Visions of the Unexcused

episode 26 - fully operational

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R.I.P. Lucille E. Hixon.

Two years ago yesterday.

Visions has been my therapy, and if you’re reading this, thanks for coming along with me.

Digital-Derek
08/20/09
10:18 AM EST

The Battle Station Is Fully Operational

This has epic written all over it, many thanks EJ. (EJ Flex Illustration)

episode 26 is somewhere on the horizon...be on the lookout.

episode 25 - Flight 539 Mix

Somewhere over the middle of America. (VOE Illustration)
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This is the second episode of Visions of the Unexcused that I've created on a plane. I use it as a means to quell my fears of flying while keeping myself busy, and I have to say, I think it works pretty damn well. Last time I tried this was en route to Puerto Rico, and now I find myself somewhere over the middle of America, on my way to Chicago to not just celebrate the birth of a Nation, but also the birth of a nephew.

The flight is fairly smooth aside from what appears to be an unfortunate curse of traveling that I've acquired. You see, I'm what I'd call an athletic 6'3'' tall, and am not exactly a tiny guy. For whatever reason, when I travel I always end up having a tiny 5'2'' Asian girl sit in front of me who has to make sure that her seat is pushed all the way back. Fully reclined. Meanwhile, I have my knees at my chin and am currently typing and editing at a literal 45 degree angle. She's able to cross her legs with room to spare at least, thank God for that. Lesson of this rant, if you’re under 5’5’’ be aware who’s behind you and if you must recline, maybe meet half way, otherwise it’s just selfish.

Sigh, all that aside, I hope your fourth is a festive and safe one, see you soon.

DJ Digital-Derek
Elevation - 38,000

episode 24 - The Summer Begins

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There consistently seems to be something special about the first few weeks after Memorial Day. I understand it's supposed to be the official beginning of summer and all, I get that, however it seems to possess something a bit more then that. Maybe even teetering on the edge of magical...

So I urge you to please enjoy the freshly minted trees that are in bloom now, and maybe take a second to breathe it all in, because from looking around, these are some mighty good times to be alive.

--------------------------

In other related Visions news, I should have the audio player on the upper right finalized very shortly with all episodes, newest to oldest. Hope to see a lot of you around this summer, cheers.

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episode 23 - DJ Mint Pillow

Thursday - 03/19/09

Friday - 03/20/09

Saturday - 03/21/09

Sunday - 03/22/09

CLICK HERE FOR ALL PHOTOS

 

My SXSW adventure started off on a little bit of a sour note the night before I left. For those of you who know me know that I have a mortal fear of flying, and of course while watching ‘Lost’ on Wednesday night they opened with a 10 minute high impact intense plane crash scene. Not awesome. I numbed my senses with Dale’s to ease the pain, however my packing was impacted with that, and I now have no charger for my Dell (among other things) so it must be used with extreme caution and tact. Damn you MacBookPro for breaking.

The flight’s were pretty uneventful and upon landing in Austin we were greeted with 80 degree weather and a lot of anticipation, and nothing thus far has been let down. This city is just amazing, and vibe that surrounds during the blur of what this long weekend will become is a great one. We picked up our badges after checking into the Radisson and then went off to explore the glory of Sixth Street. Sixth Street is what Bourbon Street would look like if it was filled with music freaks instead of frat boys. It’s amazing, and people are definitely dressed to impressed, and the line between performer and participant is so blurred corrective lenses wouldn’t even help.

We grabbed some amazing Texas BBQ at Stubbs and then walked around a bit and people watched, as we prepared for the night of music ahead. We ended up going to Rusty Spurs at 8:30pm and caught the end of local Josh Tatum’s set which was a mix of jock rock and southern hospitality. Dude could throw down on the guitar though, and his energy was high. Next up was the reason we were there, A Classic Education.

This six piece from Italy has been played on a few podcasts and I was stoked to be able to see them play live. Their sound seems passionately intelligent, and they put on a great show. They played some compelling new songs along with a cover of a French 60’s song and also a song inspired by a Croatian island. Good stuff, and expect to hear more from these guys, they’re too good to be ignored.

