Kitchen Songs.

I've given myself a deadline for "Leaving" to be finished. It might get me to actually finish it. I have on song left. There is something different about the way I've done this one. Usually there are no "demo" versions of songs, because I usually write/play and loop parts over a few weeks or months live then record the basic ideas that came from messing around, these become the scratch session or the base coat. Then I spend the next few weeks, months or even in some cases years going back to the sessions to layer or subtract.

So the last song on "Leaving" was written in a day or two while playing around with some loops I recorded a quick version with basic melody, some lyrics and some ideas for layers, I sat and listened to it for a week or so and decided I want to build it from the ground up again, so essentially it has become the first "demo".

I've also been spending quite a bit of time playing acoustic guitar in my kitchen. I like what I have been playing, it might be the wide open space and the tile floor that gives it a different vibe. I've also been writing in more "song" friendly structures. So these few jams might eventually make up the quiet 7" i've been planning for awhile. For the songs to actually have the feel it needs I'll probably do most of the tracking in my kitchen, with maybe some overdubs done in the dungeon. It'll be real basic, acoustic guitar, vocals, organ, maybe some percussion. I may even record it to my 4 track cassette recorder if I ever get a new adapter for it.

Slept Through the New Year.

So I decided to add a version of "Slept Through The New Year" on Leaving, I wrote the song last november and even played it out in January. I've finally programmed drums for the song and plan on recording it this weekend. It's alittle different from the live version, but it should still be rad.

Pattern Against User.

I feel like I need a hobby that doesn't revolve around spending money.

Playing music requires money because at any given time there is a pedal, amp, or other random toys that I would like to add to my set up. These things I want are not cheap.

I still fully believe in purchasing music, I'm a pack rat, I like having the liner notes, the full discography, something tangible. Therefore I spend a good amount of my time in used CD shops, You would think this would save me money, but I never pick up things off a specific list, I grab things I've heard of or have alittle bit of knowledge about. This leads to new discoveries then the endless research starts all over again, what releases are worth getting, what other bands sound like this that are worth getting.

Vinyl has become so much more expensive then it was when I first started getting vinyl when I was 16, mainly because everyone wants their releases on vinyl now so the whole supply and demand thing comes into play. It is true packaging has come along way, and it does take a small fortune for the labels to put these out, and I appreciate every bit of it. I just don't have the income to keep up with it. At times I feel like I should sell off my collection and keep only the real important things, but anything of value really worth selling off are the ones I want to keep. So what's the point of selling them off anyways.

If only I could have a job that the income was great enough to never have to worry if the bills are getting paid on time, and enough extra to easily decide on a saturday off from work that I should pick up that Electro Harmonix POG without buyers regret. Also enough time to fully enjoy all of these things would be nice to go along with that job as well.

better to die on our feet, than on our knees

So I got a twitter. Oh well. It's good for all the quick rants that I try to do here but can never really bring full circle.

In the beginning of the month we were told that they would be merging three positions at work into one position and that we would find out which of the three of us got the job. Monday we found out my position was eliminated and I didnt get the combined spot. I didn't lose my job but I did take a $5 an hour pay cut. I'll be hurting come next March, when I no longer get the lump sum difference they are paying me.

I guess it's time I figure out what I really want to do with my life, again.

I finished rebuilding my stratocaster today. I need to get new machine heads though, and I still need to mess with the intonation alittle bit more.

The X-Men Animated Series Volume 1 & 2 came out on DVD! I'm very excited this was my absolute favorite cartoon growing up so far I'm about 4 episodes into the first disc!

My car went into the shop last night, it decided to die on me while half way to princeton, but luckily I have another 400 miles left on my warranty.

I haven't finished the fuzz pedal yet, I have a ground problem I think I just need a new piece of veroboard so I can start over. I was able to get the bypass right, but once the circuit is engaged there is no sound. Maybe this weekend I'll work on that a bit.

FUZZ

So I just purchased a DIY Fuzz Guitar Pedal kit!!! I'm going to start building pedals!!! can't fucking wait! If this goes well I also want to build a feedback loop to add the fuzz and a delay into it. Way excited!

when i was younger.

I should have been smarter about my purchases. I definitely should've invested into more amplifiers, because now that I am old and have real responsibilities like a mortgage, student loans, car payments, water bills etc it's hard to find like $200 to drop on a shitty amp.

The Way The Fog Moves.

Yesterday Nicci made her first attempt at making vegan broccoli cheddar soup, so half way through making it she realized she didn't have enough soy milk. So I ran to Stop & Shop, the minute I got outside it just seemed "odd". The fog was think and you could almost see it moving in the street lights. There was also a little bit of heat lightning. I get to stop & shop run in, run out. As I'm walking out I can see where spots of rain start coming down across the parking lot, it was like the most epic build up ever, as i'm walking to the car the rain starts coming down harder and faster and over more area until it's a full on assault. I'm leaving the parking lot and massive hail starts smashing down and all the power from the stop and shop to the walgreens which is a good mile and half away went out. I knew something crazy.

