I don’t remember for certain where this idea came from.
One of the howie&scott Seasides EP tracks included on the V for Voice CD and paid Bandcamp download will be “After the Rain (Night Mode disintegration mix),” and the picture above is a big part of how I made it.
I started listening to The Disintegration Loops in 2009, a few years after they were released. I’m reconstructing memories here (ironic, I guess) but I think I must have abstractly wanted to do some kind of homage for a while. Then at some point realized that the verse guitar figure from “After the Rain” might work as source material.
I didn’t copy William Basinski’s method – how could I, his was an accident and took years – but I re-created a similar effect, and added my own twists on the idea. Once the computer work was all set, I ran the piece through pictured setup: two delays, phaser, and tape EQ and saturation.
The mix should have something like its intended effect regardless of whether the listener knows The Disintegration Loops, but knowing them may add to the experience.
Here’s the latest creation from the Mr. Furious Audio lab, which has haunted me for several months.
It’s a mash-up of my previous SPFFy Bypass Loop Selector (can’t find a link, I guess I haven’t written about that), and a Mammoth Lace Looper kit. In non-tech terms it doesn’t make any sound on its own; it’s for turning multiple other pedals on or off with one stomp and no clicks or pops.
I had to hack and kludge a bit, but it finally does everything it’s supposed to do. It’s mostly for recording, but might possibly see live use for future h&s stuff (beyond V for Voice, depending which direction we go after) or for Sneaky Sneaky Snakes.
The various modes described below all have their uses in creating different effects textures and timbres for various sections of songs, plus the silent relay switching ensures no thumps or pops from standard 3PDT footswitches are recorded.
< TECH TALK WARNING >
SPFFy Lace has four modes:
Lace mode – A single relay-switched true bypass loop, controlled by the master bypass footswitch (farthest to the right). No other controls are active in Lace mode.
Series mode – Two relay-switched buffered bypass loops in series. The second loop has a volume cut/boost and polarity inverter available when active and reverb/echo trails when deactivated.
Parallel mode – Two relay-switched buffered bypass loops in parallel. Both loops have a volume cut/boost available when active and reverb/echo trails when deactivated, and the second loop has a polarity inverter.
Flip-Flop mode – Two relay-switched buffered bypass loops in series; turning one on automatically turns the other off (!) *unless* the “FFX” (flip-flop kill) momentary switch is *also* engaged. The second loop has a volume cut/boost and polarity inverter available when active and reverb/echo trails when deactivated.
Improvements over the first version of the SPFFy include:
Lower noise
Master bypass switch
A true bypass loop
Silent switching (via the Lace)
Most of my time spent on this project was figuring out how to combine the Series/Parallel/Flip-Flop routing of the SPFFy with the Lace Looper relay bypass PCBs. I went into the project assuming, incorrectly, that the Lace PCBs used a three-pole design analogous to how I’d wire a standard 3PDT switch.
Instead (and this makes sense in retrospect) they use a variation of the two-pole “Millenium bypass” (Google it if you’re interested) design. Once I realized this, I had to tear up my original plan for splicing the SPFFy and Lace sections of the circuit together and re-design it.
Then, when I built that version, I realized that I hadn’t quite reverse-engineered the Lace relay and PCB correctly. I attempted to desolder one of the relays, destroyed it in the process, and had to order a replacement. After a final re-design, the whole thing worked as originally intended.
Unfortunately, the Lace relays have some latency; when you turn one on or off there’s a split-second of silence. This will be acceptable in some situations (live, recording with plenty of reverb/delay, recording anything in Parallel mode) and not in others. There may be a third SPFFy in my future some day, perhaps using optical bypass for the loops.
Multiple effects paths, a feedback drone oscillator, kludged and alligator-clipped CV routing… what more could you ask for?
I’ve been synthing a bunch over the last week or two, mostly inspired by new and exciting ways to patch different things into the MS-20’s VCO2 input with the oscillator in ring mod mode. Most of the pieces are shorter and spontaneous, just things I capture as I try to figure out how to implement a certain idea for a patch I’ve been chasing.
