Michael Jackson, one year later

MJ’s death still makes me sad. It was so untimely, and so preventable, and it seems like he might have been on the cusp of a genuine creative reawakening. The life leading up to the end is as sad a story as I can think of. And the music keeps sounding better and better with all the new attention it’s been getting. It continues to inspire new ideas in me.

MJ memorial mix

[audio:http://ethanhein.com/music/Ethan_Hein_MJ_Memorial_Mix.mp3]

mp3 download, ipod format download

Nice think piece:Michael Jackson’s Unparalleled Influence.

Continue reading “Michael Jackson, one year later”

Janelle Monáe and Randall Thompson

Update: a reader tells me that Janelle Monáe is not quoting Randall Thompson at all, she is quoting a hymn called “All Creatures of our God and King“. I stand corrected.

All the musicians I trust for recommendations in real life and on the web agree: the hottest artist in the universe right now is Janelle Monáe.

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Brand Nubian meets Edie Brickell

While I was researching the Spoonie G meme, I noticed that Brand Nubian uses a lot of remarkably creative samples. It inspired me to do a sample map of their classic first album, One For All. Click to see it bigger.

Hear all the tracks sampled on One For All, via Kevin Nottingham’s awesome blog.

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My social media setup

After a few years of honing and balancing my various social media profiles and blogs, here’s how I have the information flowing. This doesn’t represent every last thing I put on the web, but it does cover the tools I use regularly. Continue reading “My social media setup”

One for the treble, two for the bass

I’ve been hearing this line in a lot of hip-hop songs: “One for the treble, two for the time” or “One for the treble, two for the bass” or some variation. I wanted to find out what everybody’s quoting. After some internet detective work, here’s what I’ve got.

The phrase is a play on the opening of Carl Perkins’ Blue Suede Shoes, as made famous by Elvis:

One for the money, two for the show
Three to get ready, now go, cat, go

For the hip-hop world, the main reference point seems to be Spoonie G’s “Spoonin’ Rap” from 1979. Old school! Spoonie’s line is enigmatic in its meaning.

You say one for the treble, two for the time
Come on y’all, let’s rock the [whistle]

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Tommy The Cat

Tommy

[audio:http://www.ethanhein.com/music/Revival_Revival_Tommy.mp3]

Revival Revival vs Primus

mp3 download, ipod format download

Vocals by Barbara Singer. Samples and programming by me. The guitar licks were originally played by Alex Torovic but have been chopped up pretty dramatically. This is part of our ongoing strategy, learned from hip-hop, of taking a familiar chorus and coming up with new verses.

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Music theory for beginner guitarists

Most beginner guitarists start by learning the same fifteen chords, usually called the “standard fifteen.” I’ve also heard them called the open chords because they make use of open strings and are thus easy to play.

Major Seventh Minor
A A7 Am
— B7 —
C C7 —
D D7 Dm
E E7 Em
F — —
G G7 —

For fingerings, have a look at Wikipedia or any book on beginner guitar. You can also see this handy web site, which plays audio of each chord along with the fingerings.

It’s not much good to just memorize the standard fifteen chords without musical context. It’s better to learn them grouped together into keys, so you can hear how they relate to each other. Here are the standard fifteen grouped into various useful major, blues and minor keys. Pick a row and try the chords within it. They’ll sound good together in any order and in any combination. The first chord in each row is the tonic chord, which feels like “home base”.

Major keys

I ii iii IV V7 vi V7/V V7/ii V7/vi
C major: C Dm Em F G7 Am D7 A7 E7
G major: G Am — C D7 Em A7 E7 B7
D major: D Em — G A7 — E7 B7 —
A major: A — — D E7 — B7 B7 —
E major: E — — A B7 — — — —

Blues keys

I7 bIII IV7 V7 bVII
C blues: C7 — — G7 —
G blues: G7 — C7 D7 F
D blues: D7 F G7 A7 C
A blues: A7 C D7 E7 G
E blues: E7 G A7 B7 D

Minor keys

I V7/V bIII iv IV7 v V7 bVI bVI7 bVII
D minor: Dm E7 F — G7 Am A7 — — C
A minor: Am B7 C Dm D7 Em E7 F — G
E minor: Em — G Am A7 — B7 C C7 D

For more adventurous sounds, try mixing chords from different keys together. Trust your ears and have fun! And once you’ve mastered these chords, maybe you’d like to tackle the pentatonic scale.

Dig the big bang

In Annie Hall, young Woody Allen explains to his doctor that he won’t do his homework because the universe is expanding, so what’s the point? His mother exasperatedly tells him, “You’re here in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is not expanding!”

I post this because I’ve been reading Coming Of Age In The Milky Way by Tim Ferris, as good a summary of the state of cosmology between two covers as a person could ask for. Thinking about the horrifying enormousness and ancientness of the universe might have depressed Woody Allen, but it has a paradoxically calming effect on me. Reading books like Ferris’ is my favorite form of meditation.

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Muppet Silly Songs

For my 35th birthday, my sister gave me a CD of Muppet Silly Songs, a favorite of ours when we were kids. It’s been out of print for years and last time I checked wasn’t even available on the web, legally or not. We unearthed the vinyl at our mom and stepfather’s place when we were there over Mother’s Day, and Molly converted it to digital with the help of our friend Leo.

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Hey! Wait!

Let Us In

[audio:http://ethanhein.com/music/revival_revival_let_us_in.mp3]

Revival Revival vs Nirvana

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Vocals and guitar by Barbara. Additional guitar, controller synth, 808 programming and sampling by me. Contains some salty language.

This continues our recent push into mostly original rock material about Barbara’s complex romantic life. The sample comes from one of my favorite Nirvana songs.

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