Next up was Sgt. Dunbar & the Hobo Band with their twisted blend of circus box car folk rock. This Albany group is just plain fun, and they seem more like family then band mates. All along while listening to them on my iPod I thought they employed the use of a theroman in their songs, but all along it was a saw….wow. They switched instruments from banjo, saw, horn, guitar, etc at an incestual pace and ended with a sweet sit down sing along.

After some shenanigans with local Texans on Sixth Street we caught Asteroid Galaxy of iTunes commercial fame, but don’t let the overplay of that song fool you, this band is funky as hell, and the female lead singer is a siren up on stage. Very captivating. There was some slight sound trouble but they plowed through and won the crowd over.

From there we went over to Emo’s to see Boston’s very own Passion Pit which for us was the most hyped show of the night. We had to wait in line even with our badges and once in were not disappointed. The lead singer’s possessive voice was captivating and the Roland’s they used with disco beat drums swooned the crowd over and had the whole place jumping, screaming, and dancing. Looking back at my notes I wrote, “12:13am – had to wait in line but there’s a great vibe in here, these guys are hotter then a pistol right now, go boston.”

Don’t know if I keep up the updates like this, but I have 3+ days left of nights like this left, but if following me on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/digital_derek) you can get my real time updates. What I will say is this, if you have heard anything negative about SXSW don’t believe the hype, it’s amazing, and trust me, you wish you were here if you’re not. Endless music, amazing food, and good people, count me in. More later. Huzzah.

High Fidelity is the obvious inspiration for this episode, and it poses one of my top five favorite music questions of all time.

What are the best opening track songs of all time?

It’s almost an impossible question to answer, and because of this, it’s one I didn’t try to answer fully. This episode is the shortest podcast yet for Visions of the Unexcused, and for good reason. I wanted this podcast to not appear any more forced then it already may be. Mixing together numerous first tracks was a little more challenging then I expected. But it always is isn’t it?

Consider these eight songs some of my finalists, but certainly not THE finalists. Some notable songs that are finalists, but didn’t make the cut for one reason or another are (in no order):

- Gimme Shelter
- Box of Rain
- Space Oddity
- Bring Da Ruckus
- Summer Babe
- Like a Rolling Stone
- Toy in the Attic
- Liquid Swords
- All Along the Watchtower
- Whole Lotta Love

As you can see the list can span all over the place from all sorts of time periods. In the eight songs I selected I’ve managed to represent the 60’s - 70’s - 80’s - 90’s & 00’s which I think seems about right. I didn’t bend the genre in the cast too much for cohesive sake. We start of fairly aggressive, however I tried to pull it back some, to have it end on somewhat of a whisper.

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

This is pure genius, absolutely hilarious.

Justin Vernon performs at the Wilbur Theater last night. Click here for more pics.

Bon Iver performed at the Wilbur Theater last night and it was an enjoyable show despite my location. I didn’t realize that my seats were general admission and this left me standing in the back of the theater which was, well, a little cramped. The view wasn’t that bad once you found a steady seam to watch the action through, however there was an overhang just above my head that seemed to compromise the sound a bit. I found this a little odd since I was standing right next to soundboard, and the overall sound did seem a little too aggressive given the nature of Bon Iver’s music. It was almost as if the gain was turned a little too far to the right, however, overall the sound wasn’t too bad; it was just questionable at times. This was my first time seeing a show at the Wilbur Theater, and I obviously wasn’t too thrilled with the set-up from my vantage point, but I’m sure seeing a show with actual seats will be needed for me to get a proper assessment on the venue.

Aside from my initial disappointment in my physical location, I was thoroughly pleased with the performance of Justin Vernon and his band mates. I was really curious to see how “For Emma, Forever Ago” would translate when on the stage, and the arrangements they chose were both surprising and refreshing. For example. they used three drums, one guitar, and all their voices when performing “Skinny Love” which I never would have predicted (and is viewable below).

All four musicians switched their instruments on almost every song, and their four part harmonies treaded in a beautifully confident manner. The haunting voice of Vernon was ever the focal point and is the true driver of all his songs. There’s a certain calming feel to his voice that really can pull you in, and I’d dare say his voice live is better then on record. The times when he’d step back just far enough away from the microphone made his wailing voice that much more heartbreaking and gorgeous.

