[khchris(original)]

Originally Posted by SpectralJulianIsNotDead

I got the 4-track because it was my friends and I wanted to do a demo without spending any money.

The "sounds like" isn't just for those 4 tracks you realize. And "sounds like" doesn't mean that they sound exactly alike. Maybe I put Big Black because a lot of the songs are very agressive, dark, and abrasive. And maybe I put JAMC because the guitars parts are very noisey and wall of sound like and the drum parts are simple.

Gunslinger and German Dogs are two very atypical songs for me. (out of the ones I have wrote)

Maybe you put Big Black and JAMC because you want to attract fans that may like those bands?

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

KHChris, what does your music sound like anyways? You don't really seem to advocate effects. Do you just use a guitar straight into an undistorted amp and play stuff? If you told us that your music sounded like Sonic Youth, and we listened to it, and it didn't sound just like Sonic Youth, could we call your pretentious for naming a band in sounds like that you don't sound all that much like?

Wait, doesn't Lee Ranaldo use effects too? I'm pretty sure he uses a ring modulator, overdrive, and delay. Isn't that really preconceived? Why would you support with your hard earned money such a pretentious band? They call themselves post-bratcore, you just know what kind of crowd they are trying to attract with a genre label like that.

I don't know if you know this, but when musicians try to describe what they sound like, they usually name bands that are vaguely similar and are decently known to the listener. Just to give an idea of what they sound like, not to tell the listener exactly what to expect. When I was a radio DJ, when getting debut CDs from bands I've never heard of, it would say RIYL on the CDs, and name bands with similar qualities. Not exact copies.

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

Originally Posted by khchris(original)

Maybe you put Big Black and JAMC because you want to attract fans that may like those bands?

I don't make money off of my music in anyway. What would the point of attracting fans be?

[khchris(original)]

Originally Posted by SpectralJulianIsNotDead

I don't make money off of my music in anyway. What would the point of attracting fans be?

Nobody said you did make any money off your music. If you weren't interested in attracting "fans", then why would you put a link of your myspace band page on your SY Board profile?

Better question: why would you say your band sounds like bands that don't sound alike? Answer: to attract fans of those bands.

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

Originally Posted by khchris(original)

Nobody said you did make any money off your music. If you weren't interested in attracting "fans", then why would you put a link of your myspace band page on your SY Board profile?

Better question: why would you say your band sounds like bands that don't sound alike? Answer: to attract fans of those bands.

Well, if someone is at my page, they can already access the music and video. The "sounds like" text is superfluous anyways.

If I wanted to attract Big Black and JAMC fans, wouldn't I put that in the signature to get people to click on it?

How can you really say what I do or don't sound like? You've only heard 4 of my tracks that I recorded nearly 3 months ago.

Anyways. I'm done arguing with someone who is half troll half australopithecus.

 

+

 

=
KHChris

[stirling]

You don't have to explain or justify your music, SpJ.

I believe the current question is:
"KHChris, what does your music sound like anyways?"
(Preferably answered with some mp3s)

[alyasa]

I like The Spectral Presence. Not perfect. But not many bands are. Throughout the history of recorded music, there have been very few bands that can even be considered perfect.

[khchris(original)]

Originally Posted by SpectralJulianIsNotDead

KHChris, what does your music sound like anyways? You don't really seem to advocate effects. Do you just use a guitar straight into an undistorted amp and play stuff? If you told us that your music sounded like Sonic Youth, and we listened to it, and it didn't sound just like Sonic Youth, could we call your pretentious for naming a band in sounds like that you don't sound all that much like?

Wait, doesn't Lee Ranaldo use effects too? I'm pretty sure he uses a ring modulator, overdrive, and delay. Isn't that really preconceived? Why would you support with your hard earned money such a pretentious band? They call themselves post-bratcore, you just know what kind of crowd they are trying to attract with a genre label like that.

I don't know if you know this, but when musicians try to describe what they sound like, they usually name bands that are vaguely similar and are decently known to the listener. Just to give an idea of what they sound like, not to tell the listener exactly what to expect. When I was a radio DJ, when getting debut CDs from bands I've never heard of, it would say RIYL on the CDs, and name bands with similar qualities. Not exact copies.

