Slow Mohicans in the Family

I am in the process of going through my many minidiscs in order to put together a collection of unreleased ambient and experimental tracks. It's not ready yet, so I am doing a quick detour today.

My brother has a new release out, Slow Mohicans, so I thought I would spread the word. If you have Rhapsody, you can preview it (if you don't, you can set up an account and listen for free).

The record is available on iTunes, on Rhapsody, at CD Baby, and at other fine outlets. More information and plenty more music is available at the Skin & Barrel website.

The CD Baby page allows you to hear 30 second snippets.

Throw it out there, not away - loop fodder for the remixologists among us

Today we have a series of tracks recorded by the follow up to ¡para!helion (see Midaq Alley and 3 Miles from Mecca). In the summer of 2000, after Jeff graduated and moved away from Albuquerque, Dave and I recruited our friend Jeff Gassaway to join us on bass for some late night improv sessions. When I found these recordings, I initially decided not to include them here, not because there isn't a lot I like about them, but because (unlike the para!helion sets) in the end none of the tracks manage to quite gel into cohesive units. Each have moments I like - there are plenty of interesting herky-jerky, odd time-signature grooves and Dave does some of his best trumpet work - but in the end the project really needed an additional player if it was going to work. I have kept these recordings intending to do some radical remixes and to recruit some additional players to lay overdubs on the resulting tracks. But, given that I haven't gotten around to that after almost 9 years, it seems unlikely that will ever happen.

So, what changed my mind? Why post these? Well, I recently ran across this great little project by Kutiman where he remixes clips from youtube into some fantastic numbers. Seeing and hearing his work made me realize that there might be someone out there who could recognize the potential in these tracks and turn them into something. In that spirit, I am posting the raw tracks, flaws and all, as loop fodder for the remixologists out there that may find them useful. For listeners, I would advise dropping these into a random mix rather than treating them as an album. They work better that way.

Album: Throw it out there, not away
Style: Free improvisation - jazz meets math rock
Recorded live to 2 track DAT summer 2000.

Trumpet, effects - Dave
Bass - Jeff
Drum Kit - me


Player plays all seven tracks.

If you turn these into something, shoot me a copy and I'll post it here.

Dream Smith (R.I.P.) - each kiss with a soft blanket

Dream Smith was a game programmer and musician who left us with a fairly substantial body of psych-folk songs that he released under the moniker Soft Blanket. During the later half of 2007, Dream joined a project led by my friends Will Dean and Kaley Davis called Cadabeso. Presented here today are two Soft Blanket songs recorded by Cadabeso during that too brief collaboration.

Musicians: Dream Smith with Cadabeso (2007)
Dream Smith: Guitar & Vocals
Will Dean: Keyboard & Vocals
Kaley Davis: Bass
me: Drum Kit
Style: Rock, Twee-pop, lo-fi
Album: Taken from How It Feels To Be Filled with Secret Sounds
These tracks recorded live to digital two track in Will's garage.


Tracklist: (get them here)
1) Conditions for Another Year
2) Ginger Girl Has Lived This Day Before

The Jonny Cats' Last: Ode to Sergio

Today we have the final album by The Jonny Cats. It was recorded in the waning days of the cowboy lounge just as the band's dedication to all things self-destructive began to take over and tore the band apart. Copies of the album have circulated hand-to-hand among friends of the band, but it has never had an official release. To my ears this is a more distinctive album than Burrrns Rubber with a clear connection to traditions in American roots music that recognizes punk rock's place as roots music. So, grab your best girl or guy, hop in the convertible Caddy, turn this one up loud, and hit the road...but be sure to hold on to your hat.

Record: Last - Ode to Sergio (FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, MP3)
Style: surfbeatcowpunkmutherfucker, Americana
Recorded in 1995, never released.


Tracklist:
1) Ode to Sergio
2) Bring Down the Bull
3) Parched
4) Johnny T's O.D.
5) Hellfire and Damnation
6) Fix Up My Tears
7) Face Down
8) Mi Vida es a Toda Madre
9) Creepin' Man

Enjoy.
Update: Now officially endorsed by the great PunksOnPostcards blog