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 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

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

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.

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!

At the time, mid-February 2008, I was in the middle of at least four ongoing music projects and felt compelled to take on a fifth. I told the band that I was available to produce an album and we exchanged numbers. After a few phone calls we set up a recording session at Matt Wignall’s Tackyland studio in Long Beach just a month later. Drummer Tabor Allen and guitarist Danny Miller told me “Mike Watt Created The Universe With A Bass Solo” was the first part of a six song paean to the myth of the Minutemen bassist. We finished five of the six tracks on March 22nd and went out for pizza at Me-N-Ed’s pizza. It was a quick days work with the band recording their takes with youthful ferocity and vocalist Elise McCutchen recording all of her vocal overdubs as soon as the music was put to tape.

A month later we met at my apartment for mixing and the recording of acoustic epilogue to the album. I continued to work on the mix for the next few weeks until I felt confident that The Widow Babies sounded the way they should: raw, fun, excited, awesome and awestruck.

From the opening drum fill to the closing acoustic guitar The Mike Watt E.P. runs a cool twelve and a half minutes, it’s over before you know what you’ve just heard: a parallel universe where Genesis and Melt Banana combine to make The Lamb Lies Down in San Pedro. In a time and place where attention spans are further on the wain and the listeners of the world are becoming more judicious The Widow Babies cram in Brazilian rhythms and timbales into “Vanity Thy Name Is Lincoln” and meaty double tracked guitars ring out on “Evil Triumphs Over The Awesome Powers Of Kayak” where bassist Neil Marquez continues to reveal his remarkable facility on the instrument. I had a hunch from the beginning that Watt would be proud.

Personnel
Tabor Allen- drums
Danny Miller- guitar
Neal Marquez- bass
Elise McCutchen- vocals

Produced and engineered by Chris Schlarb

In September of 2004 musician and vocalist Joel St. Julien sent over a few early demo recordings with the hope of receiving some artistic feedback. After listening I told him to keep in touch with me and let me know when he had an album of material he could send. After moving from Philadelphia to San Francisco, Joel introduced himself shortly before Justice Constantine and I performed at The Hemlock Tavern during our Xn.+ tour with Castanets. Shortly thereafter I received a disc of fleshed out demos in cut up paper packaging with a few notes and song titles written in pen or pencil. By this time the still unnamed group included two Joels: St. Julien and co-vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Joel Brown-Tarman. They asked if I could refer a Bay Area producer to help them realize the potential of their songs. In hopes of visiting San Francisco again and working on a little bit of music, I volunteered. I never did see the city.

In late January of 2006, we recorded for three straight twelve hour days. Working out arrangement ideas, textures, and getting everything recorded. We accomplished a surprising amount of work: all of the album’s ten tracks were present. Some dangerously close to being finished. We resolved to finish vocal tracking and add some legitimate rhythm section heavyweights a few months later in Long Beach.

At the end of April Joel and Joel flew down and we started finishing. After recording all the final vocal tracks in my living room we drove to a nondescript warehouse in Carson where Adam Garcia had his drum kit set up. Adam had the unenviable position of laying drums down after everything else but the combination of natural reverb and Adam’s drum sound was magical. The final day of recording in Long Beach consisted of masterful acoustic and electric bass overdubs from Anthony Shadduck, murky mixes, minor audio glitches and catching a return flight back to San Francisco. Between the 23rd of April and the end of the year the album would be mastered and remastered at least ten times.

Then the hard drive containing the masters died. Somehow, neither the group, nor I had a single hard copy of that final, fateful master. We would have to remix the entire record. We reconvened back in Long Beach on January 21st 2007 for three tortuous days of mixing, transferring, mastering, remixing and remastering. Since the original recordings were made I had converted my entire studio to running on my Mac. We would now transfer everything from the portable multi-track recorder and reassemble the album track by track and song by song. We put in three more ten hour days before arriving mixes that sounded noticeably brighter, cleaner and fuller than the “lost master.” The album was being reborn. We even added a few new tricks to make things fun. Finally after one eight hour mastering session (which contained six separate master attempts) the album was finished. In early February I flew back to San Francisco and hand-delivered the final, magnificent master and started work on these very liner notes. Which promptly disappeared from my computer.

Postscript
This first, self-titled album from ellul was, aside from Twilight & Ghost Stories, the most expansive, complex production I had ever undertaken. Instead of a weekend in San Francisco, I worked on this record in some manner for a solid year. Remarkably, I still enjoy listening to it. Every song on this album has a secret; a hidden texture. I actually wept during the recording of certain parts. I am as proud of this album as anything else I’ve been involved with. To Joel St. Julien and Joel Brown-Tarman, thank you for the honor and the privilege, when do we start work on the next one?

Personnel
Joel Brown-Tarman- vocals, acoustic piano, organ, synthesizer, melodica, programming, percussion
Joel St. Julien- vocals, electric & acoustic guitar, electric bass, percussion, programming
Adam Garcia- acoustic drums
Chris Schlarb- electric guitar, electronics, percussion
Anthony Shadduck- electric & acoustic guitar

Produced and engineered by Chris Schlarb

Jazz- A Compilation was an enormous undertaking. A co-release by Sounds Are Active and Pete Records, we pressed thousands of CD’s and vinyl with full colour sleeves. We organized two album release parties (one in Long Beach, of course, and one at the Knitting Factory in L.A.), and found ourselves the subjects of two features articles in the local weeklies and newspapers, both of which dispatched photographers and writers to our doorsteps.

We were also able to secure some legitimate distribution for the first time and, although it was a struggle, we were really starting to feel like we had done something important. Since 2001, Pete Records has shuttered its doors with Pete going on to become a husband, father and full time teacher. I recently bought all of his back stock and I couldn’t help but throw the 12″ on and take a listen. Still important.

Create (!) is:
Orlando Greenhill- upright bass, voice
Danny Levin- euphonium, trombone
Steve Richardson- drums
Chris Schlarb- electric guitar, electronics
Ian Souter- trumpet

Produced and engineered by Chris Schlarb

I get slightly nostalgic when thinking back on this time. Create (!), from the beginning, was pure fun. Steve Richardson, Orlando Greenhill and I just loved playing music with each other. We never practiced and always let it all hang out on stage. Of course that made for some harrowing live performances but it was always interesting. I can’t think of a better way to become acclimated to taking chances in front of an audience.

Soon Create (!) would change for the first time. We would enter a new phase that included extremely important contributions from Ian Souter (who plays on a few Moth Nor Rust cuts) and Danny Levin. We would then record Patterns.

Personnel
Orlando Greenhill- electric bass, electronics, voice
Richard Greenhill- keyboard
Steve Richardson- drums, sampler, electronics
Chris Schlarb- electric guitar, clarinet, electronics
Ian Souter- trumpet

Produced and Mixed by Create (!)
Engineered by Chris Schlarb