I’ll be interested to see where Bon Iver progresses now that they’re critically acclaimed along with a rather strong following. You can only pull the whole, “I’m depressed and going to lock myself in a cabin for three months and make a hit record” card once, so we’ll see if Bon Iver becomes more of a band or solo effort in the New Year. What surprised me a bit was how charming and funny Vernon was on stage. He seemed confident enough to do his thing, but humble enough to not take any of it for granted. At one point during the show you found him lamenting on how his dream of making music for a living was being realized.

I picked up their new EP (available only on vinyl until 01/19/09) and it’s only their second record since “For Emma, Forever Ago”. I’ll have a review on their new songs in a day or two. They played all of them, and in the end that’d be my biggest complaint, their lack of a true catalog. The new songs were good though, and on “Baby’s” you saw Vernon on keys for the only time during the night.

For those of you curious on what Bon Iver's live shows like, please see the below performance a couple days ahead of mine on the David Letterman Show.

2009 SXSW Photos

Thursday - 03/19/09

Friday - 03/20/09

Saturday - 03/21/09

Sunday - 03/22/09

SXSW - 03/19/09 Re-Cap & Photos

CLICK HERE FOR ALL PHOTOS

 

My SXSW adventure started off on a little bit of a sour note the night before I left. For those of you who know me know that I have a mortal fear of flying, and of course while watching ‘Lost’ on Wednesday night they opened with a 10 minute high impact intense plane crash scene. Not awesome. I numbed my senses with Dale’s to ease the pain, however my packing was impacted with that, and I now have no charger for my Dell (among other things) so it must be used with extreme caution and tact. Damn you MacBookPro for breaking.

The flight’s were pretty uneventful and upon landing in Austin we were greeted with 80 degree weather and a lot of anticipation, and nothing thus far has been let down. This city is just amazing, and vibe that surrounds during the blur of what this long weekend will become is a great one. We picked up our badges after checking into the Radisson and then went off to explore the glory of Sixth Street. Sixth Street is what Bourbon Street would look like if it was filled with music freaks instead of frat boys. It’s amazing, and people are definitely dressed to impressed, and the line between performer and participant is so blurred corrective lenses wouldn’t even help.

We grabbed some amazing Texas BBQ at Stubbs and then walked around a bit and people watched, as we prepared for the night of music ahead. We ended up going to Rusty Spurs at 8:30pm and caught the end of local Josh Tatum’s set which was a mix of jock rock and southern hospitality. Dude could throw down on the guitar though, and his energy was high. Next up was the reason we were there, A Classic Education.

This six piece from Italy has been played on a few podcasts and I was stoked to be able to see them play live. Their sound seems passionately intelligent, and they put on a great show. They played some compelling new songs along with a cover of a French 60’s song and also a song inspired by a Croatian island. Good stuff, and expect to hear more from these guys, they’re too good to be ignored.

Next up was Sgt. Dunbar & the Hobo Band with their twisted blend of circus box car folk rock. This Albany group is just plain fun, and they seem more like family then band mates. All along while listening to them on my iPod I thought they employed the use of a theroman in their songs, but all along it was a saw….wow. They switched instruments from banjo, saw, horn, guitar, etc at an incestual pace and ended with a sweet sit down sing along.

After some shenanigans with local Texans on Sixth Street we caught Asteroid Galaxy of iTunes commercial fame, but don’t let the overplay of that song fool you, this band is funky as hell, and the female lead singer is a siren up on stage. Very captivating. There was some slight sound trouble but they plowed through and won the crowd over.

From there we went over to Emo’s to see Boston’s very own Passion Pit which for us was the most hyped show of the night. We had to wait in line even with our badges and once in were not disappointed. The lead singer’s possessive voice was captivating and the Roland’s they used with disco beat drums swooned the crowd over and had the whole place jumping, screaming, and dancing. Looking back at my notes I wrote, “12:13am – had to wait in line but there’s a great vibe in here, these guys are hotter then a pistol right now, go boston.”

