Menningarnótt 2011 / August 20

17 August, 2011 Show Updates No comments

UPDATE: Just Another Snake Cult is now playing THREE shows on Menningarnótt (“Culture Night” / Saturday, Aug. 20).  Lots of exciting changes with the band.  I’m pleased to announce that we’ve just snagged Túmi, sax player from The Heavy Experience, and he will be making his debut with the band on Saturday.  Lára continues on cello, Beggi on bass. Our keyboardist, Áa, has returned from California, but may not be in town on Saturday.  Linus is now on electric guitar and I’ve switched to the acoustic. AND! Ási, who plays in a number of bands, including Muck and Markús and the Diversion Sessions, is our new drummer and will also be making his debut with the band on Saturday.  We’ve been rehearsing and I’m excited by how things are coming together!

Catch us at the following shows:

Bar 11 (outdoors)

14:00 – 17:00

??:?? – Lockerbie
??:?? - Berndsen
15:30 – Just Another Snake Cult
??:?? – Vintage Caravan

KEX Hostel

Kex Hostel & Kimi Records
On Reykjavik Culture night, 20th of August from 14:00 to 18:00

Sæmundur goes to the pub in his fancy clothes
Food and Music Market
Art Exhibition
Cocktail hour

14:15 – Sóley
15:00 – Hermigervill
16:15 – Loji
17:15 – Just Another Snake Cult

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=156588467754631

Reykjavík!/SWC Rehersal Space (Hólmaslóð 2, which is in the Grandi area and is the same building as TÞM)

Bands Reykjavík! and Sudden Weather Change open their rehearsal studio for a day of music, art and fine food. Performances by Reykjavík!, Mugison, Sudden Weather Change, Just Another Snake Cult and Ofvitarnir. Fresh fish meals courtesy of Ísafjörður’s Tjöruhúsið and an art show by acclaimed painter Ísak Óli Sævarsson. Kimi Records will host a discount market of music as well. No entry fee.

15:00—Market and exhibit open
19:00—Concerts commence
23:00—Fireworks exhibit at the harbour

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=185855091481601

Hólmaslóð 2

 

Custom “Retro/Vintage Sounds” MicroKORG Patch Library for SALE!

7 August, 2011 Projects 5 comments

Custom MicroKORG Patch Library

Do you own a MicroKORG?  Do you dig those crazy sounds I get out of mine?  Well today is your luck day!

I’ve had my MicroKORG for a good 8 years now.  I got it just barely used for a really good deal.  During this time it’s been used in just about every band I’ve been involved with. It’s come in handy — mostly due to the fact that it’s so small that I can take it anywhere, while still being quite versatile. Over these years, either out of necessity or inspiration, I’ve created a whole handful of my own patches, because frankly, the sounds that come stock on the MicroKORG are pretty lame.

The result: a unique MicroKORG sound bank.

There’s a strong retro / vintage / avant garde electronic music / hauntology / twee / indie pop vibe across my patches, since those happen to be the sounds I’m most interested in. Great patches if you’re into Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, François de Roubaix, Gary Numan, Yann Tiersen, Kate Bush, Isao Tomita, …

Listen for yourself! This morning I recorded this short song to demonstrate all my various patches (after coming to the conclusion that nobody wants to sit for 15 minutes to hear each one demonstrated individually):

The patches included in my library are:

  • Þ.AnalogHorn.prg – This is a somewhat typical synth horn.  Something between what you might get on an analog synth like a Moog and a FM synth like the DX-7.  Sounds good down in the tuba range and up into trumpet.  I think the most special thing about this patch is that turning up the modulation wheel makes it growl.
  • Þ.Churchbell.prg – The Phil Specter in me needed one of these.  This isn’t going to fool anybody, but it sounds rad nonetheless.  Sounds like a synth.  Especially if you turn up the mod-wheel vibrato.
  • Þ.DeepRzBass.prg – This one has embarrassing origins.  I was trying to emulate the sound of the fuzz bass in the intro to that Muse song, Time is Running Out.  Nevertheless, THIS PATCH IS MY SECRET WEAPON!  Whenever I need to kick up the intensity of a section of a song a notch, I just layer one of these in.  Fills out the low end with a really pleasant saw sizzle on top.  Really thick.  Similar to that Shins song, Sphagnum Esplanade.  But that’s not all!  Turn the mod wheel and you’ve got a slow attack on the low-pass filter sweep.  A really deep, thick analog Moog-style bass sound.  And for the clincher, turn on the arrpegiator and it’s instant François de Roubaix.
  • Þ.Forbidden.prg – Inspired by the film, Forbidden Planet, which I believe features the first electronic music score.  Basically it’s a theremin-sounding patch with a ridiculous amount of echo.
  • Þ.G.Armonica.prg – The glass armonica is an instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin, based on playing wine glasses with a wet finger.  This is my emulation.
  • Þ.Glass Pad.prg – Don’t write this one off.  A very glassy/digital sounding pad.
  • Þ.Glockspl 2.prg – Metallic/bell-like sounding patch.  Nothing to write home about, but has it’s uses.
  • Þ.Glockspl 3.prg - Metallic/bell-like sounding patch.
  • Þ.Male Bass.prg – Sounds like a sample of a man with a very deep voice saying “UHHH”
  • Þ.Marimba.prg – The sound of chromatic wood blocks struck with a mallet.
  • Þ.Mrimbababa.prg – A slightly different marimba sound, except with loads of delay on it.  Trying to emulate the sound found in recordings such as Leslie Gore’s You Don’t Own Me.  Not fooling anybody, but still cool in its own right.
  • Þ.MTBoyChoir.prg – Another of my pride and joys.  This emulates a Mellotron Boys Choir.  All the “choir” patches that the MicroKORG comes with are rubbish.  This one sounds close enough to the real thing when in the mix.
  • Þ.PSRFantasy.prg – Years ago I fell in love with the “Fantasy” setting on my friend’s Yamaha PSR keyboard.  I recreated it here somewhat, except with more resonance on the filter to make it SING.  Magical.
  • Þ.S&HCompute.prg – A vintage sci-fi staple — the old sample-and-hold computer-processing-information sound.  Beep boop beep bap Beep beep boop.
  • Þ.Sci-fi Goo.prg – While it is tonal, it is more a sound effect.  A thick sound with an intense sweep that sounds like goo dripping.
  • Þ.SpaceWater.prg – This is a sound effect.  If you can imagine what it would sound like to step in a puddle in zero-gravity.
  • Þ.Stage E-P.prg – The BEST electric piano you will find for the MicroKORG.  I’m proud of this one.  It’s actually usable!  More of a glassy Rhodes sound than a Wurlitzer, but still not way digital sounding or anything.  Pleasing velocity sensitivity – from muffled and soft, to glassy, to a little growl.  I’m not going to bash the stock piano sound on MicroKORG–it’s unique–this on the other hand is definitely a much better emulation.
  • Þ.Theremin.prg – This is pretty basic — a sine-like tone with portamento.  Doesn’t compare to the real thing, but lacking an expert theremin player in live situations this suffices.
  • Þ.Thorioline.prg – This is one of my oldies but goodies. In the early 60s a strange sound started making its way onto pop recordings — the solo in Del Shannon’s Runaway and the lead in many Joe Meek recordings, including The Tornados’ Telstar.  It was a monophonic keyboard produced and sold under various names — Clavioline, Ondioline, etc.  This patch makes similar sounds.  Mod-wheel increases brightness and vibrato.  Wide usable range — from basses, to leads, to whatever is above that.
  • Þ.Toy Piano.prg – Sometimes I don’t understand how I managed to recreate a complex organic sound within the confined parameters of the MicroKORG.  But this sounds like a toy piano (hardly a piano, since it has metal bars instead of strings).. such as you’ll hear all over the Amelie soundtrack.
  • Þ.TransOrgan.prg – A transistor organ like a Vox Continental.  There’s a similar patch that comes with the keyboard, but I felt like this was closer to what I wanted.
  • Þ.TubulrBell.prg – A nasty big bell sound.  Useful if you want to create disorienting “music.”
  • Þ.TWOrgan.prg – Tone-wheel organ.  I was thinking of a Hammond B-3 or similar organ with the bars drawn so that it’s over-driving some.  Not going to fool anybody, but a useful addition to your arsenal.
  • Þ.VideoGame.prg – My first patch.  It’s weird!  It’s loud an intense.  Mod-wheel slides one of the oscillators up an octave.  So it goes from sounding like an 8-bit video game sound to.. well.. somewhere between another 8-bit video game sound and a Farfisa compact transistor organ.
  • Þ.VL1 Pops 1.prg – My first go at it.  More diffused sounding than the next.
  • Þ.VL1 Pops 2.prg – This sounds like a Casio toy keyboard “pops” setting.  Sounds like the hook in Outkast’s Hey-ya.
  • Þ.Whistle.prg – Sounds like a synth emulating a person whistling.  Depending on how you play it it can range from somewhat convincing to ridiculously awesome.

