Jesse

Jesse,

Thanks again for writing something nice about the album. Are you pretty close to being done with school ? I seem to remember that you were taking marketing which is very cool and interesting. I have this feeling that you could become the jackie K. of modern marketing. Ushering i na new fresh breath of creativity into an old smelly market of pooish sameness.

Are there any specific sectors you would like to get into after college ? Are thinking of becoming an ad man or do you want to go the route on innovator in your own niche. Anyway I know you will kick ass and find marketing to be interesting ( sometimes evil) and exciting.

Nate

Any luck getting the drummer into the studio ? Will you have access to a real piano ? Damn man I need updates !!!! The anticipation is horrible..........How can you do this with a clear conscious ?

Jesse

Thanks for the review. I appreciate you being so nice but I think the only person anticipiating it was my therapist or the poor guy who had to record me on weekends. He was probably the most excited about it being finished. IT was fun to record though. In my defense... I didnt actaully put a lot into writing. I showed up to the studio in a frenzy. Smoked a couple cigs... drank a lot of coffee and played music for a couple hours. 50 people have been tricked into buying this crap and for that reason I a mtruly sorry making it. You are a good friend and thank you.

Micah

Answers about my demo

i can't remember which songs were which on the cd i sent you, jesse. can you give me 1 or 2 lines of lyrics for each track number? that would be enough for me to identify which song is which. as for the gtr sound on track 6...i will let you know more once i know exactly which song we're talking about. i think i might have some sort of an explanation for you regarding the acoustic strumming sound, but i have to be sure we're talking about the right track or tracks here. i would like to get to the bottom of this if at all possible. let me know.

as for the string song, i can only assume you're talking about "like this". it's the only song i've recorded real strings for. and yes, i'm quite proud of how those strings turned out, especially since it was my first attempt at arranging and recording a string section. it is possible we could use the string player for a grynch song if it was needed. however, it just so happens that the girl who played those strings for me is a real fucking bitch. and i'm not just saying that. i can be cordial with her, but it takes a lot of my energy and it had better be worth it. she sure can play a beautiful violin and cello though.

Questions On Nates Demo Disc

Hey, I was giving your demo disc another listen today and thought of a few questions and some advice (I know I'm full of shit, just take this for whatever it's worth).

First question is could you list the six song titles? I want to write ID3 tags for the FLAC files I created from the disc, I just have them titled "Song #".

Is that you playing guitar on the last track? If it is you should try playing with a thinner pick, it sounds like you were playing with a really chunky plastic pick. You can hear it sort of sliding sideways across the strings after the initial attack. Try a real thin nylon pick(dunlop makes great nylon picks), if it's not you kick whoever played the guitars ass and ask them to do it again but with more feeling. This is also something I've noticed that's sort of a reoccurring about your recordings, whenever you record acoustic, at least for this type of music, you have to get rid of that chunky sounding pick attack, either EQ it out or soften it with a little reverb. If your recording electric don't let the guitarist sit anywhere near the microphone, especially if they hammer the guitar like Micah when he plays.

Last question, where the hell did you get the strings on track four? That whole track is probably the best recording you've made (and the second best song you have written behind feels right). The strings just really fill it out and make it incredible. Can we get whoever played that to come back in for a Grynch recording :)

Ciao,
-Jesse

Thanks Micah,

Thanks for the lead Micah. I'll look into Bailey Records, I've never even heard of them, other than your album, so I'll check into it. I'm pretty busy right now with a lot of stuff and I can't imagine any serious record label would be interested in the home recordings I'm working on now. Most likely Bailey Records isn't for me but I do appreciate the heads up. Keep me informed how things go with your new recording, anything I can do to help out let me know. I didn't think your "Jesus" album was terrible or anything. I actually gave it a good review on Amazon.com a few months ago... go look.

Thanks again!

Bailey Records

Jesse & Nate,

As you know I recorded a horrible solo album called " jesus is a bad salesman" with bailey records. In fact there was an absolutely awful song that you both pointed out sounded like " bingo was his namo" which your right it did. I ant believe that song was on a plastiq music compilation UGHHHHH!
Well anyways.... regardless of all that complete failure they have decided to allow me to make a second record which I am going to title Unicorn.. Also they have gotten involved with a company that has the rights to Buck Rogers and they are making a soundtrack for a toy that will actually have mp3's in it ? I know it sounds wierd .
Anyways...Here is the deal....They have invited me to be involved with the talent scouting for artists that will be on the album. I told them about a couple friends I have ( I know how did I get 1 friend let alone 2) and they said you guys could sumitt material for the project. If your interested post back and I can give you more details on the project. If not interested I understand and I will focus back on the grynch project.

SIncerely,

The smelly guy you knew from college that made strange music...

Jesse

Nate was right there . He could have done something. Why did you not act nate ? Seriously that is awful......

wow that does suck.

Touch & Go Records collapse...

Touch & Go Records, from Nate's hometown of Chicago, is going under, what crappy news.
Here's what i read on another blog:

Chicago indie powerhouse Touch and Go cuts distribution service, staff

Touch and Go Records, a pillar of the Chicago music scene and independent music worldwide, announced Wednesday that it is drastically shrinking its business, cutting ties with 20 independent labels and laying off an unspecified number of employees.

"The current state of the economy has reached the point where we can no longer afford" to provide manufacturing and distribution services for the labels, including stalwarts such as Chicago-based Drag City, All Natural, Overcoat. Flameshovel and Atavistic Records; Merge in North Carolina,; and Kill Rock Stars in the Pacific Northwest, said Touch and Go founder Corey Rusk.

The move could drastically hamper the ability of these labels to get their new releases into retail outlets in a timely manner, and could affect their ability to stay solvent during the current economic downturn.

Touch and Go will continue to operate as a label; it has released more than 400 records in the last 28 years including more than 100 on its Quarterstick subsidiary. But the decision to cut distribution will force Rusk to shrink his staff of about 25 people. He would not give specifics in a phone interview Wednesday, but said the decision was "painful for everybody involved." Several employees reported being "blindsided" by the announcement.

This totally sucks, Merge Records, which is one of my favorite indie labels, is going to get fucked over by this too.

Snow in Mexico - EP

The band "Snow in Mexico" has a great self titled EP available for free digital download on their homepage. This is, as far as I know, the bands first and only release and it sounds absolutely fantastic. Download it HERE and let me know what you think!

NATE & JESSE

HELLO FRIENDS......... HOW ARE THEE ? THE DAY OF DRUMMING WILL SOON BE UPON US AND THY HIBBS SHALL PERFORM A VIRTUOISTIC LAYERING OF ETHERAL GUITAR MEANDERINGS AND WE SHALL SOUND WELL..............

i'm so anxious to get some drums tracked for our song. i feel like i'm waiting around for ever!

Sonic Youth "The Eternal"

New Sonic Youth album "The Eternal" will be released June 9th! And it's on Matador! I'm so glad to see them back on an independent.

V-Pedal

I just accidentally found this today searching for new free VSTs on Google. I about had a heart attack when I saw this, looks like this could be about the greatest guitar pedal ever made (w/ the exception of my Turbo Rat of course!). USB it up toPC and dump all your favorite VST effects into it. Program your chain however you want, tweak away and then link it to one of four stomp switches and an expression pedal. Finaly a way to take VST effects live, or use it to controll them with my feet in the studio! And linux support too! Hopefully it's affordable when they finally release it!

http://www.smproaudio.com/produkte/v-machines/v-pedal.html

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart