07 OSCILLATOR BLUES [021909]

Here's an interesting one:



Download 07_Oscillator_Blues_[021909].mp3

Download 07_Oscillator_Blues_RADIO_[021909].mp3

EMBED: <object width="300" height="110"><param name="movie" value="http://media.imeem.com/m/u63KV9EsZ1/aus=false/"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://media.imeem.com/m/u63KV9EsZ1/aus=false/" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="300" height="110" wmode="transparent"></embed></object>

Site Improvements:

Starting this week, I will be offering downloadable radio edits (see above). Phil helped arrange a loose syndication sort of thing with a radio station in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and apparently they don't like people swearing willy-nilly all over their airwaves, so here we are.

I'm working to get a podcast started, for reasons which only recently became obvious to me. You should be able to subscribe using the link at the top left. If you follow that link, you'll see a link to subscribe via iTunes on that page, and bing bang blammo. For whatever reason, the podcast isn't searchable via iTunes yet. When it is I will have a beer.

I'm leaving the "subscribe" section in the right sidebar alone for the time being. Is it useful, or are the podcasting and subscription options redundant. Please opine. One heading, maybe?

Song details:

This one was fun. Where to start?

The vocals for the first two verses are way different than anything I have done before. Really sparse. The stuff going on between the lead lines is a combination of delay effects and real-time chants. I thought that worked well. For the first verse, I was really going for a Kurtis Blow-type delivery. I think I really nailed it on the second iteration of "Don't do drugs."

Got some bass help on the first two verses from Indef's second bassist, Pat Christman. My old key player, who now performs as Richard James, did the organ part for the second verse. Both availed themselves well, I think.

In the second verse, the dominating drum break and the "kick it!" vocals come from "The Makeout Song" by an amazing Boston band called Electric Laser People (click through the website to get to their myspace - there is a payoff). I pumped up the EQ in places and put a pretty heavy gated reverb on the loop, so it won't sound exactly like the original, but you'll hear it. Indef played the Paradise with these guys a long while back, when they were called The Product, and I had their demo on rotation for months afterward.

One more interesting thing about this song. The "oscillator" for which this song is named comes from a digital software synth called Bitheadz AS-1 that lives on a Mac OS9 computer in the back corner of my studio (pics next week). I bought it for $40 from a guy who had snapped up an entire classroom of these beasts on ebay and was outfitting them with the software and selling them on Craigslist. I may have been the only one to take him up on the offer. It's actually a fantastic sounding and infinitely flexible synth that I haven't even begun to discover yet.

Album release:

The hand-printed covers are done. All 200-odd of them. I am really excited about how they turned out, and I'll be sure to scan in the art and post it next week.

Just waiting on the disc face now. If all goes well, we'll have them ready to sell by the 28th, as planned!

Links:

Has anyone tried the Miracle Berry? I'm interested to know if it works.

Check out Absolut Quartet by Jeff Lieberman, host of Discovery Channel's new show Time Warp. Jeff was Cassandra's residential tutor at MIT and is the author of the bullet-striking-match photo that we used for The Indefinite Article's second record (see left sidebar).

UPDATE: Dan Paluska was Jeff Lieberman's partner on this project, and I just learned that he is a member of...

wait for it...

Electric Laser People.

The world are small.

Album (!^^fghs@) this week (flarb):

I might have to give this up.

Acks:

Thanks to Thomas for the donation and the nice note that last week's song made him "leap for his wallet." That's what I like to hear!

Quick note here: My immediate family has been great about listening to the week's song and getting back to me with an email, a text, or a phone call, but for whatever reason, I haven't talked to anyone since I released last week's song. Might could have been the subject matter.

Song credits:

1V and 2V bass by Patrick Christman. 2V keys by Richard James. Mixed by Phil Gorey. Mastered by Nick Zampiello at New Alliance East, Cambridge MA.