29.08.10 Farewell to the first, the last, the only . . .

My early days were pretty much spent beside my father's vinyl collection, one that contained a healthy mix of obscure and commercial music; from Young Marble Giants to Tears For Fears, Portion Control to Simple Minds, Durutti Column to a-ha. And while I must admit that I gave the latter a fair amount of spins, I never really felt like a fan.

That aside; today I read about a-ha's performance in Bergen, and also watched the video recording of the two opening tracks that was made public on nrk.no, Norway's national TV and radio broadcaster. The article's author begins by claiming that "Rolling Stones' Bergen-visit was of course bigger/grander", and "MUSE and Coldplay are of course more exciting (than a-ha)" . . . Well, I say ha-ha! Respect is due.

a-ha had the world at their feet when they released 'Take On Me' and the album 'Hunting High And Low' in 1985. It became massive and stayed in the Billboard Charts' top 20 for a long time, as well as elsewhere. They stayed at the peak for many years. But what a-ha also faced was a kind of silence in their homeland; they fell victim for what we call "Janteloven". It's a law that came to be long after the Norwegian author Aksel Sandemose wrote it down in a book from 1933. It basically says that "you shall not think that you are better than anyone else". a-ha sort of left Norway and became an English/American product instead. Thank God for that!

a-ha WAS better than everyone else, they WERE bigger (or at least as big) as most international names at the time, they sold out a staggering 200 000 crowd in Brazil (while Guns'n'Roses, Prince and others drew some 60 000). a-ha was, however, met with silence from a relatively large amount of music journalists and other "key-people" in music biz, even though a-ha's collected record sales exceeds 50 million albums and singles worldwide!

We will never, ever witness this kind of "Norwegian" success again. Not to mention international success. The Stones may have had a 20-years head start over a-ha, but are not "bigger" for it. MUSE and Coldplay may have made music that lacks emotion and, more importantly; dynamics, and are therefore by no means more exciting than a-ha. Morten Harket's voice is one of the very few that matches that of the late Billy MacKenzie of The Associates; both of which makes my hair stand up.

Noone can ever compete with the first, the last, and the only a-ha, because as far as musical success goes; they are Gods. Period.

Here's one of the best ballads of the eighties:

"And in the distance I could hear a soft voice whispering: Bigger than Beatles . . ."

04.08.10 Music = fatigue ?

Now here's an issue that has been the talk among sound enthusiasts, mastering engineers, huge music publications and also, hopefully, bands and artists. It is the so called "Loudness War", and it talks about how modern mastering is damaging music, or put differently: Why modern CD's sound (please forgive me) awful. Mind you I'm not talking about modern music here!

Mastering music for CD purposes is not exactly rocket science, but requires skills. Although I'm sure that those skills are still present at every larger mastering facilities, I also fear that they are mostly put aside in repect for the record labels' or bands' own wishes; whom both want their CD to sound so loud it's ridiculous, just to be competitive with "everyone else".

The sad thing about this practice is that everyone who enjoy listening to music, but don't necessarily know anything about soundwaves and mastering, are the losers in this battle. Why labels and bands resist to take this into consideration is to me totally absurd. For example, the latest Metallica album was so loud that it contained continuos noise, ie clipping of the sound. This led to debates, and a storm of complaining and unsatisfied customers (fans!) who had gone out and spent money on this piece of junk. This is only one in a million examples, and it is a shame!

The facts:
When you, as a music lover more than anything, listen to a new CD, or an old remastered CD for that matter, you are more than likely to experience fatigue after extensive listening. The reason you do so is because the "sound-floor" in the music is raised in volume, so as to sound just as loud as a snare drum. The snare drum on the other hand is limited and cut, which means that it is clipping on every hit. They meet in the middle and squeeze the life out of 98% of all CD's (perhaps starting with Oasis back in 1993?) "When there is no quiet, there can be no loud" someone said, and were they right! The music sounds lifeless, dull, and just overall worse because of it.

When did the powers that be decide that listening to music shouldn't be a pleasurable activity??

Below you can see and hear a fine video by Matt Mayfield demonstrating how extreme loudness is killing music:

I am also a fan of (older) The Cure, and used to be a collector. Below you can hear the difference between the original 1990 CD-release of their fab live album "Entreat" versus the remixed and remastered 2010 "Entreat Plus" version. Just for the record: I'm glad I have the original CD and vinyl issues. . .

You might be wondering why I'm writing about this on paintedromans.com, and to answer that question I'm publishing a picture of a soundwave from Painted Romans's upcoming album. The picture clearly shows how I have chosen to master it with the natural sound dynamics intact, although the sound in general can be described as close to lo-fi. . .

The result makes you turn up your volume, hopefully without damaging your hearing or experiencing fatigue, because as Matt Mayfield says in his educational video: "You own the volume knob, not the record producer". . .

Revive the respect for CD-buying music lovers!

Happy listening !

