Sub Pop Shoes

Now that you're recovering from a Labor Day weekend of standing and walking all day at FYF Fest or Bumbershoot, it's time to give your indie-lovin' feet a break.

Try these new limited edition Sub Pop sneakers on for size:


The sneakers are based on the 7" designs from the venerable Sub Pop Singles Club, and they'll go perfectly with your ironic t-shirt. I've always been afraid that my wardrobe didn't quite match my record collection, but who has that many fantasy sci-fi outfits to match all those Journey, Toto and Asia albums?

Coolest Record Player Ever

Check out designer Charlie Pyott's Linos turntable:

iPhone Apps

I love the Mujik app! If you like remixing music, your 99 cents will be well spent on this app from Lucky Frame.

The Mujik app lets you remix three music tracks to create blippity-bloopity glitchy lullabies. The music sorta sounds like I Am Robot and Proud.

There's also a free Pepsi Rock Band app that lets you upload your photo. Here's me as various Rock Band characters. Cuz I could. And cuz it was free.

R.I.P. Les Paul

Les Paul
Guitar innovator and inventor
June 9, 1915 - August 13, 2009

Because I'm classy, I tweeted this as soon as I heard the sad news:

RIP guitar legend Les Paul. Not many people are synonymous with the instruments they play with. Stradivarius Violin. Moog Synth. Andy Dick.

Chairlift and Saturdays off the 405

If you're like me, you live in the L.A. area and you like music, art and not spending money. You probably also like easy-to-clean messes, no questions asked and not having witnesses around, but that should be saved for a different post. For now, you should be interested in checking out the Getty Museum's Saturdays off the 405 free concert series. They used to be on Fridays, but it was too hard to get there because of traffic caused by everyone rushing home to watch reruns of The Ghost Whisperer or something. Anyway, the Saturday concert series just kicked off yesterday, so check out the schedule. Plus, Getty Center parking is free after 5pm.

Yesterday's inaugural show of the season was headlined by Chairlift, who put on a stellar performance that filled the Getty courtyard with layers of cascading guitars and keyboards.


You probably know Chairlift from their song "Bruises," which was featured in an iPod commercial. The one with all the colors and the white background. No, the other one.

Bruises

ABC Music Lounge

Introducing the ABC Music Lounge! This is what I've been spending the past few months producing nonstop, so please give it a listen. It's ABC Television's 24/7 streaming music player, and it features breaking, new music (the latest from Silversun Pickups, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ben Lee and more), exclusive live music videos (Anya Marina, Joshua Radin, Greg Laswell) and quotes and testimonials from the artists and music supervisors associated with the network's TV series.

The Fabric of Zooey Deschanel's Life

If you're a hipster worth your weight in secondhand ironic tees, then you're a fan of Zooey Deschanel and you've probably ranked her She & Him album on your top 10 album list from last year, maybe even forced yourself to sit through The Happening, and probably have had Michel Gondry-esque boho fantasies of you and her sitting on a rainbow painted by Mark Ryden while Devendra Banhart and Natalie Portman watch you from a Los Feliz thrift store parking lot, thinking you two are the best thing since vegan cupcakes. In any case, you'll probably appreciate her commercial jingle for Cotton, the fabric of our lives and the material of most of my clothes.

The jingle is pretty catchy, and you can get the free download of the full song by clicking here.

Lily Allen on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Lily Allen performed in Hollywood for Jimmy Kimmel Live last night. Here are some iPhone photos I took from as she performed "Smile," "Fuck You" and her cover of Britney Spears' "Womanizer," which were not aired. After the warm-up, she swapped her sneakers for heels and sang "The Fear" and "Not Fair," which were aired on the show.

Lily singing "Fuck You." She flipped off the audience everyone time she sang the chorus.

If you Twitter, follow Lily -- she's been hiding concert tickets at various stops on her tour and she's been tweeting hints to the scavenger hunt.

Free Downloads for April

• Sign up for Camera Obscura's newsletter for a free download of their new single "My Maudlin Career." Their new album comes out April 20th.

