discography
Schlarb Family White Christmas Album 2009
The response to last year’s Schlarb Family Christmas Album was so enthusiastic that we couldn’t wait to get another one out in time for this Christmas. Things got started in October when kids really dug into a few Paul McCartney tunes on The White Album. Soon, Elisha knew the melody and lyrics to “Rocky Raccoon” by heart and Naima was whistling “I Will” throughout the house. Adriana loved “Mother Nature’s Son” and I was stuck picking a tune that would compliment the other three songs. I went so far as to start recording a solo electric guitar demo of “Long, Long, Long” but I chose “Dear Prudence” instead.
We pulled in a few ringers this year and are very happy to have family friend Tabor Allen playing drums on two songs. One of those songs, “Rocky Raccoon”, also happens to feature the talents of Andrew Durkin of Industrial Jazz Group on piano. Lastly, we present the recording debut of Amparo Lomas (Adriana’s mother) on vocals. Although not “Christmas songs”, the real gift was making music together with family and friends.
We recorded and rehearsed everything in about two weeks. Naima knew from the beginning she wanted to whistle “I Will” and she knocked it out in two takes. Elisha IS “Rocky Raccoon” and my wife Adriana, our mom Amparo and I recorded “Mother Nature’s Son” in two takes with a stereo mic set up, just the three of us playing and singing in a room. Just for the record, that’s me hitting the high notes on “Dear Prudence”. Merry Christmas!
01. I Will [mp3]
02. Mother Nature’s Son [mp3]
03. Rocky Raccoon [mp3]
04. Dear Prudence [mp3]
Download high quality mp3s in a .zip file here!
CREDITS
Naima Schlarb- whistling on “I Will” and co-lead vocals on “Dear Prudence”
Elisha Schlarb- lead vocals and harmonica on “Rocky Raccoon” and co-lead vocals on “Dear Prudence”
Adriana Schlarb- vocals on “Mother Nature’s Son” and backing vocals on “Dear Prudence”, handclaps on “Rocky Raccoon”
Chris Schlarb- acoustic and electric guitars, vocals on “Mother Nature’s Son”, backing vocals, drums, jingle bells and bass on “Dear Prudence”, handclaps on “Rocky Raccoon”
with:
Tabor Allen- drums on “I Will” and “Rocky Raccoon”
Andrew Durkin- piano on “Rocky Raccoon”
Amparo Lomas- vocals on “Mother Nature’s Son” and handclaps on “Rocky Raccoon”
Produced, Arranged and Recorded by Chris Schlarb
Recorded from November 21st through December 6th in the Red Room (next to the kitchen)
The Widow Babies- Jetpacks
In January of 2009, The Widow Babies and I began recording Jetpacks. Our first album together, The Mike Watt EP, was recorded in a single day. Jetpacks, however, consisted of three days in the studio with additional time for tracking, mixing and overdubs. To my ears, Jetpacks sounds different than anything coming out of Los Angeles right now. The lazy ear could settle for Abe Vigoda-like connections but the drumming is too dense, the vocals too piercing, the guitar too afro-pop and the bass too muscular for that comparison. I also happen to think that Tabor Allen is one of the best lyricists working today. Whereas most bands treat words like the throw away fluff needed for people to sing along, The Widow Babies sing humanist anthems wrapped in surrealist sunshine pop.
The Widow Babies are an incredible group and I could not be more pleased with the work we did on this album. The songs are short, smart, angular and catchy as hell. I also think the production is pretty great too but maybe that’s just me. Jim Smith, who runs the venerable L.A. underground venue The Smell, has released Jetpacks on clear 12″ vinyl on his olFactory Records label. The one-sided record comes with screenprinted art on the B-side and a digital download of the full album. Pick it up soon because these won’t last long.