I’ve had requests to demo each patch individually, which I’ve done here:

That’s a total of 29 patches!!!  Is that worth $15?  That’s $0.50 a patch.  That’s about the price of a one CD!  Sounds this awesome will help you sell at least one CD to recoup the cost, right?  Basically, you can’t afford to not buy these patches.  Thanks!  :)


^^^ Just use that PayPal button, and I’ll send you an email with all my MicroKORG patches so you can download them.

PS — Patches can be delivered both in .PRG format (which is read by the MicroKORG sound editor and loaded into the MicroKORG via a MIDI connection) OR as settings (in the form of screenshots of the MicroKORG sound editor) so that MicroKORG owners without a MIDI connection can still manually load these patches into their synths.

PPS — Let me know what name you record music under as I’d like to link to musicians who are using my sounds!



ANNOUNCING: “Experiments in Bedroom Pop,” the Just Another Snake Cult MP3 club.

1 August, 2011 Band News, Posted Tracks No comments

Think of it as an exclusive, real-time, evolving album with extensive personal liner notes.  Sign up today so you can start getting all the tracks starting from the begining.   As new songs come out of me they’ll get sent out to all the members of the MP3 club, along with some thoughts on the recording process, the context of the song, or whatever else I think is interesting or pertinent.

The “album” as a medium feels so removed from my process. I’m thinking of this as more direct way to share my music with those who take a particular interest in it – one that more reflects its spontaneous nature, and that more actively engages the listener.

To kick it off, I’ve got a brand new song called “What Was Your Name?” Here’s a clip of me laying down the air drum track:

Sign up now to get this song and other super rare, future songs!

Óska eftir tónlistamen

8 July, 2011 Band News No comments

Er sérstaklega að leita af trommara með experimental/lo-fi pælingar, sérstakann attention fyrir balance og dynamic, sem fílar soul, beach pop, freakbeat, surf, eða/og noise pop tónlist. Getur þú spilað hratt, þétt, og á láann hávæðastig allt á sama tíma? Perfect.
Hafðu samband! thor [AT] bandwidthbeta.com

TRANSLATION: Looking for a drummer for shows in Iceland. Do you like bands like Women, Caribou, and the Beach Boys?

Track on “Through Howling” Compilation Tape

30 May, 2011 Band News No comments

Wizards of the Ghost just put out a new compilation tape featuring tracks from yours truly, Ashley and Eli (of LAKE), iji, Generifus, Karl Blau, Angelo Spencer and the Drone Machine, Stephen Steinbrink, and more!!!

Through Howling is a long awaited compilation album inspired by the strange feelings/powerful vibes surging through the Pacific Northwest. Awesome letter-pressed covers by Mallory Watje + Erin Birgy. Full color mini-poster/insert also!

