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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Metermaids are Clear Channel "Artists to Watch" for October.

Chyeah.

So, Clear Channel has given us the honor of being one of their "Artists to Watch" for October. So, you know, watch us and stuff.

You can check out the link HERE!

Holler.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Blackout Baby Free Download at FUSE.

So, FUSE was nice enough to offer the first song off of "Smash Smash Bang" for free on their website.

You can check it out HERE!

Big week this week. Big couple of weeks coming up. CMJ Showcase and official album release for "Smash Smash Bang" this Saturday.

More news coming soon y'all.

Holler.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Video Recap of Bowery Poetry Club Show.

We were a liiiiiiiittle drunk. I think Sentence might have broken a monitor. Nice. Shouts to Smut Villian for holding us down last minute too.

Anyways, these videos come courtesy of the kick-ass brother/sister team of Donovan and Natty.

The set went --

Blackout Baby



Keep it Moving



Shades Off



The Inside



Funk Terrorist



Planes Down



Thanks again Donovan and Natty.

Holler.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

New Video from Prayers for Atheists.

It's for Bike Song, which is a great song. And the video is super dope, co-directed by our homey Prolyphic, who is on SFR with PFA. Mad acronyms in that sentence, son.

Check it out:



A lifetime-music-hero of mine just hollered at me on Facebook. Told me to holler at him tomorrow. Sometimes this life can be pretty rad.

Holler.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Breaking Down "Smash Smash Bang" Part 5.

So, the last song on the EP is called "Ghosts in the Radio."

Me and Stine wrote the original music in the studio together. I was noodling around on the guitar and wrote the hook-guitar part. Stine programmed some crazy drums to go with it and played the bass line and the organ part. I played the guitar part in the verses too.

Sentence and I wrote our verses and came in and laid them down -- at that point, though, the song was like a minute and a half long. It was just intro-verse-hook-verse-hook. We knew that we needed something else, and wanted to do something (in keeping with the whole mentality of the EP) weird and different. So Stine brought in Grey, who plays keys in the live band, to help us write another section.

Neither Sentence or I was there when Grey came in to the studio, but we knew we wanted a honley-tonk kind of section. Apparently Stine say Grey down and showed him some videos of Jerry Lee Lewis playing for inspiration. And Grey proceeded to play every instrument in that section: piano, guitar, banjo, and organ. At the time, Stine's studio was like a Guitar Center or something. He had so many instruments in there it was ridiculous (and amazing).

So after the middle section was completed Sentence wrote the part that we yell and we came in and laid that down and then did a bunch of tracks of us screaming different things off-mic, trying to make it seem like it was recorded in a rowdy ass bar. If you listen closely in headphones you can hear some of the ridiculous things we were yelling. It was a very fun session.

And after all that was done, Stine put in some cool sound effects: more crowd noise, radio-frequency-noises, etc. And it was done, done, done.

We were very happy with the song because we felt like there had never been another hip hop song that sounded anything like it.

Here are the lyrics:

Leaned back in the car seat with the sun's heat and a six pack
And the crap work of a past tattoo artist boyfriend read live fast
And as the road cracked we acted like we were in on a secret
Under the summer sky on the highway made plans, acting like we believed it

We both would become runaways to Vegas, she could sing
And I'd deal blackjack and smoke cigerettes as the slot machines would ring
But I knew sh'd never do it, that night I kissed her when I left
And I drove the dream we shared right past the state line while she slept

Late night I hear the ghost on the radio
Last dance, I ain't never coming back
My love left a ghost in the radio
Can you hear that? Can you hear that?

My fingers were dirty from digging these graves. I was breaking my back for you.
And I would have robbed all the banks in Georgia if you had asked me to.
I gave you the necklace. Gave you the earrings. Gave you the matching pendant.
You said I was lazy. Said I was stupid. Said I would never get it.
You're shutting the door and killing the lights and turning the radio up.
We're keeping it quiet so your ma can't hear us making love.
I left on a Tuesday morning, packing while you slept.
And I ain't missed you for a single second yet.

