artist Joshua Van Tassel

After a brief blogging/recording hiatus I'm back and making some new music. Have a look at www.joshuavt.com to hear things as they come along! xo jvt

This Thursday Sept. 15th I'll be releasing my cd into the wild at the Tranzac Club in Toronto (292 Brunswick Street). My lovely and talented friend Valery Gore will be opening the show with a special duo set at 9pm sharp. Cover is $10 or $20 with a cd. Let your friends and lovers know and hopefully we'll see you there! (for more info go to www.joshuavt.com)

The first 2 tunes on the player as of today are from my new self titled album. The full record comes out August 30th, so I'll be sure to post here with details re: a release show and where to buy. xo jvt

Just finished off a new record of songs that I'm real excited about, and can't wait to share with you. It's a self titled album featuring performances by members of the Great Lake Swimmers, Sarah Harmer's band, Kate Rogers, Joshua Cockerill and a whole lot more. I'll keep you posted here, songs soon to follow.

(this blog is imported from www.joshuavt.com go there for the full post with audio/pictures) I’ve noticed my posts have becoming very point form and fast lately, get in get out. I don’t have a lot to say these days, working away. I do however want to let you know that David Myles and Dean Drouillard both have upcoming projects that I’ve been working on and the music is amazing. The music they’ve already released is amazing too, don’t get me wrong. Jaron Freeman Fox came by today and did some beautiful stuff for me, I’m really happy about it. Here’s some out of context strings that sound pretty all by their lonesome, and very pretty in the piece.

** this is an imported blog from www.joshuavt.com. go there for the full post with audio/video)** So excited to stumble upon this website, a community of sound lovers like myself, joining forces to create interactive sound maps of Canadian cities? Where the shit do I sign up. Oh, here. Urban Sound Ecology. The site is beautifully but simply designed and the mapping interface is really cool. I’m hoping this will catch on and more cities will get added, or even just the same parts of cities at different times of the day or year. Have a look and a good listen. This is the perfect way to get me out of the house and back on to the streets to get some different sounds in my head that I’m not creating, and some fresh air.

**this is an imported blog from www.joshuavt.com. Go there for the full post with audio!*** It's actually been a surprisingly productive week or so here, feeling like somethings getting done. Some things. Something is? Here's a couple random pieces of ear candy from what's been happening.....

** this is an imported blog from www.joshuavt.com. go there for the full post with audio/video)** A common phrase you hear is that imitation is one of the highest forms of flattery. You also hear a lot in the art world about appropriation of certain aspects of another culture into your own work and how that can be morally wrong, and insulting. In times like these (what am I 80? jesus) when we have access to information about any kind of culture/art/music etc, it’s really hard not be constantly bombarded with non western influences, and it’s only natural and good that these influences show through in what we do. More then once I’ve had a link up to the Soundway Records site, in reference to the insanely good world music (if I was living in China, would Neil Young be “world music”? Because it’s from another country?) compilations that they keep releasing. All of the discs are amazing in their own particular way, but one, the Nigeria Special – Modern Highlife Afro Sounds, and Nigerian Blues keeps me coming back for more. I’ve been trying to figure out why that is lately, and to help do that I’m trying to get as inside of the music as I can. Because I’m a drummer, the best way to do that is to focus on the percussion, of which theres more then plenty of. It’s one thing to listen and note take, but it’s another to actually play along to try and let the ideas soak in the muscles a bit more. It’s a whole other way to learn to essentially try to re-create the tracks from the album in my own way. I’m lucky enough to have home recording capability and a place where I can make some noise, so why not try to be part of the music I love in any way I can? For a number of reasons, the biggest being musically, what I make won’t really sound that much like the record. The feel is INCREDIBLE on this stuff, and there’s usually anywhere from 3 to probably 6 people playing percussion on everything, interacting together and pushing ( or pulling) each other along. It’s not quite as exciting to do it by myself, but even from today I’ve learned a ton drum wise and recording wise, so this is good, no? There’s 26 tracks on the album, and I’ll keep doing this until I have them all. Then will I be an african drumming master? Shit no. But I’ll have played and learned from some of my favorite recordings, and made a whole bunch of rhythm tracks that I can potentially use for countless other things. Here’s the first, called Ayamma by the Anambra Beats. I wish I was in a band with a sweet name like that. www.joshuavt.com

