the cloud ceiling

coming and going on easy terms

2007-04-23T11:35:00.000-07:00

hi everyone.

it has been a long time since anything newsworthy has happened in these clouds, but i'm hopeful that that will change soon. the first version of the new website, as you may have noticed, is up now. julie's still got some fancy improvements she wants to make to it, but i'm trying to get some momentum going for when i get home from new england, so we'll just call this version 1.0.

in the interim since my last post, i've spent two long, rough semesters in massachusetts, which while pretty much a huge drag, have enabled me to spend a fair amount of time writing new songs and getting ideas for things to add to the recording we're working on. i anticipate this summer being a productive one; the first priority is getting the LP and EP finished and released, and then to start practicing and playing some shows.

none of this is particularly miraculous, though i am excited to get cracking again. soooo, i guess this post was more for me than anyone. just know that this thing is going to happen, and soon.

love,
-eb

p.s. if you have the opportunity, i cannot recommend highly enough that you go see the current john vanderslice and st. vincent tour. i saw the one at the middle east in cambridge over the weekend, and it was just incredible. probably the best show i've seen in three or four years. plus john vanderslice and i took the most awkward photo ever together, so i mean come on.

should a cloud replace a compass?

2006-08-23T23:32:00.000-07:00

recording: day 6

today we decided to do another full day at premium recording, because they had a lot of the instruments we wanted to use on the songs we hadn't gotten to yet. we did a lot (!) of acoustic guitar today, a little electric guitar, and a bit of banjo, and it was really fun and productive (but brutal on the fingers).

sadly, because we did this full day at premium today, that means we're done for the summer, but we'll be right back on it over the winter holidays, at which time i expect we will have finished all the songs for the ep and lp. it's a bittersweet thing, because i'm so glad we're so far into this thing now, but i wish we didn't have to stop. but, it gives us time to think up those new ideas that bands always wish they'd had while they were recording, so that's nice.

here's the rundown of what we've recorded so far (tentative titles, all):

calliope:
wurlitzer, farfisa, bass guitar, & drums

car:
acoustic guitar, bass guitar, electric guitar (x2), 12-string electric guitar, banjo, spinet organ, grand piano, & drums

circulation desk:
upright piano, acoustic guitar, hammond b3 organ, bass guitar, & drums

jesus quincy adams (eb):
rhodes, bass guitar, electric guitar, spinet organ, & drums

margins:
farfisa, bass guitar, electric guitar (x2), & drums

ny:
wurlitzer, bass guitar, electric guitar, & drums

the brown hotel:
grand piano, upright piano, bass guitar, electric guitar, backwards piano, & drums

subscript superscript:
acoustic guitar

earlier:
acoustic guitar (x2)

honorable mention:
acoustic guitar (x2)

tqc blues:
resonator guitar, electric guitar, ebow guitar + click track-triggered noise gate (x2)

i feel pretty good about how much we accomplished, but i plan to be a lot more prepared to get things done quickly when we start again in january. ideally we could get the ep out by the summer, and the lp out by the fall, or some such arrangement, but we'll see. hopefully we'll be playing some full-band shows next summer, and i also hope to play some by myself while i'm up in massachusetts for school this year.

so, that's all for now. thanks to everyone for their encouragement and excitement about all this. it means more than you probably realize.

love,
-eb

can't make a sound

2006-08-22T23:27:00.000-07:00

recording: day 5

precious little accomplished today. we tracked a little bit of our little hammond spinet organ (man i love that thing) before going to mr. natural for lunch. upon returning, we both felt extremely sluggish and uninspired to do much, so we called it a day. it has been suggested that maybe we were somehow exposed to carbon monoxide, though that seems unlikely.

anyway, we shall press on tomorrow.

-eb

the world backwards

2006-08-21T22:21:00.000-07:00

recording: day 4

we got a lot done today, but mostly just finishing up the important basic tracks for the songs with drums that we've recorded. today's menu included some wurlitzer (fuzzed-out and not), farfisa, acoustic piano, and a little electric guitar, plus a healthy amount of tape-flipping studio wizardry.

i think tomorrow we'll probably finish the basic tracks for those songs and move on to some of the simpler drum-free songs, which should be really fun.

g'night, partypeople,
-eb

baby six string

2006-08-18T16:58:00.000-07:00

recording: day 3

okay, now this is starting to get really fun. today we mostly recorded a bunch of electric guitar and a bit of rhodes piano. the tracks are really starting to sound like songs. i wish i could do this all the time.

we'll be taking the next couple of days off, and then working monday-thursday to try to get as much done as possible before i leave for massachusetts.

giddyap.
-eb

theme for a very delicious grand piano

2006-08-16T01:40:00.000-07:00

recording: day 2

after some early sluggishness, today turned out awesome. we tracked today at premium recording, bruce robison's fancypants austin studio, with a quick stopover at cacophony to record drums for one more song, that erik c. of course nailed. best neighbor ever.

today we primarily recorded bass guitar (and o lord, are my fingers achin'), but also some grand piano, acoustic guitar, and a little hammond organ. it's looking more and more like we'll be recording this batch of songs in chapters, the first of which are these seven louder ones with drums and a lot of electric instruments. once those are tracked we'll move on to the quieter/more acoustic ones, and make 'em crazy with drum machines and synthesizers.

and then we'll record a few more with drums when i'm home for the winter, maybe a couple more quieter ones, and then we'll have everything recorded for the LP and EP.

more on friday,
-eb

just drums

2006-08-14T23:44:00.000-07:00

recording: day 1

today was a long and tiring day at cacophony. we got the last of our stuff there around 4:00 pm, and sat around for a bit while erik w. and erik c. got sounds on the drums. they sounded thunderous.

i had a bit (read: a lot) of trouble getting my parts right, but i'm not used to recording live with other people, so hopefully that will get easier with time. erik c. nailed his parts on the six songs we got tracked today. and i mean nailed. so we'll just be overdubbing with those drums until i leave for school on the 26th, and then we'll come back and do some more tracking in january when i'm home for christmas.

it's all very exciting that this thing is finally off and running.

more tomorrow,
-eb

race for the prize

2006-07-11T23:52:00.000-07:00

currently playing:

"the point!"
by harry nilsson

so here's the news:

we're starting the tracking for our first couple of records on wednesday (probably an EP and a full-length) at cacophony, and it's very exciting. we've got our friend (and neighbor!) erik conn from those peabodys and tia carrera playing drums, which will undoubtedly add a little steven drozd/john bonham action to this business. i'll be documenting our progress here.
our friends jay and ashley of full 90 productions incorporated one of our demos into their entry in nycmidnight's three-week animation film festival/contest, animadness. the results were recently announced...and they took "best original character design - stop-motion" and "best stop-motion overall." pretty impressive, but when you consider that they'd never had any previous animation experience, that is just plain awesome. you can see the film here. it's really nice to be so surrounded by creative and talented people.
julie's been working on an amazing fancy new website, and it will be ready to launch soon. yeah, i said launch. launch launch launch. stay tuned for that action.
i'm moving my personal bloggitudes over to thecarrotqueue.blogspot.com, so the page you're reading now will be all about the cloud ceiling from here on. i'll probably register a new domain soon, but until then, that will be the address if you want to keep up with my adventures in massachusetts.

love,
-eb