• Download a free sampler album of Anti Records artists, including new releases by Neko Case, Bob Mould and N.A.S.A. here.

Record Store Day

The second annual Record Store Day is coming up on Saturday, April 18, 2009. Independent record stores across the country will be commemorating the event with special festivities, giveaways, artist meet-and-greets, exclusive releases and more. Click here to find a participating store near you.

If you're a fan of the band Great Northern, you'll be able to snag a free 7" featuring an unreleased song by them courtesy of their label, Eenie Meenie Records. You can also get a free tote bag, so be sure to check out Record Store Day and load up on the goodies.

Album Cover Gallery: Oscars Edition

It's Oscar Sunday, and to keep you entertained during some random's overlong acceptance speech, I've dusted off some albums from my collection and put together an Academy Awards-inspired gallery.

Breakfast at Tiffany's Winner- 1961 Best Original Song
"Moon River"
Music by Henry Mancini
Lyrics by Johnny Mercer


CharadeNominee - 1963 Best Original Song
"Charade"
Music by Henry Mancini
Lyrics by Johnny Mercer


Mondo CaneNominee - 1963 Best Original Song
"More"
Music by Riz Ortolani and Nino Oliviero
Lyrics by Norman Newell


Valley of the DollsNominee - 1967 Best Original Score
Music by John Williams


Holiday InnWinner - 1942 Best Original Song
"White Christmas"
Music & Lyrics by Irving Berlin
Performed by Bing Crosby


CaddyNominee - 1953 Best Original Song
"That's Amore"
Music by Harry Warren
Lyrics by Jack Brooks
Performed by Dean Martin


2001: A Space OdysseyWinner - 1969 Best Visual Effects
Stanley Kubrick

Nominee - 1969 Best Art Direction
Anthony Masters, Harry Lange, Ernest Archer

Nominee - 1969 Best Director
Stanley Kubrick

Nominee - 1969 Best Original Screenplay
Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke


MoonrakerNominee - 1980 Best Visual Effects
Derek Meddings, Paul Wilson, John Evans


The Nightmare before ChristmasNominee - 1994 Best Visual Effects
Paul Kozachik, Eric Leighton, Ariel Velasco-Shaw, Gordon Baker

Valentine's Mix

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, so here are my suggested songs to get you in the mood. If this music gets you lucky, be sure to think of me. No, wait. And on second thought, don't think of me if these songs get you "in the mood" like I just boasted about earlier. Forget about it all together. You're being too clingy.

This second compilation is my more literal Valentine's mix with songs that mention Valentines, hearts and love:

Free Download: Neko Case's New Single!

New Pornographer and alt-country chanteuse Neko Case will be releasing her new solo album, Middle Cyclone, on March 3, 2009 and you can preview and download the first single here!

People Got A Lotta Nerve - Neko Case

If you have a blog, visit Neko's record label ANTI to post the downloadable single. For every blog that posts the single before February 3, 2009, $5 will be donated to the Best Friends Animal Society, a sanctuary for abandoned, abused and special needs companion animals. It's sorta like Hotel for Dogs but not lame!

My Favorite Albums of 2008

25. Gemma Hayes - The Hollow of Morning
24. The Dears - Missiles
23. I Am Robot and Proud - Uphill City
22. Elf Power - In a Cave
21. Oxford Collapse - Bits
20. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
19. Islands - Arm's Way
18. School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms
17. Adele - 19
16. Nada Surf - Lucky
15. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
14. The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
13. Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
12. B. Fleischmann - Angst Is Not a Weltanschauung!
11. Mogwai - The Hawk Is Howling
10. The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
9. Deerhunter - Microcastle
8. Saine - Break a Pattern
7. The Uglysuit - The Uglysuit
6. Neon Neon - Stainless Style
5. Albert Hammond, Jr. - ¿Cómo Te Llama?
4. Sigur Rós - Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
3. The Last of the Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement
2. Black Kids - Partie Traumatic
1. M83 - Saturdays = Youth

Album Cover Gallery: Merry Christmas!

