Chrismowder.com

Gorillaz and Luda

2010-02-26T03:53:03Z

I've spent entirely too much time getting excited about local musicians lately. That's not to say that I haven't enjoyed it and found some really good stuff, but honestly I almost forgot that there's plenty of great new releases from national bands I love. Here's a look at two that I'm especially amped about:

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (March 9)

I had heard the first single "Stylo" once or twice, but hadn't really gotten into it yet and now I came across this track "Superfast Jellyfish" today on Okayplayer.com. It looks like the album is a guest-packed affair, but I hope it manages to be a complete disc as opposed to a bunch of mashed-together tracks like Handsome Boy Modeling School and N.A.S.A. have done. I love the list of artists, but I just worry that often these things lose continuity and thus memorability when they slam too many people on there.

Plastic Beach Tracklist:

1. Orchestral Intro (featuring Sinfonia ViVA)

2. Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach (feat. Snoop Dogg & Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)

3. White Flag (feat. Kano, Bashy & The National Orchestra For Arabic Music)

4. Rhinestone Eyes

5. Stylo (feat. Bobby Womack & Mos Def)

6. Superfast Jellyfish (feat. Gruff Rhys & De La Soul)

7. Empire Ants (feat. Little Dragon)

8. Glitter Freeze (feat. Mark E Smith)

9. Some Kind Of Nature (feat. Lou Reed)

10. On Melancholy Hill

11. Broken

12. Sweepstakes (feat. Mos Def & Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)

13. Plastic Beach (feat. Mick Jones & Paul Simonon)

14. To Binge (feat. Little Dragon)

15. Cloud Of Unknowing (feat. Bobby Womack and Sinfonia ViVA)

16. Pirate Jet

Ludacris - Battle of the Sexes (March 9)

Ever since "What's Your Fantasy?" I've basically been under the impression the Mr. Chris Bridges can do no wrong when it comes to making music. This will be his 7th album, and while not every album has been a classic, there's always at least a few tracks that stand out and keep mehooked on Luda. I like the single,"How Low" as it brings out Luda's faster cadence and booms throughout, but honestly I'm a bit sick of hearing it already. Looking through the album's tracklist, I worry a little about the cast of contributors being a little too ghetto and a little too pop, but I know my man always brings it in nearly every verse even when stuck on a track with a bunch of suckers (ex. Justin Bieber...)

Battle of the Sexes Tracklist

1. "Intro"

2. "How Low"

3. "My Chick Bad" feat. Nicki Minaj

4. "Everybody Drunk" feat. Lil Scrappy

5. "I Do It All Night"

6. "Sex Room" feat. Trey Songz

7. "I Know You Got a Man" feat. Flo Rida

8. "Hey Ho" feat. Lil' Kim and Lil' Fate

9. "Party No Mo'" feat. Gucci Mane

10. "B.O.T.S. Radio" feat. I-20

11. "Can't Live With You" feat. Monica

12. "Feelin' So Sexy"

13. "Tell Me a Secret" feat. Ne-Yo

14. "My Chick Bad (Remix)" feat. Diamond, Trina, and Eve (Rap-Up)

Where to go from here...

2010-02-22T06:02:15Z

There are moments in a person's life when you must make a decision that you know is going to effect the outcome of basically everything else you do beyond that point and will likely change the course of your life on the whole.

I've spent the majority of my adult life trying to avoid these moments.

It's not that I hate change so much, but I tend to be so over-analytical when it comes to figuring out my own life that choosing often leaves me wondering what I am missing out on by passing up another oppurtunity. Even if I'm sure that what I'm doing is right, a big part of me wonders "would I still have been able to make it work for me even if I chose the wrong path?"

It's something that is hardwired into me that it often leaves me unhappy and keeps me up at night worrying about what I should be doing with my life. No matter what I've done, what I've acheieved, I always no I could be doing more ... and doing it better.

In certain cases this attitude helps me excel. It pushes me to work hard and acheieve as much as I can. In other ways it just makes me lazy. After all, why try to acheieve when I know I'm never going to accomplish everything I want to do? Why not just give up now and play some Xbox...

It's a strange and often complicated dichotomy which can be my fatal flaw in many situations, social, professional, and otherwise.

I get so caught up in this mix of personal perfectionism that I often forget that if I could just muster the confidence to act like I've got it all together, then no one else would even notice all the things that are "wrong."

If I could just hide all my insecurities behind a wall of arrogance or an air of entitlement or a false sense of fulfillment like a lot of people do then maybe I'd fit right in with the crowd and making connections wouldn't be such an uphill battle. However after years of being pushed aside by people who'd rather run right over someone like me -- who wears their insecurities on their sleeve -- than stop to care how they feel for a single second, it's hard to make the effort to put up that front and act like I'm someone I'm not.

I'm just me, and I always have been. I'm not sugar-coated or tailor-made for any situation. I'm just a guy who wants to make things look nice and one who needs provide for his family. I just want to be able to go out and do the BEST work I can do, come home and chill out, play video games, listen to some tunes and have a beer.

