3 things I did that made me happy

I made a salad for dinner. It was great, I got an cantaloupe in the cities and cut it up and added a sliced apple and lettuce. Pour on some ranch dressing and bam! A tasty dinner that is good for me.

When I was cutting said cantaloupe, Bob asked if he could eat the extra on the rinds that I didn't get. I let him and it was a great feeling. In a house that doesn't share, the times I so something nice it makes me feel even greater.

I played guitar for about 45 minutes. At least 15 were doing scales and 15 were at least spent learning some songs. I practiced handlebars, wrong way, dust in the wind, and music for shoplifting. All great songs that Colin and I are planning on playing acoustically over the summer.

TWIMMWAKUMM

Previously on This Week In Martin's Music Week At KUMM:
Nothing, because this is the first post.

This week I got some sweet CDs. First would be Tom Morello's alter ego The Nightwatchman and his new CD The Fabled City. It's quite like his last CD so if you were a fan then, you'll like this one, although I don't know if there are as many acoustic guitar amazingities as the last one, although it's been awhile.
Next is Terry Lynn's album Kingstonlogic 2.0. This isn't going to be a fovorite for everyone because of the music style, but I dug it enough to listen and then the lyrics got me. She is a girl from jamacia (if I remember right) and she is rapping about the messed up shit that is going on there. She starts it off with a very daft punk-esque song that is the title track. It's sometimes hard to hear what she is saying but that's where the lyricc sheet comes in hand. Her singing reminds me of te rapping style of what I think sean paul sounded like. The jamacian pronounciation of words. All in all, it's an interesting listen.

Deerhoof's new album offend maggie was also an interesting experience. I have a few friends that love deerhoof and so I always though of them as some generic indie band. But then I heard this album and wow, they are bizarre. The singer/bassist is japanese so she has an almost annoying high voice and will often sing japanese. This confused me as I followed the lyrics and got lost almost instantly. The band work is great and always keeps me listening, when I get weirded out by the singing.

NCM is a band I had never heard of before, but the cover of Escape From Myopia caught my eye and went into my metal pile of CDs for my housemate to listen to. Then he gave it back saying it was more rock than metal. So I gave it a listen to. It covered a few band classifications that I couldn't choose one specific one to refer to, so the RIYLs (recommended if you like) are Dead kennedys, Fugazi and the Pixies. I took pixies off because it was more a stretch than the others. But they do almost excatly what fugazi does in some songs. The slow barre slide down the neck, the repeated vocals. i dunno, everytime I go into it thinking of fugazi, they do something different, but it's still there.

The new TV on the Radio album, Dear Science, is a keeper. It is slightly different from the otehr CD I have, Return to Cookie Mountain. I'd say its vocals are less all over the place and more focused. I guess their sound is overall more defined and cleaner. But that doesn't detract form their style, which is good. They still have great vocal melodies that I wish I could sing/keep up with.

We finally got the new Doomtree album in from the gang. It's great cause it's a clean version, which makes my job so much easier. Anyways, the CD is great. It's definatley a collaboration album, with each song using a different style beat and different vocals. It's great at points when you get POS and mictlan together and then sims and dessa. There are some songs that I skip, but their just not my taste in Doomtree hip hop. All in all, it is a great album and well worth the time they put into it.

Well, I guess that's it this week. I'm going to go back a week or two and tell you about some of my past favorites.

Noah and the Whale - Peaceful, the world lays me down. I was so happy when i heard the intro to the first song, it hooked me instantly. The vocals are great and the choruses are catchy, but not too poppy. The singer doesn't have the cleanest voice, but the beautiful guitar work makes up for it. It reminds me of neutral milk hotel with the way they use some horns and otehr instruments. It's great, upbeat and is a catch.

Blitzen Trapper - Furr. The band has a great overall sound and I was a big fan. I don't remember too many specifics, but that it was a good album.

Jeremy Messersmith - The Silver City. The latest CD from the local singer songwriter didn't disappoint me after hearing his debut album over the summer. It is a concept album about the twin cities. It is very much Messersmith's style of writing. He is never too upbeat or happy, but his voice is. So even when he is singing about not following something he wants, you don't get too depresed. The guitar and vocals are great.


