(61st)post-it

and i'm writing my novel
on post-it notes
i feel wasted, worn and closed
i'm writing my novel
on post-it notes

(60th) "Phrase from nearest book" meme

Not too much have I been touched by these memes and tagging in my blog. Neither have I done it before :D.

But since I found this from http://agiletesting.blogspot.com/, I could not resist, especially knowing my closest book:

• Grab the nearest book.
• Open it to page 56.
• Find the fifth sentence.
• Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
• Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

And here's mine, from Jesse Liberty and Bradley Jones:
"A char can be interpreted as a small number (0-255) or as a member of the ASCII set."

(59th)Chrome on Linux

I read something promising from the Lifehacker Feed today. I've been waiting for quite awhile for this brilliant lightweight browser to appear on other operating systems than on windows. It would be really nice to e.g. write this post in Chrome instead of Firefox. Which is a great browser, but lacks one thing, the simplicity, like I've mentioned previously.
The reason for this post is just the thing, that Google has some sort of Open Source-ish reputation and still the work that they do in the first place is with Windows. Is that because they'd like to dig a hole beneath the slow feet of Internet Explorer and by that get a bigger piece of cake? Or is this the fact (like it seems to me) that most of he Google application development is done above windows anyway. What is Googles open source strategy? Do they even have one?
I have my doubts and opinions, of course. As far as I can understand, Google is a company, which main purpose is to make profit by creating solutions and innovations, I suppose that is the reason for the lack of Linux -support in their product catalogue. At least I sincerely hope so, since the other possibility is that they haven't even thought about it, and if so, it's not that magic and innovative company to play with. Might be that it still isn't, since the lack of openness.

(58th) Social connectivity

Just had a sneak peak on Soocial, a hassle-free ( so they keep telling me) contact management system, which synchronises my contacts between different applications and devices. Finally, something at least distantly useful.

Anyhow, I've got something more on my mind. Or have had this for few months. What if you would have only one application to communicate with other people who have a Facebook, twitter, Gmail, MSN Live messenger,  AOL Instant Messenger, Mobile phone and an e-mail account. An application that would bind this all together and all you would have to do is maintain your contact list and send messages, which then would be transferred to your friend/relative/the-person-you-want-to-contact-with in appropriate format regarding on the recipients current online-status. And even the contact information maintaining would be at least semi-automatic, so you would not have to bother too much about that one, either.

What I mean here is the fact that it would be great to have just one application and just one list of contacts for communicating. And the application could then use all the available means of communication (even the snail-mail, huh?) when delivering the message to the recipient. I see that nowadays this sort of application could be able to develop and release in a uite a short time. I would not consider myself as a frontline developer, I'm a test professional (re-learning my C++ anyhow), but this idea is worth of trying. To be honest, I have some sort of design, requirements list and plan done for this sort of application and I have a clear vision on how it should work, on functionality level, so if you're interested on collaborating in this sort of open source solution either with development or GUI -implementation -skills, I'd be more than happy to start working on this sort of subject. So, don't hesitate to contact :D

And last, but not least, the application should be able to be easily ported on any operating system, including the mobile ones. And really intuitive and surprisingly easy to use.

(57th) my lunatic cow

my lunatic cow


moo!
said the spaceman
and rode the ship
there i was
in the meteormist
searching for needle
from eternal hay
i turned again
and saw you lay
and there you slept
slept like a baby


the tides of flares wash me now
when time and place are lost somehow
enormous space touches
and i wave gently
as i turn
my lunatic cow


i can see you babe
and almost touch
the carnival smile
among the lust
i can hear you babe
i can feel your joy
this big fat kettle
is turning too slow
and there you sleep
sleep like a baby


the tides of flares wash me now
when time and place are lost somehow
enormous space touches
and i wave gently
as i turn
my lunatic cow


the darkness sneaks in
when i float above the moon
if i slip and fall
the soft cell of darkness
will take care of me
just arrange myself
just arrange myself
arrange myself and
sleep like a baby


the tides of flares wash me now
when time and place are lost somehow
enormous space touches
and i wave gently
as i turn
my lunatic cow


if i ever reach
the other side again
if i could touch you
and ease your pain
if i could ever be
awake like you
i'd bring the stars
to greet you too
and then i'd sleep
sleep like my baby


the tides of flares wash me now
when time and place are lost somehow
enormous space touches
and i wave gently
as i turn
my lunatic cow

(56th) Metallica - Master of Puppets (1986)

Obviously, this is a classic of early trash-metal combinated with
more symphonic song structures. Despite the fact that it was a
milestone back then in the 80's, I somehow managed to skip
it. Not totally, but it did not hit me that hard at all.
Welcome Home (Sanitarium) was of course the song I learned to play, but anyhow, back in those days it was more or less Kill 'em All and
Ride The Lighnting, which made my days to go. I did not like the sound of
the album, it was a bit too soft for me. And it still is. Compared to the previous ones.
Because of that it lacked the raw energy, while it seems, nowadays, be built upon the more complex way of playing and arranging. Still, I have to admit, that this keeps on being a classic and a definite milestone in metal music.

The title song, and the riff especially is something way too obvious to be left out of every guitar player's musical vocabulary. Like ususally, I've enjoyed the song more than playing it. This comes from the fact that back then, when I had the enthousiasm to learn it, I was lacking the skills (the teacher and the notes/tabs too!) and now when I suppose I've got the skills I lack the enthusiasm totally. The song itself is complex and partly progressive in a familiar way. Like most of the Metallica songs, it evolves more or less naturally from part to another.

Overall the album is like most of the songs, a dark description of our time. I even find myself liking the chorus/phaser/flanger -effect on the clean guitars. James Hetfield could not sing back then, at least compared to the latest album releases, but the voice is brilliantly fit to match the songs themselves. The soundscape is strange mix between soft and dirty, I myself would've liked the guitars to be in more dominating role. And the Bass. And the drums. The sound  is a bit too 80.s in my ears, still. It was back then, and it still is. And the instruments,  especially mr Burton's bass is mixed somewhere there in between the other mushmush. So actually, it's not the songs, it's the mixdown that does NOT kick my ass :D

Overall, I could give this statement, that this is a good album, but not THAT good, so it will
receive a 'nice' rating, 4 capital J:s plus 1 small one. Despite the fact that the sound and the
song quality is only kind of ok in my books, the album itself has been fighting against the time
really well, unlike any of the Anthrax -ablum from the same era. It still is not a complete cup of tea for me :D.


JJJJj

PS. Wikipedia has a good description about the album

(55th) Michael Jackson - Thriller (1982)

I remember listening this album back in 1983. For a week I sat in the library and listened Thriller and Hanoi Rocks' first (Bangkock Shocks, Saigon Shakes). Needless to say that the pure rock made the victory then. As it does now, too.



The album starts lamely. The first three songs are not that good, at least they don't kick. The Duet (Girl is Mine) with Paul McCartney is just weak. Until the title track steps in. The next three songs, Thriller, Beat It and Billie Jean are great songs measured by any possible standard. Even I have to admit it. But that's only three songs out of nine, which is not too good, then.



My judgement for this legendary album is that it is more or less ok, a classic maybe, at least what comes to the selling figures, yes. But I wouldn't give more than 3½ j:s to this.



jjjj

(54th )Clash - London Calling (1979)

Blast off. And blast it again. A definite, high-end scream and hail to the band. Period. The start of the album and the title track is what I'd call a perfect kick rock -start. Guitars, drums and the percussive bassline is kicking me to somewhere I haven't been in ages. And the next song is a brilliant rip-off of the renegades -era 60's twanging rock. Besides that the sounds are great and the band rocks, there's also the nice counter-fighting message in the lyrics.

The 3rd one, Jimmy Jazz, is more mellow, but I find it myself kicking against the bricks of comfortable jazz-lovers. Or comfortablity lovers, forget the jazz ;)

The complete album keeps on rolling from song to another, with rude rock attitude in whatever the style of the song is originally made of. The sound and touch of the band can be heard. There's a taste of reggae, ska and pure punk rock in every single song in the album.

