I have been meaning to post a few tracks of solo guitar action that I quickly recorded for a day job project I’ve been working on called IFreshman Farmer. The music is background for the videos I’ve been putting together. It’s a great program, check it!
[display_podcast]
I found out, naively, that I can record with, hold the phones, TWO microphones at once. I didn’t have to buy a mixer or anything. Well, I already had what I needed.
And so, the blueprint for the cello & voice only album is laid out: two mics, live recordings.
This song was recorded as a test of my setup, the room, the mics, positions, et cetera, and I am quite happy with how it turned out. The mic on my cello is big and right, and the vocals (hint of sick still in my voice, I hate recording when I’m sick but I can’t stop myself) are the ever faithful SM57 at work.
So, preface this song with: a test. Lyrics… not quite worked out, but I will keep some of them and rework the whole thing. I wanted to give you a little something, as I have been far from the external world lately in the land of illness. But I’m back again!
Working out some songs here… I like this one, it’s a keeper. Maybe not in this form. But again, the vocals + cello thing is beginning to mesh pretty well. It is more of a challenge for me personally to not add any other instrumentation, which is part of why I am doing it!
[display_podcast]
It has been a long busy and good week for me. And yet, I have not shared much music. I like the beginnings of this song, and especially I like the way that just cello and voice is going to work on the just cello and voice album I’ll be releasing this year.
Last second I know, but tomorrow night I shall be playing a little cello ambient music for Kate’s art opening in Sacramento.
Practicing tonight, working it out. Here is a short sampling of what might happen… Here I am playing the cello (with my hands) and the beatbox (with my feet).
This version of Porcelain Backdrop (track 8 off of ‘Midnight Door’) is really only slightly different than the version that made it onto the album. I have to admit that the difference is very subtle. You see I had grown slightly weary of… not of the sound… but of *relying* on the dual vocals thing that I blatantly borrowed from Elliott Smith.
When Elliott Smith recorded ‘Either/Or’ and other albums, he often doubled up on his vocals… ie., he recorded the same vocals singing the same words and notes twice. For me what it did is made hushed vocals louder and more present. It also accentuates rather than avoids the very natural inclination that humans have to being not perfectly “in tune”. When the two slightly imperfect vocals cross paths, they create a very human sound, since, when two real human beings sing together, they tend to be slightly “out of tune”, and thus, they sound HUMAN. (I rant because so much music that you hear is not really people’s voices, but computer “fixed” vocals).
When I record cello for other people’s projects, I like to double up, and record two versions of the same melodies to be played at once, so that the sound of my less than computer cellos adds up to a human sounding orchestral type of thing.
So I got addicted to doing the same thing with vocals. Which is what you’ll find on the original version of Porcelain Backrop off the album. But I almost released it with only one vocal, so that you could hear the sort of rawness of the lyrics, against the very deluxe backdrop of sound.
Porcelain Backdrop was named so because… well, it kind of just stuck. I did however, record that song after returning home from my epic road trip. I was trying to write a song, which is something I never do, I usually say: “I’m inspired… NOW is the time to write a song”…. and I wanted to write about how grateful I was for finding
1. answers to some of the more simple problems facing me regarding moroseness (“I think that I can see through… the shortening of the days”),
and
2. a person who really wanted to share with me in the experience of living in the way that Kate did on our road trip. (“you saved my boat from sinking… you made my nights complete”)
Without further ado, Porcelain Backdrop as never heard before with one vocal track instead of dueling:
[display_podcast]
Remember: Porcelain Backdrop Live
Also: Listen to the album version
Life moves on. Last weekend I watched Tchaikovsky being played wonderfully by the S.F. Symphony, and it was really inspiring. Sat up in the front row while the conductor grimaced and ohhhed.
February is the longest shortest month. The narcissus are blooming in my kitchen now. Reading Jung. Currently listening to Refused. Cinco the dog lies on the floor patiently. Kate works on paintings.
Here is a rework of the demo song still in demo form, All Right Now.
[display_podcast]
Another sketch, this one rough
[display_podcast]
This is a track from way back. This is one of my first shows where I used the cello for half my set. I had my beatbox, and was playing at the Medicine Hat, this beautiful underground type spot on NE Alberta St., in Portland. It was a quiet night, like a Wednesday or so, but I remember that several of my friends were there. We probably ate at the Vita Cafe. I know that I had left my cello pickup back at my apartment on SE Hawthorne, and was frantic to make it all happen for this show.
So it was the beginnings of making the cello and beats thing work. This recording was done nicely by the sound engineer. Its an old song too, one off of “Still Dream” I believe.
[display_podcast]
More sketch action.
Trying to shake out the old beatbox.
[display_podcast]
More songs that are warming up.
This one is about
the storm
[display_podcast]
Last night’s show at Hot Rod Ink in Newcastle, CA, was amazing.
