Epiphanies in Short Supply

The Blog of Aaron Rosell / He Who Never

[hewhonever]

Coffee Cottage. Right up there with The Daily Grind (Stillwater, MN) and Java John's (Decorah, IA). My favorite places to drink chocolatey drugs and get sh*t done.

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Sighted at Kwik Trip in Stillwater, MN. #StreetView #ShouldHaveCalledShotgun

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My cousin Jessa is the kind of person who features a custom hashtag at her wedding. I'm doing this to ensure that someone actually uses it. Congratulations cuz! #brixwed

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Sighted at the Mpls Dunn Bros: Probably the most difficult musical decision I will ever have to make.

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Surreal. Just picked up this weekend's edition of the Stillwater Gazette. Front page with my best friends. #RepStillwater #RepMahtomedi #RepMN http://bit.ly/JamisonRecord

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Sighted in Minneapolis: elevator, or motivational religious prophet?

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More like RETRO Transit #AmIRite

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Return to Sender

Got an envelope "returned to sender" by the USPS that I mailed out in August 2012. That's nearly 11 months ago. Things I could accomplish in 11 months:

Father a child, use remaining two months to impart a few decades of dad problems

Systematically betray a lifetime's worth of friendships, rekindle them, ruin them again

Learn how to read temperatures in Celsius

Run successful Indiegogo campaign for a $10k public access account at The Daily Grind Espresso Cafe

Employ a skilled team of geocaching enthusiasts to pinpoint my dwindling self-worth

Teach myself how to dougie

Become world-renowned pioneer of Cubicle Parkour

Successfully return three to five thousand GODDAMN ENVELOPES TO SENDER

[hewhonever]

Here we go, back to where we started.

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I think we all move through periods of life in which a certain song or songs bring us forward—we look back on them later, associative memories abounding, and thank them for the companionship. Often, we don't know what we would've done without them.

For me, this week, that is this song. No words required.

[hewhonever]

Timing EP Art Prints

After far too long, I'm excited to announce that Timing EP art prints are now available for $10 at the HWN online store. I was concerned that prints would never do the original watercolor justice, but I am incredibly happy with how these came out. They're printed on 12x12" heavy stock matte paper with a white half-inch border, perfect for hanging in an inexpensive LP frame like this one available at Target (if you're in the USA, that is... if you're not, and you don't have Target, I mourn for you).

  Perk: Each order includes an immediate digital download of the song "Timing."

  I'm also excited because this announcement gives me the chance to tell you about how the album artwork was created: A few years ago, I was doing what a lot of young drummers do—perusing the website of SJC, a custom drum builder in Boston, pining for equipment I'll never be able to afford. They were running a cool Artist Series segment where they would bring lesser-known artists in and have them paint drums. When I came across the Caleb Morris snare, I was immediately struck by his style; even more so when I clicked through his online portfolio. He has a way of rendering people that I've never seen before.

  Fast-forward to October 2012, the onset of the Timing EP recording process. I had always wanted to work with Caleb, but didn't quite know where to start... turns out, all it took was a phone call. Caleb was so cool about it. We agreed that I'd send him the lyrics to the title track, along with what was at the time an extremely rough demo recording. He was able to create between 5-10 art concepts from that, and together we narrowed it down to the final piece. All in all, he spent about two months on-and-off drawing, revising, and painting.

  Here's the thing: I don't understand how art works. I don't know how one dude can make water and color do that. The print is pretty much actual size to the original, and if you look closely, the level of detail is just ridiculous. I love it, and I hope you will too.

[hewhonever]

Starbucks Frappuccino vs. Significant Other

Starbucks Frappuccino: -Delicious -Consistent -Surprise! Chocolate chips in my straw -Fills your insides with the cooling buzz of progress -Half the cost from 3-5 PM thru this Sunday Significant Other: -Delicious for 8-10 days -Marginally reliable, just on birthdays -Surprise! I'm leaving you and taking the pets -Fills your insides with the brooding guilt-virus of dormant self-doubt -Insurmountable emotional interest rates over time

[hewhonever]

My Life as a Male Minivan Driver

When I'm not musically shedding my 20-something angst, I work for a group of book publishers in Minneapolis. One of them had me write a guest post for their blog today. Suddenly, minivans.

http://www.motorbooks.com/motorbooks-blog/The-Golden-Chariot/3

[hewhonever]

Things Justin Timberlake Can Do That I Cannot

-Legitimately ask about leavin' witchu -Bring sexy back -Write you a symphony (just to say how much you mean to him) -Dance -Sing with the falsetto of a thousand mythical sirens -Call you his "little pusher love girl" -Smack that strawberry bubblegum

  (The 20/20 Experience is really damn good.)

