PORTPHOTIO pt. 1

As with any of my creative endeavors, I feel the need to further explain myself.
Recently I posted PORTPHOTIO; an online video rendition of my film-based photography portfolio. There are a few things I should mention before/after you watch this video.

For starters, there are two different photo projects within the video: "Mind Spaces" (0:25-1:45), "If The Ladies Ain't Happy, Nobody Is" (2:30-3:10), and "I Could Have Sworn They Were Just Here" (3:40-4:20), which only contains half of the finished series due to time restrictions.

The Mind Spaces series, which I have written about before on this site, illustrates how the basis of our knowledge can be defined by simple four-walled rooms, whether through means of education or life experience. If The Ladies Ain't Happy, Nobody Is is a series of cyanotypes that depicts a 5-minute incident that took place between a group of boys and a single girl in Positano, Italy. I Could Have Sworn They Were Just Here is a creative documentary project based off the idea of abandonment and traces of human presence.

Within the video there is also a large amount of travel photography. Seeing as I always bring film cameras with me when I travel (something I do to large scale at least once a year) it is only fitting that I incorporate that work into my portfolio. Within, countries such as Canada, the U.S., Cuba, Australia, Italy, Fiji, New Zealand, can be seen, whether through landscape or portraiture. This is by no means my entire travel catalog. In fact, I have another 15 rolls of used film sitting in my freezer awaiting processing - another reason why I included "pt. 1" in the films title - indicating that this will most likely be an ongoing process.

Thirdly, I should touch on the digital aspect of this project. Aside from a few select photo's that were printed either chromogenically or inkjet (which I can clarify if anyone was really curious), the bulk of the work was shot on film and printed within a darkroom. Considering that I have an equal (if not more) amount of digital photography, I deemed it necessary to leave that work aside for another video project, which could easily occupy a similar amount of time. Separating these two was critical in my mind.

The video format idea was simply an accessibility idea. Seeing as my artistic website is not complete, I felt a different means of showcasing the work was needed. Considering that we live in a media-friendly age, I thought it best that the viewer relax and enjoy having myself flip through the images for them. Oh, YouTube didn't pick up on it, but the song playing is Sentimental X's - Broken Social Scene. It was the least annoying and most time appropriate song on my computer.

Lastly, how has the pun "portphotio" not been used yet? Sure, if you look it up on Google you will see a slew of sites, but most of them direct you to unknown domains and leave you stranded on foreign territory. If you type in "portphotio" on YouTube, it's the only video by that name. To me, being the YouTube junky that I am, that is some sort of milestone. After searching just now, "Paintfolio" doesn't exist either. If anyone reading this steals this idea, you better lawyer up asshole, because I thought of both.

On a lighter note, I really hope you enjoy the film, because it was intended for you all to see. Keep in mind that this is by no means a completed project, but rather an ongoing one.

Andy Schmidt 2010.

ps. If the video does not fit due to its widescreen aspect ratio, view it here.

americanos with cinnamon

Well friends, it appears we're back at it.

There's been serious talks about recording the next Hue record. We've applied for the government grants, talked to past produced Mikey T, scoped out studio locations, and have begun honing in on certain songs and possible other considerations for the album. The more interesting part of all this is we're possibly recording in March. That's not very far away.

The process of writing and recording is a very fun and tricky thing. Personally, when I sit down at the drum kit to write parts for new songs, I do it somewhat vaguely. Like in painting, I'll rough in an idea to expand from. Timing signatures, fills, splits, cymbal work, absences, different sticks and percussion etc etc. From there, after about a dozen or so run-through's, I should have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing. However, when writing an album, everything counts and you have to be prepared to play those same parts for the rest of your life. I've never actually regretted a single drum line that I've written, but some are just more strenuous than others (like Until Then, which is around 7 minutes of the same thing).

However, it's all quite exciting. I love the process. I pride myself on being fairly expedient in the studio; we're aiming to record all of my drum parts for this record in one day, maybe two. Like the recording process of the last record, I'll have an americano in my hands at all times. I can't drink one of those things without feeling the tight hug of studio headphones wrapped around my ears, and the smell of sound-proofed foam covering the walls.

The writing process has also been quite refreshing this time around. Seeing as we've added two new members to the lineup, the variety of sounds, instruments, and harmonies has opened up gigantic sonic possibilites. The rehearsals have been sounding as good as listening to a record. Writing with five people is a lot of fun, especially since it's less of a stage circus because there is little instrument change-overs when playing live.

