Music

  • Top 40 Over 40.11: Wurst is also Best!

    I cannot pretend to write an objective review of today’s entry into my Top 40 Over 40 countdown, Transcendental Youth by the Mountain Goats.  You see, I compete in an annual NFL pool with John Darnielle and Peter Hughes.  I’m indebted to Peter for running this pool and to John for keeping me out of…

  • Outsourcing…it can be a good thing.2!

    As Spare Parts rambles towards completion, cello, violin and backing vocals have been added out in Omaha by Megan Siebe, Mike Williams, Sara Gleason, Benjamin Brodin, Laura Burhenn and Simon Joyner.  Vocals were done at ARC studios on the 17th, and a few final percussion, lap steel, and backing vocal tracks will be done chez…

  • Outsourcing…It Can Be A Good Thing.1!

          Jose Medeles is recording the drums and percussion parts for my forthcoming record out in Portland Oregon today, with Brandon Eggleston at the board.  Think I’m gonna go celebrate by listening to this.

  • The Core is Getting Soft.3: Room For Space

    There’s one reason I like plug-in software that’s really pretty straightforward:  Room for Space.  Not sonic space:  I mean space in my small apartment.  I could never fit the hardware all the stuff I have emulations of I like in my bohemian garret, and I don’t want to spend money renting a stinky practice space…

  • The Core is Getting Soft.2: Unreal Reels

    Continuing this series of posts on software and plug-ins, today’s post has praise for the one I use more than any other:  Universal Audio’s Ampex ATR-102 plug-in.  (On sale through the end of december for $299, or $499 as a bundle with the complementary Studer A800 24 track emulation, also mentioned below.) While I’m critical…

  • The Core is Getting Soft.1

    I’ve been thinking about starting a new set of posts for awhile about various kinds of music software – plug-ins, virtual instruments, etc.  Digital doesn’t tend to get a lot of love in the indie world, historically speaking.  Even the word “soft” carries negative connotations in a genre that followed in the wake of hardcore.…

  • Top 40 Over 40.10: Bill Dixon

    In this series of posts on artists who inspired me to start recording again by doing first-rate work on or after their 4oth birthday, Bill Dixon is an anomaly.  Most of the folks I’ve written about were known for an early body of work done in their 20’s, and managed a “return to form” after…

  • Top 40 Over 40.9: Jandek….live?!?!

    I didn’t pay much attention to what was going on in the undie music scene during the aughts.  I listened to some things that were current, but mostly I was just writing lyrics on my own and listening to a lot of modern classical music.  When I started lending an ear indie-ward over the last…

  • R.I.P., MCA.1

    I’d like to express my respect for the late MCA’s work by sharing some thoughts his passing brought to mind about an aspect of his life that many of referred to but few focus on at length, which is his interest in and practice of Buddhist teachings.  I didn’t learn about Buddhism from MCA, and…

  • Top 40 Over 40.8: Scott Walker’s hat trick

    Sometimes pop artists you associate with youth surprise you with a new vocal persona that suits them as they get older.  (Think Robert Plant on Raising Sand.) But in the case of Scott Walker, he never really sounded like a young man to begin with.  Sure, he was a teen idol back in the late…