I finally figured out something that’s as close as I think the MS-20 will come last night. I have to control a parameter manually via the wheel that I’d prefer was automatic, but it’s OK; that adds its own level of randomness and humanity to whatever the piece ends up being. It’s close enough to exorcise this patch idea from my mind and let me move on.
These pieces will eventually be collected under the name Only Mostly Dead and released as multiple digital Night Mode albums and a best-of single CD (as Selections from Only Mostly Dead).
Listening to MR|10 the other day Jerry Chapman’s cover of “The Biggest Choice You Make (Every Day)” really struck me. I hadn’t heard it, or talked with Jerry, for a while so I reached out to him to let him know. He’s good!
It also made me realize that MR|15 would be this fall (!). We don’t have any plans to celebrate it, but it does make me itchy to get stuff out so that there will be enough material for a MR|20.
Jerry mentioned that he and Jason are hosting a Life In General cruise in about a year (February 2020 – details here – music! Cuba!). I’m too anxious about being on a boat far enough from shore I can’t swim there to go, but it will be a fun time and some of you all might really enjoy it.
I don’t remember if I set up a saved search on eBay for “soundtracks console” before or after Drew and I got our FME, but today I deleted it.
This old thing, older than the FME, arrived a couple weeks ago from San Diego on a price too good to pass up, and I’ve verified that most everything is basically working as-expected. Most of the knobs are scratchy so I’ll need to get in there with some cleaner/lube before doing too much with it, but it’s pretty exciting. Never thought I’d really do it, and when I showed the post to CA and invited her to talk me out of it, she closed with “I think you should go for it.”
We also got some new shelves for the studio/laundry/utility room, which aren’t greatly in evidence in the shot above, but make everything much more accessible. (Drums are behind the stack of guitar cabs on the left.)
It’s too late and the console needs too much work to mix h&s through it, but that’s OK; those mixes are sounding good (and I don’t want to re-do them…) and benefit from the hi-fi treatment in the computer. I’m not sure what the first project mixed on the Soundtracs will be. Maybe a Night Mode project, or maybe Drew will pass the Mars Lights duo LP back to me, or maybe something else.
I guess the laundry room is officially a hybrid studio now.
On the left: purchased in the late ’90s at Siedhoff Footwear in Crete, NE with employee discount. Reduced to slipper service over the past several years as the upper-sole seams blew out.
That’s what it’s been in frigid Lawrence, Kansas, as I work through our combined to-do list from the December h&s mixes. That means a lot of hours looking at this:
HAI PLZ HAVE ACCESS TO AN INFINITE NUMBER OF DIFFICULT CHOICES ENJOYYYYY
(and that is only half of the tracks in the session :-o
We’re at the point where it’s not really fun to mix; really nitty-gritty details, trimming noise, checking pitch, and awful trade-offs like “I want this turned up 1 dB, but that obscures this other thing, and I’d boost the mids but that’s right where the vocal is…” The decisions are more technical and political than creative. (Thank infinity I’m working in Reaper and not ProTools, though!)
I dropped a couple of the mixes in a mastering session, though, spent 30 minutes on them, and was 1) happy with the results and 2) instantly comfortable, relative to the pain of mixing.
It’ll be worth it. There aren’t really bad decisions left on the table; just different ones.
remember have you gave me the phrase “broken land” for “goddamn” on Boots?
i think i’m going to call back to it in the last song on the mars lights double LP. really now that i think about it, that song could happen in the same universe as all of Boots. lyrically it totally fits in. cool. -h
From: Cory
To: h
Subject: RE: another easter egg
I do remember that! That’s awesome, I love that!
How would you describe the tone of ML lyrics? To me, they’re abstract enough that I hear them poetically, but have never tried to dig TOO deep, because sometimes I think it ruins the fun :)
Here is the best music we heard in the past year. Most, but not all, of Howie’s picks were released in 2018. Cory will explain his picks below.