Another thing to take into account when writing a record is the songs themselves: not so much the songs on the record, but the ones that don't make it. It's honestly like losing old friends. We have songs we've been playing for literally years that I know won't make this record. Dozens of them. Because as you start to form a record you realize thematically and sonically what it is and where it's going. Some, actually, most songs don't make records because they are either too "this" or too "that". Some rock a little too much, sound like somebody else, or are so over the deep end that it doesn't even sound like it was written by the same band.

Although we'll be cutting songs like chops of meat, the finished product is going to be something very special I think. I want to say it's very different from the last record, which it is, but not too far away. Don't expect to hear any rap or reggae on this record. I will say that we're far less timid this time around, timid in terms of exploration and limitations of the songs themselves. There's grooves, holes, length and chances taken in almost every track. Given that we've had a huge amount of time around to write and demo songs, the work has been allowed to group and expand organically amongst the group, unlike the last record, where the small amount of time to write and record reacted to some material like a miniature dinosaur that expanded in warm water.

Either way, I'll continue to post about any advancements over the next couple months, amongst other things.

Raging Bull

Okay.
Everybody listen.
Scratch that.
Everyone in a band, or collective, listen.
Take the advice from ?uestlove (one of the greatest drummers/influences/aficionados/impacts on modern music today, from possibly one of the best hip hop groups of all time) and listen to him.
Sunday is Band Day.
Above any politics amongst your group, Sunday is Band Day.
Lately, Hue's has been Monday.
We drink tequila and freestyle.
I talk about cooking for the band, but the tequila is usually the deciding point.
Listen to ?uestlove.

i got the blues

Let me clarify something:

When denim jackets are back "in", let it be known that I was one of the pioneers on the front lines.

things I've learned at 1806

I'll preface this next bit with some notes. I've lived here, in the same room, for three years, and I know every in and out of this neighborhood within a four-block radius. I've lived with some serious characters and have experienced some pretty amazing times. There's been some quiet times, and some really loud times. If these walls could talk, there would probably be a lot of bleeping-out.

The Sound

My room at 1806 is partly separated by glass from another bedroom. Apparently, everything can be heard coming from my room in the other bedroom, and I mean everything. Yet the strange thing is, I've never heard much of anything come from the other side. It's almost like a one-way-mirror, except for sound. Strange, indeed.

The Lifts.

The elevators are incredibly smart here. I've never seen elevators like it. When idled, one sits at ground level, another in the middle, and the other at the penthouse. They juggle perfectly as if actually controlled by one very considerate man.

The Delta Chelsea.

This hotel sits across the street from my room. It ruins what would be an incredible view of south downtown Toronto. The shortcut through the lobby is the only real redeeming quality about the place, which I've probably passed through over 500 times. It's also extremely ugly. On top of that, I never saw any full-on sex coming from any of the rooms. How lame is that? Every night I'd look out my window to see if anything was going down, and nothing. I've seen some weird stuff however. I've seen a blowjob in progress, an old guy masturbating naked, two naked people laying on the bed with the lights on, and a whole lot of people changing. So, for all my real friends, do me a favor and go have sex at the Delta. Not so that I can sit and watch, but so that I can finally say after three years "Oh look, people are having sex at the Delta. Neat". On a final note - Blair and I are still trying to figure a way to blow up the entire building, just so he'll have a nice view.

The Alarms.

My condo is allergic to smoke. Even if you burn toast, the smoke alarm goes off. There's been some perticularly hilarious stories surrounding that device. The interesting thing is though, howcome the alarm never went off after we Jamaican Sauna'd the bathroom? I've seen steam come out of that bathroom that would honestly rival Niagara Falls.

The Changes.

Something is always wrong with this place. They're always shutting off the water, closing the gym, renovating the pool, fixing soggy ceilings, tearing up floors, bleaching something, and removing something else. I'm going to guess that there were only a total of 21 days where nothing was wrong with this building. I'm sure the site coordinator loses sleep at night.

The Halls.

The hallways smell like Toys R' Us. I noticed that the day I moved in. Do you know the smell I'm talking about? It's dominantly a fresh plastic smell, mixed with the odd stroller that passes by.

The Water.

It's god-damn delicious. Toronto water in general is the tastiest water ever. I have no idea why either. If the water here could be embody an inanimate object, it would probably be a milk shake, because that's how good it feels to drink. Going from another other towns water to Toronto's is like going from Marble Cheese to Double-Creme Brie. Get the picture?

