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Tuesday 22 December 2009

The Ever Tricky Second Blog

Im back again for another entry, but first off Merry Christmas to you all.

Im sure most of you had been keeping a close eye on the chart show this weekend to find out who was Christmas number one. Deservedly, Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name Of" won the battle. Although credit should definately go to the starters of the Facebook group. It takes some serious dedication to get a track, which im willing to bet, not a lot of people actually like. Don't get me wrong, I love Rage, but to me, it seemed like they just picked a song that was anti-....everything really. Then there's the irony of the synonomous line "Fuck you, I wont do what you tell me". Oh wait....you've all been told to buy this single.....
But, at least RATM have promised a free UK gig as a thank you, and to thier credit, and the facebook group, Shelter have had a massive boost to thier donations this Winter, which at the end of the day is a beautiful and touching thing.
Anywho, its been interesting to follow. Well done to Joe though, its just a bit of a shame some people seem to be using him as a target, as opposed to the X-Factor as an entity, not a winner. Its not his fault he had a go and won.
And, my final comments on Christmas Number ones....The Muppets. The person who had the idea for The Muppets to cover Bohemian Rhapsody needs a pat on the back, its genius.



Right, now for some musical reccomendations for you! My last entry ended on a heavy D&B vibe, so im gonna head back to my rock roots for this one.

First up is John Mayers new album "Battle Studies". His best yet in my eyes, much more confident pop songs and more thought through rock and blues numbers. "Who Says" is the first single, an acoustic track. Melodic and very much "Look at me, I play guitar and im hot". And unfortunately for the rest of us guitar players who look like roadies, it works. Very good cover of "Crossroads" on there too (A la Cream/Clapton), and my favourite track is probably "Assassin" (No relation to the Muse track).

Next comes an album I dug out of my CD collection about 3 weeks ago. Its the soundtrack to the first Spiderman film, and unlike the following 2 soundtracks, the music actually features in the film! Featuring artists such as Alien Ant Farm, The Strokes, The Hives and Stone Sour, its essentially an alt-rock outing with a few soppy love songs thrown in, and an odd, but enjoyable, track from Macy Gray.

That should do for now, I may come back and edit this later with some new music, but i've not really had a great deal of time to explore recently. Best wishes for christmas, as of the 25th im gonna be playing my guitar extremely loudly through my new pedal.

Thank you Santa!

PaisleyMusic

Thursday 17 December 2009

DemonFM Blog 2 - Sketches For My Sweetheart The Blog

Here's Blog Number 2!

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Well, here we go, blog entry two! And in case you hadn't guessed, my titles are actually album titles! Witty eh?! Ok, ok, dont all cheer at once....And for those of you interested, "Sketches for my Sweetheart the Blog" is actually "Sketches for my Sweetheart the Drunk", the final proper studio album that Jeff Buckley made. And last weeks "Return of the Blog Cowboy" is actually "Return of the Space Cowboy", one of my favourite Jamiroquai albums....go check them out!

Anywho, back to the blog! DemonFM has been a bustling hive of activity as ever, leaving the people in charge with plenty to do! Keep checking the website, there are blogs, podcasts, and interviews a plenty, for those of you who like to know exactly what were doing! In other news, im nearly at the end of my recording session with the lovely Lucy Norris, i've just got to go and lay down some guitar/drum/synth/violin parts now, and get my little brother in to play bass. And as soon as they're mixed, ill be throwing them out for you guys to listen to and critique. Also, as were talking about Lucy, she's supporting a band on Friday at LE1 as far as im aware, so you should get down there. She played at the hub last night, and I wish I could talk about the improv songs, but alas, i may get a slap on the wrist, as the language wasn't really blog friendly!

Now, what else have I been doing since the last blog.....oh yes! Some new music! Them Crooked Vultures, a supergroup consisting of Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters/Nirvana), Joshua Homme (Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age), and the legend that is John Paul-Jones (Led Zep), have released thier album (Its self titled, just so you know). Thumping tracks, sounds just how you'd expect actually. Some tracks are very Queens of the Stone Age, whereas others definately have that Led Zeppelin Edge to them, so definately worth a listen. Also, John Mayers new album "Battle Studies" has been relased. Again, its a solid album back to front, with that blues/pop/rock sound that he's made his own. Good cover of Crossroads (made famous by Cream/Eric Clapton) on there too, and in my opinion, this is his best album yet.

Anyway, thats enough from me for now, best get back to my work...the joys of Transistor Theory and Osciallating Circuits...Im A University Student, GET ME OUT OF HERE!

DemonFM Blog 1 - Return of the Blog Cowboy

Here is the first Blog that I wrote for DemonFM. The blog names are after album titles....see if you can guess!
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Hello!

