Lo Sound Desert Documentary

It’s safe to say that the proper way to begin this entry is with praise, and my expression of admiration for the phenomenal Joerg Steineck. 

Lo Sound Desert is on the verge of its release. It is an unforgettable documentary about the music scene in the California desert. Jeorg, the director of this upcoming film, is one of the most passionate human beings with whom I have had the pleasure of talking. I am so honored to have spoken to a fellow lover of this scene all the way from Berlin! 

Joerg Steineck

Steineck went on a ten year roller coaster ride to just make this documentary a reality. Let that marinate in your mind. 

TEN YEARS. 

When it comes to the music industry, especially regarding music journalists, that is called hardcore commitment in my book. 

When I read that, I immediately know that this film will change hearts. 

It will make you fall in love with the desert scene and dig into those bands that made this scene a sensation. 

It will move you. 

It will make you want to plan a trip to this mystical place.

It will make you pick up those headphones, and start a journey with the bands that have been inspired by the desert itself. 

I’m going to start with the core: The reason this music scene is even alive. And that is the desert itself. The California desert has been the foundation for many bands. Desert rock is in its entirety a different realm. And for countless musicians that was a major aspiration. 

To make this scene something else, something exotic and something true.   

It doesn't get more authentic than that. That is the way music should be. You see interviews with musicians like John Garcia, Josh Homme, Scott Reeder, Brant Bjork and many more that when they began to play, it was continually all about the desert. Its open space is immensely more than what you see at first glance. It actually is a satisfying fill of genius waiting to happen for so many artists find. 

And for those of you who are reading, I want you to actually experience this for yourself. Listen to Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, The Desert Sessions, Earthling?, Fatso Jetson and the list goes on. But you can almost hear the desert in the harmonies. 

It takes you there. 

desert rock family tree

You can’t talk about a desert rock film without including the men that were a part of Kyuss. Those men were the beginning of everything to come. Many went out and started other bands like Queens of the Stone Age, The Desert Sessions, Slo Burn, Brant Bjork, Vista Chino Yawning Man and more. Their independent projects developed additional enthusiasts.

It takes someone like Joerg to journey on for ten years to make his vision a reality. It is clear and it is said that the desert, its environment and what it stirs up in people is what builds the music and sparks the passion in multiple artists.This is the reason why desert rock strikes us as magnetic and significant. 

The music scene in the desert is flourishing, it's being recognized and I have no doubt that after this documentary it’ll become a sensation. People will uncover some depth and essence to these bands and the breathtaking landscape that is the desert. 

Friends, share this story with your fellow music lovers. Spread the word. 

To support visit: http://www.losounddesert.com

You have made us very proud Jeorg Steineck! 

Check out the trailer (link below) & fall in lust. 

Lo Sound Desert

\m/

shey

DESERT AGE FILM: LET’S SPREAD THE WORD

Director: Jason Pine

From the moment I saw the link to the documentary, about which I am writing herein, I had some feeling in my gut tell me that this film is going to be major! 

To begin with, watching the two minute, thirty-five second introduction to “Desert Age” was, first off, a great reminder of how much the bands we adore at present evolved from those raw bands that once existed, and basically established the roots from which bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal and many others obtain their inspiration today.

Something majestic always starts from something that’s unplanned. Usually that something never gets enough recognition. It is a crucial thing, for fans and music lovers to see where it all begins. 

You can FEEL the soul in this footage. You can FEEL the core through this footage. A diehard passion for "desert stoner" rock is inherent from the foundation, right up through every, single aspect of this documentary about its creation, and the bands that were born from it. 

A little background on desert rock scene: its origins lie in Palm Desert, in southern California. Bands, such as Kyuss, began their journey in this scene. The typical questions that get asked of desert stoner rock are “What is it?”, “What does it mean?”, “What’s it all about?” Desert stoner rock has a rich presence of psychedelic hardcore rock, with a huge intermixing of blues. A perfect combination to feel “stuck in the desert.”  

