I try to keep it simple. In fact, for most of the last 10 years, my use of effects pedals has been downright spartan. At this point, I think I have finally put the right combination of sounds together. The only difference with this photo and my actual performance set up is that the BOSS RC-50 Loop Station is placed to the left of the pedal board and not on top of it.

From left to right (beginning at the top):

BOSS RC-50 Loop Station: I just replaced my Digitech JamMan with the RC-50. I used the JamMan for every live performance and recording session over the last few years and it never failed me. My only frustration was the last of control over the loops and the large amount of noise produced by the unit when attempting to record direct. So far the RC-50 has been amazing. Three stereo loops, each with their own pan, volume and forward/reverse settings.

BOSS RE-20 Roland Space Echo: I imagine this is about as close as I will ever get to a real Space Echo sound. I toyed with the idea of buying a vintage RE-201 but the cost and upkeep are a little prohibitive. Thankfully the RE-20 sounds amazing. I use it mostly on guitar but it is hard to be on a snare drum too.

Electro-Harmonix Stereo Electric Mistress: Believe it or not but this is the only modulation pedal I have ever owned in 15 years of playing guitar. The ability to combine flange and chorus leads to a number of beautiful, shimmering accidents. Play and record in stereo if at all possible.

T-Rex Mudhoney: Unlike modulation pedals, I have owned my fair share of distortion boxes. From the ugly sounds of the BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone to the underwhelming overdrive and fuzz boxes from Electro-Harmonix, I have had a difficult time finding a sound that was right for me. It just so happened that I booked a recording session for I Heart Lung at Matt Wignall’s Long Beach studio, Tackyland, when I found a Mudhoney pedal among the cables and wires. I plugged it in and ordered my own a few days later.

Ernie Ball VPJR: Volume pedals aren’t very sexy. They rank up there with DI boxes and power supplies as the last thing any musician wants to spend their money on. A volume pedal helps me add texture and thoughtful accompaniment to whatever style of music I am playing. It might be boring but it’s also my secret weapon.

Not Pictured
I still have two pedals that aren’t in this setup. One is the BOSS DD-20 Gigadelay, which I have used extensively for many years now. The other is a Digitech Synth Wah which is a decent/weird envelope filter. Depending on the setting, I’ll swap out the DD-20 for the RE-20 and if I’m feeling adventurous, I’ll plug the synth wah.

LINKS

BOSS
Electro-Harmonix
T-Rex
Ernie Ball

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)

In the last few years, the recording was featured on Boing Boing and downloaded thousands of times. I recently went back to the original recordings, added some EQ, a little reverb and generally remastered the whole affair. The original recording was only 7 minutes long but I have looped it and crossfaded it into a 33 minute beast that begs for many Halloween listens. Enjoy!

Orlando Greenhill- voice, electronics, electric bass, percussion
Chris Schlarb- drums, piano, percussion, electronics, voice
Chaos Theory- electric guitar, voice, percussion

Produced and Recorded by Chris Schlarb

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

Sometimes I get invitations that are too good to pass up and it seems that a lot of them came within a 14 day span in the middle of September.

Here’s the quick run down:

Sunday September 13th, 2009
Eagle Rock Center For The Arts
2225 Colorado Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA. 90041
Nels Cline + G.E. Stinson
Hans Fjellestad
Starts at 7pm // $10

Nels and G.E. are celebrating the release of their new duo album, Elevating Device. I will be recording the performance and running the merchandise table. Come out and say hello!

Sunday September 13th, 2009
Part Time Punks
1822 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles CA 90026
The Widow Babies
Blue Jungle
Starts at 10pm // $5

I’ll be heading straight from the Elevating Device album release show to The Widow Babies Jet Packs album release show. In January of this year, the group and I began recording Jet Packs and I couldn’t be happier for them. They have taken a massive step forward in songwriting and performance and their new songs are just incredible. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up recording this show too.

