Golden Smoghead

That's exactly my point! I think music can convey good ideas, but without those ideas, then you shouldn't expect music to change anything. And you're also hitting on the right point, that music can only "point the way" for certain actions. I personally pour tons of energy and time into music and find some music really uplifting -- one particular Wilco concert I attended was basically a religious experience, for example -- but at the same time I think that problems like poverty, AIDS, human trafficking etc are complex social issues. No song is going to conjure up social institutions that ar

Music never could change the world, only good ideas can do that. If Neil Young had written songs with great ideas related to the Iraq war / occupation then maybe they would change something. But I must've missed his track, "Form a loose confederacy in Iraq with semi-autonomous regions for Shia, Sunni and Kurd" or his song "maybe it's time to give the UN a chance" etc etc. Point is, you can't just say "Get out of Iraq! War is bad!" and then be surprised when nobody listens. "Don't invade Iraq!" somehow written very well and widely played, might have had a chance... But you can't just of

I would recommend you try to find a couple tunes that people would think are outside of your primary genre. For example, I sometimes like to play a cover of "Time After Time" because it's not what you'd expect in the middle of a folk-rock set. But then again, I'm very picky about covers and stuff. I feel like when you play a cover, you are sort of duty-bound to make an effort reinvent the song somehow or else you're just making money off someone else's song, ya know? But if you play "Straight Outta Compton" on your pedal steel, or go superacoustic on a Megadeth song, then you're OK beca

Maybe wank-band territory is what I mean, then... You know, those ever-more-frequent, ridonkulously long instrumental sections that border on the masturbatory.

I think someone just needs to drag Jeff to an Old Crow Medicine Show concert, get some damn banjo and fiddle back into his veins. Something like that... I think you do get some of it still in his solo work, so I'm happy if he just keeps up doing the solo stuff here and there as Wilco slides further into jam-band territory (I am decidedly anti-jam-band). Also I agree loosely with someone who said there's a progression towards YHF and that AGIB was pretty-good because it simply held onto a lot of the high ground that YHF grabbed. But for my money, I just love that rough, simple, loose-yet

I think this band is OK but for some reason the abbreviation "MMJ" is really jarring / annoying to me. Note to self: never start a band with a three-word name or someone will make it into an irritating acronym in under 30 seconds.

Dear Jeff, You are pretty swell for a short guy with migraines. Really dig your music, and thanks for introducing me to Woody Guthrie. "Forget the Flowers" still melts my brain. "What Light" is much better than people realize. I will end this before I end up writing, "you're the one who knows me better than I do" so... Thanks. Yours truly, Matt

Counting Crows are OK -- I think the comments here pretty much cover it (started off good-ish, got more bloated and self-important than is even slightly realistic). Also to the people who commented that they liked them in high school, I can totally relate. That's probably partly an indicator of our ages, but also partly because most CC stuff is basically folk-pop with teenage poetry thrown in there. I think Duritz has written some great lyrics (Mrs. Potter) and some horrific lyrics (check out the bunny suit line from "Holiday in Spain"). One thing I will give them credit for, though, is

Automatic = amazingtacular.

AM is immaculate, and love this song. Great thread, OP! You can talk my ear off anytime... An-y-time.

How does that work exactly? You go USB / FW direct into the hard drive? How does the processor / soundcard figure into that process? Sorry for the newbie question!!

Sorry, didn't mean to imply experience, just that I also don't enjoy the superloud sessions and can understand not wanting to sing with everything muffled. I'm sure others around here can point you in the general direction, though. I looked into this and was scared away by the cost. Maybe if I can get a consistent working band put together I will drop the cash, but probably not until then.

Sorry man, but I think Imo's Pizza is the worst thing to come out of Missouri since the Dred Scott decision.

Eh, I didn't care much for the EP. But I have to say, the show he recently played here in DC was SO FREAKING UNBELIEVABLY BAD (and I'm a huge fanboy, I really like the Cardinals albums, live Bedhead, Easy Tiger, etc -- just trust me, it was a TERRIBLE show, could not have been more boring) ... Not sure if it's still just that bad taste in my mouth. I was glad to hear "if I am a stranger" just b/c it's a good song, though I agree the first cut was better. I definitely didn't find "Down in a Hole" very inspired, but then again I haven't really ever been into any of his covers, I find them

I kinda think this would be the best option (esp for the singer), but you're right about the $$.

We're out looking for Blastronauts. Looking for Blastronauts.

I think whoever wrote that has a point. I definitely was encouraged to get into Wilco because of the St. Louis ties, and all the strong support they got in town. Initially it was back in the 90s, when St. Louis radio "alternative rock" station "The Point" would play Wilco songs between Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam -- I suspect that wasn't happening in NY, LA, etc. I wasn't hooked back then, though. It was that fact that Heavy Metal Drummer had nonstop St. Louis radioplay after YHF... That's how I got into Wilco, on a trip back to Missouri where I heard them on St. Louis radio. I assu

the ashtray says / you were up all night

Steve Earle - Oxycontin Blues Bruce Springsteen - Terry's Song Wilco - What Light Ryan Adams - Pearls on a String The National - Fake Empire *i will admit to hiding in my "favorite-musicians cave" more than usual this year

AH my bad.

This is apples & oranges, IMO. And I really liked Alligator and think Boxer is good, but not mind-blowing. I preferred the more "up" vibe to Alligator. I didn't enjoy the previews of West on iTunes, so I didn't buy it (gasp away). But Lucinda is one of the best songwriters in a certain genre (nowadays called "Americana" -- once upon a time Wilco was a wannabe band in that vein). The West album wasn't great as far as I can tell, but the random LW disrespect in this thread is off-base. You write a song like "Three Days" or "Passionate Kisses" or "Changed the Locks" or sing a duet with

I asked to be yer friend. Really dig it! I am impressed with how great the sound quality is, in addition to the excellent lyrics / musical phrasing. I'm also a big fan of musicians who aren't just trying to squeeze every nickel out of their art. I'm thinking about starting a thread on this at some point, but I've personally been thinking about putting up a website with the following: - mp3s of my music - tabs on how to play them (mostly just the chords, actually, with some explanation on how to play the fills / patterns) - lyrics And then people can dl the music, play the songs

Thanks for the tips, everyone!

So you guys are of the opinion that the software side doesn't matter too much? That's good to know... I have been using a regular mixer to go into the "line" input on my soundcard, but I have half a mind to pick up one of these firewire interfaces. Example: alesis firewire multimix 8 Since we're talking hardware, I think there's a lot more on this forum that's easily locateable. I'll snoop around for what kind of soundcard / processor specs I need to look out for. I do have a laptop that I use currently, but it's old and buggy, so that's most of my problem anyway. I was just thinking

Hi guys. Did a quick search and failed to find what I'm looking for... Basically I'm a simple-minded singer-songwriter type. I don't write a ton of great songs, but I do write a LOT of songs in the course of a year. I started recording about 8 years ago because there's just no other way to remember how to play some of the older songs after awhile. However, I hit a big snag technologically and am looking to move away from the recording setup I've been using. (I've been using a program called n-track.) Do any of you folks have any specific recommendations on what software to use? I thi