Jacob Carscadden

We all (should) know that bias exists in the media. Sometimes it may be politically motivated. Sometimes it may be accidental. Sometimes details may be cut out in order to conform to editorial standards. Bias in the media is discussed quite frequently, and frankly, it is a horse that's been beaten to point where it's tender enough to eat.

But I'm not going to talk about media ethics and bias and all that. I just want to point out an example where the omission of a few minor details changes the entire tone of a story. I'm not going of the motives of the parties involved. I'm just going to talk about the empirical and tangible aspects of the reporting.

Background: French yacht Dignite-Al-Karama carrying pro-Palestinian* activists and supplies tells Greece they were sailing for Egypt. Unsurprisingly, they decide to go on a little detour to Gaza. The Israeli navy goes through their stringent protocols requiring them to contact the ship and convince them to change course and head to the Ashdod. The French yacht did not comply. They were boarded by the navy and taken to Ashdod by the navy.

For those not familiar with this sort of event, the act of attempting to forcibly enter Gaza with aid and supplies was made popular last year when six ships first had a go at it last May. They were met by Israeli commandos. A violent confrontation ensued on one of the ships, much to the disdain of the international community who didn't (and still doesn't) think too highly of Israel to begin with.

It's common practice for news organizations to provide such context in stories such as these.

In reporting on the Dignite-Al-Karama, Reuters condenses the initial flotilla incident this way:

Israel, whose marines killed nine Turkish activists when violence erupted as they stormed a Gaza-bound flotilla in the Mediterranean last year, has vowed to prevent any breach of a blockade it deems necessary to stop arms from reaching Gaza.

Whereas, the Associated Press provides a few more key details in their reporting:

Last year, Israeli naval commandos clashed with knife and club-wielding activists on a Turkish ship trying to reach Gaza, killing nine Turkish activists. Both sides have said they acted in self defense.

Adjectives can easily change the tone of a story. "Knife and club-wielding" are important because without them, as noted in the bit from Reuters, it makes Israel look as if they massacred peace activists. The word activist does tend to have a peaceful connotation about it, no?

I'm not going to get into the motives of Reuters. That would be based solely on conjecture. However, I do think it's fair to point out that Reuters has been caught twice editing photos that portrays Israel's military in a bad light.

#1: Ynet - Reuters admits altering Beirut photo

#2: Cropped photos [from Flotilla 2010]

(*If I wanted to be mean/biased, I could have called them "anti-Israeli activists".)

I mentioned Blindside last week. This is a track from their newest album scheduled to be released early next month. Blindside used to be my favorite band back in the early 00s. I like it. I've listened to some of the other tracks on the new album. It hasn't changed my life, but it's still pretty groovy. I like the electronica elements. It seems most of the bands/artists I like are gravitating towards including such elements as ancillary instrumentation. All in all I may pick up the album.

Decided to go old-school this week. I imagine most people have heard this song. This is the amazing amazing music video that went along with it. It features an intense ping pong match.

A bit of trivia: the team in blue is the Swedish rock band, Blinside. They were my favorite band back in the day.

It's funny how things from the 00s can now be deemed as old-school. It doesn't seem that era was all that long ago.

Israel Houghton - Others

Israel Houghton: a musician and songwriter who I respect like no other. I just heard this song for the first time today. I got it off the Love for Japan charity album ($4.97 of each album goes towards Japan relief).

I love this song for the following reasons: Israel Houghton can sing, the piano, and the strings. Adding a lush string section/quartet to songs in a manner such as this one makes me like a song approximately ~45% more right off the bat. Enough said.

Akihiko Matsumoto - Overture of the Summer Wars

I decided to include two tracks from the OST of the movie Summer Wars. I saw the movie last year. I recently purchased it on DVD and watched it yesterday. The movie is better than I remembered. Which is a good thing because I didn't recall being very impressed by it the first watch through. I also think the English voice acting is superb, which is a rarity.

The soundtrack is great as well. I selected two tracks from OST: the Overture which will get stuck in your head and Sekae In Action. I selected the latter because it's from a very significant scene in the movie in which the grandmother uses her influence to bring order to a chaotic situation.

Coincidentally, the track's strings and piano are also reminiscent of Others which I have posted above. Also coincidentally, one of the struggles the characters face in Summer Wars is having to choose between saving themselves and saving others. I feel this is an important theme to be discussing and taking action on given the dire situation some people in Japan find themselves in due to the recent natural disasters.

