You probably assumed that this was going to be the ubiquitous "page 'o' links" to other people's artistic web endeavours. Well, you were partially wrong, as opposed to partially right. It deals entirely with music pages, hence, "sites of note"s... Being that I have such GREAT taste in music in comparision to your taste in music, I thought I'd share...Just a great big old collection of music sites from bands that I either actively like, or, have liked in the past and have recently come across on the web. The MIDI files included on this page sound fine on my SoundBlaster 64/Gold, your mileage may vary...
| Side long table | |||||||
|
B e l a F l e c k A n d T h e F l e c k t o n e s |
J AZZ! Pure JAZZ! With a banjo in it...One normally doesn't associate banjos and Jazz in the same sentence, let alone some 8 odd years of staggeringly great releases riddled with some of the best banjo playing ever heard, by anyone. But, it doesn't stop there. Combine Bela with one of the world's most amazing bass players and a drummer who doesn't play drums in the traditional sense and you have a great band. I'll run out of adjectives if I keep praising these guys. Did I mention that I *almost* get moved to tears watching this band live? For a good sampling of their work, pick up "Live Art" when you go music shopping, it's a two disk live collection that demonstrates their live prowess, although the majority of the studio material is usually recorded live off the floor anyways. Undoubtedly my favorite song by The Flecktones would have to be Vix9, from Three Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, although I prefer the Live Art version. Backwoods Galaxy with Chick Corea on Bela's solo album, Tales From The Acoustic Planet is also another standout. Prepare to re-evaluate your impressions of the banjo. Victor Wooten's solo record, "A Show Of Hands" is certainly worth buying as well. |
Monkey-Boy Top 3 Albums
Flecktones Web Sites
What's the difference between a banjo and a chain saw? The chain saw has greater dynamic range....
|
|||||
|
Top 5 Albums
Web Sites
 |
S ka. Ska, ska, ska, and could I have some more ska please? While No Doubt appears to have read heavily from the pages of Fishbone's tomes, Gwen brings a fresh perspective to one of my favorite "variations" on the reggae beat. Now, as mentioned, no discussion of No Doubt could be complete without a look at their funkin' brothers, Fishbone, hence, my three favorite Fishbone records are listed as well. And for you trivia nuts out there, when No Doubt played Victoria in 1991, they opened for Roots Roundup, that goofy band I used to be in. No, I had left the band by that point, so I didn't get that fateful meeting with Miss Stefani that I have long dreamed about... The Specials, Madness, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, all further examples of SKA! |
N o D o u b t |
|||||
|
E l e c t r o n i c M u s i c |
W hen I look back at all of the heavily electronic bands that I like, I remember back to the first artist I listened to, many years ago, that really made me appreciative of the power of synthesizers. So influential, a section of this site was even named after him in honor of the role that the numbers 1 and 0 can play in one's day to day entertainment. Processed, very processed music, but, even with all of the gear, there's a thickness, a texture of tone, that was rarely approached, yet alone duplicated by the many foul synth bands that followed in Numan's footsteps. IE, Human League. Blech, hate'em. Thomas Dolby? Now modern music god to the computer games community, but still releases GREAT albums. The inclusion of "In Cars" for this site's "theme" music was a lame tie-in to the summer time blues thing. And, for further tie in, my friends section of this site, Are Friends Electric, is another example...Summer? Cars? Ah well, as I said, lame... |
Chimp's Choice
Web Sites
 |
|||||
|
Simian Selections
Web Sites
|
