Houston Blog

Actually I have to agree with Lomax I have seen Studemont on numerous occasions including before and after they got the band(which was probably one of the smartest decisions they could have ever made)and this song sounds like same old shit they always play.I'm so tired of people thinking that MC+vocals+Live Band(using pedals to create samples instead of a dj)=hiphop progression because it isn't.Just my opinion but I'm sure people will have tons to say to the contrary.I'm not knocking Studemont as a band but it would be nice to hear something less "overdone" from them where the singer isn't over singing an the rapper isn't damn near screaming on everything.Sometimes less can be more...

I have to agree with Lomax - the guitar is about the only ting of note here. But if I want to hear that guy wail I'll catch him in the TonTons which have a lot more to say musically. The vocals really do nothing for me here especially the "I need you" stuff which ... well lets not go there.

I mean the guys have talent as individual but they continually fail to impress me as a unit.

Also, while I'm not doubting Marc C. Austin's appreciation of the band, in the interest of full disclosure he should have mentioned that he was in fact listed as a contact for Studemont Project at the recent SXSW.

Thanks John for taking a listen! I'm sure there will be something on the LP that you may enjoy a bit more.

i appreciate all of the feedback i recieve on our music. i guess i haven't reached the point in my music career where i constantly have to make my opinions aware to anyone who will read them.

i don't look at criticism as a bad thing. however, i do discredit criticism from people who still try to ride the fence between musician and critic. i feel that the onlt true positive thing in music is its ability to bring musicians of an area together to further their dream. even if it means against genre lines.

as far as ramon goes, your bitterness supercedes your desire to hone your craft. i hope i spelled 'hone' correctly. the only reason i found your little slice of blog is when i googled my own band and searched past the first few pages.

our band is constantly trying to push our limits as musicians to find a type of music that keeps us entertained. we create music that we would like to see performed or simply hear in our heads. in an effort to keep this civil, i feel that your(ramon) musical endeavors really haven't pushed any musical envelopes lately. I came to this conclusion after i actually listened to some of your music.

all in all, i feel that this constant bickering on how bands recieve special treatment and so on is really a non-issue. the entertainment industry has always been about who you know and who you impress. that's how this works, guys. would any person in their right mind invest time and/or money into something they didn't enjoy. even down to our amateur level here in houston.

mark, thanks. you always felt like an older brother to me. but, i can handle this.

but,
mr. lomax, thank you for the mention. i am sorry we made you feel queesy. i am just glad that we are mentioned in any respect. gives me something to show my son when he gets older.

i am exausted.

bwahahah Ramon the ass clown. CONTROVERSY!

Dear Marc,

Dear Ramon "Houston's Original Talentless Ass-Clown" Medina -

You forgot to add the registered trade mark after clown. I'll let it slide this once.

1) Its Mark and Marc. Learn to spell.
potato patato.

As many before me have pointed out to you...check your facts before opening your huge mouth. 2) I was listed as the SXSW contact for Tyagaraja/Million Year Dance - not Studemont Project. Either way, its none of your f*ckin business.

I deleted those e-mails long ago so I was going off of what I recall but i trust you are being square and I'm am incorrect. Though, if you were directly related to the band at that level then it would be my business as it would be disingenuous of you not to mention it. In this case, I trust you wouldn't bullshit in your reply. So fair enough.

3) I was also listed as a photographer for the Houston Press - does that keep me from reading its paper or writing comments on its site or being a fan?

Of course not, but if you were defending the paper in some other publication then I think full disclosure would be warranted.

I'm not trying to sell anyone on Studemont. I was simply stating my opinion on matters. Again, none of your f*ckin business.

If you like them why aren't you trying to sell people Studemont project? But isn't it ironic that you dismiss Houston Hip-Hop wholesale by writing that Studemont Project is saving "Houston from a talentless hip hop sewer of uncreative ass clowns"

I mean I think singling out the guitar and the guitarist as being solid and also saying "the guys have talent as individual[s]" is pretty fair. I mean I'm giving them props where it's due and saying that the vocals don't work for me and the parts are good but the whole doesn't impress me. Is that so horrible of me? Why is that bitter and hateful? Somehow I'm not entitled to disagree with you? regardless, it's certainly more civilized than just hurling epithets insults at people and entire music communities in this city.

4) Now, go write this on a blog somewhere so 100 people can write me telling me how big of a douche you are - and so that I can, in turn, agree with them.

Wow 100 people read my blog! Bad ass!

