No good music made any more? Are you kidding!? When people say there is no good music coming out any more, I feel sorry for them. What are they listening to, or not listening to, to make this statement? Because I’ve witnessed this comment enough times that it has stuck and I feel the need to defend. Now, there is a lot of mediocre to bad music played on Top 40 stations, but I imagine radio play has always been like this. Think of how much music has been produced in the past and the narrow selection still played on the radio. People who think good music production has ceased are missing out on enjoying massive amounts of great, new releases.

I’ve been on a new music rampage recently! Side note: when I was younger, for one reason or another, I’d never listen to a whole album, only the singles I knew and liked. Why? Nervous I wouldn’t like the remainder of the songs, perhaps. Luckily, I’ve learned the err of my ways and changed my behavior over the past couple years. Today, my audible journey took me through new albums by CSS, Stephin Merritt (of the Magnetic Fields), and Fool’s Gold, each one issuing a unique and dynamic sound! The dance-y, upbeat grooves helped the workday pass quickly. Ahh… the feeling of listening to a through-and-through solid album all the way is spellbinding, sends a chill down the spine. Hearing Merritt’s baritone voice crawl out of my speakers threw me back to my dorm daze, where the Magnetic Fields were a big part of my freshmen playlist. It was very comforting to recall those memories and think of all that has happened in my life since. See what music can do – now I’m getting all nostalgic.

CANDIDATES!

» Continue reading “Album of the Year 2011 & New Music in General”

Booyah! Delivered the final video for To All My Dear Friends‘ song “Japan to Kenya & Back” last week – they loved the result. We were originally going to shoot the video in a studio because the group liked the feel of an El Ten Eleven video that was shot in a studio. I kept trying to talk them outside, in the woods or at a small train station here in Tallahassee. But they wanted a tight, warm, indoorsy feel. Then Marc sent me an iPhone video of the interior of a church near his house which a friend of his was living in. As soon as I saw it I knew we had our location! I made them play the song about 10 times, possibly more, to get all the angles. We were sticking to a tight time frame – just 3 hours to shoot. We wrapped up right about 3 hours after we began and all was well in our world. After that, we headed out in search of a location for our photo shoot. The video was shot on two Nikon D7000s rented through Borrow Lenses. Lenses used were: Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8; Nikon 50mm f/1.8; Nikon 85mm f/2.0; and Nikon 135mm f/3.5. After all transfer of footage and conversion to an editable format (Apple ProRes 422), editing only took about 4 hours. We’re proud of the final result and hope you enjoy!

A friend from high school contacted me to shoot a music video for a song from his group’s upcoming album release. The group is To All My Dear Friends and it’s made up of Marc Hennessey and Greg Stull. We went back and forth about where to shoot the video and ultimately settled on a great, little church Gainesville, Florida. INsite Gainesville recently published a behind the scenes look at the band. The music video shoot went smoothly, I’ll make another post once it’s uploaded, and after that we headed outside the city limits for a photo shoot. Check it out!

Yeasayer played the FSU Union Green on Friday night! The weather was perfect, the crowd was into it, and the music was awesome. Perfect Friday night. » Continue reading “Yeasayer in Tallahassee”