W hile I wax rather enthusiastically about Gary Numan and his contribution to the "electric" side of my musical equation, The Police held a far more important place in my soul. Fact is, they hold numerous warm spots in my heart. I remain convinced that Stewart Copeland is one of the greatest drummers in the known universe (sorry BT). It has been said on a different web site that I drew heavily from Adrian Belew's tone palette for use within Roots Roundup. This is only partially true. A huge chunk of my guitar sensibilities came from Andy Summers' playing. And, while I don't Sting ever deserved a single award for his bass playing, as a songwriter he shines. I'd be REALLY hard pressed to pick any "all time favorite" Police songs, but, I'll name a few...Peanuts, Masoko Tanga, On Any Other Day, When the World is Running Down, Shambelle, Flexible Strategies, Miss Gradenko, Murder By Numbers and Tea In The Sahara. Good enough? Go buy "Message In a Box", The Police box set. While you are out at the record (CD?) store, buy yourself a copy of Stewart Copeland's "The Rhythmatist" and all of Sting's records except "The Soul Cages". Any Summers' solo stuff is SO spotty I can't recommend any of it unless you are die-hard. Also, pick up the two "Animal Logic" records that Stewart plays drums on for some cool pop... |
T h e P o l i c e |
|||||
|
G u i t a r P l a y e r s |
A nd fulfilling the category of "most notes for your buying dollar" would of course be guitar players. Being that I purportedly used to play guitar, I tend to gravitate towards exemplary guitar playing within music. While I like almost anything with a guitar in it, Country excepted, I really get off on a couple of the shred guitar players. Steve Vai has a somewhat spotty career record, starting with off well with Frank Zappa, and releasing utterly amazing solo albums. I also hate to report that he did an album with Whitesnake. No accounting for taste some days. Joe Satriani would be Steve's original guitar teacher, and while they do sound similiar in places, there are also vast differences between styles. See them both of the G3 tour this fall. And, finally, a few other quick, heavy favorites are listed as well, Robert Fripp from King Crimson, Steve Howe of Yes and probably a few more by the time this gets done... |
Good Vibrations
Various Web Attractions
|
|||||
|
Top 4 Albums
Web Sites
|
I n contrast to U2's current POP Mart tour, we bring you the band that originally said "This Is Pop". XTC. Widely underrated, often ignored, or, met with the question "Oh, they are still around?". I've liked XTC probably longer than just about any other band, from the moment I first saw the video to "This Is Pop" sometime in late 78 to the anxious year of 97 while all of us chalkhillians eagerly await some new material. It probably doesn't help your career when you refuse to tour as a live band, or take a 5 year "strike" from your hated record company, but, hey, a band has gotta do what a band has gotta do. Watch for new material from XTC this year as they are now free of their whorish Virgin Records deal. It's hard to pick "favorite albums" when they have so many excellent records to choose from. And choose a favorite song? Not a hope, this often changes daily. I usually chose either "Train Running Low On Soul Coal" or "The Garden Of Earthly Delights" if cornered... |
X T C |
|||||
|
F U N K |
I n the immortal words of Morris Day and The Time, "make it funky, yeah yeah yeah...". Ok, not the most eloquent of words, but, at least for me, very true. I adore funky music, but I'll qualify this a bit...I adore funk played by real human beings, over drum machines and computer generated horns. So, Earth Wind and Fire counts. Most disco does not. The Red Hot Chili Peppers used to count, Stevie Wonder still does. Prince (not this one) always counts. Rap rarely does. Jamiroquai counts too, but, they are cool enough at this point in my books that they rated a separate section here...Just remember, true funk is rarely generated via 1s and 0s, it's made by real people. A drummer and bass player in sync with each other. A horn section. And little fiddly guitar bits. Funk can either be highly complex, such as much of EWF's early catlog, or extremely stripped back, more like that artist with the goofy symbol's "Sign Of The Times". I'll take it either way...'s matter of fact, there's only one end of "funk" that drives me batty. Ballads. Blech. Hate ballads. If I could buy Prince albums and strip off all of the sucky stuff, I'd be pretty damn pleased... A fine introduction would be Earth Wind And Fire's "The Eternal Dance" box set, 3 CDs of their best 70s material. And, most of, don't forget, always party like it's 1999 |
Git Down with these...
