Audio and Video! Matt Mahaffey's 615 Day Session!

In case you missed it, last Friday was 615 Day at a Nashville radio station. 615 is the area code for middle Tennessee, and last Friday was also June 15. Lightning 100 took advantage of the numberlicious day and made it all about area musicians. I didn't get to listen to the whole shebang (thought I'd throw that out there for all the Fluid Ounces fans reading this), but I made a point to tune in during Matt Mahaffey's set, which was apparently recorded a week or so before.

Matt recently put the set up on Soundcloud, and it's worth your time to give it a listen.



Here's a live, organ-only version of his wonderful song "Could You Love Me Now."



And just because it's so awesome (and backwards!), here's the official video for the song.

Video of the Day

According to a post by Matt Mahaffey on Facebook yesterday, he's doing the drum work for Animal. Regardless of the drum toss, I think Animal won this battle.

Video of the Day

I'm not the biggest fan of rap, but I'm a huge fan of Matt Mahaffey, and he's got some vocals on this Lupe Fiasco track. I don't see him in this video, so I'm assuming he's not part of the live performance, but you can definitely hear him during the beginning of the video.

I'm including this video because Matt's studio's Facebook page went live. I'll give this guy as much press as humanly possible.

December is Here Video Constitutional!!

If I were still married, Alison Brie would take up ALL the places on my List. You hear that Alison? I'm single. You can call me now! http://fuckyeahalisonbrie.tumblr.com/



My dad sent me this to show the kids, and my oldest thought it was hilarious. If you like dogs and you like birds and you like videos of them eating spaghetti, then this is the perfect video for you. After watching this you can go ahead and cancel the Internet.



Doctor Who strips for the kids. Plus, there's a trailer for this year's Christmas special.



After downloading the album from Amazon last week, I am totally in love with Childish Gambino. I don't even like rap all that much.









I think Katy Perry is hot, but a little of her music goes a long way for me, so I don't go searching for new music by her. My sister shared this video on Facebook, though, and yeah, I think we've all got one who got away, even if we can't admit it.



WINTER IS COMING...at the bottom of the sea. This time-lapse video of starfish and sea urchins being frozen by brinicles is somewhat amazing.



Justified!







I love Community, and I don't even notice all the little Easter Eggs. Of course, when they take three seasons to complete, sure, I'll get a little lost.



I'm guessing this video is fake, but that doesn't mean the laughter isn't real. Thanks, Josh!



I'll be watching Alcatraz because of the people involved, not because of this commercial. I have absolutely no idea what the show is about, and this commercial tells me nothing except that somehow Alcatraz is involved in something.



Why do I love to cook so much? Gordon Ramsay gets it!



Rest in peace, Patrice O'Neal. I enjoyed you in everything I saw you in (Oh, most definitely), and the comedy world has lost a genuinely funny man.

Roast of Charlie Sheen

So apparently Super Mario Brothers was redone by some Asian dickhead. This video of an Australian guy playing the game is awesome.



The video from Chloe (you remember Chloe from 24, right?) is okay, but I watched it because it features music from Wired All Wrong and Self.



I think I love Felicia Day. She's adorable, she's a nerd, she's got gorgeous red hair...yup, I loves her. Here she is playing with herself. Thanks, Jonathan!



Best rap I've ever heard about pancakes.



I think I may rewatch Firely over the holiday season. Here are the 32 best quotes from the show.



Is this a great opening credits mash-up or the GREATEST opening credits mash-up?



Here are a bunch of beagles (my favorite breed of dogs ever!) who get their first experience of being outside and on grass. They were lab dogs who spent their lives in cages. If you have even the tiniest scrap of human emotions, this video will touch your heart. It's adorable! They don't know what to do!



Also, in case you've forgotten: When I can remember to add this to the bottom of my posts, I’m going to whore myself out with an impassioned plea: click on the ads. PLEASE click on the ads. I don’t care if you exit out of it immediately or actually look around. This isn’t some professional blog where I believe in the products I’m shilling. These are automatic ads placed by Google. But when you click ads, I get a little bit of money, and as a single father of three, every penny from every source helps...especially with Christmas looming on the horizon. So I’m going to keep this tiny bit of begging at the bottom of my posts, and I hope you’ll take an extra 10 seconds after reading my blog to click on an ad. The only thing it costs you is time. :) Thanks so much!

What You Should Have Heard #66

My Mix CDs

I’ve got a lot of music but limited space to hold it in, especially in my car. So I’ve gone the old tried-and-true way of making mix CDs to have access to as many bands as possible while driving. I’m going slightly old-school since I’m a bit backwards and have no iPod.

