i love this picture soooo much its going up in my studio.<3
this is so awesome on so many levels.
Production Notes Part 5 of 6: “Out of Sight”
5 of 6 in a series about the songs of “Resolution Part Two”
(Forgive the delay. I lack the fortitude to blog regularly.)
This song went through all kinds of sounds. It was this downtempo glitchy thing, this post-rock epic thing, fast driving rock… blah blah. Nothing worked. I sped it up, I slowed it down, but once I set myself a deadline for this EP, I forced myself to get something to work.
I chopped up some old discarded guitar parts and triggered them through a sampler, used an after-thought guitar take (that cascading multi-delayed part at the end), and I just threw in some random pads and textures with the hope that something would stick.
Sometimes I try and get too clever and I need to remember that I should make music I like. If I like it, there’s a chance someone might like it. Possibly. And you know what I love? Shoegaze. I wanted this to be one of those songs that takes you away just like those wonderful Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine albums did for me.
It is hard to remember exactly the source of where the lyrics came from. Some of it was me trying to recreate lyrics from a long time ago but I couldn’t remember exactly what they were. Part of it just seemed to fit with the flow of the sounds. The important thing was that I wanted this impression of your whole life floating away from you… peacefully, gracefully, gently. Surrender doesn’t have to be violent. Losing can be beautiful.
Like a river to the sea.
Washing away.
Hirshorn - Doug Aiken exhibit: SONG 1 (Taken with instagram)
take note of the wood trim. it’s the small things that make the world beautiful…
2011
Once again… too little too late? Better late than never? Any other procrastination cliche we can insert?
I realized it’s not right to start a year without letting go of the year behind.
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Top 20 albums of 2011 (in a somewhat particular order but subject to change daily):
Wye Oak “Civilian”
Tim Hecker “Ravedeath 1972”
Bon Iver, “Bon Iver”
Thurston Moore, “Demolished Thoughts”
Low, “C’mon”
James Blake, “James Blake”/”Enough Thunder EP”
Tycho, “Dive”
Mogwai, “Hardcore Will Never Die”
Radiohead, “King of Limbs”
Burial, “Street Halo”
Washed Out, “Within Without”
Apparat “The Devil’s Walk”
Blue Sky Black Death, “Noir”
Belong, “Common Era”
Tuneyards, “WHOKILL”
Yuck, “Yuck”
St. Vincent, “Strange Mercy”
HTRK, “Work (work, work)”
M83, “Hurry Up We’re Dreaming”
Lykke Li, “Wounded Rhymes”
Honorable Mentions:
I Break Horses, “Hearts”
Grouper, “AIA: Alien observer, AIA: dream loss”
Thao and Mirah, “Thao and Mirah”
Walls, “Coracle”
I need to hook up my Maschine in my car now…
Production Notes Part 4 of 6: “Out of Sight”
4 of 6 in a series about the songs of “Resolution Part Two”
There was an important time in my life where I listened to Pedro the Lion incessantly. His lo-fi production, minimal guitar lines, and easy honesty were immediately what drew me. He sang about his spirituality, in a time where it was unusual to do so, without pretension and arrogance. His musical aesthetic and philosophy has never really left me even though I don’t listen to the old Pedro albums as much as I used to. David Bazan moved on to other things and so did I.
This fourth song is about moving on in a lot of ways. When you move on, you wonder how much of the past you will hold on to. “Out of sight, out of mind” you know? If you keep the past out of sight all the time, will you forget its influence and importance? One definition of faith is about having assurance of what you hope for and being certain of what you can’t see. Putting things out of sight can be either a display of virtue or an act of cowardice. I can hear a boldness in many of my older songs but were they actually declarations of escapist bravado that I proclaimed as “faith”?
It’s hard to tell sometimes.
As I mentioned earlier, this song is actually an early form of “Untitled” just sped up to 135 bpm. When I first did it, the song took on a completely different character. It also evoked that melodic work of another indie band that I miss very much, The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up. I wanted lots of space and no chords. Once again, I employed that hybrid acoustic/electronic drum sound. In a way, I wanted these two songs to mirror each other. There is something circular going on in this EP and I wanted the production to reflect that.
I’m terribly horrified of singing harmonies. It’s only recently that I’ve been trying to record more harmonies. From a young age, I’ve been a bit self-conscious about my voice and even now I don’t consider it my “main thing.” When I record and remix I often do so in a very technically musical way because my “natural ear” is so poor. I am amazed at my friends who just hear things and play things only because it sounds right with no particular theory behind their music. I envy them because I’m often stuck in these corners where my theory is sound but there’s no life in it. I can’t seem to fully sing unless I know what is theoretically going on. I wish I could just play and sing whatever and break out of the harmonic technical things I know. Charlie Parker said it best: “You’ve got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.”
“Soft Rock is the new hardcore.”
-Thurston Moore at Black Cat (DC) 2/6/2012
(photo by Rhea Yo)
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Inspiring.