I guess that's it. Wow, that was fun, let's do it again sometime. How's next week for you? Sounds good, see ya there.

Been a bit

I don't really feel like updating what I've been doing. I dunno, just don't want to. So here something completely different:

Inspired by this guy I have decided to start two weekly postings.
The first is an art update. I've started working with illustrator and did some decent work and would like to keep that going. I also have been sketching and drawing more. I got graphite and charcoal pencils that I'm going to start using in a sketch book. So I'll try and find a scanner or just use my phone to take pics of sketches.

The second is a "This week in music". I will let you all know if there are any must have CDs released and what ever else I learn or hear because of my job and my constant search for new music.

I was thinking of doing the art one on thursdays or fridays because that is after the school week where I do most of my sketches and I'm guessing I'll be using my computer more consistently. And probably monday or tuesday for the music update because monday is the day i get 10-15 CDs and tuesday is the day I update CMJ with the past weeks top played music.

So, let me know of any comments, compliments, complaints, or communist communications with commercial commons that convey constraining conditions....ok I'm done.

I'm a spaz

So I've been really busy today, it sucks. Woke up to a txt at 8, which is early when you goto bed at 2. So I'm awake and moping around, do my english homework and kinda relax. Goto classes until 2 and then the real fun starts. KUMM is great, there is nothing I would rather be more involved in on campus, but it gets hard on wednesdays. Wednesdays are the days when I'm gaurenteed to be in the station for four hours. Starting at 2:30 are my office hours, but I'm usually in there earlier if I can. I do what I gotta do. Today I reviewed Cd's. Which sounds fun and easy, but this is the hard part of reviewing. Listening to each song at least for a minute trying to find ones that are good and that represent the band's album as a whole. This can be fun, like with deerhoof or TV on the Radio, where I enjoy the music. But I also review music that might not be my favorite. So, I listen to each song, and if I'm lucky, the band tells me what songs have swear words in them. If I'm unlucky, they don't say, but have a lyrics sheet. If I'm really unlucky, they have nothing and I have to listen to each song straight through and listen for bad words. That is painful because I can't really enjoy the music if I'm focusing on it too much. But then I get past those two tasks and I have to write what bands they sound like, or Recommened If You Like's. This can be easy, like for somebands that fit a generic sound. But that is at most half the bands. I get really long stretches where I go, well, this one song kinda sounds like bob dylan, but the others don't really. It's even harder when you get music from other countries or really unique bands. I love unique bands, it's just they make life hard for me.
It is a great job, I know, but I was up till two listening to music and focusing on it at a level that takes alot of the fun and enjoyment out of it. I do have rewards, like when I find good bands out of a pile of crap. And when I get tickets to shows. And when I hear new music on the radio and recognize it and can tell you who it is. That is strangely rewarding. And I get paid, which is cool.

Oh, back to my day.

So I review music until 4, which is my radio show, "The Local Brew". It's a local music only show, Today was cool because Ben and KT sat in the station and we chatted about local music and KUM stuff. It was nice.
So after my show I kinda ran away from the station. I biked home and determined that it was too hot in my house/room. So I went to the common cup to relax and ask if I could put a poster for homeKUMMing up. This is actually where the post title comes from. I walk in and two girls get up and walk behind the counter to ask me what I want. I turn into a blundering idiot who has no idea what he wants. So I get the poster up and then I have to decide what I want to drink. I ask what she recommends for a cold drink, and she says something like almond mocha or latte. So I go "Almond?" and she goes "No, ." Since I don't know what she said I don't want to try and repeat it and make a fool out of myself. So I order the almond mocha thing with out saying the name of the drink, smooth right? Not at all, all I get is a blank stare. Then she gets it and I get a cookie to make it over $5 so I can use my card. Then I get the cookie from the one who took my order (the nice one) and the coffee from the other one (the one who I think thinks Im an idiot and a spaz) and guess what? The coffee is hot. So I can't go and complain because I guess I wasn't truely specific, but I think she just hates me. Also, probably because I didn't use the credit card tip bs, I'm going to tip in change, but they don't know it yet. So I want to tip the nice one like 75c, and the other one like a nickel. But I can't so, I'll just awkwardly walk past them and drop in 80c. I think it's sad that this is what I can blab on about easier than other things. I think I am a spaz, or maybe girls just act too cool and I make an idiot about myself. When I was a barista, I was cool and nice, and didn't make people feel awkward. At least I'm a spaz with a cool music collection.

