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I picked up Tycho’s latest album Dive at the end of 2011, but I’m still listening to it constantly in 2012. The title track is one of many standout tracks on the album. Check it:

Tycho’s sound hits on this perfect mellow but moody vibe, and I love the way that the core electronic beats and blips are mixed with more traditional analog guitars and bass.

Support Tycho directly–>TychoMusic.com.

Quick admin note:
“IDEA BLOG” is my new post type for random thoughts, ideas, and musings. If anyone has any suggestions for a better name for these posts, please give me a shout.

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I am super picky about going to the gym when it is too crowded. I hate it. I like to keep my workouts quick and efficient…no waiting. barely any resting. heart-rate up. in and out. done.

But, of course, it’s January and everyone and their mother seems to have joined my local gym in some annual New Year’s resolution ritual. So, the gym has been pretty packed as of late. The other day, I got back from a particularly annoying crowded workout and I turned to Linds and said, “I wish the gym had a webcam up in the workout areas and put a feed on their website so I could check the crowd situation.” That’d be pretty rad, right?

Given some of the sour faces I see when people are waiting for machines, I know I can’t be the only one annoyed by the crowds at the gym. And why stop with the gym…what about grocery stores? Anyone who has spent time at Trader Joe’s in New York could probably relate. So why can’t I just log on to a website to see how crowded it is?

It seems like it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to get this up and running for most gyms and local businesses. Most of them have some kind of website, and most have some kind of cameras already up for security purposes. I think the key questions are 1) how to scale it 2) privacy issues of patrons and 3) whether or not the business actually WANTS potential customers to see how crowded it is. That last one is key, but I could see this being a crowd-pleaser (no pun intended) and, therefore, a business pleaser too.

I think I may be onto something here. Thoughts?

I put this post together a while back when my loop pedal was acting wonky and I had to pull off all the data before bringing it into the shop. In that process I had re-discovered some old loops that actually weren’t too bad. I made a quick attempt at improving the sound quality in an audio editor and then gave each of them a quick name — literally the first words that I thought of when I heard them again. I have no idea why I never posted this, so I figured…why not bust it out in the new year?

Like my previous audio posts, there are definitely some mellow, lullaby-like sounds going on here. But there are also a few other cool themes like a Western/desert thing and other more psychedelic sounds. It certainly ain’t hi-fi but it’s not bad considering the low-budget equipment and that all of these were recorded on-the-fly, completely as improv (the one exception being track #1, the “Drift Away Instrumental,” which was actually my attempt at capturing the groove from the original loop in track #2).

Take a listen… Continue reading Loop Pedal Fun, Part 2: Because Sometimes I Attempt to Make Music

I was lucky to see a lot of great live shows this year, and even luckier to be able to shoot most of them with my Nikon D5000. Although I am decidedly an amateur, I think I ended up with some pretty decent shots, so I decided to create a “best of” style compilation to wrap up a great 2011. Continue reading 2011: My Year in Concert Photos

More good stuff from Generationals.

I still like their Trust EP the best, but their full release Astro-Caster is also quite solid. It has been steadily growing on me since I grabbed it a few months back.

Ha, I love this site:

The Bobcats - Chugging Sriracha

For a bit more on why these cats are wearing ties and chugging Sriracha, read the full comic at The Oatmeal.com.

We had our first snowfall of the season here in NYC this past weekend. But even though the weather’s starting to chill out, the live shows are still keeping up the heat. Check out my preview of the week’s shows with some videos of my top picks… Continue reading Live Music in NYC: This Week’s Concert Calendar – Oct 31-Nov 6

We were BBQ’ing with my bro-in-law a while back, and as we got started, he asked me what to search for on Pandora for good outdoor party tunes. I immediately spit out the word “funk.” The subsequent Pandora station that we got using that search team definitely queue’d up a few decent grooves, but nothing really caught my ear until this track from one of the funkiest (the?) backing bands ever:

James Brown – “Blind Man Can See It”

While the intro had a nice vamp, what really caught my ear was the groove that kicked in after a minute or two…a nice little jangly guitar riff combined with some soul-stirring keys. The sound literally brought my ears back to the early 90s to what was probably one of my 1st CDs…Das EFX’s Dead Serious. After a couple of measures, I was waiting for that unforgettable opening line to drop in….”bum skiggiddy bum skiggiddy bump!”

Check out the sample in use:

Das EFX – “They Want EFX”

Ha, awesome. I liggidy love the lawless early 90s of hip-hop samples.

Last week there were a ton of shows going on due to CMJ, but I think I’m actually more impressed with this week’s selection. Here’s the quick rundown.

Amon Tobin’s doing his ISAM live show at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple for three nights (Tues-Thurs). On Tuesday, the Field will bring their hypnotic loop-based electro at LPR and Chris Taylor (of Grizzly Bear) shows off his side project (CANT) at the Bowery. Wednesday, there’s Dawes w/ Blitzen Trapper at Webster Hall, G. Love & Special Sauce at Irving Plaza, and the North Mississippi All Stars are at Brooklyn Bowl. Thursday, there’s some great indie/eclectic rock with Fanfarlo hitting Mercury Lounge and Cymbals Eat Guitars hit the Bowery. You can also get your World Music on with Zongo Junction at the Knitting Factory or check out the mellow, electronic stylings of Justin’s new fav Brandt Brauer Frick at Glasslands. Friday, the North Mississippi Allstars are back at Brooklyn Bowl, and the Pixies are set to rock the Asbury Park Convention Hall w/ Surfer Blood as the opener. Saturday continues with the awesome options. My suggestion, either dig the patented funky jazz stylings of MMW at Terminal 5 (w/ help from Antibalas), or go get a healthy does of jammy bluegrass at the Best Buy Theatre with Yonder Mountain String Band and The Infamous Stringdusters. Oh, and Fanfarlo swings back into town on Sunday night for a second show at Glasslands.

Man, and those are just the high points. Head on over to LMB for my full list of NYC show recs: LMB NYC: This Week’s Concert Calendar – Oct 24-30

Love this:

Very cool and innovative.

Their new album is really solid too. It’s a mix of beautiful acoustic gems (like the one I flagged here recently) along with a couple bluesy romps and some African-influenced world grooves reminiscent of Tinariwen.