[hewhonever]

When I'm not busy writing HWN material, I play keyboards and sing backup vocals for MN singer/songwriter Jamison Murphy. Last April, we spent an insane day at August Ogren's Barn House in Mahtomedi, MN recording the Barn House Sessions—a series of live in-studio performances that we will be gradually rolling out in the coming weeks/months. Barn House is literally the upper floor of a detached barn-shaped garage, so fitting cameras and lights around a full six-man band and all our equipment made for an interesting setup. It was the best time, and I can't wait for y'all to start seeing us do this live and in person. So, without further ado, here's the first installment in Jamison Murphy's Barn House Sessions: a cover of one of our favorite Coldplay songs, "In My Place."

[hewhonever]

I am saddened this morning to hear of the passing of Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart (1958) - a book that changed my life. Reading it was an assignment I first had in high school (and subsequently blew off), then had assigned to me again during my freshman year of college. Sometimes, you don't "get" things the first time around... the second time, I did.

"There is no story that is not true."

[hewhonever]

My Top 5 Film/TV Music Moments

I was talking with a dear friend of mine recently, and we got on the subject of music in movies. When the perfect piece is paired with the right cinematography, it tends to cement itself in my memory where many scenes would be forgotten - I can remember where I was when I heard the track, I can remember the scene and the characters. So without further ado, here are my top five picks for musical moments in film/TV, at least thus far in my life. (Click on the song titles to hear them.)

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1. David Carbonara, "Sally's Story" (From Mad Men | Season 3, Episode 1: "Out of Town")

Don Draper is a hardass, but he's also a train wreck. We appreciate him most when he's either a.) dropping brilliance bombs on the world of advertising, or b.) displaying a fleeting moment of vulnerability. This piece happens during the latter, as Don tells his daughter Sally about the night she was born.

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2. Harry Gregson-Williams & David Buckley, "The Letter" (From The Town | 2010, Directed by Ben Affleck)

This piece comes at a very reflective point of the film: Ben Affleck's character (Doug MacRay) looking back on his mistakes, pondering the fragile future from the porch of a wetland cabin. It's a nice open-ended summary of an uncertain situation, and the piano/guitar progression is so powerfully understated in context.

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3. Max Richter, "Horizon Variations" (From Stranger Than Fiction | 2006, Directed by Marc Forster)

Will Ferrell in a serious role, and doing it damn well if you ask me. "Horizon Variations" underscores a scene in which Ferrell's character (Harold Crick) spends an entire night reading a script on a transit bus. My only qualm with Richter's instrumental is that it's not 10+ minutes long. Beautiful.

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4. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, "Hand Covers Bruise" (From The Social Network | 2010, Directed by David Fincher)

Reznor & Ross earned a well-deserved Academy Award for their utterly brilliant work on this soundtrack, and I had a feeling that would happen when "Hand Covers Bruise" came in at the beginning of the film. Jesse Eisenberg's character - a college-age Mark Zuckerberg - gets dumped by his girlfriend in the middle of a campus bar, and he sprints back to his dorm in what I would imagine is a combination of desperation / heartbreak / anger. (All things I would feel if Rooney Mara ever broke up with me.) We've all been there, and of all the tracks on this list, this one gets my pick for best title. Such a genius blend of acoustic piano with foreboding electronica.

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5. Clint Mansell, "Together We Will Live Forever" (From The Fountain | 2006, Directed by Darren Aronofsky)

Admittedly out of youthful nostalgia, this piece is unmatched for me. The Fountain didn't resonate with a whole lot of people, but for whatever reason, I have always loved the movie. Darren Aronofsky was more known for Requiem for a Dream, and later for the critically acclaimed Black Swan... I maintain that The Fountain is some of his best work. This piece arrives at the perfect moment: the end credits. I don't use the word 'stunning' for music very often, but I will here because of the cinematic context for this piece - the end of the movie left me stunned, and then Clint Mansell's instrumental had me sitting in the theater, staring at the screen, staring all the way through the credits.

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Question: What are your favorite musical moments in film/TV? Drop me a line over at the HWN Facebook page.