Back in the Saddle: Covering Rock with Strings

I know it's been a while since my last post, but I can explain. You see, I had a great MacBook Pro, but one day I was working at the foot of my bed with a glass of water when out of nowhere, Motts (our rabbit) snuck up on me and tickled my feet with his whiskers, which caused me to spaz out and knock the water onto the MacBook, shorting out the logic board. So I waited and waited and finally the new MacBooks came out. Now I'm finally set up again and I hope to be a bit more consistent.

On the music front: I was definitely able to make the most of my first summer in San Francisco and all of the wonderful festivals that blew through the Bay Area. I did post on Alice Waters' Slow Foods Festival, but there's plenty more that I'd like to back blog about some other time. Today I'd rather just restart my blogging by talking about how awesome string instruments can cover rock music. I can't get enough of it and maybe that can be attributed to the fact that I played in a few orchestras when I was younger, but either way it's awesome. Orchestral music can be a little difficult to get into, kind of like Victorian design and Eddie Ross. (Quick tangent: I love "Top Design" and am pretty pumped that Nathan Thomas won. He's incredible and I'm planning on replicating his painting from the show's finale.) What I typically enjoy about orchestral composition is the layered texture that comes with the sound of various instruments mixing their tones together. I get the image of weaving or knitting sounds together from the various musicians, whether it be a quartet or a full orchestra. Metallica's S&M is a great example of how strings can add texture and detail to any arrangement. I vividly remember watching that concert on MTV (back when MTV was still about music) and I actually picked it up on vinyl the other week. It's fantastic. I've recently come across string band covers of both Muse and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They're pretty awesome, and the Chili Peppers covers make up an entire album. I couldn't find a link to download it, but I was able to find a torrent last week.

The String Quartet covering Muse - Time is Running Out
The String Quartet Tribute to The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Also, not quite strings, but close: Scala & Kolacny Brothers - Under the Bridge

Anyhow, I'm glad to be back writing about music and I hope that Caitlin and I will be much more consistent through the end of the year and beyond.

-Ed