Late night I hear the ghost on the radio
Last dance, I ain't never coming back
My love left a ghost in the radio
Can you hear that? Can you hear that?

Go where you want. You can't stay here. Hit the lights.
Thank you and goodnight.

Late night I hear the ghost on the radio
Last dance, I ain't never coming back
My love left a ghost in the radio
Can you hear that? Can you hear that?

And here is the song:

<a href="http://music.metermaidsnyc.com/track/ghosts-in-the-radio">Ghosts In The Radio by Metermaids</a>


Holler.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Breaking Down "Smash Smash Bang" Part 4.

Sorry it took me so long to update this again. We were having website problems. But we are back with a vengence.

So, our favorite hip hop blog Hip Hop Infinity (which is on our blog roll -- check it out!) gave us the honor of Underground Track of the Week! for the fourth song on Smash Smash Bang, entitled "Matchbooks."

This is the song we will discuss next. Also, there is a Tim Young directed video coming for this song berry berry soon. It's funny.

I had had the idea for music like this a long time ago. In my head, it was room-mic'ed stomps and claps and piano and rapping all at the same time. Like if you were listening to it in headphones you would just be in the same room with the music.

The stomps and claps are me and Sentence. We did a bunch of takes and at the end our hands hurt a lot. When we were writing the piano part, Stine heard that the stomps had a tone to them, and figured out that they were in the key of G Sharp. He has a much better ear than I do. I just heard stomps. So the song is in the key of G Sharp. Which is kind of weird and cool I guess.

Stine and Sentence then convinced me that if we didn't add anything else to the track it would be boring and repetitive, and I think in the end they were right. It's not easy for me to admit when I'm wrong. So Stine added the bass and the organ for the hook, and switched up the piano part for the second eight bars of Sentence's verse. Then Sentence and Stine came up with the idea to add feedback-y guitar to the end -- Sentence gave Stine the reference point of "Misunderstood" by Wilco, which is one of my favorite songs. And so Stine put the guitar on the end as well, and I think he nailed it.

The song itself is pretty easy to decipher. I won't speak for anyone else in Metermaids, but I will say that 2009 has been a particularly tough year for me. And with the recession, etc., I imagine it has been difficult for a lot of people. This is a hopeful song yo. Mad hopeful son!

Here are the lyrics:

This morning's cigarette tasted like last night.
And last night like the one before.
I made my bed in the morning when I woke up.
I picked my clothes up off the floor.
I rode the train like a ghost in the graveyard.
I walked the streets like a criminal's son.
I pulled my hat real low.
I had apologies for everyone.
I wished I could make the city silent.
I wished all I could hear is my breath.
I would lay myself down on the sidewalk.
Let the city whisper secrets as I slept.
I called my sister up long distance
To see if she remembered me now that she's grown.
Her laugh sounded just like our mother's.
And I wished that I was going home.

It's gonna get so much better
Everybody's gonna get their turn
Count the matches that's left in the matchbook
One of these is gonna burn

Leaving like the first day of summer
The stars are getting restless hiding out of sight
I've never seen a bus or a train in the daytime
But this one's gonna get me home tonight

Everybody's leaned back with their eyes closed
My fingernails are dirty like I dug out of a prison
And I try not to think about what everything could mean
'Cause I've never been much for symbolism

I've seen this street too many times now
And the trees all nod like they agree
I leave the door open on my way in the apartment
Like somehow that's enough to make me free

And the last thoughts I have are the pretty ones
The last split second I'm awake
And I've never been afraid and the dark don't scare me
'Cause some things you can never take away


It's gonna get so much better
Everybody's gonna get their turn
Count the matches that's left in the matchbook
One of these is gonna burn

And here is the song:

<a href="http://music.metermaidsnyc.com/track/matchbooks">Matchbooks by Metermaids</a>


Holler.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Breaking Down "Smash Smash Bang" Part 3.

So, "Shades Off" is the third song on the EP.

