Hello hubski!
I just wanted to take this opportunity to announce the long-time-coming release of my first album, The Long Radio Silence. These tunes have been aging on their lees for more time than I care to think about, and were in production and composition for quite a while before that, so suffice it to say this is the completion of a major undertaking by my own personal standards. I invite any and all of you to visit the bandcamp page and check out the tunes. They are free to stream. I do hope very much that you will each find something to enjoy in them, and if you have any thoughts you would like to share in response, I would be delighted to read them. Many thanks, and cheers to all!
This is exciting! I have had the privilege of hearing many of these songs as they were being recorded and it's such a joy to hear the final product. Just so people on hubski know, if it were not for cW, I would likely not be making music to the extent that I am now. About 12 years ago I was at his house and he had some sort of rudimentary recording system set up and he recorded something I wrote. It would later become a song called apathy off of my first album. Hearing my own parts overdubbed and come to life awoken something. I'll always be grateful for that cW. Your songs are such a joy to listen to, I love your melodies, your use of reverb and your lyrics are fantastic. You create awesome imagery, situations and characters in your songs. I have my favorites, I'm going to give this another complete listen and I'll report back. I highly suggest that people check out this album. Also, if you feel so inclined I highly suggest that you purchase this album. It's been a long time coming and I know that cW put a lot of time and resources into its making, even when time and resources were hard to come by. Well done my friend!
Beautiful. Some lovely textures here, love the up-close-and-personal production. Perfect winter music- has a wonderful warmth to it. "The Borrowed Lives" is my personal favorite- the way you stretch out those cascading guitar lines with reverb is very, very satisfying. Complements the subject matter perfectly. Overall, there's just a nice interplay between style and substance throughout the songs. Congratulations!
Many thanks, ghostoffuffle! I love that you have identified it as winter music! I think I know exactly what you mean! Funny that warmth evokes the cold too, though I think there may be both warm and cold elements to the sound/images. That winter quality is something I really hoped would come through, so I'm really glad to hear it. Another vote for the Borrowed Lives! Excellent! As I mentioned to mk below, I had misgivings about that one, maybe just because I've lived with it for so long. The guitar lines you mention -- cascading is a really nice way to put it -- and N's vocals were enough to convince me it was ready to fly. Glad to hear your feelings on that, and thanks much for the kind words!
Congratulations, cW! I really like The Borrowed Lives. I am listening to Desperation Shuffle atm. I'll follow up after I've listened to them all. I was listening to Terry Gross yesterday, and I thought about sending you a message. I think our first conversation ever was about her. I confess that she has since won me over. The more that I have listened to her, the more that I have become aware of her ability to subtly move the conversation to a place where the interviewee feels comfortable. She seems to sense little things in one answer that influence the question that follows. At any rate, feel free to share this revelation with N. Also, congratulations to her on her contribution to this album.
Thank you so much, my friend! For listening and enjoying, but also for picking up a copy. I hope that the tunes will continue to unfold and reveal themselves over time. That's my favorite thing that happens with music, anyhow. Glad to know you dig the Borrowed Lives. It's the oldest tune on there, and in some ways, the simplest, and I have often wondered if it felt at home on the recording. Another friend found it the least interesting track, so I'm glad to have your point of view in opposition to that. Reconciled to Terry Gross, eh? Can't wait to tell N! She retains her bristling response to the celebrated interview-trix. I think she regards Ms. Gross's intuition as more likely to lead her to all the interviewee's sorest spots, where the Achilles heels and most lurid details hide. Surely, that too is a worthy tool for the interviewer, but one which creates an opposite emotional reaction, at least in N. I hope to hear some of the moments you are discussing, and to balance out my perhaps jaundiced perspective with them, as I remain ambivalent about her. She's no Barbara Walters or anything, i.e., doesn't every time go with the kneejerk lunge for the tear-jerk jugular, but I have sometimes found her style unnecessarily confrontational, incendiary even. She is not the anti-Charlie Rose, but approaches. Mostly though, I'm just delighted to be returned to our first conversation. I do remember vaguely that we discussed her ages ago, and I'm delighted we're still in conversation, about Ms. Gross among ever so many other things! Cheers, and again, thanks!
