Not only did I play the drums, and the steelpan on the single, I also sang!
It was so great being back in the recording studio, and playing in general. Even though at times it was a challenge, I learned so much from the experience.
Working with Magnetic Island was really refreshing as the sound is completely different from my band Telenovela Star.
I think the difference is that I was more focused on percision rather than power. Less concerned with trying to prove how fast I can play or how much agility I have, but more concerned with how to bring out the song, make it tell the story that it’s dying to say.
Working with these guys also gave me the opportunity to break out my steelpan, which has been sitting in my closet for sometime now, and as well as to sing. Being brought back to my first instruments, my voice and the steelpan, reminded me of why I desired to be a musician. I was blown away. I didn’t realize that I was capable of expressing myself through these other mediums, especially singing. I realized that I can do more than carry a tune. I have a voice. I can sing.
All in all this was an eye opening experience for me, and I’m thankful to have had the chance to work with such talented, and genuinely remarkable musicians. They brought out a side of me that was starving to be explored.
Here are some shots of us in The Fort recording studio:
This week started off, well, great. I went and saw a show at the Knitting Factory, on the mother of all school nights, Monday. But, it was an opportunity to listen to Object‘s new works live, catch-up with friends, and then as a cherry on top, reaquaint myself with The Netherlands.
The Netherlands is a power trio out of Brooklyn, NYC. I saw them maybe about two years ago, when the line-up included a female bass player, now changed to a dude on keys.
They were on my 2008 list of bands I totally dug. And I’ve been meaning to see them perform ever since that one show when they had blew my mind, so much so I bought all their cds.
With their own sort of pyshedelic, punk, soulful grunge rock, you might suffer a head or neck injury from head thrashing to their music.
Here’s the video I made of the Netherlands using my Flip:
I took a few shots:
Magnetic Island
On Wednesday, I had my radio show, Broad Strokes, on WHFR.
This month, I invited Magnetic Island, another fave of mine, to play a live acoustic set and they were freaking awesome.
So gifted, just this week Magnetic Island dropped a demo that you can check out at Cash Music, and you can listen to the Broad Strokes broadcast here.
Last month, I invited Object to play live on my radio show, Broad Strokes, and it was pretty awesome to say the least. They played an acoustic set with all new songs, and as I type, one of these new songs is being mixed for their next album!
What I love about these guys, one of the many things, is that they are so incredibly talented, sincere, and down to earth. Okay that was three. They are definitely good people, and great musicians.
Today, while listening to the acoustic set, I thought if I had never seen them live and I just heard this acoustic recording, I wouldn’t expect the all encompassing swell of sounds from their electric live sets. That’s how adaptable they are. They can move to any element with ease, and without pretense. All in all, Object can play some rock and roll.
Anyway, I’ll be hosting another Broad Strokes hour live on Washinton Heights Free Radio(WHFR), this Wednesday, March 31, at 9:00pm. New tunes to feed the soul!
Bringing you stories, live events, and much more, WHFR tries and remains independent of any corporate sponsorship. So, if you like what WHFR is doing, you can donate by contacting them at info@whfr.org. DIY forever baby!
To listen to Object’s acoustic set and interview go here.
You can also read the Tom Tom (a magazine about female drummers) interview with Maria here. She was featured as drummer of the week in February!
And if you haven’t had enough of my obvious obsession with OBJECT, you can read this. Hey, I like what I like for reals.
On Friday of last week, I saw one of my favorite rock bands, Goes Cube play for the CMJ 2009 music festival at Trash Bar. And with my trusty Flip I took some footage and made this video. Check it out:
I will be doing my radio show, Broad Strokes, tonight at 9:00pm on WHFR. Check it out. If you can’t, not to worry, I’ll be posting an mp3 of the show. Btw if you’re in a band or know someone in a band and would like to be played on the show send me an email: roarplanet@gmail.com.
