I've been listening to a lot of music from about ten years ago. Kind of unpredictably, I've gotten back into jam rock supergroup PHISH. I have been downloading many shows from www.momadance.com and enjoying them very much. My tattooed punk girlfriend refuses to hear about how DIY and great Phish are, how they are so DIY that they only play guitars made by their neighbor from Vermont, how they give all their profits from Phish Food ice cream to charity, how they have a great sense of humor, and how they became huge without any mainstream radio or pop culture support. Actually, I don't think any of my friends want to hear about how great Phish is. So, here is a performance of Phish's biggest "hit" - hated by all mid nineties Phishheads as the ultimate "newbie" song, only suitable for bathroom breaks mid set:
Bouncin Round The Room, performed in 1990
Maybe it's how I don't want to talk about politics any more and have a boring job that Phish's music calms me for. Maybe it was seeing the Phish tribute band Phix play last year. Maybe it's that I'm getting old and I actually saw Phish shows over the summer every summer from 1997 to 2000. I don't know.
My favorite Phish song of right now is "Punch You In The Eye". Look it up.
For the punkers out there I've been downloading all these tracks and loving them too:
One guy's history of Emo from the 1990s to 2000s:
http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/2007/04/spoonful-of-emo-revisited.html
My favorite song from this collection right now is Jejune's song from the split with Jimmy Eat World. I'm totally ripping off stuff like that and Unrest for our band Apples of the Earth.
obsessed with scooters since forever ago
Posts
Running Vehicle Count: ?
CURRENT RIDES:
VW Golf Turbo [2000] (aka the Red Rocket) Summer 2013 to present
The Aprilia Scarabeo 250 [2006] (the Tourer, aka "The Audi of Vespas") August 2015 in Colorado to NYC trip
The Vespa S150 [2009] - 2014 to present, the around town Vespa - for sale!
The Trash Bike [1984 Trek 830] - 2013 to present
The Rivendell Joe Appaloosa [2016] - March 2016 to present aka The Bike Of Your Dreams Of A Baby Poop Color
The Spot [2004] - single speed. steel is real.
THE BACKBURNER:
Volkswagen Bus [1971] (aka the Fun Bus. new ignition system may 2009, new carb November 2008! owned since ~Autumn 2006)
Vespa P150 [1979] (like bedbugs, very difficult to kill. Has taken me from New York to Ontario, across the Berkshires, and to Rhode Island. From Portland has taken me to the pacific ocean, to Washington, all over town.)
Lemond Poprad [~2004] (baby-sweet bicycle bought as a present to myself in November 2008. now with 100% more flowers on the handlebars) - disassembled in 2016 to make way for the Rivendell.
Gary Fisher Mamba [1997] (now with SID air shocks! The only vehicle I've ever bought new!) - in the barn in storage
Vespa Rally 200 [1975] (The Greatest Vespa. Sadly, disassembled project.)
RIDES once, now MEMORIES:
The Ford Anger - 1999 single cab - with built in "massage" features at speed.
Rollfast [~1960s] (vintage cruiser bicycle, owned from Summer 2006 to October 2009)
Trek 1000 [2003] (rode from August 2007 to November 2008)
Volvo 740 [1991] (Owned from ~dec 2005 to sometime in 2007, tranny died. took me cross country.)
Volvo 164 [1971] (new tranny, sadly gone)
Vespa V90 [1964] (sold and gone)
Raleigh Grand Prix [~1977] (discount fixed gear - traded off)
Honda Elite 50cc [1987] (aka T-REX, The Red Menace. expansion-chambered and derestricted, wish I still had.)
Honda Elite 125cc [1984] (bought and sold in summer 2005)
DREAM RIDES:
BMW 2002
VW DOKA SYNCRO
BMW GS
CITROEN DS
LAMBRETTA TV175
VW Golf Turbo [2000] (aka the Red Rocket) Summer 2013 to present
The Aprilia Scarabeo 250 [2006] (the Tourer, aka "The Audi of Vespas") August 2015 in Colorado to NYC trip
The Vespa S150 [2009] - 2014 to present, the around town Vespa - for sale!
The Trash Bike [1984 Trek 830] - 2013 to present
The Rivendell Joe Appaloosa [2016] - March 2016 to present aka The Bike Of Your Dreams Of A Baby Poop Color
The Spot [2004] - single speed. steel is real.
THE BACKBURNER:
Volkswagen Bus [1971] (aka the Fun Bus. new ignition system may 2009, new carb November 2008! owned since ~Autumn 2006)
Vespa P150 [1979] (like bedbugs, very difficult to kill. Has taken me from New York to Ontario, across the Berkshires, and to Rhode Island. From Portland has taken me to the pacific ocean, to Washington, all over town.)