5) Any time you wanna take this offline, please let me know - you know how to find me.

Take this off line? How old are you? six?
yeah ok I'll see you at the bus stop after third period. It may take a whiel for me to get over there so you may want to wait a while.

ramon,

i am sorry my band does not do it for you. maybe one day we will create something worthy of your blogging.

one of my best friends growing up lived next door to one of the guys from really red. i think his name was mike.

however, i probally won't read what you have to say about them. your writing style really doesn't move me. you should have enlightened me when you had the chance.

Ramon -

There is not one word out of that shit-spewing hole that you call a mouth anyone wants to hear. Seriously. You know this, yet you keep talking. Blah Blah Blah F*ckin Blah. Try not talking for a change.

It should be disclosed that you are wannabe musician who has zero talent yet you consider yourself a critic of other musicians who could play circles around you. It should be disclosed that you are simply envious of others. It should be disclosed that you are sad, sad little boy trapped in a man's body Again, you know this, yet you keep talking. Lie to yourself and continue to believe that people like what you write or the music you play - when internally you know that you MUST be this loud mouth that tries to cause controversy so that people will listen to what you have to say - whether they hate you for it or not. Its all you have. The only thing you are good at - pissing people off.

Amateur. Unprofessional. Child. AssClown.

Mark
ps. I apologize to everyone reading this. Ramon really is an unprofessional assclown. I am but one of many who feel this way. This is simply in defense of comments he's made towards countless numbers of others who didnt deserve it. His comments here are only the most recent in a life of ridiculing shit-talk about any and everyone who he finds to be talented. Its a very sad existence. I feel more sorry for him than anything.

Dan,

one more thing. how exactly were you invited to the showcase in Austin?

Oh my god, and for a second there I really thought you could actually participate in a discussion. Wow, I so overestimated you. My apologies for giving you too much credit. But Ok, If you are not aware of the SXSW process send me an e-mail and I will gladly explain to you the entire exciting process. hello kitty 2399 at yahoo . com

So let me get this straight you are totally, as the drummer of Studemont Project, perfectly OK with Marc calling Houston a "talentless hip hop sewer of uncreative ass clowns"? I mean cause that is really going to endear you guys to a lot of Hip Hop kids.

I'll post the list the day you admit that music is just noise (at least to the tune that it sucks so bad that you dont know whether your f*ckin instrument is even plugged in or not).

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2007/11/two_nights_ago_linus_pauling_q.php

"Medina stepped on his cord and unplugged his guitar, repeatedly. In a clear moment of the “fuck it” mentality that permeates so much of this band’s persona, he simply stopped trying to plug it back in, rocking out nonetheless."

"...only to remember that he had been playing an unplugged guitar throughout most of the song."

I may not be Webster, but if this doesnt meet the definition of AssClown then it exceeds it.

You should pay Nick Hall. Seriously, he makes you sound like Led Zep's retarded step-brothers. It reads like a review of "Citizen Dick" review from Singles. I can hear you now saying "Yeah, but we are loved in Sweden."

-Mark

as much as i like the copy and paste and retort method., here it goes. i never was going to touch mark's opinion. so, therefore i never really agreed or disagreed. as far as credit, i don't really deem your approval to be much. in all actuality, i have only read to one 'shrug' piece that you wrote probally after only hearing one song off the internet. this discussion is going no where. all i was asking is if you were put into that slot because the other band backed out. i wasn't aware of your band's booking until a week before the show.

as far as endearing hip hop 'kids'. i personally have not listened to hip hop in a while. i am kind of disappointed with hip hop as a whole. to clump me into this mold is ridiculous. just like a true blogwhore to grasp on one drive-by assumption and run with it. i personally do not like the typecast hip hop logo embranded on my band. i think we all know it is more than just hip hop. just how you may not like the early 90's grit rock that conjours up the patchouli ridden essence of gibby haynes.

one would think that limiting to a particular genre is kin to suicide. i think we turned off a lot of these 'hip hop kids' you speak of. most of which are grown adults and not kids, ramon. a lot of them are doing the exact thing they were doing 5 years ago. these types are the ones that hate on us for trying other things. damned if you do and damned if you don't, right?

you won't be the last person to not like us. as long as there are people who listen to us, we will perform. just for your information, jamon, gil and i were in a band way before we tried our hands at hip-hop. if i ever spend this much time again on this type of foolish back and forth, that will be the day i unhook my computer.