Akihiko Matsumoto - Sakae In Action

The newest from THE BAWDIES. The song has a Ain't No Mountain High Enough vibe to it. I initially wanted to say that Roy Watanabe's vocals lacked energy, but I've concluded they they're just more relaxed than in other songs. I guess that's kind of saying the same thing. I'm not the biggest AI fan. Her last single (collab?) didn't jive with me. But I like her accompaniment on this track. I think the actual recording of the vocals is weak. Or maybe I'm just used to listening to the louder music we typically have in this day and age and this is purposefully (or accidentally) an adage to the recording standards of yore. Because it was a long time ago. A really long time ago.

iTunes Japan has once again announced their picks for 2011. I was curious. I hadn't heard of most of these bands so I decided to dig and check out the songs featured on the iTunes sampler.

Disclaimer: My views are based off of a first listen basis. I have been known to completely do a 180° on bands and artists as I listen to them more. And that goes both ways; good and bad. So, take my views with a grain of salt, listen for yourself and draw your own conclusions. All good artists deserve a chance and I may be overlooking some of them.

So ends my lecture on objectivity and so begins the list:

1 | androp - MirrorDance

Comment: Excellent dynamics. Good vocal contrast in verses and chorus. Good mixing and use of effects. Just the right amount of synthetics. I will definitely be checking these guys this year. A great song to start off the sampler.

Conclusion: The most for your money.

2 | cinema staff - Gate

Comment: BORING! Everyone else on this sampler makes them sound bad.

Conclusion: Next song, please.

3 | [Champagne!] - Rocknrolla!

Comment: This is, in my opinion, the best song on the sampler. It has a nice post-rock vibe and above average English lyrics which may give them an edge on the International music scene.

Conclusion: The best there ever was.

4 | 世界の終り - 天使と悪魔 tr: [Sekai no Owari (End of the World) - Angels and Demons]

Comment: This band has always kind of freaked me out. Instead of a drummer, they have a DJ with a clown mask. I KNOW I've heard that strings riff somewhere. Either in a TV show or commercial. I cannot put my finger on it. (This happens to me all the time!) Or maybe they just ripped it off some other American artist I've heard recently.

Conclusion: Sure, why not. Only because the drumming sounds way better than on their last album.

5 | sonodaband - Soul River_2010

Comment: My first thoughts were, is this a male version of Vanilla Mood or something? I also liked how they magically transformed that micro-grand piano into a Yamaha MO6. Hopefully they can make enough money to get a MOTIF or something. But I guess the MO6 is working for 'em.

Conclusion: I like.

6 | Sonomi Tameoka - Faith

Comment: I found an album preview on her site. One of them is Faith. It's your responsibility to figure out which.

Conclusion: It's jazztronitastic! I think. 

7 | TEE - Denwade Dakishimete (Radio Edit)

Comment: He sure likes him some auto-tune! And this is just the radio edit! In the full version, I wonder if he has some kind of epic auto-tune/vocoder-esque solo...

Conclusion: No.

8 | NIKIIE - 春夏秋冬 tr: [The Four Seasons]

Comment: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.....Oh pretty piano and strings! <3

Conclusion: Give her some slack, she's new.

9 | Violent is Savanna - awairosakuraichiru

Comment: I'm sorry, but with the words "violent" and "savanna" in the band name, I was expecting something akin to African death metal! Sounds reminiscent of Ikimonogakari and Supercell, albeit not as good. They have potential. I also think I read somewhere they are playing at SXSW this year, so there is a very minute chance I'll go see them live.

Please note that no one is playing acoustic guitar, which further supports my claim that they sound like Ikimonogakari by continuing the tradtion of having phantom instruments.

Conclusion: They have potential.

______________

10 | Back Number - Shiawase

No embeddable media available. Click here for the iTunes preview.

Comment & Conclusion: This band was hard to track down! Not much to go with. Sounds like generic J-pop. If in the future I listen again and they sound amazing I'll post a follow up and retract my comment. Maybe.

2010 is coming to a close, so I'd thought I'd share my favorite albums from this year. Here is the rule: I have to own the album, either physically, or digitally. Thankfully, this year, some of my favorite international artists were vigilant in making themselves available on iTunes. I've heard a lot of other albums that would have normally made this list. But for whatever reason I didn't make purchase.

Here we go.

10 | PND - Dirty Words

I already wrote a little about this album here. In short, it's fresh. It's a collab project between two guys I was already a big fan of. And, it makes for great driving in my green 20xx Dodge Caravan.

Lonestar from Humble Beast Records on Vimeo.

09 | All The Bright Lights

This self titled album can be deemed "ambi-rock". Not know what that is? They are oft compared to Sigur Rós and Explosions in the Sky; two bands I'm kind of familiar with (as in I've never have seriously listened to them). I can safely say I've been listening to indie/ambient/rock-ish music for almost a decade, starting with Questions in Dialect and Foxhole. ATBL is a bit different, however. More ethereal.

I met James Duke in Dallas earlier this year. I told him I listened to ATBL as my prep music in the debate nationals. His response was kind of spaced out, to say the least. As if he were surprised anyone would have listened to the album. Well, my comment did come from left field. Anyway, it's a great album and definitely the most relaxing on this list.