Bing Crosby's Merry Christmas album from 1955 and Christmas Songs for Young Hearts by Gene Martin and the Arthur Carre Orchestra.

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas picture disc soundtrack commemorating the 10th anniversary of the film in 2003.

Merry Christmas from Sesame Street from 1975. Gatefold detail below.

Last Christmas Music Video

Here's my new stop-motion holiday video for 2008! It's my cover of Wham's "Last Christmas."

Visit HandsInTheAir.net for the full post.

Silent Knight Music Video

Happy holidays. 'Tis the season for me to repost my first annual stop-motion Christmas video, which appeared on Hands in The Air last year. I photographed and edited this for my cover of "Silent Night."

Check out HandsInTheAir.net for the behind-the-scenes photos.

California Mixtape

California has always been a big topic in song, so here's my mixtape of songs honoring/criticizing the Golden State. Yay, it's a blue state. Boo, it's a Prop 8 state.

Mixwit.com didn't seem to have a few of the tracks I was looking for, like "Los Angeles" by Frank Black, "Sunny in California" by Aberdeen and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose."

For one reason or another, I left off some of the more obvious California songs, like "Free Fallin'," "Californication," "All I Wanna Do," "California Dreaming," "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" and "Los Angeles" by X. I also left off the Beach Boys 'cuz that'd leave me with a mix of their entire back catalog with the exception of "Kokomo." And come on, pretty mama, that'd just be ridiculous.

Instrumental #3

It's sort of like a dreary fall day in L.A., and this song seems to fit the season. This instrumental features Sol and I on guitars and Mok on keys. Sol also programmed the drums, and the beat reminds me of Groove Armada's "At the River," which isn't a bad thing.

"Instrumental #3" is what we would say was an "improvised" performance. Perceptive listeners, on the other hand, might instead say, "You guys don't ever rehearse, do you?" Damn you, "perceptive" listeners and that "perception" that earns you the label of "perceptive," damn you!

Photo: Candid nature picture! Seriously, the toy deer didn't even know I was photographing it.

Album Cover Gallery: Ghost Stories for Young People

Halloween is just a week away, so here's a 1962 record from my collection to help you celebrate the season of dressing up as a naughty [insert random occupation here].

Springback

Here's a song that all started with a digital delay pedal. I'm playing the main riff and using an effects pedal to echo each note half a second after it's played. Sol sings and plays the rhythm guitar.

"Springback" reminds me of The Shins' song "Girl on the Wing," but we actually recorded this years before their album Oh, Inverted World was released. Of course, The Shins' song is far superior to our song and anything we'd ever think of doing with the riff. If that wasn't the case, then we'd definitely be living in an inverted world.



Photo: Ewok + Explosion = Best action scene imaginable

Album Cover Gallery: It's Alaska

Using a little Wasilla Main Street common sense, I've concluded that this album from my collection was particularly timely. It's Alaska (circa early 1960s) was released in conjunction with Alaska Airlines and is touted as a "Broadway-type musical production," which, I assume is Wasillan for a theatrical performance -- performance of music, theatrically -- in which there is vocalized singing shoring up the album recording of which I'm also speaking of also, but I'll have to get back to Katie Couric on that, specifically.

Starship Rocker

Here's a song that Sol wrote, and it's probably one of our best and most fun to play. It's all about outer space and would be perfectly illustrated by a Journey or Boston album cover.

Photo: Uglydolls

Jason's Infinite Playlist

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist opens in theaters this Friday, and it looks like it should be a cool and funny movie because:

1) It's not titled Tyler Perry's Infinite Playlist

2) It's a teen comedy and not about crusty, old people like Nights of Rodanthe, whatever a Rodanthe is

3) It's centered around music, but not in a Mamma Mia sorta way, because no one should ever break into ABBA during the course of a regular conversation

The Nick and Norah site is pretty nice, and you can customize a widget there with your own personal playlist on it. Here's my mix, which is fairly random, but that's just how I was feeling when I was compiling it.

