Jeff Tweedy Live – "Lone Wolf" out SOON

I am finishing artwork for Tonight the Lone Wolf Rides Alone, which I will release this week (hopefully tomorrow) and Robot, Creep Closer!  The Benjamin Axeface EP is in its final stages as well; we will release these three works very soon, two weeks apart beginning with echoes.

In the meantime, the Wilcoworld.net “Roadcase” is streaming;

Jeff Tweedy live at Mandel Hall, University of Chicago, February 25 2006.

It’s a great show, Jeff Tweedy is a fantastic songwriter and artist, and you will probably love yourself for listening to it.

Thanks Jill, Tim, Brandon, Katy, Doug, and Mike for letting me play songs (and not stuff envelopes) last night.  -h

Last Night at the Ventura Underground

Cory and I have been bumming around southern CA for a couple days, and we played last night with Derek at the Ventura underground.  I told Cory as we drove to the gig that I was pretty excited; with the addition of the Ventura songs, I was finally feeling like I had a set of playable echoes music that would sound good acoustic.

It seemed to work, I started the night with almost an hour of songs from nickel, Be A Ska Rat, Ventura, a couple other new things, and Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten.”  It felt good, and the crowd seemed to have a good time through it.  I haven’t felt this good about a set since I really wrecked someplace with Scott (I’d have to look at the show archive on howieandscott.com to tell you when that was).  Hopefully I’ll make the time to play more, buoyed by last night’s experience.

Cory and I overlapped, playing Sally Ride’s “Headbone,” Shacker’s “Fully OK,” and Ventura‘s “Coast & Plains” together.  He followed it with a solid group of Beach-Puppy/Axeface songs.  Low-heat microphones meant that he was soft, and the audience responded with a consistent hush and increased attendance to songs like “Nature vs. Nurture” and “Where Did I Go Wrong?”

Derek slayed.  A mix of stuff from D-Rockets, The Ashtray Life, and even a Return song (“You’ve grown up like me / between the desert and the sea…”).  I’m the first to say that the Return is a musical force to be reckoned with, but it’s still a shame that Derk probably doesn’t have more time to spend in an acoustic setting.  I was thoroughly in to his set, sitting back and soaking it in.

We’ve made some new friends this weekend, and had a rad night of music and good times.  I’m really happy that MFR can host a night of our music with three different artists and three twisty twists on the acoustic sound.  -h

"A Wind I Can Lean Into" Listening

Today, I’m sure I’ve heard Bike’s new album as much as anyone else in the world, except for Nate.  I love it and I think there are some really interesting things happening with it from an aesthetic point of view, so I will share some of what I hear when I listen to A Wind I Can Lean In To.

1- “Someone’s at my door” – The title makes this a perfect start to a record.  When someone comes to your door, it’s the start of something; a day in the life, a night out, but something both fairly typical and potentially exciting, even life-changing.  Also, the track sounds like chiming doorbells.  If I could, I would re-wire my apartment’s doorbell to play this song, and invite people over just to hear it.

2 – 4- These songs all include a theme of loss: “Separation…”, a “Requiem”, and a child whose mother is gone.  What kind of beginning is this?  But there’s some sense of peace in the middle of the emptiness.  The background synth-slides in “A wind I can lean into” foreshadow “The horror!”.

5- At unpredictable times, in the middle of my day, I sometimes find myself singing “Doo doo doot-doo!” over and over.

6- “My blood, my bones” has become one of my favorite Bike songs.  It’s amazing to me how this song and “Requiem” can both be perfectly Bike, different-sounding as they are, and belong together like they do.  I wonder how this relates to “Song for a motherless child.”

7- Pure turbo-awesomeness.  Triumphant.  Exuberant.

9- Here’s a song where Nate’s acoustic side and synth side dovetail really well.  Lyrically it connects to the album’s theme.

11- Another synthesis, this time between electric guitar and vocals, which we haven’t heard in combination like this before.  I love the sort of circular/cyclical riff, the way its end bleeds back into its beginning an octave higher.

12- “This is where we die” – The title brings everything full circle, from beginning “…at my door” to an ending.  Musically, it’s like nothing else in the Bike catalog, and the warped piano conjures images of a long-lost, glamorous movie past slipping away; aging actress and again reel-to-reel film machine dying together.

MFR Mix CD

Cory Alan wrote a [blog] a few weeks ago about making MFR mix CDs, and I’ve been pondering more seriously since then about what a MFR compilation might aim for.  A good mix should introduce everybody in an order that makes sense musically, and perhaps chronologically.  What if we took a song from every release, in reverse order; beginning with the newest?

(I realize that Lone Wolf, Robot Creep Closer’s EP, and Benjamin Axeface’s EP aren’t out yet… but for the future’s sake, let’s include them for discussion.)