The Tank.

I was never busted for practically living in my studio. My studio space is a large storage unit located one floor below street level. Two security cameras point directly at the door, and yet I was never hassled for being down there for hours at a time. Sometimes, a few people will accompany me, back in the good old Think Tank days. We'd stay there for hours. I'd have girls down there (intentionally or not). I play albums on full blast. I empty piss jugs and used oils/chemicals into the small drain outside the door. I clean by brushes at the Car Wash bay (and I usually do a pretty good job of spraying all the colors into the drain). Strange things come and go from that room as well, such as: a gigantic mirror, a five-foot wagon wheel, bee bee guns, an oven door, countless canvases, and lots of busted furniture.

24/7

It's too convenient here. It's literally impossible to go hungry in this area. There are four 24-hour establishments within five minutes of each other, and I couldn't even tell you how many times I've visited them at 5 a.m. There's a Panago next to my front door, a Subway, and a Falafel house around the corner. The convenience is also one of the major factors in leaving this place: I just don't want it that easy anymore.

Blair.

I love living with Blair, because he thinks I'm a pretty cool guy and really hams me up when I'm in the kitchen. He laughs at all my bad jokes and catches all my movie references. He is easily persuaded by his vices, and I've practiced that persuasion many, many times. His hobby is cleaning, which is good, because my hobbies create a lot of mess. He thinks I look like Sinatra, and once said I'm like the Dos Equis guy. No wonder I love Blair.

i used to rule the world

This video is simply brilliant. I swiped it after seeing it pop up on several blogs in the past few days. Give it a watch...



I was immediately drawn to this video because these 4-chord progression issues present themselves every day when my band writes and records. It's amazing how liberating, and confining the writing process can be, especially with melodies, because you have to surrender yourself to the fact that everything has been done once. All the hooks, every guitar part, every drum beat - it's all coming from somewhere whether you thought of it or not.

With this day and age, you have to be really careful what you write and what it sounds like, because some people aren't too happy when someone jacks their tunes, even if it is to just make a buck off the big guys.

pillow clouds of poison gas

Some things that have been on my mind:

Firstly, has anybody besides myself noticed that this video is receiving large amounts of hits? It jumped almost a thousand within the past week. I've tried to check the stats but have come to no solid conclusions. I figured it was linked to some site perhaps, but who knows. I didn't think it was that good in the first place, except maybe when I wrote it, four years ago.






I recorded that piece just the other day. That siren sound was not added, but fully interrupted my one and only acoustic guitar recording. I saw it as fate and kept it. That is a small example of how much noise my bedroom endures at any given moment. The poor quality is mostly due to the fact that the built-in Mac microphones were never meant to record any instrument of any kind.

I was originally inspired when introduced to a new tuning (open A), while in the process of learning the entire Icky Thump album by The White Stripes. Aside from the new tuning, I did manage to learn every song (aside from the cookey guitar solos) on the record. It was a lot easier than I thought it'd be, but garage rock always is.

Now why not talk about some more music?

Some other quality records that I have been into lately include:

Japandroids - Post-Nothing
Great Canadian duo. I took a chance on this album and based my decision on getting it when seeing them on the cover of Exclaim! last week. I love duo groups. I love to see them achieve success because there are so many limits with just two people, and not just in their sound. There's also a lot of freedom. Small bands are mobile and travel well. A classic example of that would be Museum Pieces, who claimed to have toured the country in a Honda Civic.
Either way, this album is full of sweet stuff, and I can't stop listening to the albums outro "I Quit Girls".

Matthew Good's song "Life Beyond the Minimum Safe Distance"
Download it, listen to it, and love it. Even reading the lyrics is enough for me. I know only so few writers who can paint such images with that little words. Lines like:
"Like a climber lost in the mountains, I dream only of sleeping." strike such chords in me. That whole album is awesome, but this is truly a gem.

Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
One of my favorite albums since, well, I have a lot of recently favored albums. But this one is awesome. Really weird, full of reverb, abstract themes, beautiful instrumentation, and catchy shit. It's the kind I can really wrap my head around as a musician because it's so unique and I have no idea how most of those sounds are created. That, and No One Does it Like You is the most played song on my iTunes.