London Calling, Cadillac, Spanish Bombs and The Guns of Brixton seem to get my feet kicking the most. Anyhow, this album gets the 5/5 Capital J:s.



JJJJJ

(53th) T.REX - Electric Warrior (1971)

And the question that has been popped out likewise zillion times. Who sucked the influences here; Bowie or Bolan? I assume that both, but who cares! The sounds on this record are just great! Vocals are 'sweet' - more whispering than blasting or tearing up the vocal chords. Even the screams are sighed. A pleasant surprise, I'd say.

Especially Cosmic dancer touches the same tonal and soundlike special interior than Ziggy & the spiders on THAT album. The sounds of vocals and other instruments is alltheway tender and tempting, calling the audience to join the mystical and sensuell revolution of electric rock.

The record is on it's best minimalistic, good and entertaining. But it's still missing the kick, it is definitely way too mellow on my taste. It is OK and really great for awhile, but after the 3rd song (the Jeepster) it's really getting boring.

Until 'Bang A Gong (Get it On)' comes marching on! The song is a definitive masterpiece, it is not actually blasting, but it really works. Seems that it is the peak of the record, which otherwise would be just a lazy image of a post-hippie folk nonsense mixed to glam -rock era's soundscape. sad to say, but the few good songs (Bang a Gong, Life's a Gas) won't make this more than worth of three j:s. Without those songs it would be worth only two j:s. It just does not seem to rock tightly enough to meet my standards. Which seem to be quite weird ones, as you can see from this blog's reviews :D.



jjj

(52nd) Released with Charity

Hellhole Blues is finally released in equal dreams. The link to the song is here: http://en.equaldreams.com/incrediblejens#album373.

The song profits are splitted between me (80%) and Amnesty International (20%), since I still think that human race could live in peace together if they want to. Usually we won't :D.

As a reminder, there's going to be a new album release as soon as I get all the songs done. Meanwhile, if you're in a hurry and want to download the song, it's 50 cents each. The album itself will be released as a free download. This is my weak and small counter-fight against the rush and music business.

(51st) Ubuntu Cola

Nothing much has been happening. And then some. Lately, no music, few singing and playing sessions with Kimmo & Robban, but not more. And this has been going for a month or two now. Besides that, I've updated operating systems and started to learn how to commute by bike and excercise nearly daily or at least 5 days a week. Also there's been a move to a new rental apartment and few weeks of having a flue, which seems not to go away. Nice. And my smoking days are also finally over.

See you around. If I'm into it. At the moment I'm just plainly bored about anything related to computers and tweaking. Including the lousy internet.

(50th) Derek and the Dominoes: Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs

First of all, I find it funny that during those years of excellent music (1970-1975 plus before and after :D ) several albums were named with ridiculously long names. Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, The Rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars and so forth ;). Despite the length of the title, Layla (etc. Blah-blah-blah) is a record filled with beautiful melody lines created with guitars, basslines, keyboard or even drums. And the sound is hungry! All the way from the beginning the whole album seems to be filled with guitars sounding like they are really in desperate need of something. A fix, perhaps. During the years there's been rumours and facts telling the audience that this album was distilled under heavy drug and alcohol abuse. Which can also be seen from the inner sleeve of the album. Nevertheless, this is once again one of the roadmarks on my musical path.

I'm just wondering, is the hungry sound on guitars achieved by using a certain equipment; Fender Stratocaster(s) jointed with Fender Champ amp or what was the case, then. At the moment, I'm not quite sure what type of guitar-amp combination was used by Duane Allman, Clapton was definitely using the Strat. Still, the sound is great!

Later on, mr Slowhand has surprised with albums filled with more or less nonsense and lame music. The pleasant surprise from him was, of course, the 'From the Cradle' album, although it was a 'bit' too clean and well played to raelly ring the bell. This one, in the other hand, still seems to keep on sounding at least a bit dangerous, dispite the fact that the songs are more or less light pop-music mixed together with the brilliant blues-stylish licks.

The music in this album is consisted of more or less pre-composed songs and structures combined with studio jamming. (If I got it right!? - Comments welcome!!) Which brings the music closer to mere mortals than for example the brilliant masterpieces like Electric Ladyland and Bitches Brew, where the actual composing and arrangement was done during the long and totally free jam-sessions plus the time used behind the mixing table together with the tracks themselves. The instrumentation here is more the same thing you could hear while the band was playing, the studio equipment was made for recording only, not used as an external instrument itself. Which, I suppose, makes the music easier to approach and adopt.

It also seems that on this record, Clapton was capable of creating the personal sound of a whole band on the record. And used the similar setup later on, too. At least on 461 Ocean Boulevard and Slowhand, you can hear the same tonal approach in the final mixdown. But I have to remember to really point out the Duane Allman's brilliant guitar techniques, which really lift this record to the climatic spaces of eager rock noice. If I can say so ;)

Check out at least these songs: Bell Bottom Blues, Key to the Highway, Little Wing, Layla (The end part and mr. Allman !), Thorn Tree in the Garden, Have You Ever Loved a Woman, Tell The Truth. And the others, too ;)

(49th) David Bowie - Aladdin Sane (1973)

Watch That Man
Starting with Mick Ronson's guitar-leaded riff in Watch That Man, good kick start introducing the fact that in his best Bowie could still do some rock. The chorus -part is brilliant ;). And the sounds, man, back in good old 70's the equipment was good. I should know, I was born then. And still I'm using a Fender Bassman from that era. Or then it's from 69, but who cares :D. Anyhow the sound seems to be solid and living although this is a 24Bit remastered shit from 1999. Definitely this is a song worth covering some day some time.



Aladdin Sane
Title song then, a mellow start with gentle instrumentation of the band. The pianist (Mike Garson) seems to hold the gentle approach until the first verse. And seems to be heading to somewhat great climax when getting to the end of the song. Still, the chorus could be better, is the hook in here taht the hook in the melody is hidden. I truly adore the piano solo, still. It's like there's 3 or 4 guys tampering the keyboard while getting high ;). And in the end the chorus fits on its place while the weird-hairdo sax is filling the gaps the piano accidentally left behind. Insane, dude!

Drive-In Saturday
One of all time favourites this one, is (Yoda;). The whole composition is a brilliant piece of art! The Bowie's twisted and somewhat clear view on the life of so called normal people's life is nailing the fact even today! We are getting divided from each others by just following these multi-business-marketing guidelines, Just Do It!

Panic In Detroit
Starts with a killer -riff, again. But then, what happens!? Where are the drums? Whatever are the artificial ambitions of mr Bowie, after the riff you would need a significant boom-bash-bang in the place where the rest of the band comes in. Now this is a waste of a good rock -tune, get a grip, man :D. Melody works, throughout the song, all that there is missing is the leading beat of stable bass-drum plus the bass is not kicking since the backup is missing. The solo parts in the end are pure genious of mr Ronson. The whole song just could've been way must more blasting than it is.

Cracked Actor
Twisted chords of a mean rock piece with brilliant lyrics. Me likes! Ooh baby :D The band rocks, Bowie rocks, the song rocks, after the Panic in Detroit anti-climax, this is a killer, totally, dude. And here I'll have to thank Steve-O for the usage of the word. And my mate Yves for re-using it through these dazed and confused days of eternal tomorrow. Say What!?


Time
Starting with piano, once again. The mixture between a cabaret and rock is brilliant. Man, what happened to Bowie after this record? Too much Coke, or the fact that he did quit it? Dangerous stuff, this song, and the record, is... Although there's some parts where the artistic mimic has been kicking the balls of the melody-loving rockers. I think the fact that Ronson left Bowie did affect to the main sound and master himself couldn't find a good enough counterpart to fulfill the needs of rock-audience here. He might have been happy himself, but for me, it just won't work.

Prettiest Star
A good song that can be heard again and again. Mixture between 60's rock with more modern sounds. Reminding earlier days of Bowie, Hunky Dory, especially. Not a bad one, not a classic though.

