I’m in a ranty mood today. I’ve already picked on a few things today across the social mediasphere but for the blog, I’m picking on music. Or more accurately ProTools.

So Dave Grohl had a rant at the grammy’s (yes lower case g) about fake music, music made with computers, anything where the artist has to fix fuck ups and can make millions. Well dagnabbit he’s right and I have proof.

The background for this post is that we watched Pearl Jam’s PJ-20 documentary last year (and several times since) and we’ve just time travelled back to the early 90s. It’s much nicer here. I can wear plaid in a non-ironic sense. I’ve bought most of the PJ back catalogue as I only had Ten but I was also inspired to listen to Soundgarden again. I have a couple of SG albums but I didn’t have Badmotorfinger. So I bought it. Holy fucking Christ it’s good!

Don’t believe me? Go to YouTube and listen to Rusty Cage. Or how about Slaves and Bulldozers?! But most importantly, listen to Jesus Christ Pose.

But this isn’t just about how cracking Soundgarden are. No, it’s about how talent is better than computers and corner cutting. So check this out. Listen to this vocal only track of Jesus Christ Pose.

Starts at 1:27. Really impressive at 4:39.

Ok, so the fucker can sing, but what’s so special about it?! It’s not just the main vocal line, but the bits in between the lines. The bits where he inhales. The bits where he licks his lips. The silence that isn’t silence, it’s room reverb. Hell, it’s the fucking mustard!

Wait?! What?! Mustard?! What the fuck are you talking about?!

Yeah, mustard!

The missus makes this really great dish. Honey and Lemon Chicken with Cous Cous. If you follow the ingredients, it’s add some honey to some lemon juice with a bit of water, stir in some mustard, fry chicken in it, apply to cous cous. Or, if you like, get drummer, bassist, guitarist, singer, record in studio, burn to CD. How many unsigned bands do this every year? And how many of them actually go somewhere? It’s like 1%. (not accurate).

So what makes one band’s CD better than another? The recording process. I was in a band. We were tight as fuck. We were also broke and not very committed. Our singer could fucking wail! But we never went into a proper studio to record anything with a properly trained producer. It really helps to have someone who knows exactly where the mic should go. Someone who knows exactly how many guitar tracks there should be. The studio makes a difference. Each one has its own sound. Its own personality. And that can make or break a record too.

So, in an ideal world, we’ve got a band with talent and a bit of savings and a good studio and we’ve recorded an album and we’ve made bazillions and toured the world and we haven’t let anyone down with our live show because it sounds like the record.

But what if you take one of those average bands who recorded in a crap studio?! What if you took that little studio and gave it ProTools and an engineer who followed some online tutorials?! Right, studio got no personality? Add plugin, instant personality. Drummer out of time? Meh, MIDI the drum track, drag and drop beats. Done. Next! Singer can’t hold the note on the second chorus? Ok, copy and paste first chorus.

Woah woah woah! Hold up! You can’t do that!! That’s cheating. He wouldn’t do that live, why do it in the studio?!

But what you ultimately get is this fucking piece of turd spinning in your CD player that is note perfect, beat perfect, perfect, perfect, prefect. Make billions off marketing hype and pre-sales. Tour world. Contract cancelled because nobody wants your second album! As it turns out, the band aren’t in time and the singer can’t sing and it sounds fucking horrible. I’m looking at you Alter Bridge! Fuck that gig was terrible!

Which brings us back to Cornell and 4:39. He’s screaming his ass off and it’s not quite holding and it’s just about to crack. But it doesn’t matter. You leave it in. Just like you leave in the lip licking and the inhales. You can’t hear them but they’re there! And the song is better for it. Because that’s the mustard! If you take the mustard out of the missus’ dish, it’s just honey and lemon chicken. It’s ok, but it’s a bit bland. When you leave it in, it’s something else. It’s personality. It’s an error. It’s not perfection. But it is. You go see them live and it’s pretty close to the record and it feels good.

So there you go. ProTools is the anti-mustard brigade of the music industry. And on that note, I leave you with the final output of a bunch of guys in a studio playing their hearts out:

…it’s like you never had wings, now you feel so alive.

So, Music Mondays. I was discussing with the missus earlier today about getting rid of some of the stuff we’ve both hoarded over the years. We talked about getting rid of DVD’s, we have hundreds, and we’re happy to get rid of those. Then we moved onto CD’s and for both of us, despite having a combined total of about a thousand, it was definite no-no.

Why?

Well, we’re a bit obsessive with music. As a couple, music is our thing. It brought us together and connected us. Our mutual tastes, future recommendations and general passion made us realise that we were “mfeo” and for each, set the other apart from the crowd. That doesn’t make a lot of sense but go with it!

