Some Thoughts on Old-School Blogging
Remember back when Blogger hit the scene way back in the 90s, and it was like a godsend to a spastic website builder like myself — constantly lifting javascript and somehow getting it to work … sometimes, without much idea why mostly; and then there’s this platform where you just type a bunch of stuff and hit go and it all comes out formatted, and wow, they were everywhere! And so many blogs were just people ranting away at nothing in particular — hell I had bunches — and usually something vitriolic and hopefully polemic so it would start a fight in the comments and they would be famous. And I would read them with interest only to lose interest in many, or to lose track entirely — and yet … here were all these people pouring their hearts out and saying really odd stuff and it was as if the world had a voice, and it was all about talking about itself, and sometimes finding someone who cared, and it was beautiful.
And I’m glad there’s other stuff to read.
Here is a link to some big-ass robots to serve as a lame attempt at continuity.
Yankees 6 / Angels 5 @ bottom of 9th
DumpTruck – Grungy Royalty-Free Sampler by BigAssRobot
Been a while, I know. But hey, life and stuff. So, this new song DumpTruck was actually completed a few weeks ago, and by “completed” I mean we just abandoned it as is. Made the mistake of really really liking it… obsession, that sort of thing … makes it hard to finish.
Anyway, DumpTruck is a swinging … er, lumbering tune that just begged for some noise, like old machinery, rusty metal, stuff like that. Guitars too. And of course, the first thing that comes to mind in that context is old-school square-wave synth … right? Well, this is a groovy tune that we like a lot, so after that … not much else.
And yes, that’s GTA San Andreas PS2, shot with handheld cam ’cause we were too lazy to walk the 30 feet to the tripod. And too lazy to find an actual dumptruck. But damn, shooting down a helicopter…
Hard Times Means Groovy Guitar Deals …
S. Knock went and got another guitar today. He goes off on these obsessions about a certain sound or … things that fly or … whatever. Starts as interest, then obsession, then moves to snobbery rather quickly. Some things pan out, some don’t.
This bad boy is an Ibanez Rg2ex2 (catchy eh?). SK bought it off a bass player who hardly touched it. Like neeeewwww! And with an awesome hardshell case.
And, he walked away with the whole package for, like, $180. So jealous, except I have too many guitars already, one being a classic Ibanez Blazer (more on that later).
Anyway, SK’s obsession this time around has to do with really low tunings and super heavy strings to accommodate that. That’s for going chucka chucka of course.
Here’s the strings: DR Strings Drop-Down Tuning Mega Heavy Guitar Strings. I like them DR strings. They do last a good long time.
But as usual, there are pickups to be swapped out, so we’ll have to wait to hear what this heavy-string tuned-down-to-A noise sounds like. Then we’ll work it into the noise, of course. And share.
Serf Lourdes – Brand Twanging New from BigAssRobot (it’s a homophone)
It’s a surf tune! It’s twangy mellorificness! It’s Serf Lourdes! It’s a homophone! It’s pronounced the same but has different meaning and spelling. It’s more new royalty-free music from the BaR. This would be a lovely recurring theme for a web show … a mellow one I suppose. Check it out.
And here’s S Knock mixing tonight… kudos.
Rehearsal Pics – Serf Lourdes (it’s a homophone)
Working on this surf-type track called Serf Lourdes, pronounced … well you get it. Started by going for some Mexican food at the local *bertos. Bastards forgot my bean & cheese burrito, which is essential to round off the tacos.
Me and FrankenSteve laying down a twangy track. I am not the guitarist. FrankenSteve is this cheap guitar with a good neck that we gutted and replaced all the innards and now it’s great, and you don’t have to worry about it, ’cause it was cheap … initially anyway.
This is where Schlock’s stray picks end up. That wooden one sounds … odd. Schlock was taking pictures by edict, so he was shooting stuff like this.
Update: Here’s the finished mix of Serf Lourdes.
Red Rocker is a Big Ass Robot … for a bit anyway
In keeping with the whole robot thing, here’s the third installment of my Red Rocker Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robot in the Real World photo-animation series. I took pics of Red Rocker, then animated them over real footage. Fun.
This is Ep. 2.5, and Red learns something about proportion, and does some damage.
If you like, here’s the playlist for the whole Red Rocker / Real World series (5 quickies).
Beastly – a BigAssRobot Royalty-Free Soundtrack
Here’s our newest rough mix – Beastly. This bad boy is a noisy driving thing … maybe for driving over. As usual, the tune is totally modular, dude. So’s we can move stuff around or whatever prior to final mix.
And yes, it’s my dog on the beach in Santa Barbara. Gotta save the good vacation footage for actual projects.
BigAssRobot 