Matisse and Carrots - Live at Backbooth

Here are some new videos of last night's show at Backbooth, courtesy of Brian Feldman. The line-up you see is as follows:

Omar Delarosa - vocals/guitar
Chris McCown - guitar (and later on glockenspiel)
Hannah X - drums
Jason Hinders - bass




1. "Confusing Ring (in C Major)"









2. "The Good Metaphors Are Taken (in D Major)"








3. "Matisse and Carrots set up for the show"

Hang On To Your Headshot (Live last night at Austin Coffee)

So last night I played my first show featuring solo piano songs. I only played 5 out of the 10 album songs on the piano and then I went back to guitar.



This was one of the piano songs. It's called "Hang On To Your Headshot" and it's Track 4 on the album and does not actually have piano in the recording. Still, this is what it would sound like if it did.




and this is what it sounds like on the album:



Pretty different I guess.

Matisse and Carrots is a total ripoff

Okay, so today, school was canceled due to weather and I had a lot of time on my hands. Especially seeing as how I left all the work I needed to grade at school and I was actually forbidden from going to school today and getting it--crazy, I know. Anyway, I got around to making the playlist that I always wanted to make. The playlist in which I expose all the songs I ripped off trying to make my own songs by placing my songs side by side with songs from which I pulled ideas. It sounds complicated, but it's simple.

Although many of my songs are actually rip-offs of a couple songs (i.e. they borrow ideas from several other songs at once) I went with the songs that were available on Imeem and have the most easily identifiable rip offs.

So as you listen to this playlist, try to play the game, "Guess What the Lifted Song-Element Is."

It's easy. Just listen to a song, then listen to one of my songs that I've placed next to it on the playlist and then try and figure out what part of the previous song was stolen. Ready? Set... Go!

August 28th at Backbooth

Inter-Pre-Planning

So it's back to school time--for teachers, that is. Students start Aug. 18. But since I'm now in post-student inter-teaching mode (and I guess I've been there for a year or so and should by now be used to it even if I'm not entirely) I started today. After all, for those of you just joing us and who've been reading random posts about my music and little la-la-la pursuits, I'm primarily a teacher.

Still...

"Primarily" is such a strong word. Does the thing that one spends the majority of waking hours doing make the person, or do the part-time pursuits (the "extra-curriculars," to stay in a scholastic theme) make the man? Yes, teaching (working) takes up 80% of my awake-time, but I really like that other 20% of my time that I spend noodling around on guitars and keyboards. In fact, that other 20% is like awesome. I wish it was like 100% of the time. Better yet, 150% of the time--i.e. I would sleep 50% less hours and get 50% more fun-stuff done in the given day or week. Alas, but I'm stuck with my 80:20 work to fun ratio. And the question of whether or not what someone does for work or what someone does for fun "primarily" represents them.

So if there were a man out there, known as a "garbage man" by day because he works picking up trash, that spends a great deal of his offtime as an amateur (but committed) Mixed-Martial arts fighter that has achieved some degree of success in tournaments and stuff, would that man be a garbage man or a street fightin' man?

Matisse and Carrots on CD Baby and Park Ave CD

So Matisse and Carrots Play The Songs of Omar DeLaRosa is now available on CD Baby, where the album will cost $10 for the physical CD and/or the MP3s, and Park Ave CDs, where it will cost $7.98 for the physical CD that you can later convert to MP3 on your computer. Also Park Ave CDs exclusively has several physical CD copies of Listening Party EP for $2.98.



So why the price difference? Well to make sure you buy the CD locally from Park Ave CD and support local music. Though I suppose that regardless of where you purchase it from a local musician (i.e. me) will be helped out by it.

Soon it will also be on iTunes, but it takes a bit and so I will post the link once it's available.

In case you forgot from my last couple posts about this and the sidebar probably visible at the same time as this post, the album includes is a sort of greatest hits and definitive "final versions" of the songs I've written and performed since about the end of 2006 to about the middle of 2008. I did not include every song out there, but I tried to keep it to what I thought to be the best 10 tracks. Anyway, they are as follows:




1. I Say Hello, You Say Shallow
2. The Good Metaphors Are Taken
3. Pepsi and Rum
4. Hang On Your Your Headshot
5. Take Three
6. Quarters In The Machine
7. Confusing Ring
8. I Shoulda Done Something With My Life
9. We're Known For Our Lies
10. Leave Me To My Wineglass

(and tracks 1 and 8 "I Say 'Hello,' You Say 'Shallow'" and "I Shoulda Done Something With My Life" are both available for free download by clicking on their respective links)

Anyway, that's all. If you have any questions please let me know.