There's nothing wrong with efx as long as you have a reason/meaning to use them. Using them just to "fill in sound" means that you've ran out of ideas. SY have done an excellent job of knowing when to use efx and what efx to use. They don't just use efx just to "layer" sounds arbitrarily.

Do I play undistorted guitar? Sure. Do I play distorted guitar? Sure. I don't limit myself to using "just" distorted guitar. Maybe you do, good luck with that. As far as my music, well I really don't know what my guitar style sounds like. If I don't have an accurate description of what my guitar sounds like, that's much better than lying about what my music sounds like. I'd rather not lie to people. I've only associated SY as being really 1 label and it's a label that majority labeled them when I first discovered them for myself: post-punk. Pretty broad, but pretty accurate. What is "post brat-core" anyways? Never heard of it.

I don't know if you know this, but anyone who honestly goes around labeling themselves as a "musician" unless they are really working as a trade as a musician and making a career out of it, it's usually a term dropped by people who want to try to impress naive people who don't know any better. I know people in many bands from Pinback, Three Mile Pilot, The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower, Mae-shi, and many other bands and not once have I ever heard any of them label themselves as "musician". Rob is just a guy who writes songs and loves to make songs that happens to be in Pinback. You would never in a million years hear him say, "my name is Rob and I'm a musician".

From my experiences, the best bands do not need to "lead" people on to believe that they "sound like My Bloody Valentine". They really don't use other bands to describe their music at all. They leave that for the fans to discuss. The difference between you being a DJ and informing listeners of bands that may be close comparisons and you making those "close comparisons" is that as a DJ, you are the "listener" and fan.

[alyasa]

Good reference point in regards to Big Black, there definitely is a Big Black vibe in your music. Whether this is intentional or just 'part of the inherent energy' is of course up to you to figure out. How do you believe that Gang Of Four is an influence on your music? Which aspect of your music is informed by Gang Of Four's musical style?
EDIT: I guess when you come down to it, you guys sound like yourselves; and that's always a good thing.

[khchris(original)]

Originally Posted by alyasa

Good reference point in regards to Big Black, there definitely is a Big Black vibe in your music. Whether this is intentional or just 'part of the inherent energy' is of course up to you to figure out. How do you believe that Gang Of Four is an influence on your music? Which aspect of your music is informed by Gang Of Four's musical style?
EDIT: I guess when you come down to it, you guys sound like yourselves; and that's always a good thing.

Have you heard Big Black? Hmmm...could you tell me an album that The Spectral Presence sounds like by Big Black? Or are you just here for moral support?

[alyasa]

If you guys don't actually sound like Big Black in the academic sense, I'm sure the spirit of Kasimir S Pulaski Day lives on somewhere in your raw, screeching guitars.
"What are you trying to prove now, Benny?
What are you trying to call me, Benny?"

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

Originally Posted by alyasa

Good reference point in regards to Big Black, there definitely is a Big Black vibe in your music. Whether this is intentional or just 'part of the inherent energy' is of course up to you to figure out. How do you believe that Gang Of Four is an influence on your music? Which aspect of your music is informed by Gang Of Four's musical style?
EDIT: I guess when you come down to it, you guys sound like yourselves; and that's always a good thing.

I think I wrote the influences when I was writing some really choppy sounding songs. Some of the songs you haven't heard make use of natural harmonics, start/stop dynamics, and more angular guitars.

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

Originally Posted by khchris(original)

There's nothing wrong with efx as long as you have a reason/meaning to use them. Using them just to "fill in sound" means that you've ran out of ideas. SY have done an excellent job of knowing when to use efx and what efx to use. They don't just use efx just to "layer" sounds arbitrarily.

Do I play undistorted guitar? Sure. Do I play distorted guitar? Sure. I don't limit myself to using "just" distorted guitar. Maybe you do, good luck with that. As far as my music, well I really don't know what my guitar style sounds like. If I don't have an accurate description of what my guitar sounds like, that's much better than lying about what my music sounds like. I'd rather not lie to people. I've only associated SY as being really 1 label and it's a label that majority labeled them when I first discovered them for myself: post-punk. Pretty broad, but pretty accurate. What is "post brat-core" anyways? Never heard of it.