Monday September 14th, 2009
The Santa Animals Sneak Peak Party
533 Havana
Long Beach CA 90814
Starts at 9pm // FREE

In August I started work on the independent short film, The Santa Animals. I have been recording everything from the sound of bacon sizzling and dogs barking to wind blowing softly through bird-filled trees. One of the last things I need is to record is the sound of a party for the film’s final scene. That’s where you come in. There are worse ways to spend your Monday night: free food and lending the sound of your voice to a movie.

Thursday September 17th, 2009
Slow Sound Festival at {open}
2226 E. 4th St.
Long Beach, CA. 90814
Chris Schlarb plays Night Game
Albert Ortega
Catherine Lamb
Starts at 8pm // $5

This is a very special event for me. I have worked on the music for Night Game for almost two years now. The funny thing is, almost no one has heard it. Night Game is scheduled for release on the Nintendo Wii in coming months and this event will feature music and projections from and inspired by the game.

Monday September 21st
Fingerprints
4612 E 2nd St
Long Beach, CA. 90803
Nels Cline + G.E. Stinson
Starts at 7pm // Free Instore

I was on the phone all day yesterday putting this together. Nels flies out to New York the next morning but he was looking forward to coming back to Long Beach and performing at the best music store Southern California.

Wednesday September 23rd
Jimmy’s Lounge
6202 Santa Monica Blvd.
Hollywood, Ca. 90038
I Heart Lung
Omid
Emily Hay Collective
Brother Mitya
Screwtape (featuring Bizzart)
DJ ESP
Starts at 9pm // $5

This show, in honor of John Coltrane’s birthday, is almost a miniature festival. I Heart Lung will be throwing down a few Coltrane tunes (with DJ ESP) and will also be sitting in with Brother Mitya for the night. An unbelievably rare performance. Don’t miss it.

As many of you may know, I run the Sounds Are Active record label in what doctors and psychologists call my “spare time.” Today, I am very proud to hold in my hands, the label’s 50th release: Nels Cline + G.E. Stinson’s Elevating Device. Nels and G.E. are long time friends who have both accomplished a many great musical thing over the years. With Elevating Device, they finally sit down together with their guitars and conjure up the sounds they’ve always wanted to. It’s an honor for me to have them on the label.

At 2 seconds you can hear him kick the ball from the left.

At 4 seconds the ball lands on the right.

You then hear him run from the left to the right.

At 16 seconds he kicks the ball straight toward my Zoom H4n microphone and tripod stand.

At 17 seconds you hear the impact of the ball and the microphone and then the microphone and the ground.

At 24 seconds you hear the man run to the microphone and gasp. He then attempts to place the microphone back on the stand, at which point I take it from him, he apologizes and I tell him it’s okay.

It wasn’t funny at the time but the more I listen to it, the funnier it becomes. Thankfully the Zoom H4n is pretty well made and it showed no ill affects of the impact and subsequent four foot drop.

A few days after recording the demo sketch, I rehearsed with Destroyer of Brains and taught them the piece. Here is a our first quartet attempt, warts and all.

On July 13th, 2009 we recorded at Compound Studio in Long Beach, CA. This video is from the song’s second take. It doesn’t really feature the full melody, which are present in the other demos. For that you’ll have to wait for the master take (Take 3) which will appear on the album.

Destroyer of Brains Sextet (from left to right)
Danny Miller- electric guitar
Danny T. Levin- euphonium, trumpet
David Moyer- tenor saxophone
Chris Nowak- electric bass
Chris Schlarb- electric guitar
Tabor Allen- drums

Written and Produced by Chris Schlarb
Engineered by Jeff Lewis

]]> http://www.chrisschlarb.com/2009/07/song-for-charles-rocket-sketch/feed/ 0 http://www.chrisschlarb.com/2009/05/we-scream-voices-from-the-ice-cream-underground/ http://www.chrisschlarb.com/2009/05/we-scream-voices-from-the-ice-cream-underground/#comments Wed, 27 May 2009 11:30:32 +0000 schlarb http://www.chrisschlarb.com/?p=670 For the last six years or so I have wanted to make a documentary film about ice cream truck drivers and paleteros (cart and bike vendors). Having spent years delivering newspapers, copies and organic fruit myself, I have always felt a certain kinship to these professions. What has interested me most about them, however, is the relative secrecy in which they operate. Until now, I have known relatively little about their practices, schedules, routes and routines. Do they work alone? Where do they keep their trucks? Is it a dangerous job?