The director of this film, Jason Pine, has involved some iconic men that were, and still are, a huge influence in this scene. Within that two minute footage, you see different segments with Fatso Jetson’s Mario Lalli, and Tony Tornay, as well as their take on what Palm Desert was like 20 years ago. You see Target 13, Uniform Choice’s Myke Bates, Dead Issue’s Herb Lienau, Kyuss’ Scott Reeder, and last, but not least, Nick Oliveri, who has been a huge part of the desert rock scene, as well as a part of Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, The Desert Sessions with Josh Homme, and so many more. 

Kyuss 

This film covers such depths, and one thing, above all, captures the vision of the director and his team. Voiced by Queens of the Stone Age founding member Alfredo Hernandez, one of the key aspects in the success of desert rock is the disregard for what everyone else wanted to come of it; it was all about their music, their vision, what they wanted to accomplish, and did. 

Who knew that these bands' passion for their music would lead to random gigs in the middle of the desert, and which would lead to something much bigger. I’m overwhelmed that this film is in the midst of creation. Like many films, there is a financial goal that needs to be met. 

The goal to see this film through to fulfillment is $10,000. 

I have included the link below, so everyone reading this whose lives have been touched by this movement in the world of music can follow the film's progress, and ensure that the story of what happened in the desert of southern California can be shared by all. Also, along with that, you will see the footage that has been captured thus far. 

Our goal, as fans, is to support.

We need to help, and spread the word. 

We need to donate! Even if it’s not a massive amount, it IS something. 

We need to talk about this film with our family and friends, and we need to share the trailer as frequently as possible to ensure that everyone jumps on the bandwagon. 

The link included helps explain the director , and his team's goals for this film. I hope I have opened some eyes with this entry and that many of you are now curious about this stunning project. 

DESERT AGE PAGE: SPREAD THE WORD

Fink Releases Newest Album: Hard Believer

My first introduction to Fink was the most beautifully random thing I’d had the chance to discover a couple years ago. Stumbling upon treasures like Fink are one of the best things that can happen to your music taste buds.

The first tune I played by Fink was “Pretty Little Thing” from his soulful “Biscuits for Breakfast” album. In my eyes, this song sums up all that is Fink. The sexy lyrics and his romantic voice make all the difference. You feel a sense of fulfillment after listening to his words through your headphones. He makes you sense complete self-satisfaction – you are wanted by his words.

And THAT is what music is all about; that is the purpose.
There is a balanced mix of sensual, exotic, and nighttime soundscapes that will undoubtedly set you up for some non-stop Fink listening. For years after discovering him, my first thoughts were “God. He needs more work released.” And finally, he announced his newest album, “Hard Believer” to be released in July.

And yes. Today is THAT day.

The first thing on my mind this morning was to check his Spotify account and to finally see all those new song titles pop onto my screen.

“I can see the light coming…” is the first melody he sings to start the new album off. I knew from this initial moment that this album would take me on a dreamy, emotional ride. The song I would like to single out is his 6th track, called “Shakespeare”.

I would love to elaborate on every line, each word that connects to the next. I think to myself, ‘What influenced him to write this tune? What was he thinking about?’  Whatever thoughts that had provoked those dark lyrics caused me to tear up and inspired my mind even more.

The first couple lines of “Shakespeare” moved me. Fink speaks so much truth in this song.  He maintains a simplistic approach, but adds a mysterious twist that makes you crave so much more depth to every word he echoes out.

Oh why, oh why do they teach us Shakespeare
When you’re only 16, with no idea, what it all means
Oh Romeo, oh Romeo he thinks it’s a love thing
All masks and kisses from the balcony
It’s deeper than that bro, it’s a fuckin’ tragedy

All in all, Hard Believer is completely awe-inspiring. Each song is there to simply make you feel. From experiencing the spellbinding magic of “White Flag” to finishing off his masterpiece to acoustic folk, Fink succeeded by stirring my emotions. Hard Believer will not disappoint.

And truth be told, after giving his discography a good run through, he still has me wanting more of the intense, yet dreamlike aura his work delivers.

Jeff Buckley:Grace

51 minutes and 19 seconds of intensity.
51 minutes and 19 seconds of heartache.
51 minutes and 19 seconds of something so painfully rare & that I can't shake off.. I had to blog about this album.

The album "Grace" by Jeff Buckley has been my soundtrack this past week. Here are a couple reasons why:
1) This album and his words are showing me that it's okay to feel pain, it's okay to let that shit out even if you look weak. Chances are what the artist is saying PROBABLY stirs something in your soul that makes that album 10 times more meaningful.