You have to wonder and worry about people who refuse the stimulus package and want the new president to fail. I mean, if he fails then America, and Americans would suffer the consequences of his failure. It means that poverty would be at an all time high and ultimately this will result in the economic demise of one of the greatest countries in the world. You have to be an incredibly spiteful and a stupid individual to wish this and believe that the economy would survive this blow. Anyway, here’s some tunes for those haters.
Township‘s Township. I saw these guys a couple of weeks ago at the band J.A.C.K’s record release show, and they blew me and my lover away. Granted I’m not a huge fan of classic rock, but these guy’s professional delivery, exceptional live playing, and general awesome stage presence made me buy their CD at the end of their set. Faves: Sinister Minister, Beaver Fever, Beyond Free, Jack Shack, Burnin.
J.A.C.K‘s Deletist. The band that I came out to see that night and who I stayed for only one song because… Well the reason is quite pathetic and I’ll save myself the embarrassment. Anyway, the vocals for J.A.C.K. is like the gritty goodness of Judas Priest’sRob Halford mixed with the powerful vocal range of Guns N Roses’ Axl Rose over some psychedelic blues rock. These guys are playing K&M Bar on April 20th. Faves: Dracula, The Leader, I Cut Off My Arms, Extinguisher, Rainbow Blood.
Photo by Justin Fitch.
Man In Gray. The first time I witnessed to the spectacle that was Man In Gray it was at a Deli Show. I stared in amusement as the lead singer was performing while a dog was attached to her hand. Yes the dog was biting her but she didn’t stop singing and tambourine shaking. Unfortunately, as of late spring last year, Man In Gray is no more. Beside Proton Proton, yet another great band that passed away, Man in Gray was definitely one of my favorite live acts. I miss these guys, luckily I still own their raucous riot Man In Gray Tour EP.
Torche‘s Meanderthal is kind of like rock pop vocals over sludge metal. No, there’s no growling, just harmonizing vocals, which they do so well. I discovered these guys through Earfarm last year and I’m not at all disappointed. I initially downloaded the track Healer which lead to some research on the band and a purchase of the entire album. The next step is a t-shirt purchase. These guys will be playing at Highline Ballroom on April 19th. Faves: Triumph Venus, Grenades, Pirana, Speed of the Nail, Healer, Sundown, Little Champion, Without a Sound, Amnesian.
Susu’s Win. Susu is like if Sleater Kinney and Hot Snakes joined forces. This artsy noise rock trio is everything I need on days I feel exceptionally disgruntle. I find their wailing guitars, drums, and vocals very satisfying. Sometimes I even find myself dancing. These guys are playing on April 4th at the Annex. Faves: All the songs.
Jaguar Love‘s Take Me to the Sea is fun fun fun. In fact, they totally remind me of Man In Gray with all the yelpings, squeals, and outright yelling. They fuse an intoxicating X-Ray Spex, Kathleen Hanna vocals with a sort of funk/hip hop punk vibe into their rock. They sound like they would be a great band to see live. Faves:Highways of Gold, Bats Over the Pacific Ocean, Jaguar Pirates, Vagabond Ballroom, Humans Evolve into Skyscrapers, Antoine and Birdskull, My Organs Sounds Like…
Love is All‘s A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night. Is another album that exudes fun and reminds me of X-Ray Spex. With Cyndi Lauper vocals, Love is All’s 80’s power pop indie rock sound just makes you want to get up and dance. This is another band that I’d love to see live. Faves: New Beginnings, Give It Back, Last Choice, Rumours, Big Bangs Black Holes Meteorites.
Jean Grae
Jean Grae‘s Jeanius. The things I love about this album is the guts, the humor, the mad intelligent flow… Yeah it’s solid. You can feel the adrenaline rising in each pause, you can feel the explosion coming, and when it does all yuh pores raise. This is full of enlightenment and whoever said that Hip Hop is dead is looking to the wrong places. Open your ears to the non-traditional sick shit. Faves: 2-32’s, Don’t Rush Me, My Story, The Time is Now, #8, This World, Smash Mouth.
