android OS and incidentally, the Nexus One is the only phone carrying this version.  Sporting a 5 Mp Camera with an LED flash, and the fastest processor (so I've read) which is 1 ghz, in the smart phone arena, I have been drooling over it.

Today, just by chance, after Firefox forced me to install updates, I found that I was at the regular Google page instead of my usual iGoogle page.  Guess what I found:

I was happy to oblige.  I am very interested in this phone, since you can develop for it like apple's iphone/ipod touch, but android, considering the source, is going to be way more open.   That's what its got going for it IMO first and foremost.  The cam, the speed and the other tech specs are just niceties but will it be an iPhone killer?  Honestly, I can't say but if at all, it will take awhile to dethrone the king of smartphones.  Even if its better, and catches on, Apple has a strong brand loyalty from its customers and I believe they will stick with them through almost anything. But I'm getting away from my point. 

The Google Nexus One is here, and frankly, I'm excited.

Not that I ever believed it was real in the first place... still its nice to see this kind of stuff coming out.  Of course, as usual, the Main stream media is downplaying it. 

Lindzen’s paper on outgoing long-wave radiation shows the “global warming” scare is over.

Read Article

Just played around with my brand new Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch that I got this Christmas today.  Takes some getting used to, being an old school sketch artist.  I've been using pens, paper and pencils for so long.. Well now that I have this thing I had no excuse...  to stay in the dark ages lol.  Well I'm sure sketching on paper will never be replaced but this will eliminate needing to scan ideas into the computer so much. 

So anyhoo... onto my first (partial) rough sketch.  Keep in mind I am not used to the tablet yet! :P

Just a re-blog of today's offerings from bittbox. 

Just a re-blog of Media Militia's giveaway for today, Drips and Spray Paint brushes for Photoshop. 

Ok so I've had plenty of references to artists I like over the years.  Of course they all have great influences over my own art, just like every artist.  But I thought I'd take a moment today to write about some specific influences that have gotten my creative juices flowing lately (past few months)  Its only fair to give these guys/gals recognition for their wonderful art!  :D 

One artist that I like for obvious reasons, is from Switzerland.  I found his site via Media Militia's periodical "get inspired" posts.  His name is Patrik but goes by the name of 2much as an artist.  You can find his work following the post in the links. 

An online comic book I ended up reading in its entirety in about a week, is called Megatokyo and is by artist and writer Fred Gallagher.  It is a manga-style comic book and I say "manga-style" as it is written and drawn by someone other than an Asian writer and I know that for some that might make it an "impure" manga, but if you ask me, its ever bit as good as a Japanese, Korean or other manga you might find.  The art is very well drawn but although it has the Asian "look", Fred has gone to great lengths apparently in creating his own flair to his art and I admire him very much for it. 

Creaturebox is a site by artists Dave Guertin and Greg Baldwin.  Well-established character designers and artists with Insomniac games.   (Insomniac Games is responsible for such huge titles as Ratchet and Clank and Resistance for the Sony Playstation systems.)

What Rocked Our World In 2009
and what really pissed us off!

Special Feature: Lee Edwards
Huge Thanks to All The Photographers who made this feature a visual treat.

What Really Matters
Let me make one thing very clear from the start. Anyone musician, artist, band or  whoever who is featured in ElectricGhost is special. The Journal is limited to six pages. Of course we have access to our blogsite, where this is being published. But this is for items that are too lengthy, like interviews and features, that just wouldn’t fit in the journal. We aren’t just going to fill the blogsite, which has unlimited potential space, with anything that half takes our fancy. I was very clear when launching ElectricGhost, after the experience with the downloadable music magazine MercuryMoon that this time it was personal. We focus on a set of niche genres and within that we are very choosy about what is included. This may result in rejecting material that in many people’s eyes, or ears is excellent. But so be it. Our rapidly, its only been two years, increasing circulation is testament to the reality of us tapping into something that works for people who really love music. Our strap line Real Music Really Independent is our guide and we intend to stick with it. You really seem to like the fact that we deliver small bite sized chunks of music reviews, interviews and features. You love the interactivity coupled with the sophisticated ‘print like‘ quality that is PDF publishing. Whilst we need to develop our publication and make it financial viable we are not going to do this in any way that will affect our core values. Plans are afoot for Friends of ElectricGhost, which will will give all our readers a chance to help makes us financially sustainable. An announcement will be made in early 2010. Ok so on with the show...

