A Story About Love

Here's another one of the short tunes I've been working on for the upcoming EP:

Holiday Mountain as a Trio

As many of you already know - Holiday Mountain is moving to Austin Texas in September.  I'm not able to make this move with them because of commitments I have in the Boston area, but I have great faith that this is the right move for them and that their music will continue to inspire and groove like there is no tomorrow.  It's been a very fun year playing, hanging, and recording with them and I am truly thankful for all of the time that I was able to be a part of this amazing group of people and musicians.  I won't be playing the rest of their gigs in Boston area this Summer as I previously thought - which was initially a difficult thing for me to deal with since I was really looking forward to playing these shows, but know in my heart that it is for the best as they are preparing for their move as a trio to Austin.  I still invite you to go and dance your ass off at the CD release show at the ICA on August 16th and all the other shows they have this summer.  I wish them nothing but the best on their journey knowing that the future has great things in store for them.  

Rock on,

Mike

Short Songs - "So it Goes" & "Under the Canopy"

Last summer I started to get into "hint-fiction" (stories that are under 25 words) and became inspired to start writing really short songs.  My initial idea was I would write an album of songs that would all be under a minute and under 25 words (although I've bent this rule with some of the tunes).  I've got a good amount of them in the works and the album should be done sometime this summer.  Here's a couple of the songs that will most likely be on that album: 

RADIOHEAD

About an hour into the show Tuesday night Thom York introduced "Lotus Flower" with a Steve Reich reference saying, "It's gonna rain, it's gonna rain, it's gonna rain, it's gonna rain" and then he (or more likely Johnny I guess) briefly created a loop of it which began phasing.  This was about the point of the show when I re-realized that Radiohead are in my opinion the greatest thing happening in pop music today.

The week leading up to the show I prepared by listening to Radiohead's entire discography from beginning to end.  For some of these albums it was the first time I had heard them in years.  I can honestly say that I hadn't sat down and actively listened to "The Bends" in almost five years prior to last week.  It's crazy how as you get older you relate to music so differently - you tune in to things you didn't notice when you were younger, or you can connect to the lyrics differently with life experiences you've had since the last time you have listened to the song.  

Musically I noticed more how much they draw from 20th century classical composers - such as the use of rhythmic phasing associated with Steve Reich (Who is debuting a piece based on "Everything in it's Right Place" and "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" in March of 2013), or with Johnny's Penderecki inspired orchestration (whom he recently collaborated with for an album they released this year).  But also having absorbed much more pop music since my last Radiohead phase (thanks to having to learn lots of tunes for music therapy) I also was able to have a new found appreciation for how accessible and relatable their music is to a mainstream audience (despite the depth and complexity of it). 

Speaking of music therapy, since the release of "The King of Limbs" there have been multiple occasions where participants have requested Radiohead songs for sessions.  The first time was during my internship at Shattuck (an inpatient psychiatric hospital) and I remember having a conversation with my supervisor Carylbeth about Radiohead's lyrical content and which of their songs would be appropriate for the session.  Most of this conversation was me trying to convince her that Radiohead didn't just make weird dark music...which at times is something Radiohead's music can be - but I feel like even some of their darkest lyrics/songs can be very therapeutic as well.   I know for me at times, hearing some of these "darker" songs validated my emotions and experiences I was going through.  Songs like "How To Disapear Completly" and "Let Down" I found extremely cathartic and not only validated what I was going through at the time but brought insight.  This conversation came to mind Tuesday night - with some of their songs that are extremely positive and inspiring with themes such as reawakening and love.  The most recent song of theirs that jumps to mind is "Seperater", the closer their most recent album "The King of Limbs.  Lines such as "Like I’m falling out of bed from a long and weary dream/Finally I’m free of all the weight I’ve been carrying" seem only too fit for a music therapy session in that setting, especially with the ending repeating line of "Wake Me Up"  which on Tuesday night felt like mantra to me.  

But also some of the older songs like "Lucky" and "Airbag".  I dig this quote from Ed talking about how "Airbag" is “about the wonderful, positive emotion you feel when you’ve just failed to have an accident; when you just miss someone and realize how close it was and stop the car and just feel this incredible elation. There’s something joyous about it- life suddenly seems more precious.”

Anyway, I could ramble on forever about how inspiring and awesome Radiohead is.  But if you haven't found this out for yourself already - I can't recommend checking them out enough ("In Rainbows" is a great place to start).  Or if you want to get an idea of what they're up to now live check out this video "The King Of Limbs - Live from the Basement":

Here's the Setlist from the show on Tuesday night (May 29) at the Comcast Center : 

01 Bloom

02 15 Step

03 Airbag

04 Staircase

05 The Daily Mail

06 Myxomatosis

07 The Gloaming

08 Separator

09 Pyramid Song

10 Weird Fishes/Arpeggi

11 Morning Mr Magpie

12 Identikit

13 Lotus Flower

14 There There

15 Feral

16 Idioteque

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17 Supercollider

18 The National Anthem

19 Lucky

20 After The Gold Rush/Everything In Its Right Place

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21 Give Up The Ghost

22 Bodysnatchers

23 Reckoner