As commissioner of the Houston Ass-Clown Federation, I must make note that neither Ramon nor Marc are up to date on their dues. I implore ya'll to refrain to referring to them as such until their back dues are paid in full.

Anyone know why the Free Press spends so much time trolling around making rude comments on a competitor's website (could it be more of Ramon's penis envy)? (I know, kinda rude on my part to mention Free Press in the same breath as HP - my bad, HP).

just wondering.

Dan,

i never was going to touch mark's opinion. so, therefore i never really agreed or disagreed

So I'll take your not calling him out on that to be an acceptance of his opinion for this city's Hip Hop community. Good to know. Rappers take note!

just like a true blogwhore to grasp on one drive-by assumption and run with it.

Marc is the one who put you as the saviors of Houston Hip Hop not me - see his first paragraph.

. these types are the ones that hate on us for trying other things.

There was a comment by some German artist who once said he thought it odd that Artists in the US would describe themselves as Artists or Cutting Edge because from where he came from that was never for the artist to determine. I always liked that point of view.

Rude comments? Not even close. Competitor? I can't even afford soap. I happen to love Studemont (several of them are close friends and ex-bandmates),are homies with both scores of HP employees (several of which I carpooled to high school),and currently have indigestion with mild diarhea (I am sure I spelled that wrong). No need to jump the gun there buddy. Now, are you gonna pay your ass-clown dues or what? The committee is down my throat about this...

Ramon - If you want a list, you know where to find me. That's not a threat, its a guarantee.

Tip of the Day (and I'll keep it simple because I realize you are a little slow): a lot less bark and a lot more wag, please.

I'll leave you to your boring little life of hate posting, because I know you've got lots more of those to do tonight.

Good night and good riddance.

ramon, wtf? mark was showing love to one particular band. his comment was to you about us, why do i have to defend that. i don't even understand why we are talking about this particular statement in the first place. i REALLY don't want 'rappers' to get angry with me.. i am in no way affiliated with any scene. i wake up, go to work, provide for my family and play music for a release. if it actually goes somewhere, i might just shut down the old family business and become a rockstar. this approach seems to be a way better decision than your pissed off, overlooked, jaded, arms crossed approach to music. its more of a joy knowing i have the ability to play music than always having to point out the faults in others in order to feel better about how i might have failed.

for a man of your years, it may be hazardous for one to lock up so much disdain and hatred inside of yourself. one day you will realize why you didn't take your self to next level. it may have been all of that putrid, toxic crap you slide through on a daily basis.

a mutual friend told me that you chuckled at the fact that every band you played with that night, you had written bad things about. do you thrive on being that one negative prick that thinks he is the pinnacle of criticism? like how if you could insert your opinion in so many places, somehow people would think of you as this all-knowing, digging in the crates, musical purist. i might get over the fact that you are a tough person to impress but, would it hurt you to not write something negative about a band you have no tie to or really have no desire to see. or do you want so much for your puny little voice be heard to the point of utter exaustion?

copy and paste as you please. i hope you aren't on the clock bickering with me. i would hate for there to be billable time lost on hating oh so supremely.

i was looking through some old blogs around this site. it is hilarious how you are usually the first person to respond. wow.

i think i am done here. unless, just some ripe fece comes out of your orifice that i have to delicately respond to. this has been one hilarious friday afternoon. hey marK, take a couple of antacids and call me if the feeling persists.

ramon, wtf? mark was showing love to one particular band. his comment was to you about us, why do i have to defend that.

Actually the attack on Houston rappers was his initial response to Lomax. You don't have to praise a band by calling everyone else shit. Unfortunately for you, you either agree with his assessment of the Rap community or you don't. Sorry if you don't want rappers hating you but then I'm not throwing out random insults at people like Marc to prop up your band. He's your problem, not mine.

your pissed off, overlooked, jaded, arms crossed approach to music. its more of a joy knowing i have the ability to play music than always having to point out the faults in others in order to feel better about how i might have failed.

Umm,again lists. Show me the lists of my condescending blogs or my huge list of band attacks. You'll find that I have blogged a lot about various bands including the Tontons which includes one of your members with high praise. Sorry your band isn't one of them but that doesn't make me into the what you think I am.

a mutual friend told me that you chuckled at the fact that every band you played with that night, you had written bad things about. do you thrive on being that one negative prick that thinks he is the pinnacle of criticism?

Actually the comment I made at SXSW was that it was funny that I was on the same bill as Studemont Project whom I'd referred to as "Middling" and MYD. It's such poetic justice how can that not be funny? I can laugh at myself, it's called self deprecating humor.

i was looking through some old blogs around this site. it is hilarious how you are usually the first person to respond. wow.

