The Trouble With Being God

The Trouble With Being God: Suggested Playlist

Posted by William under Music, book

From the preface to the new book:

Throughout my life, I have held a deep-seated love for music. It has always been a part of me, and a part of everything I do. My professional career has rotated around it, and it has been a source of joy, sadness, and solace.

It has always been my belief that music can tap deeper into our souls than simple words could every hope to do. This is why the poets of yesterday have been replaced by the songwriters of today, and why certain songs will live on forever as true insights into our souls.

While writing this book, I was influenced by many things: people I met, events in my life, and most of all, music.

Therefore, music is an integral part of the telling of this story. Rather than being part of the story, I believe music can assist as another way to tell a story – to portray thoughts and emotions that are too delicate and precise to be described in words alone.

As you read ‘The Trouble With Being God’ you will come across a variety of footnotes marking preferred listening selections to go along with the mood or events of the book.

Unlike the soundtrack to a movie, however, the best way to experience these songs and the passages that follow them is to listen to the music first, then read on.

Of course, enjoyment of ‘The Trouble With Being God’ is does not require listening to the music selections. They are instead provided as a supplement to the story, a kind of “director’s cut,” if you will.

The Playlist for ‘The Trouble With Being God’

1. “Soul Auctioneer” by Death in Vegas
2. “Personal Jesus” by Depeche Mode
3. “Starlings” by Elbow
4. “I See Monsters” by Ryan Adams
5. “Eyes Without a Face” by Billy Idol
6. “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space” by Spiritualized
7. “I Am a Wicked Child” by Radiohead
8. “Someone Great” by LCD Soundsystem
9. “Not Even Jail” by Interpol
10. “Posed to Death” by The Faint
11. “Walk Unafraid” by R.E.M.
12. “Suddenly Everything Has Changed” by The Postal Service (cover of a Flaming Lips song)
13. “A Bad Dream” by Keane
14. “These Eyes” by The Guess Who
15. “One By One” by Billy Bragg and Wilco
16. “Section 18 (Everything Starts at the Seam)” by The Polyphonic Spree
17. “Don’t Get Lost In Heaven” by Gorillaz
18. “King of All the World” by Old 97’s
19. “Feel to Believe” by Beth Orton

And yes, in that order.

Granulated

Posted by William under Music

Alright… we finally got things working and recorded our first attempt at anything at all last night.  It’s just us playing around, but it actually turned out halfway decent (we think).

Obviously the levels are off and it would need further mixing to be anything ever worth using, but it could be a cool intro track.

http://www.myspace.com/userealsugarmusic

Use Real Sugar

Posted by William under Music

In addition to the work on the book, I’ve decided it’s time to start exploring another creative channel.  It’s been about ten years now since Tommy and I started DJing.  We quit quite a while ago, but we still have our love for it.

The latest plan isn’t to DJ again though.  It’s to finally start making music, which is something we had always planned on doing.  Since it’s been ten years and we haven’t done anything, we figure if we don’t actually do something, we never will.  So we are.

Use Real Sugar is coming back.  We’ve got a lot of the gear already.  I picked up one of the last remaining pieces today: a used Fender Cyclone electric guitar.  We still need a few more bits and pieces, but the major things are now in place (although I’m still waiting for a few things to show up in the mail yet).

Anyway, here’s the treasure trove.