I couldn’t resist any longer and now my wife and I are trying to plow full steam ahead into this project. I will be composing the score for the film and am trying to raise enough money (through Kickstarter.com) to put some time and love into it. Once it’s done, we’ll release the film and the soundtrack online.

Any financial help you can give will be much appreciated. I promise to give something right back to you once the project is done. Check out the link for a quick trailer, a few short pieces of music and lots of ice cream trucks.

Shannon Fields and I started talked in the early winter of 2008. He was booking four months in advance for the calendar at John Zorn’s venue, The Stone. Each month one person picks all of the music that will be played there, two seatings per night, one at 8pm and one at 10pm. It’s a wonderfully rigid place: they don’t serve food or drinks and they don’t accept demos. You have to be invited. Once that invitation came, I didn’t think twice before accepting it. The time and date were set for Saturday, February 7th, 2009. All I had to do was get myself to New York.

Performing Twilight & Ghost Stories in front of an audience involves highly controlled group improvisation and a loose sense of composition. There are three prewritten sections in the piece for an acoustic guitar tuned to Open C. The rest of the group has no idea how they will be used, what they might play or whom they will accompany. Some players receive specific rules or requests that the others do not. I write out charts ahead of time that help me organize instrument combinations, then I use a light box to conduct the group once we begin. The most important consideration, however, takes place long before the performance: choosing the right musicians.

Diane Cluck is one of the most intense and gifted improvisers I have ever played with. She was the first to person to confirm and it gave me early confidence. Known for focusing his immense energies on whatever instruments are set before him, Tom Abbs is a restless artist. The upright bass he brought to the performance had a didgeridoo cut into it, allowing him to alternate low end attacks. Once I read that The Stone had a Yamaha grand piano in residence I knew I would ask Mick Rossi to play it. Rossi’s work with the Philip Glass Ensemble and his own solo albums reveal a dexterity of imagination and sense of humor all to rare in the jazz and classical elite. Katie Young was the third musician who was an original contributor to the Twilight & Ghost Stories album. Her bassoon would be much needed tone in a group dominated by string instruments. With half of the group in place I contacted drummer Chad Taylor, a musician whose thoughtful, propulsive drumming with the Chicago Underground Duo I have long admired.

Naturally, I asked Shannon to participate as well. His production and arrangements with Stars Like Fleas are themselves sophisticated combinations improvisation and composition. Composer and producer Roberto Carlos Lange is perhaps better known as half of Savath & Savalas or one of his other myriad pseudonyms: Boom & Birds, ROM, or Helado Negro. Roberto has a sharp ear for melody and rhythm which would serve the performance even if he was limited to samplers and delay pedals. Lastly, G. Lucas Crane (of Vanishing Voice) and Grey Gersten were confirmed for alternate seatings. Lucas and Grey, on cassette tapes and electric guitar respectively, are both gifted improvisors and I knew they would lend color to the sets they performed in. Finally, photographer Scott Friedlander was hired to document the evening. He kindly served as the de facto master of ceremonies addressing the audience prior to the performances and establishing an etiquette for the night.

In 2003, my wife and I took a road trip across the country. It was a fast and loose affair that masqueraded as a solo guitar tour for me. In reality, it was an extended honeymoon in which we saw the country for the first time. We ate Kentucky Fried Chicken in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Our car broke down in a Sunday in Utah. We made it as far east as Charlottesville, Virginia, but our trip to New York did not materialize. Once the group was put together, I invited Adriana come to New York with me. We would spend a few days walking around the city, eat incredible food and, for the first time, she could see a live performance of Twilight & Ghost Stories. We packed a week’s worth of clothes into one bag and used the rest of our luggage to transport all of my equipment. I left my acoustic guitar at home and hoped that I would be able to borrow one in town. A few days before the performance, I talked to Lars Gotrich who said he was traveling from Washington DC to attend. He would bring his guitar on the bus, the one he played during the first live Twilight event in Athens, Georgia.