Telepathe‘s Dance Mother. So against my advice, my lover downloaded Dance Mother. I was opposed because I’m really not feeling the new wave electronic “rock” that’s reasserting itself in the music scene. But even with my disdain for this reassertion, I’m kind of pleased that she didn’t listen to me, because I did find a song or two that on first hearing did bring some joy and usage of phrases such as “that’s kind of awesome.” At times Dance Mother’s style strangely reminds me of New Kids On The Block (particularly In Your Line) and Enya (particularly Can’t Stand It)with some 80’s sounding techno mixed in. These guys are playing Webster Hall April 10th & 11th and the Annex on April 15th. Faves: In Your Line, Can’t Stand It, Trilogy.
Witchdoctor‘s The Diary of an American Witch Doctor. With Witchdoctor’s smooth, liquid butter flow, haunting atmospheric melodies and thought provoking lyricism, yes indeed, Diary… will cast a spell on you. Think Outkast‘s Aquemini album. I discovered Witchdoctor after watching an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. There was an add advertising the album. It was over for me when I heard the short clip for one of the songs. Faves: Just Like You, Spell on Them Hoes, Cream of the Crop, Oxygen, Jake Got Ya Body, King of the Beasts.
Lately, I’ve been gravitating towards more of the “heavy” music, like metal, punk, and noise rock. I blame it all on a backlash behavior: rejecting the current trend of bubble-gum lo-fi recycled 80s pop music, that music reviewers and the dying dinosaur that is the music industry, are labeling as “rock”. They obviously don’t know the difference between heavy rock and some tame quasi folk/electronic dance song.
Don’t get me wrong, I have a space in my heart for folk songs and electronic music, especially the ones that dare to take some risks. Risk? Because that’s all you got: guts and a blurring-the-line sense of humor.
Another reason I’ve been going heavy is that I feel like there’s so much to scream and be angry about. We’ve been in a sort of zombie complacency, lackadaisical mummification, “I don’t care” state. A glaring example is the 8 years of having an idiot be a representative-leader for one of the most influential countries in the world (obviously, even in America fleeing monarchy and fascism is incredibly difficult).
One can argue that heavy doesn’t go with the current times that are affecting this incredible difficulty. From the way we wear our hair to the very way we walk, this economic crisis was foreshadowed by the however the cause was ignored. Maybe life should be concerned in a shift of what and when we want to recognize the fuckery? in the American way of being : a big, loud, bully is now passe. Well maybe. We’re going green, even though going green doesn’t change the Manichean paradigm.
This world divided into compartments, this world cut in two is inhabited by two different species. The originality of the colonial context is that economic reality, inequality, and the immense difference of ways of life never come to mask human realities. When you examine at close quarters the colonial context, it is evident that what parcels out the world is to begin with the fact of belonging to or not belonging to a given race, a given species. The colonial world is a Manichean world.Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, 40, 41.
If what “parcels out the world is to “belong to a given race,” then in the same way that we are divided by color, we are as well divided by gender, sexual orientation, immigration… and whatever anew division we choose to distract ourselves with and call the enemy. And consequently, we’ll never understand ourselves.
Human social development will never be the foreground and continue we go on this path to perpetuate a Manichean pulse in contemporary live thought/living, never as a History left behind, never as a backward thinking.
Thus, I feel a great affinity towards yelling and fucking shit up! It’s very therapeutic. I recommend it completely; that and going up to a tree in the forest and screaming loudly. It’s good for you, try it.
Anyway, in no particular order, here’s a couple of bands helping me along the healing process. I thank them with all my heart for their insanity.
Life… The Best Game In Town
Harvey Milk‘s Life… The Best Game In Town. I was pleasantly surprised while searching for a review on the movie Milk. I discovered the metal band from Athens, Georgia. with the same name. Intrigued, I looked them up and was immediately hooked by their sound: a fusion of experimental, psychedelic, noise rock and sludge metal. Granted, I have never been one to find growling vocals appealing, but it’s different with Harvey Milk, maybe it’s the timber of purposefulness in the growl. Faves: Death Goes to the Winner, Decades, After All I’ve Done For You,…, We Destory the Family, Motown, Barnburner.