So many good people turned out to check out the newly hung art, and Alice Ann welcomed all to her tattoo shop warmly. The atmosphere was excited, and everyone was into the music as well.
Here is an excerpt from my live performance that night, playing cello and beats.
[display_podcast]
I finally found myself a decent mic, actually two, to begin work on my new albums.
This one I got in the mail yesterday I am very happy with. Simple to set up, a Blue USB mic (Snowball) and no hum, which is the bane of my digital recording existence.
I kind of love this mic. I sat down to test the sound out last night and just sort of spewed and man, without any special setup, and without a whole lot of adjustments, recording vocals and guitar at the same time it produced an exceptionally clean and full sound.
So that plus another mic and I am good to go beginning recording.
This is a song that I improvised last night. I like to just let words roll and try and not repeat myself and sound cliche. I know that all of it makes 100% sense… but some lines surprise me and I’ll save them, re-write them. Its so much more honest, these lyrics are, for me than sitting down and straining over what clever lines to put.
I said I didn’t have to tweak the sound at all, but of course I did, I added reverb. I am addicted to reverb and I know.
[display_podcast]
I’m “writing” songs so much lately… well, not the craft of writing right now, but sketching them out and jotting down ideas at a rapid clip. Its a good way to clear out your mind and influences before recording, which I will start in earnest soon.
My ideas for the next (not kidding) 4 albums, to be released in 2008 are:
Solo cello and voice
Solo guitar or piano and voice
Instrumental Electronica with Cello/other sounds
Fully orchestrated cello, beats, guitar, voices, synths et cetera
All could be started now. And if I had more time, all could be finished in 2 months. But you know, must get money, endless quest, et cetera.
Anyways, here is a sketch:
It was crazy. It ruled. You were there? No? Well just listen to this then.
PS – Sorry about the sound quality.
[display_podcast]
Random Song for you.
[display_podcast]
Last weekend I got to play at the big church room of St. Joseph’s. Black Bear, Casual Fog, Tahiti Pehrson (Night Court), were all amazing. The sound was great, it was fun.
Here for your amusement is a video of the first song of the set, shot by Eric Lee Dickerson (thanks man), Closure…
[display_podcast]
[ratings]
On my way to working out a new song for my show at St. Joseph’s the other night, I stopped and recorded a little of the process. It may end up being called “Beware Sirens”
This song will change most likely and its just a teaser… I’d love to know if YOU think it is at all interesting…
Check it!
[display_podcast]
This track is old. I didn’t just record it. I wrote and recorded this sometime around 2000, it never made it to an album. I like the song, and I like what happened when I took a handheld tape recorder, recorded onto that while I recorded my vocals, and then played that back into a microphone for the dual vocal fuzzy effect.
Enjoy!
[display_podcast]
I’m putting up a rare early version of “Closure” here. The drums are more raw, the sound is less bass heavy, there are some miscues. But it is the song in its earlier birth. There are some things that this version has that I like that the album version doesn’t.
Let me know what YOU think!
[display_podcast]
Here we have the video for track 1 off ‘Midnight Door’ – “Closure”.
A lot of the themes of the album come across in the video, those of motion, distance, wandering. Multiple personas and 80’s head shots are addressed as well. Subliminal messages. Birds flying in slow motion. Live footage is worked in, and all in all, it is a strong beginning to the video epic that is to be the entire album.
[display_podcast]
Too much good stuff and many good things of last night (Show at Cooper’s, downtown Nevada City). The air was chillier but full of howls from Casual Fog, the melodic and thrummed onslaught of Strangers Die Everyday, and the haunting and spot on poetics of Lisa Papineau.
Here we have (thanks for filming “Lee” Dickerson) one of the songs from the set, “Opulent Desires”. (This is a fairly large file at ~22mb)
[display_podcast]
Here are a couple of versions of “Up Into The Blue” off of ‘Midnight Door’. The first is the album version, and the second is a rare demo cut.
Up Into The Blue is yet another song where the imagery of my Catholic upraising plays a prominent role… this idea of absolution for our wrongs in an almost whimsical way, of waiting for the holy parade pervades this song. In some sense I feel like this song is about my older brother. We were inseparable growing up, and the last verse of the song especially reflects my strong memories of being best friends, and perhaps the extend rumination at the end of the song is a meditation on the things that have changed since then… not in a bad way, just the pulse of life gets quicker, things get more confusing as you grow up. Obviously this is a fairly emotional song!
I like how the demo gives a version of the song that is a bit more whimsical and a quicker tempo. It is a very different perspective
Lyrics are below:
[display_podcast]
Reservoirs of shooting stars
fall between your eyes
hundred mile shy smile
begging you to try
Thundercloud, tall and proud
petulant and snide,
Don’t know how, even now
to say goodbye.
Wait for the truth to come,
be enthralled.
Hold your head up
Don’t resist.
Everyone will be absolved!
Hold your hands out – get a piece of it!