(go to www.joshuavt.com for the original post with audio/pictures/video) For the past couple months I’ve been slowly and sometimes painfully working through a classical guitar method book. The reason for this isn’t because I have visions of myself mastering the classical style and changing my career to nylon string soloist, but because I wanted to take some more responsibility as a musician to music. To be honest, it’s easy to be a drummer sometimes. If a band leader or artist comes to me with a brand new tune that has tons of chord changes and a complex harmony, but all they want is a straight rock beat ( think boom crack boom boom crack), it’s admittedly going to be a lot easier for me to play then for the guitar player in the band. That isn’t to say I’m not going to do my best to make it feel as good as possible and insert my own sensibilities to shape the tune, but on a straight up harmonic and reading level it will be simpler for me to get it right the first time. Having been out of school and playing drums professionally for quite a while now, I found that my abilities to communicate ideas on a musical level to other musicians had all but gone away. The minute I’d try to bring in another musician to work on a piece I had recorded or was writing, I realized that I could barely tell them what key the tune was in let a lone what chords I was playing. I’m lucky enough to have a crowd of unreasonably talented and creative people in my musical community, and they deserve better goddamnit. So, this summer I started plunking away whenever I could at a method book of pieces and exercises. I found that for some reason I’m drawn to finger picking and quiet playing, maybe because I bash away like an angry ape for so much of my usual musical time. It’s coming along quite well so far, and the best part about it is I’m having fun. It’s nice to practice an instrument that 1) doesn’t drive your neighbours or girlfriend totally insane 2) allows you to hear yourself playing a song 3) requires no lugging of giant instruments and metal up or down any stairs. There’s some really pretty pieces of music I’m coming across, and all the skills of reading, sensitivity, dynamics, and time are totally transferring over into my drum playing, and vice versa. Anything you do musically feeds everything else.

***** this is an import from my website blog at www.joshuavt.com. got there for the full post with pictures, sounds, and video**** I’m one of the lucky people who for the most part create my own workdays from the comfort of my wonderful (albeit kind cold) apartment. I set a schedule for myself first thing after breakfast and do my best to stick to it. Here’s how it looks for the morning today - dec 3rd eat! 9-930 blog 930 – 1015 guitar book 1030-11 pad stuff 1110-12 kit/shaker african pg 13 I’ve discovered over the past little while that having an actual regimented routine really helps me accomplish the things I want to in a morning. By doing all the “work” stuff first thing, my brain and body are warmed up for the afternoon and ready to write or record whatever music I’m doing that particular day. I’ve also learned to leave 15 minute gaps at least twice between activities, to stretch and let my brain take a breather. Practicing this way can be like mental basketball; it’s fast paced, focused, and you’re trying to make everything count and be effective as possible. Christine Bougie (www.christinebougie.com) and I spoke yesterday about the importance of using a timer when we practice. If I’m working on an exercise and really want to focus on it, I’ll set a timer for 3 or 4 minutes. It doesn’t sound like a lot of time, but if you can get your brain to hone in on just one task without letting any other external stuff in, it’s pretty amazing the progress you begin to make. I had a teacher call it “active practicing” and it makes sense. For my brain, I get way more out of working on something with my full focus for 3 minutes, then just mindlessly repeating it for 10. One of the biggest helps and a must do when I practice is to step away from the computer/iphone. There’s always a text or email that’s going to come in and pull you out of the mind set you worked so hard to get to over the past few minutes. I’m so accessible all the time by virtue of the technology I choose to use, and I have to realize it’s okay to just not answer an email right away. I’m getting almost behind schedule now so I have to go. oh, and the right amount of coffee is pretty much essential to all the above stuff. Too little and I’m a bit of a zombie, too much and it gets ugly fast…..