Most of the songs will be more upbeat, with probably only the occasional ballad or slower song included. I like to sing in the car, and the more upbeat songs are more fun to sing.

I’ll be going in alpha-numeric order with these, so if you’re wanting to argue with me about what Weezer songs should be included, you’re going to be waiting for a while.

My only limitations are that I use 80 min. discs, and I’m only going to use one disc per band/artist. I will make exceptions for only my most favorite bands with huge playlists (Foo Fighters and Self, off the top of my head), but I’d really like to boil everything down to just one disc.

Here’s the list guide:

Track # - Song Name - Album Name [Artist if album is by a different artist]

Prince Mix CD

1. 1999 – 1999
2. Little Red Corvette – 1999
3. Let’s Pretend We’re Married – 1999
4. Electric Chair – Batman
5. Partyman – Batman
6. Trust – Batman
7. Batdance – Batman
8. Let’s Go Crazy – Purple Rain
9. Darling Nikki – Purple Rain
10. Housequake – Sign ‘O the Times
11. Gotta Stop (Messin’ About) – The Hits
12. Raspberry Beret – The Hits
13. Kiss – The Hits
14. 7 – The Hits
15. Pussy Control

A few notes on Prince:

• Despite his large catalog, I’m surprised I was able to find enough songs I liked to make up a 60-minute CD. I’ve never been a big fan, and I remember absolutely HATING “When Doves Cry” when I was a kid. Don’t really know why. I don’t mind it now, but I remember really not liking it.
• When the first Tim Burton Batman movie came out, I was on a big Batman kick. I loved the movie and I was actually reading the comic book (that didn’t last long). For Christmas that year, one of my cousins got me a Batman-themed gift, which included a VHS copy of the movie, a Batman/Converse shoe phone, and this soundtrack. I think it’s the only Prince album I can enjoy all the way through.
• It might be sacrilege to Prince fans, but I’ve included a couple songs on here only because I like them covered by other people. “Let’s Pretend We’re Married” was covered by Self (click link to listen to the cover), who’s frontman Matt Mahaffey was greatly influenced by Prince. I love love LOVE the Foo Fighter’s cover of “Darling Nikki.” Oh, and what’s that? Self ALSO covered “Gotta Stop (Messin’ About)”? Mahaffey also included his version of the backwards bit from the end of “Darling Nikki” on “Sucker,” one of the songs off his “Breakfast with Girls” album.
• “Pussy Control” was a staple at Cotton Eyed Joe’s, the go-to club in college.

Prince Unofficial Fansite

Prince Wikipedia entry

Prince AllMusic entry

Self Video Dump

Because you know I love Self and I recently favorited a bunch of these on YouTube, here are a bunch (all?) of Self videos! Quality will vary, and Cannon and So Low are SOOOOO mid-'90s that it kinda makes me feel old.

Trunk Fulla Amps



Hellglass



Back in Black



Cannon



So Low



Could You Love Me Now



Clap Hands (Yeah, I know it's Beck and not Self, but Matt's in it and it's still pretty damn cool)

First Video Dump of the Summer

Gotta throw this in at the top spot. It's the video for Matt Mahaffey/sElf's new song, Could YOu Love Me. He's singing backwards, man. Backwards!



The music really helps the creepiness factor of this video. Apparently it's from a Sherlock Holmes video game, and Watson just disappears and reappears near you. Creepy.



Can't stand the song or the singer, but it really works as a Star Trek video. I'd party with the crew of the Enterprise.



Okay, I've been hearing about Auto-Tune the News for quite a while now, but I've stayed away. I hate auto-tuning, and I just assumed I'd hate it applied to comedy. Oh how wrong I was. Looks like I'll be going back and watching the previous 11 installments.



When I first heard that there was going to be a Green Hornet movie with Seth Rogen, I rolled my eyes and dismissed it. Now the first trailer is out, and it actually looks like it could be pretty fun. As a plus, it's got Christoph Waltz as the villain. As a minus, it's got Cameron Diaz.

FIRST TRAILER FOR RED!!!!! I love Warren Ellis and just about anything he writes. I love Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary Louise Parker and Morgan Freeman. I think the chance to see Helen Mirren portray a retired CIA hit woman is priceless. This movie looks like tons of fun.

What You Should Have Heard #12

I interrupt your regularly scheduled Mix CD WYSHH in order to bring you this special announcement. Self/Matt Mahaffey has released a new single/track available for download. As a huge fan of the man, I'm thrilled to be able to actually purchase some new music by him.

If you're an iTunes person, go there and get it. I'm not, so I got mine from Amazon.

