"fuzzed out Springsteen"

i just put that descriptor of my music on my myspace page. i think long way off and hold on to my hand are getting closer to that garage anthem ideal. i want to put a little more mic distortion on cocaine cocaine but it probably won't change all that much.

new "Long Way Off" (Unmastered)

i lied -- i couldn't stop messing with it. i re-recorded the guitar and put a whole lot more distortion on everything, including the vocal. everything is pretty clear sounding though, fuzz notwithstanding. this is much closer to what i always envisioned the song should be. the guitar needed to be more in front and the sound of the vocal needed to be more raw and exciting. to be honest, that original recording of long way off that i did with the cheaper mic made me want to hear more mic distortion on my voice. i think it also reminds me of being 14 years old and hearing my voice through a practice amp for the first time, distorted and loud and awesome.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE NEW "LONG WAY OFF" (UNMASTERED)

my "sound"

i'm really happy with the way "hold on to my hand" turned out sound-wise. this is the third song i've recorded, so it makes sense that i would start to zero in on what "sound" i want the album to have right around now.

this is pretty normal for my writing process -- i like to think that i can envision large projects in their totality before i start, but it never works out that way. instead, it usually takes me a fair bit of writing and listening and tweaking and absorbing before the overall tone of something starts to crystallize.

my good friend and sometime sound engineer Mike Nirenberg was telling me the other day not to do any final mixes early on; he said it's very common to mix something in january that sounds nothing like what you mixed last august or whatever. that makes sense to me; i already hear huge differences in my sonic goals between long way off and hold on to my hand.

i'm probably going to revisit long way off; i've tinkered with the mix for hours and hours though in the past two weeks and i'm sort of sick of that song right now. so i'm just going to put it on the back burner for a bit while i work on other things.

i've also been thinking about production. it's really difficult to keep perspective on how something sounds when it's your own material and you're also not entirely sure what the final, final sonic end point is going to be. i've been thinking about eventually working with a co-producer who has an ear for the kinds of sounds i'm trying to experiment with. i have approximately zero dollars to do this, though, so i might just solicit the help of friends whose taste i trust, unless i can find someone to team up with who's willing to work for a percentage rather than a fee.

"Hold On To My Hand" (Unmastered)

[UPDATE 2/11/09: this is the new and improved mix with a little more noise and a lot more power.

[[[[ CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE IMPROVED "HOLD ON TO MY HAND" ]]]]

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here's the full version of Hold On To My Hand, probably track 3 of broken homes in bexar county.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD "HOLD ON TO MY HAND"

2-track of "Hold On To My Hand"

i just wrote this song yesterday and recorded a 2-track version of it today with guitar and vocal only. i'm going to probably add much more to it but this is the skeleton.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD "HOLD ON TO MY HAND" (2-TRACK)"

"BROKEN HOMES IN BEXAR COUNTY"

i think i'm going to add to my original title idea of "BEXAR COUNTY" (the word "Bexar" is pronounced "Bear" -- the X is silent for some reason).

the new working title for the Blueyed Son debut is BROKEN HOMES IN BEXAR COUNTY.

HIPSTER RUNOFF responds

this village voice interview with Carles, the anonymous guy who writes HIPSTER RUNOFF, is pretty fascinating. carles responds to the shit he apparently stirred up with the Animal Collective post, and outs himself as an aspiring musician who is going to put out an EP soon. guns are trained on you, dude.