Yeah, I like Lomax he's a good Joe. I also like Reverberations. I give them shit and all but I also give them props too. They are good people and good writers.

So let me close with quoting myself:
"I mean the guys have talent as individuals but they continually fail to impress me as a unit."

See the bold part? May I suggest you learn how to recognize and take a compliment with a bit of grace in the future.

the guitar is about the only ting of note here. But if I want to hear that guy wail I'll catch him in the TonTons which have a lot more to say musically. The vocals really do nothing for me here especially the "I need you" stuff which ... well lets not go there.

this part makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

are ya' kiddin? that mawfuckin guitarist for diz band eats shit! and I gotta live wif dat maw'fuck'n nucka.

Hey Marc,

Are you diggin' the over-the-top irony in all your posts? Cause I am.

Anyhow, I still stand by my earlier requests of you providing a list. No list means no substance to anything you've said.

Anonybro,

Seriously the guitarist is amazing check him out in the Tontons he's got a tone and licks that makes Hendrix's ghost weep.

i want to first reitterate one thing. i thank and praise mr. lomax for his review. there are many other bands out there that would love the fact that someone wrote about their music.

if we made music that made everyone feel wonderful, we would probally be criticized for being too fluffy. studemont is not afraid to step out of the box and make people feel uncomfortable. we have yet to find a particular formula for our music. unlike many in this city. unlike your band. but, that is cool. i find the status quo to be boring and redundant. if you don't like the song, i am sorry. i can live with that.

but, to clump marK and i in saying that i feel all hip hop is lost in houston is ridiculous. i do feel there is a plethora of bad hip hop out there that does nothing to promote growth and maturity. mark is the one who said we were cutting edge. not me. if you are defending all those codeined out, womanizers that claim to be rappers...that's on you.

jamon wrote:

In other words you and Marc have placed your band as the cutting edge of an evolution in Houston hip hop. Since that is your assertion, it is up to you to prove it. I'm not hearing it in the music and, since neither you nor Marc can engage in a discussion, I am not reading it here. You have to explain your views to all the rappers and DJ's out there because you owe it not to me but to them.
------------------------------------------
this is utter garbage, dude. i don't think we are anything but a band that is trying to carve out a niche for ourselves. i will not explain anything to djs and or rappers. i was speaking of a selected few people in this 'hiphop' community that are completely happy with catering to their friends and girlfriends at the same clubs weekends after weekend. if you want to speak in huge generalities and assumption, do it on your blog. i, unlike you, could care less about what others in the community think about us. all i can do is worry about myself and those in my inner circle.

we have been honored by recieveing houston press awards and free press awards. this all came to us as such a shock. we never let that go to our heads. we never worried about alienating anyone. we just wanted more than the hiphop community could give us. we see ourselves in the bigger picture. we aren't trying to be the coolest band in houston. our dreams are bigger than than one city. does this limitation sound eerily familar, jamon?

so, in all reality we are exactly where we were before this all started. i am glad you liked parts of our song individually. that doesn't make sense but, i'll roll with that. but, watch out when we form like voltron to rock your balls.

if you ever actually sit down and listened to the lyrics of our music.. you might be suprised to find that we are constantly trying to dispell the aire of materialism, sexism and lack of moral responsibility in hiphop or in the world for that matter.

my disconnect here is the fact that you made it very clear that you thought our band was bland. you stated that a few years ago. why would you waste time to say the same thing over again? to me that is negativity to the point of exaustion. why msut you continually write things about a band you normally wouldn't care about? is it envy? is it your shtick or is it pure pretentiousness? write that crap on your own page. get over the mancrush you have on our guitar player and move on. quit sh*tting in our potato salad.

it sucks to be that one little kid who is so jeolous over what others have, to the point where you never truly strive for yourself to reap the reward of hard work. so, when our album drops, i can't wait to hear what you have to say. it will be amusing, at the least.

one more thing, don't ever try to tell me how to accept compliments. all compliments are overshadowed by your tone and BS opinions. don't try to come off like this mature saint. i know your type. i have distanced myself from those who have similar outlooks in life. it wears me out when people think they are the end all- be all in music. that type of talk does nothing to promote our city and music scene. hater.

i will not respond to anymore comments. if you have anything else to say to me, i will be at the westheimer block party. mango's at 8:45. we will give you something to blog about. i assure you.

thanks again Lomax. i can't wait to make you butt wiggle with our album...

my disconnect here is the fact that you made it very clear that you thought our band was bland. you stated that a few years ago. why would you waste time to say the same thing over again?