I wish I knew more about photography that I can take pictures at night that would match what I'm seeing with my eyes. If that makes any sense.

Thank Whomever That I'm Lazy

Friday night while we were at the movies, my mom called and left a message saying that my sister was in Germany and that they would be picking her up around 4pm in Philadelphia the next day. I thought to myself "I have Saturday & Sunday off from work, Philly is only an hour and half away maybe I should surprise them." But when I woke up Saturday morning I really didn't feel like doing anything, Later on I called my mom and she told me that when my sister landed in Atlanta at 9am that the USO helped get her on an earlier flight so they ended up picking her up from Philly at 1 in the afternoon, which would've been the time I would've left to go to Philly. Yesterday had the potential to be a FMYLIFE moment. I could see it now "hey what gate is she coming out of?" followed by mom's response of "we got her three hours ago and we are home now"

This morning at 630am I got a call from a "private number" so I decided to pick it up. It was followed by a young female voice making a rooster sound followed by the word motherfucker! i kinda loled, it was a clever prank call. I kinda wish I knew who did it not because I'm mad but to tell them how clever it was.

Off This Century

My dreams can be weird, they usually involve places from my past but I'm there at my current age and the other characters are usually people close to me in my present life.
They tend to flow through each other like a playlist, but the other night it all took place in one spot.

I was back working at the McDonald's I worked at when I was 16 years old. I remember how to assemble all the sandwiches, being that I had probably done them all a few hundred times over the 2 1/2 years I worked there. I kept burning shit in the fryers and I was not moving fast at all, which was something you needed to do. I was getting yelled at the whole time by all my former managers who still work there to this day.

It was just weird, I dunno.

I'm finally getting around to putting more of my CD collection on my computer, and Daubert came through and got me Andy's number so I can finally start getting more of my arm finished. I'm not going to call him up until after I get my tax return.

Take Your Time

I was in a very weird mood today when I came home from work. Kinda bummed to the core and kind of energetic and motivated at the same time. So I decided to clean up the kitchen alittle bit and do some dishes. After that I thought I'm actually going to get some recording done and add the layers I have been hearing in my head for a few days now.

Up first I redid my vocal parts completely for the song "Oh Pennsylvania, Your Black Clouds Hang Low" and did much better this time I recorded a close mic on the squier amp I was screaming through and room mic that picked up my non-effected voice but also picked up the distortion in the distance from the amp. I decided to just go with the room mic track.

After that I have been thinking about adding more live percussion to the song "Memories You'll Never Feel Again" (which if you check the myspace page is the song "Their Frail Waltz") But I just wasn't getting the sound from the Toms that I wanted so I scratched that idea. I also unmuted the vocal track that is practically not even there, but I know it's there so that's what matters. I also added an additional synth line to the swell at the end that goes into the quiet part, I want to make an EQ adjustment right where it begins the quiet ending so it almost sounds like a mellotron. If I can I want to assemble a small choir for serious for the ending of the song to follow the guitar/rhodes/synth melody that is playing while it swells. I believe this is because I listened to "Dark Side of the Moon" like a million times last week.

The album is pretty much done when I finish that and do the "cassette" opening to the album and I'm being one hundred percent serious this time around, I haven't added or taken away any songs in the past few months I've been working with the same 7 songs I've just switched the sequence of the album up slightly.



The kid upstairs was playing his marching snare today I could hear it clear as day in the basement while recording. I came upstairs to get something it sounded like he had a bucket turned upside down for a tom and a kick pedal up against the well, I sure as hell hope he had a practice pad up or those walls are fucked.


I'm feeling more down now, all the energy and motivation are kind of gone. Just hanging out in the living room now listening to some jams until nicci gets home.

I need to put together a list of the new releases that came out this year that I have yet to pick up, I also need to start adding more CDs to my hard drive I'm getting bored of the music I have on here.

I find out on April 9th what is up with my job. That's all for now.

feelin' old.

So I'm listening to Fiona Apple's "When the Pawn..." album right now, and I decided to go look up the release date thinking I could put it in my favorite albums of the last ten years being 2000 - 2010. Well I can't!!! It came out November 9th 1999. I can still remember sitting on front porch on what seemed like a warm October or November night with my hippie next door neighbor Alicia forcing me to give it a listen, and after a week or two of my down right denying any thought of even listening to it, I agreed, and from that day on it has been one of my favorite albums of all time, it is definitely a desert island jam!


It's just weird to think that some of my favorite albums are just about a decade old, or only a short distance away from being a two decades old. I'm not talking about older bands I got into in the recent years that have had albums out for decades before I've gotten into them, but straight up albums I bought on the day they came out, and spent many nights and days laying in bed reading the booklets front to back as it played across the room on my little boom box.

But music is great like that it can bring you back to any moment in your life where it played a significant role. It's probably why I love it so much and why myself and my best friend connect so much over music.

What are some of your favorite albums and what your fondest memories of them?

I'll post more of mine soon.

PS: This album needs a deluxe version! but that's a whole other topic in itself.