My track is especially Twin Peaks-y. You can order it from Wizards of the Ghost. $6

I Know She Does (music video)

22 April, 2011 Band News, Video No comments

Over at yvynyl they debuted my new music video for “I Know She Does.”

… Stop what you’re doing and set aside the next 2:48 minutes to watch his homemade video for this insanely good single from his new album Ghosts. …

The Ghosts EP is available for free/donation download. For now at least.

Video from the Trunkspace show

19 April, 2011 Band News No comments

Merch table from tour

14 April, 2011 Band News No comments

Here you can see the posters I was selling on tour (and all the iji merch, Erin’s Wizards of the Ghost record label, and the James Rabbit albums that weren’t sold out by the time we got to SLC):

Lots of cool stuff there. I’d put my CDs and pins in the wrong pile when packing for the trip, and so they got left behind in Iceland.  Ooops.

On tour I played keyboard, bass, and guitar in iji.  Cool Dream is the newest iji album, and along with In Celebration is among my favorite two. We made a joke about iji being a post-twee band, but I also think it’s a good description. Have a listen:

James Rabbit is a band that I used to be in when I lived in Santa Cruz, and are still one of my favorite bands. They put on a really fun show, and Tyler writes really amazing pop songs. They aren’t so tech savvy so their newest great album, Cactuses, is not available for listening online. But Cyclorama is newish and pretty cool too:

Currently eight of their sixty or so releases are available on their bandcamp.

While we were on tour, our friend Fletcher’s record label, Gnome Life Records, put out Erin/Mega Bog’s debut, Okay Human on cassette.

Shelby has his own project called Sundance Kids. His split cassette with fellow Seattlites, the Neighbors, is somewhere on that merch table. But right now I’m especially digging his new one:

Lets see.. there’s a comic by our friend Charlie.

There’s the Remambran tape, which is Mallory (formerly of Backpack and Mammary) from Santa Barbara. She’s got a really cool distinctive voice. Love the jangly pop that comes from Mallory and gang.

If you like that check out their newest endeavor, MOMS (Miracles of Modern Science).

There’s Kenneth’s Slashed Tires cassette, which is really bizarre and cool experimental anti-pop-a-billy:

Then there’s Jenny’s Pet Dander tape. I can’t find a link to that online, but here’s some of her other music:

There’s more, but I think this is overkill. Basically, there was lots to choose from! Hope you enjoyed checking it out.

Greetings from Moscow

29 March, 2011 Band News No comments

Moscow, Idaho that is.  It’s amazing how many people came out tonight, and it’s a Monday night.  I don’t know what it is, but this last leg, this adventure into new territory, has been feeling really good.  The shows have been great and the people are so friendly and engaging. We played with Butterballs (previously, This Kid’s Not Supposed to be in the Family Portrait), a brother and sister combo with really beautiful music.  Update: Here’s a review from that show, including clips of every band playing! (excluding yours truly)

What’s the best thing after a seven hour drive?  Our show at The Lab in Missoula, Montana last night, that’s what.  We did a short Just Another Snake Cult set and it was awesome.  One of the friendliest, most intimate crowds of tour.  James Rabbit also put on one of their best shows of tour.  After our iji set came my favorite performance of tour, from an act called Bad Naked.

Bad Naked

Bad Naked played in bootie shorts, on a resonator acoustic bass, singing songs that made us laugh and made us cry (but mostly laugh).  He taught us that there’s no place like Missouri (except certain parts of Idaho).  It was strange in a very nice way.

I got to sleep in a cargo net on their porch.  Majestic.

A couple days before, we were in Salt Lake City.  Here’s me with their space-Jesus:

One of my favorite movies right now is the 1994 Trent Harris film, Plan 10 From Outer Space. The film mixes science fiction with Mormon theology, and takes place in Salt Lake City.  Here’s a picture of us at the Joseph Smith Sphinx (which is both real and in a really good scene in Plan 10):

The gate was locked so we had to hop it to get in.  A would-be worshiper contented himself with “borrowing a stone” outside to meditate on.

