Brief Blasts

Tonight I recorded five parts for two tracks of the project that has been occupying the bulk of my time this summer. This particular bit just had me in the zone and I felt like sharing. I have no idea if these 'blasts' will even stand out on the album when all is said and done, but here they are in their naked, isolated glory.



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Trio with Ben Owen and Brendan Murray

Here's a fresh upload for you: a trio recording with B.Owen and B.Murray from the same Brooklyn concert as the set which eventually became the Supreme Trading 3".

It's available here as a free mp3 from Compost and Height. If you are unfamiliar with what Patrick and Sarah have going on over there, definitely dig around. There's a lot of good material waiting for you.

Editions Shiflet Mixtape 03:Abbreviated Epilogues

The tracks here were all recorded during my final few months in Japan. Three of them are excerpts from an extremely limited (made to order) 3-hour, 3-disc set called Shiso Epilogues. I've always wanted to make some of that material available to a larger audience without betraying those who supported me when ordering for the original set. I think this is a happy medium.

Two four-minute compilation tracks bookend the ten-minute Epilogues excerpts. As they were all recorded at roughly the same time, they make for a very cohesive album; one I could easily imagine myself putting together in Spring of 2007 had things gone differently.

Tracklist:

01. The Stone and The Storm
02. Wide Valley Amp (Excerpt)
03. Homecoming Pulsewidth (Excerpt)
04. Sponic Transmitter (Excerpt)
05. The Shiso Mist

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Quote

"I don't know about the Shiflet collab, just because I'm not a big fan of digitally created sound. I feel that computers are the realm of porn and video games and don't have much of a place in art. I have a hard time seeing how a pure expression of one's inner communication can be successfully navigated through a realm of 1's and 0's."

This was forwarded to me by a collaborator who is in the process of talking to labels. The name of the offender was withheld and I'm not particularly interested in finding it out; it just makes me smile and shake my head a bit. Rather than offer any kind of response, I'll just the words speak for themselves. Wow. 2009.

Logging Road, February

Logging Road, February was recorded back in 2006 and unfortunately never saw official release. The label I sent it to lost their copy and my master disappeared in a hard drive crash. All that remains is this mp3 which I had posted on my FTP site when initially proposing the release to the label.

The "meat" of the track is pretty much laid out in the title. You hear me walking up a mountainside logging road a mile or so from our home (at the time) in rural Japan with two mics dangling near my feet; gravel crunch augmented by the occasional flowing water and chainsawing. The trek is supplemented by a second recording (done a few months later if I remember correctly) of fans blowing on acoustic guitar strings, creating sine wave-like overtones.

I'm really happy to finally get this out into the public arena. As one of very few non-electronic recordings I've made (and one of my favorite recordings from Japan) this one has been nestled away for too long. Enjoy.



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Supreme Trading 3" Out Now

A lovely package (okay, an inside-out Adidas box) arrived from Italy today. Inside were copies of this 3" cdr of which I'm exceptionally proud. It's a live set, with room and direct sources blended together, taken from the tour with Brendan Murray last autumn and it has been released by the fine Dokuro imprint.

I'm offering them up at $9 ppd ($12 International).
Email ms[at]gmby[dot]net if you're interested.

And if you're the type that likes to taste before you buy, an excerpt of this was included on the first Editions Shiflet mixtape.

Video: Live. July 15. Skylab. Columbus.

Here are the opening and closing segments of my live set from this Wednesday. The above video is really just a short introduction piece, while the second is one originally intended to be short, but extended due to high levels of "feelin' it" in the air. I'm still working out the kinks of the guitar/laptop combination, but it's getting there.