Every morning, my iPhone is playing the same group of songs. Coincidentally, two of those songs are ‘Every Day Is Exactly The Same’ by Nine Inch Nails, and ‘My Iron Lung’ by Radiohead. I love both songs, and yet I wonder if they’re subliminally trying to tell me something, since they each carry a personal message. You see, both songs describe something in my life— my job (Every Day) and my novel (Iron Lung)— and I know that up to this point, neither of them are getting me any closer to my dreams.

On the flip side, we’re really close to finishing a few things on the Somrod To-Do list… the last remaining soffit in the basement project (yes, we’re still at it after a 4 month break), the ceremonious 10th episode of Magic Junk Radio (yes, I need to lay down some vocals), and believe it or not, there is a Wiki in the works for all of the MJR compositions over the years (yes, it’s practically a Somrod history lesson).

This is all good progress considering that most nights I get home from work at 8-9:30pm. So why the hell can’t my iPhone start playing ‘Dig Your Own Hole’ by the Chemical Brothers every morning? Is that too much to ask for? Can you let a brother get his shuffle back?

The night before, an unsolicited and semi-flirtatious e-mail was sent, armed with a closet Star Wars fan comment. The next day, the email recipient was curious enough to log into a dating service chat program, and she found him already waiting there. The rest is history.

Or in retro musical terms, it could be the day titled “They Meet”.

I discovered the music of NIN as a sophomore in high school in 1991. A girl I was dating gave me a cassette copy of their first album Pretty Hate Machine, and I was immediately hooked. After 1992’s Broken was released, I have followed bandleader and production guru Trent Reznor’s career closely ever since. Sure, there have been a couple speed bumps along the way (i.e. songs like “The Perfect Drug” or “Deep”), but NIN’s hard edged soundscape has always appealed to me.

Outside of the multi-layered textures, pulsing synths, and arrogant guitar power chords that Reznor has woven through his work, I’ve also enjoyed his frequently aggressive and angst ridden lyrics and breathy vocal delivery. So when Reznor released Ghosts I-IV, an album comprised of 36 untitled instrumentals, I was not sure what to make of it at first. I knew I had enjoyed many previous NIN instrumentals like “The Mark Has Been Made” and “La Mer” from The Fragile, or “A Warm Place” from The Downward Spiral— but nearly two hours without a single vocal? It seemed like a recipe for disaster when mixed with an experimental release format via the web only.

Luckily, despite the NIN website crashing on the first day of release, Ghosts I-IV was considered a success by most critics and fans, despite not being as groundbreaking as some of his previous records. My belief on Ghosts is that Reznor didn’t want to chance releasing his “vocal-included” material in the event that this experiment was not as profitable as hoped. However, now that it has been, I expect that in the upcoming months, he will release an EP with vocal tracks. Of course, that is purely speculative from a longtime fan. Forgive my optimism.

More importantly, Reznor had a second experiment in mind for Ghosts outside of the release structure. NIN teamed up with YouTube to host a “film festival” where fans could submit their own visual representations of the music of Ghosts. The films will be reviewed by a team (including Trent) and the “exceptional” ones will be prominently displayed as a YouTube/NIN collaborative “film festival”. As Reznor states, “This isn’t a contest and you don’t win elaborate prizes - it’s meant to be an experiment in collaboration and a chance for us to interact beyond the typical one-way artist-to-fan relationship.” The YouTube page detailing all this can be found here.

Thus, while I am not able to create quality video or anime for the film festival, I did have an opinion that all of the tracks of Ghosts segment into two distinct mixes. Each mix sonically illustrates a character as listed below:

1. Ambicaspian: the musical portrait of a suburban woman who drowned in a lake while swimming alone. Her ghost forever trapped in the lake’s surroundings, she does everything within her powers to keep others from the same fate. No one has drowned there since.

Ambicaspian track listing:
02 Ghosts I
05 Ghosts I
30 Ghosts IV
28 Ghosts IV
25 Ghosts III
34 Ghosts IV
21 Ghosts III
36 Ghosts IV
18 Ghosts II
01 Ghosts I
17 Ghosts II
22 Ghosts III
13 Ghosts II
11 Ghosts II
09 Ghosts I
15 Ghosts II
06 Ghosts I

2. Geistfearian: the musical portrait of an urban man who was double-crossed and poisoned by his best friend and his wife, who were having an affair. His ghost forever trapped in the city, he roams the street, toppling scaffolding and breaking pipes in the ground. His pain is so severe that he can never rest.

Geistfearian track listing:
03 Ghosts I
24 Ghosts III
16 Ghosts II
26 Ghosts III
14 Ghosts II
29 Ghosts IV
07 Ghosts I
32 Ghosts IV
23 Ghosts III
27 Ghosts III
31 Ghosts IV
12 Ghosts II
20 Ghosts III
08 Ghosts I
33 Ghosts IV
19 Ghosts III
35 Ghosts IV
04 Ghosts I
10 Ghosts II

In closing, I can only hope that Nine Inch Nails continues to experiment with music and media, a trait not often found in an artist who has already spanned a generation. Cheers.

Recap: I had spinal fusion of the L4-L5-S1 vertebrae back in August of 2007 to correct a congenital condition called Isthmic Spondylolisthesis. I was in the hospital for six days, out of work for eight weeks and in a back brace for six months. You can read about that here .