Wizardry is a five piece NYC metal band, I saw for the first time at Trash Bar, and they were very entertaining. I highly recommend seeing them live, because they know how to put on a show. With their glam rock look and theatrics, and actual smoke machine, I was really impressed with their effort to make the stage their own. But they’re not just about theatrics and stage presence, these guys can play. With intricate drumming, insane guitars, and strong vocals, Wizardry will definitely dazzle you with their magic. I can’t wait for their upcoming album.
Spylacopa. Another NYC band, that a friend of mine turned me onto and to whom I’m now forever indebted. Spylacopa was just what I needed. When I played their debut EP on my ipod, I immediately knew that it was right, because they made meh pores raise (a saying from Trinidad, meaning, I got goose-bumps). With their skilled transitions and ample ability to switch genres in a fleeting second, a testament to their progressive sound, they’re at times noise rock delivered purpose and direction. An example would be when switching from the heavy, noise with a purpose tracks to the ambient piano/keyboard instrumental track, Together We Become Forever, and the very moody Sigur Rós sounding, I Should Have Known You Would. Faves: Bloodletting, I Should Have Known You Would.
Goes Cube. A noise rock power trio from you guessed it, NYC. My band actually had the great pleasure of playing on a bill with these guys, and they are awesome. They are a punishing combo of rock, punk and metal. Goodness! I remember the first time I saw them live, they made my ears bleed. I don’t think I ever regained the hearing I lost.
Mars Volta‘s The Bedlam in Goliath because it’s just brilliant. Mars is the epitome of progressive rock, they fuse latin/african, jazz, funkadelic beats with punk experimental rock. With orchestral musical arrangements, they take prog to a heightened level that when listening, you can’t help but think this is the electric version of classical music. It’s that multi-layered and expansive. I must admit I was a bit disappointed with their previous album, Amputechture. I felt like it was way too abstract and I couldn’t grasp anything. Even though this may have been the point of the album, as an avid fan I couldn’t bear it. A buddy of mine shared the same feeling, up until he listened to Amputechture under the influence. Apparently, the album is less abstract while on drugs: everything makes more sense. It’s almost like what people said about some rock music back in the day, that it was evil and if you played the record backwards you’d hear the devil. Spooky. Anyway, The Bedlam in Goliath is a complete 360, my only criticism is that at times the repetition was a bit too much. Faves: Ilyena, Wax Simulacra, Goliath, Cavalettas, Askepios, Ouroborous, Memories.
Marnie Stern‘s This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That. Probably one of the longest titles ever. I feel like I’m embarking on a study. I’m listening to a dissertation for a sociological/cultural studies thesis, that sounds like a mixture of AC/DC, Erase Errata, and Stern’s very own powerful voice as a songwriter. And what I’ve learn in the center is that I am it and my future is it! Faves: Prime, Transformer, Shea Stadium, The Crippled Jazzer, Simon Says, Roads? Where We’re Going We Don’t Need Roads.
Helms Alee
Helm Alee‘s Night Terror. Helms Alee is an experimental, sludge metal, rock trio from Seattle Washington whose sound reminds me of the Twin Peaks soundtrack. With their pensive moodiness, great melodies, and hard wailing beats, mixed with at times delicate vocals, and then at others yelling, Helm Alee makes me feel like they’re preaching (in a good way). I feel like obeying them as I shake my head yes, yes, YEAH! I really hope they can visit NYC sometime soon. Faves:Honestly all of them. They capture most of the moments in my day to day.
A couple of months ago, I met up with the other members of my band, just to hang-out and play some songs. We’ve been on a hiatus from playing out and practicing, since we’re practically broke and looking for employment and better lives (the real, on-going telenovela). This has been a really difficult year for so many, not just us. So good riddance 2008.
Anyway, we’ve been needing some sort of release for some time now, and meeting up just to play, not our set or unfinished songs, just to play loudly like we didn’t give a shit anymore, and feel the frustrations, the beast, bleed out. This release felt like the best sort of cure for the thwart that’s been illing, suffocating us for some time now.