2) That man sings out his pain. I'm a huge fan of Kurt Cobain and one of the things that I always say about him is that you can FEEL that hurt in his songs. That's what attracted me to Buckley, his pain, loneliness and heartbreak bleeds through my earphones. Its raw and true. When tears build up in your eyes- you know that's magic. Who the hell can ask for more?

3) His words. I'm big on words. Words say it all. Jeff Buckley's words are epic. They are his diary, it's history and his interesting past all in one. They're full of angst but you can see his deep yearning for love and affection through that angst. It's undeniable that when you read his lyrics and even try reading them while hearing the song you can hear the emphasis of that song in specific lines. There are a line or two that I would use to perfectly describe Grace.

In the song "Lover, You Should've Come Over" the line "And maybe I'm too young to keep good love from going wrong. But tonight you're on my mind so you never know." and then in the song "Eternal Life" I had a hard time picking just one line to use so I decided to write about two that I would use to describe his work. "And your fantasies are broken in two.. did you really think this bloody road would pave the way for you?" and "All I want to do is love everyone" 

Now, I have a hard time always being put on the spot when people ask me why any album I like is great and usually showing them several lines from lyrics can actually sum up an album. These songs are slower, they have soul but it does have its moments where it gets loud and you can hear that out of control guitar go off. But overall, in my opinion this is a soundtrack to his life; a soundtrack to many people and their own lives, memories, dreams, wishes and even their own thoughts.

 My favorite song from this album is called "So Real" Take a listen, like, love or hate tell me your thoughts. I'd love to hear what everyone else feels when hearing this dude pour his heart out. 

Jeff Buckley connects. 

His haunting voice makes you curious. It makes me wonder what the hell he loved so much to feel this intensely. It makes me wonder what he thought of all the time. It makes me wish that man was still with us to hear that legend haunt us with that gifted grace, that voice, and share some of that soul with his fans.

Top 5 Grace songs:
1. So Real
2. Mojo Pin
3. Grace
4. Dream Brother
5. Hallelujah

The man Jeff Buckley lives on!!
Enjoy /m\

A Rush Of Blood To The Head

I took a couple of days to think about how to start up this blog. I will write as much as I can and as often as well. I think it is safe to say that I will start off writing about my 25 life changing albums and when I say life changing, I mean LIFE CHANGING!

These albums are heart and soul to me, these albums changed my way of thinking, it changed my way of listening to music, it changed the way I felt, it changed me completely. A lot of these albums were all about life lessons. I'm a big believer of experience as I expressed on my first entry. I always found myself listening to albums or songs that revolved around my feelings. The music, lyrics and the overall feel of the songs were me basically going to counseling all the time. It was a type of release in my mind I had going on after a hardcore music session. That is how serious music and someone else's words meant to me from the beginning of my childhood.

Now, I have 25 albums I'll be blogging about and they aren't in any specific order.

Album #1:

A Rush Of Blood To The Head

I always think it's better to listen and when I mean listen, I mean REALLY listen to an album when you're completely alone. I think the music speaks to you differently when you're alone. At least for me, I felt spoken to after listening to this album. I felt like I was in a dream in every song. I remember exactly what I was doing when I first played this album. I was in that room alone all night repeating the album over and over again.

This was Coldplay's second album and personally their best. The first song that everyone fell in love with was "Clocks" -I'm pretty sure of it, it was all over the radio and it was an instant Coldplay classic. That song put me in a psychedelic dream which I never wanted to wake up from. From that point on my goal was to search for more and more songs like this. One thing I will always say is I researched my music like a crazy person, finding new music was my goal everyday and when I did so I felt like I found gold. When I didn't I would hardly sleep until I found something worth my interest.

I think every song had meaning to me, I went through phases where a specific song would talk to me and it had deep meaning. The song that still to this day speaks to me and often at times makes me cry is "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face" 

One thing I will say is that when I talk about a songs meaning I'm speaking specifically what it says to me. That is what music is to me, everyone has different minds, different feels, and different views. Take my meanings with a grain of salt, love it or hate it this is me.