Produced, engineered and mixed by Chris Schlarb
The Widow Babies are:
Tabor Allen- drums
Neal Marquez- electric bass
Elise McCutchen- vocals
Danny Miller- electric guitar
Twilight & Ghost Stories (Album)
ORDER
AMAZON // ASTHMATIC KITTY // EMUSIC // ITUNES
ABOUT
A work of personal identity and deep catharsis, Twilight & Ghost Stories is a dense 40-minute modern composition featuring a disparate cross-section of musicians from the avant-garde, independent folk, jazz and electronic communities. A creative and accomplished jazz guitarist, Chris Schlarb cut his teeth producing hip-hop tracks, teaching music workshops and co-founding the free music collective Create (!). In 2004 he collaborated with installation artists Megan and Murray McMillan, and with fine artist Tom Steck formed I Heart Lung, which Tiny Mix Tapes called “some of the most energetic free-jazz to spit out of America.” Spanning all of these endeavors, Twilight & Ghost Stories finds Schlarb playing acoustic piano, organ, electric and acoustic guitar as well as tapes and percussion.
Calling upon a diverse number of collaborators, Chris began to solicit musical phrases, incidental conversations, stories and textures. Few artists were offered more than a vague description of the project and none of the artists involved heard the final mix until the album’s release. Mick Rossi, percussionist and pianist in the Philip Glass Ensemble, sent a duet recording with saxophonist John O’ Gallagher; Dave Easley, who as part of the Brian Blade Fellowship once backed Joni Mitchell, provides a pedal steel guitar that synchronizes perfectly with Sebastian Krueger‘s voice and acoustic guitar. Fellow Asthmatic Kitty artists also contributed: Sufjan Stevens‘ emotive piano is bookended by Triptych Myth‘s Tom Abbs and nmperign‘s Bhob Rainey; Half-Handed Cloud‘s John Ringhofer‘s voice, piano and percussion echoes throughout as does vocalist Liz Janes; and Castanets frontman Raymond Raposa spins out a brief guitar duet as Curious Digit/Royal Trux alum Parker Paul whispers a short story about gothic middle America.
Ten minutes in, Schlarb cross-fades a recording of his son’s in-womb heartbeat with white noise and together they become one indistinguishable sound. Elsewhere, Black Mountain‘s Stephen McBean muses inaudibly about music boxes as Schlarb’s own children scream and play in the background, bassoons droning and bass clarinets chattering all the while. Schlarb layers these taped conversations and background ambiance as a way of reframing moments in time from their indigenous chronology. He does the same with geographic location. Recorded on the streets of Montmarte, Paris, inside an Icelandic home designed by Albert Speer, and throughout the United States, Schlarb assembled his orchestra of strangers for the last time as he recorded the final mix in his Long Beach apartment on June 1st, 2007.
LISTEN
FUTHER READING
Twilight & Ghost Stories in New York City
Twilight & Ghost Stories in Austin and San Francisco
Twilight & Ghost Stories in Athens
See also Twilight Variations.
PRESS
“This is improvised music as art at its very best.”- Ian Patterson, All About Jazz
“Chris Schlarb’s Twilight & Ghost Stories is one of the most unique musical projects to come along in years… a monumental achievement.”- Nathan Atnikov, FFWD Weekly
“Top 10 Albums of 2007… an experiment in sound rather than a traditional album… a fascinating experience.”- Katherine Fulton, All Music Guide
“40 minutes of avant-garde bliss.”- Jake Brooks, New York Observer
“Twilight is jazz in the same sense as the genre-smashing stuff the Art Ensemble of Chicago played from the late ‘60s through the early ‘80s. Which is to say that it both epitomizes and transcends the genre. In a world that allows the paranoid, antisocial, and self-obsessed to abuse art as a forum for vapid ‘self-expression,’ Twilight & Ghost Stories is not a Statement, but a gift.”- Tiny Mix Tapes
“A triumph of minimalist folktronic gorgeousness.”- Ali Maloney, The Skinny
“Schlarb is a talented arranger, producer and all around master of ceremonies, and Twilight & Ghost Stories ends up being a cathartic, improbably organic, and engaging CD.”- Christian Carey, Signal To Noise
