Narration X

Rodrigo and Gabriella return to Dublin

Vicar St. Dublin, Sunday the 15th of November 2009

Few artists have the ability to transcend genre by attracting such a wide spectrum of followers from different walks of life as Rodrigo and Gabriella do.

Vicar St. last Sunday was like a who’s-who of Dublin demography. Representing emos, office monkeys, rockers, yuppies and even a few chavs, all-present with one common goal: To watch and listen to the entertaining, magical tour-de-force that is Rodrigo and Gabriella.

My jaw must have dropped at least thirty times during what must have been one of the tightest sets I have ever seen. RodGab have come along way since their debut album that we all love, having transformed themselves into musical legends at such an early stage in their career.

RodGab opened the set with lots of new tracks, many quite short, but all punchy with fresh and exclusively unique rhythms. They were full of energy, standing for most of the gig, occasionally turning to face one another to have a quick “set” related conversation. They cascaded from one track to another with flawless ease taking us on a musical journey infused with majestic classical guitar melodies, uplifting latin-esque movements, riffs from the heavy tomes of metal and descents into atonal vignettes that would make even Radiohead proud.

The new use of new effects, especially the “wa-wa” was a welcome addition to their already riveting sound. Gabriella was on form with her signature guitar drumming, which at points has evolved into a rave-like dance beat that really got the crowd amped.

Rodrigo and Gabriella bring people together. In an era of depressing global economic deluge, their sheer tenacity, intense passion and nonchalance for convention sheds a glimmer of hope, by showing us a innovative and mature worldview not driven by faux-faced commercialism.

Welcome home to Dublin RodGab!

Summer Update

I have been beneath the surface of more creativity than you can shake a stick at over the past few months. Namely, a software project at work and a demo version of my first album at home. I also have been helping my partner set up a company brand and website, and some logo side projects. I even had a cameo role in a friends movie. Over the next few months I intend to share my new insights into the various activities that I have been engaged in. Some of the topics I would like to discuss include.

• The presentation of the presentation layer
• Using personas in design: My “A-HA” moment
• Wireframes, mockups and prototypes: not just design tools
• One-man music making
• Promoting a music demo online.

In the meantime sit back and enjoy my friends movie “The Athenrides”

Carbon Feet

Another Fun Demo: This ones about the impacts of our carbon output - So Get Green!!!

Ninja

I’ve definitely gotten the composing bug at the moment. This is probably a good thing as its brightening up a typically dull January. I have the makings of an entire album, so I’m aiming to create one tune a week. The key is disciplining myself to actually finish each song.

This latest offering is a dramatic little dance ditty called Ninja!

twas

Ok, this is the second song I’ve posted in a month. I guess the narrative has gone all musical this year. Oh well, it needed a bit of spice;)

Tranquilo

This is song I composed when I was in the Sierra Mountains in Mexico in August 2007. I recorded a demo of it over the Holidays. Its called Tranquilo, which means “Calm” in Spanish. Wishing you all a Happy and “Calm” 2008.

Friday Film: Nick Drake- Day is Done

Recently, I’ve become obsessed with the music of Nick Drake. To think I had never heard of him until a few months ago whilst I was browsing the Guardian newspaper’s “top 100 alternative albums ever” list (His album Bryter Layter is #1). He seems to have been a major influence to a lot of my favorite artists.

Enjoy the song!

Alternative Locative Media

A friend came across this awesome site called The Capitol of Punk that tells the story of the history of the Washington DC punk scene. The sites URL would suggest that it is connected to Yellowarrow.net, a site I have mentioned here before, but I am not entirely sure what the connection is. Anyway, the content is extremely professionally executed (nice grungy design too, or, I should probably say, punky!) but of particular interest to me is their use of storymapping.

They have created a combo of google maps, location based video podcast walking tours and a downloadable pdf map (which is exactly what we created with the organic city!-except for the Google map bit, as it wasn’t around when we were developing the site). The walking tours are also accessible via text message on a mobile phone.

Hi Fi 2

A tune I composed managed to get included in a friends Documentary about the Temescal Art District in Oakland, Ca on “Turn Here” (its the fast Dance-y one in the middle!).

Transgenic Goat!

Well, today It is a holiday here, so I am using the time off to catch up on some email and to do some home recording. After determining that trying to record an entire album of music in my spare time was no easy task, I have decided to record a 4 song demo, just like an EP from the indie days of the early ninetys! The working title for the music outfit or band is “Transgenic Goat” inspired by a story I heard recently on the BBC about curing cancer by using eggs from Hens with human DNA!. I am “demo”ing the songs in Apples’s garage band a simple yet effective programme to assist getting the songs out of my head and into a recording. I intend to re-record the finished demos more profesionally with a friend who has a semi professional music studio.

Stay tuned for more news on this transgenic venture, and for some actual music too!