DECEMBER 31ST, 2021:
NEW EP--WISHING YOU A HAPPY BULLSTAR
Over the course of song writing/recording for my last couple of LPs I've written a few 'pretty ones' that I've lumped together as a little WISHING YOU A HAPPY BULLSTAR holiday EP, out now on my bandcamp site. Go grab it, its free!
I've got some good news and some sad news concerning one of my income streams, SOMETHING WEIRD VIDEO. The good news is that I was asked to submit a song for an upcoming compilation album for SWV. The song had to be SWV related, so I did a cover of some generic sci-fi advertisement music and Lisa (Petrucci, the owner) liked it! I wish I knew the actual name of the piece and its composer. Its a real cool number. Anyway, I'm not sure when that will be released and of course will let you know. I am also working with her on more audio projects-- at the moment its a compilation of INTERMISSION music and spots from their catalog, next it will be audio from movie trailers. These are going to be super fun projects! I've also been pressing a BUNCH of 1 inch buttons with a SOMETHING WIERD VIDEO theme. Thats the exciting news.
The sad news is that the duplication department which I've been in charge of is all but disappearing after today, DECEMBER 31st!! Seems that streaming and downloads will be the only way to see most of the movies now...not sure...but Lisa said she herself would be taking care of the physical orders next year, so she must not be expecting too many. I know she really wants to do something else with her huge collection of amazing, odd-ball stuff. Between Bella graduating from High School next year and the SWV job disappearing there are big changes indeed on the horizon for this guy (both thumbs pointed at myself). Its been a wonderful few years over there. I'll still do stuff with SWV in the future, if needed. We both knew this day was coming a long time ago, and here we are.
On another topic, I was asked to contribute drumming, and whatever I felt like, to two songs by Doug Freel and Jeff Kinart. Those also have been finished. I'm not sure if, where or when they will be getting released but I will keep everyone in the loop. I think they turned out really good and hope they see the light of day. Kinart and I worked on a lot of experimental music a few years ago. He has been going to Paul Barker's studio and mixing up that stuff up over the last few months. He says its almost done, so I'm really looking forward to hearing the finished product. More on that later.
I am in ongoing talks with drummer Juan Lozoya to make something creepy. I started working on ambiences for a percussion-based project idea. I also have an ongoing, glitchy, short attention span project featuring everything and the kitchen sink. Who knows when that'll be done; at the moment its sort of a bin where I'm collecting audio assets to mess with later.
Lastly, for the past few months I have been rehearsing songs off my solo LPs with a bass player/guitar player named Isaac Mullen. Along with drummer Mark Hanna and guitar shredder Scott Wade, its looking like we might actually start rehearsing as SMEDLEY'S RACKET as soon as the weather lets up. I am super excited about this as you can imagine! Hurry up snow, and MELT!!
YEAR END WRAP UP: 1 LP and 3 EPs!
links:
SPACE FLOTILLA
SELF UNTITLED
VACUUM OF SPACED
WISHING YOU A HAPPY BULLSTAR
That's about it for now. Hopefully there's still much more to come!
Happy New Year and Happy Bullstar everyone! & Thanks for checking in.
SEPTEMBER 25TH, 2021:
Man! Time has been flyin this year, and I have been especially lousy about updating the ol' website. You're welcome. On the other hand, I've been cranking out the music. Sorry about that!! On July 3rd I released an electronica EP called "SELF UNTITLED". Its got a KRAFTWERK cover of the song "WE ARE THE ROBOTS" and a lot of boopy music. Then, just the other day I released another Guitar Jr style rock EP thing called "THE VACUUM OF SPACED". Scott Wade makes a couple of appearances on it doing some sweet guitar soloing on the last 2 numbers.
Big thanks to the folks who've gone ahead and chipped in some dough for downloads! At least for now I'll make it official that I'm going with a policy of making releases free. It went against "conventional wisdom" but I think its the right way to go. I really just want the music out there. If you can throw me a bone it really helps and is really appreciated, if not no sweat. I especially want you to have it. Sharing it helps me. I live in a gig lifestyle, and most of it is not music related anymore, so I am stable. But that keeps the music where I want it: genuine, fun, and inspiring me to keep going.
(You can listen to them by clicking HERE, on their titles or cover arts).
A few months back I got a new PC desktop tower. And so, at last! I am able to get back online as well as to start making videos again. I have been chipping away at recording music but also learning the new video and animation softwares. Its been time consuming, but fun learning. The first new video-thing from these efforts is a two part music video for "VACUUM OF SPACED" which you can watch by clicking HERE. There will hopefully be more but I know it won't be super soon since that first one took several months of pretty focused work. There are a bunch of unused snippets. I'm gonna steer away from the globes but they will be back, lol. Plus, I'm fixin to get all green screeny. By the way, I have another very retro psychedelic EP nearly finished. It's gonna feature a STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK cover (no, its not INCENSE AND PEPPERMINTS, its one called RAINY DAY MUSHROOM PILLOW). Anyway, that one oughta be coming out later this year.
