---TYSON -- VS -- SUIT & TIE GUY--- (front row)
We at the Sea-Cow have a compulsive need to archive everything (well i do at least). The latest is the (still in progress) Tyson-Vs-STG which launched a day or two ago on the Peoria Shows Messageboard and soon spilled over onto the Suit& Tie Guy LJ. Since there's no garantee how long any of it will stay on the net, I've decided to compile all of it onto Our little LJ (annoted), for your convienence. ENJOY!
VS
ROUND ONE!
Posted by jason on 7/31/2004, 11:22 am, in reply to "Brief Candles, Scenic Square, more on August 1st"
12.221.220.9
---Posted by Suit & Tie Guy on 7/31/2004, 5:12 pm, in reply to "Re: Brief Candles, Scenic Square, more on August 1st"
12.219.180.60
"gay synth pop" would be more appropriate, though you are all healthy heterosexuals.
unfortunately most people don't understnad exactly how awesome gay synth pop is, so if you wish to refer to yourself as "electronic indie" i can see the point.
hitheroto the Suit & Tie Guy Band will refer to itself as "christian hardcore". then there will be debate as to wether the "christian hardcore" STGB ripped the name off of the "acid jazz" STGB, which will be settled when it is discovered it is exactly the same beand.
---The Post Heard Around the World---
Posted by Tyson on 8/2/2004, 7:20 am, in reply to ""electronic indie"?"
68.254.110.82
Electronic Indie?
I Downloaded your stuff. I thought it sounded like a poor man's Postal Service. But that's just me...
---The Rebuttle...of doom---
I HAVE FAILED. subtitle: Poor Man's Postal Service, produced by Poor Man's Robert Fripp
Posted by Suit & Tie Guy on 8/2/2004, 3:28 pm, in reply to "Re: "
12.219.180.60
apparently i was completely unsuccessful in getting all the indie rock out of that album.
allow me to add that i don't believe Jason even likes the Postal Service. his vocal stying appears to me to be a vocal manifestation of Thom Yorke getting it up the ass from George Michael.
at every step of the process i pushed it away from indie rock into gay synth pop/dance music. i stripped the guitars down to bare strings and fed them all through my Eventide Ultra-Harmonizer. i played bass on one track (Surprise), in a completely non-indie rock way (more like r'n'b). in a unique turn of events the drummer (Jason) allowed the organist (Suit) to re-make alot of the drums in a way to make them more dance-oriented (replacing and rerouting parts into/from a TR-909 for that real dance feel). i pulled all the tricks out of the STG bag: reverse vocals, feedback pitch shifting, looping. all stuff with roots in David Sylvian, Robert Fripp, or David Torn, not the Postal Service.
i believe there was only one instance on the entire album which my advice was not heeded, a very tiny thing.
in other words, i worked my ass off to make sure there were no Postal Service comparisons, but they come anyway. I failed.
of course, it's entirely possible that the Postal Service has so completely obscured superior gay dance music (Pet Shop Boys, Everything But The Girl, etc) to America's young indie rockers that it will be impossible for any honest real awesome gay synth pop to ever exist free of comparisons to the GOD DAMN ####ING POSTAL ####ING SERVICE.
it sucks too, because i was hoping this album would impress and establish myself as hot shot indie rock producer in Peoria. this is the best stuff i've ever heard come out of a local band (including my own), and all anyone can say is "eh ... Postal Service".
it's okay i guess. Scenic Square is the best experience i've ever had recording. i hope that i get to be involved in whatever Jason does next, but like most alums of STGB OG University, i'm sure that Jason is now capable enough not to need me.
Sorry Suit
Posted by Tyson on 8/2/2004, 9:26 pm, in reply to "I HAVE FAILED. subtitle: Poor Man's Postal Service, produced by Poor Man's Robert Fripp"
68.254.108.16
I'm sorry Eric,
I didn't think it sounded like the Postal Service album. I think it sounds like a Postal Service demo tape.
You'll get em next time.
Posted by Tyson on 8/2/2004, 9:29 pm, in reply to "Sorry Suit"
68.254.108.16
Oh yeah, and he doesn't sound like the singer from the Postal Service. My mistake there as well, he sounds like the singer from Death Cab for Cutie.