Of course I was late on the day, which sucked, because it takes forever to set a kit that’s not your own up, especially when it’s a piece of shit kit. If anything this is a good metaphor for life: never set-up or play anybody else’s piece of shit kit.
Anyway, Maggie was fooling around on the keyboards, and Hanna on her bass. I quickly tried to set the mouse trap of a kit up. It was my worst set-up time ever: half an hour! After doing a three week residency at the Delancey earlier this year, I could set-up in like 5 minutes, 10 tops. Well, that was mostly nervous adrenaline, mixed with shots of Red Bull.
We were just messing around, spur of the moment playing, and then we started talking about this metal band that shared the studio space next door to our old studio, and how awesome we thought their musical arrangements were (lately we’ve been getting into metal). Maggie started talking about how she wanted to write a grave song, and of course that just started it all. Hanna started jokingly singing about loving a lover from the grave, while Maggie was playing on the keys, a blues progression to match Hanna’s bass and vocals. I came in with a slow blues beat, and it went straight to hell after that. We were so excited. We had to play it again, and this time record it. We were hooked on what we had made, it felt so good. It honestly felt like a drug rushing through my veins.
We couldn’t get the melody out of our heads, even after our session at the studio ended. We kept humming this sketch, it was like a nursery rhyme. We just kept singing it over and over again, all through the streets of Manhattan’s Port Authority, laughing when one of us added a scandalous line to the lyrics.
I raced home hoping Hanna had emailed us the short recording of the song. I remember I couldn’t sleep that night, and for once it was for a positive reason. I kept giggling like a kid about our night, and the song. Ha! my poor lover, she puts up with so much. Luckily, she didn’t kick me out the bed that night.
Anyway, we never had a chance to meet again before the holidays to flesh the song out, but Hanna did this incredible just keyboard version of it at home.
The name of the song is Carcass of Pleasure, our attempt at a metal song, well the lyrics are metal, but the melody is more blues, pop maybe? You decide.
After listening to Carcass, I suggest listening to Something In the Middle (see previous post) right away (on loud speakers, and dance around in front of a mirror, I do it all the time in just my underwear, and a broom as my microphone), since they sound so good together.
Enjoy, and as Yo! Majesty says, Never be afraid… Let the music set you free!
Yup, it’s that time of year for list making and the best ofs…
But during this time of worry, wondering if my job is going to be there tomorrow, I’ve found this activity to be quasi healthy, as it perpetuates hopefulness. A promise. Something that I’m terrible at.
“Any tiny positive thing is good,” so says my lover, the Buddha. So, in an attempt to be hopeful about the future, I’ve created my list of favorite songs, and albums for 2008. Because as much as I make fun of her Buddha remarks, my lover is semi right. Reflecting on your favorite things, what makes you laugh, smile a little, that brings you joy is worth making a list of and keeping in your empty pocket, or maybe on your ipod.
In no particular order, here are a few of my favorite songs and albums, that kept me alive in 2008:
Object’s Black Swan, because these kids reek awesomeness, especially live. I saw their last show for the year this past Friday night, and they did all new stuff, with the inclusion of their unrecorded and my favorite, Disappear. Most of their new stuff is instrumental metal, a new direction (maybe?), which began as a Halloween side project. These kids are sickly talented, and I can’t wait to hear what they bring in 2009. See previous post here: Object. Listen: OFF THE RECORD
The Netherlands‘s BDF-German Hardcore, because they’re effin crazy, and their songs remind me of James Brown: some soul meets rock, meets noise possibly? My faves: Teenage Sun, BDF-GermanHardcore, Warleola!, The Gogo Dancer, and The Cocain Knightz. This is a great band. I can’t wait for their insanity to explode. Listen: BDF GERMAN HARDCORE
Yo! Majesty‘s Kryptonite P***y EP and Futuristically Speaking… Never Be Afraid. Some of the words, and phrases I associate with Yo!: Risk Takers, Unapologetic, Dynamism, Hott, Scandalous, Blasphemous… Scandalous and Blasphemous because isn’t that what makes 2008 especially special? When we think about all our leaders being caught in the act, and all these words become attached to their behavior. Like “phenomena”, as if they’ve created a new trend. I wonder sometimes what exactly is phenomenal about what they’re doing, especially when they can get away with it. These guys, however, Yo! Majesty, push the queer in funkadelic, rap, hiphop. Added to this mix and their in your face lyrics Yo! fuses Soca and Club music, making their sound completely sick. Faves: Break Bread, Kryptonite P***y, Night Riders, Hott, Grindin’ And Shakin’, Never Be Afraid.