I don't know if you know this, but anyone who honestly goes around labeling themselves as a "musician" unless they are really working as a trade as a musician and making a career out of it, it's usually a term dropped by people who want to try to impress naive people who don't know any better. I know people in many bands from Pinback, Three Mile Pilot, The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower, Mae-shi, and many other bands and not once have I ever heard any of them label themselves as "musician". Rob is just a guy who writes songs and loves to make songs that happens to be in Pinback. You would never in a million years hear him say, "my name is Rob and I'm a musician".

From my experiences, the best bands do not need to "lead" people on to believe that they "sound like My Bloody Valentine". They really don't use other bands to describe their music at all. They leave that for the fans to discuss. The difference between you being a DJ and informing listeners of bands that may be close comparisons and you making those "close comparisons" is that as a DJ, you are the "listener" and fan.

KHChris is obviously on crack. With the exception of overdrive, every effect other than that is on for the whole song to color the tone of the guitar for the song. Either KHChris can't read or he doesn't know what overdrive is, because I mentioned that I turn it on and off, but he insists that I might only play with distorted guitars.

Maybe I'm trying to lead the punk kids who come to my shows and don't really know anything about post-punk, post-hardcore, shoegaze, and gothic rock into some good bands. Personally when I first get into a band, I look them up on allmusic or wikipedia. If it isn't immediately apparent to me where everything came from, and I can see what other bands have influenced them. Smalltime bands with myspace profiles don't really have wikipedia entries and allmusic entries. So I took a step back and thought about what bands it sort of sounded like, based off of all the 20+ spectral presence songs I have written and asked myself which influences were coming through and how. Also, people will ask me what my band sounds like. I got sort of tired of explaining to my friends what it sounds like, because a lot of people just don't get what I'm talking about.

You must thing Gang of Four is a terrible band then:

"I don't think they were particularly an influence. We were aware of all of that when we starting writing stuff. That first Television album was great and so was the first Talking Heads record. There's a shared interest in avoiding the rock-guitar cliché for sure. If you think of the first crop of punk stuff, it was all just tedious guitars cranked up through Marshalls. In the wake of the Damned and the Sex Pistols, it was heavy metal but faster and not as well played. Certainly Gang of Four, Television and Talking Heads weren't interested in going down that road at all. So there was a kind of sparseness about the guitar stuff, it was more staccato with space around it." - Andy Gill


My god, they compared themselves to Television and the Talking Heads! And they don't sound anything like those 2 bands! Liars!

[ricechex]

Spectral, don't let khchris bring u down, man. it's always the same thing with that guy. his war on perceived pretentiousness and what is popular/hip in culture. he belittles ad naseum. and why?, b/c 4-track lo-fi ideas that young "musicians" create are trying too hard to be cool..?? if u want to put layers on arbitrarily, u fucking do it. whatever. what an ass.

i do think the influence thing is a tad cheezy. the rhythm influcences, the drum influences, that stuff has to go. : )

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

Originally Posted by ricechex

Spectral, don't let khchris bring u down, man. it's always the same thing with that guy. his war on perceived pretentiousness and what is popular/hip in culture. he belittles ad naseum. and why?, b/c 4-track lo-fi ideas that young "musicians" create are trying too hard to be cool..?? if u want to put layers on arbitrarily, u fucking do it. whatever. what an ass.

i do think the influence thing is a tad cheezy. the rhythm influcences, the drum influences, that stuff has to go. : )

I have found that young musicians are forced to make lo-fi music because hi-fi equipment is too expensive. To me, it is either 4-track or an expensive studio. Everything inbetween that is going to cost you money for something that isn't that much better than a 4-track.

The profile is long overdue for a rehaul though. Whether it is a personal or a band profile, people always think my profiles are cheesy. My older sister got mad because I changed one such profile, and she said she enjoyed reading some of the weird stuff I wrote.

To me, it is just a fucking myspace profile, you know? I use it mainly to find out about shows, say "yes, I'll play" and then make a bulletin about it.

[khchris(original)]

Originally Posted by SpectralJulianIsNotDead

KHChris is obviously on crack. With the exception of overdrive, every effect other than that is on for the whole song to color the tone of the guitar for the song. Either KHChris can't read or he doesn't know what overdrive is, because I mentioned that I turn it on and off, but he insists that I might only play with distorted guitars.