I made funny ha ha.
----Scenic Square enters the ring... (round TWO!)----
Re: "electronic indie"?
Posted by jason on 8/2/2004, 9:29 am, in reply to "Re: "
12.221.220.9
hm. fair enough. i guess. may i ask why?
Re: "electronic indie"?
Posted by Tyson on 8/2/2004, 9:34 am, in reply to "Re: "electronic indie"?"
68.249.216.21
Because it sounds like a total rip off of the Postal Service I suppose.
I guess that's a compliment on your ability to create melodic and pleasant electronic music.
It's also critizism on your total lack of originality.
I suppose I'd need to hear more songs to make a final judgement on it. I liked the song, but it just made me want to listen to the real thing.
I think that's one of the biggest problems with bands today. They find a band they like, and they just totally rip them off. I prefer taking 5 or 6 bands, and then ripping them off to create a somewhat original sound. Or at least, a sound that is familiar and yet somewhat unique.
Maybe if you mixed the Postal Service with Iggy Pop and the live show of David Bowie then you'd have something. I'm not really trying to be mean, I'm just old and Jaded.
---TYSON BASHING!----
Re: Sorry Suit
Posted by jason on 8/2/2004, 11:25 pm, in reply to "Re: Sorry Suit"
12.221.220.9
hey man, just wanted to let you know i went out today and got ahold of a moog prodigy. and a theramin. considering the fact that no indie rockers use those, i'm pretty sure they'll add the missing inredient (originality) to our sound. with these it'll also be much easier to adapt to whatever music becomes trendy, whether it be a geek-rock band or maybe even an in-your-face pop-punk act. it's gonna be totally sweet. and by totally sweet, i mean totally awesome.
oh crap, and i just realized that i look kind of like ben gibbard. hm, oh well. i guess i'll just go with nature on this one and shave my already-balding head. that'll definitely make us look a lot different. besides, there's no way i'd ever get signed to a sweet record label with a receding hairline. what was i thinking!
things are really looking up for my postal service tribute act! gracias for the advice, amigo!
---A Sensible answer??? (round THREE!)---
are you drunk?
Posted by Suit & Tie Guy on 8/2/2004, 9:49 pm, in reply to "Re: Sorry Suit"
12.219.180.60
hold it ...
you trash Taxi War Dance, and back down like a pussy because someone says "why did you trash the shittiest band ever to walk the face of the Peoria music scene" ... and then trash Scenic Square for sounding like The Postal Service but DON'T back down.
you're obviously drunk Tyson. just go back to bed. haha.
---!!! ---
Are you serious?
Posted by Tyson on 8/3/2004, 7:02 am, in reply to "are you drunk?"
68.254.113.64
I really wasn't trying to trash Scenic Square, originally, but your long winded defense of why they don't sound like the Postal Service was so convoluted that I'm pretty sure you knew it sounded like the Postal Service when you recorded it.
And as for your remarks Jason, Touche!
=)
You know I'm just F-ing with you Suit. I hate Taxi War Dance, but you have to admit, those guys are talented, they just have no taste. I guess people could say the same about me, but personally I think I have taste. Sort of like a salty banana.
What do you taste like?
---THE BRAWL GOES LJ!!! (round FOUR, gimme some more!!!)---
(At this point STG has posted a portion of tysons "review" of the scenic Squares song on his LJ, the fight continued in the comments)
girlafraid
2004-08-03 09:17 (link) This cock is talking out of his ass. The only thing Scenic Square has in common with the Postal Service is that little bleep-bleep shit they do. the Postal Service has a lead singer who sounds like he should be in an Emo band!!! Scenic Square is 100% better.
Tell him to "sit on it"
(Reply to this)
My Reply, you sexy guy
(Anonymous)
2004-08-03 09:19 (link) Suit, you are taking yourself way too serious. I'm glad you can handle open critizism. I consider you a friend and I didn't know you produced that record, but it still wouldn't have changed my mind. I need to hear the rest of the record though, because I've only heard that one Postal Service cover. It's hard to make a judgement on just one song.