On Saturday afternoon Katie Young graciously called to excuse herself due to a nagging cold. After a few moments of slight panic I remembered that my long time friend and band mate, Danny T. Levin (of Create (!)) was in town on a tour of his own. He sent word that he could make the 8pm seating but, because of prior plans, wouldn’t be able to stay for the second set. I was also contacted by Jeff Hylton-Simmons who offered to help with microphone stands, engineering and makeshift cinematography. Without Jeff’s help at the 11th hour, the shows would not have started on time and they certainly would not have been captured with such clarity. In less than three hours we set up lighting, live sound and recording for nine musicians, and made arrangements to the stage and seating area. The group was laid out in a cramped horseshoe and we blocked off a number of seats in the back with a shared table for Roberto and Shannon as well as the grand piano. Once the doors opened, every seat before us filled up and the remaining audience members walked through the stage to take a seat behind the ensemble.

Early February was still in the heart of a cold New York winter. Every day the temperature climbed ever so slightly from 15 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit. Somehow, by showtime on Saturday it was a downright balmy 60 degrees. Maybe it was the beautiful weather or the assembly of these musicians, maybe it was the previews in Time Out and the NY Times. Whatever the reason, the show was deeply successful: both sets were standing room only and the music we played was nuanced, energetic and unpredictable. Small shadows bounced off the walls behind each musician as he or she was brought into and out of the piece. It contained the intimacy and drama of good theater.

Once the first set was over I talked to Danny, whose cornet playing gave the group a dynamic, melodic voice. He said he needed to grab something to eat and change his plans. He would be back for the 10pm seating. Regrettably, G. Lucas Crane’s schedule became so troublesome that he was unable to attend. Talking with friends who had driven from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Rochester, New York I was snapped back into the moment itself. There I was in the company of everyone assembled: smiling, talking, shaking hands.

At one point during the second set, both Grey and Diane locked into a loping key where he supplied a few well chosen chords and she, a melody and lyrics. Earlier, Mick brandished drum sticks and began pounding out sharp rhythm on the strings of the grand piano. No sooner had he begun, Chad’s light flickered on, he picked up sticks of his own and they were off to the races. All the while, Roberto was sampling the entire group in real time, throwing on feedback and letting it all die out in a wash of reverb. Shannon alternated from understated glockenspiel and chiming autoharp to skronking clarinet and Tom Abbs bulldozed his bass without mercy. The music was alive.

A few days later on the flight home, somewhere over the border of South Dakota and Wyoming I was listening to Paul Motian’s Story of Maryam. That night, both Motian and the incredible Cassandra Wilson would begin individual residencies at two different NYC venues, an embarrassment of riches. For one night however, I was honored to share the stage that is New York City.

FUTHER READING
NY Times Preview
Time Out NY Preview
NY Press Review
Bomblog Review
Prefix Magazine Photos

Bicanic needed moody ambience to support a few minutes of dialogue and was drawn to the meditative cover of Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready” which I recorded and arranged the year prior.

Upon its release Shadow Company garnered the praise of Variety, New York Times and Sen. Ted Kennedy in addition to winning 4 Leo Awards including Best Documentary.

People Get Ready [mp3]

Written by
Curtis Mayfield

Arranged, Recorded and Produced by
Chris Schlarb

Performed by
Chris Schlarb- electric guitar

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 two weeks time I have travelled over 3,500 miles to perform Twilight & Ghost Stories. The first performance, on July 19th, at San Francisco’s Hemlock Tavern was a cramped, frenzied, artistic success that included a wonderful ensemble of musicians including an interesting substitution: cellist Alex Cort and his wife gave birth to a boy early in the morning of the 20th and, quite understandably, he was unable to perform. In Alex’s place, percussionist and composer Andrew Pompey took on the Deagan #330 marimba that he and I purchased only hours before the concert. Arranged by Ellul’s Joel St. Julien, the performance was part of the Mission Creek Music and Arts Festival and included a stellar ensemble of musicians all of whom deserve many thanks for what could be considered a thankless endeavor.