I'm going to try not to burn myself out on it, so I'm only on the second listen right now. It's a very passable mid-tempo pop love song. It's hard to make a concrete judgment on how much I like or dislike it right now. Ask me again in a couple of weeks. I'm going to give it time to sink in a bit. But it's definitely a Self song, and right now I think I'm going to like it more than a couple of the thematically similar songs that might or might not have been found on the phantom Ornament & Crime album.

So if you're looking for some new music, spend the $.99 this track is going to cost you and download it. Then go check out Matt's Facebook and MySpace pages, and then you can hop on over to the official fan site Self Centered. There's not much news on the site, but there's a decent forum and hundreds of free and legally downloadable songs.

And tell 'em Rob sent you. They'll look at you funny 'cause they won't know who I am.

Self: Subliminal Plastic Motives (CD Review)

Here’s a bit of a departure. This CD is not new. It’s not even recent. It’s actually more than a decade old. But you know what? It’s still awesome, and it actually contains the song which contains the line that I have chosen for the title of my blog.

I first heard Self in '96. Two singles, Cannon and So Low, were in decent rotation on two stations in Nashville, Thunder 94 and 103 KDF (both stations have long since undergone content changes). At the time, Nashville had a free summer concert, Dancin' in the District, every Thursday night. Self was headlining one night, and I went. They were crazy awesome live. And they had life-size Star Wars cut-outs on stage! After that, I ended up ordering this CD from BMG and listened to it constantly.

I think the CD is very much a product of its time, but still ahead of the curve. I'd classify it as post-grunge rock (think more Smashing Pumpkins, Beck and a bit of Weezer rather than Pearl Jam and Nirvana), but it utilized sampling at a time when I remember sampling only being used in rap.

What really impressed me about the CD, though, is that almost everything is done by (now) Self frontman Matt Mahaffey. The group really didn’t become a group until Matt started touring, and then he kept the guys on for subsequent CDs. The only other two times I know of this being done (I’m sure there are more, but I only know of two) are Foo Fighters debut release Foo Fighters and Abandoned Pools release Humanistic (I think that’s the one).

From the first track to the last, this CD seems almost perfectly put together, and would be a great (and probably extremely cheap) addition to any CD collection.

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Listening to: Ambulance LTD - Heavy Lifting
via FoxyTunes

Self/Matt Mahaffey

I try and promote this group wherever I can, and since I'm using lyrics from one of the songs as this blog's title (from the song with the same name as my email address), I thought I'd start this blog out with a little praise for my favorite group/performer. One of the links I'm posting goes to the audio/video section of the group's official fan site. You'll be able to download 5 full b-side albums, 14 full live shows, 10 videos, and 33 miscellaneous songs.

It's difficult to describe this band, because each album (4 have been released since '96, and one was completed but killed by the suits) is different from the last. Here's Mahaffey's (frontman and brainchild behind the group) biography from the site:

http://www.self-centered.org/biography.php

and here's the wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_%28band%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Mahaffey

I first heard Self in '96. Two singles, Cannon and So Low, were in decent rotation on two stations in Nashville, Thunder 94 and 103 KDF (both stations have long since undergone content changes). At the time, Nashville had a free summer concert, Dancin' in the District, every Thursday night. Self was headlining one night, and I went. They were crazy awesome live. And they had life-size Star Wars cut-outs on stage! After that, I bought their/his (Mahaffey did just about everything on the first CD solo and later got the group together to tour, and Self eventually evolved from a person to a group) debut CD, Subliminal Plastic Motives, and listened to it constantly. I think the CD is very much a product of its time, but still ahead of the curve. I'd classify it as post-grunge rock (think more Smashing Pumpkins and Beck rather than Pearl Jam and Nirvana), but it utilized sampling at a time when I remember sampling only being used in rap.

Mr. Mahaffey has weathered out the past 12 years pretty well, but he never attained the recognition that his die-hard fans think he deserves. He's done some soundtrack work (Dead Man on Campus, Shrek ...2?, and he's currently doing the music for the Nickelodeon series Ni Hao Kai Lan), collaborated with the lead singer of God Lives Underwater to form Wired All Wrong, provided loyal fans with a treasure trove of unreleased music for free (see link below), worked with Beck, recorded some commercial jingles, and has done a lot of work on the production side of the music biz.

Whether or not Mahaffey releases any more Self projects, his music will always be something I'll be able to pop in and enjoy, mainly because each release is so different from the previous one. If you've got some time and some hard-drive space, I recommend visiting the fan site and downloading some of his music.

The music is here:

http://www.self-centered.org/media.php

I highly recommend checking this group out. You've got nothing to lose...it's free!

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Listening to: Disturbed - Torn
via FoxyTunes