“One of the years more ambitious recordings.”- Robin Hilton, NPR’s Second Stage
“Top 10 Albums of 2007… These aren’t songs per se, but an amalgam of feelings that Schlarb and his vast array of contributors want to convey to the listener.”- Dave Cantor, The Cleveland Free Times
“Twilight is a unique and remarkably universal record, and one that offsets its projected loneliness with a great sense of warmth. Indeed, it’s perfect for listening to in the very circumstances that birthed the concept, when you’re alone with the weather, wondering what to do.”- Joe Tangari, Pitchforkmedia
“Twilight & Ghost Stories is a finely woven tapestry of myriad voices; meteorological elements; and deftly executed jazz, folk and post-rock, all rendered in muted watercolor daubs.”- Dave Segal, OC Weekly
“an unqualified success… it’s impossible to believe that you’ve really been listening to music (it must have been a dream.) Even more difficult to comprehend will be the fact that it has not, after all, been raining.”- Timothy Zila, Patrol Magazine
“Chris Schlarb creates beautiful, symphonic compositions.”- John Zeiss, Prefix Magazine
“A freeform, ambient composition featuring cameos by 50 musicians makes exquisite sonic wallpaper, no insult intended”- Lorraine Carpenter, Montreal Mirror
“a delightful listen”- XLR8R Magazine
“But in Twilight & Ghost Stories, his first solo album, Schlarb turns his soul, rather than his instrument, inside out.”- Phillip Buchan, Flagpole
“Rest assured, whether it’s rain or shine you came for, this disc does it. The musical musings contained herein harbor an honest array of promises and pangs. Both come distilled. Whatever you want, and whenever, here it is.”- Jonathan Scott, Stereo Subversion
“It is significant when the contributions of more than 40 musicians can be used to create a work as intimate as this… Twilight And Ghost Stories is a quiet epic…”- Craig Schum, Beyond Race Magazine
“It’s actually a quite nice minimal, flowing electro-acoustic piece utilizing field recordings (mostly of rain) and improvised contributions…”- Keith Fullerton Whitman, Mimaroglu Music Sales
“There are far too many twists and turns to this record to really to list here, but the fact that it’s all cemented together by that omnipresent rainfall and traffic flow really does lend an overarching sense of coherence to this beautiful collection of vignettes.”- Boomkat.com
“Album of the Week. This is a wonderfully resonant piece of work, a beautiful modern challenging composition and a piece of wonderfully creative art – most of all though this is just simply a very beautiful, highly original and very easy to listen to album that you’ll want to get lost in again and again.”- Organ Magazine
“Chris Schlarb’s debut album is, although more off the wall than anything this reviewer has listened to for a long time, a complex, but oddly moving sonic production… rather lovely after three listens.”- Will Dean, Drowned In Sound
INTERVIEWS
All About Jazz by Ian Patterson
The District Weekly by Chris Ziegler
XLR8R Magazine by Josiah Hughes
Paper Thin Walls by Jessica Suarez
37signals by Matt Linderman
Music Timeline (2008)
I had so many different projects on-going and intersecting this year I thought it might be fun to work up a little timeline. I ended up purchasing a beautiful piece of software by BeeDocs earlier this year called Timeline 3D and it imported all of my events from iCal. Then I started taking stuff out and simplifying. The resulting year is represented in the static timeline above and the 3D video timeline (with commentary) below.
Schlarb Family Christmas Album 2008
We didn’t have much money this year so we started a tradition instead. Every year, as a family, we will try to make a short Christmas album with everyone contributing. This year, we got a little Fragile with it. We have tunes as a family, and tunes in smaller groups.
The high-concept, two part “Christmastime in…” series is sure to please the closet prog-heads out there. Acoustic guitar, jingle bells and Christmas cheer in spades.
Schlarb Family Christmas Album 2008
01. Christmastime In L.A. [mp3]
02. Christmastime In Egypt [mp3]
03. Silent Night, Holy Night [mp3]
04. Jingle Bells [mp3]
Download high quality mp3s and a lyric sheet here!