Halloween Mixtape

I know it's not too early to post this Halloween mixtape, because my local Target store is already stocked up on decorations, candy and costumes. Here's my ode to All Hallow's Eve.

Here's a quick rundown of the tracks:

• "Is There a Ghost" - Band of Horses
• "Graveyard Girl" - M83
• "See These Bones" - Nada Surf
• "Do They Know It's Halloween?" - North American Halloween Prevention Initiative (featuring Beck, David Cross, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O, and other hipsters)
• "Sleepy Vampire" - Supersuckers
• "Bones" - Radiohead
• "Walking with a Ghost" - Tegan and Sara
• "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" - David Bowie
• "Season of the Witch" - Luna
• "Hunting for Witches" - Bloc Party
• "Ghost Dreaming" - Quasi
• "Monster" - You Say Party! We Say Die!
• "Sweet Sweet Heartkiller" - Say Hi to Your Mom
• "Cross Bones Style" - Cat Power
• "Devil Inside" - INXS
• "Ghost under Rocks" - Ra Ra Riot
• "The Killing Moon" - Echo & the Bunnymen
• "I Will Kill Again" - Jarvis Cocker
• "The Funeral" - Band of Horses

For a Halloween compilation, this is actually a fairly bright and poppy mix that's loaded with treats (there isn't a box of raisins or toothbrush in the bunch -- I always hated those houses that gave those out to trick-or-treaters), including my all-time favorite Radiohead song, two great Band of Horses tunes and a sly ballad by Pulp's Jarvis Cocker.

I would've added "Ghost vs. Vampire" by Quasi, "Dracula's Castle" by New Order and "Ghost in You" by Psychedelic Furs, but I couldn't find the original tracks on Mixwit. They're sorta like trick-or-treating and getting the elusive Mr. Goodbar or box of Sugar Babies. Save those for me if you get any this season.

The Last Showdown

Here's a song I wrote that was always a fun one to play live. Some friends from the bands Mars Accelerator and Welcome recorded me, Mok and Rob performing it, and they did a nice job producing it so it sounded poppy and somewhat half-not-excruciating. The weird electronic gurgling sound is from a toy I had that makes your voice sound like a robot's, and I had to breathe into it nonstop for the entire duration of the recording. Please listen to this song, because those are some brain cells I'm never getting back.

Saturday

Damn, we made some fruity-ass songs. Here's a live recording of a nice, dumb pop song we wrote called "Saturday." Mok on drums, me and Sol on guitar and vocals, you with a perplexed look on your face.

Speaking of Saturday, be sure to check out this art show reception this Saturday, August 23rd that I'm featured in. I'm promise it won't be too fruity-assed.

Photo: Speed Racer

Album Cover Gallery: Jan and Dean Meet Batman

Since The Dark Knight opens in theaters today, I'm honoring the movie with this Batman album gallery. This record features the Batman TV series theme from the '60s and was a "concept album" (take that Pink Floyd, The Who and, um, Queensryche!) by surf rockers, Jan and Dean. The concept was a bit corny, though, since it features a lot of comic book narration about Jan and Dean being turned into the crimefighting duo, "Captain Jan and the Boy Blunder, Dean."



















This album isn't the original 1966 pressing. This is the 1987 reissue made by '80s label Bam Caruso. You can also tell it's newer because of the barcode on the back.

Whoop Whoop

This song is the reason why you shouldn't allow a trumpet into the studio. "Whoop Whoop" was always a fun song to play, but we never knew what to do with it vocally. It started out with me coming up with the guitar line, which friends told me reminded them of a Pulp Fiction sorta surfy/mariachi sound.

Sol played drums and I can't remember if Rob took part in this. Mok brought his trumpet and the rest is gold. Or maybe some other color. Oh, and as far as the vocals, we all settled on just singing "Whoop! Whoop!" which is as deep as our lyrics get. I think we're making a socio-political statement or maybe we just came up with the best aerobicizing/dance floor hook ever.








Photo: Jason whoops it up for tiny dancers on the stage. Jason's always been a fan of stage productions and the theater.