We played a short Just Another Snake Cult set there as well that went really well.  The show was in the sketchiest hidden basement compartment I’ve ever seen.  But great crowd.  And my second favorite band of tour played there, Typhoon from Portland, OR.  They were a 12-piece, with two drummers and string and horn sections.  I was blown away by their arrangements and dynamics.  They were really nice people as well.  See them if you ever have the chance.

Typhoon

Our northward drives have brought us back into snow and cold, which is bizarre after being in everything between California and Texas.

Lets see… continuing backwards.. Denver was also a good show full of warmth and friendliness.  We did a Just Another Snake Cult set there as well! (we’ve been fitting these in all over the place!)  A band called All Liver No Onions played and they were rad.

Kansas City was fun.  I love that city, and I regret not spending more time their while my friend Jamie was living there.

Between Houston, TX and Kansas City, MO was our longest drive.  Even though we split it in two we ended up driving for 12 hours straight.

Reading Rainbow at SXSWSXSW was exhausting but fun.  Temperatures in the upper 80°F’s.  Most of the fun to be had was going to the off-venue day-shows.  I finally saw Quintron for the first time, but it was cut short due to technical difficulties (incompetence on the part of the people putting on the show). Vetiver at SXSW Lets see.. Reading Rainbow was cool–I like their songs and harmonies–but I’m sure it’d be cooler with a full band.  Vetiver was great, but only got to play like three songs.   We played with Quiet Hooves who are also one of my favorite performances from tour.  Their recordings don’t do them justice.  Really creative and fun.  Sort of reminded me of the Unicorns or something.

The drive to Santa Fe had been longer than we anticipated, and we got a late start because of the new car. So after ten hours on the road we showed up miserably late to the cabin in the woods where we were supposed to play. But to our surprise the party was just getting started. Here’s some footage I shot of James Rabbit’s set:

Groovy crowds.

Tour Update – Stranded in the desert

14 March, 2011 Band News No comments

After our San Diego show we had a day off to get over to Phoenix. We had decided, since many of us were sick, to just get over there, take it easy, and get better. A wrench was thrown into our plans when at a gas station in the desert 20 miles east of El Centro, our minivan broke down.

The gas station owner tried all he could get the van from us, with discouragement, threats, and lies.  But despite it all we were all in good spirits and worked to solve our problems.  We managed to get a tow truck to junk the minivan.  And after 5 hours of being stranded, James Rabbit arrived with a rental minivan so that we could shuttle ourselves and our gear over to Phoenix. They had had to drive back to the San Diego airport to get it since all other car rental places were closed.

Over the next few days every spare moment was spent used-car shopping while borrowing one of Zach’s parents’ cars for the shows in the Phoenix area.

This is my first time in Arizona. It is hot and dry! We’re talking upper 80°F’s (30°C), and it’s only March. But my experience of the music scene is quite positive so far. The houseshow in Flagstaff was sweet.

Then we played the Trunkspace in Phoenix, which is a great small all-ages venue. I was blown away by French Quarter‘s phenomenal yet understated musicianship, especially Stephen Steinbrink’s guitar playing. Hello The Mind Control and Feel Free were also really good.

The next day we woke up early to drive over to the Bröötal Sun Fest in Tucson. Just Another Snake Cult and Mega Bog played at the Dry River, which is an awesome anarchist collective community space. The show went great.

Later that night iji and James Rabbit played at Skrappy’s, which is a giant all-ages venue, as part of the festival. The energy was off the hook. The whole day at the festival was rad — well organized and smoothly run, cool bands, and such a positive feeling.  I without a doubt want to come again next year, and if possible be there for all three days.

Shelby bought a station wagon in Tucson, so today we’re off on the road again.  New Mexico tonight, Texas tomorrow.  Loooong drives.

If anybody wants to book any of our bands (Just Another Snake Cult, iji, James Rabbit, or Mega Bog) for any kind of show in Austin March 18-20, let me know, as we’d all love to play more.  Call me at 831-824-4240 and leave a message if I don’t pick up (my phone acts weird).

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