music news

my new hurricane of writing has had some interesting results. i've meant to just sit down with a notebook and start jotting down ideas for stories, poems, dissertation topics, research ideas, and the like. so i do that for like an hour every day or two, but then what happens is right before i stop i pick out a phrase or word or two i like and then suddenly i spend another hour writing like 4 songs. so things are getting a bit out of control.

i want to finish the EP before the semester ends; nay, dare i say i must finish it. i don't know where i'm moving to or if i'm moving in may, or where the money's coming from or if there'll be money, or if i'll even live anywhere that i can record, or if i can't record at home how i would ever get things moved somewhere where i could record since i don't have a car. so basically i want to at least finish this EP and maybe the aforementioned web concert idea before i run out of room an rent money and stuff that makes me an american.

so here's how that's shaping up. i recorded all last weekend (to the tune of 20-22 hours of guitar playing in 2 days) and have to show for it the final track and a pre-mix version of the first track. bits and pieces of the second track and third track are done, but not much. i am really, really bad at guitar fills. i am also really, really bad at recording vocals over distorted guitar. my MXLs sound too clear. it's like layering john denver vocals over slayer metal guitars. they both sound good apart, but put them together and look out henrietta. i think i might take one of my cheap mics, beat the shit out of it, and then try to record through that. i want this EP to sound grunge as fuck, and it's just not happening on the vocal end. so far, the idea of linking each song together through jams is totally working, though. it might end up sounding a bit like a wank-fest by the time i'm done, but i don't care because it's so fucking fun to have 3-4 minute songs all tied together by these (really improvised, as in i'm making them up as i go) 2-3 minute jams. i'm really happy with it so far. the thing's looking to clock in at like 40-45 minutes, which is retarded because my first full record was something like 52 minutes. anyway, here's the finalized tracklist:

1. Intro (Angry Robot Jam) >
2. Enemy (Asteroids Jam) >
3. Not the One I See (Orientalism Jam) >
4. (Gentle Robot Intro) Sunshine
5. Palace (Sorry About All the Pirates Jam)
6. Autumnsong (Prarie Dog Daydream Jam) >
7. Not California (Prarie Dog Shindig Jam/Angry Robotic Prarie Dog on LSD Jam)
8. Love Song in D ('06 "Not California" Demo Version)

i like naming stuff. especially crazy jams. i like this EP. it is fun for playing. my neighbors probably no like though.

so anyway, while i'm in the process of recording this, and trying to keep things under control writing-wise, i have nonetheless accidentally managed to write bunches of new songs. first of all, i have the original six songs from last summer that are supposed to be for the next record, and i thought "hey, it would be cute conceptually and thematically to have those six songs and then six new songs and sort of split the album in half", so i was thinking 12 songs. now that i've written something like 7 songs in four days, i'm thinking maybe more like 15. so we'll see what happens. but what i've got so far looks like this (not in any particular order):

1. [intro track] - instrumental, has a bit of most of the instruments used on the cd >
2. love song in d - very ambient version that flows out of the intro track
3. millie - straight up old school folk version, maybe with a piano too if i can find a broken one
4. molly - electric funness, sort of a stupid pop rock version
5. back to ohio - ridiculously overdone version with everything i can cram into it in there
6. ways to fly - pretty simple with some electric guitar and piano only
7. the melody - sort of a cross between an acoustic song and an outtake from "farmhouse"
8. just yesterday - sort of half acoustic/half electric, with a neil young sort of vibe
9. wolves - lots of reverb, lots of piano, lots of words (a la "caroline")
10. [another folk-type song]
11. [two more rock-oriented songs similar in tone to some of the EP stuff]
12.[two already written songs might work for these, "parade" and "girl in the flower dress" ]
13. [a song with just piano and nothing else might be a good middle-album track, like a coda or something]

i'm still trying to write words to "lorraine" too, if mike and matt would let me do something with that, eventually. like record it with them. i also wrote a rap song called "close your eyes, not your mouth", but i'm pretty sure that won't end up anywhere.

on top of that, i've managed to write at least four decent blues songs since i recorded that robert johnson song. i don't think blues fits thematically with any of the other stuff, so i'm wondering if maybe i should just do like 5 or 6 of them separately and slap 'em together. good god. then there's the webcast thing...

my brain is splintering. but in a good way. writing is fun. it keeps me up at night, but it also keeps the demons at bay. of course, since the demons are generally under my bed, this turns out to be an efficient use of my time.

bang!