But now it seems I've reached the perfect storm of situations that will put all of what I am to the test. Not only do I need to make a life-altering decision about where to go with my career, but in doing so I likely also need to put aside some of the base parts of who I am for the greater good of myself and my family.

I need to be a man, put aside all the insecurity and doubt about whether I'm doing the right thing and just trust that I'm smart enough to make a solid plan for my future if I just put my mind to it.

This may not mean taking any drastic action or changing my lifestyle greatly in the short term, but what it does mean is that I need to start THINKING differently about where to go from here.

I need to start making the connections I've been ignoring for all these years.
I need to start putting others' needs before my own and learning to be happy with it.
I need to stop letting people make me feel like I'm less important than them.
I need to find a way to sell myself and define what exactly it is that I can do that makes so special.
I need to set the foundation for the life I will be building for the next 10 (...or 20...or 30) years.

Even in typing this list it seems like a lot to choke down in just a few days, but one thing is for sure: If I don't start now it's not going to get any easier to change these things down the road.

Back to the Future of my design

2010-02-18T06:15:59Z

Check out the latest poster I put together for my boys back home at Royal Columbus.

The headliner, DJ Bombay, is a guy I went to high school with and has since gone on to win national DJ competitions and work with some big time hip-hop artists around the world.

I'll never forget going over to his house once back in the day (circa '98 ironically) and just being blown away by the setup he had in his mom's basement with crates upon crates and shelves full of vinyl.

Back then I would have never even considered that someone in the good old burbs of Westerville, OH could get out and make a living making hip-hop music. Had I known what I know now back then, I would have surely taken a road less traveled and tried to follow a career making art for musicians, back while there was no real risk in it.

But it's probably for the best, had I spent my impressionable years hanging out with musicians in bars and going to shows every night I doubt I would have come out being able to build the relatively stable life I have now.

Still, it's kinda funny because even though I'm not ballsy enough to take the leap and do it full time, I've at least found a way to get involved in doing what I've always wanted to do. Even if it's just a hobby, might as well stick with it and who knows. Maybe someday in the future it'll be "Chirs Mowder: Poster Designer" instead of "Chris Mowder: Journalist."

Anyway, I didn't mean to get in to all this "what if" philosophy. I was really just trying to show off this poster that I though was cool due to my longtime obsession with the "Back to the Future" series.

In the immortal words of Doc Brown: "When this baby hits 88, you're gonna see some serious shit!"

Where did I go? ... This is where.

2010-02-11T20:22:48Z

Streaming Sounds blog:

http://www.thesunnews.com/music

It's been years time since I refrained from blogging for this long. Since I started having a site in 2005, I don't think I've ever gone longer than an entire month without an entry.

But lest you think I've just been doing nothing, I've actually been doing work, and creating yet another online project by engaging myself further into something I've been interested in for a long time: music.

As I have gotten further and further involved in doing entertainment-based stuff at work, working heavily on our Kicks! entertainment guide, I have often thought that I ought to do something different with it and over the past 4-5 weeks I finally got the ball rolling.

I started by writing a package on local bands, giving samples of their music online, and parlayed it into a weekly column on digital music which I'm calling Streaming Sounds. I've tried to focus mainly on local acts, but also plan to address some of the bigger issues of how the internet is changing the way we distribute and listen to music, etc.

It's not much (a very niche sort of thing that is probably read by next to no one), but I've really been enjoying it and I think it definitely provides a voice that we don't offer anywhere else in the paper.

It's really just a slightly more polished version of the music-related blog postings I've done over the past few years, but yet I have gotten a very nice response from folks in the local music community.

The whole thing has really opened my eyes to a much more vital music scene than I imagined I'd find right here at the beach, and I've really only just begun to look. I hope that over time I can parlay this into a way to make connections some with folks of who share my love of music and just a way to get things heard.

I get such a thrill out of discovering new acts and hearing new music that I'm hoping its something I can continue for quite some time.

Anways, please check it out, there's some great music on there you need to hear.

Christmas in Myrtle

2009-12-25T13:29:21Z

In the immortal words of Run DMC (or at least sung to the tune of "Christmas in Hollis"):

It's Christmas time in Myrtle Beach.
Mom's cooking turkey and baby's asleep
We made some cookies on Christmas Eve
And daddy put together gifts under the tree

Alright, enough rapping on that. It's Christmas morning about 8:30 a.m. and unlike the thousands of other families who wake up early on Christmas morn in a rush to open their new Christmas gifts, my family is fast asleep and will likely remain that way until 10 a.m. or so. Now I don't blame Miles for sleeping in as he's still only 19 months old and really has no idea what all is in store for him on this HUGE day of unwrapping and playing. Honestly I figure he probably needs all the sleep he can get.

My sleepyhead wife, on the other hand... well I suppose I can't be too hard on her either, as she did stay up past midnight with my constructing a rocking horse and Cozy Coupe (seemingly from scratch...stupid little parts). And she will likely be the one watching Miles and cleaning up while I nap this afternoon, resting for the big NFL game tonight which marks the beginning of the final week of fantasy football, in which I still have a chance to bring home the championship and cash prize (GO Jim Tressel School of Conservative Coaching Hedgers!).