Summer Album Covers

Welcome to summer! It's so freakin' hot here in L.A. that I've been sweating it out and swimming in ball soup for the past few weeks. Just for you, I'm risking my record collection turning to melted goo by taking them out and photographing some of my favorite summer-themed album covers. Enjoy. I'm gonna go jump in the pool now.

Happy Birthday, Sub Pop!

This weekend, the Sub Pop record label celebrated its 20th birthday in Seattle with a bunch of concerts that made me wish I was back in my hometown to attend. Sub Pop, of course, is the venerable record label (or, I think I'm supposed to describe it as "seminal," which is one of those music geek terms you're required to drop every now and then) that was home to such grunge pioneers as Nirvana, Mudhoney and Soundgarden. And Sub Pop continues to popularize some of my current faves like Band of Horses, The Shins (they recently parted ways with the label), Flight of the Conchords and The Postal Service. I can only imagine how good the label's music will be next year when Sub Pop is old enough to drink...

In honor of Sub Pop's two decades of good music, I'm sharing my mix tape of some of my favorite Sub Pop tracks:

Rawk Mix Tape

I put all sorts of music on my iPod -- not just all those precious little indie bands I love like Belle & Sebastian, The Decemberists and Yo La Tengo or those smarmy Britpop blokes like Ride, Catherine Wheel and Blur. I also add a lot of random stuff I like to my iPod like '60s lounge music, old honky tonk, TV themes, Muppet songs and cheesy '80s stuff.

So today I was driving around and it was brought to my attention that my iPod had shuffled up a good straight half hour of music that made me seem awfully gay (not that there's anything wrong with that). Anyway, my iPod was playing like 30 minutes of New Order, Bjork, When in Rome and some club jamz. That stuff is all fine and good when mixed in with other music, but a straight half hour of hearing those songs started to make me wonder if the Sex and the City movie was sooo worth seeing (I hear it is, and Mr. Big is totally dreamy! No, wait...)

After all my iPod's fruitiness, I figured I should counterbalance it with a mix of some full-on rawkin' facemelters that go balls out (in a completely hetero way, mind you). Here goes...

Echo Song

Happy Father's Day! My dad actually likes this song, so I'm posting it for him for the holiday. In this song, we're doing our best U2 imitation except that this is an instrumental so you can't hear us singing about wanting to save the world/environment/oppressed peoples/starving babies.

That's me on the echoing guitar pretending to be The Edge, 'cause I like stoopid stage names. Sol played drums and additional guitar and Rob played the funeral-style organ.







Photo: It's a picture of Yoda I took in my parents' backyard, but I'm not going to describe it all backwardsy like how that Jedi muppet talks.

Mixwit

Remember the good ol' days when you'd compile your favorite songs on cassette tape? There were two basic reasons for ever giving someone a mixtape:

1. You were trying to convey your feelings to your crush through music since you correctly knew that writing your own poetry would come across as lame and creepy. Plus, nothing romantic rhymes with "vagina."

2. You were trying to impress some friends of yours by enlightening them with the really awesome stuff they weren't cool enough to even know about. Plus, you'd add some extra obscure song that's not actually good or some old pre-'70s song just to give your tape a little cred.

The iPod pretty much killed the mixtape, but Mixwit.com lets you compile your favorite songs into an online "tape," complete with spinning reels and a customizable sticker.

Here's my happy mixtape followed by my sad mixtape. It's the many moods of Jason on cassette.

Octopus's Garden

Here's a cover of a Beatles song. It's me, Rob and Sol. I'd never heard the original song until way after we had recorded this, so that's my excuse for it sounding the way it does. Oh, and it's also a Ringo song, so that's another excuse.

Photo: It's Sigmund the Seamonster (no, not technically an octopus) getting a trim from Edward Scissorhands. It could totally happen.