Twenty Years of Sleep Before We Sleep Forever

I'm just feeling restless. I'm behind bored on my days off, but I can't work up the energy to clean or anything that I should be doing.

I think I should take some guitar lessons, I've been playing for almost 13 years now and I've plateaued over the last few years. It may be from the fact that I don't have any friends here in Jersey that play guitar and would keep my playing in check.

Listened to Luke's new band "Minutes" they are really fucking good, I'm probably bummed out that I don't have anyone hear to help me get a real band off the ground. Oh well.

Time, Gentlemen, Time.

Hours have been a little slow at work for the last month, so I've been taking 3 days off a week. It's nice but I get really bored some days.

Today I tried working on some songs for the next EP which will also serve as songs I can play in quieter situations. But my 4 track is being weird right now, every time I hit play or record or pretty much anything to do with the tape deck it has a loud hum. I'm not sure if it's because of the new power adapter I got the other day or if I need to get a head cleaner for it. I'll have to check ebay for a 3 Head tape cleaner.

So needless to say I never recorded anything, and I really didn't feel like bringing the laptop down and setting up a Pro Tools session just for me to fuck around with.

While I was in the basement I realized I haven't put away any of the CDs I've bought between early November and most recently last Saturday. They've been piling up in the basement, my bedroom, and the living room. After spending two hours moving everything around it seems that I either need a third book shelf or I have to move the shelves around so that I can fit the one row I took off of each to make it what it is now.

The only draw back to doing that, is some of the CDs I have that come in abnormal sized Digipacks or boxs won't fit so I would have to set them on top or something.

current shelves:


Speaking of buying CDs last Saturday. Thurston Moore was checking out vinyl and used DVDs at Princeton Record Exchange while Britten and I were there. Pretty rad.

WITTR 12" came the other day, still wish I didn't impulse buy it online. I also got Low's "Secret Name", "Things We Lost In The Fire", "Songs For A Dead Pilot" "In The Fish Tank Series" & "The Great Destroyer" on vinyl. Again these were impulse buys once I found out Kranky had repressed them. The only one in print that have yet to get is "Trust" which maybe I'll get when I get paid again on Friday.

the hum above my bed.

So I woke and heard "Heartless" by Kanye West playing pretty clearly, I thought to myself "oh, i must've put my laptop on when nicci left for work this morning, and this album came on." Look to my right and my laptop is closed and on the floor. I realized it was blaring so loud from the room above ours that I thought I had been playing it.

Fuck man.

To escape all the noise, I decided to go to vintage vinyl. I picked up "Waiting" by Thursday on vinyl, it's on clear 180gram I was hoping it was going to be on white, Maybe I'll have to order it through Eyeball. I also picked up the "Cold River Songs" reissue by Bodychoke, I'm throughly enjoying this right now. I also picked up John Zorn's "Naked City" and Naked City's "Heretic" CDs used.

They had the new WITTR 12" EP there already and I still haven't gotten the one I ordered in the mail. I should just wait and buy all my Southern Lord stuff there from now on, I'll get it earlier and won't have to pay the $9 shipping per item.

Transmission.

So we have new neighbors moving upstairs, It's going to be horrible. They consistently park in the middle of the driveway, they aren't even supposed to be in the driveway. Tonight they moved alot of big stuff in and asked if they could get in the garage but part of the agreement is that they don't have access to the garage, so they left a washer and refrigerator on the porch and LEFT for the night!!! They were there for 2 days, now they've moved them from the porch to practically the front yard. They are fat and the ceiling shakes when they walk up and down the hall. Two Nights in a row they began moving stuff into the house at 1230am! Also at night now the room above ours has a dehumidifier or something on and there is a low annoying hum we only hear in our room. Also today when watching TV, they were watching TV soo loud we could hear perfect dialog over our movie. Fuck this.


Today felt like a productive day off ontop of all the things that I've mentioned above. I opened up Pro Tools for the first time since November 8th 2008. I worked on 3 new mixes for some the songs for the album. I thought I was finished with it, but I need to fix a few things, sorry Britten.

the show the other night.

Went okay, again like I said earlier i played with a bunch of bands that sound nothing like me for a bunch of people who never really heard anything like me.

Screwed up the loop for a second but no one noticed and the transition didn't go as I planned cuz the second loop was screwed up, but whatever. On to the next show.

I found I can load and unload my gear pretty fast, but my HHR can barely fit all of my gear, so I don't know how much more I can really add to my set up without needing assistance from friends to get my gear to and from shows.

I took the padding off the inside of my snare that I've been using to flatten the sound. It's going to take a lot to get used to the sound. Next I need to take more half the padding out of the kick drum to make it sound fuller.

My 2008 Top Ten

No explanations if you want to know why just ask me.

10. Pygmy Lush - Mount Hope


09. M83 - Saturdays=Youth


08. Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lions Skull


07. Thou - Peasant


06. Helms Alee - Night Terror


05. Portishead - Third


04. Deerhunter - Microcastle/Wierd Era Cont.


03. Krallice - Krallice


02. Boris - Smile


01. Torche - Meanderthal