recordings
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
September Fortnight
The next two weeks look to be unexpectedly busy. In addition to sound, foley and composition work in the studio I will be performing twice and engineering three live events. For whatever reason, I don’t play all that often in Los Angeles or Long Beach anymore. If I’m not on tour, I’m usually at home in the studio working on a reason to tour.
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.
Unboxing Nels Cline and G.E. Stinson
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.
Kickball Vs. Microphone
While I was out at a park recording playground sounds for a short film I saw a large group of older Japanese men and women playing kickball. Apparently they finished before one man had his fill. He proceeded to kick the ball by himself around a large field.
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.
Song For Charles Rocket
“Song For Charles Rocket” is a piece of music I wrote for Destroyer of Brains, a free jazz ensemble from Los Angeles. For this demo recording I threw the Zoom H2 in front of my amp and looped the bass line while playing the lead melody over it. It should be fun to compare this messy, raw demo to the messy, raw studio version in a few weeks time.
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