The Year begins...
January and Issue 13 is certainly not unlucky for us. We discover the new psychedelic sound squall of A Place To Bury Strangers whose sound, frontman, Oliver Ackerman describes as “like a chainsaw caught in a whirlwind getting hit by a bus”. Two Gallants Adam Stephens is exploring new solo material. Another solo shot is by The Black Keys guitarist Dan Auerbach which shows off not only his abilities as a musician, but also his accomplished songwriting talents. January also introduces us to Bristol based singer and songwriter Daisy Chapman whose cover of the Leonard Cohen classic Hallelujah on her mini album And There Shall Be None we describe as one of the best we’ve heard. Her astonishing talent makes itself very apparent as the year progresses.

Sadness and Joy
February and Issue 14. We are deeply saddened to hear of the death of the hugely influential musician John Martyn, a man full of grace and danger. The mood is lightened by the mighty  Bellowhead whose live performances are legend and who take Bath, on their tour, by storm. We make first contact with Baltimore 4 piece Arbouretum whose Album Song Of The Pearl is clearly a contender for Album Of The Year. A long time favourite Finlay Morton has his Back To Basics album remixed by John Ryan (Santana, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Steve gains).

A Spring In Our Step
March and Issue 15 and Spring seem just around the corner. One of our main sources of live streamed concerts, Fab Channel, ceases to function because they found it difficult to make it financially sustainable. Financial problems on a much bigger scale would soon hit us all and credit crunch become a widely used term. In the aftermath of Bellowhead’s successes co-founder Jon Boden releases a solo album, Songs From The Floodplain, with its timely post apocalyptic theme. Polly Harvey and John Parish release their second special collaboration, A Woman A Man Walked By, 12 years on from Dance Hall At Louse Point. Our local Chapel Arts Centre in Bath seems to be beginning to make its mark on the music scene. The Handsome Family deliver their 8th album to celebrate their 20th year of marriage, Honey Moon. It features their own unique and inimitable take on love. Finally we fall for the charms of Fleet Foxes, and Show OF Hand’s Steve Knightley, releases Track Of Words/Retraced, a re-worked version of his first solo album which we describe as “an emotionally literate astonishing masterpiece”.  

Change Is In The Air
April and Issue 16 and Spring has sprung. Simone Felice departs from Felice Brothers and hooks up with Robert ‘Chicken’ Burke to form The Duke And The King. They release a very promising EP with Album and Tour to follow. At the same time The Felice Brothers depart from Loose Music and release 4th album Yonder Is The Clock. Neil Young gives us a “glorious slab of garage blues”, A Fork In The Road, that focuses on economic circumstances and environmental woes.  We get early warning of a new Willard Grant Conspiracy album set for autumn release. Navigator Records superior releases continue with exceptional albums from Lau and Mawkin:Causley.

The Heat Is On
May and Issue 17. We plan a summer of interviews/live reviews, ‘On The Road With ElectricGhost’, to kick off at end of the month with The Duke And The King in London at Shepherds Bush. They amaze us with their debut album, and another Album Of The Year contender, Nothing Gold Can Stay. Live they are wonderful and our first interview goes really well. We are introduced to the, soon to be famous, Low Anthem, a trio from Rhode island with a penchant for a mass of antique and intriguing instruments and a style that ranges between haunting falsetto and hollering blues on their second album Oh My God Charlie Darwin. Inspiration for our Journal title and absolute legend Bob Dylan gives a “a treasure from a stone cold genius” with Together Through Life.

