Hey everybody! I’m streaming live at twitch.tv/miketvlive It’s more fun shooting heroin and almost as fun as cutting yourself! Woo!
Food Group is an amazing band. You check ’em out.
Hey, everybody! Mike TV here. Long time listener. First time caller. Wait…what?
Anyway, a friend of mine, Eric Lyday, is the principle songwriter for a band called Food Group, here in Austin Texas. They just put out a new album. It’s amazing. So, I wrote a little review. Here it is.
Here Today, by Food Group (a review)
written by Mike TV
Every time I listen to Here Today, the debut full-length album, by Food Group, I hear something new. This is a sonically dense, beautifully arranged collection of songs that, to my ears, evokes an emotional palette as varied and as complex as the music itself. What do I mean by that? I mean, not only is this a beautiful sounding album, but it’s got a heavy dose of the feels. Which, for me, is necessary for an album to become a favorite, and to earn its place on my shelf of “albums worth sharing with friends.”
From the opening track, a new interpretation of the old slave spiritual, Michael Row The Boat Ashore, with all of it’s yearning and intimated struggle, Here Today seems to be saying, “sit back, put your seatbelt on, and dig the ride.” And what a ride it is. For me, the best music tingles both the intellect and the heart. And Here Today is full of moments where both are electrified. The breakdown right after the second chorus in Could I Be, where lead singer, Eric Lyday, in his crystal clear tenor cries out, “Could I be wrong again?”, and then this question is met by a frantic yet gorgeous keyboard solo, a suggestion that even the music is exploring and seeking the answer to the question.
Now, I don’t want to steal any thunder from the listening experience. This album should not be experienced by reading my words. And trust me, I could very easily unpack my thoughts on every track on this album. And every track on this album is worthy of unpacking. But, my words and my interpretation of the album will suffuse itself through your interpretation, and that, in my estimation, is criminal.
So let me highlight just one of my favorite moments on the album. Because I don’t want to mess up your listening experience. But, do let me impress upon you, if you miss this record…if you don’t find a comfortable place, sit, and just listen to this album, you’re missing out on an extraordinary experience.
My favorite track keeps changing. But right now, it is Black Is Love. Although in previous listens it has been Sleepwalker, Sying, Tidal Wave, You Are, and Could I Be. I mean, this is a deep album.
So let me give you my thoughts on Black Is Love. It opens with what sounds like a grand piano. An arpeggio played in an an open room with bare concrete walls, sound bouncing to and fro. And then the vocals, they alight gently, but quickly become earnest and full of passion, as they crescendo, full of fire, crashing into the next section of the song. Just awesome. And this is just the intro. The rest of the song takes us deeper into the mad, wild, unbridled genius that is Food Group.
One of the things that I find so wonderful about this album is that there are many left turns, sudden jags, little poly-rhythmic fillips and flourishes that are constantly keeping each song fresh and exciting and thrilling.
Trying to use words to describe music is like trying to describe color to blind person. No matter how skilled the wordsmith, the author is never going to really, fully convey how gorgeous a sunset can be, or the ocean, or a night sky full of stars. So from someone who takes music very seriously, who loves it with every atom and every particle of his person, to you, let me say this… If you miss out on Here Today, by Food Group, you’re missing out on a singular and wonderful listening experience. But then again, singular and wonderful listening experiences might not be for everyone. But I hope, for your sake, that they are.
Get Set Go is still alive!
Hey everyone! Mike TV here! I haven’t written a blog in ages. I really apologize. It turns out that I can effectively do one thing at a time. As I get older my ability to multi-task has calcified. And I really only have the strength to create one thing a day. After I poop out a new song, I am done. My brain is taxed, my soul whimpers, and my heart deflates.
I had such grand plans for posting daily blogs whilst also writing and posting daily songs. The songs thing is actually working according to plan. If you want access to the music as it is being created just go to the following link…
https://www.patreon.com/getsetgo
I post all of my newest stuff there. If you’re into this sort of thing, you’ll get a very intimate view of my record making process as I post rough demos and then iterate on them all the way til a full studio recording.
I have also been streaming on Twitch at twitch.tv/miketvlive. I stream five times a week and hope to add a sixth weekly show soon.
Also, I think I should mention that Get Set Go left TSR Records back in 2009 or 10. And we started our own record label, Square Tire Records. Since forming the label, we have released five full-length albums (about to be 6) and two eps. I moved to Austin, Texas on May 28 of 2014 to be with my love, Katy Klapuch. And since the move, Get Set Go has basically been a solo project for me. I still love my bandmates, but Katy’s in Austin. The good thing about moving to Texas is that the cost of living is much cheaper than LA. I also have no distractions, and without bandmates, I can actually write and record as much and as quickly as I wish.
So have been writing, recording, and releasing albums nonstop since I arrived in Austin. The first album came out in October of 2014 and since then I have released five full-length albums. I have another one waiting in the wings. Is this a good business practice? Hell no. But, it’s what I do. I write and record songs. And now that I no longer have to ask anyone’s permission to do so, I’m gonna do it. So, get them while you can. My money is slowly disappearing. Each year, I make a little less. And at some point I won’t have the money to keep the albums in stores. So buy them, steal them, copy them, whatever. Just make sure to get them, if you want them.