Album Cover Gallery: Dean Martin

Today is the birthday of one of my favorite singers, Dean Martin, who would've been 91 today. To celebrate the King of Cool's b-day, I'm posting this gallery of my Dino albums, which have it all as far as imagery: a creepy doll, cigarettes, cardigan sweaters, cowboy hats and kiss prints. And be sure to read the back cover liner notes, because one of them drops the term "Epic Sloth." I think I work with one of those.

Album Cover Gallery: Frank Sinatra

A few weeks ago, the U.S. Postal Service issued a Frank Sinatra stamp so now you can see the Chairman of the Board whenever you mail out your rent check (it's totally overdue right now, by the way).

The Sinatra stamp commemorates the 10th anniversary of the crooner ring-a-ding-dying, which is a bit morbid so I'll follow up this posting on Saturday with a gallery honoring my favorite Rat Pack boozer, Dean Martin, whose birthday is June 7. In the meantime, here's a gallery of my albums by a guy who's been decomposing for a decade. Scooby-dooby-doo.

Snakes on a Plane

Since the new Indiana Jones movie opens this Thursday, I'm posting two slithery songs in honor of everyone's favorite snake-fearing archaeologist. These songs first appeared on the Hands in the Air podcast when I brought a guitar to the recording session and had fellow podcaster Chris improvise a song for Snakes on a Plane, which was about to hit theaters at the time.

Our podcasts are recorded bicoastally, so Chris was actually doing his part live from New York while I was doing all the music live in L.A. with Hands in the Air's Jenni helping out on vocals. The result? It turns out that in the battle between East Coast vs. West Coast, everyone loses. Sorry, Biggie and Tupac.

Snakes on a Plane (Chris Version)

Chris's improvised song could be the best reptile jam since Paula Abdul's "Cold Hearted Snake," but I took a stab at covering his tune with my own version that has enough suck power to rid your entire body of cobra venom, with maybe a little leftover suckage to clean out a whole fat camp worth of snake bite victims. I used the exact wording sung by Chris and Jenni in the original, but the real challenge was restructuring all of it so that it had some semblance of a melody. Lyrics like "I can't even shoot their ass" and "whole goddamn pile of snakes on a plane" are pure poetry, though.

Snakes on a Plane (Jason's Double Viper Mix)

Photo: The first photo is of Chris. The second photo I took at the University of San Diego's Birch Aquarium car lot. I guess snakes like to park there.

Space Dog

Happy Mother's Day! Since I don't have any songs appropriate for the occasion today, I figured I'd just post the most random song I could think of. This one wins, so I'm gonna send it flowers and treat it to brunch.

This instrumental was done by the original The David Hasslehoff 5 lineup, but, by this time, we had turned into Bending Bus, a band more focused on blippity-bloopity, noodly type of music. For this instrumental, I played the keyboards and electronic noises and Sol played guitar and programmed the drums. I can't remember what Rob or Mok did, but I'm pretty sure they were there, too.




Photo: It's a picture I took of a tiny Afro Ken suction cup toy thingie

Album Cover Gallery: Sounds in Space

I have this album cover hanging on my wall. This record was made when stereo recording was perceived as some sorta new-fangled invention that would usher in an era of flying cars, supercomputers and evil robots programmed to destroy the Amish with their barn-destroying laser eyes. Look it up. It totally happened in the series finale of The Jetsons.

Most of side one of this record features voice-over beatnik Ken Nordine talking about the wonders of stereo sound as he walks back and forth from speaker to speaker while the strains of race car engines, ocean waves and other sound effects pendulate in the background. Then it's wall-to-wall classical music after that. Naturally.

We Can Work It Out

Here's a cover song that my friend Sol and I recorded as The David Hasslehoff 5.

Sol played the music. I sang. Oh, and that whirring noise? Yeah, I'm hoping to harness the power of George and John spinning in their graves as alternative energy source. Keep replaying the song and it'll be like a Mach 5 rotisserie.






Photo: The Human Torch and Silver Surfer trying to "work it out."

Album Cover Gallery: Music for Dining

This edition of the Album Cover Gallery features a 50-year-old record from RCA's "Moods in Music" series. Apparently, "hungry" is a mood.