Top 14 (in random order)
P.O.S., “Chill, Dummy” (2017) – “Next time you ask yourself where hip-hop is going, ask yourself: where am I going?” observed Mos Def in “Fear Not of Man.” P.O.S. is going to an arty-but-knocking place no one’s been before, and this is his transmission back. Five records in, and this dude sounds about ten times hungrier than your favorite rapper. (Doomtree #3 / 3).
Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, “Wasteland” – A return to form plus some twists after 2015’s slightly uninspired “The Night Creeper.” There may be a bit of a concept lurking in the background, but for now I’m just enjoying the old school riffs and double vocals.
Cosmic Ground, “IV” / “relics vol.1” / “relics vol.2” – Dirk’s kosmische project and perennial Best Music We Heard favs Cosmic Ground had a productive year, with a new record (really a double) and two batches of old odds and ends. You’re into the Berlin school or you aren’t, and this won’t change your mind… but it might prove a gateway.
Helium, “Pirate Prude” (1994) / “Superball+” (1994) / “The Dirt Of Luck” (1995) / “The Magic City” (1997) – I rampage through an old band’s discography every year (several bands, usually) and this year it was Helium. “The Dirt Of Luck” is out of print on CD and it outrages me; we need to be talking about Helium at the level we talk about Quicksand or Throwing Muses or Hum, and I don’t think we are yet.
Jon Hopkins, “Singularity” – This record divides in half, with choppy, noisy bangers up front and near-straight ambient in the back half. Closing tracks “Luminous Beings” / “Recovery,” featured in an excellent episode of the podcast “Song Exploder,” stitch the disparate elements together seamlessly.
Young Bull, “Midnight Climax” – My hometown rock & rollers have been drinking hard at the Church of Lemmy between studio sessions where they put a polish on songs from 2015’s “Demo” plus some new ones (see closer “Chainwhipped,” which is exactly as heavy as the title sounds).
Yob, “Our Raw Heart” – Following a health scare (“scare” doesn’t do it justice; he could easily have died), Mike and the band return with a record that sprawls over every mode Yob has ever tried, from the harshest to the prettiest, and does them all at a higher level than before. This is the sound of masters, crafting unbridled brutality and beauty over 73 gripping minutes.
Janelle Monae, “Dirty Computer” – Her St. Louis show was the highlight of my musical year, hands down: crack band, phenomenal dancing, amazing visuals, and Janelle at the center of it all, magnetic. Doesn’t hurt that the excellent album is accompanied by a sci-fi “emotion picture,” either.
BUMMER, “Holy Terror” – KCMO’s bastard sons of The Jesus Lizard do it harder, faster, and shorter than you. Finding new and exciting ways to sound mega-pissed-off on stage, and be totally nice off, since 2012!
Wye Oak, “The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs” – Jenn and Andy are some of my favorite kinds of musicians; just so far out on their own trip that points of reference fade. There are familiar guitars and drums and synths, but they put them together in their own private, idiosyncratic way without losing groove, melody, or immediacy.
Dessa, “Chime” – She’s back, with her leanest, feistiest batch of torch songs yet; the bangers bang harder, the ballads cut deeper. Reading this year’s book, “My Own Devices,” adds depth to an already-deep record. One of three Doomtree crew albums on my list this year; MSP out here killing it!
The Breeders, “All Nerve” – Up against the wall, probably my record of the year. I’d never have guessed they could do it in 2018, or how satisfying it would be to have an amazing Breeders record this far into the future. “Last Splash” and “Pod” will always loom large, but… honestly… this may be their best-*written* record. Period.
Shredders, “Dangerous Jumps” (2017) – P.O.S., Sims, Lazerbeak, and Paper Tiger toss off a quick one that somehow, to my ears, captures some Beastie Boy energy while sounding fresh as heeeeellllllllll. I get the sense it started as a lark but I could do with a follow-up as soon as they’re ready. (2nd Doomtree record I’m blurbing; may not be the 2nd you read!)
