Starting a new series of digital singles and am proud to offer up the first. I haven't figured out if there will be any regularity to the uploads or running theme for the content. Time will tell. For now, Twin Karen Carpenters.
More Titles Than Tracks: An Excuse to Pillage the Scenic Railroads Vaults
Each month this year I'll be posting unreleased works by Scenic Railroads, my duo with Joe Panzner. Some will come from scrapped projects, some long-forgotten recording sessions, some may even be new. Despite only publishing a handful of releases over our eight-year existence, we've actually been quite prolific in the studio and I look forward to sharing these works.
For this month's offering, we reached as deep as we possibly could, to the oldest Scenic Railroads session we could unearth. (Was there one prior? The jury is still out.)
Apologies for the delay. June was a bit crazy for both myself and Mr. Panzner. Continuing the 2003 trend we started in May, here is another track from our innaugural session together, Dedicated to the Staff of Cracked Magazine.
My wife and I have been watching Twin Peaks on Netflix and while some of it is hopelessly dated, those moments only make the slivers of genius seem that much better in comparison. This is easily one of the best scenes to ever air on network TV.
2. Chris Watson
I could listen to Mr. Watson's field recordings for days straight. Can't recommend his session for Touch Radio, in which he narrates his recordings from the South Pole, enough.
3. The Tigris River
An article on Baghdad in this month's National Geographic got me thinking about this river's rich and intense history, for example:
In the winter of A.D. 1258, when the Mongols sacked Baghdad under Hulegu Khan, great destruction was visited upon the city and its inhabitants. The Bayt al Hikma, or House of Wisdom, was plundered, its contents thrown into the Tigris—philosophical tracts and treatises, art, poetry, historical tomes, scientific and mathematical works—the intellectual wealth of centuries. When the Mongols were done pillaging, it's been said, the Tigris ran black with ink.
4. Pinball FX2
I wish I could afford to house a real pinball machine, but these Pinball FX virtual tables are far from settling. The physics engines running on these are pretty amazing. The majority of my non-cookout time this weekend was spent bouncing back and forth between recording and pinball.
5. Mountain Goats : Outer Scorpion Squadron
"Fools rush in and the doors slam shut." Such a great arrangement. I've recently taken to looping this while setting up in the studio.