Funk Vibes Via The Web
|
|||||
|
Web Sites
|
I
'm kinda dismayed with what is called alternative music these days. Really discouraged. Probably because the
definition is now interchangeable with the word "mainstream" now. But, enough carping and crying. There is SOME
quality music out there, one just has to sniff around for it. The bands listed to the left have a few unique characteristics
not shared by the majority of "alternative" bands currently rampant...They :
|
A l t e r n a t i v e |
|||||
|
J a m i r o q u a i |
Y ou'd think I had talked myself out regarding funk. Ha! Jamiroquai is what you could call a later model funk machine, hailing from BRITAIN of all places (not one of my top picks for funky countries...). Real live horn players. An awe inspiring rhythm section and a greatgreatgreat live show. Their music is usually categorized as either :
|
whoops, wrong artist
Jamiroquai around the web
|
|||||
|
Some MIDI'fied Sites
|
I n order to justify buying fancier and fancier MIDI cards, such as my current AWE64/Gold, one must hunt down good MIDI files to play through the card. When you combine the card with the Altec Lansing speakers, complete with subwoofer, some of these files actually come off sounding reasonably ok. But, one of the best uses of a well done MIDI file is to pick apart a tune, note by note, phrase by phrase, or, frame by frame, so to speak. I have been known to construct skeletons of songs using Cakewalk, but I often find the task of "inputing" music via a keyboard and mouse to be a little odd and somewhat unproductive. But, it also means not having to have a band nearby to work out new ideas... |
M I D I F i l e s |
|||||
|
D o T h e M o n k e y |
A ll of this blathering on about music would be remiss without some discussion of my music. So, a brief rundown is present for your criticism...Music has always been around me. My father was guitar player in the early 60s and introduced my brother and I to such wonders as Iron Butterfly, Emerson Lake and Palmer and the Beatles. Mom was/is also somewhat of a music fan, and played the soundtrack to West Side Story constantly. After rebelling against early piano lessons, I started playing guitar, vowing to learn all of Heart's "Little Queen" album initially and going on to learn all manner of stupid pet tricks on the old fretboard. I have spent many years in all types of bands, but the most memorable of any of those would have to be the near 3 years I spent with my brother in Roots Roundup. We hauled our sorry tails/tales all over Canada, in search of the lost chord. From Halifax to Denman Island, from The Commodore Ballroom (R.I.P.)in Vancouver to an aircraft hangar in Whitehorse. From reggae to funk to rock to the blues to folk to punk to metal, we covered a fair amount of ground. Sometime in August, you, the ever so eager reader, will be able to buy a new CD, compiling the best of all of the Roots Roundup recordings into one release. It's slated to have 16 songs, 4 of which Greg and I remixed this past spring, to clean up the quality. I'm currently not in "band mode" and usually refer to myself as "semi-retired", meaning all of the gear is intact and working but I'm not spending too much time playing...I play around with MIDI software occasionally too, utilizing Cakewalk 4 to take pieces I am interested in apart and see how they tick. I also spend silly amounts of money equipping my PC with the latest and greatest in PC sound hardware, but alas, I don't get enough use out of that type of music either. Just too damn lazy and net focussed. |
Guitars
Amplication
Misc
|
|||||
|
Web Sites
|
S omething intelligent will eventually occur to me about this section, but, for this moment, since I simply want to get the damn page up, how about some random babble about "general music sites" in general, so to speak? Addicted to Noise has a reasonably good news of the day section allowing one to keep on top of whatever stupid stunt Oasis happens to be pulling, whether or not Gordon Downie is really a space alien, or the current Marilyn Manson vs. the world court case. Drop-D is a locally (vancouver, bc) produced e-zine/real-magazine that I often seem to end up reading. And finally, I have spent HOURS reading the interviews that Anil Prasad has compiled. Go forth and have fun. Remember, Live Music is Best! |
M u s i c S i t e s |
|||||
| Live Music Is Best! | |||||||
| [entrance] | [binary.illusions] | [the.surreal.thing] | [technautica] | [pop culture] | [discreditation] |
Never chosen as any site of the day.