Summer Is A Coming In, Maybe
June and Issue 18. Despite the English summer not really happening at least we have musical sunshine. Eric Clapton and Stevie Winwood treat us to a dazzling display of live musical genius at Madison Square Gardens when they draw on classic music by Traffic and Blind Faith. Wilco deliver what many publications will later describe as an album of the year, nearly but not quite. A hilarious spoof video on YouTube featuring ‘Adolf Hitler‘ and Show Of Hands versus Bellowhead is an instant hit with us and many others (yes you will find it in our Special Bonus Video Issue). The ‘voice’ of The Band, Levon Helm, delights us with, Electric Dirt, his excellent follow up to his previous grammy award winner Dirt Farmer. Our second ‘On The Road With ElectricGhost‘ takes us to London and The Union Chapel for an fun interview and exceptional music treat with The Low Anthem.

On The Road Again
July and Issue 19. Our Interview/Reviews with The Low Anthem and The Duke And The King appear whilst we make our third visit to London to see Baltimore’s finest Arbouretum strut their stuff. We are rewarded with an evening of musical magic from what we describe as “possibly the best live band on the planet at the moment”. Our album highlight is the superb new album, We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River, by firm ElectricGhost favourites Richmond Fontaine. They have never sounded better with classic storytelling and superb musicianship from Willy Vlautin and the guys. We look forward to seeing them live in September.

On The Turn Of The Season
August and Issue 20. We hear of a Keruoac Movie with Jay Farrar contributing to the soundtrack as his band Son Volt deliver a classic americana album, American Central Dust, that is “Full of grace and raw beauty”. Jackie Oates moves to a new label and releases and album, Hyperboreans, “of immense maturity and musical power”. At last, earlier than anticipated, we receive the new album from long time ElectricGhost favourites Willard Grant Conspiracy. Paper Covers Stone follows the ambitious Pilgrim Road with a startling and utterly compelling minimalist mood. The pairing of Dave Curry with Robert Fisher and others, not seen since early albums, exploring old songs revisited and some new songs is true genius. Yet another contender for Album Of The Year!

The Highway of Desire
September and Issue 21. Chuck Prophets’s new album iLet Freedom Ring! finds the songwriter and Telecaster guitar-slinger on top form. A good omen for his live date in Bristol at the end of the month. Another band new to us Downpilot offer “truly sublime american roots music” with They Kind Of Shine. The title says it all. September turns into a busy, hard traveling month. A longer visit to London takes in the 4th and 5th of our On The Road series, on the 17th Its Richmond Fontaine who are brilliant and Willy Vlautin is a total joy to interview. Then next day back to the same Venue, The Garage, to see Willard Grant Conspiracy with Dog House Roses and The Duke and the King also on the bill. Its great to see Robert Fisher again and the interview with him is as illuminating as ever. All the artists on the bill are excellent but I am not happy at with the the dumb ass portions of the audience who insist on talking through all the Willard Grant set. This definitely pissed me off, big time. Little did I know that a another venue would be the source of my displeasure before the year was out. Near the end of the month it's a magical evening at the Chapel Arts Centre, Bath with the legend that is Howe Gelb. This quickly followed on the 30th by a shorter trip to Bristol to see Chuck Prophet with the Mission Express. Our Christmas Issue will have details of that.

A Flash Of Brilliance
October and Issue 22. A really hot month for albums. First we finally have our supreme Album Of The Year! Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed by Devon’s finest Show Of Hands. It has some of the best songs that Steve Knightley has every written, and inspirational production job by Stu Hanna and some outstanding musicianship from both Knightley and Phil Beer and the lovely Miranda Sykes. We said “a stellar album of shattering magnificence. Daisy Chapman is back with her eagerly awaited album The Green Eyed. She has dazzled us live this year and the album is well worth the wait. A revitalised Pearl Jam delight us with Backspacer and new to us Californian based tripped out duo Golden Animals raise the ghost of Jim Morrison and show great promise for the future. Finally a trip to local rock club Moles for an evening of fun and fabulous music from the wonderous Hey Negrita. Thanks to the Martin Tompkins for the great live shots 

