I just picked up a new (for me) guitar - a 2003 Fender Telecaster Deluxe 72 Re-issue. (You can check out the details at Fender’s site, on Wikipedia and some reviews on Harmony Central).

This is the first electric I’ve had since I was a teenager - I’ve been playing a lovely Maton Performer acoustic (more reviews) for some time, but decided to pick up an electric to fill out our live sound now that we’ve recorded the Fuzu EP.

Like any new instrument, I’ve been bitten by the bug on this one, and have been playing it heaps since I picked it up. It’s got a lovely tone across the 3 pickup combinations, though I’m finding I’m settling for the neck pickup an awful lot. I was looking for a guitar that handled the type of open chords I enjoy playing - with a bit of dissonance - and it does the job beautifully.

I read in the Wikipedia article that switching out the pots (behind the volume controls etc.) to a different impedence helps a lot, so I’m probably going to get a friend to help me give that a try. Overall I’m stoked with the guitar especially at the price I got it for.

I also picked up an MI Audio Tube Zone at the same time and it’s awesome. I really wanted a nice, character-ful tube-like distortion that could range from just biting when I dig in to being pretty rocky too, and it does the lot (thanks for the demo Damian). I highly recommend it.

I also picked up a Line 6 Toneport UX 1 (thanks, again, to Damian) that I’m really digging as a practice rig (my practice space is right where my computer is, so I don’t mind having to hook it up to my iMac to get it to work). It’ll work great for demo recording too (already started playing with some ideas). Solves a couple of issues with my home studio setup too - leaving my Presonus dedicated for live.

Next on my list is an amp - gonna crawl for a secondhand one, but failing that probably look at a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (more reviews). Looking forward to gigging again soon (Tobes is due back in a couple of weeks).

Update: Two quick things - one of the things I really love about the tele is the neck. It’s really chunky, which for me, coming from bass guitar and acoustic, is perfect.

The other thing is that the Toneport keeps randomly dropping out, esp. when using it in Ableton Live (which I just upgraded to v6). Because the Toneport appears to offload some of the FX/amp emulation to the hardware, it needs a custom driver (a rare thing on the Mac as far as hardware goes). I suspect it’s a bug with the driver, but not 100% sure. Gonna see if I can reproduce it consistently and report it to Line6. It isn’t a major deal at the moment, given I’m using it for practicing and demos, not live performance. But annoying all the same…

Just a quick note to say Dom and I will be playing an acoustic show at Mars Hill Cafe in Parramatta on 4 Aug. The set will be a mix of re-interpreted Fuzu songs and a couple of solo tracks from my pre-Fuzu acoustic gigs.

We’ll be joined by our friend Kris - something I’m definitely looking forward to

Entry is free, and you will find the cafe at 331 Church Street, Parramatta.

I rememember thinking how amazing the footage in the video clip for the Boards of Canada track Dayvan Cowboy. Jason Kottke provides the background.

The last two nights have been awesome - getting to see some great music from opposite ends of the spectrum.

On Wednesday night I joined Tobes and when and saw Nine Inch Nails, as they tour on the back of their new album Year Zero.

The venue was the Big Top at Luna Park - the sound was really good, especially when I was in the crowd near the front. An amazing amount of energy in the band - despite a few technical glitches - right up there from start to finish.

Standout tracks, for me, were Survivalism, Heresy”, and Hurt (one of my favourite, all-time NIN tracks - I was stoked when they played it, despite the loud-mouthed f&*kwits that were talking behind me most of the way through).

Yet last night I found myself on the other side of the bridge, literally and figuratively, at the Sydney Opera House watching jazz legend Chick Corea with Gary Burton and the Sydney Symphony.

I really wanted to see this gig (it’s not often you get to see Chick Corea in oz) but wouldn’t have made it except for the generosity of my new employer who arranged tickets for the team.

Both Chick and Gary were amazing musicians - and the folks I was with likened the musical interplay between them as being akin to dancing. It really was an awesome show - some of the symphony arrangements didn’t quite hit the mark, but there were some beautiful and magic moments. A very special event that I’ll remember for some time.

If only every week was filled with as much inspiration!

Scott Andrew posts about one band’s experience with being a featured artist on MySpace. [via 37signals]

Being in a band who is about to record, I was really interested in learning more. The short of it, despite significant exposure and friends signing up, not one CD sold. But a big jump in mailing list sign-ups.

Most of the commenters on the posts focus on “well perhaps the band sucked” argument (which is kinda valid). But what about usability? How hard was it to buy the CD? How well promoted was the CD on the MySpace profile? Scott alludes to this in his post, but unless the band in question is known, so we can check out the profile and see what the experience was like for the punter, we have no idea whether other factors were responsible for low sales. The other telling thing is there’s no indication of iTunes sales, yet.

Perhaps out of those 1200 people, a number bought downloads. Perhaps a few attempted to purchase the CD, but failed (which is more common than it should be). Perhaps it was just the demographic. Perhaps Scott’s analysis is spot on - and he does make some good points, especially suggesting additional promotions that may have tipped sales.

So unfortunately we only know a little bit more about marketing bands through MySpace. But still interesting nonetheless.

My band Fuzu played at the Hopetoun Hotel last night, and a friend of the band, Charlie Brewer, has posted some great shots over at Flickr.

The photo above is probably my favourite shot of me playing I’ve seen so far and I wanted to share it (sorry to be so vain…). Kinda sums up “me” at the moment.

Just posted some band news about recording our first EP.

The Devoted Few are back in the studio - Baz has the low-down:

we’re having a good time so far, but then we’re only two days in. soon comes the sniping, the bickering, then the shouting, the crying and the walk-outs. it’s all ahead of us and i can’t wait.

Ahhh, the memories

Nine Inch Nails: Year Zero (Preview Tracks) [via Toby]

The build-up campaign to this album is wicked (read the first link for deets). Digging the new tracks - something there for those that liked [With_Teeth] and those that didn’t.

Check out this Engadget video profile of the Sansa Connect MP3 player.

This is the type of innovation that can occur with the use and support of open systems. The Sansa uses Mono, an open source implementation of Microsoft’s .NET to implement some features, that on the surface at least, look pretty amazing.

Things like - sharing music between Sansa’s using wifi, internet radio integration and more.

Contrast this approach with Apple’s closed systems on the iPod and iPhone. Apple claims to be innovative - and they are. But if they opened the system others could innovate on their platform, increasing the value for the platform, and ultimately their customers.