For me, each of my CDs has a story. Or certainly, a bunch of CDs such as an artist back catalog has a story. So I decided that rather than just do a boring review of a new CD, I’d tell one of these stories as well.

This week I saw that Spotify is rocking the new Deftones album. I really like the Deftones. I have all their CDs but I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a loyal fan or anything. For me, the Deftones have a deeper meaning.

A few years back (quite a few, shhhh!) I met an internet friend in Liverpool. I’d never been. She took me round the sights and then to a music shop. I picked up HIM – Deep Shadows (a story for another day) and while I was looking around, my friend, the massive Deftones fan, suggested I buy Around The Fur. I’d heard of the Deftones before from some singles on MTV but never bothered buying anything. I’m generally not a music snob and if someone suggests I listen to a record I usually will so I bought the album.

The rest of the weekend was awesome. I remember being incredibly shy (it was my first internet meetup I think) and we sat in Walkabouts for a bit not really saying a lot but again, music provided the connection and once we got on to that, it was alright. We went to this massive metal nightclub called the Krazy House and stayed out all night and I had the best time I’ve ever had in a club. I danced with all her friends and got completely wrecked. It was a blast! Something changed in me that night for sure.

I got home late the following day and listened to my new records. I think my reaction to both was something along the lines of WOW!!

The following weekend I went out and bought Adrenaline and then White Pony a few weeks after that. The latter is just an absolute mindblower. It’s one of the most emotional metal records you will ever listen to. It’s up, it’s down, it’s heavy, soft, loud, louder! Without doubt my favourite is Change In The House of Flies.

Since those I’ve kept up and bought the other two albums, Self Titled and Saturday Night Wrist. They’re good but they might as well be the same album. And now this weekend I’ve got Diamond Eyes which I absolutely must order (£9 on Amazon!). It’s fantastic. They got rid of all the Pro Tools fancy stuff and it sounds like all the rawness of Adrenaline with the soul of White Pony. With every new record listen I have that flutter of anticipation and the first 13 seconds prolong that before crashing in with a super heavy riff then breaking into a really melodic bridge and after the first 40 seconds my question of more of the same? is competely smashed. The Deftones are back!

Listening to the Deftones introduced me to new, heavier ways of playing guitar. I dropped all the tunings and set my Metal Zone pedal to some rough settings I found on the web and tweaked a little. Eight years on and my setup has barely changed. My Own Summer was the first song I multitracked in my bedroom. I will definitely be looking up tabs for this record and annoying the neighbours!

Me and the Deftones go way back and it’s really nice to see that they’re back in fine form, albeit with a stand in bassist, and it’s been fun remembering some good times from years past. Best songs on the album are probably Beauty School, Sextape, 976-EVIL and the suprising cover of The Cardigans’ Do You Believe. Big fan of the original (and the album it belongs to) so it was interesting to hear a blinding take on it! Nobody does covers like these guys.

I wish it was Sunday!

Out travelling at a clients today and it has been a terrific day, weather wise. Fortunately I spent most of it in an air con conference room!

I travelled by train and went through a whole load of countryside and it was just beautiful.

The weekend weather was much the same and the view out back onto the farm reminded me of an album I haven’t listened to in quite some time.

Corrs – Talk On Corners

Bit of a girly one this, but it has a cute back story.

I remember first seeing The Corrs on the National Lottery when they did live band showcases. They played I Never Loved You Anyway which had me hooked right away. This was pre instant download/YouTube/iTunes/Spotify days and you pretty much had to rely on radio to get your fix.

I bought the album as soon as it came out. At the time I was earning £12 a week in my Saturday job and had just enough. Skipped the haircut that week! Actually, I think I had long hair. That’s another story.

I listened to it non stop for weeks and the singles were all over the radio. The country went Corrs crazy as we headed into the summer. My favourite track is What Can I Do. The video is really nice, really summery and it’s this that always sticks in my mind when we get nice summers.

I remember that while listening to this non stop I also spent a weekend building a Puzz3D french castle thing. I bought it one Friday on my way home from school (I was 17) and on my way out I bumped into this girl who I really liked and worked with and her mate who I also really liked but didn’t work with and who had quite a striking resemblance to Andrea Corr. They inquired what was in my bag. I can assure you that the one way to absolutely not impress two hot chicks is to whip out a Puzz3D in the middle of town.

It never ceases to amaze me just how much of a dork I used to be.

So this is the start of a new series. Music Mondays. Every Monday I’ll be reviewing some new music and re-visiting some old. Hopefully this will give me an excuse to dust off some old records and re-discover some of that passion that has dwindled in the digital age.