I’ve done my list, and posted it in comments below (with a couple question marks).  The albums in reverse order are listed below, to help jog your memory.  I expect to actually burn a fair number of these mixes, so weigh in with your thoughts and ideas – if you like, you might even use the same (or a similar) list for your friends.

Axeface
R,CC!
Lone Wolf
A Wind…
Be A Ska Rat
XMAS
Sally Ride
Lady Luck
Nebraska Verses
Furious Instance
D-Rockets
Gilmo
Creepy Eepy
How Is That Possible
The Dimly Lit Room
nickel
Knowing Her Best

Website Changes, New Buttons, Other News

A host of updates on different fronts this morning;

mrfuriousrecords.com continues to evolve with the new WordPress system.  Major changes last night include adding the “Last Five Posts” section and making the “MUSIC Category Archive” the front page (instead of the last five posts…  you see the logic here).  Moved the album art to the right side for clarity.  I will still be messing with smaller formatting things this weekend, but step-by-step we are massaging the site into doing what we want.  Thanks to all who have been using the new commenting system!  Slick, eh?!

New music is ready, including echoes’ Tonight The Lone Wolf Rides Alone, Benjamin Axeface’s EP, and Robot, Creep Closer!’s demo EP.  We are awaiting artwork, and will release one of these shortly.

New buttons are in the mail from NOBS – see me for one.  Three new designs, including the Be A Ska Rat cover, and the “MR” logo in mint green and light pink (i.e. the website colors).

The Farewell has our first show as a newly re-memembered five-piece on St. Patrick’s Day in Wichita, KS.  I’ll be rocking Melisabeth Wright’s own personal CASIO onstage!  We sound like… The French Kicks + U2 + Tom Petty.  Is that possible???  The show is with a national band and a popular Wichita band, so I’ve heard it will sell out; if anyone dreams of going, get in touch with me soon: mr@mrfuriousrecords.com (we’ll be playing in KC very soon).

-h

Good Shows to Hear This Weekend

:::OUR 100th POST TO THE MR FURIOUS [BLOG]:::

i was goofing around the Live Music Archive at archive.org last night, and found some good shows that you might be interested in streaming or downloading if you’re just hanging out.  there are tons of shows (Mike Doughty’s got 50 or so up!) but these are ones i’ve found are worth multiple listens.

Mike Doughty – http://www.archive.org/audio/etree-details-db.php?id=29812
Ted Leo + the Pharmacists – http://www.archive.org/audio/etree-details-db.php?id=32807
Elliot Smith – http://www.archive.org/audio/etree-details-db.php?id=29761
Death Cab for Cutie – http://www.archive.org/audio/etree-details-db.php?id=33834 (this may not be their best sounding show on the archive, but the setlist is very close to what they played when i saw them with Jim and Till in December)
The Frames – http://www.archive.org/audio/etree-details-db.php?id=34314 this was done by the band themselves, and is really great sounding)

you can brows the live music archive yourself at http://www.archive.org/details/etree

-h

howie&scott&erin&megan

First [blog] entry on the new WordPress system:-)

This weekend at St. Peter’s I hosted guest musicians Scott, Megan, and Erin; we spent most of the afternoon yesterday working on music for worship today.  Two original compositions and three unique arrangements rose out of collaboration among friends old and new; below is a piece-by-piece look at the music we made.  Scottie and I also warmed up with some acoustic h&s beforehand, including “Under My Protection,” “Where Will I Alight?,” “Wait, You’re Where?!,” “Blues, or Astroblue?,” and “Major & Minor.”  Q: Why do I like questions as song titles so much?

“St. Peter’s, Va, Mawu, Va” – My drum call with ScoMo was a combination of two rhythms; the first a medium groove for improvising to call the congregation into the sanctuary, then breaking into a furious step (get out the way, get out the way!) and the spoken Call to Worship with Jody in Ewe language.  The title means “St. Peter’s, come!  God, come!” – someday I’ll do an EP/album of drum music, and this is definitely going to the “SAVE” pile.

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” – Megan’s guitar arrangement of this traditional hymn placed the first and second verses in a new harmonic framework with a new melody; we all joined together for the third.  It’s a dynamic setting, the music flowing around and reflecting the lyrics; Scott (sax), Erin (viola) and I (djembe) were responsive to her lead and her voice.

“From The Cloud” – Scott’s new composition, written for this Sunday, reflects the day’s text (Mark 9:2-9).  From the sound of footsteps ascending the mountain, the transfiguration itself, and the voice that follows, he sets the elements of the story in a jazz/African context with saxophone melody and drum rhythm.  In a style similar to “At Its Rising” (on the MFR XMAS comp), Scott explores the intersection between composed and improvised elements of music; he writes sections/themes/melodies/rhythms, and some “glue” that holds them together.  For a performance, we dance through these sections/glue in a given order, improvising with their sound, length, intensity, etc. 

