This started as an email to Cory, on the heels of finishing Fight Songs bass lines.

One weird thing about writing and playing bass lines is that, the way my brain works, it feels like I’m searching for the ideal platonic form of the bass line for each song. It feels like there’s only one mathematically correct answer and I have to play around until I find it; which notes and rhythms, which octaves for the notes, where to put the runs, etc.

It’s not entirely literally true; I can hear some spots where two notes might be equally valid, but 99% of the time there’s an obvious right choice and it feels right and moral, even, to play it. That doesn’t at all mean the first note I try is right! Often the first 80% of the line will come to me pretty quickly, on my first few plays through the song, but I’ll spend a good amount of time on the last 20%, especially the ascending / descending runs, to make sure I hit the exact right notes. It feels like working out a proof, and it’s very satisfying to get right (and frustrating to get wrong)!

On one little line in “Lost,” the very end of the chorus that leads back down to the start of the chorus progression, I tried a ton of different combinations of notes for that 4-note descending run before I found the “right” one.

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This is a leftover thought from the “A Life Without Fireflies” episode of The Long Play Listening Party that I found in the email archive.

Talking through my early recording experiments and gear I realized that prior to the purchase of my Digi001 ProTools LE system in November 2022, I had only ever self-recorded acoustic music with either my MiniDisc player and a computer mic or a 4-track tape machine. (howie&scott’s near and far was done by Fred Ritter, Jacob’s dad, on a digital 8-track.)

Just ten months after buying the 001 rig I was in Doug Van Sloan’s mastering studio with signs.comets, plus we had also recorded Shacker’s Pardon My Pretension…, Rob’s A Life Without Fireflies, and Blame The Game’s EP. That level of productivity is bonkers to try and wrap my mind around now! Plus, Scott and I were landscaping in Lincoln full-time that summer, we weren’t just making music!

A lot’s going on though.

Had great guests on the podcast.

Waiting on Fight Songs guests to send their parts in (thanks Cory!). About half the songs are pretty well mixed.

Got an album of DrumBrute beats, synth, and Royce’s vocals ready to drop as soon as we make a release plan. The follow-up is well underway too, with Monotribe beats and different vocalists this time.

I designed a new pedal, the “5KR” for Five Knob Rangemaster, and parts arrived yesterday for a 6-unit run.

Built a remote switch for my Pigtronix Echolution and I’ve been practicing my pentatonic scales over loops.

Was well into a MS-20 and modular record when I stupidly fried a $300 module. Have replaced the module but haven’t psyched myself back up to play yet.

My 404 mkII arrived and I’ve started on it a little bit, but nothing serious yet. I don’t think there’s been space in my brain.

Last May I impulse-bought a Roland VK-1, which is a synthesizer designed to sound and be controlled like a tonewheel organ (such as a Hammond). Yesterday I finally started putting it to work on Fight Songs, along with a Pigtronix Rototron Leslie speaker simulator.

In a side-by-side comparison it won’t fool anyone into thinking it’s a real Hammond and Leslie. But it does sound good, even great in a track, and at something like 20% of the price and weight of the real thing I consider it a steal.

I’ve been attempting to channel my inner Steve Nieve (with moderate success, though you’ll be the judge of that). I’m not riding the drawbars live yet, but I’m dialing in a unique timbre for each track, switching Rototron speeds, and sliding up and down. Maybe too much sliding. (You’ll also be the judge of that. It’s very Nieve-y, though!)

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I should have written this back in September when it was fresh, but here we go; a deep dive into how I wrote one song.

Below, on the left, is the original sheet for what has become “March Four Hundred and First” from my upcoming Fight Songs.

This song started by accident, as they often do. I was playing guitar through my Eventide TimeFactor delay on the multi-tap algorithm, and came up with some parts I liked and vocal melodies with scratch (i.e. to be replaced later) lyrics to go with the guitar parts. I recorded a rough instrumental demo of the guitar parts and wrote out the vocal ideas on this sheet.

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So much music! Not a lot of blogging :\

• Fight Songs – Lead vocals are done. Getting the mixes into shape to send out to collaborators and for writing backing vocals and keys
• Night Mode – Two albums (companions) out to Drew and Damon for review/approval/release. Third album Only Mostly Dead probably finished and ready for art / CDs
• Got weird and just made a noise project over the weekend, probably coming within a week or two under a new name. Might be a one-off, listening to it now!
• SP-404 – Collaborative album with DrumBrute jams x Royce Diamond vocal samples coming together quickly. Seven down, two to go. Remix beat tape also progressing. Can’t decide which order to release them in
• ESR Graphic Fuzz variant – On hold while I sang. Still thinking about it
• Ampeg V4 – Back from the tech. Need to plug it in just for fun, probably tonight
• LPLP – Returning soon! Nate’s been working on some refreshed logistics to make things easier for our guests

I think that’s most of it? Santa brought two new modular… modules… and I’m still figuring them out, but I’m sure I’ll make a record with those soon in the vein of Thinking About The Meaninglessness…

This noise thing is niche, but really cool, I think.