They have. Really, I am glad this baby was delivered. Like flagamuffin, I found it to be superb music to cook by, especially on a November evening. I am not sure how you are making music that feels so Michigan in a warmer clime. To be perfectly honest, I am not easily won over by music of this genre. Often, I find indie folk artists too prone to affectation, their music too thick, and their lyrics predictable. Heretical as it may be, I even consider Cohen to be guilty at times. I am a tough and irrational customer. The Long Radio Silence threads the needle of my folk indie tastes. This is honest music, and honest music has wings. Tell N that I am sorry, but that she will have to suffer me making a case for Gross.I hope that the tunes will continue to unfold and reveal themselves over time.
I have different standards for artwork by people I know and by people I don't know. When it is someone I know, I compare their work to what I think I might be capable of creating. This is not a very high standard, so it's likely that I am easily impressed by the writing, music, and cooking of friends. When I consider the work of strangers, I compare it to what I think the entire world of artists is capable of creating. Who wants to read a second-rate novelist when so many classics go unread? Listening to January Zero is the wonderful experience of being in both worlds at once. The music stands up in my playlists full of professionals and stars. This sounds like so much flattery, but it's demonstrably true. When it comes time to perform the dispiriting task of culling my music library to make it fit on an antiquated audio device, I have always left some favorites from that indie folk rock outfit which I used to think of as a housemate. And when "Another Summer" comes up in the shuffle mix, a tap on the repeat icon is more likely than one on "skip," whatever my mood. I have been enjoying "The Long Radio Silence" while doing other things — riding the train, walking to work, working — and so haven't paid close attention to which particular tracks I am enjoying. So far my favorite has been whichever is playing at the moment: "Going Quietly" at the moment. There's also an instrumental number I quite enjoy. Perhaps I would like the Rolling Stones more if I had spent evenings watching "The Young Ones" and "Dr. Katz" with them. Not many are so fortunate to have such interactions with gifted artists, and I count myself among those lucky ones. Thank you for a great record! P.S. Cheers to your backup singer, whose voice I hear on whatever track is playing now.
I can think of no better reward for all the time, energy, thought and effort I put into this project than to have it be so well used and enjoyed. Deep and resounding gratitude to you, my friend, for listening, for allowing the songs to find a home in your private world of sensation and meaning. Thanks also, very much, for supporting me and it, not just all those years, by your engagement and encouragement, but also lately, in buying a copy. I hope that it will, like the ideal suit of clothes, continue to grow and stretch along with the ever-changing configurations of the life situation, as that is what it is intended for. I realize that's a lofty goal, to put it mildly, and that I am allying myself with Eliot's "poetry for all time/s" position rather than Williams' "poetry for this moment" position, but I guess I won't try and deny the hand I've shown. Here's to self-discovery, aided by our friends, whom I count as my greatest wealth. One of the poets I studied under in grad school once told me he had a small collection of readers that constituted his micro-audience. Yeah, he cared how the wider world tangled with his verse, but mainly drew his feedback, both in terms of critique and the gratifying energy exchange, from a small group of friends who cared about his work. I have adopted that strategy, at least ad hoc, and am grateful to count you as a (perhaps unwilling) member.
Hey, Where is that song that I used to always dig hearing. The one about driving passed the car accident? Also, does this post mean that you now have a computer again? If so, are you ready to join us in our #hubskioriginalmusicclub?
Also, alas, it does NOT mean that my tech woes are at an end, though perhaps they are at a late middle. Still no computer, or rather, there is a computer that is theoretically mine, although it is several states away from me. All this is courtesy of my iphone/bluetooth keyboard setup, aka, my smallest laptop in the world" workaround, and I'll have some weary eyes and a crick in my neck to show for it, but hey, this is just plain worth it. Looking forward to joining the club when I have the tools!
My friend! Thanks for your kind words, your encouragement over the years, for sharing this with others, and, not least of all, for supporting the project by picking up a copy. It's kind of like kickstarter, only backwards ... hey, wait a minute ... Alas, For the Almost, the tune you have mentioned, remains in limbo, along with Ebb and Flow, the tune you titled. These were the tracks stuck in such unacceptable states that I could not in good conscience include them. This was one of several reasons I delayed so long in releasing the album, as I was hoping without any good reason that I would be able to recover and finish them. I still, in fact, intend to finish them, and this will possibly even be funded by the proceeds from this very release. When I do, they shall be added to the tracklist, and every one who has purchased the record will be issued a code to re-download the album with its extra tracks. I'll probably bump the price up to $7 or $8 dollars when I do so, as well. In the meantime, I have decided to be freed of the self-sabotage of eternal delay. Sincere thanks, my friend, both for the kind words, and for encouraging me all these years to bring this project to fruition! I don't know if I would have done so without that.