Graham O'Brien - 'Live Drums' Review

Graham O'Brien - Live Drums

http://grahamobrien.bandcamp.com/

Ladies and gents, I give to you the link to either DL (free) or purchase ($2-plus) this one-of-a-kind, great, debut album by No Bird Sing's hip-hop drummer, Graham O'Brien.  I stumbled across the write-up and link on Empty's Tapes blog and completely agree that it's mos def worth giving a listen - or two or three or ten.  The sampling, drumming, and guest appearances by other Minneapolis greats Kristoff Krane, Adam Svec, Alicia Wiley, Eric Blair and DVS offer a solid mix of instrumental, experimental hip-hop I've never heard before.  In fact, I'd have to echo what City Pages' said back in September 2009 review of NBS' debut effort by calling their and Graham's albums "groundbreaking".  

The sounds and rhythms he produces on this work of creative genius are excellent.  The album (click for promo video) does a great job of floating back and forth with rap, hip-hop, and just a smidgen of indie rock beats and well-placed instrumental interludes.  I can't wait to get back to Minneapolis to perhaps land a show with him and/or NBS again.

Alaska Railroad

I traveled The Alaska Railroad from Fairbanks to Denali to meet my mom after her first two days of adventure in Anchorage a couple weeks ago.  We hit up Denali National Park & Preserve for an all-day wilderness tour and saw some amazing animals and natural beauty.  Later that day, we took the rail back to Fairbanks and I showed her around town the next few days, which included an unexpected 8-hour round trip drive to the Arctic Circle, checking out UAF's Museum of the North, Pioneer Park, and picking blueberries just off the Steese Highway.  This video highlights my meeting her in Denali the first couple days.  My sister also visited the week before.  I'll see about trying to compile a similar video that highlights that fun, too.
[Music: "Train" by Mother Mother]

Fairbanks Music Scene Thus Far...

It looks like I have another music-related blog post for you today.  Since deciding that I was going to ship my drum set the 3,183 miles (according to Google Maps) via USPS Ground from Minneapolis to Fairbanks, I knew that I was going to immerse myself in the music scene here as quickly as possible.  In doing so, I've befriended several great people who have an extraordinarily diverse background in performing.  Some are living hundreds of miles outside of Fairbanks and might only practice for the first time in weeks or months during sound check for their show.  Others get together several times per week to replay their most popular tunes over and over until they are blue in the face.  And then there's the rest of us - outsiders with musical skills who are just looking to join a band or group of people on a whim to have fun for the hell of it.


I have had the opportunity to hear a few bands on more than one occasion since arriving and have decided to shed some light on Work, the Moon Knights , Rebecca File, and Feeding Frenzy.

To start, I saw Work and the Moon Knights open for Tokyo Police Club on April 22nd at UAF.   The Moon Knights were on first with their ridiculous costumes and loud, lo-fi sound.  They were a bit too abrasive and obnoxious for my taste.  So, I was happy about 30 minutes later when the first notes were picked by Caleb Kuntz of Work, who along with Eric Lonn, Chad File, and EJ Skinner, Jr., paved the next 40 with some great instrumental rock.  I've seen some great showmen on stage at concerts before and Kuntz easily ranks in my top 10.  Top hat, retro glasses, stringy mustache, red button-up shirt, basketball shorts, and slippers are all main ingredients to his rock star recipe.  Throughout their set, File threw down some great time signature changes and fills on the drums; Lonn whacked out the mini keys; EJ strummed, slapped and picked the bass; and collectively, they all screamed and clapped at perfectly-timed moments.  They were a great act to get the crowd hopping before a solid act by TPC for the rest of the night.  Upon returning to my abode later that night, I didn't hesitate to recommend their sound to Radio K's Nowlikephotographs show back home.  I figured, why not get some of these local bands exposure to the lower-48.  I can't say I've ever specifically sought Alaskan bands before so maybe NLP would be interested in giving them some airplay.  I'm looking forward to seeing them at least a couple more times before EJ leaves the country in a couple months and any other reasons why they may not be around soon.