Martin is also on hand for our first attempt at music promotion. The venue is The Chapel Arts Centre Bath and the headliners are, long-time personal favourites, London based gothic folk rock band Viarosa supported by local favourites The Blood Choir 

The Bllod Choir and Viarosa

The audience mainly from Bath are obviously Blood Choir fans and give their new 5 piece band a great reception. Rightly so as they are on fine form. Whilst some of the audience loose interest after this many of the audience members welcome our headliners Viarosa. Its been awhile since I've seen them so this forms the highlight of my evening.  

    

Supernatural Blues
November and Issue 23. My birthday month, and lots to celebrate. Tom Ovans is an exceptional songwriter with a hint of Dylan and Woody Guthrie. Deer Tick, twenty somethings with an authenticity and gravitas that belies their years. Born On Flag Day is a country rock gem, can’t wait to see them live. Longtime favourites Built to Spill’s There Is No Enemy is “packed with guitars, melody and melancholy”. Toronto’s folk rock band Great Lake Swimmers give a us hauntingly and powerful music to relish with Lost Channels.    

And Here We Are Near Christmas
December sees two issues 24a/24b. The first our Christmas issue plus a Bonus Video Issue. Here we are at the end of our second year of publishing with lots of plans for 2010. Our Christmas Issue contains music by artists we’re sure to hear a lot more of in 2010. They include Moriarty, Chris Wood, White Hills John Smith and the astonishing Irrepressibles. I’m sure I have missed out something, its been an action packed year and these were just the highlights. As I begin to write this I have heard that artistic director Charley Dunlap has quit The Chapel Arts Centre, Bath and I am really pissed off. Not with Charley but the circumstances that led to his departure. The musical future of the venue looks to be in question. Damn. 

But right now I’m looking forward to the two week Festive break. I hope you all have a great Festive time. See you all in 2010.

If you have discovered this feature via the internet or through Vox, welcome to ElectricGhost. Our Free Monthly Music e-Journal is available via email. To sign up click here. Also for regulars if this feature has left you wanting a back issue that you missed get in touch directly with Lee.

Chuck Prophet Interview

Fiddlers, Bristol September 30th 2009

Interview: Lee Edwards

I’d like to start where I discovered you first, with Green On Red. Was that the first band you played in?
No. I’d been playing in bands since I was 11 or 12. When I was 14 I caught the tail end of the glam scene. I grew up in Southern California, then I moved up to San Francisco and I was in a few bands who played the Berkeley scene. Lot of frat parties in Berkley. Saw a lot of classic gigs. When I saw Green on Red. It’s hard to put in context but what they were doing that seemed so different from any else out there I guess. Danny [Dan Stuart] had this narrative writing style that seemed so out of time you know. They were characters and I eventually joined that band. It was just going to be a two week tour of Sweden I think. That’s what I was hired out for. And it turned in so much more. We had some great times in the early days. The first time we played London we had just come back from Sweden, we were flying through and somebody made the arrangements for us to play a gig in Piccadilly at a club called Gossips which was like a Goth club. It turned out that the opening band that night was the Jesus and Mary Chain. It was the first gig they had played outside of Scotland. They got thrown off the stage after 3 songs. There was only about 20 people there. The bartender came out from behind the bar and just turned their amps off. Unplugged their guitars and said ‘OK boys that’s enough of that’. [laughter] After twenty minutes of feedback.