I love you all. Anyone with whom Get Set Go’s music resonates, you are my sort of people. You are not alone. Yes, you’re probably a little nuts and maybe a little dangerous to yourself and others, but you are not alone.
Be well,
Mike TV
(this post was originally posted on May 26, 2015 and edited on August 25, 2016.)
We Are Not Alone.
First, can I say that June bugs are drunk. Or blind. Or maybe a combination of the two. I have never seen more terrible aerobatics from any other creature. These mentally damaged insects fly like they’re lunatics. They bash into walls, into each other, into anything around them. They leap off of a perch and then take the most ridiculous flight arcs straight into something solid and then collapse to the ground, often on their backs, where they have to struggle like madmen to right themselves. They sorta remind me of me. “Hey guys, I’m outta here….aaaaaaaagghghghgh! ” *SMACK. I don’t know what sort of evolutionary purpose their insane flight paths serve, other than perhaps to dissuade other creature from eating them for fear of catching stupid off of them. They are nature’s Don Quixotes. But, they’re fun to watch. Which is fortunate, because Austin is infested with them.
Another creature that Austin is riddled with is the roach. Or, as they call them here, water beetles. I have never really associated roaches with water, mostly because growing up in the desert and then LA, there really wasn’t large bodies of water where they could do their roaching. But, jesus, do they grow them big here. They’re like half-way between the normal LA roach and the desert date-beetle. Huge monsters of disgusting plying their roachi-ness in every crevice, crack, nook, cranny, and shadow they can find. I have carried my significant antipathy for roaches with me from Los Angeles, which is good, because I have managed to kill about a score of them since I arrived. My hope is that, someday in the not too distant future, roaches will scare their baby roaches to sleep at night with stories of me. I hate the ‘effing things.
But that’s not all the interesting fauna I’ve encountered in Austin. I have seen, running around our backyard, multiple fauns. You know, a little baby deer running through our backyard, fifteen feet away from me. And the silly thing is, my first impulse when seeing the faun was, “Hmm…I wanna grab a saddle and ride that thing.” It’s too bad we never domesticated the deer and bred them for riding. I think it’d be pretty awesome to ride a deer around town. I mean, they have some serious hops. But, alas, unless I want to make a significant career change, capture some deer, and then spend the next thousand years breeding them, I don’t think it’s gonna happen. *sigh*
Well, this is Mike TV, reporting from Austin, saying, “adios, amigos!” I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
With flaming bags of foetid, fecal love,
M
A Brand New Era For an Off Brand Guy.
I live in Austin. It hasn’t really sunk in yet. Not the humidity. Not the odd sounding birds outside. Not the droves of insects, including bugs who apparently have such terrible indigestion that their asses actually explode with light. Not the fact that each morning I wake up in a bedroom that is basically the size of my entire place in Los Angeles. It still feels like I’m on the road. Probably because I just got back from the road. But, the awesome thing is, it’s a town I am quickly falling in love with. I mean, sure, there’s no mountains. So, like Superman without his yellow sun, my powers are greatly diminished. But being a mere mortal in a place where people are friendly, beers are cheap, laughter is frequent, and food is delicious, well, that I can accept.
The odd thing about moving to a place, a state, a city where I’ve never lived (and I have never actually lived outside of California) is all the little differences that remind me that, yes, Toto, we’re no longer in California. Things like all the frontage roads. The fact that freeways are called highways. Everyone drops the article “the” from the names of freeways. “Take 35 to 71”. As if you’re taking thirty five somethings and bring them to seventy others. The beers have strange names. The bars and restaurants do to. It’s like I’m living in a completely different world. In fact, I’ve been to Austin many times as a touring musician, and even familiar places now have a patina of the odd and the strange. And I’m loving it. It’s like I finally made it to a warp zone and am now exploring a bonus map. A place only hinted at from a game I’ve been playing my entire life. It’s like I just downloaded a brand new, gigantic dlc expansion and I get to explore all the new content, the new quests, the new characters, storylines, backstory, and adventures.
S.A. Bach and I were on tour in the weeks leading up to this move to Austin. And we unfortunately got into an argument with a rock the size of a pre-teen’s head. Alas, the rock won, my car lost. So, my life is scattered across three states. My car, a bunch of musical gear, and a lot of my merch are still in Seattle. Without my car, I couldn’t install a trailer, so I was forced to leave stuff behind in the move to Austin. Stuff at my friends Stephanie and Michelle’s place, and stuff in storage. I basically brought some clothes and my studio. But, as it turns out, that’s all I really need. I’m gonna get working on my next song. I just thought I’d check in. Say hello. Start working out the ol’ writing muscles again. I’m certain they’re gonna be sore tomorrow. Oh well, no pain, no gain.
Covered in insect bites, june bugs, and water-beatles,
Mike TV