Joel Brown-Tarman and bandmate St. Julien were pitch perfect contributing monome cut ups, vocals and guitar textures while Vijay Anderson propelled and shifted time whenever he was called upon, once matching up in a spirited duet with good friend, trumpeter Kris Tiner. Matt Davignon seemed to get inside the spirit of the piece and provided elements that musicians with bigger egos could not themselves create and Andrew inaugurated the marimba by adding skillful, sensitive accompaniment.

Only a few days later I flew from Long Beach to Austin, Texas for a performance that I will not soon forget. Living in Southern California it can be easy for me to forget the hospitality shown to strangers in other parts of the country. The city of Austin left me stunned.

The performance was organized by Aaron Mace who runs the progressive music co-op called The Church of the Friendly Ghost, on July 29th we would conduct a free open rehearsal and on July 30th we would perform the piece in full.

Along with drummer and provocateur Chris Cogburn, Aaron applied and was approved for a grant from the MetLife Meet The Composers Fund that was able to pay for my travel and some promotional expenses. The performance took place at the wonderfully intimate Salvage Vanguard Theater which felt very similar to the lovely Electric Lodge here in Venice, CA. where we premiered 40 BANDS/80 MINUTES!

From Nick Hennies and his wife Meghan who housed me and took me to Barton Springs to Alex Keller lugging all of his recording equipment around just in case we might need it to Chris Cogburn keeping me company the last few days in town, I could not have been better taken care of.

And the musicians. What an incredibly wonderful group of people. Diane Cluck and Ken(’s Last Ever Radio Extravaganza) rode 41 hours into town by bus and provided a certain grace so important that the performance surely would not have been the same without them. It’s not just the tone of Jon Doyle’s clarinet that strikes you, there is a genuine good-naturedness to his personality that defies trouble. At a certain moment Nick Hennies haunting vibraphone interlocked with Doyle’s woodwind and the cello of Steve Bernal for a brief trio of master musicians. Singer/songwriter/philosopher Bill Baird (aka {{{Sunset}}}) earnestly put himself into the piece and, occasionally threw caution to the wind, once meeting with the voice of Diane Cluck and strumming a ghostly chord that the two of them rested on. Instantly recognizable, Aaron Russell’s electric guitar shimmered and sang with all the character that one would expect and engineer and sound designer Alex Keller focused unwaveringly on an ancient reverb coil that he exposed to all manner of feathers, paint brushes and screwdrivers.

Seated to my immediate left, Chris Cogburn manipulated, resonated and coaxed sounds otherwise unheard from his drums. A well known improviser and curator of Austin’s No Idea Fest, Chris and I met in Llano, Texas in the spring of 2007. Before parting company we had already begun talking about working together and when the opportunity to perform Twilight & Ghost Stories eventually arose Chris championed the idea and worked with The Church of the Friendly Ghost to make it happen. Nick Hennies took all of the ideas I had in mind and on record and immediately helped put together the crack ensemble. William Meadows and James Laurance worked their magic on the live and audio recordings and the talented Leah Ross filmed the entire piece in HD without a crew, just her camera and the music.

The performance of Twilight & Ghost Stories requires that each musician in the ensemble is assigned a light. When the light is on the musician can play music, when the light is off they must remain quiet. Prior to the first performance of Twilight at the Next To Last Fest in Athens, Georgia I asked the festival founder Will Donaldson to help me put a light box together that would allow me to do such a thing. The light box itself has a total of five switches, however, there are eight plugs for lights- some switches control two plugs and some control one.

Aside from playing acoustic guitar, I was able to put my trusty light box to the test and although things were under control in San Francisco (seven total musicians) I was faced with some very interesting challenges in Austin (ten total musicians). The challenge, as I learned during rehearsal, is that it can be difficult to create certain combinations when required to turn on two musicians at the same time: what if you only want one? A trip to Home Depot and a few extra lights helped solve half of the problem, however I ended up simply unplugging certain lights to ensure that the correct lights were turned on in combination with one another.

