Saturday, September 24, 2011

New EP: Real Ambient Talk


As we approach the one year mark for this blog and the parallel bandcamp site, there is an inevitable desire to try to keep doing exactly the same thing until this cycle is over, to cement some kind of overarching authorial intent and thereby add a sense of legitimacy to the proceedings.

Unfortunately, I didn't. So there ended up being an actual straight-up (if extremely restrained) version of "Just Friends" on here; I started playing, and that came out instead of some other crazy experimental jibber-jabber. Hope that's okay with everyone.

(Also, the Real Talk on here isn't a cover of the amazing R. Kelly song, but rather an interpretation of some real talk that was going on out on the street outside my window as I started recording. Which is a damn shame.)

Saturday, September 17, 2011

New EP: Below the Mountain


Of course, there are many things future generations will say about this EP; groundbreaking in its uncompromising refusal to compromise, except when compromise is indicated, etc. But I'm sure it will always be known as the one where I cover "Filhos de Gandhi". I could write an entire book about all the things I love the Jorge Ben/Gilberto Gil version of this song from "Jorge and Gil": the way they are so clearly super high and making it up in the studio; the way they manage to get separated on even the super simple chord pattern and it doesn't matter; the way that they reach the point where normal people jamming would be like "cool, let's go ahead and end it here", bring it down, and then they decide to bring it back for like another five minutes. Probably nobody other than me who likes that version will like this version, but let the record show that it's done out of love.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

New EP: Reflections in the Emergency

As Rakim said, it's been a long time. Although, and no disrespect to the God, not as long as he made people wait for The 18th Letter. This was only like two and a half months. That being said, I like to think of this EP as occupying a similar position in my own canon.

It also bears mentioning that, despite the release date, the title actually has nothing to do with September 11th.