Mix Cds

Listening to new music makes me happy. And one goal I try to follow in life is to spread happiness. I try to do this with the music I get, giving Cds to friends who I think would like the band or sitting with someone while I review. This is always fun and makes my job easier by giving me another perspective on music. So, instead of having my (drunken) roommate and his girlfriend reviewing metal Cd's and then putting them in the station, I want to spread the music on those Cd's to people not in a close proximity to me. Example: I got the new deerhoof album, which isn't released until October something. So I could share it with my friends that love deerhoof (Jacob). but that's a large task to rip/burn/mail any Cd that I think someone will want. So I came up with the idea of a sort of new music mix Cd that could take the best or most defining song from a new Cd and let people have a sample of it. This could be accomplished if everyone listened to their local modern radio station (the current, KUMM) because there are rules in place to make sure new music gets played. But that isn't always reliable and the new music can be spread out and maybe isn't the best example of an album.
The more I think about this, the more I think this will be illegal.
But anyways, the next limitation is sending my friends Cd's isn't cheap. So I was thinking about some sort of digital distribution, like make a playlist that links to last.fm or myspace pages. I dunno, we'll see.

Friday night, part duex....yay!

So I wrote that horribly depressing blog post and then went bike riding. It's always a weird thing biking on the weekends during the night here in Morris. There are a lot more people and bikers on every street. Anyways, I biked for 45 minutes all around town and campus. I got back and watched brotherhood of the wolf, or as bob later called it, sisterhood of the traveling wolf. After I watched the movie, bob and ryan showed up and were dicking around so I joined them in that. Had some late night food and chatted. Then I played guitar until Elise finally called me at 1:40. So I went there and hung out for about a half hour or so. Ina made meatloaf and it was delicious. There was also this beer their roommate bought that was Budweiser, and the flavor was clamato. In English this means really nothing, in Spanish it apparently means clams and tomato flavored. It was the single most disgusting beer I've ever tasted. Then there were some troubles and I left and got home.

Oh and in biking around, I took a massive fall and broke my bikes gear shifter. So now I have a one gear bike. Guess what gear? The highest possible gear ever. It sucks. So I have to use it till I can take it to the cities one week end. But damn it was so unfortunate. But now my legs will grow like 3 times as big for going around as much as I do. Maybe I'll see if Ryan has an extra bike. Eh. Anyways, just thought I'd let whoever reads this know that I don't lead the saddest life ever.

Friday night....yay!

To think, this time last week I was driving to the cities for the night. And next week I'll be there again for a Building Better Bombs show. I guess last week doesn't count as I drove and came right back after hanging out for an hour or two. But here I am, Morris MN. Listening to KUMM, which I do a lot more than I used to. Infact, I think I made a post about how I don't listen to the radio. But now I do. I got a small 2gb mp3 player and it has a radio in it. It's a small feature, but something apple never added for some reason. I really don't get that. Zune has it, wouldn't they want to add it for the lineup? That bothers me somewhat.
Anyways, I listen to the radio a huge ammount now, like, from 2-now I've been listening to KUMM. It's pretty good radio too. Like, I did listen to 2 hours of house and trance music by my friend will, but that was even good. I feel so much more attached to the station than last year. It's awesome.
But it isn't what I thought I'd be doing tonight. I was supposed to be at some friends house, but I guess that fell through. Hmph. But here I am anyways. I've already watched the magnificent seven, a great western. I also have the brotherhood of the wolf rented from the library, a great french film. I watched it with my brother a long time ago and wanted to enjoy it again. Man, I'm depressing myself just writing all this. I'm off to go bike and find something to do.
Blarg.