Swati‘s Big Bang. This is probably one of the most uplifting songs I’ve listened to in awhile. It makes me feel electric from my finger-tips to my toes. I walk to work imagining that I could play guitar like it was my sword, singing the lyrics like they were a spell, ready for whatever awaits me…
Renminbi‘s The Phoenix. Renminbi, pronounced REN-MIN-BEE, is an experimental three piece, that kept changing drummers on me. My band had the opportunity to play with these guys, and they’re amazing: both as musicians and human beings. For me that’s all it takes. My faves: Lachine, Fight Song, Siren, The Shore. Listen: SIREN
Pianowire‘s The Throws, still gives me goose bumps, or as we say in Trinidad, make meh pause raise. So good. They’re a mixture of Elton John, Billy Joel and Queen. I also love Contact. These guys are coming out with an album soon. Listen: THE THROWS
Holy Fuck‘s Royal Gregory, because you couldn’t be in a much better mood after listening. It’s a great mixture of electronic, experimental and rock music. See, it’s very possible to like electronic music, once it’s done well and it’s not repetitive. Another band that I appreciate a lot, that does the same (bridging the gaps between electronic, experimental and rock) are the Battles.
Lupe Fiasco‘s The Cool is supposedly an antithesis to Miles Davis’s Birth of Cool and if I may the Cool Jazzmovement, as it critiques and decontructs the current “cool” state of hip hop (a derivative of bebop jazz) which no longer challenges the status quo, discusses social issues, but again and again chooses to be distracted by the bling and pussy. Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem We Real Coolalso comes to mind when listening to this album:
My band uploaded a new song on our myspace page. It’s called Something In the Middle.
I can’t remember the details which lead to Something In the Middle. Maybe it was a day when one of us was so beaten down, that we just spilled all of our guts out. Because that’s what we do when we’re together, we spill everything out, everything that is trying to kill us. We sing louder, play harder, speak in tongues. We joke that our band practices are really therapy sessions.
Anyway, Something In the Middleis probably one of our most political songs (other than our very visible presence as women playing rock music) on our line-up.
Oh wait, it’s coming back to me now, how it all began. I was talking about the issues surrounding gay rights, and Hanna (bass player and vocalist), or maybe it was Maggie (lead guitarist and vocalist), made a scathing remark which lead to a beat, to a riff, to a refrain…
The recording is homemade, live at our studio. It’s not as polished as our previous recordings, but I’m digging the rawness. We used this really handy recorder that fits right in your pocket, Olympus LS10.
I’ve been working with Magnetic Island, an exprimental, indie rock band based in NYC, on the single Subterfuge. 
s package and want the new president to fail. I mean, if he fails then America, and Americans would suffer the consequences of his failure. It means that poverty would be at an all time high and ultimately this will result in the economic demise of one of the greatest countries in the world. You have to be an incredibly spiteful and a stupid individual to wish this and believe that the economy would survive this blow. Anyway, here’s some tunes for those haters.
Township
J.A.C.K
Love is All
Telepathe
Witchdoctor
different species. The originality of the colonial context is that economic reality, inequality, and the immense difference of ways of life never come to mask human realities. When you examine at close quarters the colonial context, it is evident that what parcels out the world is to begin with the fact of belonging to or not belonging to a given race, a given species. The colonial world is a Manichean world. 
Object’s Black Swan
The Netherlands
Yo! Majesty
Swati
My 
COCOYEA 
You must be logged in to post a comment.