Ok, it's time to reopen the blog, as there's some stuff starting to happen!
Thanks to the new friends for getting this page to #1 in the 'world music' charts! I put in under World music, because it was less specific than Soul or Jazz or Reggae, because it's a bit of all of that, plus some Afro and Brazilian inspired rhythms. I've actually recently had a song translated into Brazilian Portuguese by singer songwriter Jesse Witney (.com), to use in a future alternate version.
* We have got the mastered copy of our 9 track, 52 minute album back from Jack the Bear Mastering, he said it sounds really warm up loud!! Getting the cover done next week.
* Bass player Evan Tweedie (Husky, Northside Blues Assembly etc) just got back from Europe touring with DubFX and so we're playing a warm up gig at CERES (a farmers market with a cafe) on August 8th 9:30am - 12:30! That gig is always so chilled out and loose, anything can happen. Jimmy Bowman, Max Walker, Evan and Luke Collins will be there. Come and bring your horn, there's no other gigs on at that time! ha.
Also talking to the B.East about a date in September with the full band, can't wait!
Catch you soon.
Astro
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This is a song that was 90% recorded and the first song off the album due to be released online, but the recording files were lost in a great hard drive crash, which is kind of interesting, considering the song is about everything getting so dependant on technology that we have a meltdown, and the earth finally arrives back 'home', as it first was, devoid of the humans.
I thought this up waiting next to a vending machine and advertising billboards at a train station which had computer voice announcements abruptly breaking through lolly-pop music.
And sometimes it's hard to tell between those animated movie billboards which look more and more lifelike, and the ones with live actors, which are more and more touched up and un-lifelike.
It's a bit like how modern music is recorded - it's not just a good photo, it has to be the perfect photo of a strawberry made brighter & pasted next to the perfect photo of a cow made happier pasted onto the perfect photo of grass made greenier, and then imperfect shadows brushed in to make it all look perfectly sur-real! ha! Not that it's anyone's fault. The demand drives the industry. Chicken or the egg situation.
____________________________________________________________________________________
So this unmixed mp3 is all that's left of that version. To finish it just as a demo for people to hear, I added 3 horns (Trombone, Tenor Horn and Trumpet with a plunger) and a constant down-beat bag of local walnuts, which added a delicious crunch to the song (and to a few sage, pesto and parmesan pizzas afterwards).
We'll record it again when Evan and Luke get back from their worldwide touring with HUSKY, and Max
also gets back from his trip to Europe.
Those 3 guys really enhanced this song. Normally I have a pretty strong idea of what I want them to do, but they wrote their own parts better than I could've. Max's beautiful afro inspired guitar, the melodic bass lines that plays around it, and the backward drum groove - clik boom click boom. Suits there personalities perfectly. ha
I'm sure that some doof kids find it off putting, but it gives it a light forward motion rather than a heavy sludgy stomp. And isn't the understated combined with your imagination sometimes better than the plainly stated??
There should be a link to the LYRICS in the audio player.
Reply
Astro and The Ages / Blog
Ceres Aug 8th, Album finished, #1, etc
Ok, it's time to reopen the blog, as there's some stuff starting to happen!
Thanks to the new friends for getting this page to #1 in the 'world music' charts! I put in under World music, because it was less specific than Soul or Jazz or Reggae, because it's a bit of all of that, plus some Afro and Brazilian inspired rhythms. I've actually recently had a song translated into Brazilian Portuguese by singer songwriter Jesse Witney (.com), to use in a future alternate version.
* We have got the mastered copy of our 9 track, 52 minute album back from Jack the Bear Mastering, he said it sounds really warm up loud!! Getting the cover done next week.
* Bass player Evan Tweedie (Husky, Northside Blues Assembly etc) just got back from Europe touring with DubFX and so we're playing a warm up gig at CERES (a farmers market with a cafe) on August 8th 9:30am - 12:30! That gig is always so chilled out and loose, anything can happen. Jimmy Bowman, Max Walker, Evan and Luke Collins will be there. Come and bring your horn, there's no other gigs on at that time! ha.
Also talking to the B.East about a date in September with the full band, can't wait!
Catch you soon. Astro
Reply
Homeward Bound
This is a song that was 90% recorded and the first song off the album due to be released online, but the recording files were lost in a great hard drive crash, which is kind of interesting, considering the song is about everything getting so dependant on technology that we have a meltdown, and the earth finally arrives back 'home', as it first was, devoid of the humans.
I thought this up waiting next to a vending machine and advertising billboards at a train station which had computer voice announcements abruptly breaking through lolly-pop music. And sometimes it's hard to tell between those animated movie billboards which look more and more lifelike, and the ones with live actors, which are more and more touched up and un-lifelike.
It's a bit like how modern music is recorded - it's not just a good photo, it has to be the perfect photo of a strawberry made brighter & pasted next to the perfect photo of a cow made happier pasted onto the perfect photo of grass made greenier, and then imperfect shadows brushed in to make it all look perfectly sur-real! ha! Not that it's anyone's fault. The demand drives the industry. Chicken or the egg situation. ____________________________________________________________________________________ So this unmixed mp3 is all that's left of that version. To finish it just as a demo for people to hear, I added 3 horns (Trombone, Tenor Horn and Trumpet with a plunger) and a constant down-beat bag of local walnuts, which added a delicious crunch to the song (and to a few sage, pesto and parmesan pizzas afterwards).
We'll record it again when Evan and Luke get back from their worldwide touring with HUSKY, and Max also gets back from his trip to Europe.
Those 3 guys really enhanced this song. Normally I have a pretty strong idea of what I want them to do, but they wrote their own parts better than I could've. Max's beautiful afro inspired guitar, the melodic bass lines that plays around it, and the backward drum groove - clik boom click boom. Suits there personalities perfectly. ha I'm sure that some doof kids find it off putting, but it gives it a light forward motion rather than a heavy sludgy stomp. And isn't the understated combined with your imagination sometimes better than the plainly stated??
There should be a link to the LYRICS in the audio player.
Reply