Everywhere, in the air
only thing I saw
Last chance, happenstance,
drawing of the straws
Maybe wow, somehow
it’ll disappear
Don’t know how, even now,
to shed a tear.
Stay up all night –
hear the words…
Finally.
Everyone will be absolved!
Hold your hands out
take it quietly.
Forgot back then
played pretend
glimmer in your eyes.
Perfect light
clear and bright
brilliantly alive.
Everywhere you would be
I would be too
Perfect sky
learned to fly
up into the Blue.
Today’s video is an art extravaganza I made from a rehearsal in my practice space. I got some new film editing software, and as part of learning to use it, I created this artful masterpiece. Features: Jellyfish, Grimaces, Walking through the desert with a beard. Very Jim Morrison there. Keep reading for more info on the images et cetera…
[display_podcast]
The spot of the desert footage is a really cool place in Death Valley National Park. If you drive a few hours up an amazingly bumpy road (even with four wheel drive its sketch), you end up at a place called “The Racetrack”, past Teakettle Junction.
The Racetrack is a dried lake bed, which are, naturally some of the flattest surfaces on earth. In some way, however, to many a mystery, no scientific explanation has been proven, (to my knowledge), a few of the rocks and boulders are sliding across the surface, leaving trails behind them. When you are out there in the vastness of it all, and you realize how dry and desolate it is, it does seem a magickal place.
My Flickr Pics from Death Valley
Enjoy!
The other night was, in California, a splendid night to catch a full lunar eclipse. The transition from full moon to a creepy red was amazing to behold. For the next part in the “Song For My Father” series I took my photos from that night, and strung them together.
[display_podcast]
A performance from Power Palooza, August 18, 2007. Owls And Vultures is track 17 off of ‘Midnight Door’…
Camera work by Jill Bauerle and Eric Dickerson
[display_podcast]
I’ve been excited to get this up there, now you can go and write reviews and tell all your friends.
Also, available through CD Baby
Saturday 08/18/07 at Power Palooza, one song of the live set – “The Vastest Highway”.
(note that this is a fairly large file)
Camera work by Jill Bauerle and Eric Dickerson
[display_podcast]
I was just listening to some old/lost tracks (of which there are many) and I thought I’d put up these tracks, from a few years ago… Never made it to an album, but I like them, and it reminds me of summery-ness.
The first track – “July” was written in my cabin in Mendocino. I was just discovering the joys of not playing guitar and writing songs on cello mainly. We had a tiny little studio with floor to ceiling glass windows that looked down into the redwood forest.
The next track, “The Longest Book Ever Written” is a lot older, from Portland days, probably written in my apartment on Hawthorne Blvd., maybe after a night of working at the hostel there. People who carry around various pairs of headphones on their person may be mildly disappointed with the mix however… so be warned!
[display_podcast]
Part 4 of my solo cello album. Again, these are tracks that I sat down and recorded for my father last week. (ps – welcome home pops!). I like this video the most so far.
[display_podcast]
Here are the requirements for this project for me, just to sum it up in a way…
1. Yes they are improvised pieces. I took a theme in my mind and went with it wherever it went. Someday soon I will record my written pieces.
2. Since they are improvised, the artwork is off the cuff as well. It is important that it be subconscious basically.
So the video/music is just a short piece of time, put up today for you to enjoy. Thanks!
I’ve been getting into these as we prepare to make videos for “Midnight Door”. So keep an eye out for the rest of these, for the audio only versions of each track, and for those videos in the future.
Other things in the works:
exclusive rare tracks page for people who register with the website
portfolio of recorded works with other artists
access to old (very old by my standards) albums
that kind of stuff.
Thanks for stopping by!
Part 3 of the Song For My Father project.
[display_podcast]
so now you don’t even have to work to get my new music posts… feeds are at:
You can paste that link into iTunes: go to advanced, click on “Subscribe To Podcast…” and paste that link above. And from there you will get all the new music I post here. Brilliant.
Will be in other spots on the interweb as well. Thank You.
such as:
My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-0d73c6a0495535b73e13f8a4601429b3}
Below is the second part of the cello pieces I’ve recently been recording.
These are for my dad, who I’m real proud of, and my family in general, and I hope you enjoy as well.
In the next post or so, I’ll put up audio only versions of these.
[display_podcast]
The official release date for “Midnight Door” will be 07/07/07. Look for it then on iTunes and CD Baby.
*** having technical difficulties… please check back on these soon! ***
These are acoustic versions of mostly material from Midnight Door that I performed on KDVS, May 24th, 2007
You will hear a more languid, loose approach to the music, much less driving, and more about mood than the album.
[display_podcast]
PS – I’ve taken the tracks apart so that you can download one at a time, not have to hear me talk, et cetera, however… you can find the original show in its entirety here: KDVS Archives
PPS – Still working out the new site. Please let me know of any kinks/troubles you find.
