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Middle Eight

February 5, 2012 by schlarb

Middleeight

I don’t like making predictions. What I will say is this… I started work on a lot of good music last year. It has to come out eventually doesn’t it?

At the moment, I am producing records for songwriter and bandleader Paulie Pesh, augmented folk-pop outfit Miniature Houses (featuring Michael Wysong and Lili De La Mora), and a new group with Jet Elfman, Danny Miller and Tabor Allen of Widow Babies/Rare Grooves fame. Last October I put the finishing touches on the debut album for NOPAL con su banda Santos y Payasos. NOPAL is lead by musician/poet Jose “Vince” Reyes and also features Ms. De La Mora on bass and vocals. Not surprisingly, Andrew Pompey plays drums and percussion on everything.

These albums feature some of my favorite musicians and the collaborations feel truly inspired. I am always learning, listening, reading, and trying to get better… Not only for myself but for the artists I am working with. This music has developed slowly and it feels like a part of me, not like a job I was hired to do. Most of all, I am going in new directions and finding honesty in the work.

Lastly, I have two projects of my own that I hope to finish and release this year: We Scream is a documentary short film about ice cream trucks that my wife Adriana and I started in 2009. The other project will turn Psychic Temple into a double album. As you may have noticed, there are two sleeves in gatefold cover.

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Schlarb Family Plays Steely Dan (Xmas 2011)

December 16, 2011 by schlarb

Schlarb Family Plays Steely Dan Xmas 2011
To make a long story short, we were supposed to do this last year. I got sick and spent some time in the hospital and it never came together. Thankfully, 2011 has been better in every imaginable way and I set a date to start recording the weekend after Thanksgiving. Danny Miller and Tabor Allen came over and we knocked out the rhythm tracks and a large pizza. Over the next few days, we all recorded our vocal parts, Andrew laid down some percussion, Naima designed the cover art, Elisha drew a family portrait, and I set about mixing and finishing up.

This is the third album we have done for Christmas and although these aren’t holiday songs, the important thing is that we all worked, laughed, and spent time together. It was a great joy to share my “work” with my family. A simple thing like listening back to multi-tracked vocals or harmonies sent my kids (and Adriana) into flights of euphoric disbelief. It’s easy to forget that what we can do with sound is a form of magic.

Everyone picked their own song to sing and I love that you can hear a little bit of each family member’s personality in their vocal delivery. These were not easy tunes to learn and it was fun to approach the music of Steely Dan with a kind of slap-dash perfectionism; we knocked out “Do It Again” in one take but I worked for hours (and 20+ takes) to record “Gaucho” all the way through. Did I mention that “Gaucho” was six pages of difficult sheet music with chord voicings written on piano? Hello Ab add2 with a Bb bass…

Anyhow, thanks so much for listening and Merry Christmas!

01. Do It Again [mp3]
02. Peg [mp3]
03. Reeling In The Years [mp3]
04. Gaucho [mp3]

Download high quality mp3s in a .zip file here! Artwork included.

CREDITS
All songs written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen

Naima Schlarb- vocals on “Do It Again”
Elisha Schlarb- vocals “Peg”
Adriana Schlarb- vocals on “Reeling In The Years”
Chris Schlarb- acoustic and electric guitars, melodica, electric bass on “Do It Again”, vocals on “Gaucho”

with:
Tabor Allen- drums on “Do It Again”, “Peg”, and “Reeling In The Years”
Danny Miller- electric bass on “Peg” and “Reeling In The Years”, acoustic guitar on “Do It Again”
Andrew Pompey- percussion on “Do It Again” and “Peg”

Cover art by Naima Schlarb, family portrait by Elisha Schlarb

Produced, Arranged and Recorded by Chris Schlarb
Recorded from November 26th through December 16th in the room next to the kitchen

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Stephen King on Twitter

November 18, 2011 by schlarb

Stephen King on Twitter

I started reading Stephen King‘s new time travel epic, 11/22/63, last week. So far, I am enjoying it immensely. I haven’t broken the spine on a King novel since high school and I don’t read much fiction but the subject matter caught my attention. Lately, my reading has unintentionally congregated around cults of personality: Vincent Bugliosi‘s Charles Manson tome, Helter Skelter, Hampton Sides‘ Hellhound On His Trail, about Martin Luther King‘s assassination at the alleged hands of James Earl Ray, and Walter Issacson‘s officious, illuminating, and technically soggy biography of Steve Jobs.

11/22/63, however ominous thus far, has a light and giddy air to it. King’s protagonist, a Maine high school English teacher named Jake Epping, is a perfect vehicle for complaints about grammar, frequent references to literature and, occasionally, veiled references to a certain social network. On page 161 of the book, King writes, through Epping’s first person narrative, “When I woke up the next morning, a nine-o’ clock sun was shining in my as-yet-curtain-less bedroom window, birds were twittering self-importantly, and I thought I knew what I had to do. Keep it simple, stupid.” I think he’s on to something.

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La Belle et la Bête

August 29, 2011 by schlarb

La Belle et la Bête

On Monday, September 5th, I will be playing electric guitar as a member of Le Petit Ensemble Mélodique. Together, we will be performing an original live score to Jean Cocteau‘s classic film, La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast). The music for the ensemble has been written by Lili De La Mora and Michael Wysong (of Miniature Houses) and the group features Tabor Allen, Sandor Roscoe Wolff, Ken Negrete, Alyssandra Nighswonger, Davin Givhan, and Taihei Tajima.

Tickets are $10. Doors open at 7pm and the performance begins at 8pm. All ages are welcome.

Many thanks to Long Beach Cinematheque and Second Samoan Church of Long Beach for organizing and hosting the event.

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Collecting Spirits

August 22, 2011 by schlarb

Pauliepeshchurch

In mid-July 2011, I started producing a new album for prolific singer/songwriter/composer Paulie Pesh. We spent the first four days tracking inside of Downey First Presbyterian. The 84-year-old sanctuary, with its vaulted ceilings, and sun-filled, stained glass windows was perfect for tracking rhythm section, strings, and brass. The environment, the music, and the people involved have made for an unforgettable experience. In the above photo, I am using an AKG D112 on the cello, a pair of AKG 451 EB’s in an XY pattern to capture the viola and violin, and a Sennheiser 421 on the flute running into the Allen & Heath Zed R-16. Many thanks to my assistant engineers, Jet Elfman and Jason Chavez.

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