Gungfly Seriously Hooking
Posted: September 29, 2009 Filed under: Artists, Listening | Tags: Beardfish, Gungfly, mpomy, Rikard Sjöblom Leave a comment »I checked out MPomy’s 43-minute mix yesterday. One of the tracks on there was “On and On,” by Gungfly (also known as Beardfish’s Rikard Sjöblom). After hearing the tune, I looked up the record on iTunes and downloaded. Home run. As MPomy put it, “That guy’s in anutha zone!”
Here’s “She is Gone Again,” a video featured on the Gungfly MySpace page.
Metro Shuffle: Coldplay and Beardfish
Posted: August 31, 2009 Filed under: Deep, Listening | Tags: Beardfish, Coldplay, deep thoughts, Frank Zappa, Guyute, Steve Vai, Trey Anastasio 2 Comments »Couple of bits and pieces this evening.
- I got home from work this evening, and there was a full blown Michael Jackson dance party going on in my living room. I joined right in.
- As I noted here, I paid five bucks for the GarageBand lesson of Sting teaching “Message in Bottle.” The file for the lesson was 699 MB. I shudder to think what kind of file size would be required for Trey teaching a lesson on how to play “Guyute.” I’d probably pay about $10 for that action. Maybe $15!
- On the Metro home this evening, I first hit, quite deliberately, Coldplay’s Viva la Vida. That tune has to be one of the all time great songs for travel on public transport.
After that, I forwarded manically for another good tune and found one in Beardfish’s “The Hunter” off “Sleeping in Traffic.” No link for that one on Grooveshark, alas.
Now, the juxtaposition of Coldplay (mega pop humongous) and Beardfish (relatively obscure Swedish prog) prompted me to recall an overcaffeinated meta reflection I had this morning: the tension between community and individuality in music.
In one sense, the love of music is about communing with others, like the MJ dance party that took place a few hours ago, or this blog, or learning to play “Message in Bottle” – just like Sting! I also think of the community around Phish, one I’m getting more familiar with online these days. Or Metallica – half the fun of going to see those guys live is to commune with the other jonesers who love the band just as much as you do. You all bang your head together.
On the other hand, love of music is the search for originality, a chance to be unique or close to it. For example, I admit I get some satisfaction in knowing that probably less than 1 percent of my friends knows what the heck a Beardfish is. I’d also wager that a very low percentage of my friends would even like to listen to Beardfish, if given the chance. There’s satisfaction there too: being apart from all the others. Artistically, I guess Frank Zappa is a good example of the musician’s quest to be sui generis. Here, along those lines, is a clip of Steve Vai talking about auditioning for Frank:
Downloading Beardfish, Uploading Neil, Streaming Phish
Posted: August 27, 2009 Filed under: Listening | Tags: Beardfish, iTunes, Mr. Miner's Phish Thoughts, Neil Young, New Releases, phish, the internet is really amazing 2 Comments »
That was my triple play this evening. While downloading Beardfish’s new one, “Destined Solitaire,” from the iTunes store, I took the opportunity to upload my CD of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” into my iTunes library.
As all that was going on, I cranked up Phish’s “46 Days,” recorded live at Merriweather on 8/15 and conveniently embedded at Mr. Miner’s Phish Thoughts.
So that’s something old, something new, something borrowed, and even, as the picture shows, something blue.
Aww, come on!
Posted: July 28, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Beardfish, iTunes, New Releases 4 Comments »New Beardfish is not available on iTunes, which is a bit annoying because all their other records are. I mean, do I look like I have time to go to a record store? I don’t even know what a record store is anymore! Actually, I did go to the only shop within walking distance of my office, a giant FYE, and guess what? No dice. Shocking.
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!! Beardfish – tomorrow is the day!
Posted: July 27, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Beardfish, Destined Soitaire, New Releases, prog 2 Comments »
The new record is Destined Solitaire, and, despite the disappointing bail out of ProgNation09, I’d almost rather have the new album. This band is going places. They are young, they are energized. They are international, they are beloved. They’ve already been to the States, as the above picture comes from Nearfest, last month. I haven’t heard the new reocrod yet, but, considering that it’s already 10pm, I’m serious considering staying up til midnight to see if I can make the download from iTunes. The sample on their MySpace page sounds pretty heavy, but I’m up for anything – I’m a believer. I drank the Kool-ade! Besides – there’s a picture of Bob Dylan and an exploding head on the cover – how can the record be bad?!?
Metro Shuffle: Beardfish, Weezer
Posted: June 27, 2009 Filed under: Concerts, Listening | Tags: Beardfish, Liz Phair, Steely Dan, Weezer 3 Comments »
Beardfish – NEARfest 2009 via Snidegrrl on Flickr
Before getting to those fine bands, I just noticed, via JamBase, that Steely Dan is playing six nights at the Beacon Theater in NYC at the end of July and early August.
Six nights! And there’s a good chance I’ll be in NYC for at least one of them. They’re apparently doing “special setlists.” Aja on on 7/28/09, for example.
Special setlists seem to be a big draw. Mpomy, Sturj, and I saw Primus do “Seas of Cheese” back in 2004. On August 28 last year, the night Barack Obama gave his nomination acceptance speech in Denver, I saw Liz Phair at 930 perform a special setlist: “Exile in Guyville” in its entirety. “You won’t miss Barack,” she said that night. “Not on my watch.”
Anyway, back to Beardfish. I suppose this isn’t surprising, given that they’re the great Swedish hope for prog, but when I listen to the band I get distinct Yes flashes, and it brings me back to high school. For some reason, I think of listening to Yes on Amtrak, going up to Massachusetts. I thought it was cool to stare out the window and listen to “Heart of the Sunrise.“
Speaking of trains, Beardfish’s “Into the Night” was one of the tunes I hit on the Metro.
The other song was Weezer’s “The World Has Turned and Left me Here.” I’m going to nominate that record, “Weezer,” for an award under “greatest rock records of all time.”
By the way, Weezer is playing this summer in the greater Washington area, as part of a festival with an absolutely insane lineup of acts. I don’t think I’m going to try for tickets for that one, though.