Eric, Eric, Eric, this is the most fun I've had on the internet since I found Homestarrunner.com.
Tyson
(Reply to this)(Thread)
Re: My Reply, you sexy guy
cnnxcore
2004-08-03 13:00 (link) Second to last paragraph: you bitch about people ripping off bands, then you mention how you do it.
Last paragraph: you condone ripping off, but only if he mixed three artists. All of which were major acts. One of which was the act you bitched at him for "ripping off" in the first place.
Please, catch a single train of thought. You're starting to resemble a Poorman's Chris Burke.
Your pal,
Nick
(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)
you missed out, Nick.
suitandtieguy
2004-08-03 13:18 (link) you should have put that in rhyming scheme.
it's always a good idea to hone your chops while cutting people down online.
(Reply to this)(Parent)
Re: My Reply, you sexy guy
(Anonymous)
2004-08-03 13:19 (link) Hey Nick,
Let me clarify.. At the end, I was trying to tell him not to just rip off The Postal Service, but to mix it up and add something in with it, henceforth, that's why I mentioned the Postal Service. In the second to last paragraph I was bitching about how bands rip off one band so well they end up sounding like the one band, basically making a tribute band out of themselves.
We all rip off other bands. There are very few if any truly original acts out there. You can take any band and trace it back to the Beatles, then to Elvis, and then to a bunch of black people who never got rekkidnized. All I'm trying to say is, if you are going to start a band, try to do something somewhat new. You can't honestly tell me that the song "4 overbiters" does not sound like the Postal Service. He sings in the that whispery voice and the bleeps and blips and strings and everything about the total overall production sounds just like the songs on the Postal Service album. I have to admit I hear a little bit Radiohead's Kid A in there, but not enough to make it sound that different.
It's a great song. I'm not debating on the quality of the song, all I'm saying, pretty baby, is it sounds like the Postal Service, and I'd like to hear the rest of the record or at least a few more songs so I can see if the entire record is a total ripoff.
I suppose the only way you can totally get away with ripping off a band completely is if you rip off something that's at least 2 decades old. When you rip off something that old it seems new to all the high schoolers and that's somehow excepted. I.E. The Hives or The Killers or any of the "The" bands....
You all need to chill the F out and stop taking yourselves so seriously. If you are going to be in a band you better get used to getting made fun of or getting criticized.
Tyson
(Reply to this)(Parent)
YOU NEED A LIVE JOURNAL. WE CAN HAVE FUN ON LIVEJOURNAL TYSON.
suitandtieguy
2004-08-03 13:17 (link) i love criticism.
however yours was not criticism. it was an ignorant dismissal of a genre of music you know nothing about.
you were more generous to Taxi War Dance, man.
this whole thing makes me wish i was 21 again, kicking your ass outside of Midway Lanes.
(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)
Re: YOU NEED A LIVE JOURNAL. WE CAN HAVE FUN ON LIVEJOURNAL TYSON.
(Anonymous)
2004-08-03 13:22 (link) You didn't kick my ass. You told me to act like you were throwing me out, so I played along. Then you fell on me and knocked the wind out of me.
I wasn't dismissing an entire genre of music. You are ignorant.
I'm glad I'm getting to you. This is a gas.
Tyson
(Reply to this)(Parent)
fight of the century!
theseacow
2004-08-03 19:45 (link) OHMIGOD! Tyson-VS-STG has carried over into LJ?! That's fantastic! keep this shit goin, i'm totaly pimping it in the raw Sea-Cow!
(Reply to this)
---Who's the better man (a post mud slinging post) ROUND FIVE-STILL ALIVE!---
Bands I have Ripped Off Over the Last 9 Years
Posted by Tyson on 8/3/2004, 10:11 am
68.254.113.64
The Amazing Kill-O-Watts (a.k.a. HAM) have been around since 1995 and here's the list of bands I've ripped off during that time..
in alphabetical order:
AC/DC
The Amazing Kill-O-Watts
The Beach Boys
The Beatles
Beck
Black Sabbath
Boston
The Breeders
Buddy Holly and the Crickets
The Cars
Devo
Dollface
Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
Green Day
Billy Idol
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Man or Astroman?