Asobi Seksu - Citrus
One of those albums that is good enough to buy even after downloading it. I intend on doing such a thing. This is not the kind of record you'd put on at a party, it's just for you and maybe who you're in bed with. Literally translating to "playful sex", and fronted by one hell of an asian hottie, this band cooks with loud sonic, electric soundscapes accompanied by Japanese falsetto lyricism. It's romantic, loud, fun, and mysterious all at once. Good listen.

Oh! Would you look at the time. Sleep would be best if I want to avoid any more nervous breakdowns. Hand specialist in the morning.

living in a glass house

Here are my albums in current rotation. Not my all time favorite stuff, but it's usually what I've been craving to hear at 5 am.

Bloc Party's Intimacy, is not exactly what I expected from those boys, but it indeed blew my fucking head off. The first track has lead electric work that would make you cry, and the drummer is still awe inspiring. I still plan on attempting to play to one of their albums continuously on the drums, even though I know I wouldn't even come close to the speed and precision they can pull off. But as expected, there's crazy drumming, lyrics that don't rhyme, dark motifs, and gripping instrumentation that has you buy the nuts the entire album (except for the two remixes at the end, which seems to separate themselves from the entirety of the album). Needless to say, it's dope and you should grab it.

Tegan and Sarah's The Con. I bought this album only because I could get it for cheap and it came recommended by a friend. This still continues to be one of the favorite albums of the year, for several reasons. For one, the writing is second to none in its originality. The production Chris Walla gave the album is phenomenal; everything is juicy, tough, organic, and sharp all at the same time. The album alone inspired me to delve into not only T&S's catalogue, but into Wallas as well. Thirdly, the drumming is gorgeous, and more importantly, effective. Well done Jason. And finally it came with a sweet behind the scenes look at how every track was born and was completed. Everything from the writing, to the recording, the mixing, with some additional Forest Fone sequences that are pretty hilarious. You can watch them on youtube if you have an hour to kill.

Daniel Johnston's Welcome to My World. The vocals are annoying as all hell, but the songs are like nothing I've ever heard. Performing all by his lonesome, usually with just the help of a guitar or piano, Daniel pumps out beautifully articulated songs of heartbreak, humor, satire, John Lennon, and speedy motorcycles. Anyone who considers themselves a music aficionado should buy at least one of his albums immediately.

The Who's Who's Next. Listen to it. Love it. Rock out to Baba O'Reilly and remember what rock is supposed to sound like.

Matthew Good's The Audio of Being. The whole album rules (most notably The Rat Who Would Be King, Tripoli, and Advertising on Police Cars). But the solo at the end of Carmelina is just something I can never get loud enough in my ears. It's everything I look for in a solo: loud as fuck, full distortion, entire scale, and terrifying.

Beast, Beast. It's not out yet, but I heard the clips from the album on iTunes today and still love that shit. I saw these Montreal cats at NXNE this year and was blown away. Think industrial beats on top of the Triplets of Belleville soundtrack, and that's literally what it is.

Placebo's Sleeping With Ghosts, and Meds. Another group that I was inspired to listen to simply from one good song. I actually took the long way around when listening to these guys; a route that I usually avoid like the plague, and that is the first record I bought was a singles album. Weak! Singles are for low-frequency jackholes. Regardless, I'm glad I did because their albums rule, especially these two. Beautiful lyricism surrounding dark, romantic times that is best listened to on wet cobblestone streets. Some tracks just make you feel like a strung out junkie roaming around Sussex on a Saturday night looking for cheap sex and cheap drugs. Tracks like In the Cold Light of Morning and Pierrot the Clown just move me in a way that would normally have cost me a plane ticket to Paris. Brian Molko is a cool androgynous mother as well.

Tchaikovsky's Three Disc Collection. Probably the only record that I own and haven't listened to. Sole reason for this? It's on vinyl and I don't have a record player. I saw it at Goodwill for THREE DOLLARS and bought that, among others. Three dollars for a triple-Tchaikovsky vinyl? Pff. Mine.

Anything by Cat Power. A voice that takes you from worrisome to care-free. I eat up this acoustic lounge shit. She's just as edgy as Amy Winehouse, except she has a better voice and shows up to concerts. Oh!

Radiohead, Amnesiac. I listen to this album, unconsciously, about once every three weeks. I just look at the spine of the record when it sits amongst my others and pop it in my player. It's so weird and crafty. There are only a handful of songs on the record that I would consider structured, literal "songs", and that's what is so cool about it. The rest of the album is just full of loops, crunchy bass, Thom Yorke's choir-boy falsetto, and a whole lot of talent. And time measurements that make you want to go back to school.