I had the hook in my head for a long time. I would walk around saying it to myself -- it's especially fun to do walking around Manhattan in the summertime.

Stine had come into possession of a bad-ass bass courtesy of Clinton Curtis, and had spent a bunch of time fooling around with it, just recording different things here and there. And one time, when Sentence and I were at the studio, he played us a recording of him playing the grimiest and loudest fuzz-bass of all time, just noodling around. Naturally, our interest was peaked (I've mentioned that we dig us some fuzz-bass right?).

So we went through the recording and found two distinct parts that we thought would be rad to use in a song, and Stine rerecorded it. Stine also programmed the drums and played the organ part again. I laid down the guitar part on this song -- which I have always thought was cool, because the rest of the music is garage rock-y but the guitar part sounds like on some Prince-type ish to me. Haha.

Simple, simple beat. Four instruments, two real sections, no bridge, no nothing. Verse-Chorus-Verse stylee. "Shades Off" was the first song we recorded for the EP, and pretty much set the mood.

We actually performed it for the first time at a loft party at Mckibben, when we had B. Dolan and Jared Paul and Prayers for Atheists from Strange Famous Records down. Suffice to say, it went off. Without even setting anything up the kids were echoing the "HEY!" of the hook and everything. But we had a third verse still open on it.

Now, originally, we were going to ask Sleep of Old Dominion fame to rock the third verse. Sentence and Sleep are cool from way back (Sleep was on Sentence's album "There and Back"), and he is incredibly dope, and we thought he would sound great on the song. Our communications got crossed, though, and we sort of fell out of touch. Meanwhile, Sentence and I had both been big fans of Jared Paul for a long time. We didn't think to reach out initially because neither of us had ever had any contact with him. But after meeting him through the Brooklyn show, finding out how rad he is, and THEN seeing how fucking incredible Prayers for Atheists is, we realized that he was the right person to ask.

So we asked if he would be down, and he said he was, and he laid down a goose-bump inducing verse, and all was happy in the world. And then we brought Prayers for Atheists down to NYC for another show in July, and they tore it down, and we got to rock the full song live for the first time -- there is video evidence of it too.

Check it out:



So, there.

Here are the lyrics (minus Jared's verse -- we didn't want to get anything wrong):

Forgive me if I don't act impressed. But I'm not a stranger to your apathy and stress.
I'm not going to dance if you decide to call my name out.
I know your tongue will curl and spit your venom with the same mouth.

I want to be famous. Want to be loved. Want to be validated.
I want to be different from these cats that are always agitated.
I want to believe in the pictures that you paint. But I know what's really real.
And I know what ain'ty ain't.

On some real shit, I'm a self-made hundred-aire.
Never had nothing to my name and I don't fucking care.
I come prepared for any cross examination.
The only thing you're going to test is my patience.

Find some other kids that are glowing like a television.
Everybody's gotta have a little somthing special in them.
With any luck you can pluck it out of their chest.
As for me, I've only got one request.

Take your shades off.
Let me see your eyes.

I want to believe the hype, want to be a part of it
Want to see behind the scenes, sink my teeth in the heart of it (believe that)
Maybe I'm just not the optimist
'Cause I can't fill my plate or pockets with empty promises

I get that vibe sometimes you think I'm new to this
Ain't made a lot of dough, but I've made a lot of moves and shit
Don't even want to take the time to hear how you're improving it
I've got what I've got and I'm cool with it

But you can get your words mashed up
Trying to make them sound pretty to get someone gassed up
Like everything you say sounds so glamorous and wild
I'm surprised by nothing, it comes with the lifestyle

You got something to sell, go ahead, try it
It doesn't mean a thing without some sucker to buy it
You'll find somebody wide-eyed and fired up, do your worst
Just do one thing for me first

Take your shades off.
Let me see your eyes.

And here is the song:

<a href="http://music.metermaidsnyc.com/track/shades-off-feat-jared-paul">Shades Off (Feat. Jared Paul) by Metermaids</a>


Holler.