Kamasi Washington, “Heaven and Earth” – Washington balances his influences – bop, psych, Latin jazz, soul, the theme from the original “Star Trek” – differently on each track; with multiple listens the whole two-and-a-half-hour experience grows less overwhelming and more varied. Always good to spend time in his cosmos.
Honorable Mention:
Condor – Unstoppable Power (2017)
Hiss Golden Messenger – Hallelujah Anyhow (2017)
Judas Priest – Painkiller (1990)
Robyn – Honey
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – Sparkle Hard
Need to check out:
Low – Double Negative (which almost certainly would have made the main list if I had spent more time with it)
Below will be a sorta goofy list from your main man Cory, on account of we had a baby in late 2017 that was supposed to come out of my wife in February of 2018, so it was an “early surprise family baby.” (Howie was there when it all went down; ask him about the howls!)
That meant I was AWOL for the year-end list in 2017, for the first time… so now I have to be extra WOL this year.
Well anyway, this post is going well so far and it’s just the beginning. Here’s some stuff I got excited about this year (and maybe last year! ):
Steely Dan, “Aja” (1977) – I’m officially a dad, and thus, I’m slowly getting obsessed with records that my dad’s obsessed with. I always thought Steely Dan was cheesy dad-music because my dad’s the only person who ever listened to them around me, but I’d only heard the hits. Then I decided to listen to Aja because it’s so lauded, and the hype is real and founded. Currently obsessed with “Peg.” (It’s weird to love a band that always seems to be mocking me for listening to them, but here we are.)
Four Tet, “New Energy” (2017) – This isn’t majorly profound or anything like that, but it’s also perfect for listening to at night when you’re doing some writing or whatever. It sets the exact right curious-blissful-serene-spacy mood we’re all looking for so we can listen to it when we write bad jokes.
Ra Ra Riot, “Need Your Light” (2016) and “Valerie” (2013) – I always read their band name in articles about Vampire Weekend, so I didn’t want to listen to them. Their name is too cutesy and they look like a band that *thinks* they’re VW but aren’t as good at writing songs. I still think VW is better, but Ra Ra Riot is the real deal. “Water” is undeniable (although weirdly it does feature Rostam Banmanglij, former member of VW), and their cover of Steve Winwood’s “Valerie” is my jam of the summer.
David Brubeck Quartet, (full discography) (1946-2007) – This group exemplifies what I love most about jazz, especially the real moody “rainy-day Paris with coffee and a long-ass cigarette” type of vibe. I love music that makes me think of New York in autumn, and they’ve got a song called “Autumn in Washington Square.” I LOVE it.
Look Park, “Look Park” (2016) – The album I was listening to on Spotify ended, and since I was driving, I let Spotify play me some other stuff it thinks I would like. Sometimes, like with Look Park, it works! I heard a few songs and was like “GD, that sounds like the dude from Fountains of Wayne, which would make me mad except the songs are so good.” And then I look it up and it’s Chris Collingwood from Fountains of Wayne (blonde guy). It’s folkier and organic sounding than FoW but it’s still got all that great songwriting.
Miles Davis, “Kind of Blue” (1959) – I keep thinking I already talked about this record, and it’s because I did in another guest blog post… but I haven’t yet for MFR I don’t think (You have. -h). Anyway, this album is perfect. Especially when you have aquamarine lighting and tea and some writing to do. A+.
People should really think about giving this kid a chance.
Jamie xx, “In Colour” (2015) – After getting obsessed with Burial, my friend Jesse let me know that if I liked Burial, I’d probably like this. I’d tried to listen to it before, but didn’t get it. I wanted to give it another shot, so I put it on in the car home one day. The first track is “Gosh,” and it’s sorta silly but really fun, and when the subtle bass drops halfway through, it’s the best.