About a month ago my orthopedic surgeon told me that I no longer have to wear my back brace. This was huge! I can’t explain the level of excitement those words created in me. He said that I’m recovering well and he sees lots of bone growth and did I mention…I can stop wearing my back brace? Getting rid of this brace is the most wonderful news. I am usually a very shy person but I found myself talking to everyone on my way out of the doctor’s office. Telling them about my surgery and how my brace was horrible…OK. I’m exaggerating. I really only talked with two people who asked about the brace I was carrying. There is no exaggeration about how big, clunky, and uncomfortable it was to wear the brace. It went against my fashionista tendencies. The brace was not exactly the perfect accessory.

FINALLY! A little more than three weeks ago I started physical therapy. Generally PT is one the most difficult steps in recovery because you have to start using muscles that were previously restricted. I have not felt this sore in a long time. I’m going about 3 times a week for the next 6-8 weeks. They start me off by having me lay down on my stomach with a heat pad on my lower back. This is to relax the muscles. Then the physical therapist comes in and helps me stretch. So, basically she turns me into a human pretzel before putting me on the bicycle for 5-7 minutes. Followed by some leg/back exercises with weight machines then onto some floor exercises and more stretching. Once finished, its back on my stomach for some ice and muscle stim. I think I walk into PT better than when I leave but it should get better…I need it to get better. But right now its just kicking my ass.

Don’t forget to visit Josh at his blog - Confessions of a Fanboy and tune into the B-Sides Concept Album show on Blogtalkradio every Thursday @ 10PM EST.

Here is the direct link to the show’s page. At the BSCA page, once the radio show is ON, there will be a blinking green button that says “Click To Listen”, and you can open a window for the chat room as well.

If you’re having issues with the hotlink above, here is the full site URL for the show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stations/bc/bsidesconceptalbum

Hope you can tune in. It should be humorous, or at least as humorous as the banter of Sahm & S.Rod can be. Cheers.

From today on, MagicJunk.com will become Somrod.com. I had started Magic Junk back in 2000, well before I met the lovely Ms. S.Rod. So it was only natural for the site to evolve into something more collaboratively named. We needed a fresh start after a hectic year, and this was definitely a good jumping-off point for us.

For now, outside of some cosmetic changes, the site is still the same. But Somrod Creative will be the launching pad where we hope to bring many new concepts to life. Like GE on ecstasy. Okay, maybe not that good, but we’ll try our best to be productive.

But we didn’t stop there. Blogimus Prime has served me well since 2005, but it was more playful than keeping with the current direction of our sites. However, we didn’t have to look far for a name— only back to a couple of previous blog entries from December 2006 and August 2005. Creative Psychosis fit the general vibe of most of the blog entries, plus it inspired a really kick-ass header graphic (as you can see above).

The only thing that remains the same is Magic Junk Radio, since the MJ name really catered to our podcast style. Speaking of which, we just launched Episode 9 today. Go check it out if you have the chance.

All in all, we’re happy to be working towards our creative goals again. It’s quite liberating to make a rocket of your rust and cobwebs, and launch that mothersucker into space! Cheers.

But after running through forty conceptual tracks trapped in the Somrod vault over the past fifteen months, eight have banded together for a common theme and have reached sonic completion. All that remains now is the mixing, some last minute revisions, and of course, the joint narration of M. Sahm and S.Rod that glues together their humble composition. Hey, at least we are more productive than that Peter Gabriel guy!

Thus, within the next week, someone will lock their keys in their car, someone you know will get laid (hopefully that person you see in the reflective surface), the Knicks could fire Isiah Thomas, the new Nine Inch Nails album will reach a dozen plays on my iPhone, and the ninth episode of Magic Junk Radio will finally reach the internet. No, really! We swear! We cast your podshake! We cast it up!

Anyway, I have been listening to our wedding music all day. Before the wedding, Mark and I put together a compilation CD and gave these to our guests. These songs were chosen to appeal to everyone and were actually used during the ceremony and reception (as noted below). While I was planning our ‘joyous event’, I initially cringed at the idea of having gift CD’s. It’s usually a collection of overly sappy or clichéd music with no real meaning or reason. Mark and I decided that if we were going to do a CD, it would have to reflect ourselves, the music was too important. The entire wedding was pretty much planned the same way, and we get complimented on the mix to this day.

I find that I smile when certain songs start playing on my iPod. I look down and realize that we had that song attached to one of the happiest days of our life together. Each song evokes memories during the wedding and the fun we had. And isn’t that the point of music? Shouldn’t it jog pleasant memories and console you through hurt? Some people don’t really give it a second thought. Let’s just say that we have been to a few weddings where the music didn’t seem to fit or reflect the couple.

The Somrod Wedding CD Track List:
1 - Arioso - Steve Erquiaga (J.S. Bach)
(Processional - Ringbearer/Flowergirl/Maid-of-Honor)
2 - The Princess Appears - John Williams
(Processional - Bride)
3 - Do Your Realize?? - The Flaming Lips (Recessional)
4 - All I Need - Air (First Dance)
5 - Destiny - Zero 7 (Dance after Cake Cutting)
6 - Flim - The Bad Plus (Dinner Music)
7 - Watermelon Man - Herbie Hancock
8 - You’re My Best Friend - Queen (Cake Cutting)
9 - Beautiful Crazy - Space Raiders
10 - Move - Miles Davis (Dinner Music)
11 - Gentle Thoughts - Herbie Hancock (Dinner Music)
12 - Oye Como Va - Santana
13 - Baby Can’t Wait - Maktub
14 - I’m The Man Who Loves You - Wilco

In retrospect, I would not change a thing. Although Mark still jokes that the recessional could have been ‘I Might Be Wrong’ by Radiohead. But I don’t think so. He’s just lucky I didn’t dedicate R.E.M’s “The One I Love” to him. Hope you have a nice Valentine’s Day.