Let's Spend a Night Together
A Cover. Why? Oh Why!? I suppose the fact that the Spiders used to play this during the concerts is the one reason, besides that, it Rocks. And the start with syntethizer is weird enough to nail your attention. Some influences from Hendrix, too :D.

Jean Genie
Dispite the fact that this is one of the hit -singles from the album, it's boring. Does not ring my bell, although it's trying. There's something good in this, but it's once again missing the kick, or the obvious hook. Besides, in the last chorus, someone misses something. And if you have time to listen to mistakes, the song is aither too familiar (actually, for me, it's not) or it's not good enough. Good rock song for someone else, but not for Bowie with the Spiders.

Lady Grinning Soul
Beautiful madness in pianolines. Pure beauty, I'd say' and will: Pure Beauty! The arrangement walks together with the melodyline which can be followed easily. But! What's this guitar there in the middle doing? Ok, following the Piano, then, It works in the end of the part, the beginnig is a bit clumsy. Otherwise, I'd say this one is a masterpiece, too. AAll the way to the Climatic End :D

(48th) Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band: Trout Mask Replica (1969)

Whohah!? Tom Waits meets someone here. It's the Mothers Of Invention or then some part of King Crimson :D. This seems to be some kind of original specie.
Listening to this is an experience, no doubt about that.

The whole stuff is like twisted re-born son of the blues in the modern world. When the blues was made, the rhythm and the tonal world was a description about the life around, rhythm came from the horse carriage, sounds where someone's screaming, moaning or whatever then. This is something similar, but brought to a more modern world. Rhythm of cars passing by, people crushing to each other, running away from the truth of life. (Which is what? Oh author, thou art unambiguous ;)

The complete musical expression is against every possible genre, even today. Timeless and a true rebel statement, this is (as Yoda might say;). The whole tonality is like a view of the mankind from some point where everything seems, if not stupid, then at least ridiculous.

When listening to this, I strongly suggest to forget the traditional approach for pop-music. The multiplex variety of arrangements forces the listener more to focus on the whole tonal world than in single instrumental performances. If you have any borderlines concerning music, after listening this they can be easily ripped apart, if you have the will to throw yourself to this hallucinated dream of misused brain.

This ironfeet blues is dancing on the toes of puristic people, a perfect album when having a hangover party, I'd say. It's like a teenage Uruk-Hai in love affair collecting dandelions.

Does (or did) this group, who wanted significantly to abandon the tradition, have an ambition in creating another tradition for others to follow? Whether they did or not want it, they certainly did accomplish that task. I think they didn't give a single thought of that kind of stupid nonsense. You can't make timeless masterpieces thinking you are doing it. Only by following your instincts. And here we go again...

This is a masterpiece of rebellion or then just an endless circle of dopeheaded mess. An effective piece of art, still.

And the ranking machine gives this four j:s, in here: jjjj
The last j is missing because of the length and collapsed structure (which also make this a masterpiece!)

PS.
I am and was a completely sober human being when writing this down ;)

(47th)Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go (1996)

The start of the album is nice, and explotion in the first song is amazingly good. I have to admit that I've fallen in to later manics releases beforehand and, for some odd reason, skipped this one. I've heard the Hit Singles (A Design For Life etc.), but mainly missed the album.

The amount of melodies in this album is amusing. Totally awsome record that seems to be a significant source for new era bands like Muse etc. 4th song ongoing (Enola Alone) and no weak songs this far. I can clearly hear the path towards the 'This is my truth, tell me yours' -album, which blowed my head the first time with this band.
Regardless to the message that these songs have (the message is Great, from my point of view they ar not wrong in doing this!) the lyrics follow same high standards that the music crates and requires. The whole package seems to be in balance.
The sounds could be better, I just can't tell what I would change in here. Overall, in latter albums also, the tonic world of the songs is consistent and recognisable. I myself would have made the sound more analogic, but then, it wouldn't be the Manics album at all ;)

All together, the arrangements, tonal environment, musicians and, whattahell, the album is brilliant! Actually it seems to beat up the feelings that the 'This is my truth..' -album gave.

And the rating will be five capital j:s

JJJJJ

And their official site is (if you didn't know:
http://www.manics.co.uk/04/

(46th) Re-grouping personalities.

I noticed this morning while on my way to work that I seem to have quite too many sidepersons here in the web. Even here in the blogger. For example 1001 Impressions of Albums, which contains my album reviews. And the albums have been selected by the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Which is something a bit weird, since I like to do things my way, even on the highway ;) (Why don't we do it on the road!?)

Ok, back to something. I'm going to put the album review -articles in here and contuinue maintaining only this blog. And the reviews might be titled as 1001 Albums I must've been listening before I got killed. Or something like that. :D

(45th)Total Kluster

And yes, lyrics keep pouring down, like something that's pouring down. Water?
Anyway/anyhow, here's something I managed to drag down from the spaces between mind and matter. Needless to say, there's also a recorded structure of song existing. Soon, I hope, there'll bee a complete recorded song, too. And, if you ever are about to ask about it, it is blues, or at least near.



Total Kluster

Addiction
To slavery
To Grind
Addictive

Explosions
To people
To masses
Explosives


Begging peasants bleeding for
Whip and fortune, haunted core
five seconds in oblivion
greedy to fall there again

beat me, bite me
be my guest
eat me, crack me
complete the quest

It's got four legs
and it's on the way
to worship mutated
reflections of the day

How long
will bravery
hold hands
with wisdom?

how far
can you go
to watch
the will to live

Begging peasants bleeding for
Whipped cream, haunted core
five seconds, sugar
until you're sane again

beat me, bite me
be my guest
eat me, crack me
complete the quest

It's got four legs
and it's on the way
to worship mutated
reflections of the day

(44th)put your money where my mouth is

you've got a nerve
to seach your happiness
though i pay you for
doing something else
you've got a nerve
to seach your happiness

you don't need to
do a thing
i'll give you this
this is for free
you don't have to
do a thing

swallow this
among your pride
it's soft, mellow,
it's easy, try
now swallow this,
swallow your pride

put your money
where my mouth is, suckers!
do like you're told,
cut the nonsense (quit thinking!)
put your money
where my mouth is, suckers!

(43rd) face my hell (in private)

when i'm blue
when i want to be left all alone
when i'm blue
when i want to be left alone
won't they come, pay a visit
and try to get me on the phone

when i'm down, out
and in need of friend
when i'm down and out
and in desperate need of friend
Won't I face my hell
in private 'til the end

I might know
who are my friends
now i might know
who are my friends
and i just don't get
what the hell they're for

(42nd) At home with the blues

you know what i am
you know what i came here for
you know what i am
you know what i came here for
i'm the pain in your ass
i'm the splinter in your paw

ain't it entertainin'
ain't it surely fun
ain't it entertainin'
ain't it surely fun
to let someone tell you
that your train has gone

you're gone, i'm gone
we're all just plainly lost
you're gone, i'm gone
we're all just plainly lost
the train kept a-rolling
on it's way back home

i'm standing at the station
with this bunch of fools
i'm standing at the station
with this bunch of fools
thinkin 'bout the poor ones
who stayed at home with the blues

(41st) Artifact Blues

take it now
and you'll be mine
take it now
and you'll be mine
take it, take it, take it...
...get glory, guts and spine...

take it now
and I'll be yours
take it now
and I'll be yours
take it, take it, take it...
... and I'll be yours...


take it now
take it, just for fun
take it now
take it, just for fun
now, take it, take it, take it, baby!
be waisted, be gone!

(40th) Incredible Jens is alive and kicking

Since it's been awhile that anything has been going on, I figured to at least write somewhat something to here also.
The album is on it's way, at least one song at the time. I have (at the moment) 3 more or less completely composed songs, which I'm about to release first one by one, when the mixing has been done. And when the songs are released and reach teh magic time of 30 to 35 minutes, I'll simply make a whole album out of them and release that one in Jamendo, too. The single songs are going to be released in http://www.equaldreams.com/, with a small price each, just to check the things out. 50 cents per song would not be a bad price, wouldn't it. And in case you (who read this and also might listen to the music) have the real patience, you could be able to download the whole album with something special from Jamendo.

