we're still making music, not quite sure why

[Maaik]

I'm elated to hear that Jeb!

MiC is now working on three new songs.  Only one has a title--it's based on this really nice keyboard thing that Nick came up with--Mark was playing that at his place and his one year old was listening and started shushing his parents and saying "night night."  So that's the title.  I'm pretty sure it's going to stay instrumental.

Came up with the bare bones of a new one pretty much on the spot last night.  This new guitar pop band just moved into the space next door to us, and I think in response to this very well-mannered, jangly tone that was bleeding through our shared wall, we warmed up with this siren-wail riff and such.  But it seemed to make sense, so we recorded it and will come back to it.

Last night was a good practice.  More productive than we've been in a couple months.

[jebreject]

So in addition to the still unnamed metal band*, I've started writing some songs for a home recording project that I think I'm going to call Slow Wizard. Probably mostly acoustic guitar drones with fuzzy bass and kind of ethereal vocals. Just need to buy a small but awesome-sounding amp (thinking about an Orange crush maybe) and a decent condenser mic. I'm pretty excited.

*If you have any ideas for good names, I'm all ears. It's spazzy, sometimes techie grind with raspy vox. Guitarist's suggestion is Lurking Fear, which I could live with, but I'm also kind of meh on--isn't brutal enough, mainly.

[Maaik]

Whore Blisters
Teeth on Top
LARPers Get Married
Fratricide Climax
Shatman Caruthers

[lucky strike]

ulcer pox

[coldforge]

During this Tusk hiatus, I've started working on the first electronic music by me since... well, gosh, 2005, I guess. Except for the LPTJ Covers Project.

[jebreject]

I am really, really excited to hear this.

[coldforge]

And I know there was a couple people—Black AM Radio of Offspring was one of em—who wanted a link to my LPTJ Covers song, so that's available too now: http://zdsmith.bandcamp.com/track/possum-kingdom

[lucky strike]

i'm pretty stoned and i just listened to the whole thing while chilling in a storm. fucking awesome, coldforge! i love it

[lucky strike]

by the way, that part at 10:26... a rainbow in curved air?

[coldforge]

Well, that part is originally composed, though it obviously wears its influences on its sleeve.

thanks for the kind words, though!

[jm]

Teeth on Top

[lucky strike]

Well, that part is originally composed, though it obviously wears its influences on its sleeve.

thanks for the kind words, though!

yeah, that arpeggio thing went graduates from terry riley to phillip glass. totally wonderful! what did you use to make it? when it rains again today, i intend to repeat yesterday's experience with the recording and force my mates to join me.

[coldforge]

I'm trying to remember everything I used. Part of that is the opening 4 bars of "Possum Kingdom" by The Toadies, stretched until they're about 15 minutes long, with a program called Timetoy. I think the bulk of the rest of it is software synths—none of whose name I will remember—and my shitty squier strat—run through Native Instruments' guitar software, if I remember correctly. The arpeggios I sequenced by hand. I don't remember which particular synthesizer I ran them through. The synth sequencing, as well as the guitar/synth/recording tracking, I did in Ableton Live.

when it rains again today, i intend to repeat yesterday's experience with the recording and force my mates to join me.

That's so cool! Tell me how it goes.

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

And I know there was a couple people—Black AM Radio of Offspring was one of em—who wanted a link to my LPTJ Covers song, so that's available too now: http://zdsmith.bandcamp.com/track/possum-kingdom

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

[jm]

coldforge!  I remember when we were on another internet webnetsite and you were talking about doing this!  And I wanted to hear it!  And here it is and it is rad.

[coldforge]

Thanks, y'all.

[monkeypants]

I'm gonna be playing in public for the first time in 15 years tonight.  Stunning return to form or unmitigated disaster?  Time will (very shortly) tell.

[RoyBiggins]

I make music, and some of it is here:

http://music.brian-riggins.com

[nonotyet]

Sir, I love everything about that there web-page. I can't listen to your music now because I just discovered Marcel the Shell yesterday and confused half of my coworkers by giggling with headphones on and staring into space, and, like, I was and probably am  ight now supposed to be working.

Also, I can play the theme from The Matrix Reloaded on my cello now.
Also too, do you know what I like to wear for a hat? A lentil.

[Antero]

I have just discovered that our bassist is back in the Chicagoland area for the next year, and that our drummer didn't leave town after graduating and is living in Pilsen.

Leopold & Loeb is going to be back in action by the end of the month.

[coldforge]

Good Z. D. Smith stuff is coming.

[jm]

Word up ZD.

Also there is a schnei thing in the works (there are always schnei things in the works), but ever since I started writing this particular piece, I have envisioned some kind of (probably abstract) animation going with it (and I cannot do animation).

[Maaik]

Mice in Cars spent all day tracking for our next EP.  Started back in... June?  We've only had two days of tracking where all three of us were there.  But we've finally got all the basics done.  Now it's overdubs and fixing stuff and then I'm taking it to a friend to mix it.

I'm really excited about it.  The material is strong and we've gotten some nice recording equipment, so it sounds really good (leaps and bounds over the rawness of our last one).  Two instrumentals, our metal song, some gang vocals and crescendos crescendos crescendos!

Can't wait to share this thing.

[jebreject]

Grind band didn't last long.

A number of different elements--one being that the guitarist, who wrote the songs, didn't like the drummer's style, whereas I really really liked the drummer's style, but it didn't seem very likely that I was going to be able to talk him down from firing the guy.

Also I just don't feel like I have any time right now. And I love metal, but I don't know if I want to be a vocalist in a metal band.

Though I'm kind of missing it already.

Guh. Not sure it was the right decision, but it is what it is.

Slow Wizard recording coming soon though, and that's exciting. Made my first attempt today, but I'm a novice at digital recording, and so far the results have been disappointing.

[alistarr*]

post up if you need advice on stupid stuff (or if you need advice on more complicated stuff too which someone other than me might be able to offer).

we've got more than one song half-finished now on album number 3, so things are going better with my muic-making than they've been going in, like, three years. hopefully we can keep some momentum and get it finished before something else splits us up again (boo hoo being an adult is hard etc etc). like, in the next few weeks.