I reckon that's all for now. I hope all is well for you in these strange times!
Man! Time has been flyin this year, and I have been especially lousy about updating the ol' website. You're welcome. On the other hand, I've been cranking out the music. Sorry about that!! On July 3rd I released an electronica EP called "SELF UNTITLED". Its got a KRAFTWERK cover of the song "WE ARE THE ROBOTS" and a lot of boopy music. Then, just the other day I released another Guitar Jr style rock EP thing called "THE VACUUM OF SPACED". Scott Wade makes a couple of appearances on it doing some sweet guitar soloing on the last 2 numbers.
Big thanks to the folks who've gone ahead and chipped in some dough for downloads! At least for now I'll make it official that I'm going with a policy of making releases free. It went against "conventional wisdom" but I think its the right way to go. I really just want the music out there. If you can throw me a bone it really helps and is really appreciated, if not no sweat. I especially want you to have it. Sharing it helps me. I live in a gig lifestyle, and most of it is not music related anymore, so I am stable. But that keeps the music where I want it: genuine, fun, and inspiring me to keep going.
(You can listen to them by clicking HERE, on their titles or cover arts).
A few months back I got a new PC desktop tower. And so, at last! I am able to get back online as well as to start making videos again. I have been chipping away at recording music but also learning the new video and animation softwares. Its been time consuming, but fun learning. The first new video-thing from these efforts is a two part music video for "VACUUM OF SPACED" which you can watch by clicking HERE. There will hopefully be more but I know it won't be super soon since that first one took several months of pretty focused work. There are a bunch of unused snippets. I'm gonna steer away from the globes but they will be back, lol. Plus, I'm fixin to get all green screeny. By the way, I have another very retro psychedelic EP nearly finished. It's gonna feature a STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK cover (no, its not INCENSE AND PEPPERMINTS, its one called RAINY DAY MUSHROOM PILLOW). Anyway, that one oughta be coming out later this year.
I reckon that's all for now. I hope all is well for you in these strange times!
**THE VACUUM OF SPACED EP has extra wide cover art! ...which is a still from the video**
|
APRIL 25TH, 2021:
Update time is super overdue. I'm saving up for a new computer to make my online life much, much simpler. My stuff is getting to be so old that it won't even go to certain websites anymore. But there's no way that I'm updating anything since they are the same computers that I use in the studio: the last time I updated anything it caused a mini-fiasco. At the moment everything is functioning properly so I ain't fixin it! I'm almost there money-wise, thankfully. Then I can pick up the pace of putting out more videos and updates and such. Anyway, in March I released a new LP called "SPACE FLOTILLA". You can listen to it HERE. I'd describe it as a synth-heavy, imaginary-sci-fi-movie-soundtrack that ranges in styles from gloomy to exciting to cinematic. What happened to the guitar-heavy prog rock stuff? Well, it'll prolly return, but, well... |
Over the course of the pandemic lockdowns I bought an EWI (aka "Electronic Wind Instrument" midi controller), which in turn got me to dig back heavily into synthesizers for the first time in years. The Yamaha WX5 is an EWI synth controller set up like a sax. This has opened up a whole new thing for me since I am more comfortable on sax than keys and naturally play differently on each.
I've always loved my studio, but now the synth setup is crazy. I would never have imagined that I could afford to have such a setup back when I got started (in the 1980's) since they were so expensive. But they've come way, way down in price and there seems to be a renaissance of synth products going on. For those who are into the details about such things, see below. Needless to say I have been making a bunch of glitchy and rhythmic Electronica and EDM lately, and should have something to share featuring both "system one" and "system two" (see below) soon. In fact, P. Earwig has already provided me with the cover art, which I will share closer to its release. As usual I am very, very grateful for Earwig's help-- he is amazing. Its going to be called "SELF UNTITLED". I've got another bunch of guitar junior driven music written as well... aaaand some other new things are brewing. I back-burnered the Texas Punk documentary several times and need to finish that still... I will!! I will!! I really want that done, but done sorta right.