Meanwhile, I'm still playing in the streets with Kimmo and now, Robban, too. The stand-up-bass (I assume there's a correct word for that, but I'm way too lazy to check it right now...) really helps to get a different type of music out from us. Also, from time to time, my background vocaling and singing is improving more or less. And, of course, from time to time it's not improving at all.

And here's something completely different. Unrelated to anything mentioned here ;)

(39th)Hellhole blues

Martin Scorsese's The Blues. A good book to buy. I'd like to even see the actual movie series, seen the first part, though. The book made me find my blues enthusiasm again. And now, the first song of the forthcoming album is done :D.
Some mixing is needed, all I have to do is to get a working studio PC up and running. My lousy Fujitsu Siemens is not the best one for that ;)
Anyhow, the song, called Hellhole Blues, is recorded just with the internal microphone of Boss Micro BR, no effects or anything. I'll add it to somewhere when I actually finalize it. The dobro (Johnson's cheap model), slide and vocals, and that's it.

Meanwhile, before this, we've been actively playing with Kimmo in the Stockholms city's Gamla Stan, here's a link to the blog entry. We're now officially in the business, we've made our first dollar :D.

(38th) Incredible Jens LIVE at Drottninggatan

Finally, there's been some live-music. I've been training some rock standards together with Kimmo for the past half a year or so. Once a week or then maybe twice. Or none, depending on the schedules of two somewhat wanna-be-busy-look-a-like dudes. Folsom Prixon -blues, Honky Tonk Women etc. type of rock standards. The playing has been fun, some sort of free breathing besides the actual musical process. Basically Kimmos has done the job, holding the songs together and handling the vocal parts. I've been mainly trying to find myself in and out of the songs more or less blasting off with the total improvisation -stuff. It has been and it still is challenging to have three chords and in every single song the solo and the other parts should have something that's not inside the other songs with similar chord -structure ;)

Anyhow, since I've been way too lazy with everyday activities here in Stockholm, we couldn't get inside the rehearsal space on saturday morning, so we decided to practice outdoors, since the weather was extremely good. We played around 10 minutes in the nearby park and then decided to go and find out the truth by playing for the gracefully passing by audience in Drottninggatan. And that was great! Even though, after two hours playing, my fingers were aching and my back was hurting. We managed even to collect some coins on the way, thanks for the pass-byers :D. Needless to say we spent them on water and coffee. So where's the rock n' roll cliche in that one, then? No whiskey, big cadillacs or women ;).

Anyhow, we're planning to do it again at some point the following weeks. On wednesday evening this week at least, so if you pass by, leave a coin or don't - I don't care - and ENJOY the music, if you can ;)

(37th) Dancing The Angel

Yesterday I managed to do something I thought I wouldn't do anymore ;). At a sudden moment of some sort of madness, there was an old tune of mine (A song called Enkeli in Finnish) but I suddenly managed to get a grip of a set of new english lyrics. Manic and rapid decision was to sit down and write them. At the moment, they're still a draft, but anyhow, that's gonna be the next tune to record. I like the melody on that one, too.

I consider the songs, from the lyrical view, as a sneak peak to the world I might not be able to see completely. this is ment as an information to the people who might start thinking my weird explanations about the world the songs are describing. They're not describing the world, just some glimpses of the reality. But there IS a big unexplored haven of something behind them. At least in my mind :D.

(36th)Artifactic Blues

the blues comes. I've done some recordings and drum-, bass- and synth part mixing during the weekend, and so far it sounds a bit too complex to be a mere blues tune. There's weird reverb playing all the way, two guitars, only, which seems to be the minimum for me. the solo has to be played again and then the vocals need to be recorderd. and before the vocals, there's a significant need of the lyrics to be finalized.

(35th)Amonpolis II on the way

It's totally been awhile since writing. Writing here, writing music, writing anything. I seem to have some sort of mental downhill going on. In Sweden the downhill is a good thing, no need for pushing. In Finland it's just the feel of speed before the actual crash :D

Anyway, I can now announce that the first draft of a complete song is now officially drafted to my recorder (The mighty BOSS Micro BR). And besides all my previous thoughts, it's not in major, it's a blues tune in B minor. Artifactial Blues as the working title. Making the lyrics is also started, looking for to finalize them at the point when it's time to actually sing the tune :D.

My approach, anyway, on the forthcoming recordings is to make first the song and the tune, and then write the lyrics. In that precise order, just to do something new. The arrangements and chords should be as simple as possible to bulletproof my songwriting abilities. I'm aiming to create a basic set of songs with basic arrangements and having catchy tunes and guitar -licks there while at the same time keeping my standards of writing. Meaning that the songs should be easily adoptable but still yet unique both in melodic and lyricist points of view. I suppose that I've already proved myself that I'm capable to create somewhat complicated arrangements and song structures. The lyrics, still, will remain on the same blurry central lyricist style I have adopted and feel familiar to :D.

Above these I've started a sidekick for this blog, a public Wiki to hold on the background information about the songs, lyrics and the world the songs should be describing. I'll get back to that when it is ready to be explored by the others anyway.

(34th) Gibson's robo-guitar tunes itself | Crave : The gadget blog

Gibson's robo-guitar tunes itself | Crave : The gadget blog

And there it is (once again) - a technological gadget to ruin mans mind. What I mean is this:
Back in the old days I was capable for tuning my guitar after hearing only one note and tuning only one string (A - usually) first. And after that tuning the rest depending on the first tuned string. Nowadays, it just won't happen. I admit that I'm lazy, since it's SO easy to turn on the tuner and follow the LEDs. But the thing is that I might've got too used to not to hear or listen to the correct, tuned tone, since I don't have to.

The same thing has happened to my memory of numbers. Still during the end of 20th century I remembered all the phone numbers me and my friends had. And that's something from 70 to 120 numbers back then. After the cellular phone, no way :D. Nowadays I don't even have type the number down, all I do is ask the friend to call me or send the contact info in mail. And then I'll transfer it to the phone, without paying too much attention to the number at all.

The solution for these would quite obviously be that I'll start using the old tuning style of mine and also start to actually write down the numbers and actually picking them also up and entering them manually. That would help it.

But then, these helping technological gadgets let me use my time to something useful instead. Or is the thing so that the useful stuff is just the productive work I do for my employer, then? This is once again a capitalistic/commercial conspiracy and should be strongly boycotted :D.

Yeah right, but actually, the tuning -stuff would be a neat one to re-learn. The numbers, I won't bother, but keep on nagging :D.

(33rd) Usability

One more thing about the usability. Google. They seem to know how to tide up a bunch of good services behind one account. But then. The services are really good, but how to get them interacting together without adding the google toolbar (check the previous blog -entry), or other firefox-plugin. Not so sure how it works with Internet Explorer, I've tried to avoid it as much as I can.

For example, if I find anything interesting in my e-mail, google reader-feed or from the search -page, I should be able to select the item, or to click it, let's say that we'll do this with secondary mouse button, again, and send it to my google notebook's tagged collections. Or to my e-mail inbox.

Actually the Gmail could be so much more than just a collection of ever-deleted mails.But then again, would it have too much stuff inside, like the native non-web appllications tend to get. I suppose so.

But anyway, the google -stuff is great, but there's no good connection between them, without using the darn plug-ins. And why would I have to download something extra if this sort of behaviour could be inside the applications themselves? The API:s are available and they are working anyway. At least so it seems :D

(32nd) Simple Browsing

First of all. I'm not a windows -hater. Not that I'm a big fan of any of the operating systems at the moment. Or any software, as I see them, too. It seems that more powerful they get, more features are added. And the way the features are added really seems to suck. I don't know if anyone of the development circle in open or closed software side of the web can actually look outside the box they are coding. Nice features and plug-ins are added to the programs and OS:s, but then again they are not thought through.