I doubt that I will ever forget the generosity of time and spirit shown to me over the last few weeks. The hugs and handshakes from each musician I have been able to perform with has been an experience quite unlike any other. I am already looking forward to the memories of Twilight in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

FUTHER READING
Interview and Austin Review at Tiny Mix Tapes
Photographs from Austin Performance at Flickr
Feature on NPR Station 90.5 Program Texas Music Matters
Show preview at Austinist
Recommendation at Austin Chronicle
Recommendation at Austin-American Statesman
Feature at Austin Sound

Right now I am in the final few weeks of one video game project that I have with Nicklas “Nifflas” Nygren. Joining me on this soundtrack are drummers Nick Hennies and Andrew Pompey as well as bassist Anthony Shadduck. There are a few sessions scheduled for the coming week so I don’t expect another post for a little while.

In addition to finishing that wonderful project I am going into the studio next week to produce and engineer an album by local Long Beach band The Commotions. This should be a Booker T. & The ESG’s style affair. Parse those references carefully.

It looks like all the vocal overdubs for the I Heart Lung- Interoceans Remixed project are finished and this wonderful little project has been a really great opportunity for me to get back in touch with a number of old friends. More news about this release soon.

I suppose I will also mention that on July 19th, in San Francisco, and July 29th & 30th, in Austin, Texas, I will be performing Twilight & Ghost Stories. The musicians involved in both ensembles are incredible and if you are able to make it out, I would highly suggest it as I will not be performing this piece again in either city. Los Angeles, Chicago and New York should fill out the live Twilight experiment at some point. This lovely flyer was designed by Seth Ferris. You can download printable flyers by clicking on either the front or back shown below.

Here, for example, is a short list of what has transpired in the last month:

Soon I will be finishing up an album with singer/songwriter Steve Gerstein. Then I will start mixing down the recordings from the first couple of sessions I had with Liz Janes and the band at the Compound a few months ago.

Then I will be jumping into the studio with LA-based progressive instrumental band Charts and Maps and will try to get I Heart Lung into the studio to record our side of the “Ecstatic Duos” series being released by Thor’s Rubber Hammer Productions.

All the while I will be working on finishing the score for an aforementioned video game project with game designer Nifflas Nygren.

I need to have my electric guitar intonated too.

Now, we gladly leave for a week on the road. Beginning this Saturday, May 3rd, we embark on a quick West Coast tour with Sounds Are Active label-mates ellul. This will be the first trip up the coast for I Heart Lung, so come out and see us if you can.

All dates and times confirmed:

Saturday May 3rd at The Cocaine, Los Angeles, CA.
w/ improv set with ellul, Ars Poetria
8:30pm // $5 ($7 non-drinking)

Sunday May 4th at OPEN, Long Beach, CA.
w/ ellul
5pm (Matinee Show) // $5 (all ages)

Monday May 5th at Retox Lounge, San Francisco, CA.
w/ ellul, Dominique Leone
8pm // $3

Tuesday May 6th at Pearl Lounge, Eureka, CA.
w/ ellul, Brother Mitya, The Beat Nun
9pm // $5

Thursday May 8th at Helm Gallery, Tacoma, WA.
w/ ellul
8pm // $5

Friday May 9th at Towne Lounge, Portland, OR.
w/ ellul, buh-bLAM
9pm // $5

That Saturday I was in the studio with L.A. band The Widow Babies and we recorded a forthcoming E.P. of epic proportions. I will say only this: The Lamb Lies Down in San Pedro.

Monday saw a vocal overdub session for local singer/songwriter Steve Gerstein and his girlfriend Caroline. I have been working with Steve on his debut album for a few months now and things have been going really well. It’s not my usual gig but I am enjoying the back and forth of experimental and more conventional pop music that have sent me ping-ponging lately.

I Heart Lung gathered on Tuesday for a mixing/recording session for Interoceans. We are coming dangerously close to finishing the album (see Thursday).

Last night I had a recording session with Awol One who laid down a monstrous verse and two choruses for the upcoming I Heart Lung remix album. More on that much later.

Today, Thursday, I recorded with Anthony Shadduck who is adding the final upright bass touches to Interoceans in what I think will be the final compositional element for this fearsome record.

I also synced up and processed a killer vocal track from Serengeti for that aforementioned I Heart Lung remix project.

Not a bad seven days.