Part 1 –

Jimbo Mathus & Andrew Bird, “These 13” –
https://open.spotify.com/album/5e7me68eSPsVkbQoGdpEkh

Cedric Burnside, “I Be Trying” –
https://cedricburnside.bandcamp.com/album/i-be-trying

Til Willis, “Promise of Wishful Thinking” –
https://tilwillis.bandcamp.com/track/promise-of-wishful-thinking-2

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In randomized order, here is the best music Howie heard in 2021.

Abul Mogard, “In Immobile Air” – The varieties of ambient music continue to surprise me. Mogard (a pen name, almost certainly) combines simple pitches and noise like sculpture, crafting installations I seem to approach, wander around, and gently walk away from.

Nala Sinephro, “Space 1.8” – Sax and synth sound like they were made for each other in Sinephro’s cosmic, jazz-inspired explorations.

Nao, “And Then Life Was Beautiful” – Nao’s singular unification of vintage and modern R&B styles. Taking her debut EPs together she’s one record away from acing the Five Album Test, and I don’t doubt she’ll get there.

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Picking up from my last post, here’s my live-blog of listening to Crash after 13+ years of not listening to it.

So Much To Say – Been a minute. This feels good. Cool riff, love the horn lines.

Two Step – Classic. I’m realizing for the first time how different the production is from UTTAD. The hard-panned guitars are gone, the layers of morphing pads and sustaining violin and whatnot are gone. This sounds more like a big, clean, natural-sounding 70s record, but hi-fi. It’s probably a better sound for the band, though the immersive murkiness of UTTAD works in places. Fade out is a bummer, write an
ending you fools!

Crash Into Me – Unfortunately, this has not aged well. The song and recording are fine, but it’s not escaping its own overplayed-ness to my ears. My poor mom had to overhear me play this so many times :( :(

Too Much – Wow, and we’re jamming again, “Crash” really killed the energy.

41 – Dual electric guitars! Cool new atmosphere. That sax ostinato does it for me. It’s wild how much of this I hear in V for Voice, from the writing to the playing to the mix, which was not on my radar at all. Just that formative, I suppose. I was completely chasing this album in the V for Voice production and had zero idea that’s what I was doing.

Say Goodbye – Dave is such a cheeseball here but it’s a little charming. A little.

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This, from the recent Pitchfork review of “Crash,” hit hard:

Crash helped give a generation of upstarts permission to do whatever they wanted with their own music. That sort of broad philosophical inspiration was altogether different than what Nirvana, Pavement, or most every other rock act cooler than the Dave Matthews Band supplied at the same time.

I sent the review to Cory, who said:

I still listen to that and “Under the Table…” from time to time! Especially if I want some thoughtful serenity. “Under the Table” makes me feel straight-up better and think-ier and more hopeful which is why I like it better. “Crash” makes me feel kind of the same but also weirder? They were definitely the easiest band to clown on in the ’90s. SUPER successful hippies in a band who wrote radio-friendly songs that were seemingly un-scandalous but often pretty horny! But those records are great and unlike anything else I can think of.

Do you still listen to those guys from time to time? I’m going to put “Crash” on now and hike my skirt up!

I had not listened to either album since importing them to iTunes in 2008, so I started to, and I live-blogged my reactions, now posted below.

The Best Of What’s Around – Oh my god there is so much going on in this mix! Like a moderate number of parts, but they’re all busy AF, and the hard-panned acoustic guitars doing fairly different things is wild.

What Would You Say – This still sounds pretty good. Funky & poppy, like Toad The Wet Sprocket but also Prince could sound cool covering it?

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I broke the ice on lead vocals for Fight Songs over the long Thanksgiving weekend. Three songs down, eleven to go.

Practicing over the past few weeks has really paid off. (Shocker!) I was really struggling to find notes and maintain steady pitches when I started. Singing for an hour three or four nights a week for about three weeks has put me in a pretty good place at this point.

I’m starting with the songs that are lowest in my register, and will work upward. There’s no rush but I’m aiming to finish around New Year’s Eve.

From there I’m not sure what I’ll do next; organ, percussion, or backing vocals. We’re in year 13 of Fight Songs production, I guess there’s no rush.