For example the web browsers, who needs the title bar? I mean really, who? You can use the Google search -box to find the page you want. OK, some might need it, but why it has to be visible. Or the default encoding. After you've set it up, how often do you change it? Usually (if the web page is properly done) auto
-setting should work.
And any of that toolbar- stuff, in the other hand. From my point of view they could be thrown away from the screen. And be hidden in a cleverly designed pop-up that can be activated with secondary mouse button, for example.

Then there's this social web browser, Flock. It is neat and it stores the web 2.0 social blah blah in one place. Nice idea, but even more toolbars and whatsoever, check it yourself. It's not that bad, still.

All the settings you need to set for your browsing environment could be asked from you in the installation phase, while the files are unpacked and the registry is tweaked. That sort of a settings- file can be then stored locally before the first boot when it is read as an input to the executed program. When the program is shut down, it would store the settings in to the registry instead of the default file. At least in windows :D Hmmm. This makes me think twice about the security issues that were in my mind when writing this part down. Have to check it anyway, if I'm about to actually develop this sort of tweak.


Actually, I'll have to check if somebody has done it already.There's simply no point to re-create the wheel. Unless the pre-released wheel is a triangle ;)

BLING! (sound of the darn triangle, then)

But anyhow, I think the same approach can be taken in to any OS development, too. Windows is nowadays quite easy to use, but still, the start menu? And Vista sidebar? Sidebar looks neat but the gadgets suck. Really. At least the default ones. I suppose there's a bunch of really talented developers in Redmond (or in India;), but they are concentrating to more serious business than creating gadgets for the end-users. Who then develop them themselves. Which is ok, but the overall quality of the gadgets is poor.

And Linux, oh my god :D Ubuntu has been the only distribution ever to work at least when you help it out of the box. There's usually way too much to choose from, even though, the latest releases have been awesome. You can actually use this as an everyday computer, and you don't usually have to tweak anything. IF you own a computer that is commonly used and uses common hardware. And if it doesn't, you usually find your way through by reading forums and blogs. Unlike in windows, in linux-world the word is somewhat more free. But then, if you want to tweak it, you can do whatever you want, if you just have the abilities to do it. In the other hand the overall quality of the software made for linux is better than in windows, but the usability still sucks.

Mac (The apple stuff) has been pronounced as a highly sofisticated and user-friendly operating system. And I do agree. The native OSX -applications are highly usable, but still, there's the toolbar. And it seems to be always there. I just can't still see the point. :D

Overall, I think that the usability of different types of software has been studied carefully for years. Why do we still have to stick in to these old-fashioned toolbars and UI:s which seem to be designed to show how much different types of properties we can fit in to one application. As long the software works, you don't need to change the settings.

Talking about the usability, have you tried to write a SMS with cellular phone? Or make a call with the latest ones? This could go on and on... (and it will ;)

(31st) Ubuntustudio 8.04 beta and Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Li1703

Dirty thirst? Oh yes, I definitely need to fool around with words. Especially without a descent meaning.

And back to the lost point. I tried to get my lousy laptop (Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Li1703) display-drivers to work with Ubuntustudio 8.04 Beta on friday. And actually, I did, thanks to the marvellous amount of support pages across the web. So, here's the steps as I remember them (next time I'll blog at the same time):

1) Search for the help, Google with Amilo Li1703 ubuntu unichrome (VIA display drivers)
Don't remember ALL the links I tried, but managed to find this link:

• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OpenChrome

2) Compile openchrome -drivers according to the found instructions.

3) Compile the 3d -effects to the desktop according to the found instructions.

4) TRY to use the compiz effects on the desktop. Setup works, but nothing happens or seem to happen on the display anyhow, which is weird. Actually, it is ok, since I'm anyhow using the laptop to mix my recordings or making music, not for swallowing eyecandy ;)

5) I'll have to keep on digging what's the actual problem for this. I actually do have now myself a working desktop, which is also kind of fast, since the 3D -glitter is somewhere else. Still, it would be nice to have it ;)


And to be honest, laptop itself is good, it's only the SW support that the HW needs that is missing. In Windos XP & Vista it sucks, so no wonder it's hard in Linux, too. :D Yeah right, I hope someone sees the ironic blink behind that sentence...


PS. As you could see, I swallowed my tasty pride and changed the title decoding. Just for someone who'd like to see something else than an ordering number and the amount of posts in my blog.

thirtieth

And this morning, while reading the news, I can see that Ilkka Kanerva has been made to resign. Am I happy? No. I am not, totally. Still, I think it is the right thing to do, and I assume that mr. Kanerva can stay resigned happily, the amount of money he gets out of the pension system in Finland is enormous. If I got it right it would be more than my salary.
And still, hopefully people see the point in here. And that this is not just a media hunting down a poor bugger, but that this was a way too simple man in too big position.

And anyway this is only my opinion. Hopefully this ends up to a situation in the next election that the left side of the politcs will win. Hasta La Victoria Siempre!

Thanks for comment. I don't know about the media, at least I got what I wanted. ;) And mr Kanerva got what he was asking. His work is to be in public, all the media did was that it kept the subject in the headlines, that's their job. The actual thing is that besides his actual job Ilkka did something else that should not be done when you are in such a position he was. Crossing the fine lines between the right and wrong.
Still I think he got what he deserved. Unlike mister A. Stubb, who is really irritating as a person from my point of view.
And about the right and wrong, the world is not black and white, I know. It's in shades of gray. And brown :D.

twentyninth

Some comments to a friend of mine's blog.
Background of this is that Finlands Minister of Foreign affairs (Ilkka Kanerva) has sent few HUNDREDS of SMS:s to an 'erotic dancer'. And here's my thoughts about the issue.

From my humble point of view, mr Kanerva gets paid quite a lot for a) representing Finland abroad (and in Finland, too) b) serving the government and the people of Finland in best possible matters. And he's not meeting all the standards there by acting like that.
I don't feel sorry for him at all :D He's also being paid for being the frontman of his ministry. And that brings a responsibility to act like a good leader, not like a normal man. If he does not meet these standards, apparently he won't, as we've seen, he should be resigned from the position. Or at least he should be given another position, where he's good at. A messaging router, perhaps? :D
At least if I were a prime minister and he was working for me and representing one of my leagues of extraordinary gentlemen, I kind of get rid of him. That's anyway a type of thinking that these right-wing business-focused seem to follow anyway.

And that should not be something personal, the whole thing is not personal at all, it's a matter of common justice, I suppose. The point is that the news in Finland seem to be focusing to the wrong end of the whole thing. And that's mr Kanerva's personal rights to act the way he wants as a human being. Well, he kind of resigned from those common man duties when he volunteered and was chosen to be representative of Finland. Because that is what is expected from him, and that is what he gets paid off. At least he should have some common working ethics told him to follow in the first place.

twentyeighth

I'm getting more and more curious, if the next record should be recorded only with low-cost equipment and have only acoustic instruments in it. In my head it sounds awfully tempting. In fact the bass is the only instrument that does have the acoustic addition of itself. In my neighborhood, I mean. So I'd need to ask some of my friends (Jani!?) to either play or borrow me the bass. Anyhow, at the moment, I feel more and more sure about the fact that the next album must have more live-play on it. How to accomplish that one is the question. The songs are anyway on the road, heading towards my head and fingers, toes and mouth.

The other thing is the recording equipment. I am really pleased on my Boss Micro-BR. And my studio will be more than ready for processing the recorded tracks, even though it is not there yet (and that story is covered elsewhere, outside THIS Post). But the microphones seem to be the hardest ones to find. Getting them should be rather easy, after I know what I want :D.
Luckily, internet is filled with brilliant instructions from microphone placement to final mixdown. Plus the reviews and the recommentations, without them it would be rather impossible to pick the right one for the right purpose. One has to bear in mind though, that the acoustic guitars in previous album (Amonpolis I) were completely recorded through Micro BR, only small effecting was added afterwards.