Click on the back cover art to read the liner notes. They don't write 'em like that anymore.

If you ever want to class up a meal, light some candles and give this mood-setting platter a spin. It won't make your dinner of microwave popcorn or cold cereal taste any better, but you'll feel like you're eating it in France. At the crappiest bistro in Paris. But still, that's in France. I'm not sure if this record has the power to overcome a meal at Applebee's, though.

The Wow Song

I have weakness for making fun of people, and "The Wow Song," which I made for a podcast episode at Hands in the Air, is basically me poking fun at fellow Hands podcaster Chris. But at least it's got a good beat and you can dance to it. Or maybe you can laugh with it (not at it, mind you, 'cuz that's just flat-out rude).

I sampled soundbites of Chris from the Hands in the Air podcast (check it out, and you'll find out just how much I like making fun of people), and the inspiration for the song is his tendency to respond to everything with an insightful "Wow." He also loves the rhetorical question of "Can you imagine?" But usually I can because I have a pretty good imagination.

Here's something that doesn't take much imagination because it's true and very apparent -- I'm all about ridicule. Like, there's the simpleton I know whom I've secretly given the keyboard shortcut nickname of F5 because he always needs to be refreshed, and then there's that annoyingly insistent person I've dubbed the "horny fratboy" because this person won't take no for an answer.

Fair is fair, so feel free to make fun of me, too. You can call me that indulgent guy who makes the sloppy music with the unpleasant singing voice. That'll work, but bear in mind that I get to call you a total dork for even reading this.




Photo: I'm making fun of Chris again. It's from a Valentine's post from Hands in the Air, in which I recreated famous scenes from romantic movies, like this scene where Chris ends up in The Crying Game.

Sleepyhead

We're having a Rock Band competition at work in a couple of weeks, so a lot of my time has been spent practicing the video game. I think I've been playing way too many fake instruments lately, so I figured I should pick up my guitar and record an entire song over the course of my Saturday...

I actually wrote "Sleepyhead" a while ago, but I've never recorded a decent version of it. Not that this version qualifies as "decent," nor would it be a face-melting axe-shredder if you were to play it in Rock Band, but I recorded an actual song today so who needs video games? While you give it a listen, I gotsta head out and jack some cars and slap some hos, 'cuz Grand Theft Auto IV isn't quite real enough for me anymore.



Photo: A Blythe Kubrick I photographed for an homage to one of my favorite movies, Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo.

1985 7" Single

I've already posted my reworkings of my old band's song, "1985," so I figured I should probably post the original versions of it for comparison. Obviously, the older version was rounder and flatter with a hole in the middle.

We released "1985" as a 7" single on mint-green vinyl, and it actually got played for two weeks on Seattle's 107.7 The End and several college stations that should've known better. I painted the album cover. It was all downhill from there.

Here's the 7" single version that I recorded with my friends Rob and Sol at Jello Tree Studios in Spokane, Washington with producer John Salvo. Rob, Sol and I wrote the song, Rob sang and played bass, I played rhythm guitar (the main riff and the solo) and Sol played guitar (the bridge hook) and drums. Is "sloppy" an instrument? Cuz we all played that, too.

1985 7" Single Version

The single also contained three other songs, including a remastered version of our original 4-track version of "1985" that was dubbed the "Sci-Fi Version" because of the vocal effects. Sol recorded it and I think we're more partial to this version, 'cause it's a different sort of crappy that we like.

1985 Sci-Fi Version

Photos: The Gremlins pic is one I took a while ago titled, "Midnight Snack." The other photo is a robot sitting in front of some satellite dishes in Culver City, California next door to South Park Studios.

Album Cover Gallery: Cinco de Mayo Edition

I collect old records, so to justify the fact that I buy a lot of secondhand junk, I've decided to highlight some of the LP covers in this new recurring feature. For the first installment of the gallery, I'm celebrating the arrival of Cinco de Mayo next week with this little gem.

Island in the Sun

This is my cover of a Weezer song from their Green Album that I finished a few weeks back.