What prompted me to start this entry was the fact that I came across the MySpace page for a vocalist here in Fairbanks named Rebecca Menzia-File earlier today.  She's married to the drummer of the aforementioned band Work (Chad File), is a backing vocalist for another Fairbanks band called Feeding Frenzy, and apparently does her own solo stuff.  Her MySpace tracks are very chill and interesting to listen to.  She has a mix of opera, indie, and experiment in her style.  It wasn't until I came across the track "Let Him" on her page that I really realized her ability to put out a good sound as a solo artist.  Oh yeah, she's also expressed interest in teaching singing lessons for my clients here at the at-risk youth drop-in center to coincide with the music lessons I'm planning on starting sometime in July.  I think I have about seven teens interested in learning how to play anything from piano, violin, drums, bass, and guitar.  We'll see how it pans out.  I think Rebecca will do a great job.

Feeding Frenzy is another great local band here in Fairbanks.  I first saw them at a 200+ person cabin party and bonfire the night before Fairbanks' hippie music festival called Clucking Blossom, where they also played and captivated the audience with their banjo, violin, acoustic guitar, floor tom, mallet, tambourine, and catchy vocals.  The first streaming track "Winter's Getting Cold" is their main crowd-pleaser, quite obviously, because of its several "bop bop da da daa" lines, the speed-up tempo, and yelling lyrics throughout the song.  "If You Don't" is another one they play quite often.  Daniel Fermin, Ryan Bateman, Rebecca File, and Ephy Wheeler know what it takes to master the art of sing-along in the mixed style of indie, bluegrass, folk-rock.  To edit Mr. Walken's famous line on SNL, "I've gotta fever!  And the only prescription is more [banjo]!"

I'm looking forward to obtaining a copy of studio quality tracks of these bands and others here in town to give them a full listen through.  Then again, this is Fairbanks we're talking about.  So no guarantees on that by any means.  I'm guessing that I'll be getting those copies by way of mp3 cds burned by a couple people at some point.

Until my next Fairbanks/Alaska musical discovery, enjoy the links I've shared above!

Fairbanks Pub League

Have you ever wanted to collaborate with other musicians in an already tightly-knit music scene?  Well, I learned a very easy way to do it in Fairbanks this past weekend.  It's called "Pub League."  

Connor Rainor, EJ Skinner, and a few others get a hold of about 25 interested musicians from all over the area, divvy them up into five bands, give them four or five hours to come up with three songs - usually two covers and an original from scratch.  My band "Lil Wayne, feat. Lil Wayne" opted for two originals and one cover instead.  Later that evening, ya head to a local bar, perform in a battle of the bands type of competition and a single one is crowned the Pub League Champions.  We took that crown last night.

It consisted of a bassist named Poncho, keyboardist Eric Lonn (from the band Work), singer/keyboarist Isaac Paris (from the band Paper Scissors), and a guest "rapper," Patrick, who's a roommate of Connor's.  We ended up meshing pretty well from the get-go.  Here are the tracks and a brief explanation of what we performed.

1) "Cowboy Cassanova ST" is a jam we came up with at the very beginning of practice just to get a little loose and continue from there.

2) "White Liar Demo" is our ridiculous take on "Digital Love" by Daft Punk sung with the like-vocals of Louis Armstrong.  My only backing vocals come in the form of a "woooo!" around 2:30, haha.

3) "Cowboy Cassanova Demo" is a rap we all collaborated with by writing random lines on pieces of paper and passing them around to add more lines.  Patrick sounded super uncomfortable rapping while Isaac did a pretty good job of taking on the style of the Beastie Boys.

Download them here:  http://www.sendspace.com/file/0l7kil

I'm already looking forward to the next one.  Enjoy!

Late Arrival

"Late Arrival" is a short film I created with my Amtrak Cascades train ride from Seattle, WA to Vancouver, BC before running the Vancouver Marathon the next day. This is a short story of someone suddenly realizing he is embarking on an amazing adventure. And the only thing leading the charge is that in which pulls every person to do what they desire - his heart.


Words by Dan Vogel
Music: "Decline" by The Appleseed Cast