28.07.10 Dr MeDeviate's Top Ten, still highly valid in 2010!

10 - Where can I get a record deal?
A: I've heard that they're handing them out smoking fresh at 7ELEVEN, but this rumour is yet to be confirmed. I could sell you one on a piece of paper for $50 000, or you could do it the hard way and 'lend' your body to some big shot, although the latter one is not recommended.

9 - I've heard that time will mend a broken heart. Is this true?
A: Unfortunately not. Time will only shred your heart until you're nothing but a nervous wreck.

8 - What is 'Kitsch-Pop Hell'?
A: It's a place similar to the website you're currently viewing. It's also a place you end up in if you don't believe in the revenge of the mighty doughnut.

7 - Do we really need to build a new world on Mars?
A: Not really, no.

6 - Can we believe what has been said and written about the music industry and its predicted downfall?
A: Certainly, you can believe whatever you like. That's the upside of having a brain that can separate meat balls from a dog's poo.
As it turns out, we are all individuals anyway with an exclusive right to think, feel, say, and do anything we like (except hurting others of course). So, do you really believe in the hollow earth theory?

5 - What has paint got to do with Romans?
A: Oh dear oh dear. . . The paint symbolises agricultural knowledge gone down the drain, whereas Romans are a kind of people, not too different from other people.

4 - Do rock stars really drink beer? I mean really?!
A: The latest reports indicate that the difference between a rock star and the rock stars elderly neighbour is in fact minimal, i.e. they are both happy to enjoy a sniff of port at Christmas. But the alleged debauched lifestyle of what you refer to as a rock star has never actually been confirmed. In fact most of them are merely just small, annoying kids who neither drink beer nor coffee.

3 - What's a Burrito?
A: It's a necklace you wear when you're high.

2 - Is it right to talk to your parents about sex?
A: Well yeah, if you are comfortable with it. After all, they should be in the position to answer your questions in a somewhat 'experienced' manner.

1 - Gee! You seem to know a lot. Can we call you Dr. Phil?
A: I'd prefer not.

18.07.10 Album due in 2010

It has become sort of a habit for P.R. to release something every 2-3 years, and the modern Romans of 2010 won't prove any different. Due later this year is the more experimental follow-up to 2008's 'Evil Wigs And Bedroom Moments', the album that "shook" the world with its strange poster slash download format. Yes, it was indeed a weird, yet genius way of releasing an album. General confusion seemed to soar high!

The process of making this album has been an ongoing, and head scratching(!) one for the last couple of years, and on this I've been joined by my dearest for vocals on my personal favourite song, and Mr Dahlø plays the drums on another (was extra with 'Evil Wigs. . .') Mr Jacobsen of We Are Monsters has indeed provided me with his kick drum idea on one, and myself have spent months and months glueing it together. Well, it is time, soon. . .

Up and at 'them!

Winterscene Studio (the portable 1!)

07.05.10 Series Two Records releases "RETROSPECTIVE", a 5-disc compilation set

With a total of 118 song contributions from 118 different artists spanning the world, the compilations feature more than 380 minutes of original songs!

Painted Romans is featured on "Retrospective" disc #2 with a previously unreleased song entitled "Age Took Us By Storm".

The compilations are released on 11th May 2010 and are dressed in the cover arts which are seen below. They are, in my humble opinion, some of the best covers I've ever seen.

Please visit SERIES TWO RECORDS to find out more about these, and a whole lot of other indie releases. Purchases can be made from their convenient store on that same site.

09.03.10

23.02.10 Radio

Lovely Spanish radioprogramme El Cuartelillo (Radio La Cotorra) is playing Painted Romans from time to time, plus a range of other indiemusic. They broadcast on air as well as via the internet, and is worth checking out. And on March 7 Painted Romans will be featured on a German radio show called Blue Fred's Radio Session, which is also broadcast on air and via the internet.

Another Spanish radioprogramme called La Merienda (Canal Extremadura) gave Roman-tracks a couple of spins too.

I must admit that it's very flattering to be invited by radio stations, which was the case with all of these mentioned above.

Thank you!

05.02.10 Live Mood Swings!

When: Fiday 19.03.10
Time: TBA
Where: Kultursenteret ISAK
City: Trondheim

An evening featuring three VERY different local bands (duos):
We Are Monsters / Electro Italo-disco, funky, danceable
Kakke & DeMonica / Furious rock, loud
Painted Romans / Electroacoustic, ambient, classical

More information soon. . .

treforto.blogspot.com

11.01.10 List-mania!

Every year there are top-10/50/100-lists made by people who have been observing and writing about music and, I would imagine, nearly everything else including movies, electronic gadgets, cars, etc.
2009 was of course no exception, and Painted Romans' album Evil Wigs and Bedroom Moments made its first list-appearence when Jon Leonard of the great Weblog Of Leonard's Lair featured it amongst his TOP 10 ALBUMS of 2009!

It was published on [sic]magazine along with several other Writers Top Ten of 2009.

Jon Leonard also wrote a lovely review of the album.