I'm thinkin there oughta be more releases from me in 2021. Thanks for checking in! Studio nerds, see below:
I've always loved my studio, but now the synth setup is crazy. I would never have imagined that I could afford to have such a setup back when I got started (in the 1980's) since they were so expensive. But they've come way, way down in price and there seems to be a renaissance of synth products going on. For those who are into the details about such things, see below. Needless to say I have been making a bunch of glitchy and rhythmic Electronica and EDM lately, and should have something to share featuring both "system one" and "system two" (see below) soon. In fact, P. Earwig has already provided me with the cover art, which I will share closer to its release. As usual I am very, very grateful for Earwig's help-- he is amazing. Its going to be called "SELF UNTITLED". I've got another bunch of guitar junior driven music written as well... aaaand some other new things are brewing. I back-burnered the Texas Punk documentary several times and need to finish that still... I will!! I will!! I really want that done, but done sorta right.
I'm thinkin there oughta be more releases from me in 2021. Thanks for checking in! Studio nerds, see below:
|
|
Frumunda Studio boasts a v-drum setup...an electric guitar/bass setup...an audio mixing setup...a video mixing setup...a printing and manufacturing setup...a big bunch of instruments and noisemakers, and microphones, amps and effects...boxes of ephemera, LP masters and leftover merch...All within the confines of a little ol apartment!
And now, drum roll, please... its got a SICK synth setup!!
Here's the low-down:
There are two systems. One is a bunch of desktop synth modules. The other is what I'm callin the "micro modular" system, which is a bunch of little noise boxes hooked together with CV as well as midi for controls.
System One consists of:
Mellotron Micro - polyphonic digital synth (vintage orchestral sounds)
Waldorf Striechfett - polyphonic digital synth (vintage string machine synth)
Yamaha Reface CP - polyphonic digital synth (electric piano/clav)
Ferrofish B4000 - polyphonic digital synth (B3 organ module)
Korg Minilogue XD - polyphonic, both analog and digital synth
Behringer Pro-1 - mono/duophonic analog synth
Behringer Model D - monophonic analog synth
These 7 are brought together with a MOTU ("Mark Of The Unicorn") midi timepiece so that one keyboard controls all 7 and heard back thru a little Mackie Mix12FX 12 channel mixer (where they head into my DAW). They are controlled via an old Yamaha DX7 keyboard and/or now the Yamaha WX5 wind controller. Pretty much everything that I personally like about keyboards is in that bunch of modules--except for modular synthesis (hence, System Two). Having researched Modular for a bit, though, I still am overwhelmed by it and feel like I would only really dive in if I had the dough and had the time and money to dedicate to something like MODULAR synthesis. It would be nice, but in the meantime I've come up with this little micro unit.
System Two consists of:
Moog Werkstatt - monophonic analog synth
Waldorf Rocket - mono/duophonic analog synth
Bastl Kastl 1.5 - micro modular synth
Bastl Drum Kastl - micro modular rhythm synth
Teenage Electronics PO-12 "Rhythm" - drum sequencer
Teenage Electronics PO-24 "Office" - office "noises" sequencer
Korg SQ-1 - sequencer
Bastl Dude - 5 channel Mixer
Yamaha Reface CS - polyphonic digital synth
All of these tiny modules have control knobs and/or cable ports to make connections or manipulate the sounds except the Reface CS, which has a keyboard and slider controls. Its a tiny, but powerful little sandbox!
JANUARY 11, 2021:
2020 in review/upcoming releases!
First part of 2020 I released an LP, "Pineapple Foghorn" and then proceeded to write more songs. So, there is another LP written and mostly recorded of that kind of stuff. In the spring I managed to get a few guys (Ben Rew, Juan Lozoya and Scott Wade) together to try to play some guitar jr music as a band. It ultimately did not work out for a number of reasons not the least of which was that it would seem a 3 stringer guitar tuned in a triad does not play easily with normal guitars. (I guess I just had to find out the hard way, haha) Covid-19 shutting down all live events naturally didn't help any. But playing with other guitar players is probably not gonna happen in my solo act unless they are also multi-instrumentalists. I'll just leave it at that.
Another big reason is that Ben decided that he did not want to play rock music, per se, anymore. He put away his guitars, researched synthesizers and started buying, buying, trying, trying and selling, selling synths until he wound up with 3 or so that he really likes. I learned a lot with him on that journey I must say. He wanted to not work on any of the stuff either of us had written before and write new, spacey, synth music. Then he decided that he hates Seattle and moved to Los Angeles. Suffice it to say Ben was going through some changes and I want to support him in that. Go Ben! While I was let down that he did not want to work on the tunes I'd been working on I was still ok, since I had also been buying synths for a while and have been thinking of making synthy musics, too. In fact, I just got an electronic wind instrument midi controller (aka an "EWI") and a new synth myself which has been verry exciting! It will be premiering on my next releases so keep your ears peeled for it. It'll sound like a crazy lead synth player joined the band, but it will be a synth-sax. Still mutating over here, lol!
2020 in review/upcoming releases!