I thought it was about time I sat down and scribbled a blog out for you lovely people to read. This is pretty much, with any luck, going to be a weekly stream of consciousness for you to trawl though and try and make some sense of! But I digress, lets get on with the blog shall we?

I'm Luke Crook, one of the presenters from the Rush Hour show with Iain, Asha, Kyle, Craig and Mike DeVille. But of course, your all avid listeners, so you know that....right?! I hope your all enjoying the show, I'm certainly have a good time myself, but I'm a little gutted I missed the on-mass baconaise/bacon salt session that Kyle and Iain were invited to by Rewind. Think I'll have a few quiet words with Mr Harris....

Now, a little bit about my week so far! Having just got away from a bad chest cold, I'm feeling like a brand new man! So, after an entertaining shift at the O-Bar on Monday, I was out filming for one of my uni modules. If you saw a man in a brown jumper standing deathly still by the Uni Steps, that was me, and it was bloody cold!!! Wednesday was radio time, with me joining Asha for the show, and it was good fun, made better by the fact that Iain and Kyle left it to us! Bit of power feels good!! Thursday Iain and I played open mic at the Quay, which was entertaining as always, especially when you end the set on a jungle book cover...with ukulele accompaniment! Then, Friday! Iain and I presented the show! And gave away 2 Ed Byrne tickets for Sunday night! Well done to Ollie for winning them! Then we were both in the studio recording one of my friends EP, which is also double up as some of my coursework...cheeky, i know :D.

And now, its Saturday, I'm in my PJ's and dressing gown still, building up the courage to get on with the day and be productive....but then again....surely this is productive? I don't know anymore, I need another cup of tea!

So, on that note, I shall leave you to listen away and get on with your day.

Thanks for reading, and keep on listening to the Rush Hour, "Driving you home!".....we need to change that ident...

Blog Numero Uno

Hello, welcome to PaisleyMusic!

With any luck, this blog will contain mostly mindless ramblings about my day to day life, the blog I write for DemonFM (When I remember to...), music that i've either written, recorded or performed on, and suggestions to other musicians for your aural pleasure. Heh...aural pleasure...

But I digress, dirty jokes aside (Yes, there will be more. No, they wont be funny), music is my life, and I love being able to share new, old and exciting tunes with everyone.

I myself am a guitarist/vocalist, but dabble in bass, drums and keyboards. Blues and rock are currently my main themes at the moment, but having learnt to play guitar to classic rock, indie metal and alternative rock, I like to switch things up a little and see what happens. I also engineer, produce and help other peoples music, which I should be able to put up on here for you lovely people to hear.


So, my first gem for you comes from the lovely Lucina-Olivia Norris. A singer/songwriter who lived above me in my first year of uni, she has an absolutely stunning voice. Inteligent lyrics and soungs with a brillian acoustic/jazz vibe, she brings something new to the slightly dull acoustic fore of modern times.

Now, I cocked up a bit here, and mixed it so that the guitar comes from one speaker, and the vocals from another, and the guitars not loud enough. I've been too lazy to fix it, so you'll have to deal with it for now im afraid, but ill sort it soon!


Lucinda-Olivia Norris EP  by  Paisleymusic

Let me know what you think, but bear in mind its a work in progress at the moment :)

Hmmm, what else can I talk about? Oh yes, my music! Finally, after 7 odd years of guitar playing, im starting to write songs. So far, in a year i've written.....2. Spectacular I know, but im getting there! At the moment they have a bit of a jazz vibe to them, but blended with a bit of blues. We'll see. Lucy is writing some lyrics for one at the moment, but im going to have a bash at the other.

Now, some recomendations for you all! Heard of Dan Le Sac? He's the beat making, music mashing half of the powerful spoken word/electro miestros that are Dan Le Sac vs Scroobious Pip. Much to my delight the other day while scouring the web for some music, I came across his website! More importantly, I stumbled onto his blog, http://lesac.wordpress.com/. Packed with mix tapes and remixes (Mostly free to download, featuring Florence + The Machine, Black Sabbath, Radio Head and Flat Eric(!) to name a few), it gives an interesting take on remixes, and I would definately say give it a go, even if your not into the whole electro thing, you might just change your mind..... Heres the Black Sabbath remix, its got quite a tasty D&B vibe, but not in an annoying "CONSTANT RELENTLESS DRUMBEAT AND BASS" kind of way, tell me what you think.

DRUMS OF DEATH V BLACK SABBATH V dan le sac - Ozzzzzy! (dls dnb ish) by danlesac

Right, I think thats about it for now. With any luck you'll hear from me again soon, so stay tuned, leave me some comments, things to listen to and opinions.

Stay Paisley,

PaisleyMusic

P.S. Im using SoundCloud to upload this music, and its ruddy brilliant. I suggest checking it out if your trying to get your music online. Its free. www.soundcloud.com