The main thing I think about listening to this song is grace. I think this song describes us perfectly as humans. We all collapse, we all fail, and we aren't perfect but we have grace and we have meaning.

"Where do we go nobody knows?
I've gotta say I'm on my way down
God give me style and give me grace
God put a smile upon my face."

I think the lyrics say it all mostly. This albums sounds like heaven, some songs will haunt you and some will enlighten you. I will say that a lot of Coldplay's older stuff has the best detailed sounds I have heard. The smallest beat can make the difference and they do a fabulous job doing so in this album. That's honestly one of the reasons I love this album, the beats make this album for me, his voice has such a echoing, haunting and lingering tone. This album is easily on a lot of "greatest albums of all time" lists. So it's safe to say that you should listen to it if you haven't already. 

My top 5 songs off this album are:
1) God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
2) A Rush Of Blood To The Head
3) Daylight
4) Politik
5) A Whisper 

Take some time when you're alone and listen to this goodness. 
Tell me what you think- tell me why you love it or hate it. What do you feel when you close your eyes and feel every beat to this song? What do you feel when Chris Martin is singing his heart away during the chorus? 

Enjoy /m\

Inspiration

I will be perfectly candid and say that I did not find inspiration through a person. Because this is my first music blog I should probably explain a little background and what made me music possessed.

I'm a strong believer of childhood experiences. My memories aren't playing dress up with friends and playing pretend "Disney Princess". I remember sitting in my room with a notebook, pencil, a walkman (remember those?) and a bunch of CDs. I remember waking up one day at the age of 8 and becoming solely obsessed with music and what it had to offer me. And what that gave me has been life changing, I saw music as education. Music gave me the power to let my mind wander, I took whatever the lead singer had to say to heart and carried it with me everyday. Music let me dream, let me create and let me feel.

Growing up, my weekly "wish list" at home was usually a new CD. Growing up also had its downsides, as I got older becoming popular and fitting in was a must. I was a big people pleaser and wanted to be desperately liked by all of my peers. But what that meant was leaving behind my interests because they didn't fit into the norm. I felt like two separate people everyday, I was the Sheila everyone would like in person and then at home I was THE Sheila, me, naked soul, open, out there, and weird at times.

The Verve's final album changed my life! Yes, I'm dramatic but no this isn't me being dramatic. It's not everyday I walked into a Walmart and saw a life changing album laying on the floor with pretty legit clouds on the cover screaming "GET ME" in my head.  I would love to elaborate on every song in that album but that'll come at a later time. That album led me to believe that if something could make you feel THAT intensely about life- there's a reason.

Now this is ALL about music. But I'm going to be talking about a huge inspiration in my life and that's
Lester FUCKING Bangs.

Lester Bangs, wrote for Creem and Rolling Stone magazine. Basically he's one of the BEST rock critics out there. Why does that fool inspire me? He was blunt, he was real, when that man felt something he said it exactly how he felt. That's what music needs now in my opinion. I'm sick and tired of seeing the music of today becoming popular just because the beat makes you dance, I hate seeing zero authenticity with these new artists. Are most new uprising artists talented? Sure. Will they become popular? Of course. But at the end of the day will that specific track change you? Will that artist get into your soul? Will you think far beyond a "this sounds cool" comment? Personally, music was made to change you, to make you think deeper.

This Lester Bang's quote says it all:
“Rock 'n' roll is an attitude, it's not a musical form of a strict sort. It's a way of doing things, of approaching things. Writing can be rock 'n' roll, or a movie can be rock 'n' roll. It's a way of living your life.” 
― Lester Bangs

My goal? I want this blog to be that weird blog that you come across but deep down in your soul you know you agree with. Music has become such a mainstream popularity contest it's absurd. I want music to go back to what it was years ago. Tough thing to dream about in today's world huh? But when I leave this earth one day that's how I want to be remembered; as the girl who WOULD NEVER give up on the power of music and keeping it alive! And that's the point of my blog, it's for those that need that small push of inspiration, I want people to feel again BUT REALLY feel.

So when I write and when you read the rest of my blogs from now on, my foundation to start all those blogs and the root of all of those topics, people, and albums all come back to this very FIRST blog I first wrote.

My root to music is this.

Enjoy \m/