Finally, I don't think that nowadays it is the equipment that makes the difference, I still think that it is the song itself that counts. I at least certainly hope so! For me it seems to be more like that, actually, if the music I'm listening to is too sharp and shining without any 'errors' in the album, it's not interesting anyway. It more or less stays in the safe path then and does not explore or challenge the huge possibilities of human mind. What I mean that if you push yourself towards your boudaries, the more likely you are about to make mistakes, at least in the beginning of the boundary hunting. In the end, you'll find other boundaries and get familiar with the old ones. If you avoid risks and over the limit playing, you'll easily end up sounding boring, if you're note careful.

twentyseventh (UPDATED!!)

It has been awhile since ther has been any GOOD bloggings here, so I just might try. To put at least something here.

About the album (Amonpolis I):
The album is so called theme-album. All the songs are related to each others, at least from my perspective. There is a continuity in the line of the tonal space and the lyrics. I have tried, in finnish of course, to have a bunch of blurred images about a paraller reality and being an outsider from the community. I might have been also accessing it. You'll never know. But, if you understand finnish, feel free to make your own translations on to the songs. I'm not here to tell you how to deal with them. You may like them, or not. The songs might speak to you in whole different way that I ment (like I did have a meaning there, then!? ;), or then again, might not. Nobody has to even like or dislike the tunes,songs, låtar, whatever you will call them, suits me fine. The title of the album is the place in my imaginary science fiction universe. Somewhere in the future, near or far, doesn't matter, actually.
Anyway I feel that I have achieved to critisize the present world (in Finland) and the way people are treating each others and being treated by. At least partly. The songs are not stories, not even short ones, more or less they are observations and short captures of thoughts or visions of the time and place inside the observers mind.

About the band (Incredible Jens):
Actually, there is no band. The name is a good one (Thanks to Josefiina Råtta for that and for the Cover!), at least from my point of view. Mainly the production, mixing and recording is done by yours truly, except visiting Bass- and drumtracks. The Bass in 'Tanssii vartalon kanssa' is recorded and played by Kimmo Pekari, and in track 'Ulkona?!' the bass was recorded and played by Pekka Uuranne (from a finnish metal -band Kara). Most of the acoustic drum parts are recorded and played by Mika Hiironniemi (From a marvellous progressive rock -band Margin Of Safety). Mika also helped a LOT during the mixdown process by giving hints and suggestions (Lift the Vocals UP), as did the others as well. Tommi Hilli (former vocalist from Varasteleva Puutarhakääpiö and nowadays a present vocalist of Loppukevennys) did the vocal track in Tanssii vartalon kanssa. Veikko played drums four years ago for 'Ulkona?!', with my former band, murske. Mikko Ojala played drums, Jani Pulkki guitar and Heikki Ahonen bass on song 'kuravettä'.

So, all the rest is done by me, myself and the dude I call myself to be. Arrangements are mostly from my head, except the C-part and closing part of 'Posetiivi' which is more or less taken from the sessions with Varasteleva Puutarhakääpiö, so thanks to Lauri, Timo, Olli and Tommi for that one too. So all the complains should be addressed to yours truly. Or then the good points, too. If you can spot them out :D.


And, NOW, its's time to really start to get the next album lineup sorted out. Hopefully Stockholm is filled with open -minded anarchistic rockbottocks :D. I am anyway missing playing with people. The style of the forthcoming music is completely uncertain, and will remain it, until the lineup has been found. I have this idea about the music that it should be more than the sum of the minds that are connecting and doing it. And that the style and sound of the band will be found only through playing. But we'll see that one, too. I know the album is filled with more or less progressive and at least alternative music. The next one might be something completely different.

Feel free to contact.

BTW.
Am I the only one who gets a scitchofrenic feeling writing about Blog-posts in english for a band who's songs are in finnish?

twentysixth

Incredible Jens has stood out from the closet of the closets. He can now officially be found from myspace.
http://www.myspace.com/incrediblejens


BTW, my opinion about the myspace is not too positive. This stupid multisocialising network hassle which actually teaches people to hide their true feelings and interract more and more with people who are so called friends. blah :D

twentyfifth

The world wide web has once again lifted up something really good. What I mean here is the hippie/punk/whatever -alternative DIY-attitude. The web gives you the opportunity to be your own record label, publisher and what evere you want to be. And that is definitely worth using, then. I myself find it way more interesting to create music, lyrics, literature (on the way, I hope ;) or whatever I want to and put it on the web. Not to mention the fact that nobody will ever listen or read them anyway, besides the friends of course ;).
I've ran into few problems, still. Since I am not a professional, I might be doing things in a way that prevent them to be found. Which, in the other hand, might be a blessing to the humankind. And the other is related to this. How to publish anything in the web without letting the published item to be rambled down by the zillions of other publications. And more, what makes my publication so important that anybody should see it. Once again, nothing. And that is a good thing, I hope.
Anyhow, this whole DIY-stuff (Opensource & Creative Commons) have been leading me towards a decision that I made a couple of weeks ago. Finally. I've been doing it without an official announcement for some time, still. Further on, I will record and deliver my music, lyrics or whatever I produce with open source -tools. From head to toe. Since now, the latest record was mixed down with commercial and not so official audio software.
About the publications. The final and ultimate essence of music or any art is freedom. The music I create should be free, since it is that for me, who am I to deny anybody for getting (hopefully) the same feeling of freedom to themselves. And that is the baseline for my publications. The gigs, if I some day get a band together, are a different story, and have to be dealed later on, when time comes. But the music itself should be free.


Free your mind. :D

kahdeskymmenesneljäs - twentyfourth

Ja levy on siis ladattavissa ja kuunneltavissa myös tästä blogista. Tuossa vasemmalla on player. Kai se jotain plugineja vaatii toimiakseen, ei jaksa kaivaa tietoa esille. Jos ei toimi, niin sen saa silti ladattua täältä: http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/21401

As you might know, the album is downloadable and you can also listen to it from the left side widget. It might need some plugins to work, but at the moment I'm way too lazy to check what. If it won't work, the link above does.

kaksikymmentäkolmas - twentythird

Pienoinen päivitys. Levyä prosessoidaan edelleen. Voisihan toki ranskanmaalle vinkata, että sen enkoodauksen voi toteuttaa myös tietokoneella, luulisin.

Levy on ladattavissa Jamendosta. Jos ei nyt, niin hyvinkin pikapuoliin. Ainakin se nyt on sinne uploadattu ja paraikaa prosessoitavana. Kannesta saamme kiittää Josefiina Råttaa. Muilta osin kiitokset ansaitsevat yksilöt mainitaan sekä kotisivuilla, että Jamendossa. Joka ikinen, joka tätä on ollut työstämässä, auttamassa, henkisenä tukena ja kriittisenä korvaparina sekä potentiaalisena kohdeyleisön jäsenenä ansaitsee myös sen kunniamaininnan.

tämänpäiväisen blogauksen otsikosta on kiittäminen 1980-luvun suomalaista urheiluselostajistoa.

Record is now uploaded and soon able to be downloaded from: http://www.jamendo.com/artist/Incredible_Jens.
Someone might say to the French (Jamendo is originally from France) that the encoding could be done also with computer ;). The album has been under processing until last night or so...

twentysecond

Incredible Jens has found something nice:

Incredible Hulk: Not An Origin Story

Jens don't feel and hopefully not look like Hulk does, even though both are highly unpredicably Incredible species of human kind. Like every single other person is.
Usually we just cover it up and tend to mirror the expectations we think the other people in our social network have for ourselves. Usually they don't expect you to be anything else than you are. At least not in my neighborhood of friends. I hope ;)
And I seriously recommend anybody in a position where the social environment is telling you what to do to reconsider your limits of friendship anyhow.

And what does this have to do with Hulk? I guess we just should accept him as he is and not expect him to behave like every other dude in the galaxy. Tolerate and encourage to peace and harmony and other ugly hippie -shit :D.

twentyfirst

All you web-addicted persons in there and in here, the following link points to a source of an interesting idea. The addiction to web and new info we receive from there might be inside us all due to a built-in mechanism in human mind.