I originally laid down the drum tracks for me and some coworkers to practice guitar to. Last year, a few people at work wanted to start up a band, but the catch was that some of them were beginners. Oh, and all of us played guitar, so it would've been a band of six guitarists or something.

We needed a song to practice together and "Island in the Sun" got chosen somehow. We never got back together after the initial session, so I ended up recording the entire song on my own. Hmmmm... sounds like it could use maybe five or so more guitars.



Photo: This was a picture taken for a Survivor-spoof post on HandsInTheAir.net.

I Hate You

Here's a "friendly" little rap song some friends and I did back when we were 12 or something. I'm not sure why we're rapping about Reagan, 'cause we would've been tiny little babies back then.

"I Hate You" was recorded under the band name "Chickweed Phlox," which consisted of me, and my junior high classmates Derek and Dan, who'd circulate tapes of us around school. Derek's dad played in a bar band, so we had access to instruments and a multitrack recorder. Derek did all the music (except for the cowbell in the opening which was me, thankyouverymuch), and Dan and I "rap" every other line. Dan is the first voice rapping.

The song makes some musical nods to The Kinks' "All Day and All Night" and Run DMC's "You Be Illin'" (the verse about school). We also name-check an actual kid from class (we later popped a cap in his ass as required by Chapter 5 of So You Want to Be a Child Rapper).

Listening back to this, I've noticed we say "man" an awful lot. While other rappers like to drop words like "booty," "ho," "beyotch" or "hoo-whee!" ad nauseum, it seems that "man" turned out to be our go-to word. Man.


Photo: This is a picture I took called "What Happened to Pig's Father?"

1985 (Super Mario Chillout Version)

This is yet another one of my reworkings of my old band's song, "1985." More downbeat, electronic and different. I even got Hands in the Air's Jenni to sing backup vocals. For everything else, I'm to blame.

The original version of this song never actually had a rap, but I decided to add one chock full of '80s references for some reason. Here are the lyrics in case you want to drop some dope rhymes and make sucka MCs like Vanilla Ice feel like they're not so lame by comparison:

1 to the 9 to the 8 to the 5
It's a time that's on my mind
Like Transformers, more than meets the eye
Kidd Video, Smurfs and Rainbow Brite
Mr. T said that "I
pity the fool who didn't watch the school
'bout Canadian kids on DeGrassi High"
Knight Rider and Lazer Tag
Gimme a spoon 'cause I wanna gag
Over "Rowdy" Roddy Piper
Muppets in diapers
Pastel suits on Miami Vice-a
Down in Fraggle Rock, I'm a Get Along Gangsta
Yo Joe!
Thunder, ThunderCats, ho!
Go Gadget Arm, go Gadget Arm, go
Care Bears, Dragon's Lair
Rambo, Goonies, Double Dare
1 to the 9 to the 8 to the 5
1 to the 9 to the 8 to the 5
1 to the 9 to the 8 to the 5
By the power of Grayskull, the year flew by

Photo: It's a Blythe Kubrick toy I photographed looking stylish in the city.

1985 (Tron Version)

Welcome to the inaugural post at Hands on Your Ears, the first spin-off blog from Hands in the Air. This blog was mainly created as a place for me to subject you to my original music, like this song, "1985 (Tron Version)."

For those of you who listen to the Hands in the Air podcasts, you might recognize this tune as the main theme song. This is the full version with vocals that I recorded a few years back, and it's actually a drastically updated version of a 7" single I recorded with a band I used to be in (The David Hasslehoff 5). Back then, "1985" was more of a Guided By Voices-style guitar song, but the "Tron Version" changes up the melody and turns everything into a Postal Service-style electronic mutation.

I played/programmed/mangled all the instruments on this song and my vocals are kinda whispery because this was recorded in my old apartment and I didn't want the neighbors to hear me singing. One of our neighbors used to be some old British cougar who wore a satin nightgown all day, and the last thing I wanted to do was inadvertently serenade her. In any case, crank it up and maybe your neighbor will come a-runnin'.



Photo: By me. It's a Pac-Man pursuit.