“Dear Lord” – Scott chose this Coltrane tune, and we set it in a slow gospel 6/8 rhythm, because of our minimal instrumentation (sax/drums – no piano, etc.) and because I’m not so much of a swing drummer (the original is in a steady swing 4).  I felt best about the 10:30 version; I was finally finding the right combination of space and sound to support Scott’s big sax tone.  Sidenote; the large acoustic instruments, tenor sax and djembe, sounded incredible in the sanctuary without amplification.  I wish my voice and guitar had that size sound, because I love playing without mics.

“This Little Light of Mine” – Funny story; we talked about doing this piece early last week, and decided on it Wednesday.  We didn’t decide who would lead it…  so on Saturday afternoon as we were putting everything together, we discovered that Megan, Scott, and I had all done different arrangements!  We settled on Megan’s, which included a great counter-melody (I need to learn that trick, M+E!) and complete with authentic ’80’s-style drum/vocal breakdown at the end.  “Everywhere I go, I’m gon’ let it shine…”

-h

"A Wind I Can Lean Into," And Brand-New Website

Tonight we are thrilled to release Bike’s second full album with Mr. Furious Records, A Wind I Can Lean Into.  Nate is turbo-pumped about it, and you could be too; it is a fantastic work.  Download it directly below this post, or from its own album page.

With the breeze at our backs we’ve also launched a new website, completely re-designed from the bones up.  So take a look around.  Everything is here…  we’ve brought the [blog] onboard, archived everything and made it searchable, grown more responsive with souped-up commenting, and cleaned up the look.  Many thanks to the open-source community that created WordPress, which is the skeleton of our new site.

Some notes;

Comments may ask for your email, but I swear it is not being recorded anywhere I can find.  I’m looking for how to delete that field from the “comments” form entirely, but in the meantime please don’t be scared.

MR|signal continues to be a little iffy if you’re trying to hear a specific song… but if you launch it, click on “Tracks,” select “shuffle” and PLAY! you will get a nice mix of MFR music.  We are working on a total re-design of MR|signal too, but didn’t want that to delay Bike’s new album!

Extra-special thanks to Tim Gillespie for help with CSS, .php, and hunting down WordPress demons.  Tim is a fierce demon-hunter, though you’d never know to see him.

So please, enjoy A Wind I Can Lean Into, our expanding catalog of indie music, and the new site.  We’ll be back soon with Robot, Creep Closer!’s first EP, echoes’ Lone Wolf, and weekly [blog] posts.

A WIND I CAN LEAN INTO / Bike

Download all via .zip from archive.org

1- Someone’s at my door / The eye of the needle
2- Separation is ok / A wind I can lean into
3- A wind I can lean into II / Requiem
4- Song for a motherless child
5- Where I’m calling from / Candles
6- My blood, my bones
7- The horror! Oh the horror!
8- Faked enthusiasm / I don’t feel so well
9- Heard you were sick
10- Dog sitting
11- I am young…
12- …and I am naive / This is where we die

Robot, Creep Closer! recording sesh; Wisecarver's place, Saturday, February 11th

So Robot, Creep Closer! is this newish crazy rock band that Tucci (from Shacker) and I are in, along with John, Gina and Jesse. We recently recorded a 4-song demo at Famous Remnants Member Matt Wisecarver’s house. We have yet to mix it (roads and tiredness have postponed it so far), but we’re getting that done on Sunday. Anyway, we here at MFR decided it might be kind of cool to give our loyal listeners a sneaky-peaky at how the process goes. It’s very intricate and complicated, so hold tight!

We showed up to Carver’s at like 1. We set up our crud while Matt ate Taco Bell and chain smoked, and then we did some tests with the mics to make sure that everything was sounding oh so hot. We recorded live, except for the vocals, because we’re not what many people would call a “tracking band” (PS, “tracking” means recording one instrumental part, or “track,” at time, rather than recording all of the instruments at the same time, or “live”). That’s because we rock so hard, when we try to track, people don’t know what to do, especially us.

We finally got the sound we wanted at about 3 (making good time for recording, which is a very tedious process) and got 4 songs cranked out pretty quickly. Everyone had headphones except for me, so I stood next to the wall that my amp was on the other side of, and tried my best to stay in time. We recorded four songs:

“Uh-Huh, Uh-Huh, No!”
“Just F*cking Forget It,”
“Dynamite Night-Life,” and
“I’m Bustin’ A Move!”

Needless to say, these all rock very hard. After we got the ‘struments done at 4:30 or 5 or something, we set up for vocals. See how complicated this is so far? I’m sweating. That’s the second time I’ve gotten all sweaty during a blog. Vocals are weird, because you can hear the song in your headphones, but no one else can hear the song, so they just hear you yelling the lyrics a capella (cappela? cappella?), and it’s like so embarrassing! Plus Wisecarver kept making me scream to test the mic. Plus I was like 6 drinks deep.

We ended up with a quality product, and we’re gonna post the sucker on MFR after it gets all done.

Have a good weekend!

-Cory Alan