Relix love

[Dan]

the new relix gots a little blurb of SMMD at the knitting factory

check it out!

[Tara]

Does anyone else just get this thing mailed to them? We never subscribed to it and we get them all the time. I kinda hate Relix, but I always read it anyways.

[Dan]

yup, i dont know how they are getting money from me, never filled anything out, sweet deal though.

[Pstehley]

I actually really like relix and I have subscribed for the past 3 yrs... I've actually been hooked up with a lot of bands because of it... and it helps keep you aloft with what's going on in the scene and what you can expect. Plus, I really like the album reviews... can't say I always agree with them, but it's still really cool. I haven't received mine yet, I'll probably get it sometime this week... I'll make sure to check it out...

incidently Tara, I loooove your avaitar...

[JV]

Does anyone else just get this thing mailed to them? We never subscribed to it and we get them all the time. I kinda hate Relix, but I always read it anyways.

yes. i get it mailed to me, with my name on it, and i never subscribed. also, relix is written by degenerate journalists. bleh.

[Tara]

I wonder how they make any money? Pat stop subscribing! They will send it to you anyway!

And thanks for the avatar compliment. It's me, SP style. You can create SP people here http://www.planearium2.de/flash/sp-studio-e.html

[Pstehley]

I won't leave my avatar like this long, cause i don't want to copy.. but that's me.. only a little thinner...

I don't actually mind giving my money to relix... basically everytime I've done it I've gotten a cd or a t-shirt or something that merited me giving them money (in your opinion)... I would much rather read relix than hogwash like rollingstones or spin... commercial media.. there are really getting to be less and less good mags out there... I used to subscribe to CMJ which was great, cause it was mostly reviews.. but that went belly up... oh well.. I'll stick to my relix... even if I do have to pay for it like every 3 yrs...

incidently... Tara, that site kicks ass!!

[Katie]

We got a subscription to Relix once and then got another free year for signing a petition for NORML... haha. But we stopped gettig it when we moved, and I don't usually pick it up unless I know there's a story I'm interested in. It just seems a little narrow in the kind of music/musicians they cover sometimes... like they don't stray far beyond the target jam audience. Lately, we've been enjoying a free subscription to Rolling Stone (from Higher Ground) which is nice for a change. Plus they've always had one of the best layouts and photographers... And hey, let's not forget State of Mind, they're always on top of the Slip-related news!

[Pstehley]

I'll probably get bombarded my abuse.. but what is State of mind... could you send or give me some info??

I agree about relix being a narrow chute when it comes to the music scene.. but not always.. yeah.. articles... but reviews they will actually stretch out a little bit... it's all just a difference of opinion...

As for rolling stone.. yeah.. I agree that they do have a great layout.. but often I find the material inside very one sided (which is a given) and often about stuff I could give a rats ass about...(i.e. what the hell do I care about the backstreet boys or any of that crap..) I will admit that they do get a gleeming gem of an article every once in a while... but this is my opinion and why I don't subscribe to RS...

*commence the abuse on my stupid ass....*

[Tara]

haha nice Pat! For the record I don't care if you leave it. I like it. We should all be cartoons!! Woohoo!

[Cleantone]

Relix blows. Sorry have to say it. Major commercial influence. Bands pay for exposure. They push issues like that because they make money from advertizers. I have to assume advertizments are the main source of income for Relix. The quality has slipped big time over the last ten years. They ignore alot of great bands too. It all about who your friends are and how much you shell out to be in the magazine. WEAK.

For some real music journalism check out:

http://www.stateofmindmusic.com

Andrew Barr discusses his current focus on improvisation:

"I think right now my focus as an improviser has been about creating a space—making sure the sound of the drums are going to create a warm space for Brad and Marc to play on. I’ve really focused on my time so that it’s solid enough so I can get really open, and not push the music in a direction that’s going to force them to play something. It’s kind of like creating different orbits all at once—where we’re all on the same page with the sound. That’s really where I’m at these days with the focus of my playing. It’s this really big pool of rhythm, not where I’m playing really fast and then the soloist has to play very fast. It’s more like I could be playing really fast, but you’re feeling these huge cycles happening underneath. Or I could be playing really slow and so sure of the time that you can break it up any way you want on top. And we still do a lot of this within a 4/4 groove that people can dance to. I like to keep a groove going so people can grasp it and latch on to it. I don’t like to abandon it too quickly. I like to watch people dance. I think it’s healthy. I’ve noticed that I've been sweating more lately—more than ever before. I think it's because the sound is more aggressive and bigger. I used to play with a smaller drum set with smaller cymbals, where the music had less atmosphere. That’s coming from me as a drummer; the songs are happening within these rhythms and atmospheres I’m talking about, but that can be totally different from Brad’s perspective. He can be playing a straight-ahead folk tune, but I still like to have that polyrhythm and atmosphere pool happening underneath it. We were talking the other day about the difference between instrumental music or electronic music and somebody like Bob Dylan. I have a true love for both of them, although in my life they’ve had different places. Sometimes I like to just lie down and close my eyes and listen to instrumental music that can fill my mind with intense imagery, and other times I might be feeling certain emotions and I look for that voice to nourish it with some insight—like a Bob Dylan love song. I have a love for both of those and they have a different place in my life. But with our music, we’re trying to run them down the same road and see if there’s a way to create music that has a lot of mystery and imagery on it’s own instrumentally and then have that lyrical insight as well."