08 | Andy Hunter - Collide

This one snuck in at the end of the year. I didn't find out about it till the day it was released. Gotta love Twitter. Andy Hunter is one of my favorite DJs/producers. Collide doesn't disappoint. And it's only $5.

Since it's kind of new, I haven't had much time to listened to it in depth like I have all the other albums on this list. But I love the direction he's going. 

07 | Nobuo Uematsu - Distant Worlds II

When I have to work on something, such as a paper...that's due the next day, I usually listen to instrumental music. 4+ years of university have taught me that music with lyrics is distracting, even if you try to zone them out and focus on your work. Instrumental music is more apt for increasing focus. Especially music as epic as Nobuo's 2nd arranged comp of Final Fantasy music. This album pretty much got me through my final two semesters of university. I still listen to it at work quite frequently. The Man with the Machine Gun is one of my favorite pieces of music of all time, and that's the first full track (if you look past the prelude).

You can listen to the entire album at bandcamp.

06 | Sakanaction - kikUUiki

One of my favorite bands ever!. Why? I'm not sure. Stylistically, I don't really think they are as impressive as other bands I consider my 'favorites'. But the thing is, I can listen to any of their albums and they will never get old. Even their first two albums have high playability. The melodies are addictive and the lyrics are memorable (even though I can't speak/comprehend the language very well).

So, I'm sort of obligated to include them in such a list as this one. But in all honestly, I love the album. I was still enjoying Shin-Shiro from last year when they released this unexpectedly. I guess that's what happens when you go big; an album a year. To me, their sound hasn't changed much since Shin-shiro. But I still dig it. I enjoy listening to both albums back to back.

This is also the third album in a row they've included an instrumental track. 21.1 is the best instrumental track yet. They delve more and more into electronica every time, and that blended with indie-rock sounds awesome. They also have another chorale part. It's on the last song, MegaAkuAiiro. I'd say it challenges the epicniess of the chorale on Night Fishing Is Good from their second album.

05 | SaeLah Poeht-Suroh - ANTI-SWAG Mixtape

So yeah, I know this guy personally. He's really cool. His mixtape is fresh. His lyrics are deep. And he's the only rapper I've ever heard make references to The Beverly Hillbillies.

You can download the his mixtape for free at bandcamp.

03 Drive Slow Freestyle

04 | School Food Punishment - amp-reflection

SFP's first album! I've been a fan since they released their first two EPs back in 2007, so I've been waiting for this for a few years. It was a special release for me so much so that I imported the deluxe edition. I have all these stickers I still don't know what to do with.

To be honest, I kind of miss their old sound. It was slower and more ambient. I feel their sound has a tinge of that feeling a band gets when they graduate from indie to mainstream. Another thing is they released almost half of the songs on album as singles, which I, of course, listened to and wore out pretty fast before the album came out. Still, I love it. Even though I feel it's a little too upbeat and energetic. Yumi Uchimura is one of my favorite vocalists of all time, so I can't complain.

03 | Ling Tosite Sigure - still a Sigure virgin?

This really, really, really, should be at the #1 spot. Don't get me wrong. This album is great. The problem is their last album, just A moment, was also great. Almost flawless. It was hard to top that, and they almost did it with this year's album. Almost!

The jump in sound/style from Inspiration is DEAD to just A moment is much greater than the jump from just A moment to still a Sigure virgin?. This is what happens when bands get signed to major record labels. Selling albums is more of a priority. Albums are usually released every year, thus not allowing the band's sound to evolve as much as it would had they waited 2+ years, like they did in the past.

They do have some new elements worth mentioning. Shandy is one of my favorite songs from this album. It's definitely the most progressive song they've come out with. Unlike everything else, it features pianos and flutes. The mixing on this song is well done. The drums also get electronica-fied. I was music to me seems like they took some of the best elements from Telecastic Fake Show and JPOP Xfile and made another song. It's a fantastic opener.

One complaint, it's short. 37 minutes! I bought Base Ball Bear's Cypress Girls at the same time. It is one minute longer and was half the price. I was let down in that regards.

It also does not include an instrumental track like just A moment. Not a complaint. Just an unrealistic subconscious expectation.

I had intended to write a review for this album. I was busy at that time in my life. It's not relevant enough now for me to do that. And it'd be really long and I'm sure no one would read it. So here is my mini-review/critique.

02 | capsule - Player

Just like Sakanaction and Ling Tosite Sigure, this album was released hot on the heels of a previous stellar release. (It's funny how I'm more critical of the higher rated albums.) There was enough new stuff in this album to keep me happy. My favorite song is the title song, Player. I've seen A LOT of people complain about this song. It's one of the most unique songs capsule has ever released. It features Jamacian rap and a killer drop. The drop is so awesome it makes you want to punch a wall or flip some tables or something. What Do You Want to Do also has a sick drop as well. I really am not too hot on tracks 4-7. Everything before and after is awesome.