When you went solo did that in any way change or affect your music?
I don’t know really...well Green on Red never really broke up. We were on extended leave after the Phonogram deal. The we re-invented ourselves by recording Here Come The Snakes. That was just me and Dan Stuart and some guys that were just around Memphis, just session guys. At the same time I started playing acoustic gigs with some friends of mine. That lead to a different kind of thing. We started exploring music like The Band, folk rock and for me the first three or four Richard Thompson records. We were really a group of songwriters with a healthy sense of competition. There was me and the guys, and Stephie [StephieFinch] would sing harmony, and we held court at this bar that wasn’t really part of anything called The Albion. From there I collected a bunch of songs and recorded my first solo record with just Stephie over a three day weekend. So there is some overlap between Green On Red and the rest. Danny and I would continue to tour and get together and write songs and make records, so there some overlap. I’m not really clear when it was.

From my perspective you had gone solo.
Yeah well maybe Green on Red had totally disintegrated, but it just seemed silly to start another band. The singer songwriter ghetto is a pretty lonely place. But hey its worked out OK. I’ve worked with some really good people.

You seem to have had and interesting band that you took down to Mexico for this new album. Also sounds like a lot of stuff went wrong as well.
Well I have a history of substance abuse problems, a lot of addictions. Music has been one of the healthiest ones. You know that buzz when you write a song and then take it and make a demo and hear it through the big speakers that’s kind of a thrill. I think the adventure or process of making a record is almost as important to me as the record itself. For some reason it just seemed that Mexico City was the place to do it. There’s a whole thing about how I got the meet the guys who play on the album. I had some songs and chord progressions for American Man that sounded like Born To Run and It triggered something in my mind, and my mind’s like a steel trap.

[the soundcheck was getting noisy at this stage so we retired back to the relative peace of the dressing room]

Ok we were talking about the new album and how you got to work with the musicians on it and you mentioned that your mind’s like a steel trap. And you thought of this drumming on Born To Run...
Well yeah well the buzz you get when you write a song can be... Dan told me once that he would have never written the first song if it hadn’t been for the big speakers. The opportunity to make a demo was what kept him going. I had a batch of songs and I thought maybe I could call some people to come and help me to demo the songs. Then it just popped into my mind that I had run into a friend who had played with Ernest [Ernest ‘Boom’ Carter who played on Born To Run]. He said he’s here he’d love to hear from you I’m sure. So I called and told him I was going to be down at the studio and I was kicking some songs around and it was nothing formal. If he wanted to come down and see where it goes and if not that’s cool to. So he said that sounded cool and came down to the studio and saw how crappy it was and everybody was late. The just as we were getting to gather around theses microphones he said “well I hope that the engineer’s got his act together because I was hoping to get out of here by one”...and it was noon. So I just sat down and opened up my notebook and we just ended cutting 8 things that day. With no preamble I just started racing through a bunch of song ideas and we cut 8 things. We on the handclaps, the tambourine and the odd harmony here and there. Did a rough mix and I just put it up on the shelf and never thought about it. I continued to write, but there was something about that session, the spontaneous combustion where Ernest... the way that he played and reacted to my body language was really cool. A friend of mine whose a songwriter was playing bass and another friend of mine was playing guitar. It was really informal and was who happened to be around. But there was something in those sessions that made me stand back and squint. Sounds like somewhere I’ve never been before, lets go here. Then little by little I began to finish what would become the ‘screenplay’ and I had the character and all that was left was the location that was missing and that was when I got it into my head that I wanted to record it in Mexico City. A friend of mine contacted me out of the blue and said that he was down in Mexico City. I asked him what he was was doing down there and he told me it was fuckin‘ great and that it was like the sixties down there. What he meant was prior to the Internet the only music that the 27 million people in Mexico listened to was the music that was filtered through MTV or whatever. So these kids might have heard Rage Against The Machine or some such band and they had some bands that were real angry. It wasn’t until the last few years that it’s really exploded. I went down there and saw these kids walking toward me and it looked like a gang but  they just wanted to know about Death Cab For Cutie [laughter]. They have all theses choices now. So I went and spent a couple days down there, we got a driver, and checked out all the studios. There was one studio, and as soon as we walked into it we were just totally blown away. It was completely state of the art for 1958. It had been well maintained by the guy who’s owned it all these years. So I looked at it and stood in the middle of the rooms, clapped my hands and said OK and then went back to the the States and told everybody here me out this is where we’re gonna do it. [laughs] So I managed to talk everybody into it managed to convince them to go down there with me. It was every bit the adventure I had hoped.