Lemond Poprad [~2004] (baby-sweet bicycle bought as a present to myself in November 2008. now with 100% more flowers on the handlebars) - disassembled in 2016 to make way for the Rivendell.
Gary Fisher Mamba [1997] (now with SID air shocks! The only vehicle I've ever bought new!) - in the barn in storage
Vespa Rally 200 [1975] (The Greatest Vespa. Sadly, disassembled project.)
RIDES once, now MEMORIES:
The Ford Anger - 1999 single cab - with built in "massage" features at speed.
Rollfast [~1960s] (vintage cruiser bicycle, owned from Summer 2006 to October 2009)
Trek 1000 [2003] (rode from August 2007 to November 2008)
Volvo 740 [1991] (Owned from ~dec 2005 to sometime in 2007, tranny died. took me cross country.)
Volvo 164 [1971] (new tranny, sadly gone)
Vespa V90 [1964] (sold and gone)
Raleigh Grand Prix [~1977] (discount fixed gear - traded off)
Honda Elite 50cc [1987] (aka T-REX, The Red Menace. expansion-chambered and derestricted, wish I still had.)
Honda Elite 125cc [1984] (bought and sold in summer 2005)
DREAM RIDES:
BMW 2002
VW DOKA SYNCRO
BMW GS
CITROEN DS
LAMBRETTA TV175
Contributors
Here are the things I talk about on this website. Thank you for reading.
Labels
- indie pop (36)
- emo (26)
- scooter (26)
- photography (24)
- superhits (18)
- Car of The Month (16)
- Homemade Hits (15)
- bicycles (14)
- vw (14)
- greatest hits (13)
- Apples of the Earth (8)
- vespa (8)
- Volvo (7)
- Kalpana (6)
- Music My Sister Wants to Hear (6)
- things i actually like (6)
- Lucksmiths (4)
- Phish (4)
- british (4)
- Lemond (3)
- Rocket Punch (3)
- volkswagen (3)
- Aprilia (2)
- Rivendell (2)
- fun deficit (2)
- hold steady (2)
- honda (2)
- lifter puller (2)
- podcast (2)
- rally200 (2)
- rollfast (2)
- thepunkguy.com (2)
- trash bike (2)
- Eames chairs (1)
- bmw (1)
- coldness (1)
- concerts (1)
- gary fisher (1)
- hoodride (1)
- jalopnik (1)
- mainstream pop (1)
- og (1)
- politics (1)
- red rocket (1)
- sarah (1)
- touring (1)
- unamerican (1)
- v90 (1)
2 comments:
For a given band, X is the number of members in the band while N is the amount of equipment they own (defined as units, one amp, one speaker, one piece of drum set, etc). Dividing N/X gives you their gear quotient.
Now, the gear quotient represents an ideal mean between not having enough gear (not being able to produce enough sounds) and having too much gear (producing too many sounds and making a big mess.) We can take a few example bands and plug in the numbers.
On the low end we have "Bug Eyed Mind" from Providence Rhode Island. X = 1, while N = 2 (a synthesizer and an amp.) gq = N/X, so 2 = 2/1.
In the mid range we have the castawaves. 2 members, 2 symbols, 1 bass drum, 3 toms, 1 snare, 1 guitar, 1 amp, 2 microphones. N = 11, X = 2. gq = 4.5 .
In the high range we can use Phish. I don't know what N is, because trey has like ten guitars and the drum set is the size of a car. assume N = around 50. For four guys in the band, the gq = 12.5 .
When it comes to interpreting the data, there are a few important qualifiers. First of all, what kind of music do they play? A punk band needs way less equipment than a prog rock band. We can create a value system for how much gear you need by genre; genre value = V
Punk = 1
Twee = 1
Surf Rock= 1
Pop = 2
Classic Rock = 3
Techno/electronic = 2
Jam Band = 3
Jazz = 2
Prog Rock = 5
Noise = 2
we can then add to our original formula gq = (N/X) - V. Bug Sized Mind's new gq = 0. Castawaves = 3.5 . Phish = 9.5.
We now have a modified gear quotient. Bug Sized Mind isn't trying hard enough and gets a zero. The Castawaves have a healthy 3.5, while Phish's high number suggests that they don't need all that gear on stage to do what they do. But another important qualifier is that Phish isn't using all of their gear at one time; the sound is much more economic than that. We can subtract another two points for this, giving them a 7.5. Still a little high, but not too bad.
Ultimately the GQ is not a "good" or "bad" rating for a band. But it is a general indicator of that band's attitude towards music making, and reasonable litmus test for what a band's fans look for when others make music. I tend to prefer bands who's GQ is between 2 and 5. Mike Castawave likes more music than I do and his range between 2 and 10.
i am not a punk. you take that back.
Post a Comment