First part of 2020 I released an LP, "Pineapple Foghorn" and then proceeded to write more songs. So, there is another LP written and mostly recorded of that kind of stuff. In the spring I managed to get a few guys (Ben Rew, Juan Lozoya and Scott Wade) together to try to play some guitar jr music as a band. It ultimately did not work out for a number of reasons not the least of which was that it would seem a 3 stringer guitar tuned in a triad does not play easily with normal guitars. (I guess I just had to find out the hard way, haha) Covid-19 shutting down all live events naturally didn't help any. But playing with other guitar players is probably not gonna happen in my solo act unless they are also multi-instrumentalists. I'll just leave it at that.
Another big reason is that Ben decided that he did not want to play rock music, per se, anymore. He put away his guitars, researched synthesizers and started buying, buying, trying, trying and selling, selling synths until he wound up with 3 or so that he really likes. I learned a lot with him on that journey I must say. He wanted to not work on any of the stuff either of us had written before and write new, spacey, synth music. Then he decided that he hates Seattle and moved to Los Angeles. Suffice it to say Ben was going through some changes and I want to support him in that. Go Ben! While I was let down that he did not want to work on the tunes I'd been working on I was still ok, since I had also been buying synths for a while and have been thinking of making synthy musics, too. In fact, I just got an electronic wind instrument midi controller (aka an "EWI") and a new synth myself which has been verry exciting! It will be premiering on my next releases so keep your ears peeled for it. It'll sound like a crazy lead synth player joined the band, but it will be a synth-sax. Still mutating over here, lol!
So, I'll still hang out and do stuff with Juan and Scott. I still want to form a band around the guitar jr music at some point. Everybody is super cool and nice and talented and everything but style wise we were all on separate pages. Juan is a killer metal style player and I'd like to do some heavy music with him. Scott is one of those music theory guys who can guitar shred like crazy, so how could I not want to work with him sometimes, right? I also learned a lot about the difference between loud and soft guitar playing. I had no idear how different they are! On those terms I am way better prepared for future times. Mid year Ben did me a solid and gave me a copy of Logic Pro X music editing software. I have been slowly transitioning over to it from Pro Tools, which along with the EWI are kind of big deals for me. I wrote a slew of material in learning Logic. So actually I have 2 or 3 LPs in the works all quite different from one another.
In other news, in between everything else I have been slowly chipping away at THE FLYS OF TEXAS ARE UPON YOU video project based off of an essay that I found in a stack of poems/lyric ideas Randy Biscuit Turner gave me back when we were working on NAUGAHYDE DREAM SEQUENCE stuff, circa early 2000's. I didn't realize the essay was in the stack of papers. I was looking for a list of silly band name ideas that was also in the stack. I was thinking about names for the Guitar Jr. music band and remembered about the list. When I was looking for the list I ran across the essay and was amazed that I did not ever remember seeing it. Its about Punk music in Texas from someone who was there at its beginning and names many names and places. I looked to see if the essay was out there on the web and did not see it. (it turns out that its in a book by David Ensminger...I think its called LEFT OF THE DIAL...). One day I showed it to Ben who exclaimed, "holy shit this should be a movie". I think he envisioned actors on a set so I just giggled and agreed. That night though it occurred to me that it could be a good documentary presented as a power point style thing. So, I've been gathering photos off the web all year and slowly getting the documentary together. It oughta be out at some point this year along with more music. All these projects are in late stages, so hopefully I will have stuff to share soon.
Thats about it for now. Hope you all had good Holidays and stuff!
For those that know, HAPPY BULLSTAR!!
In other news, in between everything else I have been slowly chipping away at THE FLYS OF TEXAS ARE UPON YOU video project based off of an essay that I found in a stack of poems/lyric ideas Randy Biscuit Turner gave me back when we were working on NAUGAHYDE DREAM SEQUENCE stuff, circa early 2000's. I didn't realize the essay was in the stack of papers. I was looking for a list of silly band name ideas that was also in the stack. I was thinking about names for the Guitar Jr. music band and remembered about the list. When I was looking for the list I ran across the essay and was amazed that I did not ever remember seeing it. Its about Punk music in Texas from someone who was there at its beginning and names many names and places. I looked to see if the essay was out there on the web and did not see it. (it turns out that its in a book by David Ensminger...I think its called LEFT OF THE DIAL...). One day I showed it to Ben who exclaimed, "holy shit this should be a movie". I think he envisioned actors on a set so I just giggled and agreed. That night though it occurred to me that it could be a good documentary presented as a power point style thing. So, I've been gathering photos off the web all year and slowly getting the documentary together. It oughta be out at some point this year along with more music. All these projects are in late stages, so hopefully I will have stuff to share soon.
Thats about it for now. Hope you all had good Holidays and stuff!
For those that know, HAPPY BULLSTAR!!
