SXSW 2011

Another SXSW has come and gone! I don't plan on writing a detailed post of everything I did, but I just wanted to say... I had a great time. I decided against a wristband this year, there was TONS of awesome official showcases, but nothing I was dying to see or, as a bonus of living in Austin TX, would not be able to see in the coming year at some venue here in town. You can have an awesome time with out a wristband, this is something I have known for a while, and something that the rest of the world seems to be catching on to more and more every year. So much so that the free events may be getting out of hand, and organizers and talking about roping it back it in, which makes me sad, because I LOVE free. So many years I have carefully planned my SX, seeing new exciting acts and watching acts I've always wanted to see, but this year I just took it as it came, with only a vague skeleton of a plan to follow. I got to see good friends play good shows and wander aimlessly through down town alone eating free food and drinking free beer as I went. I got to ravage a free bar at an exclusive venue I've long wondered: "what's it like in there" (I later learned the floor collapsed during a fevered dance party... it was an old house indeed). I felt a solid concrete parking garage bounce like a trampoline, and even had a fleeting moment of "wow this seems really dangerous, am I about to be apart of a disaster?!" I got to see acts I'd seen before play the best set I've seen them play (TV on The Radio) and of course - see bands I've always wanted to see (Dead Milkmen - they really were fantastic). I even went to Flatstock and actually managed not to buy a new poster, a personal best! All told I had a great time, ate some great food, drank untold amounts of free drinks, and spent all of it with great company. I couldn't ask for more! I probably missed three times what I saw, but that's the way it goes. Every SXSW is a different experience for me, and this one was great! L85

Getting back to it.

SXSW is nearly upon us. Music is on our minds. Time to get the music machine up and running.
I'm in a band, Rally Rally, but there is another older project that has been laying dormant... waiting. Mutating. Growing.
Grackle Pop.
Some of you may know about this project, I've been working on it for some time with fellow elusive Grackle wizard, Scott. We completed some remixes and there is upwards of 20 or so tracks in various stages of completion. We long searched for, and auditioned, several vocalists, we wanted to to be some sort of electro..pop.. mutant thing, but alas nothing worked for us. So in December we decided it was time (after several loved ones and friends kept telling us how much they liked the demos) to put some of it out there. So in the beginning of April we will be going into the studio with Danny Reisch of Good Danny's to complete an EP. As such, we decided to start recording and re-recording so of the bits going into the record. So this Sunday we went over to the Rally Rally recording roof and got Mig from Rally Rally to lay down some tracks while me and Scott tweaked away on the Moogerfoogers. It feels good to get back to work on these tracks and see where they go...

As a celebration of the reanimation of Grackle Pop here is another little video. I made this as I was composing some pieces for an intro section to a track, and there is a good chance that section might not appear in the final track so I rendered a few of the loops sequentially then just went to my slowly building achive of video clips from the Hazcam and pieced this together. As with most little audio visual things on this blog, it's just a snap shot, a preview, an appetizer.

Amazing rarites!

Tubular Bells by the Brooklyn Organ Synth Orchestra

I saw this video over at Matrixsynth and it is amazing! Not only does it feature amazing playing and players, but it is just chalked full of rare keys and synths (as well as some modern ones, like my Phatty). The amazing variety of awesome instruments is inspiring to me. I could never play like these girls (OK maybe I could match Super Cute) but I hope to one day own a collection of key based oddities HALF that awesome. Some many one of a kinds, that only do one sound really well... it's like a pallet of colors only few artists have the privilege of working with. I hope to some day just have an awesome collection so I can have awesome players come into my studio and just let them run wild. Until then, I will watch this video now and then until it goes away.

Rally Flag

So this is a mini-track I put together last night. It's composed of a guitar loop I cut out of an unreleased Rally Rally (a synth-punk electro-rock band I'm in) track, another guitar and organ loop I cut out of Rally Rally jam session, and I topped it all off with a fresh new synth patch and let it chill over night. I've been shooting video clips with my new Harinezumi for use in live visuals or videos, so I selected a fitting clip and lined it up. Viola! This video is starring Snowball, my teacup panther, and a late golden Sunday afternoon.

Generic "First" Blog Post

So, this is where I tell you dear reader what this blog is all about. Then I talk about what I plan to do with it and make a joke about seeing if I will keep up with it...

But seriously folks. I plan on using this as space to share little bits of things I find interesting. I think that in some part we are defined by our interests. Sure, that’s a bit of a blanket statement but, I mean it in the way that if I put on display the little bits and pieces that catch my attention, you the causal L85 observer might be able to be able to build a more accurate model of who I am, what I like, and the overall aesthetic of the things that peak my senses. I intend on posting art, pictures, videos, music, stories, and little bits of visual oddities and audio experiments that tend to leak out.