Artichoke Perfume

So I labored all summer producing Zoe Boekbinder's debut solo album. It was really an interesting journey and ultimately a really great time. Zoe is a very talented individual and has a formidable career ahead of her. I was sufficiently happy to get my fingerprints all over her first solo effort. I contributed lyrics some of the songs and Typewriter Girl is a song I wrote for Zoe in 2007.

Here are a couple mp3s:
Paralyzing [mp3]
Typewriter Girl [mp3]

Order/Download the album HERE.

Artichoke Perfume by Zoe Boekbinder

All Songs written by Zoe Boekbinder with César Alvarez
except December, Mean, and Going Home written by Zoe Boekbinder
and Typewriter Girl written by César Alvarez

Produced, Engineered, and Mixed by César Alvarez
Mastered by Myles Boisen
Assistant Mixing Engineer - Mike Williams

Peter Evans - Trumpet
Sam Kulik - Trombone
Kyle Forester - Organ, Piano and Keyboards, Acoustic Guitar on Skeletons
Elias Orling - Bass
Eric Farber - Drumset and Objects
Kim Boekbinder - Background Vocals on Inexorably
César Alvarez- Tambourine (December, Typewriter Girl), Guitar (Adventures of Turtle and Seahorse), Organ (Typewriter Girl), Background Vocals (Inexorably)

Red and Blue

Composer Zeljko McMullen just posted his new double album Red and Blue.

It's a formidable amount of music, and wonderfully crafted. The recordings are binaural and best listened to on headphones. However I got a chance to listen to Blue in a 10.2 ( i think) speaker arrangement. I haven't listened to every track but here are some things it makes my think about.

1. Hypnosis
2. Mental Transport
3. How does the emotional intensity of sound operate in relation to volume.
4. Bass Fatigue/Addiction
5. I think I'm very well suited for the recorded version rather than the installed, because I have a hard time with loud music in general (aka low threshold of pain), but I also don't completely like headphones, because a major aspect of these pieces is bodily.
6. The intense bass is what at times gave me the most pleasure and at times drew me out of the music.
7. The spaces between the pieces can become very enjoyable.
8. memory = resonance
9. commitment to a certain sound world.
10. vertical musical form?

[mp3] - Zeljko McMullen - diffusion (from Red),
[mp3] - Zeljko McMullen - blue (from Blue)

Also check out Zeljko's other projects Sadjeljko and Shinkoyo

Very Nice 'End of Winter' Mixtape



via 3 pints and a towel

"Fallen Snow" - Au Revoir Simone
"The Winter That I Missed" - The Lisps
"Hello Sunshine" - Super Furry Animals
"The Gloating Sun" - The Shins
"Another Sunny Day" - Belle and Sebastien
"Jogging Gorgeous Summer" - Islands
"Oslo in the Summertime" - Of Montreal

What in The Hell is going on here?
Tune Glue is like a new video game for indie mp3 dorks.

figure A

comment: veeeery eenteresting.

Figure B

comment: huh?
comment 2: does this mean we're going steady?

Why Bloggers Don’t Run Record Companies
[via axehole]
I appreciate the contratrian nature of this article but I have to whole heartedly disagree. Not because I think eMusic is going to "help musicians quit their day jobs" but for these reasons:

• iTunes copy protected tracks have also been flatlining of late in case you didn't notice I think it's at about 25 songs per ipod sold.
  
• comparing eMusic sales toe to toe with iTunes sales doesn't give you a correct measure of the fate of non-copy protected tracks (non-DRM) because Apple is a mega corporation whose hardware has sky rocketed their iTunes store. I don't think that it will stamp out more independent and customer/independent-musician friendly downloading services.
• The whole idea for subscription services are that a lot of people aren't using their subscriptions to the fullest so all the math in this article is kind of silly. It's like cell-phone minutes. Just because they provide a certain amount of subsciption minutes doesn't mean all of those minutes are used by the customer.
  
• iTunes isn't helping musicians quit there day jobs either. The formula remains that record labels (small and large), promotion teams, hard work and just damn good music are bringing musicians into financial solvency and emusic and iTunes are just other tools in the belt of a struggling musician. Sure there are a few iTunes success stories but not enough to change the game.
• there is nearly zero distribution and manufacture cost for artists and record labels on these sites and that means that overhead is way less and product is infinitely available. Which means, especially for artist pressing their own CDs any online sale is icing on the cake because it doesn't take any of their units (which are often limited)
• And finally I think it's great that big record companies can't make ends meet on a diet of downloaded music, because record companies have been fucking musicians for almost a hundred years. And now it makes a lot more sense for an artists to stay independent. DRM or no-DRM music the record companies are losing their iron -grip on the machinery of musical success.

So why don't bloggers run record companies? Who cares...the fact is music costs way less now and independent musicians are working their asses off trying to turn that into a good thing. I think it is a great thing, and I think DRM and non-DRM have a future. But as a musician and a blogger only non-DRM has a future on my ipod.

Karen O upclose (very close)

2 lo-fi Karen O tracks were leaked today. It's so nice to hear her with out all the production.

I'm too lazy right now to upload them
but they are over at Dreams of Horses