Think Kit Dec. 12th | The Pica Beats + WITT 91.9 + Jon = Synergy!

I became a Pica Beats fan this year in probably the most indie way possible.  My discovery could be a case study in cross-channel indie music synergy.  See what I did there with my Jack Doneghy corporate buzzwords slash indie music mash-up?  Yeah, it kind of makes my stomach churn too.

Anyway, I was listening to the greatest radio station in Indianapolis, the WITT 91.9 one afternoon when the embedded song below came on the air and, boy was I hooked.  I had to have more.  I found the album on Bandcamp and proceeded to give them my monies so I could have the whole album. Along with my payment, I included an optional message delivered to the artist that talked about how this song was exactly what I needed, when I first heard it.  A few days later, I got an email from Ryan Barrett, the creative core of the Pica Beats.  He thanked me for the kind note and asked what radio station I heard his work on as he was always looking for the right avenues that would support his music.  I gladly told him about WITT.  I felt like I was winning by closing this loop between independent artist and independent music radio station.  You see?  cross-channel independent music synergy (shudder).

Sadly, I learned that the Pica Beats have been retired in lieu of the artists newest project, Fen Wik Ren. Thankfully and apparently by design, this is a familiar iteration of the Pica Beats.

Regarding the actual song and related album, I like the blended haunted, yet warm sound. It's a happy album and has a bit of an island guitar feel delivered through an indie rock lens.  I hate using the term indie rock to try and describe a sound, but I'm limited in my ability to describe said sound.  The background and supporting vocals accentuate the lead vocal tracks.  It's a clean sound that fits a lot of moods and times of day, which are to me very important criteria.  Regardless, the album has four or five solid tracks which makes the whole album a success.

So, with this Think Kit lifeline I urge you to go to his Bandcamp page and pick up this gem of an album, "Better in Color."
 

Think Kit Dec. 8th - Top Ten Electronic Tracks to do Computer Work By

Taking a lifeline and am compiling a list of tracks I listen to while at work or typing away late at night on the computer.  I'm not known to be an electronic music expert but I've found the broad genre to be conducive to computer work.  I like the cosmopolitan, future tense subtle feel that's stirred inside.  The tracks (and their related albums) let me focus on my work while subtly pulling me away to a surreal and/or happy place.

I'll go through phases where I sift through this music genre and try to better understand the difference between house, drum and bass, trance, down beat, etc.  I can't say that I can fully differentiate between all of them, but I just know what I like.  I think all of these are EDM (Electronic Dance Music), but again I'm not 100% sure.  So, here's my top ten list of electronic tracks that I work to.  I'm likely a relic in that I still buy full albums, even in the era of online music.  As a result, I can say that I would recommend all of the full albums on which these individual tracks reside.


I've also collected these youtube tracks into a youtube channel.

#1 on the list is Orbital's "One Perfect Sunrise."  Such an energizing track, I love it.

A close second is Dusted's "Childhood."  This whole album is great.

Another (2 disc) album that I love, Sasha and Digweed's, "Satellite Serenade." It's an album that transports you.

Sandra Collins' "C'Est Musique" I originally found on her Tranceport.  I don't do a lot of drum and bass, but it mixes well with a playlist.

I found LTJ Bukem during a summer in Bloomington (ah, what a magical place that town is during the summer months). This double album reminds me of hot summer college spending my time between computer labs and bars.

DJ Shadow as another college find.  Solid, classic work.

Massive Attack was a late comer to my library.  I found them during the winter and as a result this whole album really connects with me when there's snow on the ground.

From what I've read, Juno Reactor are apparently considered hacks in electronic music community, but I still like "Conga Fury" when I first heard it on the Animatrix soundtrack.

The lone Groove Armada album I have seems to be all over the map, musically.  It's a decent album with gems like this one, "Dusk, You, and Me."

Last but not least, Peace Orchestra's "Who Am I" is a haunting track that I really like.

Think Kit Dec. 3 - That Strange Experience at the Hoosier Dome

photo via Artur Silva on nuvo.net

This past summer, I caught a show at the Hoosier Dome. Yeah, I thought it was a typo too when I first read about it.  One of my favorite bands of late, The Menzingers, came to town and I was really pumped up about it.  They came to play at he Hoosier Dome, a low key music venue in Fountain Square.  I use the term music venue loosely because the show could have been in an abandoned corner store and we wouldn't have known the difference.  With full disclosure about what we were getting into, my wife also attended making it a date night.  Yeah, I took my wife to a tiny, smelly all ages club for a date.  Don't get me wrong, she knew what she's getting into and was down for the experience.  This is the woman that I took to Rhino's in Bloomington, another all ages club, to see Against Me! while pregnant with our second child. She loved it and because of that show, loves Against Me! to this day. But I digress.  At both Rhino's then and the Hoosier Dome earlier this year, we were the oldest people in the joint (outside of the band).  It was a quick flashback to the 80s in that we were surrounded by surely teenagers and the Hoosier Dome was a real place.

Being a 35 year old in an all ages club like the Hoosier Dome is weird.

The Hoosier Dome, unlike its original namesake, is not known for its spacious accommodations. It's hilariously small.  If the place had a bathroom, we never saw it, and probably wouldn't want to use it anyway.  If you've not been to an all ages club nor have been around teenagers in awhile, you're going to either have a good time people watching or be really challenged with the experience.  We had a great time and as a result, I've got a soft spot for the Hoosier Dome.  I'd like to think most of those kids were decent, meant well, and were just trying to cope with adolescence.  Regardless, they're funny to experience in the wild.  The awkward cool things they say and do when they get together away from authority figures is something that I've been so far removed from, it's a little strange to experience.  When it got to be too much, I just looked through the crowd for the dude with the shaved head to obscure his male pattern baldness (i.e. one of the band members) and mentally projected a sympathetic connection.  This guy has probably seen dozens of 'Hoosier Domes' while on tour and that's...something.

This isn't meant to be a show review, but I do want to talk about The Menzingers.  They're a fantastic band and you should check them out.  The show itself was electric.  They seem like a group of guys in good spirits, despite some downer lyric material.  The crowd was animated, to the say the least.  All in all, it was a fantastic show.  They did not play one of my favorite songs, but I don't hold it against them.

Between songs, all the band talked about was going across the street to the bar and getting beers. Damn it!  They didn't have to keep reminding us that we're stone cold sober at a show, standing in what amounts to a cramped storage shed with a bunch of teenagers for a couple of hours.  Not to worry, we headed to La Revolucion for tacos and beers soon after the encore.  Away from the surreal all ages club experience we went and back to that tiki bar that had just appeared out of what seemed like thin air in the rear of La Revolucion.  That's another weird experience when you don't know it's there.  I went to the bathroom and before I walked in, I looked to my left and said, "hey there's a doorway to an entirely different bar - a tiki bar - that wasn't here the last time I was back this way."  For some unknown reason, it reminded me of Pee-Wee's Playhouse.  What a weird way to accentuate a strange evening at the Hoosier Dome.

ThinkKit D12 - Top Ten Flannel Songs That Give Me That High School Feeling

Before my current abrasive metal and punk rock dual eras, and before my dabbles in electronic and the Grateful Dead, and during my long lasting classic rock immersion, there was the grunge era.   I graduated from high school in 1996, deep in heart of God's country (a.k.a. east central Indiana).  The Internet was nowhere near where it is today and there were lots of open space.  So, there was some musical isolation at play.  Yet my adolescent ear holes were filled with the sounds from alternative rock radio in Indy, a rock station in Fort Wayne, and MTV.  Yeah, I listened to Pantera, Corrosion of Conformity, and some Anthrax (still do).  But I think it is this grunge/alt rock era that stirs the most very vivid and fond memories from my high school days.  I will therefore be taking a lifeline today and deliver to you my top ten high school tracks.  

This list of songs have been so fused with friends, ex-girlfriends, places and events that a song can hit me strong when played today.  It's really pretty cool that one of these songs can do this, so many years later.  So, in no particular order the top 10 high school tracks that evoke consistent and rich memories:

1. Rotten Apple - Alice in Chains
2. River of Deceit - Mad Season
3. Alive - Pearl Jam
4. Superunknown - Soundgarden 
5. Good - Better Than Ezra
6. Molly - Sponge
7. Say Hello To Heaven - Temple of the Dog
8. Champagne Supernova - Oasis
9. Interstate Lovesong - Stone Temple Pilots
10. Backwater - Meat Puppets

I'm really glad that I have never given up on looking for new music.  It's all been money well spent. I don't mind at all that these tracks listed have the distinction of being among the first batch of albums that I listened to all the time and everywhere.  To me, these songs have become timeless.

Writing about my grunge era has really got me thinking about the 80s hair metal era that predates high school.  I can almost guarantee I could assemble a playlist from that era that would rock you like a hurricane.  Though the Scorpions would not be on that list.  Anyway, For now I'll spare you the junior high cassette tape super mix.