This subject of analog studios has come up a lot this year from musicians I’ve talked with. There does seem to be a mood of working in that way again. What does that kind of studio hold for you?
I’m nor really a purist in that sense. I’ve worked in digital studios. I’m not a purist I’m just comfortable working in analog studios as well. It sounds closer to what I would have expected. For me its never been about the formats like Vinyl or CD. The only version of the music that matters to me is the one that I hear when I sign off on the mix. It’s never going to sound that way again the duplication is a facsimile whether its Vinyl or whatever. But analog is just a en environment where I feel more comfortable. A lot of these studios are closing, especially in California. A lot of these rooms are closing, I mean people get hung up on the technology but it’s what you put in front of the mikes, its the dope not the needle.

I like to talk a bit about the songs on the new album. I’m aware that there is a political edge to some of the songs that probably reflects the tumultuous nature of recent events in the States. But I’m also interested in the other songs like You And Me Baby (Holding On) and a personal favourite the closer Leave The Window Open. That song what a perfect finish to an album. Tell me more. 
The thing about that guy in the song is that it doesn’t take long with people if you treat them a certain way and put them up on a pedestal you know... or for me I have a really nice car right now, a Mercedes. You start to think to believe in it, there’s a certain elegance and real easy to buy into it. Every once in a while, because of what we do for a living, Stephie [Finch] my wife and I will end up on the 30th floor of a 5 star hotel [laughs] and it doesn’t take long for you to get accustomed to it. So that what that song’s about, the world’s crashing down around you, people’s retirement accounts have been gutted, and the suns going down and your going to have to check out of the room at noon. Your staying in a room that could never afford. There’s something about that that reminds me of the two characters in a move called Object Of Beauty with Andie MacDowell. There’s a lot of stuff going on in that song. People like to know that they’re doing better than everybody else. It’s nice to be 30 floors above your problems but it never lasts [laughs]. That’s what was happening to the American dream everybody felt they were 30 floors above other people problems.

So You And Me Baby, is that personal for you?  
Yeah a lot of my friends are going through a thing right now and its hard on the marriages you know. When I stand back and squint and look at that song that’s what I think about. And you know politically with this record I just stood back and thought these are all relationship songs, some of these characters... I mean while I was writing it there was a rare heat wave and a left the window open and the world just came into the songs. I’m not a political person, I’m not really for this or against that. I am like a photographer in that if i see something absurd I try to use it for my own devices. I try to give voice to characters who are not obvious characters. Or maybe people haven’t heard from in songs before. Sonny Liston [Sonny Liston Blues] is very much a person who is part myth and part reality. He never knew where he was born and no one is sure when he died. He’s a myth, and for me that’s the American Dream always a bit of a myth. People really thought they had it licked until they waked up one morning to find that their retirement accounts had been gutted. It’s always just out of reach. And people are rebelling, they’re just not happy. Hey it looks like I’m need for the soundcheck...      

Sure thanks for that Chuck. 
My pleasure man.

With that he heads off and we await the concert.

Chuck Prophet and The Mission Express Live at Fiddlers, Bristol, UK

Fiddlers is a medium size venue in a weird location in the middle of a trading estate. Its does however mean that parking is no problem.

When he finally hits the stage with his band Chuck delights us with a long set with a very short break halfway through. He gets to play a whole range of his music to an audience that are real fans and who’ve seen him in Bristol before. This perfect evening ends with a final encore of Bowie’s Rebel Rebel. Truly a song for our troubled times.

Ok I'll admit I've been out of it for awhile when it comes to the toy scene and I've had a bit of a sour taste in my mouth about the whole deal.  Because of the over-saturation of artists and the many of the companies becoming so close to mainstream (IMO)... I just have been bored with it for the most part.