But anyways, since I had some time to kill I just wanted to get on here and wish everyone a Merry Christmas! To all my family, in Ohio, we wish were there...hope you all are having a great time. We'll surely be making a trip up that way this year, but with all the things we have stuffed under this tree there was no way they were fiiting in the car with us (or in an RV with us for that matter).

I can't wait to see Miles' face as he really starts to get what's going on and begins to love the magic of Christmas, like so many of us have when we were young. He has already fallen in love with following Santa this year, between seeing him in person, on TV and tracking him through NORAD all last night, I can't wait to see how things progress as he gets older and older.

Here's a few quick shots of the scene down here, a sort of "before" photo -- I'll make sure to post the "after" later -- as well as a shot of Miles enjoying his first two gifts of the season: A pair of holiday PJs and a book that Grammy bought him to read on Christmas Eve.

Best. Commercial. Ever.

2009-12-23T05:22:31Z

It's nearly 2 minutes long, so I know Nike is shelling out some major cash to play this on the air, but it is well worth it. One of the funniest commericals I've seen in a LOOOOONg time. I didn't look it up, but I gotta believe that is KRS-One doing the Santa rap and the rest are pretty on point as well. I doubt I'll ever buy anything from Nike Basketball, but I went to the damn website just to see more of these puppets and hell why not give the multi-billion dollar company a plug anyway for coming up with something this brillant. Nikebasketball.com

Sketchy Santas

2009-12-22T01:29:45Z

Thanks to the glory of Facebook, and the magical connecting powers of the internet which allow me to "know" people I don't really know, here are some gems of holiday happiness from SketchySantas.com (Thanks to Paul Reynolds for the heads up). There are plenty more of these odd photos on the site, so go check it out...unfortunately I can only post a few here.

Mustachioed Molester Santa

Oddly Obese Santa

Scary Suspenders Santa

And if that wasn't enough, here's a few of our very own Sketchy Santa photos from Miles' breakfast with Santa a couple weeks ago. (To be fair Santa didn't seem all that sketchy, but Miles was still terrified of him nonetheless).

Gold Adidas'

2009-12-17T05:25:08Z

Seriously folks, when the hell are a pair of these going to mysteriously show up on my doorstep.

Or maybe some of these...

Or even these...

Ever since I found this dope Ecko jacket on sale at the outlet while Christmas shopping I've come to the conclusion that my next pair of Adidas' must be gold. Not only are they fresh as can be and flashy to boot, but it's one of the few colors I don't have represented in some form or another.

Yes, I know it's ridiculous...but who do you know that isn't unnaturally obsessed with some sort of strange material goods? Yours might be Gucci purses or Birkenstocks Sandals or Starbucks Coffee. Mine is one-of-a-kind Adidas'. Who knows, maybe I'll have some truly one of a kind sneaks coming my way though...I did ask Santa for these.

Check out all the styles and make your own at miadidas.com

Miles' first second Christmas Gift

2009-12-16T02:51:19Z

We're closing in on the big day here, with only 10 days left until Christmas but already Miles has opened the first gift of his second Christmas. No, I'm not going to be a crazy person that counts the holidays for the rest of his life, but this is always a special time of year and is already much more interesting than last year for the little guy.

It's not as though he's knows its Christmas or that he's excited or wanting anything yet, but he's definitely much more spirited in his participation of things such as tree trimming, watching holiday specials, etc.

He's started to notice Santa and will usually give a good jolly "Ho!" when he sees any sort of Santa. Unfortunately the real thing seemed to be a little too much for him though. We took him to Hard Rock Cafe for a breakfast with Santa over the weekend, and while he loved watching him from afar...he bawled the entire time we tried to sit him on Santa' s lap and get pictures.

Here's the video of him opening the gift he got from Grammy in the mail, I thought I'd post it for everyone to see just how big he's getting. And this is just the start...we also have a rocking horse, fisher price car, big wheel and various other big time gifts coming, so it's gonna be a fun one for sure.

Mustaches

2009-12-09T04:45:55Z

Ok, so we've moved on from the weekend's tragic news, taking solace in the fact that my family had enough insurance to cover everything and that all will be well with them ... eventually. I promise to keep folks updated on the rebuilding process as they go along, but for now they are looking for their semi-permanent place to stay, so wish them luck in that pursuit.

But like I said moving on to something MUCH SILLIER, you must see this guy for yourself. He performs as That 1 guy and apparently is both an inventor and musician that has created his own instrument and own style of music that is quite unique. The song is very catchy -- if not a bit stupid -- but I definitely think there's some potential for breakthrough music here in the form of some of the old, goofy 90s bands I used to love like Cake, Butthole Surfers and Presidents of the United States of America.

Anyways, please don't let my lame comparison turn you off, just check out a few second of the track and see what you think. If nothing else the video is quite amusing.

Here's a description of the video from his website:

Most of the song was filmed in one continuous shot. Instead of cutting, the film was speed up extremely fast between each phrase to preserve the flow of the single shot. Of course there are many edits in the instrumental parts... All the mustache changes were performed live and in real time without stopping, as the camera was rolling the one continuous shot in the 113 degree Nevada desert heat. - Filmed by Johnny St. Ours