Portals - WSJ.com

The author claims that like cats are addicted to hunt for moving objects, e.g. laserspot from the laserpen, we are addicted to explore new things. And he might not be wrong. I find myself continuously more interested in new things than doing the same stuff every day. The more I actually use my brain or my body to get to attached to new experiences, the more I feel fresh and able to explore some more. And, with internet, some days are more addicted than the others. Keep on reading the RSS-feeds over and over again, check the email once every three minutes. Write a blog entry daily and wonder why there's no comments or even readers with them ;).

twentieth

Official Google Blog: How Google keeps your information secure

sort of a relief. strange, though, that they have released this information just yesterday, when I created my blog-entry :D. Getting even more paranoid at the moment? Actually, I'll have to read it through much more carefully before saying anything...

To be honest, I don't hink I could've been the only one to think such thoughts. I think that as long as there is thinking human beings living in a somewhat similar social context, the focus of minds can easily be set to same targets. I've seen it happening between my lyrics and other artist's lyrics, too. At least I've been handling similar issues and thinking same things than somebody else. The world is small, and thanks to Google, it gets even smaller :D.

nineteenth

How much will we leave marks on the world from ourselves? To the nature we'll leave a bunch of constant human-trademarks in the form of plastic bags, nuclear waste etc. In the web, then, we can easily leave even more traces of ourselves. It seems that, in case you are not careful, you can really loose (or gain) your reputation out there. Or here, by the way :D.
Has anybody been tracking down the environmental cost of our everyday internet-usage? How much do the invisible servers consume energy? I bet that the amount of consumed energy in these machines of lousy software is increasing second by second.
And the other thing in web is the visual traces we leave from ourselves. How can we be sure that the data left behind is not misused? By who, you might ask. By anybody who gets the profit out of it I say.
The marketing profiler companies, the merchandise marketers, at least. For example; this Blog is written on a platform owned by Google, which is by far the best internet -based company ever. It also has, as a company, really powerful ways of exploring the user statistics and (as I suspect) the user data inside all the millions/billions user accounts across the world. It's not saying this too loud, but it has tailored the search engine for China, in a way to restrict non-chinese-way of searching the web. The other word for this is definitely a censorship. which is never a good thing. So my question is, will Google serve other countries in other ways as well. It could, quite easily, provide use statistics and search cpabilities for U.S.A, which is not (and has not been) the number one in human rights following what comes to national security guarding. I'm not saying that Google does it, not that government of U.S.A (or whatever the country is) would do it, but that there's a possibility for google to provide such service to it's customers. I don't think they do act that way, if I got it right, they have been declining on such actions. But what about Microsoft, AOL and yahoo, then? Or the not-so-friendly criminal organisations, or terrorists?
My point in here might be (not quite sure about it ;) that people should think of what they provide of themselves in the web and with who they share that info. But it is like in normal world, I'm not telling my personal history to a bunch of unkown co-travellers in the subway. Like they say: Just because you're paranoid, don't mean nobodys watching.

And for a relief (is it?) to me and anybody who happens to be reading this. Who cares about me in the web anyway? Some people tend to think that they and their thoughts or actions are so important that their personal data can be used, as it is, against them by some big governmental player. From my point of view, the most of the data in the web can and will be, in the future - if not now, used as a merchandise targeting material for companies who want to make profit. Because that is the way for companies to keep on growing. At any cost, if you check the global players in any market sector.

eighteenth

after careful listening, there's now TWO Songs available for download in the homepages.

Incredible Jens

Please download, listen and comment here!!!

seventeeth

Hack Attack: Firefox and the art of keyword bookmarking

A neat trick indeed. In case you are too lazy to write more than two letters :D.

sixteenth

And just to keep you and everybody else informed, I'll try to add something in here. Even today, although there's not much going on inside my brain. Yet. Anyway, there's actually a need to modify at least 2 songs still, before the final release of the album. And the album cover and sleeve are ordered from the artist herself, we'll see what we'll get :D

fifteenth

it has been an interesting day. truly. thanks to the friends in this hyperspace and my beloved wife.

fourteenth

I want to sell my records. Meaning the ones I've created. And to be honest, meaning the only real one I've almost got done ;). But I'm not prepared to sell it at any cost. That's for sure. I mean that I want to give it away as free. Music by it's best forms is representing freedom, and it should remain so as it's essence, too.

Nowadays the music sold by the big companies is more or less boring. The small labels are following them or doing the opposite, which is kind of following, too :D. The artists are more or less hit-factory products. Idols, celebrity wannabees etc. For me at least. Of course there's always few brilliant exceptions, which at least keeps me interested. But the whole situation is boring. And while watching the latest record -sales figures it seems that I'm not alone here. While big major label artist sales are going down, the small labels and independent music shops (and industry, I certainly hope so!!) is going more or less the same way it has been. Nowadays I can download all the major label artist discographies with the videos and lyrics from the web. So why should I bother paying for that then? The independent stuff is harder to find as 'free', so it means that I should go to the shops to by it, borrow it from the friends or go to the library, like I used to do earlier on.
Now, the big label record companies are trying to fight against the situation, which from my point of view is stupid, completely. They're pushing the already freely available stuff online with a price tag. Even though the price tag is tiny, 1 EUR, 99 cents etc. It's more than the one you'll have to pay when downloading the torrent from e.g. Piratebay.
At the same time, the record labels are cutting down the costs and signing only the artists that have a good product potentiality. At least that's how I see it.
From my point of view, the record companies are falling back, taking blind Goliath-steps slowly towards random directions while the little Davids are surviving and becoming the kings. For how long, you'll never know.
My point here is, that the record companies should drop the records and start to sell services. To the artists themselves. And then again, to the customers also. If I was a big record company, I'd buy or made a contract with an open Creative Commons -internet community, leave it be and try to sell the services I could to the best and most popular acts on the community. Meanwhile, on other, old-fashioned venues, I would continue producing celebrity-whores for everyday soap-opera purposes. There's always a crowd for brainless nonsence. I know, I watch the AFV. And I would stop cutting the costs and concentrate on the issue that the money I make has to be enough to pay the costs. If it was something more, good. But then again, I'm not a business man, nor I'm a record label multicultural business machine. I've seen few, though :D

thirteenth

Do I consider myself as a bad person if I download music from the internet? No I don't, surprise!?
I grew up in finland, in a middle-class suburb, went to average middle-class schools and did (in 70's standards) average middle-class boy stuff with my friends. One of the things was to buy C-cassettes, go to my friend's home, since he had a record player (and Stereo/HiFi-VCR & Videogame & C64 - I did not :D). I used to get the albums recorded to my cassettes (TDK is still up and running). The albums my friend or his family had or the ones I borrowed from the local public library. The libraries, btw, are one of the most important things available. Hopefully they stay free of charge everywhere! Back then I used to have quite broad taste of music, at least thinking about t now, from Dire Straits to Hanoi Rocks plus everything else in the middle and both sides ;). Since nobody told me what was cool to listen and what was not. And, thanks to my friends, it was a serious fun to sit in a darkened living room and fall in to the musical world of Love Over Gold. Or to the finnish broadcast company (YLE) version of Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy. Doesn't happen too often nowadays. The actual musical experience is lost between zillions of distractions. And the music is the background noice everywhere. For me it's kind of sad to loose the actual meaning of the music that way. Does it make Live-music more valuable, I think it does. And me, myself, I fill my working days background with music, definitely.
But the whole point in here was the thing that I haven't been paying for my music before, mainly. Other than that, the fact that if you can get something for free from the web, why shouldn't you take it? So it is ok.
Or at least partly. Of course I would be more attached to the music, if I would have to do at least something for it, like walk to the library, borrow a CD and then rip it at home after I've been listening weither it's ok or not. Nowadays the music is so easy to get that you just do it, constantly, without paying too much attentition to it at all. So getting the music has fallen in to the same slot of background noice than the music itself. Sort of greedy mix between laziness and hoarding...
And no, I'm not concidering myself being a better man while doing this. Not at all. The whole society is so easy nowadays, that you can just slip downstream with everybody else without paying attention to anything. And there's the value for myself being tested. Do I have enough will power to create some countermovement actions to my personal life to fight against the boring life inside this world? (London's Burning with boredom now). To activate myself to actally DO something for the things I'm keen to and not just wait for them to swim in my Net-For-The-Torrents :D.

