Having finished four full-length albums using the band name Teenagers Live Forever, it made sense at the time to loosen the boundaries and explore some new audio territory. I had just begun to work with a Korg D-8 digital multi-tracker and the Boss Dr. Sample SP-202, and used mostly very early experiments for these songs. […]
Okay, so I’m digitizing a heap of scraps of art/clippings/etc to use as clip art, and I come across a printed paper LP dustsleeve that Columbia Records used to further the cause of the LP, probably about 30+ years ago. I saved it for scanning because of the nifty images of records being “correctly” cared […]
That’s the logo that I designed sometime around ’98-’99 when I was deeply into analog 4-track cassette recording. These days the concept doesn’t seem so unusual or amazing, but at that time I began work on spacey, layered tape collage stuff that was psychedelic in theme, with plenty of weird spoken bits and samples from […]
Now that Halloween’s over with, it’s time to keep an eye on the Christmas LPs at the thrift stores. Granted, there’s plenty in the racks all year round; but I’ve been suddenly captivated by the spirit – and there are TONS of novel Xmas finds on wax. Here’s a few things I watch for: Any […]
I labored over the concept for this one far too much, and the end product is nothing like any of the ideas I wrassled with along the way. The challenge was to paint panels of bristol with white paint, black paint, and then seven transitional shades of gray. Once a quality grayscale was attained, the […]
This was rather fun, especially since I’m learning the fundamentals and basic design language now – after many years of intuitive efforts and no real formal training. The assignment was simply to create and utilize five shapes with distinctive colours in varying sizes over the course of four panels of arrangement and composition. Materials were […]
With all this coverage of Thought Industry, it only makes sense to mention Twitch – perhaps ultimately the more compelling Kalamazoo rock act for me, and undoubtedly the more tragic Michigan r0ck n roll legacy. I came to own their full length CD Beaten Senseless and Giddy With Love more or less by accident: at […]
Dance Floor Five recorded one rather unusual album in 2003, an ambitious and perplexing exploration of themes clearly influenced by wartime – particularly the conflict in Iraq; which was at that point years deep, and obviously affecting to an extent that distracted from the usual themes of romantic relationships and the associated turmoil. (click on […]
There are a few perils and challenges involved in thrift store record buying that need to be addressed here: Unshoppable racks or piles of records For some reason, there are still resale shops that insist on wedging their LPs into the shallow troughs of old-school magazine display units, or stacking the records in massive piles […]
One surprising bit of music news around the Detroit area this month is the Grand re-Opening of historic heavy metal venue Blondie’s after 18 years of silence. Actually, it’s a new location, but all indications are (via their myspace here) that it’s still the vision of original Blondie’s mastermind Ruzvelt. I will always remember calling […]