Live Music Report: Old Crow Medicine Show – State Theater, Easton, PA 04/13/24

We went to see Old Crow Medicine Show at the State Theater in Easton, PA on April 13. It was a high energy. entertaining show with a little bit of something for everyone. If you wanted to describe the type of music the band performs, they fall at the intersection of several different styles. You could hear some Americana, some country, even a little bit of bluegrass or rock. Instrumentally they had acoustic and electric guitar, stand up and electric bass, kit drums, piano and organ, banjo and mandolin (and I may have missed some). The musicians changed instruments throughout the show and certainly had the technical ability to shine on any instrument they played. But the main ability of this band live is to put on an entertaining and engaging performance. In the beginning years of country and especially bluegrass shows, the performance and getting the audience involved was an important part of the show. There were stories and jokes that went back and forth between the performers and the audience. The musicians worked hard to have the audience become involved in the show. Old Crow Medicine Show keeps this style of performance alive. There was constant movement on stage, groups of players huddling around single mics, plenty of buck dancing and some comedy dialogue among the members of the band.

Here’s some photos of the Medicine Show stage setup and the band in performance.

It was certainly a fun evening with an energy level that never dropped. We’ve put together a video of several songs from the show to give you an idea of what the band is like in performance. And yes, ‘Wagon Wheel’ is here in all it’s live glory. Enjoy.

New Music And Video From Steaming Mulch – ‘Where TF Do I Start’

After our extended break as discussed in the last Grapevine post, we have begun to get back to work in the studio. The best way to get going again is to gather and throw out ideas with the people you usually work with. So where better to start than a Steaming Mulch session. This time instead of starting with a song idea we started with a sound/recording concept. We decided to create a song using ‘sonic overload’. We added numerous tracks that all had a lot of content. The only parameters that were applied was to keep the tracks in the same key and work along with the bpm of a click track. We added several bass, guitar, vocal and drum tracks. We also worked to make sure no individual track was louder in the mix than the other tracks. It sounds easy, but once you get going and try to make sure the tracks have some type of relationship between them, it’s not as easy as it seems. How much can you add before the song is just a solid block of noise? Or do you want a solid block of noise? After the music was put together, we followed the same concept with the video clips. Don’t over think what clips you’re using. Try to match the clips to the song style. Not surprisingly, the whole project ended up looking and sounding pretty ‘dark’. The title of the song was made to describe the sessions. Mission accomplished!

February 2024 Grapevine

We are in the midst of what is our usual primarily gray and overcast winter in eastern Pennsylvania. For anyone who follows our blog you’ve noticed that it’s been over three months since our last post. The reasons for this bring us in to a discussion on the nature of creativity and how events in your life affect your ability to be creative. The quick version of our multi month’s absence: in October through early November my wife and I went on our annual hiking trip. As always our trip through several National Parks presented us with incredible views, challenging hikes and an experience that you wish would never end.

When we get home the experience usually sends my creative juices flowing. I was anticipating the same thing happening after this trip. Unfortunately almost from the moment we got home ‘life happened’. No need to go in to details. We’ve all been there – one difficult situation after another. Every time you think you’re in the clear something else hits the fan. Here’s where the ‘nature of creativity’ comes in to play. It’s hard to be creative when you’re constantly ‘putting out fires’ in the real world. And if it continues for any length of time it becomes difficult to get any momentum going. All the creative work you want to accomplish becomes ‘maybe tomorrow’. I’ve seen this happen with bands I like and whose work I follow. They suddenly fall off the face of the earth and you hear nothing new from them, sometimes for years, sometimes forever. Most of the time you never know what happened. If they’re a more well known band you might come across an article detailing band drama or disasters in their personal lives. The creative spark is somewhat fragile. You have to work to keep it going, but it’s very easy to lose at a moment’s notice. So for all of you creatives out there, you’re not alone when you hit that patch of darkness. All you can do is try to work your way through it.

With all that being said, let’s browse through this month’s music. Maybe something you hear will spark creativity in your life or give you a different perspective on the situation you’re in.

First Up: Lorelle Meets The Obsolete – ‘Dinamo’

We’re going to start this month with some crunchy grinding noise. The bottom line sound in this song that keeps it going is the drums. The drum sounds are kept crisp and clear. The snare has snap, but they’ve kept the mids of the drum very present in the mix. The same type of clarity is present for the kick drum and cymbals. The drums are fairly loud in the mix. Depending what type of song you are playing it could turn in to ‘drum overload’. But if a lot of the other instruments in the song are free flowing as they are here, having the drums high in the mix s a necessity. The bass also is relatively high in the mix. They’ve added a nice buzz distortion to the bass. So in this tune the rhythm section is used like a canvas with the other instruments painted on top. The vocal is at a similar level in the mix, but almost seems buried due the huge amount of reverb added. With these three elements holding the song together the other parts like guitars and keyboards and synths are allowed to ‘free form’ on top. When you hit the two minute mark the synths are split pretty heavily to the left and right channels. That splashes some extra flavor in to the song. This section is followed by returning to the simplicity of the straight forward drum beat and buzzy bass. The song ends as it began, adding the reverb drenched vocals back in. The song is a great example of music that is used to create a mood rather than tell a straight forward lyrical story on top of melodic instruments.

Next Up: Mystic 100’s: ‘Windowpane’

Let’s move on to a different style of music and mixing. The drums are placed across the stereo field as you would hear them live. Kick and snare more to the center with the other drums lying to the left and right as you would hear them if you were standing in front of them. They’re kept audible but lower in the mix. The bass is centered but is also kept low in the mix – you feel it’s presence more than hear it unless you consciously try to pick it out. The vocals are centered in the mix, but are still not heavily pushed forward. Part of this feel of lower volume comes from the reverb placed on it. The most up front part of the mix is the guitars. Two guitars are placed in extreme stereo, one in the right channel and one in the left channel. There is distortion on the rhythm guitars, but the the high end frequencies are boosted, making them stand out from the other instruments. This gives the song a early 1970’s feel, a bit towards Americana or even slightly country. When a lead guitar comes the band sets it right in the middle – a little more mid frequency than the rhythm guitars making the lead feel softer and different than the rhythm guitars. At the 3:12 mark all the instruments pull back to give the song a nice change of pace. This is a great technique for a song that is mostly driving forward. When all the instruments come back in full force you really feel it, which wouldn’t happen if everything remained at the same dynamic level through out. I’ve read that the band based their album on their use of LSD (thus ‘Windowpane’). Very trippy indeed.

Finally: Son Volt – ‘Arkey Blue’

It’s always fun to start a rock song with a cool guitar riff. What makes this song’s arrangement interesting is that the song starts with the riff, but doesn’t rely on it to carry the song. The riff runs through the first 22 seconds of the song. The expectation is usually that this riff will be what defines the verses through out the song. But at 22 seconds the riff stops and is replaced by softer guitar arpeggios and piano. The drums also go from straight forward snappy kick and snare to a much softer shuffle. This conscious change in tone is a great way to shift the song to what the writer wants to emphasize. Instead of a stomping rock song, the tune becomes all about the vocal and lyrics. The opening draws you in and makes you pay attention. That attention is then moved over to the lyrical content. I would expect that this was the writer’s intention. Music is enjoyable on many different levels. As a song writer you get to decide what the purpose of the song is. It can be to move the audience’s body, or it could be to get across a message through the lyrics. This song definitely has an environmental message it wants to put out. It’s obvious through out the lyrics and content of the video. The mix of the song is perfect to put the message out front. The guitar chords are softened with a chorus like effect. The piano is crisp but mid tones are highlighted in the mix. There’s soft organ flowing through the song. The snare shuffle fits perfectly. When the vocals are doubled and harmonized it is done in a subtle way. Everything is built to emphasize the lyrical content. Much of the video is passing through the open spaces of the west and southwest. Having driven through these areas it would be a great song to blast with open windows as you drive. For the final cherry on top, the song ends using the riff it began with. Beautiful and emotional.

One More: Molly Tuttle And Golden Highway – ‘Alice In The Bluegrass’

Wanted to end with one of my favorite current artists. Molly Tuttle And Golden Highway have been spinning out gems for a few years now. I wanted to include this song for a few reasons. A while back the band did a version of Jefferson Airplane’s ‘White Rabbit’ in an amazing bluegrass style. Here they take the Alice In Wonderland tale and craft their own version of the story in to a awesome bluegrass tune. I also like having the in studio video of the recording. You can see the amazing technical ability of all the members of the band. The band shows you can perform at a faster pace (although a lot of the bluegrass they play is much faster) without resorting to sloppy playing. No crutches like over driven amps or tons of effects pedals needed. I do love FX on many songs – if bands use them correctly to create a particular sound or feel. Here you have instruments, microphones and roll to tape. Sit back, watch and enjoy.

Spooky Season

Since it is spooky season, (Halloween is my favorite holiday) I started thinking about some of the movies that really scared me… the ones that made me look over my shoulder, check under my bed, make sure the closet door was closed, and sleep with all the lights on. I realized as I was thinking about the movies, that the musical scores and sound effects were equally interesting. I got curious about the process of choosing certain sounds and musical scores to set the tone of a scene.

I immediately thought of Friday the 13th, that eerie and infamous “ha ha ha, chi chi chi” sound. I can recall seeing the first Friday the 13th with my brother, we both snuck in to watch it at the theatre. I also remember covering my eyes through a lot of scenes but that sound, scared the CRAP out of me. I ended up discovering that the idea behind the eerie chant was actually the idea of composer Manfredini, and was not “ha ha ha, chi chi chi”, it was “ki, ki, ki, ma, ma, ma” – after the “Kill her mommy” phrase Jason’s mom would maniacally repeat in the movie. The idea behind this sound was to give the viewer an auditory cue that the killer was around even though he couldn’t be seen.

Of course, must mention Alien – facehugger screams, alien eggs hatching, and the dripping noises of slimy, alien saliva. I remember watching that movie and thinking about how absolutely and freakishly quiet it got in scenes too – the vacuum of space and no sound was eerie to me, I hated that emptiness. It was a genius idea. I don’t really recall their being a great movie score, in a musical score kind of way, but I remember the sound effects exponentially increasing the creepy factor.

Last but certainly not least – the music theme from Halloween. What I love about it, is that when anyone hears that particular cadence of notes, they instantly think of that movie. After doing some research, I discovered that this was a really odd music time signature – 5/4 time. So in a typical 4 beat measure, there are five notes or beats being played – giving that odd and quick cadence of the song. Throw in the creepy melody, which slides into minor keys here and there and terrifying theme song achieved.

We have been talking about dabbling with the storyboard idea, telling stories and using sound to make the story come alive. While we haven’t officially made any plans, the idea of doing music and sound solely to accompany a story, intrigued us. While this is something several podcasts and YouTube channels offer, due to having a studio, we thought it would be cool to be able to create our own music and sound effects. It also sounded really fun. If we do decide to try it out, we will certainly post updates here.

In the meantime, everyone have a great Halloween and remember, you only need to be faster than the person you are with to escape a zombie apocalypse. Also, feel free to comment with your favorite scary movie, book, or storyteller. We are always up for a good scare.

New Music And Video From Steaming Mulch – ‘Fix The Less Acting Compound’

We have a new video and song from Velvet Wrinkle Wreckerds band Steaming Mulch. As always, we had another series of fun studio sessions. This tune was built starting with two bass parts. They’re almost identical as far the actual bass line, but if you listen, there are subtle differences that extend beyond the effects that are added. As usual, Steaming Mulch came in with basic ideas that change and expand as the song is created. In this song the bass lines have subtle differences because the effects drive the the way the notes are played. This can happen with any instrument that has effects added. If you add heavy distortion and let notes ring, they may blur in to each other. This may cause the player to ‘dead string’ notes so they don’t run in to each other. Or, you may want them to run in to each other. The point is, adding effects such as reverb, echo or distortion starts a branch of different choices. There are two guitars that have been panned to be in separate stereo channels. A couple of vocal tracks are added that act more as instruments than standard vocal tracks. Several drum tracks are mixed together to create the differing drum parts you hear through out the song. And of course we created a video ‘visualizer’ that tracks along with the song. I always enjoy being able to test out different video effects when working on Steaming Mulch videos. You can take the simplest video scene and make it look other worldly. Hope you enjoy it while we’re planning the next visual and audio assault.