I’m going to deviate a bit from my posts that deal with more expansive concepts beyond our music, and bring it back to the band for a bit.
The band has been really busy lately with shows, and touring. This May we did a California tour. Some of those dates were spent playing Popscene in San Francisco, and then doing main support for the local band stage at BFD 2013. It was over all, an amazing tour, and we had a blast.
But now it’s been a time of folding back inward and working on music. Time can really fly by, and before you know it, you’ve accumulated a lot of material. Not only are we writing brand new songs that are as fresh as an apple pie baked in a Downey Fresh Sheets factory, but we are taking songs we really loved that got passed up due to time constraints or focus, and developing them into more agile creations.
It’s never been the case that we start writing in a certain direction out of reaction. Our musical visions come out of a pure love of, or excitement over an idea, concept or musical aspiration. I decided to share some tunes that are really influencing me musically. I’m hoping to be able to use some of the concepts and ideas in the musical directions listed below for Picture Atlantic.Lots of experimentation will help me decide if I’ve done some fun and interesting, or terrible and world-musicy.
When it comes to what we’re working on, and what is driving us musically, I tend to hold my cards pretty close to my chest. In some ways it’s hard to want to share ideas or concepts before they are fully formed, but I’m trying to be better about giving little sneak peaks here and there without feeling like the final product is thusly ruined. I hope that some of the samples below with give you just that sneak peak.
Click each picture to hear a sample clip of what I’m talking about.
JuJu - Waide Nayde
I am pretty sure I heard of JuJu on some NPR show, but I was instantly hooked on the riff heavy grooves. I’ve always been an immense fan of a lot of the Griot musicians, and especially a lot of the Malinese guitarists like Ali Farka Toure, so this was equally awesome!
Bhangra
I have always been immense fan of Indian music, classical or modern. Bhangra is one of those styles of music that has a very interesting history, a lot of variation, and a lot of beats! Expect to hear some of these beats soon!
Indian Classical Music
What can I say really. Indian Carnatic and classical music is by far some of the most elegant, beautiful, and complex music I have ever heard. The skill and finesse required to play this music still blows my mind!