Maybe I'm trying to lead the punk kids who come to my shows and don't really know anything about post-punk, post-hardcore, shoegaze, and gothic rock into some good bands. Personally when I first get into a band, I look them up on allmusic or wikipedia. If it isn't immediately apparent to me where everything came from, and I can see what other bands have influenced them. Smalltime bands with myspace profiles don't really have wikipedia entries and allmusic entries. So I took a step back and thought about what bands it sort of sounded like, based off of all the 20+ spectral presence songs I have written and asked myself which influences were coming through and how. Also, people will ask me what my band sounds like. I got sort of tired of explaining to my friends what it sounds like, because a lot of people just don't get what I'm talking about.

You must thing Gang of Four is a terrible band then:

"I don't think they were particularly an influence. We were aware of all of that when we starting writing stuff. That first Television album was great and so was the first Talking Heads record. There's a shared interest in avoiding the rock-guitar cliché for sure. If you think of the first crop of punk stuff, it was all just tedious guitars cranked up through Marshalls. In the wake of the Damned and the Sex Pistols, it was heavy metal but faster and not as well played. Certainly Gang of Four, Television and Talking Heads weren't interested in going down that road at all. So there was a kind of sparseness about the guitar stuff, it was more staccato with space around it." - Andy Gill


My god, they compared themselves to Television and the Talking Heads! And they don't sound anything like those 2 bands! Liars!

Do you really use wikipedia and allmusic to determine your choice in bands??? That sounds like something my parents would do to find music. If your band sounds like the Pixies, then why don't you put the songs that sound like The Pixies. Same goes for Big Black. I've been a huge Big Black fan for decades now, almost before you were even born, and I'm sorry, but your band does not sound ANYTHING like Big Black, so stop pretending or lying to people that you do sound like Big Black or even remotely close.

There's a difference between being "influenced" by a band and "sounding like" a band. Gang of Four maybe "influenced" by those bands, but they certainly don't say that they "sound" like those bands. Take an English class, dude. Also, I never said I didn't like Gang of Four. I think they're great and a huge influence on many bands today, even to !!!

[alyasa]

Statccato with space around it. I like that phrase, class.

[khchris(original)]

Originally Posted by SpectralJulianIsNotDead

I have found that young musicians are forced to make lo-fi music because hi-fi equipment is too expensive. To me, it is either 4-track or an expensive studio. Everything inbetween that is going to cost you money for something that isn't that much better than a 4-track.

The profile is long overdue for a rehaul though. Whether it is a personal or a band profile, people always think my profiles are cheesy. My older sister got mad because I changed one such profile, and she said she enjoyed reading some of the weird stuff I wrote.

To me, it is just a fucking myspace profile, you know? I use it mainly to find out about shows, say "yes, I'll play" and then make a bulletin about it.

If you can afford all those efx, then obviously you're not too poor, which throws out the "I bought a 4-track because I'm poor" excuse. Today, almost every person that owns their own instrument has a computer, and digital recording has become probably cheaper than recording on a 4-track: you don't need tapes(which in bulk are more expensive). If you think there is no middle ground between a 4-track recorder and a professional studio, then I'm sorry but that is just plain stupid. That's like saying, "I'm either going to ride a bicycle or fly a plane".

I don't know, I just get the feeling that you put those bands down just to associate your band's sound to those bands you listed just to try to get people interested in your band.

You do not sound anything like Big Black, Pixies, or even Joy Division.

And if your songs that sound like those bands aren't on the myspace page, why aren't they?

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

Frequency Analyzer- 18th Birthday present
Johnson Chorus- gift from a friend
Blue Driver- $60, bought 4 years ago

pedals bought this year:
Dano Tuna Melt- $15
Dano Chili Dog- $13
Arion SAD-3- $25
Danelectro PB+J- $35

Yeah, I am just blowing a shitload of money on pedals.

Borrowed Tascam to make a demo- 0$
It sounds a lot better than plugging a mic into my onboard soundcard and using audacity to record each track individually too.

Cost of 3 tapes at the dollar store- 1$

[khchris(original)]

Price of a sound card with 1 or 2 ins/outs: $15.
Price of 100 cds: $5-$10

Posing as a band and pretending to sound like bands just to gain interest from certain crowds: PRICELESS!