And after all, I'm still not the right guy to judge am I good or bad...

twelfth

It was snowing this morning. Here in Stockholm, in the middle of winter, weird? For me, the weirdest thing about this winter is the thing that there is no snow constantly. The snow from this morning has almost melted away now. Yippee?
When I was younger, let's say something like 15 years younger than now, I lived in Helsinki (Capital of Finland) and still I can remember that winters back then used to be colder and there was snow in March almost to my hips. And when I was even younger , there was more snow constantly from the end of october until beginning of april.
Now I'm not sure about situation in Finland, but if I got it right there's not too much snow in the southern parts of Finland. In the north, if I got it right, there is snow, but the amount of it is much less than it used to be.
And the main thing of all this is, that will it make me a better person (compared to who? Why compare...) if I think about this sort of sad issues and still drive to work alone in my car. Being alone does not bother me (I'm a Finn ;) but polluting does. Even still:

Just think, don't act.

Is that enough for you? For me it certainly is not.

eleventh

the last song that needed the tweaking, metsä (forest for the foreigners ;) has hopefully been finalized now. I'll have to give it a break and try it tomorrow, not today anymore.

the cover is also waiting to be done, among the inner sleeve ;)

tenth

So, about this thing and the next one. :D
The band, Incredible Jens, is at the moment a one-man-project. There is a bunch of visiting artists, mainly from Finland, taking care of the stuff where I suck more than usually. The album has been in my thoughts for the last 3-4 years or so (with different content, obviously) and I have been quite actively planning and updating the concept and the songs. The songs are no longer the same as they were in the beginning, even though three (3) of them are 5-6 years old. The songs are in Finnish, unfortunately, since they are written in that language. In the future, I might translate some of them, if it feels necessary, I doubt though, still. The time slot for making and finalizing this album came in the point when I moved to Sweden and there was no more a band to spend my time with.

The next album is on the way, the planning has been started, and few rough sketches for the songs are already made. And the language of the lyrics will be in english.

One point for this forthcoming album is to act as a showcase for musicians here (in Stockholm at the moment) and ease up the pain for finding them. The only problem is that now I feel like playing some Clash-styled punk-rock, and the album is filled with more or less progressive material. Sucks, eh?

We'll see.

BTW, there seems to be only one song that needs my attention, and then the mixing should be finalized within a week. The cover is needed, ordered from the Artist herself (Josefine Rotta).

Yours truly.
Hasta La Victoria Siempre!

Yhdeksäs (ninth)

Voi toki olla, että jos bändi kerran tekee ensimmäisen levynsä suomeksi, myös jossain muualla tulisi suomen kielen näkyä. Laitetan siis tänne.
Incredible Jens on siis bändi, jossa on tällä hetkellä tasan yksi varsinainen jäsen ja useampi vierailija. Tämä johtuu siitä, että tarkoitukseni on ollut jo vuosia saada aikaan tämä levy (ei nyt ihan näillä biiseillä, mutta kuitenkin) ja muutto Tukholmaan viime vuoden lokakuussa helpotti asian todeksi tuloa. Johtuen mitä ilmeisimmin siitä, että minulla ei täällä heti ollut bändiä, jonka treeneissä juosta ja jolle tehdä biisejä.
Tämän levyn eräs itselleni tärkeä pointti on myös toimia eräänlaisena käyntikorttina, kun uutta bändiä lähden kasaamaan. Tiedä sitten, minkälaista musiikkia se tulee tekemään, kappaleiden lyyrinen puoli on jo aihepiirinsä löytänyt. Itse asiassa jo vuosia sitten. Tosin uudet biisit tulevat kuitenkin olemaan englannin kielisiä, edellisistä poiketen. Myös musiikkityyli tulee mitä luultavimmin olemaan jotain aivan muuta. Tai sitten ei ;).


Joskohan tuota huomenna jaksaisi säheltää tämän saman myös englannin kielellä.

(I Wonder if tomorrow I'd have enough stamina to do this same in english) :D


yours truly

eighth (8th for the ones who can read)

Slight updates, fellows. Song called Mobiilielämä (mobile life) is dropped out. Mastering is going towards readiness. Due to this, we can celebrate and listen a sneaky peak from here:
http://incredible.jens.googlepages.com/08kuravett.mp3

The album itself is around 36:20 minutes long and has 8 songs. The names of the songs can be found from the Incredible Jens' homepage. Where also the one song is now uploaded and it is ready to be listened. You may comment here, please do :D.

seventh

Some progress has happened on the way to the first Amonpolis. There will be 9 songs on the album, it seems to be approximately 40 minutes long, and it does NOT have the song called 'Rauniosusi'. I don't have the tools or abilities to finalize that one to this album. Maybe, in form or another on the next one, then, we'll see. Anyhow the song is replaced by previously (last spring) released and now re-mastered 'Kuravettä'. Which means that I'll have to add few more visitors to the list ;)

Sixth

http://nowscape.com/star_city/index.html.
Star City, Russia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_City,_Russia

One of the things that tweaked my mind yesterday was the name of the training facility. It ended up in a bunch of quick notes on my notebook, there's a SONG coming :)

fifth

The album is currently heading towards readiness, some progress on friday. Still, two songs are still missing. The other, mobiilielämä (mobile life) is otherwise somewhat ready, but there's no vocals recorded there yet. And the second one, Rauniosusi (Carcass Wolf) is missing even more, the rhythm base needs to be re-looped, there's few tricky parts in there, which lead to clear mistakes when trying to play it.
So the album will be ready. when it is done. Not before. :D

fourth

I've seen some sort of shimmering light (Thank you, Eagles - Not from the light but the expression) now. At least some destinations for the future of Jens is now defined. There shall be free music and challenging music, nothing more. And nothing less.
Nowadays it seems that everything is just a merchandised, easy swallowed crap and the connection between the sold music and the creator of the music is really thin, if it even exists. And I'm not talking about the band here yet.
I find myself being sick and tired to the fact that everything, not only music, is tightly tied against the marketing and money. The whole system in here is leading everybody to the direction to buy more more and once more. Even the counteraction -movements are merchandised. The capitalist will is to get money out of everything and, as it seems, it gets what it wants. Not enough, though.
Everything in the web is free to read, but the marketing is still there. In fact, if I wanted, I could try to start to earn the money out of this Blog. Which does not actually scare me but it is BORING. And wrong from my point of view.
Be like everybody else so that we can easily focus the marketing targets to you.

And what about the 3rd world countries, then. This whole big money making machine seems to see them as producers, cheap producers, of the stuff that can be sold in the 'modern' and 'civilized' world and paying less to make more. Even the fair trade (which is great and valuable way of thinking) brings more money to the shop owners than to the actual producers.

Sold Out. Suckers :D

third

something happened on the way to amonpolis. while mixing and finalizing the songs, I realized that the limiter also ruins the dynamics of the songs, so I decided to disable all other mastering effects except the reverbing. slowly but surely we are forwarding towards the release date. Which is in the future, that's for sure :D

second

vocals for the songs are now recorded, I hope. The album (Title: Amonpolis I) should be ready within following 4 weeks, I hope. Album lyrics are in finnish, so there's some restrictions in understanding them for the rest of the world. My apologies, those songs and lyrics with them were created when they were created, new ones are on their way. At the moment it seems that the new lyrics will be in english.

The official site can be found from:
http://incredible.jens.googlepages.com/

first

That was the poem I would've liked to listen
but the jackass was on the screen