"As a trio, we really like having the voice as an instrument. I know a lot of people don’t even know the lyrics to our songs. They will love a song and know how it goes melodically and how the form goes, but not even know a single word (laughs).

Andrew on The Slip’s current live show:

"A lot of our songs we just couldn’t play the same two nights in a row—they’re built for change. I think some people think that we have two sounds…or just that our older stuff was more instrumental than songs, and they might like this or that more. I feel that now we’ve been able to marry the two better than ever, but I guess some people see that as alienating the instrumental aspect."

Andrew on the progression of their sound:

"It keeps things alive. The music is not stagnant. It’s not like, “They sound like this, they will always sound like this, and you either like it or you don’t.” Now there’s room for new people and maybe…I understand that over the years our music has had a certain effect on some people’s lives and maybe now they’re done with it. That’s fine and that’s great, and maybe now there are new people who will like us for different reasons."

Here’s an excerpt from Mike’s conversation with Brad regarding set lists:

Brad Barr: If you looked at the set list you might see a lot of similarities and say, ‘Wow, I don’t see how it’s different every night.’ I think there are a lot of subtle things happening, from our perspective, that keep it different. We’ll get up to sound check and spend twenty minutes discovering new sounds that we can use that night, or new arrangements for the songs. But every show is different, even if the show had the exact same set list, the show would be completely different. We’re embracing that idea that it’s all right to play three or four or five of the same songs every night. First of all, they’re your favorite songs right now, you’re going to play them with the most energy and conviction, the audience you’re playing for each night is different, and there are only a handful of bands out there that make it a point to play a different set every night. Phish was obviously one of those bands, but that’s a standard that we don’t necessarily feel obliged to hold ourselves to. Naturally, the sets change up. There were some complaints recently on our web page—people bitching about us playing the same songs. I want to just explain to them that it’s a core part of entertainment—it’s a show, and you have something that means something really important to you, you want to take it out on the road. The standards that they set probably come from Phish and the Grateful Dead and the jamband scene where you’re not supposed to repeat songs.

Mike McKinley: Right, right, where it’s against the rules to play the same song two nights in a row.

BB: I don’t know where that law comes from or whose business it is to uphold it. We do that naturally with our sets, but we are going to repeat songs because we love them.

MM: Right. And like you said, those are the songs you are playing with the most energy and conviction. I had a discussion with my friend Pablo about this, and he was saying that he’ll go out and see you play a few nights in a row and you’ll play your new songs every night, and he said it’s like watching them develop and watching you perfect them. And that’s not only with the song, but also with the different avenues you can take for improvisation.

BB: If it’s a new song, you become more familiar with it and it becomes a recognizable thing to the audience. When “Sometimes True to Nothing” came out nobody responded to it at all. It just didn’t go over. We kept playing it and working at it and finding places where we could open up on it or where we can add cool effects like Andrew bringing the drums in and out. Eventually, we learned it so well that we could convey the emotion that made it a classic song.

[Pstehley]

thanks for the link clinton.. I think I'll subscribe tomorrow...!

More literature for my bathroom....

[tim]

hahaha, i know why cleantone hates relix. anyone else remember the debacle on graffiti after they published an article on the slip???

don't worry cleantone, we all know you're a professional!

relix is a rag though, i don't remember ever being impressed by anything they've ever printed other than the duo's tour diary which was a real hoot. state of mind is totally where it's at. spekaking of which, i need to get my hands on some heady SOM back issues.

rolling stone is occasionally good, the HST tribute issue gets an A+++ from me.

anyone else read maxim's music mag blender? that is the best IMO.

[Cleantone]

SOM backissues:
http://stateofmindmusic.com/page.php?pageName=Store

Tim although that article sucked and it was weak for him to mention that it was not professionally recorded that is not the straw that broke the camel back for me and Relix. I do get a kick out of flipping through it because there is usually at least ten people I know in each issue. By the way that guy kept trying to tell me that he was complimenting me by writing what he had. Dude, just appologize!! Give me a break...

[sm]

[shameless self promo] for the folks who do read Relix, im getting my first paid published photo in their mag, i think in the next issue.. just a small one, but still, it's something... and apparently it's an article on message boards, of all things, and the photo is one of Canada's own roots-rock-folk-jam-superstars, the Burt Neilson Band, from the last Evolve festival... [/shameless self promo]

ya'll should check out Burt Neilson, and Evolve for that matter, if you havent before.. burt's on the archive, and if you want a KICKASS show to listen to, check out 01.29.05 from Ottawa.