Actually my comment was sparked because of Marc's line to Lomax: "How easy you are to discount a track that so clearly shows the evolution of Houston from a talentless hip hop sewer of uncreative ass clowns to a town that produces musicians who show progress and growth in a genre using a lot more skill and a lot less duplication."

Really, had he just said something about how he liked the song and the band that would have been fine but his "shitting on someone else's potato salad" as you say and putting y'all as the band that is leading this "evolution" was a pretty stupid and unnecessary dismissal of an entire genre and community that you yourself say you have nothing to do with.

I mean you should be able to recognize that that was a pretty boastful and arrogant comment that engages in exactly the kind of mean behavior Marc loves to accuse me of doing in my blogs and which I clearly do not do.

And yes it is quite common to appreciate parts and not the whole or appreciate the whole despite the parts.

I think the tone you are reading into any of my comments are simply the result of simple text on a screen and its limitations to express tone. I think that if you re-read my comments here that you guys are way over the top on the insults and the venom given my actual tone which is generally respectful and even-keeled. I guarantee you that the insults have been, during this entire exchange, hurled exclusively in one direction which I say again is impressively ironic given what you guys write about me.

Oh and on your jealousy comment. Nah, I get jealous of bands I like. I get Jealous of The Fuckign Transmissions/Basses Loaded's bassist droll bass lines. ... of Mlee Suprean's gift for melody. ...of Buxton's guitarist's gift for texture ...you guitarist's tone and dynamics in the ton tons. ...of Sharks and Sailors and the Jonx's immeasurable skills both individually and as a unit. ...of Something Fierce or Born Liars' jaw busting live shows. ... of Jenny Westbury's wit. of a Pink Cloud or John Muzak's ability to walk a tighrope without a net. ...of Joe Mathletes and the Young Mammals' gift for pop. And so on and so fourth. That's because I look at those bands and artists and thing "man, i wish I could pull that off." Of course I'm going to be envious of those bands skills because they are so singular and wonderful to me and I know I couldn't pull of what they do. Don't you look at say a painting say starry night and say "man, I wish I could have pulled that off." It's the same thing. You don't get jealous of things you don't like if that were true then if you walked up to me and said "Man, Air Supply sucks." that would really be code for your infinite jealousy of Air Suppply. C'mon.

Lastly, you and Marc relly need to grow-up and leave the "let's take this off line stuff" for the playground.

Cruz,

i knew people wouldn't like everything that we touched....totally natural. you guys keep forming opinions....and we will keep making the music we want.

Kudos mate, that is it. You get it. The first lesson in music is not to give a fuck. Geeez, if I worried about what people thought about my music, I would have stopped making it long ago. I'm quite happy with being irrelevant, thank you. I'm always curious to know what people think but if someone hates it or anything else I do or like my take is always that at least they listened.

In this case I listened because I really like the Tontons and because I'd heard other tracks (yes that's plural) on Myspace that were neither here nor there a while back. To my surprise it was something I really really didn't dig. I say surprised because the other songs I'd heard were things I never actively disliked whereas this one was one in which I did. I mean that's just the way that one shook out. I wouldn't have even commented but for the fact that I really felt that Marc's comment about Houston hip hop was a bit arrogant and dismissive.

Anyhow, long story short you've got the right attitude. Ya do what you do and keep at it as long as it's fun and rewarding to you.

Another Free Presser joins the ranks. Welcome, Jason.

Check the tax records, my friend. I happily pay all Harris County taxes - including those levied against me for owning a home there.

What can I say? I love this city. And its music. Very much.

Thanks for taking a shot at me though.

I listened to the track it was about average for me.I've also seen Studemont live a few times...still average.As for the Ramon vs. Mark arguements going on...sounds like everybody needs to chill out and calm down.An opinion is just that an opinion.Stop taking sh*t so dang personal!

wow. all this over a song...ha ha.

late pass.

I think I may be VERY late in readng all this.

I have to say that I think Ramone's original comments seemed to be at least constructive critiques. I'm not sure that I would have bothered to do that myself, but I do agree that Mark Austin seems to be the most defensive and accusitory here.

I know SP, the Free Press, the Houston Press, Mark, Tyagaraja, and Ramone, and frankly.. all of you have your douch bag moments. Get over yourselves already!

At least Omar can make a joke about it.