gear failure

Posted by on February 2, 2010 2 comments

There are some simple pieces of equipment that make my musical life possible. My instruments, of course, and my computer are the key players in the game. Without those I’m stuck. But it’s never the guitar that fails, it’s the cable, right? well, since my son showed up the most important piece of gear in my studio would be my headphones. I’ve had my Sennheiser HD-25s for a long time. Close to 10 years, actually. They were brilliant right up to the end. A short in the cable coupled with something that I can’t quite diagnose has brought their demise.

This is a hassle.

So I ordered up a new set being as I live in the 4th largest city in the United States and for some reason can’t find the cans I want. And now I wait. If only I lived in Austin or got out that direction more often I could have access to great stuff. As it stands I am a hostage to the internet and various shipping companies. Of course if these are the height of my complaints it’s all just whining. And it is.

That isn’t to say that I’m not working. I have plunked out a few things but I’m feeling nervous about hitting my weekly recording. If all else fails, I will pick up my 12 string, hit record, and hope for the best. It’ll be like an open mic night but with only one musician in the room.

There’s a lot for me to say about my new guitar (it sounds great!) and the instrument building projects I have coming up. I want to make some gifts for friends and a recent twist of fate put me on track for just such a venture. More on that soon.

Music soon.

new music: Not My Name

Posted by on January 28, 2010 No comments

This mix is a little rougher than I’d like but I know I’m going to add vocals to this one and I need to work out the lyrics before I decide on the final structure of the tune. I like the textures even if they are a bit on the heavy side. So yeah, it’s a rough cut. I’ll smooth it out later. This blog is all about work in progress so I guess making excuses is kind of silly.

Cool new stuff will be coming to the site shortly. In the mean time, enjoy this cut.

Not My Name

Creative Commons License
Not My Name by J.C. Wilson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.othertime.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://othertime.com.

overload

Posted by on January 26, 2010 No comments

It seems to me that now would be a great time to unplug from the Internet. I guess I’m falling for whatever the name for the slow information movement is. The more I’m deluged with RSS feeds and blogs and podcasts the more I want to put my head someplace else. But that’s not really feasible on many levels. The fact remains that we are an information based society. If you haven’t heard the latest from the Twitter stream then you’re completely out of the loop.

I think about my vacation strategy at times like these. I used to select where I went on vacation by the amount of connectivity it had. If I could find a hotel with no phones I would take it. The fewer cell towers the better. Now that’s almost impossible despite what the major carriers say about one another. The fact is my phone will ring in most places if I let it. What I think a lot of people are seeing now is that in the same way that I want to control access to my time while I’m on vacation we all want to control access to our attention on a daily basis.

It seems like a silly problem. It’s really, really easy to put the computer down or turn it off. We don’t have to surf from our phones while at lunch, but we do it anyway. It’s a habit that needs to be broken. I truly admire the remaining holdouts who have avoided falling into the pit. That said, it’s serious business.

All day long we hear (and read) about how the Internet has changed everything. You can’t exist without a web presence. Worth is measured in social networks and “followers.” Having just finished American Gods I find that amusing. And forget trying to be a creative person without a dozen ways to make yourself and your work available to as broad an audience as possible. These challenges cut both ways. I want everyone to look at my stuff but I want to control access to my attention.

What am I doing? I’m paring down my feeds. I’m getting really, really selective. It’s high time for an information diet. More time with my head in a book and less time with eyeballs glued to the screen. And much more attention to building instruments and making music. Hell, the Internet could wash away as long as I have a good six string.

None of this will stop my blabbing on this blog twice a week of course. This is quality content!

new tune: system

Posted by on January 21, 2010 No comments

Another simple song that needs vocal. I’ve been working up a lot of material lately that is going to have some singing on it. Fortunately for me, I have suddenly come into a surplus of singers. Well, not a surplus necessarily but a pile of talented folks who want to rock out. Good for me!

Download and enjoy!
System

Creative Commons License
System by J.C. Wilson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.othertime.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://othertime.com.

new tune: undertones

Posted by on January 14, 2010 No comments

I spent some time with my electric guitar putting down layer after layer one night without paying much attention to where it was going. After an hour or so, I listened to what I had and I was pretty excited. A couple of days later I got out of my car after work and was hit with some really simple lyrics. I tried singing them and that just didn’t work. So I sent them to my buddy Jason and he did them for me.

This is a draft and the final mix will be done when I have some additional things in there. But for now, it’s a fun listen. Enjoy!

Undertones

Creative Commons License
Undertones by J.C. Wilson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.othertime.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://othertime.com.