Also, I was happy that this album was released on the US iTunes shortly before it was released in Japan. USA is fortunate to get any Japanese releases at all. This probably was not intentional. I've worked with iTunes before and when you release content internationally, the US iTunes store is the first to get it.

01 | DE DE MOUSE - A Journey to Freedom

This is my album of the year. This is my most listened to album of the year as well. My Last.fm stats do not show it. This is driving music for me, so not as much play on the Mac while working.

The funny thing is, I didn't really like DE DE MOUSE all that much in the past. Just not my cup of tea. What got me hooked were his live performances. So the funny thing is, had I heard the actual album first, I still probably would not have liked him all that much.

This also happened:

That was really cool. I would love to see him live one day, like in the videos beloew. I love bands/artists that have great albums, but sound even greater live. Some bands/artists just sound like their CD and vice versa.

Also, when I gave my final speech to graduate from university, I listened to Journey to Freedom (the song) on the drive home. You know, because I was free and all. From university. It was magical and liberating. One of those things I'll probably never forget for the rest of my life.

Honorable Mention 01 | VOLA & THE ORIENTAL MACHINE - PRINCIPLE

This album would have been in the top 3, but I didn't purchase it. It's amazing for the following reasons:

1. It's VOLA. They are amazing. That's inherent. If I could play in any band in the world, I'd want to play with them.

2. Ahito Inazawa uses an iPhone sword app in the song Flag [see video]. On a side note, I like this studio version better than the album version with the psycho saxaphone loop.

Honorable Mention 02 | Base Ball Bear - Cypress Girls

I've liked Base Ball Bear for a few years. Not enough to buy their albums. They ran a fantastic promo campaign on YouTube which convinced me to purchase one of the two mini-albums (?) they released this year. One reason I bought it was because it was cheap. The first three songs are great. The rest are okay. I didn't feel like buying the other album, Detective Boys. If I had, I'd have coupled the two albums and put them in the Countdown.

And that's all folks.

Next up, I'm going to work on a Top 30 list for singles. I thought about doing 10, then 20, and I'm at 30. So I'll see how that goes.

This past month, I was working on this massive DVD concert project with some friends of mine. We were waiting for some videos to render and playing Borderlands in the meantime. I thought this was a funny conversation that transpired.

Me to my friend: So, when does True Grit come out?

Friend: Uhh...

Friend's sister: December 22nd!

Me: ...

Friend: ...

Me: I was not expecting that to come from you...

Sister: Matt Damon is in it! <3

Me: Oh, I see. So is Josh Brolin.

Sister: I know! And so is Jeff Bridges! <3 It's also a remake of a John Wayne movie!

Me: Wow, really? You seem to know a lot about it. Are you going to go see it?

Sister: Maybe...

Needless to say, she's going with us tomorrow night.

Lonestar from Humble Beast Records on Vimeo.

[Note: In an attempt to start blogging again, I have decided to move my music posts from Tumblr to here. I originally planned on making this a place for commentary on politics in my city, but that's all too predictable and melodramatic. I lose interest easily.]

Lonestar is one of the new tracks on the album Dirty Words from the new duo PND which is comprised of Sareem Poems and DJ Dust. Poems is (was?) a part of one of my favorite hip hop groups from back in the day: L.A. Symphony. DJ Dust is one half of Mars Ill, another favorite of mine.

I do not claim to be an expert in hip hop. It's a genre I love, but I do not listen to it as much as I do other genres. I'm particular about the sound. I like it to sound raw, acoustic, and authentic. I can appreciate the auto-tuned, 808-esque, synthetic sounding rap/hip hop one finds on the radio stations because, believe it or not, I think it does take a fair amount of skill to produce. Escargot also takes requires skill to prepare, but that doesn't mean I'm going to eat it or like it. Not my cup of tea.

I like it simple and I like it real. If it has a jazz-vibe about it, that's always a plus. I am a big proponent of mixing music genres. Hip hop + jazz is one of my favorite combinations.

As far as the Dirty Words album is concerned, DJ Dust says it best:

Sorry no autotune, syncopated hi hats, swag, songs feat. Divas etc on this record. You'll have to make a new category for PND.

Which is ironic since it sounds much more down to earth than the pop/hip hop he is alluding to.

I also love the cinematography and post effects in the Lonestar video up above. It looks amazing. PND also did a great job with the graphic design of their new album. Very high production value.

Though, while production value is important, it takes a back seat to the actual quality of the music. We're not supposed to judge books by their covers, but we do it anyway. Making ugly book covers doesn't accomplish anything.

Listen and purchase Lonestar and Dirty Words from bandcamp. I bought the album. I do love how on bandcamp I can listen to the entire album in its entirety. Check it out.