Don’t know if I keep up the updates like this, but I have 3+ days left of nights like this left, but if following me on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/digital_derek) you can get my real time updates. What I will say is this, if you have heard anything negative about SXSW don’t believe the hype, it’s amazing, and trust me, you wish you were here if you’re not. Endless music, amazing food, and good people, count me in. More later. Huzzah.

episode 22 - Track One, Side One

High Fidelity is the obvious inspiration for this episode, and it poses one of my top five favorite music questions of all time.

What are the best opening track songs of all time?

It’s almost an impossible question to answer, and because of this, it’s one I didn’t try to answer fully. This episode is the shortest podcast yet for Visions of the Unexcused, and for good reason. I wanted this podcast to not appear any more forced then it already may be. Mixing together numerous first tracks was a little more challenging then I expected. But it always is isn’t it?

Consider these eight songs some of my finalists, but certainly not THE finalists. Some notable songs that are finalists, but didn’t make the cut for one reason or another are (in no order):

- Gimme Shelter
- Box of Rain
- Space Oddity
- Bring Da Ruckus
- Summer Babe
- Like a Rolling Stone
- Toy in the Attic
- Liquid Swords
- All Along the Watchtower
- Whole Lotta Love

As you can see the list can span all over the place from all sorts of time periods. In the eight songs I selected I’ve managed to represent the 60’s - 70’s - 80’s - 90’s & 00’s which I think seems about right. I didn’t bend the genre in the cast too much for cohesive sake. We start of fairly aggressive, however I tried to pull it back some, to have it end on somewhat of a whisper.

Apple Unveils "New" MacBook Wheel

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

This is pure genius, absolutely hilarious.

Bon Iver - Wilbur Theater: Live Show Review

Justin Vernon performs at the Wilbur Theater last night. Click here for more pics.

Bon Iver performed at the Wilbur Theater last night and it was an enjoyable show despite my location. I didn’t realize that my seats were general admission and this left me standing in the back of the theater which was, well, a little cramped. The view wasn’t that bad once you found a steady seam to watch the action through, however there was an overhang just above my head that seemed to compromise the sound a bit. I found this a little odd since I was standing right next to soundboard, and the overall sound did seem a little too aggressive given the nature of Bon Iver’s music. It was almost as if the gain was turned a little too far to the right, however, overall the sound wasn’t too bad; it was just questionable at times. This was my first time seeing a show at the Wilbur Theater, and I obviously wasn’t too thrilled with the set-up from my vantage point, but I’m sure seeing a show with actual seats will be needed for me to get a proper assessment on the venue.

Aside from my initial disappointment in my physical location, I was thoroughly pleased with the performance of Justin Vernon and his band mates. I was really curious to see how “For Emma, Forever Ago” would translate when on the stage, and the arrangements they chose were both surprising and refreshing. For example. they used three drums, one guitar, and all their voices when performing “Skinny Love” which I never would have predicted (and is viewable below).

All four musicians switched their instruments on almost every song, and their four part harmonies treaded in a beautifully confident manner. The haunting voice of Vernon was ever the focal point and is the true driver of all his songs. There’s a certain calming feel to his voice that really can pull you in, and I’d dare say his voice live is better then on record. The times when he’d step back just far enough away from the microphone made his wailing voice that much more heartbreaking and gorgeous.

I’ll be interested to see where Bon Iver progresses now that they’re critically acclaimed along with a rather strong following. You can only pull the whole, “I’m depressed and going to lock myself in a cabin for three months and make a hit record” card once, so we’ll see if Bon Iver becomes more of a band or solo effort in the New Year. What surprised me a bit was how charming and funny Vernon was on stage. He seemed confident enough to do his thing, but humble enough to not take any of it for granted. At one point during the show you found him lamenting on how his dream of making music for a living was being realized.

I picked up their new EP (available only on vinyl until 01/19/09) and it’s only their second record since “For Emma, Forever Ago”. I’ll have a review on their new songs in a day or two. They played all of them, and in the end that’d be my biggest complaint, their lack of a true catalog. The new songs were good though, and on “Baby’s” you saw Vernon on keys for the only time during the night.

For those of you curious on what Bon Iver's live shows like, please see the below performance a couple days ahead of mine on the David Letterman Show.