The Modern Lovers
The Neptunes
Nirvana
Pavement
The Pixies
The Quadrajets
Radiohead
The Rentals
Servotron
Sloan
The Steve Miller Band
Super88
The Talking Heads
that dog.
Thin Lizzie
The Ventures
Ween
Weezer
Wolfie
I figured if I'm going to "poke fun" at someone else for ripping off bands I might as well clear the air. Just like a politician.
Anyone else out there want to come clean and tell us who they've ripped off?
I'll go further than that: THE STG FORMULA
Posted by Suit & Tie Guy on 8/3/2004, 5:17 pm, in reply to "Bands I have Ripped Off Over the Last 9 Years"
12.219.180.60
here are the elements:
looping: Robert Fripp, David Torn, David Sylvian
soloing: Booker T Jones, Robert Fripp, Jimmy McGriff, Klaus Schulze, Keith Emerson, Groove Holmes
bass playing: Bobby Watley, Groove Holmes, Duck Dunn, Bill Laswell, LTJ Bukem, Bernie Worrell
sequencing: Christoph Franke, Klaus Schulze, Distortech
comping: Booker T Jones, Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff
mellotron/choir pads: Tangerine Dream, King Crimson, Klaus Schulze
vocals: Isaac Hayes, David Sylvian, Tracey Thorn, Neil Tennant, Thomas Dolby
beats: Everything But The Girl, LTJ Bukem, Pet Shop Boys, anything on the Prestige label from the late 60s/early 70s, late period Klaus Schulze, Prince Far I, Distortech
arrangements: Keith Emerson, Tangerine Dream, Peter Schickele (PDQ Bach), King Crimson
here are the stock song formats:
free improv
re-arrangement of a jazz standard, stretching and squeezing different parts to accomodate a new rhythmic feel
quote of a significant TV/movie melody in the context of a dub or ambient jam
blues
straight covers
ABABA
ABACABA
straight cover of an instrumental soul tune, add one line to make it sound unique (vocoder, Bukem bass)
also, i routinely improvise music which sounds remarkably like a song, enough that people (including my drummer) ask me "hey, what was the name of that third song in the set?" i do this by remembering what i played 4 bars ago, and then developing it along common song structures.
cover selection checklist (check at least one to qualify):
(_) this song was sampled by a rapper
(_) this is on the STAX label
(_) this is a quirky jazz tune
(_) this song involves or was used in a movie or a television show
(_) this song is a good eighties pop tune
(_) gay men wrote this song
(_) black brits like this song
(_) people want to have sex to this music.
(_) this song sounds like it's about God, but is actually about heroin/oral sex/bondage/etc
(_) i played this song when i was in Three In The Pocket
(_) this is a perverted arrangement
(_) i feel an intense emotional connection with this music
(_) i like this song (this must be ticked for the song to qualify)
---IT AIN'T OVAH TIL SUIT SAYS! (ROUND SIX...made of sticks...---
TONIGHT! Poor Man's Robert Fripp at the Red Barn. 9-12.30
Posted by Suit & Tie Guy on 8/4/2004, 11:01 am
12.219.180.60
just like the title says.
maybe Tyson and Dude can show up and we can have a good old-fashion hoedown. it would make a great halftime show.
there hasn't been a good fight in Peoria since a bunch of skinheads beat up my mom's van. that was a good even match.
---Enough's Enough---the bell?---
Re: TONIGHT! Poor Man's Robert Fripp at the Red Barn. 9-12.30
Posted by Tyson on 8/4/2004, 5:31 pm, in reply to "TONIGHT! Poor Man's Robert Fripp at the Red Barn. 9-12.30"
68.254.115.80
I was planning on coming tonight, but alas I will not be able to make it.
How long is your stand at the Red Barn. I've been meaning to check out your set. Honestly, no kidding.
I still think you are retarded for hauling a B3 around all the time.
Tyson
This thing could go on forever, but this is all I'm covering, this took way to much time. keep an eye on The Peoria Shows Message board, always good times, good folks, and good mudslingin!
Jp